Top 20 Best Music Albums to Travel With

Back in the old days, before the Sony Discman became extinct (along with 13 other travel items that are now extinct), choosing your top 20 travel albums was pretty important because that was about as many CDs as you’d be able to fit into a travel CD wallet. Nowdays, it’s still pretty important to determine what fits on your iPod Nano. Here’s the music I always carry around with me on a trip- in no particular order!

20. Midnight Oil – Essential Oils

The original 80s Australian rockers. With a heated energy of revolution present on all their tracks, and a spirit of Aussie adventure, it’s the perfect uplifting music for a trip into parts unknown, particularly if you’re travelling in Australia. If that’s the case, you’d best put on “The Dead Heart” or “Beds are Burning” or “Kosciuosko”.

 

 

19. Faith No More – Angel Dust

Where does one begin to describe the twisted genius of Faith No More? Angel Dust is FnM at their most eclectic and definitely an album to listen to when you want to have your mind opened wide up, which usually happens whilst travelling. “Everything’s Ruined” will have you rocking along while Commodores cover “Easy” will have you cruising on a train tapping your toes. Best tracks: Crack Hitler, Midlife Crisis, Easy, Everything’s Ruined, just about all of them.

 

18. Queen – A Night at the Opera

I challenge anyone to find a better album to listen to when travelling in London- It perfectly captures all the pomp and theatricality of the British capital. “Lazing on a Sunday afternoon” is London to a tea, while “39” will have you in the mood for an epic journey. And I don’t even have to mention Freddie Mercury’s classic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The album even closes with a double guitar solo version of “God Save the Queen”.

 

17. Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV Volume 1: From Fear through the Eyes of Madness

Strange name, but this is a killer album from start to finish, with bizarre lyrics, melodious hooks, and much rock wizardry. I was introduced to this album by my roommates at the University of Delaware, the first time I lived in America for 6 months, and it always now reminds me of my US college experience and adventure in general.

16. Def Leppard – Hysteria

This is 80s glam rock at its finest, encapsulating euphoria on a compact disc. Since it’s so euphoric, it’s perfect for that train ride the day after an amazing party with your new hostel buddies in a foreign land. Best tracks: Gods of War, Rocket, Women

 

 

15. Florence and the Machine – Lungs

“A falling star fell from your heart, and landed in my arms…” So begins the romance of Florence’s “Cosmic Love”. The whole album is a mish mash of romantic experience and yearning for passion, and for me it’s the perfect thing to listen to while on a plane, above the clouds, looking out the window at the crescent moon. Best tracks: Cosmic Love, Howl

 

 

14. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr – The Ratpack

Any smooth Frank Sinatra jazz is good cruisy music to listen to on a train or plane, and is equally good for transporting you to a deep state of relaxation or getting you ready for a shindig. The best thing about this album is it has about 100 tracks and also includes Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. for a bit of variety. Best tracks: Some Enchanted Evening, Take Your Girlie to the Movies, Baby It’s Cold Outside

 

13. Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction

This is an album which never gets old, as it’s bazillion or so sales will testify. It has actually gone 18 x platinum, which is just ridiculous. But there’s a good reason, because the album rocks effortlessly from start to finish and just sounds so badass. It’ll make you feel like you can do anything, and you might need that if you’re on the way to a new destination! Best tracks: Paradise City, Rocket Queen, Think About You, It’s So Easy, all of them pretty much.

 

12. Hole – Live Through This

A great and highly underrated album. Live Through This is variously ascerbic, raw, aggressive, heartfelt and introspective. One of those albums I bought a million years ago but still listen to, mostly while travelling. Best tracks: Violet, I Think That I Would Die

 

 

11. The Mars Volta – Deloused in the Comatorium

My favourite prog rock. As a fan of the original At The Drive In music, a fellow traveller in Trondheim, Norway turned me onto The Mars Volta just after they’d made the transition to their new incarnation. The Mars Volta have made much good music since, but it’s their first record that has the most incredible melodies, the most mind warping arrangements. It’s so intricate that it’s the perfect album to listen to with headphones. More than that, I bought it whilst travelling in Finland, so it always reminds me of the amazing people and places of that country.

 

10. The Naked and Famous – Passive Me Aggressive You

A good party CD, with every song full of positive energy and killer melodies. It’s heavily featured in my favourite snowboarding film, “Art of Flight“, so it always gets me in the mood for a snowboarding trip. Best tracks: Young Blood, No Way

 

 

9. Noir Desir – Des Visages Des Figures

Another one that reminds me of Finland, even though it’s French. It’s darkly poetic and very powerful stuff. For those that associate travel with worldly romance, you’ll need to have this in your iPod. Best tracks: Le Vent Nous Portera, Lost

 

 

8. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magick

Tough choice to pick one album from these guys (One Hot Minute is a close runner up) but it has to be Blood Sugar Sex Magick because it’s just so damn epic, full of journeyman funk that will take you on a trip. The guitar solo from “I Could Have Lied” will forever have me driving through tropical Australian sugarcane fields, while Breaking the Girl is a tale of love lost. Meanwhile, “Sir Psycho Sexy” is sexy as hell and at 8 minutes long is perfect to listen to on a train as the scenery goes past outside.

 

7. Silversun Pickups – Carnavas/Swoon

I’ve had to include two albums from these guys as they complement each other perfectly and sound as though they are meant to be played consecutively, almost like a double album. The band itself has to be the most underrated act in existence- they sound like a smoother Smashing Pumpkins and I’m amazed they aren’t as big as them. Every song a perfect melody wrapped up in Big Muff fuzz. Another band I vibed to heavily in the US, it would make the perfect soundtrack to a cruisy US roadtrip. Best tracks: Substitution, The Royal We, Catch and Release, Checkered Floor, Future Foe Scenarios, Three Seed

6. Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Another huge seller and an unsurprising choice on my list, Mellon Collie is unsurpassed in ambition and scope, which makes it perfect for a voyage into the unknown. From soaring string sections and beautiful ballads, to fuzzed-out, distorted metal, Mellon Collie is an astonishing double-album. And rarely for a double album, there’s no down moments. Best tracks: Tonight Tonight, Zero, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, Jellybelly, Muzzle, Take Me Down

5. The Smiths – The Sound of the Smiths

The Smiths, with Johnny Marr’s flowing riffs and Morrissey’s stark baritone, were so amazing that it’s impossible to single out one of their albums. So I prefer to just go for this whopping “Greatest Hits” compilation which has all the good stuff on it. The Smiths music is at times uplifting, depressing, lonely, beautiful….. all the emotions you are likely to feel at different times on your travels, and thus the perfect companion for them. I challenge you to listen to “How Soon is Now” or “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” on a plane or roadtrip and not be moved.

  4. Sublime – Sublime

The masters of surf/skate punk/ska released a couple other great albums during their short existence but it’s hard to go past their last one, released after the death of singer Brad Nowell in 1996. To me it is the album of summertime, a collection of rawly-produced, bouncy, funky reggae beats with hip-hop credentials and mosh-pit punk choruses. If I’m going somewhere there is sun and salt-water, I get this straight on the stezza, pronto. Best tracks: Wrong Way, Santeria, Seed, Paddle Out

 

3. Cypress Hill – Black Sunday

“Had a bad dream woke up in a casket, now I can’t even get back at the bastard” sings Sen Dog on “Lick a Shot”, off Cypress Hill’s first record. You might feel a little bit like that on the road, or it might be your reason for being on the road in the first place. Either way Black Sunday, with it’s motherlode of catchy, smoke-wafting hip-hop classics, will have the party started in no time, whether it’s a room full of people or just yourself. Best tracks: I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That, Insane in the Brain, Cock the Hammer, Lick a Shot

 

2. Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band

The best album from the Beatles from their “experimental” days and a worthy inclusion in your travel iPod. A world of fantasy awaits within- a nice complement to the real world around us. Best tracks: A Day in the Life, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

 

 

1. Incubus – Morning View

I’ll be honest- there are other Incubus albums I like more, but this one is their best for a trip. I’ve vibed to “11am” to remind myself of what a regular routine is like, I’ve let the stress drift away in Thailand listening to “Are You In?” and I’ve floated down a river to the watery strains of “Aqueous Transmission”. It even has the song “Wish You Were Here”.

 

 

0. Mastodon – The Hunter

Ok, I had to choose one more because to leave this out would be a crime. I’ve been vibing to this one recently but really, any album from prog-metal masters Mastodon will work. The intricacy of their hooks, the subtle vocal harmonies, the chord progressions and crazy time signatures, all of these demand patient headphone listening to really let the music soak in and fully understand what they are trying to do. And I never have time to use headphones unless I’m on a trip. Best tracks: Curl of the Burl, Stargasm, Thickening, Spectrelight, Bedazzled Fingernails

 

Music is a subjective thing, and I want to know how your list differs. What do you have on your iPod?