Early Music that Influenced Me (and a sailing photo)

I finished this post while watching the Steelers and Patriot’s game.  I’m not happy the outcome.  We’ve had bad thunderstorms since Saturday afternoon and for much of the time we've been under a tornado watch.  However, before the weather turned bad, I was able to enjoy a bit of time yesterday on the water.  The winds were strong (so strong that we decided not to race).  As the wind blew from offshore, it brought in fog. It was exciting to be on the water as the photo illustrates. 

I decided to follow a post by Charles at "Razor Zen.  This "meme" calls for a list of  the top ten albums (from ten bands) that were important to me during my teenage years.   It took me a while to whittle down my list to ten.  I stuck to music that was important during my high school years.  There are others that albums that became important in my waning teen years, but was after I was in high school.  This list of bands would include Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here” came out just after I graduated high school), Steely Dan, Van Morrison, and the Cars.  There were others that were important in high school and would continue to be important, that just didn’t quite make the cut include Jefferson Airplane, Bob Dylan, Heart, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, 3 Dog Night, and the Carpenters (who didn’t love Karen Carpenter’s voice and what American boy didn’t lust over her looks).  Here are my top ten bands with their album and the year it was released:

• Beatles, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band” (1967).  This is one of the oldest of the albums I remember enjoying in high school.  Although I knew most of the songs on the album, I still remember listening to it in its entirety during my junior year.  By then the Beatles had broken up, but I found myself rediscovering their music. 
• Yes, “Fragile” (1971),  (Roundabout, Long Distance Runaround,  Heart of Sunrise)  Yes was one of my favorite groups in high school and it was hard to pick an album.  I still enjoy listening to their music that blended rock and roll with the classics. 
• The Doors, “LA Woman” (1971)   This was the group’s last album with Jim Morrison. The single, "L. A. Woman" was great rock and roll.  I would later appreciate The Doors for their blues (“Waiting for the Sun” is a favorite album), but in high school it was all about rock.  This album also had other hits such as “Riders of the Storm” and “Love Her Madly.” 
• Moody Blues, “Days of Future Passed” (1967).   I’ve always thought “Nights in White Satin” was one of the most beautiful songs ever.  However, it is hard for me to pick out one album by the Moody Blues, as I enjoyed their first six or seven albums. 
• Led Zeppelin, “Led Zeppelin IV” (1971).  I was in the seventh grade when Led Zeppelin’s second album was released with the song, “Whole Lotta Love.”  From then on, they became a favorite group.  The group’s fourth album had the classic single “Stairway to Heaven” which was probably the song most played during my high school years.  The album, which featured a peasant man carrying wood on the cover, also included the “Battle for Evermore.”
• Marshall Tucker Band, “Marshall Tucker Band,” (1973), “Can’t You See” has always reminded me of the possibility of jumping a freight as a way out of a situation.  I remember seeing them in concert in 74 or 75.
• Chicago, “Chicago” (1971).  Although I really liked Chicago's first album, "CTA," their second album really made the group.  I still remember hearing “25 or 6 to 4” while riding to Atlanta Georgia in 1970.  This album also featured other favorites: “Make Me Smile,” and “Color My World.”
• Deep Purple, Machine Head 1972 – This album had the classic, "Smoke on the Water" which helped out with my geography as I had to look at a map to discover the location of Lake Geneva (this was before I began studying John Calvin who lived much of his life after fleeing France in Geneva). 
• The Eagles, “Desperado” (1972).  I always enjoyed The Eagles.   In my 30s, when I was refusing to settle down, many people suggested that “Desperado” could be my theme song.  It could have been worse.  They could have suggested “Tequila Sunrise.” 
• Rolling Stones, “Goats Head Soup” (1973).  This is the album that featured “Angie,” but there were a number of other great songs including the funky “Coming Down Again” and the fast paced, “Heartbreaker.” 

Although I would continue to enjoy all this, in college I began listening to Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Steely Dan, The Cars, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and the early albums by Jefferson Airplane.