Ali goes all high-fidelity

Alison Hinks Yoga: 13 Albums in the Life of I

Southern Musical and Harmony Companion ~ Black Crowes

This was the first album that my dad, my brother and I all loved. Devoted students of 70’s Southern rock, this album was like a dream come true: The Robinson brothers were like a re-birth of the Allman Brothers but with modern recording technology and more intricately layered songs.

Sublime ~ Sublime

Filthy, violent, misogynistic. But really catchy! I’ve never heard an album as unguarded as this. You truly feel like Bradley is your high school bro and that you totally grew up in Long Beach.

BBC Sessions ~ The Beatles

Yes, I picked just one Beatles’ album. The BBC Sessions were so exciting because you were hearing the raw, sneering rockabilly DNA of which the Beatles are knit.

The Blue Album ~ Weezer

I think every kid in my high school had this album. Garage rock with a sense of humor, a bit of darkness, and harmonies that were so weirdly Beach-Boys-esque. All that AND it was transparent and fun rock. Listen to this album today: still stands up.

Harvest ~ Neil Young

So American. I picture Easy Rider, mad artists in Big Sur, isolation in the South West. Neil made plenty of amazing music after this, but Harvest sounds like the Universe was shining into his skull and out his body through his guitar. Like he was moved to write it by some huge and epic understanding.

Appetite for Destruction ~ Guns N Roses

From beginning to end, not a bad song in the bunch. This is the kind of album that sounds like a greatest hits album. But this was their FIRST album. Not to mention this was the album that moved me to create a cover band. I was Axl, of course.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots ~ The Flaming Lips

Life is beautiful, terrifying, and weird. So’s this album.

Get Behind Me Satan ~ The White Stripes

A study in Jack’s widespread influences. But not in album coherence. And I love it anyway. Blues/punk. Marimba. An a cappella Meg solo. Dark, sad, and scary with beautiful melodies, ghosts, and funerals. I’ve listened to this album a thousand times and I’ll listen to it a thousand more.

Rubber Factory ~ The Black Keys

The Blues will never die in America as long as artists like these feel it in their souls. The Black Keys have made 6th studio albums full of blues tunes and it just ALWAYS sounds new. Thanks dudes, and I can’t wait until there is a law passed that only your music can soundtrack anything. Ever.

Dreamland ~ Robert Plant

I listened to this album almost exclusively during the winter of 2002. The one when my roommate and I decided to avoid turning the heat on for as long as possible. Thin, reedy melodies like wind blowing the branches of dead trees, this album is a spooky re-imagining of the blues.

Nico ~ Blind Melon

A hippy band’s last album that I bought and studied in San Francisco. The perfect place to listen to a hippy band.

Sam’s Town ~ The Killers

A little more metaphorical than Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips, but just as comprehensive. What’s the album about? Uh…everything? Life? It’s like an allegory play but all the characters are cowboys.  Plus, the slick Vegas dance-vibe of the Killers never fails to pump me up.

Stickyfingers ~ The Rolling Stones

Another “I can’t believe it’s not a greatest hits album!” album. Bitch, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, Moonlight Mile, Sister Morphine…the list goes on. Stickyfingers is like an appetizer sampler of what the Stones can do: ballads, blues, riffs, country, killer guitar solos…it’s got it all.