The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 39 of 100 - "Five Great Genres - Five Great Records"

 Clifford Coulter - "Do It Now, Think About It Later!" (1972) One of the greatest Jazz Funk LP's ever etched in wax!

 Dollar Brand - "Cape Town Fringe" (1977)  I could listen to this endless groove forever!

 Jim Kweskin And The Jug Band (1967) Jug band music hasn't resurfaced lately, but one day it will be a major force in music again!

 Joe Cocker - "With A Little Help From My Friends" (1969) When Joe covers a song, there's a damn good chance it might be better than the original!

Stevie Wonder - "Fulfillingness' First Finale" (1974) I could listen to this stuff all day long! I never get tired of "Boogie On Reggae Woman!"

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 38 of 100 - "More Late Psych Psixties Greats"

THORINSHIELD - "Thorinshield" (1968)

I love this record just because I never could figure out what in the Hell they were up to! Mystery in music is a good thing! Pop Schmock, but interesting with titles like Life Is A Dream," and "Daydreaming," with awkward horn arrangements! Better than the whole Windham Hill catalogue!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - "After Bathing At Baxter's" (1967)

Although I've already put two other Jefferson Airplane records on this list, "After Bathing At Baxter's" is my favourite Airplane album! It is perfectly crazy from start to finish!

MIKE BLOOMFIELD, AL KOOPER, STEPHEN STILLS - "Super Session" (1968)

The most beautiful, and one of the best songs on the record is the shortest, and the only one written by unheralded bass player Harvey Brooks called "Harvey's Tune!" This is a great LP!

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - "The United States Of America" (1967)

This is another one of those records that doesn't get enough creds for being weird ahead of it's time! It's not always comforting, but then, "Reality Is Only Temporary!"

VANILLA FUDGE - "Vanilla Fudge" (1967)

The greatest and most original cover band ever!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 37 of 100 - "Blues With A Feeling"

The Blues Project - "Projections" (1966)

Super talented group of guys that included Al Kooper on Keys and vocals, Tommy Flanders on vocals, Danny Kalb playing guitar, Steve Katz on guitar and vocals, Andy Kulberg playing bass and flute, and Roy Blumenfield on drums!

Blues Breakers - John Mayall with Eric Clapton (1966)

When it comes to British blues, it doesn't get much better than this, with John Mayall on vocals, keys, and Harp, Slow Hand Clapton on guitar, Fleetwood Mac's John McVie on bass, and Hughie Flint on the traps! It might be the blues, but it's rock solid!

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - "East - West" (1966)

With songs written by everybody from Mike Nesmith to Muddy Waters, two amazing guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, a 13 minute epic psych title song, and a great cover, this album has it all! Paul Butterfield on harp and vocals, Mark Naftalin on keys, Jerome Arnold on Bass, and Billy Davenport on Drums!!

"Spider" John Koerner, Tony "Little Sun" Glover" and Dave "Snaker" Ray - "Lots More Blues, Rags and Hollers" (1964)

Folk Blues at it's finest hour!

Climax Chicago Blues Band - "Tightly Knit" (1971)

Before they became the Climax Blues Band, they were known as the Climax Chicago Blues Band! This is not my favourite cover by any means, but the music inside is good enough to make up for it!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 36 of 100 - "Down Home Good Old Boys"

Here's five records by 5 guys that all have that comfortable 'sit down, kick your heels up, and relax' style of American music that's not Country, and I like them all!

 First up from Oak Grove, Louisiana is the great Tony Joe White and his second album made in 1969 called ...."Continued!"

J.J. Cale hailed from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and this was his first record released in 1971. It was called "Naturally" and is just one of J.J.'s many fine records!

Singer, songwriter Bobby Charles was born in Abbeville, Louisiana, and was one of the early purveyors of a genre of music called Swamp Pop! This 1972 self-titled album was just stylish! 

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks aka Mr. Taj Mahal, was born in Harlem, New York! Taj has so many wonderful records, it was hard to just pick out one, but "Satisfied And Tickled Too" from 1976, has got Taj's classic version of one of my all-time favorite songs on it, "Ain't Nobody's Business!" 

Jesse Winchester was also born in Louisiana at Barksdale Army Air Field, outside of Bossier City! I think I'm starting to see a pattern here! This 1977 album titled "Nothing But A Breeze," is just that, and it breezes along quite nicely enough to be on this list!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 35 of 100 - "Wonders All"

Jefferson Airplane's first record might actually be their best! With Signe Toly Anderson singing instead of Grace, "Takes Off" from 1966 is solid from start to finish!

Joe Cocker's 1969 album called "Joe Cocker!" is nothing less than great! Nobody does a cover tune like Joe!!

Leon Russell is so talented and has done so much over the years, it's actually beyond comprehension! Long before this record came out, his keyboard skills were heard on records by everybody from the BYRDS to The Beach Boys and Gary Lewis and the Playboys just to scratch the surface! This 1970 solo record simply titled "Leon Russell" is just the topping on the cake of a musical genius!

Speaking of cake, Little Feat's 2nd album from 1972 called "Sailin' Shoes" featured this awesome Neon Park artwork, and so many great songs! This is the stuff that desert island adventures are made of!

Stevie Wonder's 1972 LP "Talking Book" is just another one of his amazing releases. This record featured the two timeless classics "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" and "Superstition!" Two songs stronger than most musicians on Rolling Stone's list can come up with in an entire career!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 34 of 100 - "These Jokers Are Wild!!"

Lenny Bruce - "Lenny Bruce Is Out Again" (1965)

I got this record years ago in a Thrifty Drug store for 99 cents! I've still got it! Lenny died for your sins, and your right to say fuck without having to go to jail!

David Peel and the Lower East Side - "Have A Marijuana" (1968)

I was always surprised that David didn't go to jail for recording this record!

Oscar Brand - "Brand X" (1976)

Revered folk singer sings shocking bawdy songs with really nasty lyrics!

Sky Saxon Blues Band - "A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues" (1967)

Re-inventing themselves one more time, The Seeds emerge as a blues band!

The Smothers Brothers - "Mom Always Liked You Best" (1965) 

My Mom and Dad took me to see The Smothers Brothers when I was a little kid! They were the best in clean and intelligent humor!!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 33 1/3 of 100 - "Let's Rock!!"

Well, I'm a third of the way through now, that only took forever, so here's five rockers to wrap it!

Big Brother and the Holding Company (1967) - Janis only made so few records, how can it not be included?

Bodacious Df  (1973) -  Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin decides to do his own thing and it works great!

Savoy Brown - Raw Sienna (1970) - Another great blues rock LP from Kim and the boys!

The Seeds - Web Of Sound (1966) - Once again recreating themselves, the side long "up In Her Room" is too much, but wasn't everybody doing one of these 15 minute songs back then. You never knew what you were getting when you put a Seeds album on for the first time!

Steppenwolf (1968) -  I love Steppenwolf's first album! Ballsy stuff! "Sookie Sookie" is a great song, "The Pusher," and "Born To Be Wild" are both on here too!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 32 of 100 - "Funky Jazz Rock Fusion"

In the mid to late 1970's I became completely disenchanted with music! A lot of Rock and Roll started sucking, and the sound of the Disco beat was becoming almost unavoidable. As a college D.J. on the tiniest station ever, I was allowed to hear and play some music that wasn't being played anywhere on the radio where I was, and the most exciting new genres of music were Jazz Funk, Jazz Rock and Jazz Fusion! Here's five awesome examples! On Rolling Stone's list? Highly doubtful!

From 1975 - Here's a classic Jazz Funk LP by Saxophonist Joe Farrell - "Canned Funk"

This 1973 album by Drummer Billy Cobham featured Tommy Bolin on guitar and it shreds! "Spectrum" 

Another fantastic record from 1975 was Guitarist Joe Beck's LP titled simply "Beck," with David Sanborn on sax during some of his most innovative years! Also, this genre of music had some of the weirdest album cover art you have to admit! 

Recorded at Electric Ladyland Studios, Bassist Stanley Clarke's 1974 self-titled LP marked a new era in electric bass. With Bill Connors on guitar, this jazz record rocks!! 

Back to 1975 and Drummer Tony Williams album called "Believe It! Tony played with Miles Davis as a teenager he was so talented, but Tony wanted to rock, and The Lifetime was more than willing to cooperate! Allan Holdsworth proves he's one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and you can believe it!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 31 of 100 - "Five More Not On Rolling Stones' List"

 Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum (1968)  This record was a predecessor to both Punk and Metal music! Not the most talented guys in the world with Loud guitars and one goal, to rock your ass!

 Fleetwood Mac - "English Rose" (1969) Of all the incarnations of Fleetwood Mac, the Peter Green era is still my favourite! From "Stop Messin' Round" to "Albatross," this is one solid record, and it also has one of the best covers of all time!

 In 1965 The Moody Blues came out with their first record alternately called "Go Now" or "The Moody Blues #1. The Moody Blues were ballsy, the opening song is James Brown's "I  Go Crazy,"  and the rest of the record follows in spectacular style! "Go Now" is one of my favourite songs of all time!

 There are a couple of Stevie Wonder albums on Rolling Stones' list, but somehow "Innervisions" didn't make the cut. I'm sorry, that is just not possible or plausible! Made in 1973, "Innervisons" contains "Too High," "Livin' For The City," "Higher Ground," and "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing!" Case closed!

Delaney and Bonnie had more than one great record, but I think my favourite is "To Bonnie From Delaney," the 1970 soul shaker that features not only the awesome vocal talents of this couple but also two of my favourite musicians, Duane Allman and Jim Dickinson!

The REAL 500 Best Albums Of All Time - Part 30 of 100 - 5 More Undeniable Classics"

Here are five more albums I love!

13th Floor Elevators - "Easter Everywhere" (1967)

Iron Butterfly - "Heavy" (1968)

James Brown - "Live At The Apollo" (1963)

The James Cotton Blues Band - Self-TItled (1967)

Jimmy Reed - "T'aint No Big Thing But HE Is..." (1963)