Ok, in posts and emails I’ve received more than a few suggestions to buy:
“Dylan—buy ‘Blood on the Tracks.’ Even if you don’t love it at first—and you prob won’t—give it 10 or 12 listens. It’s a masterpiece. “Shelter from the Storm” is a wonderful love song.”
“I became a Dylan convert this summer (and I grew up on hair metal in the late 80’s and used to share your opinion re his unintelligibility). Pick up a copy of Blood on the Tracks. The whole album’s excellent, but “Tangled Up in Blue,” “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go,” “Shelter From the Storm,” and “Buckets of Rain” are the best tracks.”
So I will buy basically all of the songs/albums people suggested and see what I think. Be forewarned, however, I went through a very long Michael Jackson phase that extended much further than it should…. Ok, I admit, I bought the massive Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection last fall. And I liked it. What an artist he was and what’s great about the collection is that it contains all of these demo tracks for songs like Billie Jean and songs that were cut from albums that still sound great.
But on I now go to Dylan and Bloc Party and Incubus and David Crowder and Wilco and James Brown and Sigur Ros and Muse and Sufjan Stevens and The Flaming Lips and Eddie from Ohio and Kepano Green and Springsteen and the Newsboys and Reliant K and Augustanna and Ben Harper and Miles Davis (ok, maybe not Miles Davis) and the Fray and Daughtry and Carrie Underwood and Norah Jones and Spokie Daly Pride (seriously) and Maren Ord and Lisbeth Scott and Darrell Evans and Allison Krauss and Old Crow Medicine Show and the Dixie Chicks and I can’t type anymore right now. It might be wise for everyone to go buy Apple stock because iTunes is going to be busy.