John Lennon’s Power To The People (2025) is a version of the 1972 One to One concert that reveals clarity previously missing from earlier mixes. Mother, New York City, and Come Together now shine. Proof that his superpower wasn’t perfection, it was making imperfection feel intentional. #JohnLennon

When rock stars were becoming prophets, Frank Zappa showed up as a fact checker. Were Only In It For The Money (1968) is for anyone who questions a movement with a merch table. Zappa treats sacred cows like they are on the menu. Hippies, squares, cops, consumers are all skewered. #Mothers #Zappa

Live from the Rainbow from 1977 (RSD 2025) shows Elton John choosing depth over hits and storytelling over spectacle. Deep cuts can sometimes feel like detours, but here they are the destination. ‘Ticking’ and ‘Sweet Painted Lady’ define the night. #EltonJohn #Vinyl #RecordStoreDay

There’s something to be said for having a philosophical identity crisis and turning it into everyone else’s singalong. The Who’s Who Are You box set (2025) captures introspection on the original album and communal catharsis onstage in a 1979 show. #TheWho #Vinyl

Billy Cobham’s Spectrum (1973) is a fusion album disguised as a drummer’s solo project disguised as a rock record disguised as a jazz session. You don’t have to be a drummer to appreciate Spectrum, but hearing it might make you wish you were on. #BillyCobham #Vinyl #Spectrum

Harvest (1972) feels cozy, but it’s like a blanket that keeps slipping off; soothing music from someone suspicious of being soothed. It’s the centre of gravity in Neil Young’s catalogue. Everything before moves towards it, and everything after pushes against its success. #NeilYoung #VinylCommunity

Thanks for the nudge. It's on my 'need' list.

Your albums can definitely be granted asylum 😁

Chuck Mangione’s Feels So Good is like opening a time capsule from 1978. There are avocado green appliances and the faint smell of shag carpet. If you don’t feel it, check your flux capacitor. Chuck Mangione was what was needed, he soothed a nation with a hat and a horn. #vinyl

Station To Station (1976) isn’t just a bridge between Bowie’s soul era and Berlin Trilogy, it’s the Thin White Duke at his most intense. Recorded in a cocaine fuelled haze he barely remembered, it fuses krautrock, funk, and art rock into a cold, hypnotic masterpiece. #DavidBowie

If you’re judging The Doobie Brothers’ What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974) by ‘Black Water,’ that’s like judging a restaurant by the bread basket. The main course is in the deeper cuts. ‘Daughters of the Sea’ alone justifies the spin. #DoobieBrothers #Vinyl

One of the great ‘should’ve been huge’ records of the era.

Still the gold standard for ‘major‑label band goes rogue.’

Proof that sometimes rock needs a little velvet and a lot of drama.

There are albums you listen to, and then there’s Brilliant Corners (1957), where you marvel that anyone could even play it. This album shows why Monk was considered a genius. He didn’t think outside the box, he built a new one. #TheloniousMonk #Jazz #Vinyl

The title track from The Horace Silver Quintet’s Song For My Father (1965) is one of those jazz tunes that crosses genres an is instantly recognizable. If you like ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’, meet its father. Steely Dan didn’t steal, they saluted. #Jazz #Vinyl #HoraceSilver

A physician wouldn’t usually call it this, but a bruise is technically a small form of internal bleeding.

A great reissue makes you lean forward instead of sit back. Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here 50th does just that. The extras don’t dilute the album, they deepen it. The two albums of rarities aren’t bonus material, they are canon expansion. #PinkFloyd #Vinyl

Listening to Bill Evans’ Explorations (1961) is like watching someone fold a napkin with absurd precision, you don’t know why it’s so impressive, but it is. The album doesn’t fill a room, it occupies it. Calm but not boring, beautiful but not sugary, it’s jazz that is sophisticated but approachable.

Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy isn’t just songs, it’s crime scenes, ghost stories and sociopaths set to piano riffs. “Lawyers, Guns and Money” is an anthem for any poor bastard who has woken up in a foreign country with a hangover and regrets. Zevon spiked the 1978 musical punch with sarcasm! #vinyl

Thrillington (1977) isn’t anyone’s desert island McCartney pick, but as a light orchestra detour through Ram, it’s surprisingly pleasant. like bumping into an old friend who’s wearing a tuxedo. If Ram is the main course, this is the mint that comes with the bill, and that’s why it works. #McCartney

Brian Wilson didn’t just write songs, he cast spells. Pet Sounds is what happens when a wizard with perfect pitch tries to exorcise his demons through harmony. A beautiful kind of broken. His music cried behind sunglasses, and still does. #brianwilson #vinyl

People always talk about Todd’s studio genius, but the band on this album is ridiculously tight. I’ve seen him live a bunch of times, and this record nails exactly how powerful he is in person.

Love’s Forever Changes was released at the height of the Summer of Love but contradicted almost everything it claimed to be about. The dream was still intact, but the cracks were visible and Arthur Lee wrote songs that lived inside those cracks. It’s psychedelic music with its eyes wide open. #Vinyl

Excellent essay. Thanks.

Milestones (1958) is a transitional album that doesn’t sound transitional. It whispers it’s revolution, a recalibration of what jazz would be, the moment before the breakthrough. It’s the sound of Miles shifting from participant to architect, it is the blueprint before the cathedral. #MilesDavis

Dismissing The Early Beatles (1965) because it isn’t Sgt. Pepper is like skipping the first half of a boxing match because the knockout came later. This highlights tight arrangements, shared vocals, and instincts sharpened in clubs. Beatlemania wasn’t just magic, it was discipline. #Beatles

Live at Leeds is precision and fury. Live at the Oval 1971 (2025) is scale and swagger. Together they show the Who weren’t just a great live band, they were a force of nature. A reminder that The Who never played to a crowd, they played at it. By the end, I was sweating! #TheWho #vinyl

Agreed. He doesn’t seem to be in the conversation about great guitarists, but he should be.

bsky.app/profile/beat...