albums and songs that take you to a different place:

first, songs (these are what really get me...individual songs moreso than long albums):

the b52s: love shack
roxette: it must have been love
sinead oconnor: nothing compares to you
---these and others always bring me back to 7th grade, iowa, reading david eddings and raymond feist for hours on end in my little makeshift room in the basement

ub40: red red wine: memories of my first "girlfriend's" birthday in 7th grade...party at her friends house...playing *coughspinthebottlecough*...not being brave enough to actually kiss her ...first girl i bought anything for, etc...

counting crows: round here
sarah mclachlan: angel
--flashback to senior year, janterm, when i did a very non-shane type of thing and went for the first kiss with the girl i was rather enamored with...first journey into what was a beautiful relationship...

some albums:

petra: beyond belief - similar to dc talk...it actually was more of "the summer before freshman year" album, as that was all we listened to that summer, blasting the speakers...still remember the guys i hung out with that summer...riding the bikes, playing hoops, playing nintendo...

magdallan: big bang- first ever "heavy" album i owned...brings me back to the middle-high school years...

dc talk: nu thang - first time i heard this was on some youth group trip with a bunch of the juniors/seniors while i was in 8th grade...i remember the anticipation on the voices of the others in the van as they talked about this new album that was "unlike anything else i'd heard"...i still remember the first low roar coming over the speakers and thinking "what .is. this?"...flashback to early high school and the hanging out with the guys and whatever

poor old lu: sin - still have memories of driving around in my 1980 datsun with this thing blasting through the tiny crappy speakers

sarach mclachlan: stumbling towards ecstasy - first album that i listened to that i knew my parents wouldn't like...reminders of the year after breaking up with my first girlfriend...

the prayer chain: shawl - changed my musical tastes forever. still remember the day i bought it, racing home, and listening to it over and over, laying on the floor of my room, reading the lyrics, being amazed...

dc talk: jesus freak-memories of freshman year, 4th floor dean hall...the guys...some of you know who i'm talking about...and memories of getting 2nd row tickets to the jesus freak show, and how my athiest friend whose favorite bands were korn and nin wanted to come because he liked the album so much...

sf59: americana: memories of sophomore year and listening to this over and over...hanging out with jt and, i think, shannon listening to it...

enter the worship circle: the first circle: memories of senior year college, the 2nd and last girl i dated...

the violet burning: i am a stranger in this place: i will forever associate this with the first time i heard tvb live...cstone 2000...being in a place of worship i have been few times before or since...

cush-s/t - will forever remember sitting there all day at cornerstone 2000 listening to this over and over with lara and the girl next door, waiting for the first ever cush concert that night