Top Albums That Make You FEEL Something:


When I want to feel...


...Energized



U2: War

This album simply infuses me with adrenaline every time I hear it, whether I need it to stand up and change the world or make myself a bowl of cereal. I cannot sit down when this thing is playing.



...Like Letting It All Out



Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine

Pretty Hate Machine is the Elizabeth Kubler Ross of Depression, outlining the stages in eleven tracks that feel too true to be universal, but they are. I rarely ever put this album on. It's sort of an "in emergency, break glass and play" scenario, but this album has gotten me through some pretty dark times, making me feel and experience every level of my emotions until they aren't clawing at my insides for attention anymore.


...Joy



Queen: Made in Heaven

I suspect most Americans are completely unfamiliar with any of Queen's work beyond 1983, but I've always felt their best work came out of their final four albums. The final one, Made in Heaven, is not their most polished work, nor does it contain much that is single-worthy, but it's a damn powerful listening experience. Recorded during Freddy Mercury's final days, the first seven songs are intently focused on loving and enjoying every day of living because it is such a rare, precious, and limited thing. I simply cannot listen to them without being in love with the act of existing. The remainder of the tracks were filler, largely assembled from discarded earlier recordings, but the story Freddy was looking to tell through his music in those first seven tracks is unforgettable.



...Like It's All Going to Be Okay



Neil Young: Harvest Moon

I'm still not sure what it is about this album, but somehow every track just resonates a total sense of calm, relaxed, contentedness, even in spite of a life that has contained disappointments and regrets.


...Spiritual



Richie Havens: Live at the Cellar Door

There is no substitute for a live Richie Havens concert. No album of his adequately capture the soul and beauty of the experience, but Live at the Cellar Door is at least a shadow of the live experience. Havens was no gospel singer and didn't even explicitly discuss or sing about religion or faith, but his music captures a yearning, a wisdom, and the beginnings of an understanding, all seeming to stem from being tapped into something larger than ourselves.


...Chill



Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

The ultimate rainy day album.


...Serene



Enya: Shepherd Moon

I have always struggled with sleep. The best sleep I ever got in my life was a summer when I was a camp counselor with my own room. At night, I'd leave on my shelf stereo system, which cast a soft blue LED light across my room in the darkness, and listen to Shepherd Moon while I slept. Positively angelic.


...Like Crying Endlessly



Gorecki: Symphony 3

A classical piece based upon poetry scrawled into the walls of a Nazi concentration camp. I've never heard anything as beautiful and sad in my life, even before knowing the back story or pulling out the translated lyrics.



...Rage



Metallica: ...And Justice For All

I've spent most of my life trying to manage and dismantle my rage, but back when I was an angsty teen and still wanted to get more in touch with it, this was the way.