Philly, which Badlands album would you say is the must-have? The song "High Wire" is the best I've heard by em so far.
If you were only getting one, the first album. At the time, I found
Voodoo Highway a bit too bluesy in comparison, but I absolutely love it now. And
Dusk wasn't even released in Ray Gillen's lifetime so I was expecting a load of half-finished leftovers, but it actually sounds like a great completed album.
So basically, they're all 100% essential

. But if you must pick one, go for
Badlands.
There was a lot of tension in that band. I went to see them in 91 (maybe early 92?) and they announced before the tour that Gillen had left (or been sacked) and replaced with a female blues/gospel singer. But then they appeared on stage with Ray! It was obvious the band were really angry with him - Jake never looked at him once, and at one point Greg Chaisson stood on Ray's mike lead so he had to sing the whole song bent over! Weird, but it was a fantastic gig!