This is part 44 of an ongoing series where the kind folk of the music business reveal their favourite album of all time.
Ask people in the music industry the seemingly simple and straightforward question, “What is your favourite album of all time?” and you’ll find that it’s not always easy. After all, my industry peers listen to hundreds of albums a month – thousands of songs during that time. Because the question isn’t the best album of all time or the one that’s made them the most money in sales, or the most clicked-on review, but the one release they personally can’t live without, that one title they have two copies of in several formats, in case one breaks. It’s also about that album that for them has the best back stories and the one that has the most meaning in their lives.
Emily McIntosh, Music Director & Mid-Day Host, 93.3 KGSR/Austin
Weezer, Weezer (The Blue Album)
I discovered Weezer, and subsequently The Blue Album, in high school. It was the perfect soundtrack to my formative years. I first heard “Buddy Holly” on 92.7FM out of Wichita, KS – during the short stint it was an alternative station. In fact, reception was so terrible and I had to fasten aluminum foil to my boombox antenna to get the station at all. Weezer (The Blue Album) fit the full range of my teenage emotion- the angst-y “Say it Ain’t So”, the wistful “Only in Dreams”, the mindless pop-punk of “Buddy Holly”. There’s a reason these songs are still in the playlists of radio stations around the country: they struck a chord; and still do.
Jeff Miller, editor, Thrillist Los Angeles, writer, Billboard/ LA Times/ Relix.
Beck, Odelay
I’ve often said that if I had one album to listen to over and over and over again it’d be Odelay, and every time I think about my other favorite albums — London Calling, say, or Who’s Next — I come back to it. The depth of sound the Dust Brothers’ production gives it is remarkable; 20 years after its release it still sounds like it’s on the precipice of what’s possible musically — it shockingly doesn’t sound dated at all. Beck’s ability to make dynamic shifts from acoustic-ish songs like “Jack-Ass” to bangers like “Novacane” is unparalleled. It’s basically perfect.
Mark Rheaume, CBC Radio
Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue
I would cite this seminal recording for several reasons: I never stop playing it, I’ve owned it in countless formats through numerous reissues, and it marked my entry into traditional (i.e. acoustic) jazz after approaching the music cautiously from prog rock and fusion. But even if none of that was true, I would still make this my number one if only because of the sensation I felt at the 1:30 point of track one,”So What”, the first time I ever played this album. I knew instantly that I had never heard a better record and that I’d never experience a moment like that ever again.
Jamie Johnston, Promotions Director & Morning Show Co-Host Mix 106.5 Owen Sound, ON
Blind Melon, Blind Melon
I love it for a few reasons – I know it off by heart front to back from listening to it so many times and it so vividly & instantly transports me back to another time. I also love introducing it to people who only know the band based on their massive single “No Rain”, not even close to the best song on this album.
Eric Sannes, Vista Radio
The Doobie Brothers, The Captain & Me
For me it’s the grand master of acoustic rock. It’s a time machine that instantly transports me back to the very beginning of my career in radio. Some songs do the same thing, but for me it’s this album that lifts the veil of time.
