God, fall is so sick. The weather is perfect, the vibes are high, and the food is great. What more could you want in a season? Well, there may be one thing that could make it better: killer music. With fall being the undisputed best season (sorry, summer and winter lovers) and music being the perfect accompaniment to *anything*, why not combine the two? We dug through our respective vinyl and CD collections to find some classic Fall albums—bangers that really hit us with that autumnal, leaves-changing vibe. Here’s our choice picks:
Zack:
Rumors, Fleetwood Mac: What an insane album. Members breaking up, cheating on each other, fighting and yelling in between takes. Surely the music would reflect this tension, right? Yes, yes it does, but beauty comes from strife in this case, making one of the best albums of all time. This album is jam-packed with hits, great deep-cuts, and somehow, some very surprisingly calm, angry tracks. They really really don’t like each other, but their hatred somehow comes off very fall-y. ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Go Your Own Way’, and ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ are some of the songs that give off a vibrant fall feeling. Songs like ‘Never Going Back Again’, ‘Dreams’, and ‘Second Hand News’ are like a crisp, fall evening. All-in-all, phenomenal album, it blows my mind that such conflict resulted in this.
Minute by Minute, Doobie Brothers: Micheal McDonald’s voice is amazing, one of the best ever in my opinion, and it shines through in this album. Skunk Baxter’s (who went on to be a defense contractor after his music career) guitar playing, especially on songs like ‘Dependin’ On You’, ‘Steamer Lane Breakdown’, and “How Do the Fools Survive’. Each member of the band came together to give us this beautifully put-together, late evening fall album. ‘What a Fool Believes’ is a classic song, ‘Open Your Eyes’ is a phenomenal deep cut that I love listening to on a drive, and ‘Dependin’ on You’ is an infectious song that I always find myself playing air-guitar to when it comes on. The piano and keyboards on this album are also a bright spot. I love Doobies, and I love the Brothers.
Rubber Soul, The Beatles: This album marks the tonal shift in the sound of The Beatles. Their 6th studio album, referred to as the “pot album” by John Lennon, gives off a citrus tea, or warm cider kind of feeling. ‘Drive My Car’ feels like a windows down drive in the fall (and also top-down if you can relate to that, I can’t) kinda feeling. ‘Michelle’ is a somber, sitting on the porch late at night kind of love song. ‘In My Life’ gives off the feeling of walking on a trail surrounded by trees turning, a slight breeze, and no worries kind of vibe. Overall, this album is great, and the most fall sounding Beatles album. The sonic shift from their previous albums, to this, is insane, seeing as they released ‘Help!’ the same year. They sound like an almost completely different band.
All Things Must Pass, George Harrison: The best solo album of any of the Beatles, and one of the best albums ever, features some fall sounding bangers. George’s first solo album, while not being a member of The Beatles, features some songs left off of the last two Beatles albums, and some other great new work. ‘What Is Life’ is an uptempo, lively song that is like running through the freshly-fallen leaves.‘I’d Have You Anytime’ is a beautiful, slow tempo love song with some great guitar playing. The ever wonderful ‘My Sweet Lord’ is on here as well, which is one of the most peaceful songs I’ve ever heard, and sounds like a peaceful fall afternoon. George, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated guitar players ever. He’s a great slide guitarist as well, and that shines through here. One of my top 10 albums ever.
Will:
Amnesiac, Radiohead: Dismal. Rainy. Cold. God, Britain must be miserable if this is the art their greatest living rock band exports. No album has ever captured the dread of the sun beginning to go down at 4 o’clock like this one does, and it is as glorious as it is depressing. Tracks like “Hunting Bears” and “Like Spinning Plates” give this whole project an apocalyptic, doomed vibe–like a terrible storm is just over the horizon. Look, everyone and their mom loves Kid A and OK Computer, but I really think that Amnesiac is one of the singular best Radiohead albums. The Bends can shove it.
This Empty Northern Hemisphere, Gregory Alan Isakov: God. Isn’t that album title just… perfect? Beautifully evocative, too? Isakov’s songwriting captures a desolate, over-casty folk sound that makes me feel like I’m somewhere high in the Shenandoah mountains–looking out on the valley while the leaves fall. It’s just gorgeous, if not a little sad. Rich acoustic bass tones ripple underneath twangy banjo plucks, and violins drone in the album’s namesake track, all while Isakov’s voice coos softly about cities on fire and church steeples. This album almost feels incomplete without the sound of your feet crunching leaves punctuating each song. 10/10.
Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? The Cranberries: The word “ethereal” gets thrown around a lot in art critique, but this album genuinely feels like something out of a dream. I mean, just listen to the end of “Dreams” (how fitting!) and tell me if you’ve ever heard something like it. Honestly, the 3 song run of “Dreams,” to “Sunday” and into “Pretty” might be the best back-to-back tracklisting… ever? It’s certainly up there. There’s something melancholy and gothic in the guitarwork on tracks like “Still Can’t…” that completely captures the essence of a cool fall morning–or the scent of a burning pile of leaves. Unbelievable.
Violator, Depeche Mode: Enough of that sad-sap crap! Fall isn’t just for moping around! It’s time for some AUTUMNAL PARTY MUSIC. This is the type of stuff the vampires were dancing to at the blood-rave in the movie “Blade”–edgy, dark, foreboding, downright EVIL stuff, I love it.
