Leonard Cohen – Songs Of Leonard Cohen

I am very late to this man's music. I only discovered him for myself two years ago, and this 1967 album sounds like it could have come out today. It's timeless in it's songwriting, structure, lyrics, even the recording. It has far less of those “this was recorded a long time ago” hallmarks of a lot of pre-2000 musical recordings, and I don't know why. It's truly one of the best albums of the 20th century, regardless of genre.

Bright Eyes – I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

This album is burned into my DNA. I listened to it so much when I first discovered it. I didn't know which ones were the “hits” until later, and I'm incredibly thankful for that. You know how sometimes on an album, when the hit comes up, it sorta takes you out of it? I'm always bothered by that, and thankfully this album is all one thing in my mind. Perhaps that is the reason why it bit so deeply into my soul.

Elliott Smith – Either/Or

I picked this album because I had to pick something here, but I think any Elliott Smith album could be listed here. For my money, he is the most consistent singer-songwriter that every lived. Everyone else on this list has released bad songs in their career, but not Elliott. We lost him way too young, but his career remains spotless. If you are reading this and haven't listened to him, I strongly encourage you to start literally anywhere and you'll find something worth your time.

Badly Drawn Boy – Hour Of The Bewilderbeast

My brother got this album when I was a kid, and I overheard it from his bedroom next door. It is a fairly experimental record, but a comforting one. It's weird but not aggressive. The opening sounds of “The Shining”, the first song, are a cello and a french horn, playing off each other. It feels like someone slowly pouring warm, clean water over me in slow motion. It's perhaps my favorite album opener of all time (hmmm, not sure if I do believe that now as I type it BUT I'm going to commit and leave it in).

Tom Waits – Bawlers

This is technically the 2nd disc of a 3 album collection of rarities Tom Waits put out 20 years ago. The full title is “Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, & Bastards.” The first album (Brawlers) is his more aggressive rock songs. The third album (Bastards) is a bunch of weird, noise-ridden, spoken word stuff. But that middle album, Bawlers, is my favorite: it's filled with slower ballad numbers that strike you right in the heart. “You Can Never Hold Back Spring”, the second song, is one of my favorite songs of all time. It is deceptively simple and sounds like it was recorded in the 1930's, not 2005. Any hint of cheesiness the song might have is completely overwhelmed by the sheer hope and earnestness of the performances. The entire Bawlers album is a bunch of random tracks Waits' had lying around, from b-sides, film scores, tribute albums, etc. It shouldn't work this well as a whole, but when you have that kind of musical brilliance, even your b-sides are better than most band's best song.