Sonic Rites: 100 Albums That Shaped Life’s Soundtrack

I've always wanted to write a book about the rock and roll albums I have loved, but I kept waiting and hoping that some new album would prove me wrong about my belief that the album as an art form has died. I'm now convinced I was right. In today's streaming era, where music production has been democratized, the album as a cohesive artistic statement has essentially disappeared.

Let me be clear: this collection of album reviews isn't a list of the most important or influential albums in history. It's simply a personal catalog of albums that have mattered to me throughout my life.

I was born at a pivotal moment in music history. I was four years old when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and changed popular music forever. My musical education began in the late 1960s, and I've followed music closely through the '70s, '80s, '90s, and into the new millennium. I'm convinced that rock music as I knew it is now part of twentieth-century history.

In 2014, frustrated with commercial radio, I wondered if there was a better way to hear the music I loved in a radio format. That's when I discovered online streaming. On June 1, 2014, I launched The Mad Music Asylum, my first streaming radio station, and it has been broadcasting continuously ever since. What began as a single station has grown into a network of five: the original station plus dedicated channels for Jazz, Blues, Oldies, and the Grateful Dead. I created these stations for myself, but listeners quickly found them online. Today, the stations attract about 25,000 unique listeners each month, a heartening confirmation that others share my taste in music. Listen to the stations here.

I hope you'll enjoy reading about the albums I love and that you'll explore the ones unfamiliar to you. I've limited this collection to records that are great from start to finish—albums worth listening to in their entirety. You'll find some very popular albums here, and they're popular for good reason, but you'll also discover lesser-known records that I consider just as exceptional.

Happy reading!

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