Bill Shapiro, host of Cyprus Avenue, often shares discoveries and treasures from the world of rock. While new music or the latest cool musician may be on tap for the Public Radio show, Shapiro also relies on the trusted sound of musicians whose presence and sometimes their legacy is long and steady.
Here are his top 10 albums:
1. Elvis Presley, Sun Sessions
2. Beatles, Revolver
3. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
4. Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On
5. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
6. Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
7. Frank Sinatra, Only the Lonely
8. Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run
9. Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You
10. Bob Marley, Legend
Best concert: The best concert Shapiro ever saw took place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. on a Sunday night in 1976. He saw Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run tour. “It was not even sold out. He came on about five or six minutes after 8 p.m. and left five or six minutes before midnight. It was the essence of the heart of Rock and Roll.”
