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Hero For Christ

Recommended Music



playlist, playlists

Note: MUSIC VIDEOS have been moved here

My All Time Favorite Albums:

In the age of iTunes, few people buy complete albums any more. The following masterworks, however, were conceived as unified artistic wholes. Take an hour out of your day, put one of these on in a darkened room, turn up the volume, and listen as your world transforms.
  1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
    Click link for full review
  2. The Carnival - Wyclef Jean
    An epic work from hip-hop's most accomplished musician.
  3. Os Mutantes
    Teenaged psychedelic Brazilian rock band from the 60's. Beloved by Beck, Kurt Cobain and others. Click link for a video of their best song.
  4. Lady in Satin - Billie Holiday
    Lady Day near the end of her life, in an album of unmatched emotional depth.
  5. Skylarking - XTC
    A psychedelic day in the life of the creative and beloved "Boys from Swindon."
  6. Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seegar - "Freeborn Man"
    An underrated gem that yielded the first appearance of the popular standard "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
  7. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
    The challenging instrumentation and gravelly-voice vocals are a superficial mask over the mammoth talent here on display.

The Second List

  • Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
    The comforting warmth of the human voice in a fight for survival against the heartbreaking loneliness of atmospheric machine-age rock instrumentals.
  • I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - Sinead O' Connor
  • Desire - Bob Dylan
  • Apple Venus Volume One - XTC
  • Fugees - The Score
  • [Symbol] - Prince
    The funky royal at the top of his game.
  • US - Peter Gabriel
  • David Bryne - Look Into the Eyeball
  • The American - Martin Sexton
  • Don't Give Up on Me - Solomon Burke
  • Graceland - Paul Simon
  • Bargainville - Moxy Fruvous
  • Flood - They Might Be Giants
  • Speakerboxx/The Love Below - Outkast

Classic Blues & Soul Artists

  • Billie Holiday - (see above)
  • Stevie Wonder - The genius of his best albums is unexcelled.
  • The Isley Brothers They were covered by the Beatles, taught Jimi Hendrix guitar, and hit the Billboard charts in an unequaled six different decades (50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's)
  • Aretha Franklin
  • Al Green
  • Otis Redding
  • The Temptations

    • Psychedelic Music

    Classic

  • The Beatles (see above)
  • Jimi Hendrix The best electric guitarist of all time.
  • Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (see above)
  • The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
  • Os Mutantes (see above)
  • The Chambers Brothers

    The Psychedelic Revival

  • XTC - Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons, AppleVenus Volume One
  • The Dukes O' Stratosphere
  • Elvis Costello - Mighty Like a Rose
  • Lemon Pipers - "Green Tambourine"
  • The Shins
  • The Clientele
  • The Flaming Lips - "The W.A.N.D."
    		•

    World Music

    Africa

  • Mirium Makeba - AKA Mama Africa, the all-time queen mother of African music
  • Angelique Kidjo
  • Franco - "Likambo Ya Ngana" This amazing, bittersweet work is was the soundtrack to artist William Kentridge's "Tide Table."
  • Fela Kuti

    Middle East

    Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Sangam featuring "Afreen Afreen" A true legend of world music

    Latin and South America

  • Os Mutantes (see above)
  • Caetano Veloso
  • Gilberto Gil
  • Manu Chao
  • Buena Vista Social Club

    Jamaica

  • Bob Marley

    • Best of Hip Hop

    Albums

    The following represent rarities in the singles-driven world of hip-hop, albums that demand repeated, start-to-finish listens.
  • Fugees - The Score
  • Wyclef Jean - The Carnival (see above)
  • Outkast - Idlewild Easily surpassing the weaker companion movie, this album is both hip-hop's destiny and its destruction.
  • Tupac Shakur - Greatest Hits The street poet widely acknowledged as the greatest rapper ever. Is he alive?
  • Ice Cube - The Predator
  • Jay-Z - Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life
  • Prince Paul - A Prince Among Thieves An ambitious concept album, the soundtrack to a fictional movie detailing the struggles of an aspiring rapper and reluctant drug dealer.
  • Kanye West - College Dropout
  • Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

    Hip Hop Elegies

    Hip-hop shows its gentler side in these classic memorials to lost loved ones.
  • Tupac Shakur - "Life Goes On"
  • Lost Boys - "Reneé"
  • Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - "T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You)"
  • Master P - "If I Could Change"

    Alt-Hop

    For your inner backpack-wearing, dread-rocking, melodic hip-hopper
  • PM Dawn
  • Arrested Development
  • Spearhead (Michael Franti)

    • Classic Rock

  • Led Zeppelin - "Kashmir", "Misty Mountain Hop", "D'yer Maker?", "The Immigrant Song"
  • The Who - Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy, Who's Next
  • Aerosmith - Greatest Hits, Pump
  • Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever, Wildflowers
  • The Eagles

    • Anti War Songs

    The best of message music
  • Edwin Starr- "War" The hard-driving, uncompromising classic
  • Oingo Boingo - "War Again"
  • Moxy Fruvous - "Gulf War Song"
  • System of a Down - "B.Y.O.B."
  • Anne Hills - "I Come & Stand At Every Door"
  • John McCutcheon - "Christmas in the Trenches"
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son"
  • Odetta - "Down By The Riverside"
  • Pete Seegar - "Where Have All the Flowers Gone"
  • Bob Dylan - "Blowin' In the Wind"
  • The Decemberists - "16 Miliatary Wives"
  • XTC - "Here Comes President Kill Again"

    • Folk and Fringe

  • Simon & Garfunkle -Every album by this duo --with the possible exception of the first --is a treasure chest of melody, harmony and poetry.
  • Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (see above)
  • Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seegar - "Freeborn Man" (see above)
  • They Might Be Giants - Flood, Apollo 18 The eccentric tunesters at their paradoxical best.
  • Moxy Fruvous - Bargainville The cult favorite's most successful blend of comedy and depth
  • Sinead O'Connor
  • Warren Zevon - Genius
  • Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine - Top notch musicianship makes these lounge renditions of popular music more than just a one-time joke --some versions even improve on the originals.

    • Elder Statesmen (and Women)of Music

    As the new millenia dawned, some very old artists recorded some very good albums"
  • Blind Boys of Alabama - Spirit of the Century
  • Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around
  • Solomon Burke - Don't Give Up On Me
  • Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose

    • Soundtracks

  • Waking Life (Tango)
  • Garden State (Alternative)The soundtrack is better than the movie.
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Idlewild Outkast (Post-hop)
  • O Brother Where Art Thou (Bluegrass/Gospel)
  • The Harder They Come (Reggae)
  • Y Tu Mama Tambien (World and Various)
  • The Graduate (Simon & Garfunkle)

    • Country Music

  • Dixie Chicks - Home
  • Kenny Rogers - "The Gambler"
  • Garth Brooks - "Friends In Low Places"
  • Mary Chapin Carpenter - "I Feel Lucky"
  • Bonnie Raitt - "Somethin' to Talk About"
  • Patsy Cline - "Crazy"
  • Ray Charles - "Born to Lose"
  • Randy Travis - High Lonesome
  • Dolly Parton
  • Willie Nelson

    • Classical Music

  • Gabriel Faure - Pavane
  • Maurice Ravel - Boléro
  • Johann Pachelbel - Canon in D Major
  • J. S. Bach
    • Air on a G String
    • Concerto for Two Violins in D minor
  • G.P. Da Palestrina - Sicut Cervus
  • Beethoven - String Quartet #14 in C# Minor, Op. 131: I. Adagio, Ma Non Troppo E Molto Espressivo
  • Buxtehude - Sonata for Violin, Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord in B Flat Major, BuxWV 255 Op. 1 No. 4
  • Francois Couperin - Les Baricades Mystérieuses The title is said to be a reference to female genitalia.
  • Offenbach - Barcarolle (Tales of Hoffman)
  • Fritz Kreisler - Preludium and Allegro
  • Bizet - Carmen: "Quand je vous amerai?"

    • A Few Guilty Pleasures

  • Chicago - "If You Leave Me Now"
  • The Bangles
  • Blondie
  • Neil Diamond
  • John Denver

    • What's Current

    Who is making the most interesting music of today?
  • Beck
  • Outkast
  • Gnarls Barkley
  • Gorillaz
  • White Stripes
  • The Shins
    • Check out my original music live or on MIDI.
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