h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm listening to "Crosby Stills and Nash". The greatest hits CD came today. They're one of the greatest groups I've ever heard.

Today I ordered an eclectic mix of CDs: Vicente Fernandez ranchero songs in Spanish, Dreams Come True [32 rock songs in Japanese], Julie Andrews' christmas album, Jimi Hendrix' greatest hits, and two heavy metal groups: Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.

Crosby, Stills and Nash are great. Both with and without Young. But better with than without if you ask me. Young adds a certain something.

People tell me they sing false. They may do so on certain live recordings, but it doesn't bother me. Whats your impression?

If I have room, I'll add "So Far," which includes Neil Young. It's on my Amazon wish list. At some point I will revisit Neil Young's solo career. I sometimes find that I like something I didn't like before when I hear it again. I would like to find room for a greatest hits CD of Moody Blues as well.

Good ideas! All of them

Are there any songs or albums from Neil Young's solo career that you think I should try?

Harvest (1972)
Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rust (1979)
Ragged Glory (1990)
Harvest Moon (1992) and/or Prairie Wind (2005)

These records best describe the variety in Young's music, I believe.
If I should narrow it down I would suggest Harvest and Ragged Glory and if I should narrow it down to just one record I would suggest Live Rust which has the largest span, I believe

Me? I couldn't do without any of these records

You say you couldn't do without them, but it's been my experience that a really well-chosen collection of representative songs can seem awfully good as a stand-alone. It worked for Allen Sherman and Peter, Paul and Mary. I've read hundreds of Amazon user comments on various compilations, and after they finish crabbing about the omissions or editing,* they concede that the songs on the disc are exactly the ones that they recommend to their friends. The "20th century masters" series gets a lot of criticism for not having enough songs, but every single critic praises the sound. It's a budget series, give me a break!

My goal is to gave a collection small enough that I can hear every CD at least once a year. I'm barely able to do that now. I spent two or three decades trying to get familiar with four centuries of great instrumental music. During that time, I paid little or no attention to popular music. Now I'm going back to retrospectively survey the period that I missed. My brother claims to have 16,000 songs. Are they all worth hearing?

Todya I ordered CDs by Moody Blues and Mitch Miller. I also ordered classical CDs by Maria Callas and Victor Borge.

I would have loved a cd with Callas and Borge if they had made one
I know that's not what you meant, but I'm sure you would have loved it also

Did you know Borge is buried partly in upstate New york and partly in Denmark?

Of course I could live without my vinyls and cd's, but I would miss them terribly

I know you'd miss them.

I'm applying some last-minute polish to my collection. I didn't mean for Bob Dylan to be represented by one CD of country music ["Nashville Skyline"]. Could anyone have been more influential in the development of rock music? I tend to think not. So,I've just ordered a 2-CD set of his greatest songs as of 2000.

Dylan influenced both folk, rock, country (and maybe even gospel, in his religious phase, but I don't know enough about this)

Who influenced more than others? I find that very hard to tell since the most influential of course also influenced each other

In his book "Really The Blues" Mezz Mezzrow mentions some of his colleagues as "musician's musician" because of the deep impact they left on other people's work - sometimes without being very famous themselves!

Off the top of my head I would say the list of musician's musicians contains Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, the late J.J. Cale and Mose Allison



PS: You can't go wrong with Dylan - unless you don't like him (the way he writes, sings and plays). It's that simple

Dylan wrote some crucial songs that I want in my collection. Neil Young is said to have been [and probably still is] a major songwriter. What I want to know is what are his most iconic songs? I want to have them.

I borrowed a copy of "So Far," by CSN&Y. It's great. I'm going to want to buy a copy.

Cinnamon Girl, Cowgirl In The Sand, Southern Man, Ohio, Hurricane, Heart of Gold, Needle And The Damage Done...

I don't know where to stop

Most of those songs are also on this list from a web site:

1. "Rockin' in the free world" from Freedom
2. "Ohio" from decade
3. "Old Man' from Harvest
4. "Cinnamon girl" from Everybody knows...
5. "Heart of gold" from Harvest
6. "Needle and the damage" from Harvest
7. "Cowgirl in the sand" from everybody knows....
8. "Helpless" from Decade
9. "After the gold rush"
10. "Down by the river" from everybody knows this is nowhere

...and also on a greatest hits compilation I found on Amazon.

Great

We'll see -- er, hear.

"The Essential Bob Dylan" just came in the mail, so I'm listening to it.

I borrowed a copy of "The Best of Me," a CD of hits by Bryan Adams, a Canadian singer. I have that to look forward to hearing later.

I have heard Adams mentioned as "Canada's answer to Springsteen" and I can follow that

There is a guy from Detroit who should be mentioned along with Adams and Springsteen. His name is Bob Seger and if he had not refused to board an aeroplane he and his "Silver Bullet Band" might have been tough competition for Springsteen on a global plane.

Luckily enough Americans have heard him to give him his well earned place in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

I thought Adams was kind of boring, unfortunately. His songs have some good instrumental moments, but the lyrics don't seem to have much variety. Oh, well.

I went to the mountains for the weekend. I got bakc a couple hours ago to find five CDs waiting on my porch. I'm enjoying "Best of the Moody Blues" now. I can see why you like them so much.


Mitch Miller and Victor Borge also arrived.

Don't listen to all of Borge in one go. Once you've heard that cd a number of times you will have memorized all of it - and by then it won't be quite as much fun anymore, I think.

But the Moodies you can listen to over and over again and again

I'm listening to Victor Borge now. Right now he's trying to remember his sister's name