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Recommemded Albums for Songwriters
This list is not meant to be the greatest albums of all time, though some of these records would be included on such a
list. Inclusion here is not primarily about great performances, profundity, commercial success, influence or the
ability to evoke a period. I'm not attempting to present a perfect cross-section of popular music since 1960, nor are
all musical genres represented. Instead, these albums show different directions in which the song has been taken.
Careful listening to them will teach you an immeasurable amount about the popular song and what it is capable of,
and what an elastic form it is. Lyrics, melodies, rhythms, hooks, song structures, arrangements, vocal and
instrumental performances – they're all here, albeit in differing mixtures. If you can get your head round the songs
on all these albums, then you're doing pretty well in songwriting awareness.