-
Album Art Exchange1 of 10
The road of love is a rocky, winding and unpaved path that often leads to a dead end or the Lonely Hearts Motel. For those of you suffering a little heartache, here's a group of records made specifically for this period of grief, wallowing and unending tears. Whether you've just had one of Bonnie Tyler's total eclipses of the heart or received some bad news through the grapevine, listen to these great heartbreak records, have a good cry and turn that frown upside down.
Jeff Buckley - Grace
With one of the greatest sets of vocal cords known to man, Jeff Buckley will teach you a few things about love with his sole full-length album Grace from 1994. In it, you'll hear the rock ballad "Last Goodbye," a Radiohead-esque steel slide guitar track, along with the ever-beautiful "Hallelujah," which can make any man cry no matter how much sunshine and rainbows are in his life.
Unfortunately, the world was deprived of much great music from Buckley due to his untimely accidental drowning death in 1997. That alone is more to cry about than some girl you loved who may or may not have been diddling your milkman.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange2 of 10
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Noted as one of the greatest heartbreak records by anybody who can write about it, Bob Dylan knew how to pull on the broken heartstrings just as well as he could pluck a good guitar string. Dylan has a way with matching simple, familiar chord progressions with heartbreak narratives that will make you realize that women breaking mens' hearts is a thing that's been going on for some time now. "If You See Her, Say Hello" and "Simple Twist of Faith" are two of the record's memorable simplistic acoustics, and a couple hits, "Shelter from the Storm" and "Tangled Up in Blue," are just what the love doctor ordered.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange3 of 10
Marvin Gaye - Here My Dear
The "Prince of Soul" himself, Marvin Gaye conveys the strange nature of love and loss with an effortless sense, but anybody who has a soul and likes good music knows that Marvin is the kind of guy you keep close to the record player on good days and bad.
In the opening album-titled track, Marvin does his usual voice-over narrative dedicating the record to his baby. Towards the end of the record, he hints at the bright potential of the future with the funky "Falling in Love Again," a great tune to put on in the car as you ride to the bar for a nice night of getting sauced and mingling with new foxy ladies.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange4 of 10
Beck - Sea Change
One of Beck's masterpieces, Sea Change is a testament to the ups and downs of every man, even rock stars. The 2002 record is the most straightforward music from Beck you'll hear, a lyrically driven statement straight from the ticker that sets his unique sounds off to the side for a moment of genuine emotional unloading.
"Guess I'm Doing Fine" is a sweet acoustic ballad with light steel guitar to melt your ears into your headphones. To top it off, Beck lends up the finger picking of "Lost Cause," one of his mainstream successes that sells the idea that not everybody is meant to be together and that old wives tale about lots of fish in the sea. Fight it all you want, but this record has a better chance at making you happy than a lot of women out there -- according to science.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange5 of 10
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space
Anybody who has listened to Spiritualized knows this is one of the most feeling records of all time with high points of energy in songs like "Come Together" and very low, raw trenches, like in the album-titled first track.
Hey, if your song is on the "Vanilla Sky" soundtrack, it's either a love or heartbreak song for the ages, and you're doing something right. "Ladies and Gentlemen..." is a layered track of big sounds and big words about love, loss and the occasional sweet moments two people tend to have. If you're tuning in, it's a real headphones record that will have you drifting into space in its entirety, so plan on settling into something comfy, especially for the 17-minute closing track that'll leave you floating away from worry.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange6 of 10
Joni Mitchell - Blue
How somebody could be blue in the golden year of 1971 is beyond us, but Joni wrote ten songs for you anyway. A soothing mix of piano and guitar ballads, including the album-titled "Blue" and the big one, "California," layer the record with emotionally evoking tones and Joni's classic vocals. The album closes out with a piano ballad titled "The Last Time I Saw Richard," a song we dare you to listen to in your sorry state and not cry to. That one will get all the emotions out so you can buck up and carry on.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange7 of 10
Eric Clapton - Unplugged
Sometimes nothing hits the spot like a good acoustic record, and Eric Clapton's Unplugged is a compilation of some of his best ditties you can hear on a six-string. Although not written together, the album flows very seamlessly through a lot of all-time lows with songs like "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," the slow "Old Love" and possibly the saddest song of all time, "Tears in Heaven," inspired by the death of Clapton's son during his drug-addled years.
The record also features "Layla" in acoustic form, and everybody loves a little "Layla." Am I right?!
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange8 of 10
Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
While we're on the topic of stripped down, dark and unplugged, nobody does it quite like Kurt Cobain. Nirvana's unplugged record from 1994 is nothing if not the dark introspection of the soul we occasionally need, like a good old-fashioned gut check.
The record appeared shortly after the release of In Utero and just before the tragic loss of Cobain to drugs and a shotgun. That thought will take you back to remembering how shitty things can get just before they get good again. Our advice: lay off the drugs, listen to some good tunes, build a birdhouse and wait for the sun to start shining once more.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange9 of 10
Radiohead - The Bends
For a more energetic, upbeat set of sincere music, Radiohead is always the cure. "The Bends" record is laced with some of the softest sounds from the band, including the heartfelt "Fake Plastic Trees" and "High and Dry," along with a few other acoustic ballads.
The record also houses the common rock sounds of Radiohead we all need on a dark day, like "Just" and "Bones." Although slightly more of a lyrically-driven album than most Radiohead, The Bends delivers on feeling just the same, especially with heartbreak lyrics like "can't get the stink out." We all know the trouble of getting her smell out of the house when it's over, whether it's a girl or cat we're indirectly avoiding talking about here.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend
-
Album Art Exchange10 of 10Next: The Most Controversial Songs of All Time
The Verve - Northern Soul
Written as follow-up to one of Britain's best records, Urban Hymns, The Verve brought an earnest soul record to the table in 1995. Northern Soul was written in a dungeon and rehearsed in dark rooms, according to Richard Ashcroft, and was considered the band's (and Britain's) darkest and most psychedelic music at the time.
The record is sort of an emotional roller coaster from Ashcroft, with moments of clear agony followed by elation and topped off with his usual cockiness. Any fans of good British rock going through a lull will agree songs like "So It Goes" and the very psych-style "Northern Soul" have a way of balancing out a bad day with a little rock 'n roll, sometimes just what the soul needs.
-
-
More
- Share on Tumblr
- Pin It
- Email to a friend