Vote

My picks would be from the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland. Like nothing before or after, 'nuff said.

Beyond the excellent Beatles album cycle, how about a quartet of releases by Supertramp: Crime of the Century, Crisis? What Crisis, Even in the Quietest Moments, Breakfast in America, or the Floyd boys: Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall?

Yes: Closer to the Edge, Yessongs, Tales from Topographic Oceans.

First impresions are generally the best, so Zeppelin's: I, II, and III. The best four in a row, just tack on Zep IV.

Aerosmith in 1974 to 1976: Get Your Wings, Toys in the Attic, Rocks. Geez. Thanks for the 3rd option. Sorry to all reading if I offend with such blasphemy, but the Beatles are the most overrated musical act to ever be recorded. Down with bug music.

Does the San Francisco Symphony's Mahler cycle on SACD they're currently working on count? If not, then perhaps The Clash's eponymous debut, Give 'em Enough Rope, & London Calling. Or how about four greatest consecutive releases: Miles Davis' Relaxin', Steamin', Workin', & Cookin'.

Eminem: Slim Shady, Marshall Mathers, Eminem Show. Controversial, yet appealing to all races. Who would have thought a white-trash rapper would have been so successful?

Led Zeppelin II, III, IV.

Just string together any Duke Ellington or Miles Davis you like . . . on the obscure end, I'd say Orange Juice '80's singles "Simply Thrilled Honey," "Blue Boy," and "Poor Old Soul."

led zeppelin I Led zeppelin 2

Springsteen: Greetings from Asbury Park, The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle, and Born to Run.

Steely Dan: Aja, Gaucho, Two Against Nature.

Pink Floyd: Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here.

Four! Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street.

The Doors: Waiting for the Sun, Soft Parade, and Morrison Hotel. I lived though that era (barely), and those three albums twizzled my jizzle!

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals.

Higher Ground, Fullfillingness First Finale, and Songs In the Key Of Life, by Stevie Wonder.

How about Supertramp's Crisis? What crisis?, Crime of the Century, and Breakfast in America? Or how about all of Steely Dan?

Tommy, Who's Next, Quadraphenia.

Weather Report's Mysterious Traveler, Tale Spinin', Black Market, & Heavy Weather, baby!

The Beatles on SACD

Hard to better The Beatles, but The Bends, OK Computer, and KID A.

A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, and Permanent Waves by Rush

Rush: 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres.

The Yes Album, Fragile, Close To The Edge by Yes .

Hard to argue with any three consecutive albums from Mutt Lange! AC/DC highway to hell, back in black, for those about to rock, Def Leppards high and dry, Pyromania and hysteria, Shania twains last three albums, Just take a look at the top twenty billboard selling albums of all time and how many does he have?? Almost half!! he also has a habit of bailing after three albums but man your almost guarenteed multi platinum success!! otherwise there are too many triplets to ignore..Led Zep 4, houses of the holy and physical graffiti...Fleetwood Macs self titled, rumours and tusk...hell Kiss's destroyer, rock and roll over and love gun gave them the 70's!

I know you will get a lot of Pop mentioned on this one (Rock, R&B, Rap, Hip-Hop, etc), because the hot short-term trend must be capitalized to bring in the big bucks, and one of anything that sells out immediately generates two more. But I have to hold up the classical end of the rack. Any of the last thre Jordi Savall releases on Alia Vox -- he has been extremely active the last 5 or so years, so I don't know which 3, but they are all outstanding. Or how about Tilson-Thomas, with the resurgent San Francisco Orchestra, his ongoing Mahler cycle? You could pick any 3 of those (yesterday, Tower Records in Glendale was sold out of his Mahler 2nd, for those of you out there who think Tower doesn't get sold out of ANYTHING that actually got rehearsed outside of a recording studio). Can we pick the 3 worst? I vote for the first 3 after Herbie Hancock went Disco -- you know, with the synthesizer and the oom-chucka, oom-chucka schtick.

Get Your Wings, Toys In The Attic & Rocks

Dire Straits, Communique, Love Over Gold.

Funny, I just read this week's voting question on Stereophile's Homepage, and while my browser opened the next window I was asking myself: can there be any doubt with Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper? So there is no doubt, is there?