i'd have to comb out the fringe tendrils of my brain, but i need some upbeat fun music right now to calm my possible kitten associate rage--

Cocktails anyone? It's the hour and there are virgins for the asking.

INNERVISIONS - Stevie Wonder

You're totally right, Hugh. You're totally right. Louisiana Rain is some damn fine music, and Here Comes My Girl ... oh, I want to be that girl. Sadly, I am only one of those losers who gets lucky sometimes, but if you're going to do me like that, at least do it live.

Tom Petty was my first rock concert too, but on my sixteenth birthday. I had to convince my minister father that Tom Petty was Christian. (See where he says, "You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down? That's about God. He's talking about his faith!)

I've tried to make a list of my top ten all-time favorite TP albums, but it just can't be done. "Wildflowers" is perfect when I'm angry or want to clean the house, I can't say why. "Echoes" is good when I want to sulk -- TP himself once said he doesn't even like to hear or play the songs off that album, he doesn't want to remember them, they were from such a bad time in his life. And then when I want to drive and sing along, I've got to go with "Highway Companion." Because when "Saving Grace" comes on, you just want to roll down the windows, turn up the music and put on as much speed as your little Toyota can get.

There are other bands, other bands I've seen more often, other bands I've loved almost as passionately, but Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers, those are the ones I can't forget. When Steve Lynch left the band, I thought life was over, and when Dave Grohl was on drums I thought everyone had gone mad. When they kicked Howie Epstein out, I thought they were heartless, and when Ron Blair came back from running his surfboard shop I thought they were ridiculous. When Howie died, I literally sat down and cried, because it was Howie Epstein who made me ask for a bass guitar for my sixteenth birthday, you know, and if it wasn't for Howie I'd never have sat down and learned to love the blisters on my fingertips.

Sorry. I could write love letters to the Heartbreakers all day long.

Damn the Torpedoes is indeed an excellent album. And ooooo....Stevie Wonder's going to tour again!

As for my album choice...I'd hafta think, but Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia comes to mind first.

Abbey Road really doesn't work on shuffle. The whole second side makes no sense cut up into individual mp3 files and listened to out of order.

Cocktails anyone? It's the hour and there are virgins for the asking.

Virgin what(s)?

If you need to ask maybe you need more experience.

Ziggy comes to mind. I'll say Misfits stuff, I always want to hear more when they come up on shuffle, so short and sweet.

i agree with Ziggy whole heartedly. That tape wore to dust in my car as a teen.

What perfect albums break your heart to hear in pieces?

Heartbreaker
Time (The Revelator)
Soul Journey
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Highway 61 Revisited
Revolver

Rock for Light.
Her Satanic Majesties etc.
Appetite for Destruction
Eric B For President
Paul's Boutique

Imperial Bedroom - Elvis C
Bring the Family - John Hiatt
Wrecking Ball - Emmylou Harris
American Beauty - The Dead
Blow by Blow - Jeff Beck

Oh and CCR's Willy and the Poor Boys. I know that "Fortunate Son" and "Down on the Corner" are great singles by themselves but the whole album played in order is like a working class mirror of Sgt. Pepper. Listening to the whole album is pretty damn powerful.

Imperial Bedroom, to be sure. Also, The Tweleve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit. Also also, the first disc of London Calling. Oh, and lest we forget, Let It Bleed, both the Rolling Stones version and The Replacements.

And Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair.

There may be others.

You know, after Damn The Torpedoes came out and I heard it, I thought, that Tom Petty feller, he's gonna make a really great record someday. Now I realize that Damn The Torpedoes was, in fact, that great record.

Perfect albums:

Husker Du -- New Day Rising
Glenn Gould Plays Bach's Goldberg Variations (1955 recording)
Ornette Coleman -- This Is Our Music
Van Morrison -- Astral Weeks
Slayer -- South Of Heaven
Drive-By Truckers -- Decoration Day
Patti Smith -- Horses
Radiohead -- The Bends, OK Computer
REM -- Reckoning

BOP - I really like Drive-By Truckers as well... I think one of them recently left the band.

The Truckers are one of my favourites too and Decoration Day is a masterpiece, not a dud track anywhere on there and songs that, even on repeat listenings, can still move me to tears.