My Top 17 Vinyl Albums

Secretly, if you're ever here at the library or you come over to my house and you hear that song, it means get out. It's one of those albums that you put on and when it's over, you just want to start it over. I don't think that this album has kind of had its arc yet in. In my mind, because there's really nowhere to hide for an audio system with this album. And I always enjoy people trying to put things in categories when you could, you know, just enjoy it for what, you know. You just imagine him smoking a cigarette, drinking glass. Welcome to the Syndicate X Library, where we love books and we also love vinyl records. So today I'm going to share with you my top 17 vinyl records. Now, these albums are not in a particular order, so it would be hard for me to pick favorites, but there are 17 now in this, we have gospel, we have country, we have jazz, we have rock. It's. It's a very diverse group of records and I just love music that whoever made it cared about what they were doing and, you know, had something to say. Let's get started. The first one here is Miles Davis, Kinda Blue. The UHQR pressing of this. It's a perfect album. The standup bass, the melodies, the soundstage and separation, it just pulls you in it. So this next one is Zach Bryan's sort of latest. He just came out with something new. This album is different to me than his other stuff and the way that it's performed the. The different types of instruments on it. And it's one of those albums that you put on and when it's over, you just want to start it over it again. The national first two pages of Frankenstein. It's a great album. Their new one, Laugh Tracks, is in heavy rotation, but I was still having a great time with this album when they came out with With Laugh Track. So I don't think that this album has kind of had its arc yet. In. In my mind, I still keep going back to it over and over again. My favorite track on here is probably Eucalyptus. I love the line of Whatever Happened to the Afghan Wigs?

I wonder the same thing myself. Van Morrissey and Moondance. This is the perfect album. It does not get much better than this. This would be one of the albums I would bring if you invited me over to your house to hear your system, because there's really nowhere to hide for an audio system with this album. Especially those highs, they. They really can show what your speakers are capable of. The separation, it's incredible. This is not a hi fi album by any stretch of the imagination, but it is in heavy rotation here. Great songwriting, and I. I really enjoy watching Post Malone kind of push himself in different directions. And I know maybe his hardcore fans think he's kind of leaving the lane that. That he was in, but I. I really like experiencing that and kind of seeing where he's going.

Starting over. Chris Stapleton. This is one that I will put on for people, and they don't think that it's country. They think that it's blues. And I always enjoy people trying to put things in categories when you could, you know, just enjoy it for what it is. The performances on this, the recording of it, the execution of it, it's. Is great. My favorite song on here is the last one, Nashville, where he's basically breaking up with Nashville. Little R and B for you. Bill Withers, Greatest Hits, Just the Two of Us and Soul Shadows. You put this album on, you're like, wow, I didn't realize how many great songs Bill has. And then his. His voice, the. The. The way that it's executed, it's. It's incredible. It's a. It's a top 10 of all time, for sure. And then you can't overlook this incredible album art. I. I would love to hear the story behind this, because you got some sort of bourbon or something going on here. You got a cup of coffee. Check this out on the backside, you got shrimp and caviar. I would have loved to have been in the meeting where they're like, no, we got to put a shrimp on there. Spiritualized, ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space as a. As a piece of work. It just keeps building and building. You're like, how could you top that? It's a little Beatlesque in certain places, but the way that they do that is still original. My first concert when I was five years old was Andre Crouch and the Disciples in a church in Bremerton, Washington. And I have never, never seen a predominantly white congregation dancing and moving and shaking like that building was shaking. I. I had never experienced anything like that. It was an earthquake in Bremerton, Washington. It really was. So this is Andre Crouch and the Disciples live in London. Some of the best gospel music you. You will ever hear. His songwriting. This. This is one that I. I put on when I'm trying to get excited or fired up for the day. This one has kind of surprised me. So this is yachty. Let's start. Here is what this album is called. I was. I was in a record store A while ago. And I just asked the guy who owns it, what are you into right now? And he's like, yachty. And I was like, is it rap? He's like, not this time. And it's yachty with a band. Just as a side note, love the album art. This is clearly done with. With AI, like with Mid Journey, which is something we've been experimenting with. For my new leadership book that. That I have coming out, here's another country one. So Morgan Wallen, Dangerous. His. His newest album is. Is great. The fact that he can put this many songs on an album, but every song is great. Like, there isn't one song on here that. That you would. You'd be like, hey, you know, that one can go from beginning to end. It's really well executed in the songwriting. Of course, that maybe is the highlight of this album is the songwriting. And his. His voice is nuts. This is the perfect country album to me. And my favorite song on here is the last one, which is Quitting Time, which I always secretly. If you're ever here at the library or you come over to my house and you hear that song, it means get out.

I'm just kidding. But it is kind of an inside joke here that when I put that song on, everybody knows that it's kind of time to go.

There's this YouTube channel called 45 RPM with Michael is his name, and I'm a big fan of his channel. I watch him and I've learned a lot about vinyl from him. He does at times have an abstract taste and. And I have ordered albums that he was really into, and they were maybe a little too much like a piano falling down a staircase, just a little too avant garde. But one of his recommendations just opened up a whole nother lane for me is Nicholas Jar. He was talking about this album. Nicholas Jarr is one of the. One of the most talented creators of music I think alive right now. The thing I love about this album is there's parts of it that the. The bars don't really ever repeat. They're never the same. I would tell you too, if you want an introduction to Nicholas Jar, go to. Go to YouTube or go to SoundCloud and type in Nicholas Jar BBC DJ set. You've never heard anything like that. I know it's widely considered one of the best DJ sets. You'll start to understand what I mean. So Amenra Mask six. This is. Is one that I put on when I am writing. So I used to write to, like the Inception soundtrack, a Lot. I think the category here is, is maybe death metal. It's heavy heavy music. If you start this album from the beginning and you. You go through it, you never feel that really the way that it unravels and kind of develops and starts to show you what it is, is so melo. But it puts me in. In this kind of hypnotic state when I'm writing. That is very effective. I will say though, when I'm in that. In that kind of bubble and somebody walks in the room, they. They are shocked by how heavy it is when they come in, you know, kind of in the. In the middle or somewhere else in the album. Soul Savers. It's not how far you fall, it's the way you land. These guys are DJs from the UK. So this is Mark Lanegan, maybe at arguably his best. Mark Lanegan's got one of the best male voices in music. It's that, you know, you just imagine him smoking a cigarette, drinking glass, and the contrast of his voice and what they're doing with the music, it's like nothing else really out there.

Swimming in Circles with Mac Miller. This is a kind of limited edition release of Swimming and Circles. I just love to put this on and kind of go through both albums. There's just a vibe to it that I really connect with. And then on top of that, the execution of the artwork and design of this is also beautiful. The Smile album, a light for attracting attention. It's similar to the Spiritualized album in the way that it starts out and you're like, wow, this is really good. And then the next song, next song comes on, you're like, you just get, you know, more and more excited as it goes and it just builds. I'm not a huge radio head connoisseur, but I think Johnny who, you know, mostly is doing the guitar. His experience doing scores for movies like There Will Be Blood and different ones has given him this kind of cinematic approach where he just keeps getting better and better. Massive Attack Mezzanine. The fact that it's, you know, 25 plus years old and the way that it sounds is nuts. And then the way Massive Attack pioneered this style of trip hop where it has this feeling like the beat is just like a tick slower than your natural heartbeat, which has this effect on you where it's pulling you in, it's kind of slowing you down enough that you, you have to, you have to let it in. So that is my top 17 albums that I'm constantly putting on. Listening to. Little insight into me. You probably have come to the conclusion by now that I'm a little bit crazy and probably a little bit different than most people. But, hey, that's what makes us all unique and fun. I appreciate you spending this time. And also, I just recently shared my top books, my top seven books of all time. Check it out. But remember, we love books and we love vinyl, maybe even more. And I'll see you next time on the next video.