Bert Jansch - Bert Jansch (1965)

I'm not going to pretend that I'm super-knowledgable on Bert Jansch at this point, but I like what I've heard from him as well as from Pentangle, the group he played in. This is his first solo album and it's pretty great. The sound is nice and spare, just guitar and vocals, mixing more traditional-sounding British folk with other idiosyncratic influences. The original version of "Needle of Death" is on here, which has been covered a lot over the years. Anal-retentive complaint: the song titles on tracks 6-9 are all incorrectly labeled.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6wCFGLrsiWuX4d06Tc0zuZ

Brooklyn Bridge - Brooklyn Bridge (1968)

The cover to this album kinda creeps me out, looking like a sea of disembodied heads. This is some solid late-60s vocal pop however, like if the Association had an over-the-top lead singer (who just happens to be the amazingly-named Johnny Maestro, former leader of the Crests of "16 Candles" fame), or a Gary Puckett and the Union Gap with less songs about pedophilia (although "Glad She's a Woman" rates pretty high on the creep scale). "Worst That Could Happen" was the big hit off this one, and if you liked that song you'll probably like the album too.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6zyjPfnlHQieKpARy2O7Xp

Ann McMillan - Whale-Wail, In Peace, En Paix: For Voice and Tape Structures of Whale and Other Animal Sounds (1986)

A few seconds here and there of recited poetry about whales interspersed with severely manipulated tape recordings of whale sounds. Yep. This was one of the last records Folkways put out before they closed up and sold off their entire catalog to the Smithsonian, under the condition that the label's entire catalog would be kept in print for all of eternity. So we can sleep well with the knowledge that this album will never go out of print. While I don't think I'll be in a hurry to re-listen to this one anytime soon, it certainly was interesting. The sound design was pretty cool and well thought out, and used enough sonic variation to not become tedious.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5wavVlOW7qYs5tbVfGJk19

The Doors - Other Voices (1971)

If you've ever wondered what the Doors would have sounded like without that goon Jim Morrison singing for them, here you go, the first of two albums they cut after he left the band. Most of this actually isn't half bad, but it should be no surprise that the vocals are the weakest link here. As much as it pains for me to say it, Jim Morrison really gave this band their identity and without him they're a perfectly listenable but generic rock band. "Ships With Sails" has some cool Allman Bros-style twin lead guitar vibes, though. Check that one out. I would also like to add that there is an absolutely terrible song on here titled "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned" with such brilliant couplets as: "I feel my mind is shaking out of place/I look like a truck ran over my face/The doctor says I'm not a hopeless case/I really want to join the human race".
https://open.spotify.com/album/6uhwVoXKDMzdXXjhTCH6Nk

We Five - You Were On My Mind (1965)

No one is going to confuse We Five for an edgy band, but I was a bit surprised by this one. Excellent folk "rock" with some pleasant harmonies that thankfully avoids sounding too sanitized and safe. Bonus points for the matching v-neck sweaters on the cover.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6DODxzDGUinwQpWem6HvBc

David Peel and the Lower East Side - The American Revolution (1970)

OK first of all, yes I know that this album is incredibly dumb. A bunch of NYC hippie scumfuck degenerates yelling about smoking weed and hating cops set to borderline-competent minimalist rock'n'roll. If I didn't know any better I would probably have assumed that this group was planted by the Nixon administration to scare the general public into voting Republican. But who cares, this album rocks anyway. And while I wouldn't put this on the same level as, say, the Fugs or the MC5, it's still excellent proto-punk.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0lnpG9UFDP3mXSSrpEuRRO

Larry Young - Larry Young's Fuel (1975)

Jazz keyboardist great jumps on the 70's funk-fusion train. Funky rhythms and seriously spacy synths abound. What sets this apart from most fusion of its time, besides the fact that it doesn't suck, is the wild, Linda Sharrock-esque female vocals on some of the tracks. I don't know anything about this vocalist except that Google tells me her name is Linda "Tequila" Logan and that sadly she's appeared on only a handful of albums. Things get pretty heavy on the last cut, "New York Electric Street Music", with some distorted riffy guitar laying it down while Larry himself takes a goofy turn of his own on the mic. And while he's no great vocalist, he's at least better and more interesting at it than other jazz musicians who have no business singing (Search: Tony Williams "Beyond Games"). This is one of the few fusion records I've heard that I would label as actually being "fun".
https://open.spotify.com/album/3iqXOXzS84CzSxCB9aNAbs

Willie Nelson - ...And Then I Wrote (1962)

Willie's very first album! Pretty standard Nashville arrangements of their time, but this album is very nice. At the time Willie was mainly a Nashville songwriter trying to make it as a performer on his own. And while his own versions of "Crazy", etc might not be as good as the hit covers, they still sound pretty impressive here. And even at the start of his career he had a great, unique voice. This is as good of an introduction to classic country for the uninitiated that I can think of.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2Bsr45EWfyrQEUDfGhJwyu

Various Artists - Uptown MTV Unplugged (1993)

An artifact of the 90's if there ever was one, R&B acts of the time reaching for the ultimate "authenticity" ring by performing live with a slightly stripped-down backing band to prove their chops. Jodeci kicks this off, oversinging within an inch of their lives and for some godforsaken reason jumping into covering "Give It Away" for a moment at the start of their second song. But their version of Stevie Wonder's "Lately" is pretty good even if it mostly just brings back memories to me of the classic parody In Living Color did at the time. And hey everybody, remember Father MC? No?! Mary J. Blige unsurprisingly steals the show by giving a great performance and actually showing some restraint. I'll admit I never heard of Christopher Williams before, who wasn't bad, even though his solo turns seemed to go on forever. Heavy D (R.I.P.) takes over at the end and unfortunately does not do "Now That We Found Love". The drums were really distracting to me throughout this, mixed so obnoxiously loud to make it sound like they were recorded in a sports arena or something. But I have to admit this album was mostly pretty enjoyable.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0CQcwTXgmXtXpMcORejZSM

Fairport Convention - Live in Finland 1971

Totally smokin' live set. Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny were already both out of the band but they were still going full steam ahead when this was recorded. Is this a bootleg? I can’t tell. The sound quality is pretty raw and sounds real good and exciting to my ruined ears. Bummer it's only 35 minutes long.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2VsYBPiP3dmKnuVyXfIf7q

Marcos Valle - Marcos Valle (1983)

OK first off, this album cover is totally hilarious. Second off, the song “Estrelar” is one hell of a sweaty dance floor jam. Third off, the rest of the album is a bit too 80s cheesy-town sounding for me. (The re-recording of “Samba de Verao”, barrrrf) But hey, if you’re into that sort of thing...

https://open.spotify.com/album/0FOAFmdS9StYdW3hrSnJCe

SIANspheric - There’s Always Someplace You’d Rather Be (1998)

Oh hell yes, this is more like it! Canadian space rock/shoegaze of the highest quality. I remember watching the video for one of these tunes on Muchmusic back in the day. Muchmusic in the 90’s was pretty much my Canadian music education at the time (SSSSSLLLLLLLOOOOAAAANNNNN!!!!!). Dig the variety in this band’s approach, Spacemen 3-like in one song, Low or Slowdive or whoever the next. Not the most original thing on earth but well-done and highly recommended.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4S7VTFRKLI3tyFZL36Y250

The Yardbirds - Little Games (1967)

The only Yardbirds album with Jimmy Page on guitar! Oh my god I gotta be honest, some of these songs are pretty lame, pop songs they were probably forced at gunpoint to write and/or record that make the Hollies sound like heavyweights (and I like the Hollies but c’mon). The instrumental “White Summer” is pretty cool though, an earlier example of the ever-popular “white rock dudes attempting to play Indian music” thing. I really like “Glimpses”, a nice moody dark psych tune. Some typical blues-rock choogles on here as well that are good but fall prey to the law of diminishing returns when it comes to this kinda stuff. A for effort, B- in execution.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4qUYoXCmJq9ucc6B7m69Mu