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Simon & Garfunkel ‘Sounds of Silence’ (1966)
Simon & Garfunkel hadn’t yet fully reached the height of their powers when Sounds of Silence was released. In fact, the duo had toiled in relative obscurity for nearly a decade prior. The childhood friends met and wrote their first song together in sixth grade, were signed to their first record contract at the age…
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Steve Miller Band ‘Greatest Hits 1974-78’ (1978)
When I made the decision at the beginning of this year to listen to one album per day I set up a handful of self-imposed guiding principles to guide the process. The primary one was (and remains) to avoid Greatest Hits compilations– the spirit of this whole experience is to focus on a greater appreciation…
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Mastodon ‘Crack The Skye’ (2009)
Mastodon’s excellent 2009 album Crack The Skye sounds like Ozzy Osbourne did some LSD and decided to write a sludge metal record. That’s the best way to describe it in a nutshell, but peek under the covers and there is an incredible amount going on as Mastodon’s mastery over metal is the stuff of recent…
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Matt Corby ‘Rainbow Valley’ (2018)
Matt Corby’s Rainbow Valley is loaded with atmospheric sheen that’s smoother than a can of peanut butter. Recorded in Corby’s home studio on a five-acre plot in Byron Bay, Australia, Rainbow Valley is a wide-ranging musical journey into the spacey world of Indie R&B. The backing tracks feature an impressively set of instruments all played…
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Rick Springfield ‘Working Class Dog’ (1981)
Ed. Note: Welcome to Sound City week here at Music of Matthew dot com! This week we’ll be covering some notable albums recorded at the legendary Sound City studio in Los Angeles, which was covered in great detail in Dave Grohl’s excellent 2013 documentary “Sound City”. Rick Springfield has been somewhat of a punch-line for…
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ‘B.R.M.C’ (2001)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has largely been somewhat of a cult underground rock band for over two decades now, dipping into the mainstream during the garage rock revival in the mid 2000’s. They are a rock fan’s rock band through and through— grimy guitars, garage rock edgy drums, bass tones loaded with fuzz, and straightforward…
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Dio ‘Holy Diver’ (1983)
Dio was formed after Ronnie James Dio left to pursue a solo career following his (first) stint as lead singer of the eminent metal band Black Sabbath. Replacing a legend such as Ozzy Osbourne in a band that was notorious for its substance abuse issues was bound to be a herculean task, and despite a…
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Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ (1991)
As a skater punk during my early teens Nevermind (alongside Green Day’s Dookie) was on literal repeat as me and my buddy skated in front of his house on Cleo Avenue. To say it was a formative part of my childhood experience as I made the transition from a young kid to a young man…
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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)
For my money Tom Petty has and always will be the perfect encapsulation of American heartland rock. Throughout his career he showed an innate ability to combine the blues, traditional country, garage rock, British invasion, rock and roll, and folk songwriting sensibilities to create some of the finest works of art found in classic rock.…
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Sound City ‘Real To Reel’ (2013)
Ed. Note: Welcome to Sound City week here at Music of Matthew dot com! This week we’ll be covering some notable albums recorded at the legendary Sound City studio in Los Angeles, which was covered in great detail in Dave Grohl’s excellent 2013 documentary “Sound City”. To kick off Sound City week we’re starting with…
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A Tribe Called Quest ‘Midnight Marauders’ (1993)
A Tribe Called Quest is one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time, contributing an absolutely epic run of three all-time albums in the 90’s. Midnight Marauders is the second album of that run, book-ended by 1991’s Low End Theory and 1996’s Beats, Rhymes and Life. Tribe’s use of jazz, funk, soul, and…
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Violent Femmes ‘Violent Femmes’ (1983)
It’s sort of shocking Violent Femmes debut album came out all the way back in 1983. It sounds more 90’s alternative rock than the majority of actual 90’s alternative rock bands, and in retrospect became one of the most influential alternative albums that effectively kickstarted the genre that would take over the mainstream world a…
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Billy Strings ‘Home’ (2019)
Billy Strings is a helluva guitar player and Home is a helluva guitar album that takes you on a whirlwind journey through the world of bluegrass. There are songs that march straight on the traditional path (“Taking Water”), songs that venture into the weeds with a progressive bounce to their gait (“Way From The Mire”),…
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Phil Collins ‘…But Seriously’ (1989)
For a lot of people Phil Collins is known for two things— being the “Lion King guy” and for his absolutely thunderously epic drum fill on his most popular song “In The Air Tonight.” For others, it’s the duet “Easy Lover” that he did with Philip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire (a song that…
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Chuck Berry ‘Chuck Berry Is on Top’ (1959)
Nicknamed “The Father of Rock and Roll” throughout his career, Chuck Berry laid the blueprint for translating 12-bar blues into a more energetic and electric version, inspiring artists like Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Berry was effectively the change agent that transformed the face of popular American music at the time and ushered in the…
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John Williams ‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)
I was reminded recently of a moment in college that directly inspired listening to this album. I was living in Isla Vista at the time and on a big John Williams kick. Just binging like a fiend on the stuff. I lived with a group of friends who played in a band called Givers &…
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Wye Oak ‘Civilian’ (2011)
There’s something desperately lonely about Wye Oak’s 2011 effoort Civilian, from the pensive guitars, moody vocal melodies, and aggressively driven percussion. Lead vocalist Jenn Wasner never lets a good minor key vocal melody go to waste, and her dark indie folk brand of songwriting is as immediately recognizable as it is visceral. The whole thing…
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Céline Dion ‘Falling Into You’ (1996)
Let’s not belabor the point– Céline Dion is a powerhouse. Her four octave range is the stuff of legend. She’s sold over 200 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling artists of all time. She’s locked down five Grammy’s, four AMA’s, and 20 Juno Awards. In other words, she’s an absolute legend. Falling…
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Sepultura ‘Chaos A.D.’ (1993)
Chaos A.D. is a brutally heavy mash of thrash, hardcore, and death metal that hits like a gut punch straight to the solar plexus. Sepultura was one of the more influential heavy metal acts in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and along with Pantera helped to develop a more groove-oriented form of death-metal that…
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Alanis Morissette ‘Jagged Little Pill’ (1995)
Earlier this year we listened to Everclear’s So Much For The Afterglow and I talked your ear off about what makes the lyrics of 90’s alternative rock so great and enduring. As I said at the time: Peek under the hood of a lot of [the] songs and you’ll find some pretty depressing stories that…
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The Flaming Lips ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’ (2002)
The Flaming Lips 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was somewhat of a watershed moment in Indie pop history. Featuring a bevy of electronic instruments, dreamy delays, and wispy vocals from frontman Wayne Coyne, the album played a sizable role in taking traditional pop music song structures and blending them with the avant-garde to…
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Sum 41 ‘All Killer, No Filler’ (2001)
With news that Sum 41 will finally be hanging up the guitars after 27 years together, it only felt right to dust off All Killer, No Filler and take it for a spin this week. This was the album that started it all for the Canadian punk rockers off the heels of their massive hit…
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Iron Maiden ‘The Number of the Beast’ (1982)
Iron Maiden is one of the all-time metal greats and I’m beyond pumped to see them live for the first time alongside AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Tool, and Guns N’ Roses later this year at PowerTrip Live. I just booked my tickets last week and have been on a metal kick ever since. I literally…
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AC/DC ‘Highway to Hell’ (1979)
AC/DC’s history is split into two eras across two different absolutely legendary lead singers, Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. They both have this incredible rasp and grit to their voice that fits the sound of AC/DC perfectly in their own different ways. I’ve always felt Bon Scott was a little more unhinged and primal (both…
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Chet Baker ‘Chet Baker Sings’ (1954)
It’s funny how music can provide such vivid imagery of a place and time you haven’t experienced. Chet Baker Sings is the sound I hear when I imagine what it would be like to sit down at a romantic white tablecloth dinner in New York City in the 1950’s, dressed in a suit with a…
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Sugarcult ‘Start Static’ (2001)
Start Static will forever remind me of freshman and sophomore year high school. It’s where Sugarcult sort of started and ended for me in terms of any sort of regular listening cadence, and outside of the off the cuff nostalgic spin of “Stuck In America” once a year or so, it’s safe to say it’s…
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Sting ‘Mercury Falling’ (1996)
Sting is an absolute treasure to the world of music. I love nearly everything about him. His vocal talent is undeniable, rich with character. His bass playing is sublime and incredibly emotive. His storytelling chops are world renowned. But what I love most about his approach as a songwriter is his unabashed desire to take…
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The Allman Brothers Band ‘At Fillmore East’ (1971)
At Fillmore East is an iconic live album from one of the most iconic southern rock jam bands of all time. Recorded over the course of the three nights at the iconic Fillmore East in New York City, this was the album that put The Allman Brothers Band on the map in the United States…
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Suicidal Tendencies ‘Lights…Camera…Revolution’ (1990)
We’ve established that we love a good album opener here at Music of Matthew dot com, and Suicidal Tendencies kicks off Lights…Camera…Revolution with one helluva opener in “You Can’t Bring Me Down”. It has all of the elements that make thrash metal great– moody delay guitars, huge fuzzy melodic guitar solos, an absolutely ripping rhythm…
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Bob Marley & The Wailers ‘Exodus’ (1977)
Exodus was recorded following an assassination attempt on Bob Marley’s life in 1976 at his home in Jamaica. The country was in the midst of significant societal upheaval, and Marley’s massive profile as a cultural icon at the time had drawn the attention of the conservative Jamaican Labour Party (backed by the CIA) and the…
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AFI ‘Sing The Sorrow’ (2003)
I love a good epic album opener and holy hot damn does Sing The Sorrow ever have a massive album opener. “Miseria Cantare: The Beginning” gets the ol’ heart rate going immediately with those big kick drums, gang vocal chants, and epic operatic synths. The first AFI album I fell in love with was The…
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Wando ‘Wando’ (1975)
I’ve had somewhat of a personal revelation this year— I really enjoy samba music. It’s not something I really ever actively sought out before, but after listening to the stellar Samba Esquema Novo by Jorge Ben Jor in January I’ve begun to actively seek out those sweet syncopated patterns, classical guitars, and pandeiros on a…
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Barbra Streisand ‘Guilty’ (1980)
If you had to make a list of top entertainment icons of all-time there’s no doubt Barbra Streisand is somewhere at the top of that list. Over her six decade career Streisand has cemented herself in history as a rare winner of the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), sold over 150 million records (!!!), and…
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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ‘Deja Vu’ (1970)
From the opening moments of Deja Vu, when Stephen Stills’ iconic acoustic guitar kicks in and the three-piece harmony hits your eardrums, it’s evident you’re about to bear witness to musical greatness. Out of all the iconic protest folk rock that entered the American consciousness during the late 60’s and early 70’s, Deja Vu stands…
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Four Tops ‘Four Tops’ (1965)
Last week we talked about the universal appeal of Motown, and we’re back on that glorious kick again here this week with Four Tops self-titled 1965 debut album. The Four Tops were a part of the Motown Sound that took the world by storm in the 60’s alongside other iconic groups like The Temptations, The…
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Broken Social Scene ‘You Forgot It In People’ (2002)
Broken Social Scene were Indie darlings in the early aughts, known for their ambient instrumentals and song structures that featured an eclectic collection of musicians. What I’ve always appreciated about the group is how freely their members floated in and out of the group. Over the course of their 25-year history as a band, Broken…
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About the Author
Jason Matthew Plank listens to copious amounts of music and writes about one album each day. He is currently active in the bands Related to Strangers (post-hardcore) and Kindergarten Cartel (punk covers of children’s nursery rhymes).
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