Dez's 5 Star Albums: The S's, Pt. 1

The S's are probably my lengthiest letter, so it will be split into two still lengthy posts. I'm moving Springsteen slightly out of order, since I would have to split his entries between the two posts if I had stayed strictly alphabetical. I like to keep the artists together within a single post.

Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin' (2011): A modern soul/funk classic that has a joyful bounce reminiscent of prime Sly Stone.

Santana - Santana III (1971): Out of the 463 people who have come through Carlos Santana's band, this line-up is the most exciting, featuring a worthy guitar foil to Carlos in Neal Schon and also featuring organist/vocalist Greg Rollie, both of whom would soon leave to form Journey.

Santana - Caravanerai (1972): Often overlooked but bold fusion record that alternates between In a Silent Way-like calm and burning rock improvisation.

Joe Satriani - Satriani Live! (2006): Out of all of the guitar technician noodler wankers (that's a technical term), Satch is the one who matches his stunning technique with great writing and melodies that you might actually want to listen to.

Paul Simon - Graceland (1986): Simon wasn't the first Western pop star to experiment with world music, but his smash record Graceland opened a lot of Western ears to new sounds by marrying infectious African pop with his usual set of masterful compositions.

Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence (1966): Pop folk just doesn't get any more beautiful or pure than this.

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993): Billy Corgan's mix of melodic, melancholy songs with his wall of sound prog rock/psychedelic noise stood out in sharp contrast to the back to basics grunge movement of the time.

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986): While justifiably known primarily as one of the greatest singles bands of the 80's, TQID showed that Morrissey and Marr were also capable of making thrilling, cohesive records.

Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Oar (1969): What makes 60's acid casualty Skip Spence's (of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape) only solo record so fascinating, beautiful and gripping is his immense talent still barely gets him through in these haunting, fragile songs / fragments recorded completely solo and just after Spence had been discharged from the mental ward.

Spinal Tap - 'This Is Spinal Tap' original motion picture soundtrack (1984): Yes, they were a joke band created for the brilliant film, but part of what makes the film so great and so damn funny is that these great parodies of hard rock / metal c*ck rock fit so comfortably (and affectionately) next to the real thing (try the "KISS lyric or Spinal Tap lyric" game sometime to see what I mean).

Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (1969): Taking the British perfectionist torch singer out of her comfort zone and making her record a soul record almost against her will, due to almost crippling insecurities, turned out to be an inspired move, to say the least.

Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill (1972): Steely Dan was strong straight out of the gate, with this debut featuring classics like "Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years" (with some of the tastiest guitar work of the 70's), as well as personal Dan favorites like "Dirty Work" and "Kings."

Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy (1973): While all of their 70's records up through Aja deserve recognition, I guess I prefer the earlier days when they were still a real band vs. a studio laboratory for Fagan and Becker.

Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story (1971): It is a shame if all you remember about Rod is cheesy late 70's schlock or lazy interpretations of standards, because there was a time when he was a gritty roots rocker destined for greatness (with a huge assist from Ron Wood).

ABOVE: Not only was Jeff "Skunk" Baxter a member of Steely Dan for their first three albums and later a member of The Doobie Brothers (he looks like a Doobie, doesn't he?), but he was also an in demand session guitarist. Baxter currently chairs a congressional advisory board on missile defense, and he has high level security clearance and consults for the Defense Department and the CIA. Really.