Ever wonder what the most popular CDs in the Music Library are? Yeah, me too. Below are the most popular discs from the last 3 years or so, since we moved to the new library system.
Hit me, drummer, and pass the envelopes…
CLASSICAL
5. Sonatas and partitas for solo violin / Bach (CD 15478)
4. Rite of spring / Stravinsky (CD 13021)
3. Spanish guitar favorites / John Williams (CD 16760)
2. Complete works for solo piano / Ravel (CD 2699)
and the winner is…
1. Masters Of The Piano Roll: Debussy Plays Debussy (CD 14359)
This last disc is a fascinating document. It consists of early piano rolls, including several made by Debussy himself, newly re-recorded on a high-tech reproducing piano. It provides a wonderful glimpse into what some of the most highly regarded performers of the early 20th-century actually sounded like, without the poor sonics that mar most recordings from that era.
JAZZ
5. Possibilities / Herbie Hancock (CD 15871)
4. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (CD 15170)
3. The Cellar Door sessions 1970 / Miles Davis (CD 15321)
2. Seven Steps: The complete Columbia recordings, 1963-1964 / Miles Davis (CD 14602)
and the winner is…
1. Kind of Blue / Miles Davis (CD 11741)
Not much to say about this one, really. If you love jazz, you probably already love it. If you don’t know anything about jazz, but want to learn, this is a good place to start, with memorable themes and world-class improvisers. A true desert island disc for a lot of us.
If you want to explore this recording in-depth, check out these 2 books…
ROCK/POP
5. Garden State: Music from the motion picture (CD 14128)
4. Blonde on blonde / Bob Dylan (CD 7927)
3. Begin to hope / Regina Spektor (CD 16125)
2. Chutes too narrow / The Shins (CD 14177)
and our final number 1…
1. In yo’ face, vol. 1 (CD 11581 v.1)
It does my middle-aged heart good to see a slice of old-school funk take the top spot. Great great stuff here – James Brown, Sly, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament, Charles Wright… If you like this, check out the other volumes in the series. Also, the anthology What It Is (CD 16166) is another stellar, maybe even superior, package.