15 in 15

The rules:  Don't take too long to think about it.  Fifteen albums that you heard that will always stick with you.  List the first fifteen you can recall within 15 minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums you choose.  To do this, go to your notes tab on your profile page, click "write a note," paste title and rules in...


OK! I got this from the wonderful Jennifer Pemberton.  Let's look at my Fab Fifteen:

1. Hank Williams Lives Again - My Dad brought this one home in 1963; it had been released in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Hank's passing.  At that age (12) I didn't know Hank Williams from Hank Aaron, but this is the album I point to when someone says, "How did a Towson boy get into country music?"
   
2. Very Best of Joe Tex - I prize versatility, and Memphis legend Joe Tex was able to do novelty hits ("Skinny Legs and All") and love ballads ("The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)") and even inspirationals ("Buying A Book").  So what if he also did "Ain't Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman"?
   
3. Beach Boys Today - it came out in '65 and I about wore my copy out, playing it so much.
   
4. Meet The Beatles - The Beatles were a band from England.
   
5. The Ultimate Collection - Bing Crosby - Even if all he ever did was "Do You Hear What I Hear?" for the holidays, he'd still be on my list, but for pure singing, I always thought he was the best, edging out Billy Ray Cyrus in a close call.  
   
6. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan - where the folk met the rock
   
7. Cheap Trick at Budokan - I still can say that the sun sets on very few days that I haven't listened to "Surrender" from this by the time I hit the sack.
   
8. Chuck Berry's Golden Decade - even though he spent a significant portion of this decade behind bars, he made some wonderful music before and after and he duckwalked it so well that Angus Young carries on the tradition.
   
9. Elvis 30 #1 Hits - I promise you, this is true: the first time that someone suggested to me that a fellow employee would benefit from the EAP, I thought they were talking about Elvis Aron Presley, and not the Employee Assistance Program.  I still think the King would have done more good for that individual.  He taught the world that it was cool to be cool.
   
10. The Ernest Tubb Story - I've told this story a million times, but this man was one of the founding fathers of country music, and yet, he treated a 16-year-old high school kid like some sort of king when I interviewed him, and I will revere him to my grave.
    
11. We're Only In It For the Money - Mothers of Invention - Baltimore's own Frank Zappa combined social satire with music and just got a monument here in the Monumental City.
    
12. The Essential Hank Snow - another legendary country guy - he was good enough on guitar to record instrumentals with Chet Atkins, and great enough as a singer to have hits in 5 decades.  Which is four more than Sugarland.
    
13. Phil Spector - Back to Mono - 1958 - 1969 - I know that the only thing most people know about Phil is that he shot a woman to death and now languishes in a California jail, a life wasted.  But the music he made before, so great.
    
14. Love Story 1966 - 1972 - LOVE - I consider that there might be 147 fans of this band on the face of the earth, and I've been one since these days.  The brilliance of Arthur Lee is indisputable, if only people would listen.  Won't you?
    
15. Electric Warrior - T Rex - there must be something hypnotic in the subtle boogie beat here; I can't live without this CD.  "Life's a gas."