10 Albums Influence 1-of-10

So, over on the Book of Face, I just did a challenge:  "Choose 10 albums that greatly influenced my taste in music.  post one album per day for 10 consecutive days.  No explanations, no reviews, just album covers."

Obviously, I had to do it.  But as hard as it was to pick 10 personally influential albums, it was harder yet to post with no explanations!!  Fortunately, I have no such restriction on my blog.  'Cause I make the rules!  So here we go, a reposting of the 10 albums I posted on Facebook, but now with a short explanation of each explain WHY I chose it as influential.

Note:  these are presented in the same random order I used over there....

Day 1 of 10

The Band - Rock Of Ages - 1972

The first live album from The Band, released after their first 4 studio albums.  This is one of the early albums I owned, not when it was brand new, but certainly within a couple of years.  It was the fist album I owned by The Band, I picked it up as means to get the several songs I know from the radio (there was no Greatest Hits package at the time), but it was also a time when I especially liked live recordings.

So, this was, for all practical purposes, my introduction to the Band.  And one of my early exposures to "Americana". or whatever you want to call it.  Or as the Rolling Stone review says:  "It is a kind a summation of American music, if you will. A cultural mix unequaled in contemporary music".  This was really my introduction to that whole "scene".  And, nearing 50 years later, still my favorite Band album.  And still one of my favorite live albums.