Albums That Blew You Away

[Montycat]

Kudos to the Gentle Giant reference. My GG would be In A Glass House

Here are a few others off the top:

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Band Of Gypsies
Gang Of Four - That's Entertainment
The Beat - I Just Can't Stop It

And for something a bit more modern and unusual, Jeremy Dutcher.

https://jeremydutcher1.bandcamp.com/releases

 

[Jenkster]

Meet The Beatles for Christ’s sake! After that album, nothing was the same for me even at 5 years old.

 

[darin g]

Too many to list but in the last 10yrs Maroon 5s first album was a true breath of fresh air.

 

[OldPolishGuy]

Boston's debut album. There had been others before that caught my interest but this one just captivated me for weeks. OPG.

 

[Guest137]

Zep II
Fragile
Paranoid
DSOTM
COTC
I Robot
Killer
Let It Bleed
Second Helping
Crimson & Clover

What does "COTC" stand for. I tried looking up the abbreviation on Google but I could not find an album title that matched that abbreviation. @Slick Willie

 

[Guest137]

Everything by Rush, but particularly 2112. OK, so that was obvious

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
PF- DSotM, Division Bell
Rainbow - (Can't remember the title, but the one with Stargazer on it)
Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Rick Wakeman - Arthur
Dream Theater - The Astonishing
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell (Yes, really. At the time it was new and totally different)
Yes - Going For The One
Transatlantic - SMPT:e

The Rainbow album is titled "Rising" and is definitely a good pick for this thread. @KevinJS

 

[OnTheBlitz]

Here is one that blew my mind:
1976 Alan Parsons Tales of Mystery and Imagination AP RM (Universal B0009122-02) - 2 CD CD2 1987 mix with Orson Welles

1976 Alan Parsons Tales of Mystery and Imagination MFSL Gold (UDCD 606)

I have both these versions and like them both for different reasons.

 

[Snade]

I was blown away by the first Chicago album - Chicago Transit Authority.

I heard it first on FM radio because the cuts were too long for AM radio. Then I bought the album.

They had a completely original sound.

And the early Chicago albums were hard-driving rock songs.

When they tragically lost Terry Kath, the band continued to make several hits, but they softened their sound and lost the edge of their earlier stuff.

Cheers,

Snade

 

[Markoneswift]

Iron Maiden - Live After Death. My personal fave live album bar none.
Metallica - Ride The Lightning. I'm not a huge fan but that album just rocked my socks off
Def Leppard - Pyromania. Huge fan of anything they did with Steve Clark.

 

[RT Fan]

THIS:

Amazing interplay between two monster musicians, Tony Williams & Allan Holdsworth. (Not to belittle the contributions of the other two players on the record, Tony Newton & Alan Pasqua) I had to buy this album after hearing it. Still sounds great to my ears today.

 

[Bynem]

Mandrill - Composite Truth

The Who - Who's Next When I first heard it, I was 13

 

[vinowino]

Really hard to narrow it down.
This:

This: I bought new as a teenager

'64?.

This: probably my most played still.

 

[grillebilly]

Lots of them, especially in my youth, when hearing something new to me.

Johnny Winter S/T was my first real exposure to blues.
John Prine S/T impressionable 8th grade kid and had no idea what a talented songwriter he was
The Who Quadrophenia just an epic sound
Lou Reed Live OMG what clean guitars

Edit: BBG reminded me it was Rock & Roll Animal, but both albums were pretty heavy stuff for a high school kid.

 

[BlindBoyGrnt]

Lots of them, especially in my youth, when hearing something new to me.

Johnny Winter S/T was my first real exposure to blues.
John Prine S/T impressionable 8th grade kid and had no idea what a talented songwriter he was
The Who Quadrophenia just an epic sound
Lou Reed Live OMG what clean guitars

Strange that you chose Lou Reed Live over Rock n Roll Animal from the same tour.

My pick from my younger days would be either Big Brother and the Holding Company's "Cheap Thrills" or Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Smash Hits".

 

[grillebilly]

Strange that you chose Lou Reed Live over Rock n Roll Animal from the same tour.

Actually you nailed it, it was RNR Animal. It's my understanding they are both from the same show. My brain just told me it was a live Lou Reed record.

 

[Djcoolray]

Jerry Reed....Amos Moses

 

[4-2-7]

 

[4-2-7]

Marvin Gaye's new album....Your the Man

 

[Kim G]

COTC = Crime of The Century by Supertramp

 

[Jenkster]

“Then Play On” The Original Fleetwood Mac fronted by Peter Green. The tone that Peter Green got out of that 59 Les Paul was/is like nothing I ever heard.