"Music Is My Sanctuary" (Gary Bartz, Music Is My Sanctuary)

When J. Laakso first sent me Mark Prindle's Top 73 challenge, my first thought was...No. No, no, no. I hate making top 5 lists, am happy I sold my four dollar copy of High Fidelity (the movie) yesterday for five bucks, and gave up on music criticism largely because my belief that music taste is ALL subjective within limits. (That is to say, if I like jazz-funk fusion and you don't, that doesn't mean I suck or you suck, but if you have a collection consisting of nothing but what radio told you to listen to, you do, in fact, suck.) Top 100 lists do nothing but sell shitty music magazines and start semi-interesting conversations usually involving the relative values of The Beatles against Revolver that I'm just tired of. There should be no canon of rock, pop, jazz, or any genre, except maybe classical. There shouldn't even be a Western Canon in my view, which is why I didn't apply to Columbia, but that's another issue entirely.

But then I found myself looking at one of my CD racks and thinking, well, that one Thelonious record would definitely be there...

And no matter how I try to deny it, I've gotta put Ben Folds Five's Whatever and Ever Amen in...

And these five Miles Davis records are all good for their own reasons...

And before I knew it, I had a list of 130 records.

To fit it as a Top 73 list, I arbitrarily removed The Beatles records since everyone loves them, basically, and reduced the list to one record per artist. This is still a flawed list, particularly in that I somehow forgot The Beach Boys and The Zombies' Odessey & Oracle, but when I finished this list, it was 3 a.m., and even now, I feel no need for corrections. This isn't a Top 73, anyway, which is why I refused to rank it. These are just 73 of my all-time favorites. Of the moment. No more, no less. But feel free to tell me how I've blasphemed against your false rock idols anyway.

Ooh, no Led Zeppelin either. I'd put either II or IV as my entry, if you care.

madvillain- madvillainy
miles davis- in a silent way
gang starr- moment of truth
dexter gordon- go
bobby hutcherson- montara
public enemy- it takes a nation of millions to hold us back
joni mitchell- the hissing of summer lawns
parliament- up for the down stroke
funkadelic- standing on the verge of getting it on
kool and the gang- light of worlds
krs-one- return of the boom bap
ultramagnetic mcs- critical beatdown
j dilla- donuts
organized konfusion- stress (the extinction agenda)
luna- romantica
the o'jays- back stabbers
roy ayers ubiquity- everybody loves the sunshine
talking heads- fear of music
todd rundgren- a wizard, a true star
jimi hendrix- axis: bold as love
kmd- black bastards
nas- illmatic
beastie boys- paul's boutique
a tribe called quest - midnight marauders
the roots- illadelph half life
wu-tang clan- enter the wu-tang (36 chambers)
curtis mayfield- superfly (OST)
common- like water for chocolate
de la soul- de la soul is dead
outkast- ATLiens
the delfonics- the delfonics
bob marley and the wailers- catch a fire
stevie wonder- songs in the key of life
thelonious monk- monk solo
michael jackson- off the wall
prince- purple rain (OST)
pavement- slanted and enchanted
elvis costello and the attractions- get happy!!!
sly and the family stone- there's a riot goin' on
neil young- after the gold rush
ben folds five- whatever and ever amen
ida- will you find me
james brown- live at the apollo vol. 2.
eric b. and rakim- let the rhythm hit em
the isley brothers- 3 + 3
steely dan- katy lied
war- the world is a ghetto
digital underground- sex packets
the velvet underground- loaded
fleetwood mac- fleetwood mac
tyrone davis- turn back the hands of time
otis redding- the dock of the bay
slum village- fantastic vol. 2
the pharcyde- labcabincalifornia
al green- call me
bill withers- still bill
chi-lites (for god's sake) give more power to the people
eddie kendricks- my people...hold on
dr. octagon- dr. octagoncolygst
radiohead- ok computer
U2- war
the clash- london calling
marvin gaye- here, my dear
the soft boys- underwater moonlight
tom waits- bone machine
the pixies- doolittle
the avalanches- since I left you
the cure- disintegration
the jam- all mod cons
the delfonics- the delfonics
mccoy tyner- the real mccoy
eric dolphy- out to lunch
earth wind and fire- earth wind and fire