Music Reflections After Ten (+10)
Yes, music does change life. There is no doubt about that. I discovered that again as I worked on the Top 10 (+10) Life-Changing Albums list. Music.

The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.
--Dictionary.com

What I did to get my list was to just start naming the albums that came to mind. That was easy.Sgt. Pepper's, Days of Future Passed, Born to Run, Music from Big Pink. After I had my list, it was about 13 or 14. Too many for 10, not enough for 20. So I dug around a while thinking about what it is that music does for me.

[Middle English, from Old French musique, from Latin msica, from Greek mousik (tekhn), (art) of the Muses, feminine of mousikos, of the Muses, from Mousa, Muse.
----Dictionary.com]

Evocative. Having to do with the Muses- spirits of inspiration and soul movement. But more. It's an ache in the soul that answers questions you didn't even know to ask. It's knowledge beyond words that express what can't be spoken. It opens worlds and closes others.

I got up to 18 or 19 and just knew something was missing. The BIG GAP in the list was that I hadn't broadened the list enough. Sure there were lots of 1967-68 albums and 13 came from the 60s. That is when one is most susceptible to the initial influences of music. Like your first date, your first for a number of different types of music are unforgettable.

Then I knew that the antiphonal works of Gabrieli had to be on the list. And that #1, the album that most changed my life was Gershwin. I was surprised. But it was a great insight.

Now there are many groups that are not on the list of albums. The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin- as great as most on the list and greater than some, but no single album did it. Some came close, but not the way the other albums did. These albums changed the world for me. Grateful Dead, Neil Young. Kris Kristofferson almost made the list as did Johnny Cash. But again, it is the unique way these collections we call albums were constructed, developed and presented that made all the difference.

So let the music flow. Let today's musicians work to change the world of more people. Hey, Springsteen made my list TWICE, 30 years apart. It's still out there changing the world. There's nothing quite like it.