This is part 53 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 and 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.
Daniel Kline, Contributing Writer, Motley Fool
Buffalo Tom, Let Me Come Over
Not only is it a criminally underrated gem full of well-written songs and should-have-been-hits, it was also the first album I reviewed in college. Songs like “Taillights Fade,” “Frozen Lake,” and “Porchlight” are timeless classics even if only a relative few of us know their beauty. I bonded with my best friend/best man in my wedding over this album, have watched its songs played countless times in rooms exploding with joy, and have punctuated most of life’s big moments by going back to its songs. Buffalo Tom deserved better than it got. They’re a band that made arena music which somehow just never had a real moment, but “Let Me Come Over” is one of those timeless albums that will always have an audience.
Curt Quesnell, KKDQ FM, Thief River Falls, MN
Doctor Hook & The Medicine Show, Sloppy Seconds
Something about the band touched me deep inside. I was such a huge fan of the band back then and I still have most of the songs on my iPod. 43 years later, I still listen to at least some of it every day.
Tamara Palmer, Author, Country Fried Soul: Adventures in Dirty South Hip-Hop and daily writer at Bravo TV and NBC Bay Area
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead
There are very few albums where I know every last note, word and ad lib, and very few that make me feel as calm and happy down to my soul as I do when listening to it. Getting to see most of the songs performed live on stage at the age of 12 remains one of my favorite concert memories now, 30 years later. Morrissey’s lyrical wit helped spark a love of words that drives me in my craft every day.
Raina Douris, Afternoon Drive Host, INDIE88, Toronto, ON
Ben Folds Five, Whatever And Ever Amen
Every single song on that record matches up with a moment in my life – from relationships, to break ups, to personal struggles. I know every word to every tune, and the lyrics had a huge impact on my own writing. It’s also a record that I learned about from a boy in high school that I had a crush on… he loved it, so I went and bought it. And fell in love with it. And then, 13 years later, that boy and I reconnected… and fell in love with each other. We’re still together, and we listen to Ben Folds all the time.
Corey, Host of “Amplified Afternoons”, KIWR, 89.7 The River, Omaha, NE
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
I love the unmistakable harmonies of The Beach Boys anyway! But when The Beach Boys left California in 1965 to tour without Brian Wilson, he stayed home to write the greatest album of all time. And I believe he achieved it. Now you had those same harmonies, but with deeper lyrical substance, and a “Wall of Sound” type backing by the greatest band of the era, The Wrecking Crew. As predicted by the rest of The Beach Boys, it wasn’t the commercial success that their previous records were. But the critics loved it, and so did The Beatles. This record was inspired by The Beatles, and it inspired The Beatles.
