A list of "must listening" for recording students?

Well, here are my ideas, but I confess this is much more a "must listening
progressive rock" list than anything else, since I have a strong bias
toward that!

I name 55 albums and mention a few additional artists without specific
album recommendations.

It would be great to have other students compile lists for Jazz,
Techno/Ambient, Acoustic Music, R&B, Pop, Metal, and any other appropriate
genres in which I'm not schooled! I may have mentioned a smattering of
records from these categories below.

Somebody needs to address the category of "meat and potatoes" rock music.
The only example I've included below, I think, is Dire Straits' _Making
Movies_. But surely there are Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty records that
need to make the list. Maybe Cindy Lauper's _She's So Unusual_, something
from Elvis Costello, etc.

Notes and Also Rans:

Somebody who's a Steely Dan expert needs to recommend two or three of their
albums. I know that everything Becker and Fagan did together embodied
excellent recording and engineering, but I don't know enough about their
work to select the best titles. _Aja_ is an obvious choice.

King Crimson is a mind-blowing band, but I don't think any of their albums
were particularly outstanding from the recording/producing angle. _In the
Court of the Crimson King_ is a landmark album for rock in every sense of
the word, but the recording quality was not exceptional. Their 1980s works
(with Levin and Belew) may, however, stand as examples of how to record
efficiently on a small budget and get maximum results.

Ditto with Jethro Tull. Besides which, the masters for their early albums
were poorly engineered and deteriorated considerably, sounding horrible
when they were finally reissued on CD. Early Genesis suffers the same
problems.

I'm ashamed to say it, but I'm not really up on the collaborations between
Eno, Bowie and Fripp. I'm sure you could suggest the real gems.

I'm not a Zappa scholar either (Dr. Michael Harrington, of Belmont
University, who lectured here last quarter, is). Besides, the sheer volume
of his output intimidates me. Perhaps you could recommend the two or three
best?

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The Rock Recording World According to Wheat's Record Collection:
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(Note: Since this is the 90's, many of the above mentioned artists have had
"boxed set" commemorative reissues, and they are of course worth checking
out. Furthermore, CD reissues of many of these individual albums have
included additional bonus tracks, interviews, and essays written about the
music)

THESE LISTINGS ARE NOT RANKED IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDER
All of these listings have been produced off the top of my head. Years of
release, label names, producer names and all other observations other that
artist and title are as I remember them--they may actually be different.
Let's hope some of you will research these and update my observations!

I thought it best to get this list out to Dr. Thompson quickly, as opposed
to taking the time necessary to visit record stores and sit down with
Schwan's Catalog to verify all the information.
----------------------------------------------------------

*The Beach Boys

Pet Sounds, produced by Brian Wilson

The American answer to the Beatles' _Sgt. Pepper's_.

*The Beatles

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, produced by George Martin
Abbey Road, produced by George Martin
Untitled (The White Album), produced by George Martin

What can I say that has not already been said?

*Boston

Boston, produced by Tom Scholz

(This is included as an example of how to record a monster hit debut album
in your basement while you keep a day job)

*Kate Bush

The Hounds of Love

Perhaps the most important female songwriter/singer/instrumentalist in the
interstices of progressive rock and pop, this British star never gained
much of a following in America. This is perhaps her most accessible album;
all of them are daring, ground-breaking, and way off-center.

*Phillip Glass

Quoyanisquatzi (SP?)
Powwakquatzi  (SP?)

(Note: These are film soundtracks, and I would strongly suggest that you
rent the films on video and observe the relationship between the music and
the images.

Besides epitomizing excellent synth programming, all of Glass's recorded
works serve as excellent examples of how electronic instruments and
acoustic orchestral instruments can be arranged together.)

*Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Tarkus, produced by Eddie Offord
Brain Salad Surgery,  1974, produced by Greg Lake

How to make majestic hard rock without guitars. Keith Emerson is widely
hailed as the greatest keyboardist to ever record rock.

*Guns and Roses

Appetite for Destruction

Possibly the most important hard rock album ever made. The lyrics and
graphics will offend all sorts of people, as will the lifestyles of the
musicians. But it kicks like a mule.

*The Alan Parsons Project

Tales of Mystery and Imagination
I Robot
The Turn of a Friendly Card

Alan Parsons is one of the most important producers in pop music; he's also
a composer, orchestral arranger, and keyboardist. Throughout Parsons'
producing career with other artists, he has released Alan Parsons Project
albums.

*Supertramp

Crime of the Century
Breakfast in America, 1980.

_Crime_ is this quirky, keyboard-heavy British band's greatest. _Breakfast_
was the biggest-selling album in America in its year of release.

*Peter Gabriel

Security
So

Peter Gabriel was the founding frontman for Genesis; he left in 1974 or
1975. It was not until the 80s that his visionary style of music, with its
synthesis of British prog rock and African rhythms, reached its peak. He
has also been one of the biggest innovators in music video.

*Pink Floyd

Dark Side of the Moon (1972) produced by Alan Parsons
The Wall (1982)

Many consider these two albums to be the greatest productions in all of
rock recording. No one should call him/herself an audio engineer without
studying _Dark Side_.

*Genesis

Selling England By the Pound
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Wind and Wuthering
A Trick of the Tale

The first two albums feature Peter Gabriel on lead vocals; the latter are
the first two albums with longtime drummer Phil Collins singing lead.
Featuring majestic rock and thrilling recordings of layered twelve-string
guitars, this band managed to produce the most distinctly British sound in
rock, recalling England's native music more than American sources.

*Amy Grant

Lead Me On (1987), produced by Brown Bannister

My contacts tell me they spent $600,000 recording this album, and it sounds
like it. Amy Grant and Brown Bannister put contemporary Christian music
(white gospel-rock) on the map, and this is their greatest album. Don't be
put off by Grant's saccharine synth-pop singles from before and after this
album; _Lead Me On_ has a visceral depth musically and lyrically that is a
far cry from Grant's more commercial forays.

*Michael W. Smith

The Big Picture (1984)

A synth and MIDI wonderland, this album contains lots of live keyboard work
along with meticulous sequencing on majestic power-pop songs. Smith got his
break as Amy Grant's sideman; now he's one of contemporary Christian
music's biggest stars.

*Scritti Politi

Provision (1988) produced by Green Gartside and David Gamson

More 1980s dance-pop, with drop-dead grooves, and _stunning_ production and
use of electronic instruments, all from a small band of British and
American white boys. Highly recommended.

*Michael Hedges

Aerial Boundaries (1984) (Nominated for a Grammy for engineering) produced
by Michael Hedges

Hedges is the most innovative acoustic guitarist of the last twenty years.
His extended performance techniques and minimalist-fuelled polyphonic solo
playing are mind-boggling. At the same time, he single-handedly developed
methods of electronically processing and boosting the sound of the
steel-string guitar, and drastically expanding its pitch range through the
use of altered tunings. He has engineered and produced all of his own
recordings. For performance practice, amplification and recording
techniques, Hedges set new standards.

*Elvis Presley

The Sun Sessions CD (1954-1955, remastered and released 1987) produced by
Sam Phillips

The birth of recorded commercial rock and roll, stripped down to the bare
essentials and engineered with the simplest equipment. However, Sam
Phillips seemed to work miracles with the band and the material, and he was
one of the first engineers to make effective use of multiple tape recorders
to create slap-back echo and (potentially) overdubbing.

*Simple Minds

New Gold Dream
Once Upon a Time

British pop with progressive-rock tendencies from what started out as just
a punk band. Very big on the "majestic" factor.

*Led Zeppelin

In Through the Out Door (1981), produced by Jimmy Page

Led Zeppelin's last album before they disbanded, this is the only one among
their many monumental and influential releases to attain the "sonic
splendor" we're looking for in making this list. _In Through the Out Door_
stresses focused composition rather than the impressive but unfocused
improvisational style of most of their other releases. For synth-heads,
this is the landmark album marking the appearance of FM synthesis courtesy
of several prototype Yamaha instruments played by John Paul Jones.

*Donald Fagan

The Nightfly (1985)

This concept album is a landmark solo effort from one half of the creative
team of Steely Dan, with superb sonic quality and several big hits.

*U2

The Unforgettable Fire (1986) produced by Brian Eno

The first collaboration between U2 and Eno, this often overlooked album is
well worth a listen. Eno took the band's very simple arrangements and
textures and expanded them considerably using electronic instruments; this
permanently reshaped the direction of the band and elevated them to
worldwide superstar status. Later releases with Eno such as _The Joshua
Tree_ were even more successful.

*Dire Straits

Making Movies
Love Over Gold
Brothers in Arms

Guitars, guitars, guitars, and the best mainstream rock produced in the 70s
and early 80s. These productions managed to capture the exceptional range
of emotional and musical expression created by Mark Knopfler and his
virtuoso Stratocasters performances.

*Michael Jackson

Thriller (1982) produced by Quincy Jones

The biggest pop album in the history of the world, lavishly produced and
arranged and recorded at tremendous expense and with a huge cast of the
best session musicians anywhere. Quincy Jones wrote Michael Jackson's
entertainment skills into something truly larger than life.

*Janet Jackson

Control (1986) produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

If it's the 1980s and you want to dance, this is the greatest album of the
era. Jimmy Jam played most all of the instruments in these heavily
electronic arrangements, including the drum machines, _live_ without the
use of sequencers. His layered, overdubbed dance grooves on this and
subsequent production forays set a new standard for R&B.

*Def Leppard

Pyromania (1982) produced by John "Mutt" Lange

This is included as an example of how to produce an excellent, hugely
successful album if you have an unlimited budget, an unlimited amount of
time, a penchant for wretched excess in all proportions, and a band that is
perpetually drunk or sick.

*Meatloaf

Bat Out of Hell, produced by Todd Rundgren

One of the biggest-selling records of all time, with stellar production
from Rundgren and truly anthemic songwriting from Jim Steinman, who went on
to be a producer and performer himself.

*Queen

A Night at the Opera, produced by Roy Thomas Baker
A Day at the Races, produced by Roy Thomas Baker

How to make one guitarist sound like an orchestra, and a few singers sound
like an opera chorus, through massive, massive overdubbing and unbelievably
meticulous attention to engineering details--without using any synths or
electronic sounds!

*Wendy Carlos

Switched On Bach
Digital Moonscapes
Beauty In the Beast, produced by Wendy Carlos

These albums were recorded entirely using synthesizers directly plugged
into a console, with no microphones. Therefore they offer little to the
engineer by way of recording technique. However, they offer a tremendous
bonanza to electronic musicians and sound designers who want to explore
timbral possibilities and be inspired by the scope and scale of the
possibilities of purely electronic music.

*The Who

Tommy
Quadrophenia
Who's Next (produced by Glyn Johns)

The importance of the opera/oratorios _Tommy_ and _Quadrophenia_ on the
evolution of rock as an art form cannot be overstated. _Who's Next_ is a
collection of pop songs of equal excellence.

*The Police

Synchronicity (1983) produced by Hugh Padgam

The Police's last album is their best and best-produced, and features their
most elaborate musical arrangements and instrumental timbres. Like the
albums by Queen, they exemplify what a small group of multi-instrumental
performers and singers can achieve through massive overdubbing.

*Yes

Close to the Edge (1972), produced by Eddie Offord
Going for the One (1977) produced by Yes
90125 (1983) produced by Trevor Horn

 _Close to the Edge_ joins the Who's _Tommy_ and Pink Floyd's _The Dark
Side of the Moon_ as a watershed in the development of rock as an art form.
_Going for the One_, though self-produced, shows Yes' highest evolution of
recorded work, no doubt the graduation exam from all their years of
tutelage under Eddie Offord. _90125_ saw the band re-cast itself and create
something equally majestic yet entirely different. It was also the first
album in a long line of extremely well produced epic pop records made by
Trevor Horn, who had previously been the lead singer for Yes for one brief
earlier period. To top it off, the extremely influential electronic band
The Art of Noise was formed when their members met to record as session
musicians and sound designers on _90125_.

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FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC IN THE ROCK IDIOM
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I would highly recommend any recordings you can find by the following
artists. Many, sadly, are long out of print and have not been re-released
on CD.

*Larry Fast/Synergy

This American got his big break playing with Peter Gabriel, departing
before Gabriel became an international star. Fast later headed up the
Audion record label, which produced Wendy Carlos' most significant
recording, _Beauty in the Beast_. Most of Fast's Synergy recordings, from
his heyday in the 70s and early 80s, are sadly out of print and have never
been released on CD.

*Tangerine Dream (and the solo works of the numerous artists who have been
members of this ensemble)

This German instrumental band started out as a trio of naive musicians who
could make interesting sounds with electronics but who possessed almost no
musical ability, as the unabashed banality of their early recordings
attests. From this point they evolved into one of the premiere electronic
music ensembles, and have produced countless albums of live improvisations
and motion-picture soundtracks, many of which can still be found on CD
import reissues.

*Vangelis

Mostly working completely alone, this self-taught Greek keyboardist has
scored some truly moving motion picture soundtracks, including _Chariots of
Fire_, _Blade Runner_, and many others too numerous to recount. He has also
produced a number of albums in collaboration with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson
which are worthy of note.

*Kraftwerk

Another group of Germans, this band was to dance music what Tangerine Dream
was to cerebral, ambient film scores.

*The Art of Noise

Working found sounds into dance music arrangements, this 80s band of Brits
took the art of sample manipulation and digital sound processing to new
heights.

*Yaz and Erasure

Vince Clark is the largest and certainly the most durable figure in
electronic club/dance music and analog synthesis in the service of pop.

*Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD)

With Yaz, among the pioneers of British electronic club/dance music.

*Gary Numan

Ditto with Yaz and OMD.

Wheat Williams
P. O. Box 98052
Atlanta, GA 30359
(404) 636-2845
gs03www@panther.gsu.edu
http://panther.gsu.edu/~gs03www