When you don’t know what to listen to … go-to albums

[introclaus]

I often sit at work and want to listen to music but not really in the mood for something new or not familiar … I want to listen to something that I can put on in the background, hum along with it, and just enjoy.

The ones (in the metal genre at least) I seem to always reach for are:
- Royal Hunt “Paradox”
- Blind Guardian “Imaginations from the Other Side”
- Shadow Gallery “Tyranny”
- Warlord “And the Cannons…”
- Adagio “Sanctus Ignis”
- Tiamat “A Deeper Kind of Slumber”
- Yngwie Malmsteen “Rising Force”
- Katatonia “Dead End Kings”
- King Diamond “Abigail”
- Fates Warning “Parallels”

Any of these 10 albums will put me in that productive mood where I can go through spreadsheets and meeting notes etc faster than anything else

What are yours?

[Random Axe]

I find myself doing this more and more.

Images and Words
House of Spirits - ToTT
Chicago - greatest hits
Styx - live Return of Paradise

Those are just a few examples. I'm sure I have other albums that never fail.

[LarryD]

These are some of my go to discs when I'm in a "mood" and I don't know what to play specifically .... I always reach for one of these:

Chicago / The Very Best - Only the Beginning
Elton John / Goodbye Yellow Brick Rd
Shadow Gallery / Tyranny
IQ / Subterranea
Sylvan / Posthumous Silence
Votum / Harvest Moon
Arcane / Chronicles of the Waking Dream
Riverside / Second Life Syndrome
Wolverine / Communication Lost
Extreme / Three Sides to Every Story

[Sir Exar Kun]

Too many choices, but here's what I tend to blindly go back to over and over:

DT - Awake
PoS - Remedy Lane
Within Temptation - Mother Earth
Symphony X - Divine Wings
Queensryche - Rage for Order or Empire
Blind Guardian - Imaginations
Savatage - Gutter Ballet
Angra - Angels Cry
Leprous - Bilateral
Ayreon - Human Equation

[prog_powermetal99]

I have too many metal ones that I really can't list them all here.
This isn't everyone's cup of tea, but 3 of my favorite go to non-metal CDs to listen to are:


Gordan Lightfoot - Greatest Hits.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

[introclaus]

I have too many metal ones that I really can't list them all here.
This isn't everyone's cup of tea, but 3 of my favorite go to non-metal CDs to listen to are:


Gordan Lightfoot - Greatest Hits.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

“Little Earthquakes” is my favorite album across all genres bar none. There’s absolutely nothing that comes close to it.

Interesting - you’re the second person I’ve heard this month who loves “The Dreaming”. I always thought I was the only one. It’s such an oddball in her catalogue, much more “avant-garde” than any of Kate’s other albums.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Gordon Lightfoot.

[introclaus]

Too many choices, but here's what I tend to blindly go back to over and over:

DT - Awake
PoS - Remedy Lane
Within Temptation - Mother Earth
Symphony X - Divine Wings
Queensryche - Rage for Order or Empire
Blind Guardian - Imaginations
Savatage - Gutter Ballet
Angra - Angels Cry
Leprous - Bilateral
Ayreon - Human Equation

Great list - all brilliant albums but for my taste some of them would demand too much effort to have them on while working (“Bilateral”, “Mother Earth”, “Human Equation”, “Remedy Lane”…).

[prog_powermetal99]

Interesting - you’re the second person I’ve heard this month who loves “The Dreaming”. I always thought I was the only one. It’s such an oddball in her catalogue, much more “avant-garde” than any of Kate’s other albums.

Yep, funny story is that back in my college years I never even heard of Kate Bush. Then one night when I was lying in bed listening to this college radio station after midnight and the song "get out of my house" came on the radio. Of course my initial reaction as a pure metal head back then was, "WTF is this?", but it was compelling, so I kept listening. Then I heard the title mentioned after the song played, went down to tower records, and found the title on "The Dreaming", bought the cassette, and I absolutely loved the entire thing, and then ended up buying her entire catalog on cassette a month later LOL.........

[Sir Exar Kun]

Great list - all brilliant albums but for my taste some of them would demand too much effort to have them on while working (“Bilateral”, “Mother Earth”, “Human Equation”, “Remedy Lane”…).

I think it's simply that I've heard them so many times now, they are tattooed on the back of my brain so don't require any effort at this point.....

[introclaus]

Great list - all brilliant albums but for my taste some of them would demand too much effort to have them on while working (“Bilateral”, “Mother Earth”, “Human Equation”, “Remedy Lane”…).

I think it's simply that I've heard them so many times now, they are tattooed on the back of my brain so don't require any effort at this point.....

Haha - well, not sure what to say; "Bilateral" I know better than most other albums in my collection (I was their manager at the time, so ...) and "Remedy Lane" is one of the most important albums of all time to me (heck, the first-dance at our wedding was to "This heart of mine", so yeah it has a unique meaning to me). Obviously knowing an album really well helps being able to listen w/o effort, but to me at least some albums still demand intensive listening.

[introclaus]

Great list - all brilliant albums but for my taste some of them would demand too much effort to have them on while working (“Bilateral”, “Mother Earth”, “Human Equation”, “Remedy Lane”…).

I think it's simply that I've heard them so many times now, they are tattooed on the back of my brain so don't require any effort at this point.....

Haha - well, not sure what to say; "Bilateral" I know better than most other albums in my collection (I was their manager at the time, so ...) and "Remedy Lane" is one of the most important albums of all time to me (heck, the first-dance at our wedding was to "This heart of mine", so yeah it has a unique meaning to me). Obviously knowing an album really well helps being able to listen w/o effort, but to me at least some albums still demand intensive listening.

Side note: The mention of PoS in this thread made me go back and re-listen to a few of their albums (well, I actually do that fairly regularly, because ... I love that band). Well, I have said it before, and I'll say it again, "Road Salt 1" and "Road Salt 2" are criminally underrated. Gosh, those albums are so good. I know it's a very unpopular opinion, but haters are wrong and I'm obviously right

[Sir Exar Kun]

Side note: The mention of PoS in this thread made me go back and re-listen to a few of their albums (well, I actually do that fairly regularly, because ... I love that band). Well, I have said it before, and I'll say it again, "Road Salt 1" and "Road Salt 2" are criminally underrated. Gosh, those albums are so good. I know it's a very unpopular opinion, but haters are wrong and I'm obviously right

I'll go so far as to say they DO get a bad rap. That being said, I think there's a decent amount of filler that could have been trimmed, and it would have made one solid album instead of two mediocre ones.

I will say I would rather listen to "Road Salt" than "Be" any day of the week!

[devomeister]

Hmm, neat topic, this one. Obviously this list morphs as the years go by, but for me, the ones that I have had on the "default to" list for quite a while are

Fen 'Trails Out of Gloom'
Slug Comparison 'self titled' (a bit of a cheat, since this is the side project of Fen's lead singer and sounds a lot like Fen...basically I listen to this guy's stuff when I don't feel like picking something as it always hits the spot and never gets old).
Akord 'Etheriality'
Codec 'Horizontime'
something by Big Wreck usually. Currently it's "...but for the sun", despite newer material, the immediacy of the songwriting on that one appeals to me pretty much anytime. Before that one it was Albatross
Boil 'Axiom'
Deadsoul Tribe 'The January Tree' (or A Murder of Crows, but I find I reach for TJT more often)
Porcupine Tree 'In Absentia"
Syqem 'Reflection of Elephants'
The Shadow Theory 'Behind the Black Veil'

Those albums have seriously not left my phone/mp3 player/tablet/listening device for years and years. While other bands rotate, those are always there for me to queue up as dependable listening. I'm not sure if all of those would even make a list of "favorite albums", but they just always hit the spot no matter my mood.

[introclaus]

Hmm, neat topic, this one. Obviously this list morphs as the years go by, but for me, the ones that I have had on the "default to" list for quite a while are

Fen 'Trails Out of Gloom'
Slug Comparison 'self titled' (a bit of a cheat, since this is the side project of Fen's lead singer and sounds a lot like Fen...basically I listen to this guy's stuff when I don't feel like picking something as it always hits the spot and never gets old).
Akord 'Etheriality'
Codec 'Horizontime'
something by Big Wreck usually. Currently it's "...but for the sun", despite newer material, the immediacy of the songwriting on that one appeals to me pretty much anytime. Before that one it was Albatross
Boil 'Axiom'
Deadsoul Tribe 'The January Tree' (or A Murder of Crows, but I find I reach for TJT more often)
Porcupine Tree 'In Absentia"
Syqem 'Reflection of Elephants'
The Shadow Theory 'Behind the Black Veil'

Those albums have seriously not left my phone/mp3 player/tablet/listening device for years and years. While other bands rotate, those are always there for me to queue up as dependable listening. I'm not sure if all of those would even make a list of "favorite albums", but they just always hit the spot no matter my mood.

Never heard the first 5
Can't stand Porcupine Tree
The other 4 are great albums - Syqem is such a brilliant band, a shame they can't seem to get a follow-up together (the singles they've done over the years are quite solid).

[Mardoch]

Akord 'Etheriality'

This is a really cool choice. I think they broke up, which makes me really sad, because this album is killer. For anyone wanting to check it out: https://akordofficial.bandcamp.com/album/ethereality

I'm not sure I have actual go-to albums. There's a ton of stuff I will generally be cool with hearing, but when I don't know what to grab I usually look at my recent purchases for something I haven't given enough time and throw that on.

[prog_powermetal99]

I have too many metal ones that I really can't list them all here.
This isn't everyone's cup of tea, but 3 of my favorite go to non-metal CDs to listen to are:


“Little Earthquakes” is my favorite album across all genres bar none. There’s absolutely nothing that comes close to it.

Hey Claus,
are there any Tori albums you wouldn't recommend listening to? I haven't heard anything newer than Choirgirl Hotel. I noticed on Amazon that many of her newer albums had pretty mixed reviews compared to her earlier stuff....Thoughts?

[introclaus]

Hey Claus,
are there any Tori albums you wouldn't recommend listening to? I haven't heard anything newer than Choirgirl Hotel. I noticed on Amazon that many of her newer albums had pretty mixed reviews compared to her earlier stuff....Thoughts?

I don't think I can answer that question as I'm a super/uber-fan (as per latest count, my CD/vinyl/cassette/DVD/iTunes collection counts 113 unique albums or singles of Tori Amos ... and I have a bunch of books as well) and thus very forgiving of things other might not appreciate in her songwriting; heck, I even LOVE the "The Light Princess" even if Tori herself is almost non-present on the album.

Instead, I'd rather recommend you which ones to check out of her "post-Choirgirl" outputs:

Strange Little Girls, 2001 - this is such an interesting album, where she performs cover versions of other people's songs, but truly making them her own (like Slayer's "Raining Blood" or Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays" just to mention 2 great examples). If for nothing else, check it out for the novelty factor.

The Beekeeper, 2005 - probably her most introspective and "softest" album. It's one of those albums that I feel is very underrated - there are no huge hits on it except perhaps "Sleeps with Butterflies" which doesn't really have much hit-power to it if you ask me. It's just a very well written album which doesn't "rock the boat" by being provocative or innovative or anything like that - but for me it's such a smooth, mellow listen and there's just one great song after each other here.

Night of Hunters, 2011 - Tori's first full-on classical album, and it's just a very unusual album to listen. I love this album and would rank it in my top 5 of her albums. Songs like "Job's Coffin" or "The Chase" - both actually featuring Tori's daughter on guest vocals - are absolute winners in my book.

Native invader, 2017 - For some reason I keep coming back to this one. It's different from most of her albums, in that it has a "dark aura" to it, and is also the only of her albums to have a very American folksy feel to it. This one is a grower for sure, and with each time I play it, I appreciate it more and more.

That said, if you have the energy/desire/time to check out more, don't miss out on albums such as "American Doll Posse", 2007 (her most rockin' album), "Abnormally Attracted to Sin", 2009 (her most diverse material), "Scarlet's Walk", 2002 (kind of follows the same lines as "Under the Pink" but not quite as good if you ask me) or "To Venus and Back - Disc 1" (very much a continuation of "From the Choirgirl Hotel" style)

[prog_powermetal99]

Hey Claus,
are there any Tori albums you wouldn't recommend listening to? I haven't heard anything newer than Choirgirl Hotel. I noticed on Amazon that many of her newer albums had pretty mixed reviews compared to her earlier stuff....Thoughts?

I don't think I can answer that question as I'm a super/uber-fan (as per latest count, my CD/vinyl/cassette/DVD/iTunes collection counts 113 unique albums or singles of Tori Amos ... and I have a bunch of books as well) and thus very forgiving of things other might not appreciate in her songwriting; heck, I even LOVE the "The Light Princess" even if Tori herself is almost non-present on the album.

Instead, I'd rather recommend you which ones to check out of her "post-Choirgirl" outputs:

Strange Little Girls, 2001 - this is such an interesting album, where she performs cover versions of other people's songs, but truly making them her own (like Slayer's "Raining Blood" or Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays" just to mention 2 great examples). If for nothing else, check it out for the novelty factor.

The Beekeeper, 2005 - probably her most introspective and "softest" album. It's one of those albums that I feel is very underrated - there are no huge hits on it except perhaps "Sleeps with Butterflies" which doesn't really have much hit-power to it if you ask me. It's just a very well written album which doesn't "rock the boat" by being provocative or innovative or anything like that - but for me it's such a smooth, mellow listen and there's just one great song after each other here.

Night of Hunters, 2011 - Tori's first full-on classical album, and it's just a very unusual album to listen. I love this album and would rank it in my top 5 of her albums. Songs like "Job's Coffin" or "The Chase" - both actually featuring Tori's daughter on guest vocals - are absolute winners in my book.

Native invader, 2017 - For some reason I keep coming back to this one. It's different from most of her albums, in that it has a "dark aura" to it, and is also the only of her albums to have a very American folksy feel to it. This one is a grower for sure, and with each time I play it, I appreciate it more and more.

That said, if you have the energy/desire/time to check out more, don't miss out on albums such as "American Doll Posse", 2007 (her most rockin' album), "Abnormally Attracted to Sin", 2009 (her most diverse material), "Scarlet's Walk", 2002 (kind of follows the same lines as "Under the Pink" but not quite as good if you ask me) or "To Venus and Back - Disc 1" (very much a continuation of "From the Choirgirl Hotel" style)

awesome! Thank you for such a well thought out and detailed post.............