The following list is provided as a service. This is a list of the best of the best of Rock and Roll music. If you like Rock and Roll music, and haven't heard any of these albums, you are missing out on the finest rock music ever recorded.

Group or Artist                Album

Jimi Hendrix                     Electric Ladyland
King Crimson                   In the Court of the Crimson King
Jethro Tull                        Aqualung
Emerson, Lake & Palmer   Emerson, Lake & Palmer
The Allman Brothers Band Beginnings
The Beatles                      White Album
Led Zeppelin                     IV

These albums were selected for their universal appeal. They are probably the best introduction to these groups, as well as Rock in Roll in general. There are lots of other albums I could have suggested, but these are the very best. I didn't want to publish too big a list. The reason for this list starts with a friend overhearing a couple of kids at Circuit City. They saw the Hendrix section and said they thought Hendrix music is Reggae.
It has never been easy to find good music. In the 60's and 70's the best groups rarely got air time on the radio. When they did it was always the same song over and over again, like Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, ELP's Lucky Man and Hendrix's Purple Haze. Now people are musically educated by MTV. MTV only plays what they are paid to play. They call everything Rock and Roll, including Soul, Punk, Reggae, etc. If they have every played anything by these bands, you can bet it was the least exciting. Two of these bands were still playing sell out concerts beyond the 1990's, yet MTV has never played their music. My definition of great R&R music includes all the band members being virtuoso musicians. Today's band members don't even play an instrument. Those few that do play instruments never play leads, because they aren't up to it. 1967 to 1973 was the golden age of Rock and Roll. Only a few great groups went beyond 1973. These include ELP, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter and Heart.

The following is a list of the best of the best Rock and Roll videos. These are all available on DVD.

Jimi Hendrix   Live at the Isle of Wight
Jimi Hendrix   Live at Woodstock
Emerson, Lake & Palmer   Masters From the Vaults
Pink Floyd   Live at Pompeii
Led Zeppelin   DVD (Live at Albert Hall)
Johnny Winter  Pieces and Bits
Jethro Tull  Nothing is Easy Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
The Monterey International Pop Festival (with bonus newly released footage)
The Beatles  Let it Be

The following is a further list of recommended Rock and Roll albums for those who like the first list..

Jimi Hendrix   Band of Gypsies One
                     Hendrix in the West
                     Woodstock
                     War Heroes
King Crimson In the Wake of Poseidon
                     Larks Tongue in Aspic
Jethro Tull      Thick as a Brick
E,L,P            Trilogy
                     Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends
Mountain       Nantucket Sleighride
Led Zeppelin I, II and III
The Beatles    Magical Mystery Tour
Quicksilver Messenger Service  Quicksilver Messenger Service
Iron Butterfly   In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Blind Faith    Blind Faith
Jefferson Airplane   Bark
Heart  Dreamboat Annie
Jean Luc Ponty   King Kong

Jimi Hendrix is the best ever Rock guitarist, and an incredible writer. Keith Emerson of ELP is the Hendrix of Keyboard. Their music is the fusion of Classical and Rock. Jean Luc Ponty is the Hendrix of Violin. This album is a fusion of Jazz and Rock. Jethro Tull combines flute, guitar and keyboards. Duane Allman of the Allman Bros. is the only prolific slide guitarist I can think of. Johnny Winter is the other great slide guitarist, but usually doesn't play slide, still is one of the best living guitarists. Blind Faith is Eric Clapton's best Rock instrumental Album and features an excellent and famous drum solo by Ginger Baker. ELP and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida have the other famous drum solos, and manly vocals. All this music is very intense, and is available on CD. If you like this music and want more suggestions, write me.

The following is a list of recommended movies:

Forbidden Planet
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2001 A Space Odyssey
Magic Christian
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python   The Meaning of Life
Wuthering Heights

This List Last Updated 4-27-2005