Me Ten Favorite Albums, and the Tracks I Love Most on ’em

Have you ever read a book, played a game, done anything really, and had the thought “this would be PERFECT in (insert medium here)”? That’s what The Rainbow Goblins is. It’s a rock adaptation of a fairy tale Masayoshi Takanaka loved to read when he was young. As an artist myself, I’ve gotten the same temptations to homage my favorite things in 3D, or to adapt certain fictions into fighting games. It makes me feel very seen, listening to this album like this. I feel proud knowing that such inspired music can be so perfect, and it encourages me to be just as bold and inspired in my own work.
The album’s premise aside, beginning to end it’s perfection. The brief snippets of narration give you all the context you need, setting the stage like an epic or an opera, letting Takanaka’s evocative guitar whisk you away into another world. With just his guitar, I can perfectly imagine the powerful and awe-inspiring rainbow, the nefarious but lovable little goblins, and the rich valley and all its innocent little creatures. This is satiating music, an entire fantasy world just for your ears.

Suffice it to say, you should listen to this one in order, beginning to end.

Picking a favorite is incredibly difficult when every track is so perfect. Thunderstorm is energetic and powerful, Seven Goblins is a great introduction and silly too, there’s just too much to choose from. Ultimately though, I have to go with You Can Never Come To This Place. The imagery of the rainbow leaving us forever, the way Takanaka makes your heart ache for it...God. I never thought I’d weep for a fictional rainbow, but still, I feel better for it.

Like, damn.

I am not much of a dancer. I’m the kind of music listener that likes to lose myself in imagination, swimming in an aural daydream.

Motor-Booty Affair sent lighting from my head to my toes. It is not humanly possible to listen to this album without bustin’ a move. Even among the endless ocean of FANTASTIC funk music from so, so, so many musicians, Motor-Booty Affair stands way out. This shit speaks to me. It makes me yearn for a world where P-Funk is law.

The Motor-Booty Affair is my favorite track here. It’s not a song I liked the first time I heard it, but every subsequent listen etched itself in me. Now, I can’t live without it, much less hear it without dancing my ass off.

This album was an eye-opener for me. It’s the kind of music that changed my mind from “this song is too long” to “this song isn’t long ENOUGH!” It’s the kind of experience I never want to end, and Zappa’s unbelievable guitar skills speak for themselves. I was also really amused by the concept, that it’s a “soundtrack for a film that doesn’t exist.” I found myself drawn to other great albums with similar concepts and imagery like The Sorcerers’ The Search of the Lost City of the Monkey God. Also, Zappa’s work here got me way into jazz and jazz-fusion.

Initially tying between Son of Mr. Green Genes, Willie the Pimp (unrelated but watch Willie Dynamite), and Peaches en Regalia, I think I can settle on Son of Mr. Green Genes. Green Genes just goes on and on and on without repeating and you just can’t wait for the next riff to blow your mind. Perfect.

Prince’s debut, and the ideal album to send to someone if they need to be convinced to love Prince. It’s not at the same level of ambition as his later works like Purple Rain, but I like it for that. It’s a classic, timeless sound that exemplifies Prince’s talent and sheer uncontrollable charisma. Much in the same way you’d send For You to get someone to love Prince, For You makes me blush as though Prince was in love with me personally, and that is not something I can say about most music!

Without a doubt, my favorite track here is Soft and Wet, and it’s close to my favorite Prince song of all time.

If I remember correctly, this was my first King Crimson album, and I got to know them more following listening to Matte Kudasai and eventually the entirety of Discipline. The minimalist aesthetics from the sounds to the cover art, the romantic themes of the ‘discipline’ of the arts, the back and forth relationship between Discipline and Indiscipline, the hypnotic and transcendent guitar work, the tear-jerking vocals, it’s just perfect. As a bonus, I like to think that they opened the album with Elephant Talk as a joke to piss off people expecting more contemporary work.

It’s hard to say which track I love most on it. Hard tie between Matte Kudasai and Discipline. Matte Kudasai can bring me to tears any day while Discipline is the kind of song I listen to when I need to center my focus and ‘lock in’ as dem kidz say. I guess my favorite here would depend on my mood.