My 10 Favourite Albums

On Facebook a good friend of mine, a very special friend, nominated me to share an album a day that was influential in my life. I just finished posting my favourite movies, so I thought it’d be a cool idea to share all ten albums for my weekly post. Here they are:

Billy Joel, Greatest Hits— BJ has so many songs that I love. I was never one to collect his albums, but this one I listened to a lot, especially in the 90’s.

U2, The Joshua Tree— This was one of my favourites to listen to in high school. Bono’s voice communicates so much heart and passion. I can feel every song in my gut.

Beatles, One— Similar to Billy Joel, the Beatles have had so many sons I love and this was one I listened to a lot, especially in the 00’s.

Sesame Street Fever— Twice in my life I’ve had this record and then lost it. As a kid,

as an adult, I loved that it included “Rubber Duckie,” “C is for Cookie,” and “Doin’ the Pigeon.”

Eminem, Recovery— When I lost my job and was going through some tough life decisions, this album was very therapeutic. And I’ve discovered that foul language in music is a little like subtitles in movies. If you can’t get over that 1” hurdle you miss out on a lot of great stuff.

Rich Mullins, A Liturgy, A Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band— I could list several more albums by this artist, but this one I think hits all the buttons best. No one resonates with me like the late Rich Mullins.

Bryan Adams, Reckless— As a young teen, this album was everything. Every song was like an anthem for me. I didn’t think any song could possibly get cooler than “Summer of ‘69,” and 25-30 years later, I’m thinking it’s still true.

White Heart, Freedom— Every song on this album is great. Every freaking song! There’s one (maybe two) that I don’t really agree with their message, but love the songs all the same.

The Who, Who’s Next— Would you believe I hadn’t discovered this one ‘til hearing CSI Miami’s opener one night and having a student at the college where I taught lend me his CD. “Baba O’Reilly” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” are particularly special to me and my son Luke.

Rich Mullins, The Jesus Record— I’ll never forget hearing the news that the most influential music artist in my life died in a car accident. He had nine songs in his head that he wanted to put on his next album along with a song by one of his band members. He died without writing any of the lyrics or music. However, a tape was found where he sat at a piano in a church and recorded each one, which was fortunate considering he’d never done this before. The songs on it got me through a lot of tough times, especially while I was still a minister.

And this week we voted on four different Marvel movies. I do love each one, and I was glad to see which one got picked as the winner, as it is one of my absolute favourite animated movies of all time.

Congratulations This is  your week.

Best Actress:

Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia in For me, this was an easy choice.

Best Actor: Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in

Best Quote: “Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.” — Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in

Some artists who’ve made a big impact on me weren’t on my list, mainly because there wasn’t a one single album that affected me, rather certain songs did. They include Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Aerosmith, Kermit the Frog (seriously), and Queen.