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I can tell you all about Eric Clapton. I can tell you about Duane Allman. I could tell you how great every one of these songs are but the bottom line is, if you had to go to a desert island and could only take three albums this would have to be one of them.
This masterpiece is 68 minutes of heaven.

I have not listened to "late for the sky" in quite some time.There is not a hit on this album and I don't care. Why? Because with each song what unfolds is a masterpiece of lyrical poetry, incredible melody and an extraordinary musical structure.
Jackson Browne's vocals are perfection and the musicians that surround him bring out the depth in every nuance of every note and word.
The album has only two songs that would be considered rockers of the era and that would be, "the road in the sky," and "walking slow."
Those songs are surrounded by six that are at the top of the mountain in the singer songwriter era, "Late for the sky," "fountain of sorrow," "father on," "the late show," "for a dancer," and "before the deluge."
Jackson Browne had a handful of incredible albums and this one surpasses them all.
If you don't have this in your album collection you don't have an album collection.

It's called Music and this album has better than most. It's hard enough to come up with one hit let alone four on the same album. Everything about this album is perfect. the arrangements suit the songs to a T, for example, "sailing." The sound of the electric piano, the tone of the guitar and very dreamy strings, all put together takes you sailing. The lesser known songs; spinning, I really don't know anymore, poor Shirley, the light is on and minstrel gigolo, all situated between the hits, makes this one incredibly cohesive album. This sound is full and rich of great melody and instrumentation. this is one album you will never get tired listening to

When you have guitarists extraordinare; Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia you can do nothing but sit and listen for 40 minutes with your mouth and eyes wide open.
They play perfectly in sync, speed is otherworldly and each note is extraordinarily clean.
It will take you a few listens to finally hear the melody because even though they are playing a melody you are mesmerized by their astonishing pyrotechnic talent.
After listening to this a few times I would recommend highly to listen to this with headphones. It is wonderful to easily discern each guitar player; on the right, on the left, and in the center. And the liner notes identifies who each guitarist is.
The album is listed as a live album and four songs are from a live performance but the highlight for me is the song "guardian angel" which is the only song done in the studio.
For any fan of fusion jazz this album is a masterpiece.

"every picture tells a story," is a very short album considering there's only eight songs. But every song is perfection. Of the eight only three were written by Rod Stewart. Not only did this album show the strength in Rod's writing but what a masterful interpreter of other people's music he was.
Every song is perfectly arranged utilizing mandolin, organ, slide guitar and pedal steel to perfection.
There is no voice in rock 'n' roll that has such an identifiable sound.
In this, his third album, he wrote the song that would forever place him in the upper echelon of rock 'n' roll and that would be "Maggie May."
If you don't have this album in your collection you don't have a rock 'n' roll collection.

In the late 1960s you had musical trios like the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream who were guitar based trios Then here comes this amazing piano based trio of Nigel Olsson, Dee Murray and Elton John. On the heels of their first two major albums comes an extraordinary live performance in the form of "11-17-70."
The album opens with "take me to the pilot" from their first album. This song rocks right from the opening and it's followed by their version of "honky-tonk woman." Also from their first album is "sixty years on" which was one of the most highly orchestrated songs from that album. However, this version is stripped down to the bare essentials but this trio just fills this song with masterful drum fills, a great baseline, incredible piano playing and a fantastic voiced Elton John.
Side one finishes off with a great song from the "friends" soundtrack "can I put you on."
Side two opens with "bad side of the moon" a song that never made it to the first album. It could have which tells you how great the first album was. The album closes with the showstopping "burn down the mission" which includes "my baby left me" and "get back."
It's very rare for a live album to showcase music the way this music is showcased. One of the reasons for that is where it was recorded, it was in the WABC FM studios in New York, in front of about 125 people. Elton would record a few other live albums in his career but none were as great as this.

The Doors "the soft parade" is a very underrated album. In 1969 there was tremendous experimenting with various styles of music on one album. The radio ready "touch me" and "wild child" were the two most often heard. Songs like "running blue," which had touches of Bluegrass and horns that sound like "Chicago" and "Blood Sweat and Tears," as well as; "wishful sinful", "tell all the people" and "shamans blues" were all great album rock songs.
The title track was their attempt at putting together something much like the Beatles did on Abbey Road, . a suite of songs all put together as one.
The use of the strings and horns was what was going on with other bands at the same time.
This album is a lot stronger than most reviewers give it credit for. Sit down and listen to this album and you will be impressed.

A highly under rated album. The reason it didn't sell well was there was no single from the album and in 1974 that was something that should not have been done. Aside from that, Taylor's voice and guitar playing was still fabulous. The first seven songs of the album were very strong and the last three, not as strong (one was a Berry cover).
"Hello Friend" and "Daddy's Baby" are both poignant. "Me and My Guitar" and "Rock and Roll is Music" are light, rhythmic lyrical Taylor rock. "Walking Man," "Let It Fall Down" and "Ain't No Song" are right in the wheelhouse of Taylor.
Overall the album is very lyrical, clever and the arrangements are strong. Most importantly the songs are memorable even if there was no Top 40 hit.

The Jeff back group album is a very underrated album. Jeff Beck is an extraordinary guitarist and he could make mediocre songs sound good. This album he makes excellent songs sound extraordinary.
This album has two that sing without lyrics and the instrumentation is magnificent. Jeff continues to create marvelous covers of other songwriters. In this case Don Nix and Bob Dylan.
The album is a combination of rock, R&B, soul, and blues. There aren't many artists who can take all of these genres and create a cohesive melodic and guitar virtuoso album. We are lucky to have a guitarist like Jeff Beck who can do exactly that.

This Derek & The Dominos "live" album was to support be Layla album but it was a little surprising that the only songs were from side three of the Layla album. The other songs were from Eric's solo album and Blind Faith.
Eric Clapton often said that the best rhythm section he ever played with was Jim Gordon on drums and Carl Radle on bass. They were astonishing but the addition of Bobby Whitlock on keyboards was instrumental in adding a new dimension to this amazing trio.
Clapton's playing was magnificent, Gordon's drumming was outstanding and his solo, which was the norm in the 1970s, was masterful on the song "let it rain." Radle and Whitlock could do no wrong and both sounded fantastic.
Derek and the dominoes "in concert" is one of the better live albums.