Yet another list post to drive everyone crazy. What I want to know is: Best album for each artiste? Tried to include some 'Spill faves & lifted some more from our last FM chart, but feel free to add to the list (as long as they have banged out a few albums). You can pass on anyone you don't know or care about, but each choice must be justified in some way (musically, lyricly, personally) otherwise this will be boring & we don't want that:Al Green, Ballboy, Beatles, Beck, Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Bruce Springsteen, Calexico, Can, David Bowie, Drive By Truckers, Echo & the Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Fairport Convention, Genesis, John Coltrane, Johnny Cash, Jonathan Richman, Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, Manic Street Preachers, Miles Davis, Mogwai, Mountain Goats, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Outkast, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Radiohead, Rolling Stones, Sigur Ros, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Sufjan Stevens, Talk Talk, Tricky, The Smiths, The Who, Tindersticks, Tom Waits.
Additions:
AC/DC, Al Kooper, Alabama 3, Bauhaus, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Folds, Billie Holiday, Billy Joel, Bjork, Black, Black Sabbath, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Burning Spear, Chemical Brothers, Cream, Culture, Death Cab For Cutie, Deep Purple, Eels, Elbow, Elton John, Flaming Lips, Gil Scott Heron, Gregory Isaacs, Hothouse Flowers, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, Joni Mitchell, Kraftwerk, Lambchop, Marillion, Mark Lanegan, Mercury Rev, New Order, Nina Simone, Opeth, Paul Simon, Pixies, Porcupine Tree, Prince, Procol Harum, Quicksilver, Ray Charles, Richmond Fontaine, Rickie Lee Jones, Ryan Adams, Shack, Steve Earle, Taj Mahal, The Band, The Blue Nile, The Clash, The Cure, The Fall, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Throwing Muses, Toots & the Maytals, Toto, Traffic, U2, UFO, Van Morrison, White Stripes, Yo La Tengo
Latest requests:
92 comments:
Oh oh, I'm going to top the commenters chart.
I'll start randomly with John Coltrane, because I only have 4 albums of his, Giant Steps, Olé, My Favourite Things and A Love Supreme. I'll go with Olé for the long title track, its menacing opening bassline, McCoy Tyner's beautiful, hypnotic piano playing, Coltrane's powerful yet listenable playing, and I love Elvin Bishop too.
Are greatest hits albums allowed? Cos my fave Bunnymen is a comp, as is my fave Who and Smiths!
Stealing Blimpy's fire, "The world won't listen", because it was the first Smiths album I heard.. my first flat, first night alone, flatmates out, me a pop/indie virgin, taking that record out of curiosity and putting the needle down on.. "Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking when I said... "
Elvis Costello - Punch The Clock - released when I was in my early twenties and really appreciating quality pop music. So many great tracks - in fact I'd forgotten quite how many until I checked the listing just now. The standout track is of course 'Shipbuilding' but there's also 'Everyday I Write The Book', 'King of Thieves', 'Pills & Soap' and much, much more...
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - good god! I was only 13 when this came out - and heavily influenced by my older brother and his mates. My memories of listening to this back in 1974 are strangely confused with early experiences of alcohol, girls and interesting things mixed with tobacco. I still listen to the whole album a couple of times a year and although some of it's a bit embarrassing viewed from a 21st century perspective, tracks like 'Carpet Crawlers', 'The Lamia' and 'It' still do it for me.
Jonathan Richman - Modern Lovers Live - I think I've said enough already about my love for Jonathan in general and this album in particular on this 'ere blog but I would challenge anyone to listen to 'The Morning Of Our Lives' (I mean really listen to it) and not be moved. And the eight minute version of 'Ice Cream Man' complete with its seven encores is hilarious.
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go - I came to the Manics quite late and although I've tried, I can't really relate to the stuff from the Richey Edwards era - with the exception of 'Motor Cycle Emptiness' and one or two other tracks. Unfortunately, I listened to Everything Must Go so much that I'm not sure I really like it anymore...
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon - perhaps this is a bit of a consensus-type cliche, but it's another one that I loved in my teenage years and still love today. I had the posters on my bedroom wall (remember the pyramid and the spectrum?) and they made me feel very grown up. So there. Oh, and 'The Great Gig In The Sky' is utterly gorgeous...
Radiohead - The Bends - I have to confess that I discovered Radiohead through OK Computer and only then investigated the two earlier albums. I fell in love with The Bends and 'Fake Plastic Trees' would probably be on my all time desert island list.
Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoise - when I first signed up to last.fm I noticed the name of Sufjan Stevens coming up on most of my neighbours' lists. This led me to investigate further and the first time I heard 'John Wayne Gacey Jr.' I knew I'd discovered an artist that would become significant in my life. I spent most of 2007 listening to this album.
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - this was the hardest to choose. I bought the first album on the recommendation of a friend and was immediately blown away by what I heard - The Smiths were probably my favourite band for the next five years and I bought everything they produced. I love Meat Is Murder and Strangeways but I would rate The Queen Is Dead highest of all. 'Cemetery Gates', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again', 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side', 'There Is A Light...' - need I say anymore?
All the others, I have two or fewer (in mnay cases, none) so can't really judge but I'd like to add The Go-Betweens to the list and nominate Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express as my personal favourite.
Fair question, that. With a few of these, a comp is all I've got.
Of the ones the collection goes deeper, Johnny Cash is confined to the Rick Rubin albums and San Quentin, David Bowie doesn't extend past Hunky Dory and Low, and I've not dug Radiohead out since preparing for the Victoria Park gig (we did have a summer, no matter what the Daily Express says).
The Smiths, for me, is Strangeways Here We Come. I'd never quite got them, partly because the fan in my year at school was a bit of a twat at the time, but that long intro of the ruckus into the strings of Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me was incredible. If the Morrissey who sang Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want smacks of self-pity, this was the voice of experience and much more powerful for it.
Comps are allowed & would probably pick those myself for Dylan, Kate Bush & The Who in the category of "artists I quite like & respect but am not crazy about", but am open to better suggestions.
There's not many of those that I would feel fully qualified to comment on, for similar reasons to toffee. Best ofs aren't a bad bet for some of them either.
However , I'll start with:
Mogwai - Rock Action. This probably isn't the canonical answer but, for me, that was a really special album. Start to finish it is as varied as anything they've done, and it was the first that I'd bought on release, as a fully-fledged fan. Sine Wave is a creeping, sinister and beautifully structured opener, Gruff Rhys adds a real pop sensibility to Dial:Revenge (in Welsh!!) and I challenge anyone anywhere to find a more uplifting and beautiful four and a half minutes of music than the first half of 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong. It was the album, for me, where they stepped away from the one-trick that they had perfected up to that point. They added dynamics and lyrics to the mix and they weren't afraid to play with unusual/difficult sounds. Plus, at only 40-odd minutes, it instantly becomes less pre-possessingly fearful than other albums of theirs. Gorgeous.
I think this thread may prove rather useful to me, I have to say...
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Surreal, sprawling and perhaps a little overlong, but when it's good (which is most of the time), it's very good indeed. Much better production that any of their earlier albums, and Steve Hackett's guitar playing is never short of brilliant throughout. It's a pity he started to get marginalised on subsequent albums.
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. It's their "Revolver" to Dark Side's "Sergeant Pepper". 'nuff said.
The Who - Who's Next. OK, it's the obvious one, especially as I'm into hard rock rather than their earlier mod stuff.
OK, what about Porcupine Tree? I *really* can't decide which of their albums is my favourite...
I think I agree with Kalyr about Pink Floyd. There's something about how Wish You Were Here is structured that really appeals to me. It just seems to focus itself around THAT song so totally. Which is no bad thing, yet the two Crazy Diamonds succeed for me in achieving that rare trick of being long songs that manage to not feel it.
Oh and for Bowie it has to be Low. When I first heard it, I had never heard anything like it, and I don't think I have since. It is one of very few albums I can think of that is not only timeless but also able to constantly sound new. I genuinely believe it was a one off, in conception, in production, in design and in emotional impact. The fact that the vinyl sleeve is one of the most beautiful things ever is by the by, but I've always wanted a coat like that...
Damn it, I need to keep commenting or how will I ever get to those lofty heights?...
Donding "Low" & "Wish You Were Here"
From Shoey's list, my contributions are actually few:
The Beatles - I'm going to nick someone else's joke and say "It's that colour LP ..." Ed: "The White Album?" Me: "No, the blue one!"
Calexico - Too hard to choose, as it depends on my mood. Hot Rail tends to get played on the same evenings as Ry Cooder's Paris, Texas, but is too slow-paced for my rock head. As I've hammered on about this very week, All Systems Red on its own makes Garden Ruin my most-played album, but that's not the same as 'Best'. I'll have to come back to that one.
Bowie - aah, Heroes as a song also just elevates that album to the top of Mr. Jones' heap, but that actually isn't saying much, as I think I only own 3 DB albums. It has a special place in my history though, as it was an early foray OUTSIDE my blinkered teenage rock tramlines, and is directly responsible for my investigation of Tangerine Dream.
Drive-By Truckers - almost certainly The Dirty South. Beats Southern Rock Opera because of the Quality Control; beats Gangstabilly with its production values; beats Brighter Than Creation's Dark because I'm still a big Jason Isbell fan. Still has the variety to give any first-time listener a good indication of their range. Yep, happy with that choice.
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Perversely (bearing in mind my logic above), Lamb beats Trick Of The Tail in spite of a lack of vicious editing or QC. I'd say sprawling epic prog, and mean it as a compliment.
Johnny Cash - I'm going to cheat, and say the Unearthed Box Set, because you get pretty much all of the American Recordings highlights, and I couldn't possibly choose between those.
Kate Bush - Between DarceysMam & I we have most of Kate's albums, but I'm struggling to tell you why I would pick Never For Ever as just edging out more-often-played The Sensual World.
Mogwai - an emotional choice of Young Team, because I hadn't really heard them when I bought it on recommendation, and it blew me away. As good as some of the other albums are, YT is the one I'd recognise more of.
Nick Cave - I own VERY little, and really don't like large swathes of my brother's much more extensive collection, but I adore The Lyre Of Orpheus, particularly O Children.
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here.
No contest. 60s Syd made a sound I can't get emotionally attached to; Dark Side Of The Moon doesn't grab me at all (I actively *hate* Money & Time); The Wall is patchy; what I know of the post-Waters stuff DOES often push my buttons, but seems too formulaic.
R.E.M. - I'm not enough of a fan of any of it to feel able to comment. The huge devotion to, and knowledge of, their output that they engender in their fans is sometimes a little scary, to be frank.
Radiohead - Nope, gone off nearly all of it. Played OK Computer and Pablo Honey maybe once each in the last two years, and haven't made my attention span get to the end of In Rainbows even that much! Sorry.
Rolling Stones - I refuse to embarrass myself; I plead the Fifth Amendment.
Sigur Rós - Agætis Byrjun. Although Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust is running it close. AB is just beautiful from start to finish.
Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden.
Do I really have to bore you all again with why I think this is the best album ever made?
The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow.
Simply because you get more bang for your buck.
Depending on where this thread goes, I may come back to this with more bands not currently in Shoegazer's list ... but for now I want to see who's written what whilst I've buggered about writing this.
More donds forAgætis Byrjun & Spirit of Eden (although close call with "Colour of Spring"). My choices post can now be a lot shorter.
Brian Eno - "Another Day on Earth" Great album from a couple of years back with actual songs. The new collaboration with David Byrne seems interesting too, but it's no "Bush of Ghosts"
Beck - "Sea Change" country trip-hop anyone?
Can - "Ege Bamyasi" Years ahead as always & it has Vitamin C on it. Edges out Tago Mago.
Bunnymen - "Porcupine" 2 great singles were the weakest tracks. Almost went for "What are you going to do with your life?" from the later period, few bands have mellowed with age so well, but it's more of a mac solo effort, really.
Elvis Costello - 'King of America" Elvis goes country. Hmm, theme developing...
Mogwai - "Mr Beast" Could be alone in this choice, but each Mogwai album has improved on the one before for me. Really looking forward to the new one.
Mountain Goats - Can't chose between "Sunset Tree" & "Get Lonely". Both themed albums - one about death of father, one about separation. America's poet laureate.
Nick Cave - "Kicking Against the Pricks" awesome covers album paying tribute to influences. Close call with Abbatoir Blues & need to give "Lyre" another listen.
Smiths - "The Smiths" pretty much the set list from when 1st saw them, with gladioli flying, supporting Howard Devoto.
Tindersticks - "Tindersticks II". Although "Hungry Saw" is their best since "Simple Pleasure"
Oops Missed out old Siouxsie - "Juju" had written them off after "the Scream" until they came back with this.
RR favs, you say? Well, I like Toto--Back in Khaki. and, of course, Billy Joel's standout album, It's Billy Joel, Bitch!
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love. On side one of the vinyl you get Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, Running Up That Hill and Cloudbusting, all so strange and yet perfectly formed, very different from each other. Side 2, The Ninth Wave sequence, a seamless concept, a tale of ice-skating gone wrong and flashed of mortality. Haunting and like nothing else you'll ever hear.
The Smith: The Queen Is Dead, I'm with Toffeeboy, not a duff track on it and it marked Us out from Them.
OK, Shoe, let me begin by saying that's looks like a pretty limited list, I know it's your list an' all, but there's names on there that I wonder about and names not on there that I think should be. For example, no reggae, how about BMW, Toots, Spear, Culture just to name a few. And then there's the whole LA/SF scene; Doors, Airplane, Q/S, Dead etc. Soul and Blues: Gil, Hooker, Taj, Nina, Billie.
Joni Mitchell and Van should be there and so should Jimi, Bloomfield and Kooper, maybe also the Band, Clash, Elton, Cream, Kinks, Procol and Traffic.
What do you and others think? No offence but I think it needs amending.
Add as many as you want GF, not much Hip-Hop, World or Electronica in the list come to that.
Couldn't find Steen's selections on iTunes, how weird?
Some great stuff up there - looks like I'll have to check out Mogwai. I know nothing about them so thanks for the recpmmendations.
I somehow missed two of my favourites from shoey's list so:
REM - Automatic For The People - I was 'with' REM right from the start and I think I have all their studio albums. Automatic is when they reached their peak and has to be my favourite - 'Man On The Moon', 'Nightswimming', 'Everybody Hurts' - every one a winner.
Odelay - I know I'm not exactly pushing the boat out with these recommendations but this was the first Beck album I heard and it's still my favourite - also one of my favourite album covers! Standout track is 'Devil's Haircut'.
Oh, this is funny: I was watching The Bridge last night on telly (partly for professional reasons - it's the film about people who jump off the Golden gate Bridge) and I'd left the computer on, so I kept hearing the 'ting' noise for a new email. Must be a new list, thought I, and so it proved...
Beatles: I was about the only person in my school who didn't like them when they started, but over the years and listening to Revolver, Rubber Soul and Abbey Road at friends' houses I realised I did quite like them after all, so I'll go for Revolver for the cover by Klaus Voorman (a very gorgeous man).
Dylan: Blood on the Tr...no, Desire, because it has some of my most favourites - Isis, Sara, Romance...
Bruce: The River, because in 1981 I was not having a very good time and the record is full of stories about people struggling, and I could relate.
Fairport: Got to be Liege and Lief, every folkie's favourite record, because they'd discarded the cover versions, there was a mixture of traditional songs and ones by Richard Thompson all with sizzling arrangements, and it was the best ever lineup, including RT, Sandy Denny and Dave Swarbrick.
The Who: I'm with Tim - Who's Next. Every time.
OK, I'll take... Echo and the Bunnymen for fifty please, Alex.
I'm going to go with What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? just ahead of Ocean Rain. It's a really mature, melodic and frequently uplifting album that I still return to, the complete opposite of Ocean Rain and some of their more difficult stuff I guess. It was the gateway album for me. Rust, Baby Rain and History Chimes are all gorgeous. The sense of honesty and maturity and life anew is often quite quite infectious. A best of might be a good bet for the Bunnymen, though...
A point, also, regarding Beck - I've never quite brought myself to enjoy him, possibly since I was 17 and overheard two poseur ponces talking about how they were 'heavily into Beck right now, ya?' I just find him ever so slightly affected and disingenuous and have always associated him - wrongly I'm sure - with the kind of hipsterism that I find showy and irritating.
That said, though, I recently realised (via Blimpy's years task, actually) that I have owned Mutations for ten years and probably only listened to it fully through once, if that. I clearly remember that I bought it at the same time as two other albums (one of which was definitely Deserter's Songs) and it just was never able to compete, hence being swallowed into the ether. A similar fate, incidentally, occurred to Cast's All Change when I bought it on the same day as Morning Glory. Anyone else ever have/had that problem?...
Anyway, to complete the story, I listened to Mutations properly the other night and it is absolutely brilliant. Much more diverse than I remembered, lyrically interesting, personal, warm and catchy. So I'll vote for that. Would I like Sea Change, toffee?
Scarily vast topic., even though I don't own albums by half these people and can only nominate the one album I own for Beck (Odelay), Cohen (I'm Your Man) and the Smiths (Hatful of Hollow).
Dylan: a virtually impossible question, as it depend on the time of day/month/year, but currently I think I'd go for Highway 61 Revisited for the perfect distillation of the wild electric sound and some timeless classics. Strong contenders: Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Infidels, Oh Mercy, The Bootleg Series Vol. III (for 'Blind Willie McTell' if nothing else) and the classic Vol. IV live album.
Bruce: Nebraska. I find that most of his output works brilliantly live but for me it's too bombastic to listen to privately. This is strange and haunting.
Can: Tago Mago. Partly because it's the first one I heard, I suppose; I can't actually articulate why this seems to be the best thing they ever did.
Bowie: Low, followed closely by any decent compilation; Low is the album that seems to be most successful as an album, plus it's got the Krautrock influence, but I tend to consume Bowie in terms of great tracks rather than great albums.
Genesis: Seconds Out - the best bits from Lamb Lies Down... plus other great tracks, and a key record for about three months when I was 12...
Coltrane: I think it has to be Love Supreme, as a supremely beautiful and moving record, though My Favourite Things comes close and I think that Ascension is actually a more exciting artistic achievement.
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love, partly because of significance in formative years yet again, partly because it doesn't have a duff track (unlike The Red Shoes, which is close behind).
Manic Street Preachers: Generation Terrorists - part of me still thinks that they should have broken up after this definitive statement.
Miles Davis: ESP - from my favourite period of Miles, and the best jazz quintet ever, and I just marginally prefer the tunes, esp. the title track, to those on Miles Smiles.
Pink Floyd: The Final Cut for sentimental and personal reasons, followed by Animals.
REM: Automatic for the People; the first record of theirs I bought, having overcome revulsion caused by Shiny Happy People; then got heavily into them for a couple of years, but I still return to this. Drive is one of my favourite ever songs - lovely feedback.
Rolling Stones: Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass): one of the few rock records owned by my father, hence major influence.
The Who: Live at Leeds.
No, I don't own a single album by the Beatles. Actually I've never even listened to one...
I'm sorry, Shoegazer, I can take this seriously. I just have a terrible time deciding between things I like. First of all I'm embarrassed to say that I don't own albums by the majority of artists listed.
Going alphabetically of ones I do...
Beck--I listened to Mellow Gold a lot when it came out. My brother's a big fan and he's given me a few other albums, but I'm sorry to say I've just never gotten into him. Not cause I don't like him though. Does that ever happen to anyone?
Dylan--very hard choice... I'd have to go with The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, mostly because it has Don't Think Twice it's Alright on it, but also because I think the sweet songs are really sweet and the angry songs are really angry.
Bruce Springsteen--The Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle--it's messy, funky, wiry music, before Bruce got all stodgy muscle-bound and synthesized.
Johnny Cash--At Fulsome Prison, it's got a lot of classics on it...
I only have one Miles Davis (guess which one!) But it's brilliant.
Outkast--this one was really hard for me. I don't think I've heard a track by them I haven't liked. I asked someone more decisive who immediately said Aquemeni. I have to admit I'm very fond of Stankonia, though I have a nagging suspicion that's not the coolest answer.
REM--Something very early, for me. So Chronic Town, Murmur, maybe Life's Rich Pageant.
Radiohead--depends on my mood.
The Smiths--There's a release that might be only American called Louder Than Bombs, which is basically Hatful of Hollow plus a bunch of other good stuff, and I'd probably go with that.
Tom Waits--Rain Dogs. For me it has the right balance of strange and sweet, and it has a lot of beautiful songs. I also like Swordfishtrombones, Nighthawks at the Diner and the Night on Earth Soundtrack though, so it was hard to decide.
Any of these answers might change if you asked me next week.
D'oh! I've got Louder Than Bombs, steenbeck, and never thought about it. Possibly because I bought all my Smiths stuff pre-CD on release, and have only got LTB and The Smiths (which replaced a cassette!) as CD "upgrades".
Springsteen - my inclination is to go for Born To Run, just because of my innate love of bombast, but its going to have to be Nebraska, just because I think that is the album which made me re-evaluate him as a fantastic storyteller, above everything else.
Also, I need to get off my chest now the fact that I've just been for a good look at the new GU arts blog. For interest's sake I clicked through to last week's RR. I then cooked a roast dinner, made four cakes, watched the entire Three Colours trilogy, read a few bits of Finnegan's Wake and tried to reappraise some of the works of 2 Unlimited. Then the comments had loaded and I concluded that Friday is going to be horrible.
@ snadfrod - I've only got four Beck albums and I only really know Odelay well enough to comment. From what I know of Sea Change I would say it's a lot slower and more introspective - a big country feel to it. End of The Day and The Golden Age are both lovely tracks but it's probably best described as a good album to go to sleep to!
Okay new game; esp. in the light of GF's comments above, what bands/artists should we be discussing on this thread? Ground rules are presumably that they had a long enough career of sufficiently consistent quality - I guess there's very little point in asking what everyone's favourite Tricky album is?*
My bid - on the basis that I'd find these two difficult to answer - is Kraftwerk and Prince.
For the former, I'm very tempted by The Man Machine as the album I first bought and for pop genius, by Tour de France because I like cycling, and The Mix for bringing me through some very dark times - as I think I've said before on this blog, it's amazing how life-affirming and human music made by robots can be - but I'm going to go for Radioactivity for its sound and imagination.
As for Prince, strongly tempted by The Hits for a relentless barrage of genius singles, but I'm going for Lovesexy; not the first record I bought of his for a change, but the first where I really felt that a genius was at work, despite - or perhaps because - of its almost throwaway quality.
*Pre-Millennium Tension, obviously.
And @snad; yup, feeling of impending doom. My aged home PC takes several days to load anything from Comment is Free, and generally crashes when I try - and the 'Stop Loading' button usually refuses to work, so I'm, reduced to ctrl=alt-del to escape...
I know there's some Radiohead fans here, NPR has a 2 hour live concert recorded in August at the Santa Monica Bowl, it's available for download at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94315732&sc=nl&cc=mn-20080910
@ abahachi - I think the problem with Prince is his apparent lack of quality control. Most of his albums (at least the ones that I'm familiar with from the '80s) contain some tracks of absolute genius alongside others where you wonder what he was thinking about. Sign O The Times would have made a fantastic single album (with tracks like 'Starfish & Coffee', 'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' & 'If I Was Your Girlfriend') but for some reason he decided to pad it out with some material which I really don't think is worthy of the man.
On balance I think I'd go for Parade as my favourite Prince album - I would put the last four tracks on side two forward for consideration as the best four consecutive tracks on an album: 'Do U Lie?', 'Kiss', 'Anotherloverholenyohead' and finally the sublime 'Sometimes It Snows In April'.
Yes, there have been times when I have felt deep sympathy for Prince's record company, back when he still had one. "Another triple album? Too much! No, I mean, really too much. Please stop..."
seduce me seduce me dress me up in stussy
Tricky 'Maxinquaye'
just killed from first to last....
but chatting about this with Dorian, cos I'm a big big fan and one of my very close friends is an even bigger fan... none of us had picked up on the genius that is
'black coffee' from nearly god
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-24eeJd0Zs
don't know why, wood for trees I guess, but someone called steenbeck started posting on RR and brought it to all of our attentions.. thanks SB you are a diamond.
now Prince......
Updated the list & will add GF's suggestions once he picks a few albums.
@Toffee forgot donds for The Bends
@Snad also had a problem with Deserter Songs apart from Godess on a Hiway, but one good song does not an album make. Thought, "All is Dream" & "Secret Migration" were both great though, so it was just a case of getting to the party too early. By the way, Mercury Rev are giving away a free bonus album when their new one if you sign up on their website.
I seem to be at odds with others about my favourite albums, but I think that's because some of the artists have such long careers that they effectively have inhabited multiple genres, I stick by my declaration that there is a Nick Cave song for everyone (I used to try to convert all my friends, but I've mellowed now).
Beatles - The Yellow Submarine film sound track because of the hours of peace it has given me in the car, the children never tire of it, nor do I.
Dylan - Blood On the Tracks because, well, I'm a girl, I guess.
Bowie- so much brilliance in one career, but for me Hunky Dory, it's like a warm blanket on a cold night, comfort music.
Fairport -of course Liege and Lief, no argument there.
Nick Cave - Let Love In, Blixa was still the darling of the band and all was well in the world.
Pink Floyd - Meddle. Yes I am a hippy as well as a goth.
Stones - Sticky Fingers, it's bluesy, sexy and sweet all at once.
Siouxsie - Juju, but closely followed by Tinderbox, Peepshow and Hyaena oh and Kaleidoscope is very good too.
Tindersticks - all so good, but for the soul, Simple Pleasures
Lastly the Smiths Queen is Dead by a long chalk.
Not sure if we'll get much of a consensus, but it was fun thinking about it, thanks Shoegazer :-)
@Shoey: you misunderstood me - I got Mutations and Deserter's Songs at the same time and DS was the one that absolutely took over all available attention. I love that album and I reckon you are a wee bit harsh. Tonite it Shows, Opus 40, Hudson Line and Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp are all fantastic songs, in my opinion. Can't disagree about All Is Dream and Secret Migration, though - both are very strong. And thanks for the website tip!
Now, I think GF suggested he was added in to this so here goes my vote:
Elton John - Madman Across The Water. I reckon it is a massively underrated album, home of Tiny Dancer, the title track, the wonderful Levon and the song that would become that Tupac number one, Indian Sunset. I reckon it stands as his most 'indie' album of the seventies, if that makes sense, and Bernie Taupin seemed to really stretch his influences and his palette across the stories that are told. Levon, especially, has some wonderful lines, not least the opening ones:
"Levon wears his war wound like a crown,
He calls his child Jesus,
Because he likes the name,
And he sends him to the finest school in town."
Overall it just edges out 17-11-70 and Captain Fantastic for me. A real, real find of an album, if you don't like EJ I reckon.
And as for others to be considered in this 'ere list, may I offer Spiritualized (Electric Mainline for me, ta) and Stevie Wonder (Talking Book)? Cheers.
Oh and can I just say that whilst I don't generally think of myself as a Radiohead fan, I love In Rainbows. Thank you.
@Snad will give Deserters another listen - but think it's too similar to Flaming Lips for me, sorry.
Radiohead (missed them the first time round) - I haven't heard "In Rainbows" (or the one before that), but I'd have to go for "OK Computer" as the best of those I own.
Fairport Convention - I'm not sure I'm qualified to vote, since I've only got a couple of their albums. Am I still allowed to vote for "Liege and Leaf"? It is an acknowledged classic of it's genre, after all.
As Goneforeign says, there are plenty more artists we can list. So what about:
* UFO (hello DarceysDad!)
* Deep Purple (hello Gordonimmel!)
* Opeth (hello Bethnoir!)
* Marillion (I know I'm not the only Marillion fan in the village)
And yes, I predict meltdown on Friday.
so Prince then
1999,
Dirty Mind
Prince
Controversy
Purple Rain
Around the World in a Day
Parade
Sign O' The Times
The Black Album
Lovesexy
This is the order I got my albums and am having trouble re-analysing them, vinyl is interesting because you have to listen through rather than Fast forwarding them.. My first instinct was 1999 (I got it first.. means a lot blah blah..) would make a cracking single album.
Around the world in a day.. I really enjoyed because it was so unexpected after the 80’s bombast that was Purple Rain. Getting back to (in Prince terms, normal) Parade was a joy.. yep the last four songs. .fantastic.
Sign o the times.. I can’t complain the quality was so high in the song writing that he could put some filler in who cared? Okay, people did but not me.
The Black Album cost me £20 bootleg and could have been anyone..
loved the funkiness of it.. Lovesexy got me to the end of the road buying Prince albums, enjoyed it, but you can only go so far, with one artist indulging their whims. It was the last I listened to all the way through.
To Pick a winner.. bloody loving Dirty Mind.. you don’t get filth like that any more.. quite possibly get arrested.
But it has to be..
Sign o the Times
(Sheila E ‘A Love Bizarre’ with Prince needs some sampling ‘cos I enjoying that too)
And as an historical note the time line goes..
Cure/ Bauhaus / New order were my favourite bands when 1999 was released,
Pixies kicked ass by the time lovesexy was released.
@ Kalyr - I'll see your Opeth suggestion and vote for Damnation although the new one is quite captivating, yours?
Can I have a live album? My favourite Deep Purple album is Made in Japan, but I suspect I'll be alone in that :-)
@TracyK - Oh yes Hounds of Love by Kate Bush is my favourite too, but for ages I couldn't listen to it because it made me cry. She's too good sometimes.
@ Kalyr - I'll see your Opeth suggestion and vote for Damnation although the new one is quite captivating, yours?
Can I have a live album? My favourite Deep Purple album is Made in Japan, but I suspect I'll be alone in that :-)
@TracyK - Oh yes Hounds of Love by Kate Bush is my favourite too, but for ages I couldn't listen to it because it made me cry. She's too good sometimes.
Thank you for your kind words, Saneshane. I do indeed like that song very much. But I can't claim to be any sort of expert on Tricky. I have a few albums but don't listen to them all that often. Like I am with Beck, I guess. And I still think it's criminal that his version of Black Steel was chosen over the original. Where's the Isaac Hayes sample?? Harumph.
Some more DsD faves:
AC/DC - If You Want Blood, because I prefer Bon Scott to Brian Johnson. And given the RR thread on producers that I'm using as a new-format trial, my justification here includes the extra lift that these versions got over their studio originals.
Black - 1991 eponymous/untitled.
Lovely warm production; guests (Robert Palmer, Sam Brown) who add to the songs; and crucially, a much higher consistent level of songwriting, partly because Colin Vearncombe was madly in love at the time of making this album.
Alabama 3 - Outlaw.
Again, excellent use of guests (How Can I Protect You?); more concentration on songs than on stream-of-consciousness preaching, and - I like to think especially for me - an excellent rock guitar solo on Up Above My Head.
UFO - Strangers In The Night.
My all-time favourite rock album - the classic line-up; a Top Ten UK hit; versions of older songs that got a chance to put some meat on the bones of (admittedly tinny) originals.
Richmond Fontaine - Winnemucca.
I'd hazard a guess that this wouldn't top the poll amongst RF fans, but remember that I usually ride into Americana on a heavy rock charger. This is the album I'd point rock fans at to introduce them to Willy Vlautin's mob. (But any - say - Dylan fan riding in on the slow train comin' into town would be better booking themselves into The Fitzgerald first.)
Chemical Brothers - Surrender.
I ... um ... don't know why, but this gets more plays by me than the other 4 albums I have put together.
Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones.
A VERY close call with Girl At Her Volcano. I'd like to know what anyone else's choice would be here.
More artists I'd like to know others thoughts on (I have my faves but will honour Shoey's request not to mention stuff without justifications):
Van Morrison
Death Cab For Cutie
Ryan Adams
U2
Bjork
Steve Earle
Shack
Black Sabbath
Lambchop
Mark Lanegan
Hothouse Flowers
And my favourite Deep Purple album is Burn.
@DarceysDad:
Black Sabbath. I'll risk burning at the stake for heresy by fanatical followers of the one true Ozzy by suggesting "Heaven and Hell", the first one with Ronnie Dio.
UFO - If live albums are allowed, then I have to agree with you on that one.
Deep Purple - It's got to be between Machine Head and Burn, and they're sufficiently different it's very difficult to choose.
@ DsD - For me, the top Shack album would have to be '...And Here's Tom With The Weather'. They're all gems but I think there are more tracks that really hit the spot on this than there are on the others - 'The Girl With The Long Brown Hair' and 'Carousel' to name but two.
Death Cab For Cutie - 'Plans' - if they've made a better album, I'd love to hear it.
Bjork - Debut - no competition!
...oh, and donds for anything by Black.
It's not justified; it will be boring; and I do want this.
Al Green: never heard any of the Rev's albums. My loss.
Ballboy: wtf?
Beatles: Rubber Soul
Beck: Sea Change
Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home
Brian Eno: nothing by Brian, but Here Come The Warm Jets by just plain Eno.
Bruce Springsteen: Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ - will he ever produce a worthy follow-up? (No joke, readers.)
Calexico: nope - my bad.
Can: Tago Mago (the only one I've heard)
David Bowie: can't choose between Hunky Dory and Low.
Drive By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Echo & the Bunnymen: Crocodiles
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: This Year's Model
Fairport Convention: (with Denny) What We Did On Our Holidays; (without) Full House.
Genesis: the whole is less than the sum of the parts - never listened to a full album.
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
Johnny Cash: American IV (but need to hear At Folsom Prison again)
Jonathan Richman: Modern Lovers - and nothing since [Wanna buy a hairshirt? - Ed.]
Kate Bush: The Sensual World
Kraftwerk: Autobahn (our only encounter)
Leonard Cohen: Death Of A Ladies' Man
Manic Street Preachers: literally dozens of songs which don't live up to their enticing titles. Straight to hell.
Miles Davis: Sketches Of Spain
Mogwai: Government Commissions
Mountain Goats: oh lor', alwaysmeantto try 'em. I'll take others' recommendations...
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Abattoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus
Outkast: not a sossidge
Pink Floyd: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Prince & the Revolution: Parade
R.E.M.: Murmur
Radiohead: I don't get it. Ashamed, but too late to change.
Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet. (My favourite is actually Their Satanic Majesties Request - everything you've ever read about this album is wrong - but it's my choice of generic psychedelic album, not Stones album).
Sigur Ros: no apologising this time; I hate these pretentious little twods more than plague, death and pestilence - empty, vain, surface. Pshaw. [But what's your favourite album by them? - Ed.]
Siouxsie & the Banshees: Juju
Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans
Talk Talk: The Colour Of Spring
Tricky: Maxinquaye is the only one I know.
The Smiths: The Smiths
The Who: a 4-way tie between My Generation, The Who Sell Out, Live At Leeds and Who's Next. They sound like 4 different bands anyhow - quadrophenia, in fact.
Tindersticks: Tindersticks (matador album)
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs
This is all very interesting (to me), but maybe next time we could do Worst Albums by fave artistes? That'd really get the hares boxing...
@DsD
I was going to do this properly i.e.
only artists that I had at least 4 album by.. then I found I've got loads..
to qote you.."Chemical Brothers - Surrender.
I ... um ... don't know why, but this gets more plays by me than the other 4 albums I have put together"
I'm going with 'exit planet dust' but I've 6 chemical bro albums.. FFS why? the mix cd brothers gonna work it out is good, but how has that happened?
10 tracks would be ok.. there is bands that I adore I've got less albums by.
@steen
I think that's the point.."But I can't claim to be any sort of expert on Tricky. I have a few albums but don't listen to them all that often"
It gives a different perspective, I have too much music sometimes and miss the joy of certain tracks, I'm guessing you do to.
Yo La Tengo 'Our Way to Fall' is another song you pointed out that I already had. (I now love to extremes by the way)
Bjork 'Debut' but the Family tree box set is most played in weird ways by me and Sugarcubes 'life's too good'
Death Cab 'Transatlanticism'
just beautiful will need to justify this more...
lenny cohen 'I'm your man'
just loved, but 'the jazz police' may be the worst songs ever.
kate bush 'hounds of love' vinyl,
pop first half, concept second, most wonderful and moving to me. Much better reviews above.
oh I give up can't type any more..
Cure
White Stripes
Eels
Throwing Muses
all with more than 4 in my collection, might return tomorrow..
bet you can't wait...!
@ shane - Eels is a good one - a toss up between Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues for me.
Belle & Sebastian? I would have said Tiger Milk until I fell in love with If You're Feeling Sinister last summer.
Ben Folds - for years it was 'Ben Folds Five' (the debut album) until the glorious Songs for Silverman knocked it of its perch.
The Blue Nile - Hats - no question.
And that's just up to B....
Will update the old listy with the latest nominated artists when I get back to the PC & if still sober.
Forgot Ballboy & will go with the Sash as it was my introduction. & Mr. Cohen with "Songs of Love & Hate" edging out "The Future", even though it's still a must play for me every New Year's.
I owe a debt to whoever spilled Shack's "Cup of Tea" recently. I'm sold.
Well since I expanded the list I'll fill in few details: These are just the ones I own and have played a lot.
BMW - The first Island album, Catch a Fire, reggae changed at that moment. There's two versions available, the international one and the Jamaican mix, it's on a dbl. CD.
Toots & the Maytals- Funky Kingston. Every song is one of Toots best, love Country Roads.
Burning Spear - Harder than the Best, a great compilation of his best from 6 albums.
Gregory Isaacs - Soon Forward or Mr. Isaacs, both from his early period which I like, manyn great cuts.
Culture - Hard call, it's either Harder than the Best, International Herb or Two sevens clash, one of the great Jamaican bands.
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow, the one that launched their career. White Rabbit.
Quicksilver - Happy Trails, it's really the only brilliant album they made, it's basically their first and after that Dino Valente entered the picture and everything went downhill. Wonderful partly live album.
Dead - not qualified to comment.
Gil Scott Heron: My favorite of all of them is Reflections, with the great cut 'B Movie', which was nominated on RR last week.
John Lee Hooker - The Ultimate Collection on Rhino, 1948-90. A great collection with the bonus that there's several of my pictures in it.
Taj Mahal- another tough one, they're all great, but Recycling the Blues from '72 with the Pointer sisters is a favorite of mine.
Ray Charles - Genius +Soul, great orchestra, great arrangements by Quincy Jones.
Nina Simone- I love 'em all but I'd choose her second, Nina at Newport, that's when she burst onto the scene, some brilliant piano, a live outdoor concert.
Billie Holiday- The First Verve Sessions, '52-'54.Double album with a great backing band and produced by Norman Granz.
Joni Mitchell - All great, two favorites, Hissing of Summer Lawns and Shadows and Light, a great dbl live concert with Jaco and a great jazz oriented backing band.
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks, his alltime best ever album.
Jimi Hendrix- Electric Ladyland of course, particularly if you can get a British pressing.
Paul Simon - Graceland without a doubt.
Ray Charles - Genius + Soul = Jazz, great band plus arrangements by Quincy Jones.
Al Kooper - Super Session, the first of the superstar bands, Kooper + Bloomfield + Steven Stills, ex Dylan and Blood, Sweat and Tears.
The Band - Big Pink, Dylan's band doing teir own thing.
Clash - London Calling or Sandinista from about the same period.
Elton John - Yellow Brick Road, I don't have a lot by him but this has had quite a bit of play.
Cream - Goodbye Cream, has all their classics.
Kinks - Celluloid Heroes from 1976.
Procol Harum- Grand Hotel, I've played this a lot, many good cuts.
Traffic - Mr Fantasy or TRAFFIC, that's when Dave Mason joined 'em.
Saneshane--you're absolutely right! One of the biggest joys of RR/Spill is rediscovering your own music.
And I remember Our Way To Fall discussion--it was one of the first times anyone "talked" to me on RR--you and Nilpferd both responded. It made me so happy!! (Darceysdad was the first to respond to something I said, of course. The godfather of RR's soul)
Starting to feel like Maddy during "Colours" week, but in for a penny....
Bauhaus - "Crackle" as it has the original "Bela" on it & all the near hits
Belle & Sebastian - Only really like 2 or 3 tracks from each album, so "best of" for me.
Bjork - "Debut" still holds up.
Black - "Wonderful Life" is all I had & it was. Is there more?
Chemical Brothers - "Dig Your Own Hole" & the Salmon Dance video.
Culture - "Peel Session" for best version of "Lion Rock" (I think)
Eels - "Essential Eels"
Elbow - "Cast of Thousands". close to perfect.
Elton John -"Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy". Never a fan, until a friend made me listen to this.
Kraftwerk - "Minimum, Maximum" live (sort of).
Lambchop - "Damaged" Close call with early stuff, but great balance of good songs & beautiful orchestration.
New Order - 'Technique" even Barney's crap lyrics don't annoy too much on this one.
Pixies - "Bossanova" only because I played the previous 3 albums to death.
The Clash - Think GF is pushing it choosing two albums that total 10 sides of vinyl. So gong with 4 sides of CD with "Story of the Clash vol1"
The Cure - Tempted by Pornography [that figures.. Ed.], but going with "Seventeen Seconds" to remind me how good a guitarist Robert Smith is.
The Fall - "Fall Heads Roll" & they did, again, soon after. Even has Mark E. not "singing" on "Trust in Me" for all of you that hate him.
The Grateful Dead - Saw them at MSG in early 90's, never been so bored at a gig, ever, apart from people watching and taking in the, ahem, "atmosphere". Sorry. Woken up by Mickey Hart banging on stuff, so will go with his "Planet Drum".
Throwing Muses - "Hunkpapa" probably, but they never quite lived up to their potential for me.
U2 - 'Achtung Baby" Edge's guitar gives it the edge over Joshua Tree.
Van Morrison- "Saint Dominick's Preview" because it has St. Dom. on it & Jackie Wilson(song).
White Stripes - 'White Blood Cells" Dead Leaves, Hotel Yorba, Friends & more.
Lot's of "best of" cop-outs, but them's the breaks. Loving the comments so far, & getting lot's of "must listen to" homework, & that was kind of the point of the thread, so thanks all for playing.
@steen I'm now picturing James Brown in a Dukla Prague away kit
http://www.toffs.com/icat/duklaprague
(Darceysdad was the first to respond to something I said, of course. The godfather of RR's soul)
Bauhaus 'Searching for Satori e.p' still gets played most weirdly.
Cure 'Kiss me kiss me kiss me' on vinyl (cd just doesn't do it) gives me the depression and the joyful pop songs all in one big fat double package.
I also got a huge kiss me t-shirt free when I got this, used mostly as a nightdress by friends who stayed.. glosses over thinks about being a teenager again and thanks his lucky stars that that I bloody when don't have to go through that any more.
(I always lost street cred for not going with the edgy albums)
Eels 'Blinking Lights..' is taking over from 'Shootenanny' as most listened to but tough to deny 'Beautiful Freak' it's stunning pop sense with bruised imagery.
White Strips 'White blood cell'
even that's patchy, a great best of will one day win this.
oh work.. that's why I'm up.
If we're having the Cure I will also go for Seventeen Seconds. An easier listen than Pornography although the latter was the album I fell in love with.
Don't want to be a party pooper, but I've been pondering this.
When I asked a friend who's ten years younger than me what his favourite Siouxsie & the Banshees album was he said he didn't really listen to albums, more just individual tracks....do you think this is where music is going? IS the whole concept out dated? I'd be sad if it is, the anticipation of a well known next track is very satisfying for me, but I am an old dog! Opinions?
Ooh, so many more. I'd better do some quick ones:
Nick Cave - And No More Shall We Part, not actually sure why but it has Love Letter on it, so that's good.
Johnny Cash - American 2, I think. Southern Accents, Unchained, Spiritual and I've Been Everywhere just win over 3 and 4 where the songs remain just as good, but the choices become a bit more commercially motivated, I think.
Dylan - Street Legal. Honestly, don't ask me why. It just is. I think its the brass and the first and last tracks. I think its such a perfectly flawed and problematic album.
Sufjan Stevens - I think ...Illinoise! is pretty much the obvious answer. Seven Swans is lovely but samey, Illinoise cuts out a lot of filler and bags a lot more killer. Chicago, also, is an indie disco great.
Eels - Beautiful Freak, for pop intensity as mentioned above.
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi, as I listened to it solidly all through summer 2002 and never tire of that bit in Morning of the Magicians where all just stops and the bass just adds a couple of notes...
Oh oh oh, and how about another big one to add in? How have we not had Neil Young yet? For me, it's After The Goldrush, as it doesn't have a weak track on it and it is concise, poetic and beautiful. I clearly remember a mini-Damascene moment when I first heard the title track and had to stop what I was doing, listen carefully and plan how many more of his albums I would need to buy. It just edges out Silver and Gold, which is lovely too. Phew.
@bethnoir, re albums v. tracks. I suspect you're absolutely right (and cf. saneshane's comment above about having to listen to a vinyl album all the way through. I still find it very odd listening to cds of albums which I originally heard on vinyl or cassette - I still hear the break at the end of side 1, although it's not there any more; I remember having very strong views on song orders and the 'narrative dynamics' (sic) of albums, and spending hours thinking about the running order of my own productions (and occasionally recording a new song because I felt the album was missing something important at a crucial point.
Now? I have my doubts if many artists spend much time worrying about this at all, and increasingly the listening experience is muddled by the addition of bonus tracks and alternative versions at the end. The really scary thing, for me, is that I am vaguely considering buying one of those new-fangled mp3 player things and transferring my old cds onto it - and I was indeed starting to think in terms of taking certain tracks rather than whole albums. There are some artists who really work better in compilations of the best bits - singles artists, as we old people used to call them - but now I'm worried that I'm actually becoming one of those people who think in tracks rather than albums, and may well reconsider purchase...
As for the latest list of bands, I don't think I've even heard four albums by most of them, so will widen remit to include my brothers' record collections as well...
AC/DC: If You Want Blood. Bon Scott beats Johnson every time; a classic live album.
Cream: love the live tracks on 'Goodbye', but I'm not convinced it works as an album; I think I'd go for Wheels of Fire even though it is a bit bloated.
Deep Purple: tricky. Tempted by Made in Japan, by Stormbringer (which may be enough to get me lynched on this thread) and by Perfect Strangers as my first encounter, but I think it has to be In Rock.
U2: Achtung Baby; on the whole this was all done rather better by their obvious influences, but still refreshingly interesting and really quite unpretentious in contrast to the ghastliness that was Rattle and Hum
And, erm, that's it.
Yes, worst albums by otherwise favourite artists sounds good. Do we use the same list, or go for random stream of consciousness?
@ steen - stop it: you're making me blush!
@ shane - you owe my customer another keyboard! But as this one was already clogged with rubber dust and ketchup, making the spacebar stick down, I don't think it's worth more than 10p.
Oh, and ...
Blue Nile - Peace At Last.
The debut lags a little behind the other three, but Sentimental Man just pushes PAL ahead of Hats & High.
The Clash - The Clash.
For the WTF? factor alone. The first hint to me that there might be something in this supposed punk movement for a fledgling denim'n'hair rocker.
Shack - The Fable Sessions.
My Oliver! moment: it's HMS Fable with added "Please sir can I have some more?"
@ goneforeign - thanks for the reggae choices, Tony. I suspect I'll be having a Jamaican listening vibe tonight to try to prevent blog rage at the RR format changes.
And before I rescue my trainee from the good op / bad op training films, I meant to add my Eels choice is Blinking Lights...
And I say set the "worst albums by bands you love" as a separate thread over the weekend.
Kinks- Muswell Hillbillies Village Green pt1 a close second. Manages to encapsulate that strange longing Brits have for the USA, but still remaining very British. Songs about anorexia, female prisons, "modern life is rubbish" philosophy and tea. Both of, and ahead of, its time. If there's a better melody than 'Oklahoma USA'I'd like to hear it.
Smiths- Hatful of Hollow The first I heard. Love the slightly rough, unpolished Peel session vibe.
Talking Heads- Remain in Light Recumbent with headphones or dancing around like a fool, this is the one. You CAN dance to 'The Overload' but only if you're underwater.
Belle & Sebastian - Boy with the Arab strap Title track! Sounds like 'Rubber Bullets' played by a fey indie Status Quo. That's good. Really. Rest of the album pretty good too.
Procul Harem - A Salty Dog. Their first with Trower to the fore and last with the underrated David Knights. Beat line-up, best songs- astonishing variety of blues, whimsical acoustic and non-stodgy prog.
Rickie Lee Jones The 1st album is unsupassable but have a special soft spot for Flying Cowboys It's got achey harmonies AND twang.
The Fall- Frenz Experiment I like their pop years with Brix. Great cover of 'Victoria', mental dance freakout 'Tuff Life Boogie', Kraut garage, and Smith's usual wry observations ('Steak Place')
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds The blueprint. Also has rare 'ballad' in 'Ride On' with brilliant chords. Frrrannng! Frrrangg!
I could go on forever, but that's my first rush over with.
PS Great choices 'Spillers. Too many to go into here but I'll second Snadfrod's Street Legal This always confuses Dylan freaks, and no, I can't explain it either, but I'll try.
'Senor' probably the sound he was looking for on 'Desire' finally nailed.
'New Pony'- Some of Dylan's 12 bar blues are a bit throwaway but this is raunchy. Great bendy guitars from RR and backing vocals vto die for.
'Changing of the Guard'- Love the fade-in. Like 'No Time to Think' superb self-mythologising cryptic lyrics and the repetitive nature leaves me punchdrunk and reeling.
The 'Hey Hey Heys' on the final track.
The vocals are nasal but clear, the band is a mix of wall of sound and sloppy bar-room and it has the coolest cover of any Dylan album, with the possible exception of Freewheelin'.
Beatles: White Album. I forced myself to listen to Sgt Pepper, and found myself only really listening to 2 songs, but kept coming back to that one as I was discovering this band everybody keeps going on about.
Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks, because of the first 4 and last 3 songs, replace the remaining 3 with Tell Me Momma, Sara and Lay Lady Lay and you've got 97% of my Dylan Best Of.
David Bowie: One of Hunky Dory or Low, but then the 1969-1974 is what got me onto him.
Miles Davis: In A Silent Way and I quote:
"one of the best progressive, inconspicuous, tense crescendos ever (as far as crescendos go, there's this, and Try A Little Tenderness, IMHO)."
"pure beauty elegance, tension, density, things I look for in music"
-ejaydee 25/05/07
Outkast, another tough one, depending on the day it could be any of ATLiens, Aquemini, Stankonia, and Speakerboxxx/Love Below, but most days it's Stankonia. By then they really took over the production (I think it was the reverse percussion on Ms. Jackson that sparked that caught my ear) and announced a lot of what was coming in Speaker/etc. It's the album when I thought, "these guys are trying to do something different", even though they had been doing something different from their first album, and definitely in Aquemini, but maybe Stankonia is more instantly rewarding.
The Smiths: Louder Than Bombs
Chemical Brothers: until their last album, I would always be disappointed after buying the album on the strength of the first single, so this best of they've got coming out soon should be the solution.
Jimi Hendrix: I have a soft spot for Band of Gypsys. My biggest "musical regret" is that he didn't get to play more with this band. The playing is amazing, Hendrix can do anything he wants with the guitar.
Nina Simone: the Hits & Classics is the place to start if you're not sure, but I love the double CD live collection with Emergency Ward/Black Gold/It Is Finished. This is really how I got deeper into her, with versions of Who Knows Where The Time Goes, My Sweet Lord/Today Is A Killer, Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter, Sugar In My Bowl, Isn't It A Pity, etc.
Prince: oh dear...I could take the easy way out and go for the Hits/ B-Sides... and will do just that.
Ha! I like the "I'll probably be sent to Coventry for this, but..." nominations for Sabbath & Purple. My Sabs choice is similarly leftfield - Never Say Die. You can FEEL the tension (of the various intra-band relationships) when you listen, and Junior's Eyes is one of my all-time favourite singalongatfulltonedeafvolume songs.
;o)
Still unjustified; still boring:
AC/DC: No choice. I come from an era when it was still OK to dismiss AC/DC as a joke band. Respect ma authoriteh!
Al Kooper: You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (or possibly School's Out, ah ha).
Alabama 3: Exit On Coldharbour Lane - don't know the others.
Bauhaus: I stop after Bela Lugosi's Dead... but it was almost an album in it's own right. A qualifier?
Belle & Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap
Ben Folds Five: Whatever And Ever Amen
Billie Holiday: did she do albums? Too lazy to google...
Billy Joel: not since I found out he was Noel Edmonds' favourite artiste.
Bjork: Debut... possibly time I listened to the follow-ups?
Black: nah.
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Babylon By Bus
Burning Spear: Garvey's Ghost
Chemical Brothers: Dig Your Own Hole - haven't listened to much else by 'em.
Cream: Disraeli Gears
Culture: Two Sevens Clash
Death Cab For Cutie: an omission - to be addressed - maybe.
Deep Purple: Shades Of Deep Purple. Sorry all, I'll never be a proper fan.
Eels: Blinking Lights And Other Revelations [nb. do read E's book Things The Grandchildren Should Know - it's a blinder].
Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid
Elton John: Tumbleweed Connection
Flaming Lips: Transmissions From The Satellite Heart
Gil Scott-Heron: have heard his early albums, but that would'v'e been 30+ years ago - can't remember which wuz which now. Desole.
Gregory Isaacs: none.
Hothouse Flowers: none. Am I missing something?
Jefferson Airplane: Crown Of Creation
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland. Sometimes the obvious choices are best...
John Lee Hooker: The Healer
Joni Mitchell: The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
Kraftwerk: how odd, we have list slippage. See above.
Lambchop: Nixon - but it's a fleeting acquaintance.
Marillion: I do have some pride, y'know.
Mark Lanegan: Dust (by The Screaming Trees)
Mercury Rev: Yerself Is Steam/Lego My Ego (shrinkwrapped twofer).
New Order: Power, Corruption & Lies
Nina Simone: I only have a best of, goddamn.
Opeth: ahahahahahaa. I know somebody who owns an Opeth T-shirt, if that helps.
Paul Simon: The Paul Simon Songbook
Pixies: Bossanova
Porcupine Tree: On The Sunday Of Life... nothing since, apart from the Voyage 34 12"er.
Prince: same neutron-flow polarity reversal scenario as Kraftwerk, above...
Procol Harum: Exotic Birds And Fruit
Quicksilver: Quicksilver Messenger Service (1st album)
Ray Charles: no albums. Always happy to hear Ray; I'll take your recommendations, TeamSpill.
Richmond Fontaine: never got beyond tracks on Uncut covermounts; sorry.
Rickie Lee Jones: never really got Rickie; perhaps she should do a Waitsesque career reinvention?
Ryan Adams: Gold
Shack: Michael Head Introduces The Magical World of The Strands ...? If I'm not allowed that, Here's Tom With The Weather.
Steve Earle: Copperhead Road; don't know any later albums in full.
Taj Mahal: The Natch'l Blues (although my fave Taj is The Rising Sons' compilation).
The Band: Rock Of Ages
The Blue Nile: one of very few bands I unhesitatingly loathe. Their world is not mine.
The Clash: Sandanista
The Cure: may I have Blue Sunshine by The Glove? If not, The Top.
The Fall: Slates. OK, it's a mini-album - but that just concentrates MES's viperishness.
The Grateful Dead: Anthem Of The Sun
The Kinks: Lola Vs.Powerman And The Money-Go-Round, Vol.1
Throwing Muses: The Real Ramona
Toots & the Maytals: Funky Kingston - but haven't heard anything new since late '70s.
Toto: Shoey, we love you.
Traffic: Traffic (2nd album)
U2: Boy
UFO: Oddly, I once owned a UFO album (Obsession?) - runner-up prize in a radio competition. That'll larn me.
Van Morrison: Astral Weeks. See Jimi, above.
The White Stripes: Elephant. See Van Morrison, above.
Yo La Tengo: President Yo La Tengo
Splendid delaying tactic (thanks), but I really must get down to work now - househusband duty today. Those shirts aren't going to iron themselves...
Oh I forgot Beck. I think my vote would be Sea Change, although I really love the Information, the one before the latest one.
Occasionally I'll copy and paste a post and all the comments at the Spill and put 'em in a folder on my desktop, not sure why but I think they're worth saving; this one's getting copied.
Bethnoir's and Abahachi's comments re. albums vs. cuts is something I've been thinking about a lot for quite some time. This house has two living rooms, we've used only one and the other's been a place to store all my vinyl, CD's and VHS tapes etc. I just never got to play my vinyl anymore because the amplifier was in the wrong room and I only played CD's on a crap player on a shelf in the other room, or through headphones on my iPod.
I decided that at this stage of my retirement I should be able to treat myself so we've redecorated the 2nd room, installed two very comfy chairs and I've just ordered a high end CD player and matching integrated amp plus a better than I'm used to phono cartridge. I built an oak 'coffee table' that sits between the two chairs and that's where my Techniques 1200 turntable and CD player will go, in front of me are my 15" JBL Studio Monitors that I've had for years and they still sound great.
I'm going to go back to doing what I've enjoyed all my life, sitting down and listening to my records in my own 'music room', how lucky can you get!
damn--Blood on the Tracks. unbelievably we don't have it on CD (or in our itunes) must remedy immediately.
Goneforeign--are you going to post a picture of your music room. It sounds paradisiacal.
It's interesting how many times on the 'Spill or RR people talk about their older brothers in conjunction with the development of their musical taste.
Great thread (I'm back from holiday and having a RR/Spill binge). So, at the risk of picking some obvious ones:
Beatles - Abbey Road (for George's songs, and the medley, and how funky it sounds)
Belle and Sebastian - ...Sinister
Dylan - Blood on Highway 61
Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
Go-Betweens - Spring Hill Fair
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Lambchop - Nixon
Paul Simon - Gracelands
Radiohead - The Bends (glad it's not just me who doesn't quite get OK Computer)
R.E.M. - No need to show off here, so will forego Fables and say Automatic for the People
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (but ask me tomorrow and it will be Strangeways)
Tindersticks - First Album
And some tricky ones for me that haven't been mentioned:
Cowboy Junkies - Black-Eyed Man
St Etienne - Tiger Bay
Rufus Wainwright - Want One
@ steenbeck "It's interesting how many times on the 'Spill or RR people talk about their older brothers in conjunction with the development of their musical taste."
You're absolutely right and it begs the question, where do all the older brothers get their musical tastes from?
Eh?
@abahachi - no, I think you should buy an MP3 player, I love the freedom it gives me to change my mind about what I listen to (as I can take mine in the car too) rather than being bound by the number of CDs I have in the glove compartment. You can still listen to albums in the right order, although the lure of shuffle may overtake you eventually! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Beatles – I wasn’t exposed to the Beatles as a kid. Gary Glitter, yes, but that’s all in the past. I like THE WHITE ALBUM best as it’s the only one I’ve bought and held onto…..My favourite Dylan album is NASHVILLE SKYLINE, I’m addicted to it. It’s pop, country, soul, blues and it starts with one of those moments that makes me genuinely shudder each time I hear it – 47 seconds into Girl From the North Country, the voice of Johnny Cash comes in and it’s a moment so powerful, a voice so full of what a South Park character might call AUTHORITAH! (trans = Soul). I love TAGO MAGO – I remember reading an interview with Mark E Smith and he was going on and on about Can and I’d never heard anything by them and that afternoon I was having Sky fitted in my pokey flat in Cardiff and I flicked onto this music channel, and “Oh Yeah” by Can came on. I was gobsmacked. I keep meaning to buy other albums by them but Im always broke. The earliest record I remember hearing is ALADDIN SANE as my mum was a big Bowie fan, I would be about 3 years old so it had only just come out and I knew instantly that this was music I liked. I love LOW too but if I’m honest I only like Side One! My parents were both big KATE BUSH fans so naturally I tried to rebel against it but you can’t, can you? THE DREAMING is mental, a really really brave and powerful record that seems to be a kind of secret amongst music fans. Yeah, HOUNDS is great and the SENSUAL WORLD contains my most favourite song of hers but ah THE DREAMING – when Duffy makes a record this intense and insane I’ll stop calling her the names I do. GREEN is my fave R.E.M album – it was the first I heard of theirs and reminds me of being 18 and passing my A-levels and feeling invincible, it seems to me I wasted most of the last 20 years in some way failing to face up to the fact that immortality will elude me too – along with GREEN, DOOLITTLE (what a record), TECHNIQUE and DISINTEGRATION can even now at a distance of twenty years or so reduce me to tears when I realise what chances I had. “All the Way” on Technique contains the lines “It takes years to find the nerve to be apart from what you’ve done/To find the truth inside yourself and not depend on anyone.” I guess that’s where I’m at now. Least I hope so.
p.s other favourite albums by nominated artists – Tindersticks 2nd album, Axis: Bold As Love, Amnesiac, The Soft Bulletin, Hex Enduction Hour.
Some fave albums by prolific artists not yet mentioned – Surf’s Up (Beach Boys), Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Pavement), Fear Of A Black Planet (Public Enemy) and Rings Around The World (Super Furry Animals)
Ooh, just found this thread (sorry people but I usually only have the time/inclination to drop in here once a week or so so I miss all the best bits). Have scanned very quickly through the comments above so apologies for repeats/ommissions etc. I'm only going to comment on bands for which I have a few albums and therefore feel qualified to judge. So, with Shoegazer's list open on the right window and comments on the left I'll start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start):-
AC/DC:-'If you Want Blood'. I learned how to head bang to this version of Whole Lotta Rosie.
BEATLES:-'Revolver' just beating 'Abbey Road', mainly because it was revolutionary (geddit) at the time and it's got 'Tomorrow Never Knows' on it. By Abbey Road, everybody else had overtaken them.
CREAM:-'Disreali Gears'.Well, it's got 'Strange Brew', 'Sunshine of your Love','Tales of Brave Ulysses', 'We're Going Wrong', 'Mothers Lament'......
DEEP PURPLE:- Well! Where to begin? Having everything they've recorded over the last 40 years (I think!) there's alot of choice. @ Bethnoir, 'Made In Japan' got me into them and I still think it's a totally stunning live album, I love 'Burn', I have no problem atall with 'Stormbringer' (@abahachi) but it's got to be 'IN ROCK'. This was the beginning of Purple's second (and classic) line up, is arguably the beginning of Heavy Rock and begins with the stunning 'Speed King' (it's even been Zedded folks, yes, even Dorian liked it) and it never lets up. 'Child In Time', 'Bloodsucker', 'Flight of the Rat', 'Living Wreck'. ROCK AND ROLL!
(Deep Breaths. Deep Breaths).
MANIC STREET PREACHERS:- 'All Things Must Pass'. It's their most well-rounded album. Others are good. This is marvellous.
PINK FLOYD:- 'Dark Side of The Moon'. To me this is their perfect album, 'Wish You Were Here' sounds more like the scragg ends off 'Dark Side'.
U2:- 'Achtung Baby' only just nudging out 'The Unforgettable Fire' and 'The Joshua Tree'. Yes, my name is Gordon and I like U2. Actually, no, I object to having to say that. One thing I really don't like about the Guardian RR Blogs generally is that some groups or artistes (U2 being close to the top of the list)are automatically sniggered at. Even when Dorian finally chose 'One' by U2 (from that 'Achtung Baby' album) he went for the Johnny Cash version. Now, much as I like that JR album, that version of that song is a pale imitation of the original and seemed to be an obvious attempt to swerve away from nominating U2.
Rant Over.
(Deep Breaths. Deep Breaths.)
THE WHO:- Fantastic singles band. They've never failed to disappoint with their albums!(IMHO)
@ goneforeign - huge amounts of respect mixed with a great big blob of jealousy. Sounds like heaven to me...
Evening everyone. I'm catching up on everything else first before I go ruin my mood with the latest of the GU's half-assed attempt to 'Do a Murdoch' ...
Lots of bile against Blue Nile
I ask why that should be,
Is it the punks or the Beach Boy hunks
Who dismiss them as too twee?
And a forehead slap about Cowboy Junkies - I'll probably go for The Caution Horses, just to give me an excuse to credit Gordon with introducing me to them when he taped me his copy all those years ago!
Right, loins well'n'truly girded: with a BrianBlessed-standard roar I throw myself into battle . . .
Nobody else has dared to admit liking Marillion, despite being in the RR top ten on last.fm this week! This makes them as popular with RR-ers as Akira the Don!. So I suppose it's left to me. Their recent "Marbles" was the best thing they've done in years, 1987's "Clutching at Straws", their last with Fish remains a classic that's stood the test of time, as has "Seasons End", the first with Steve Hogarth. But my favourite has got to be "Brave". It's intense, multilayered, utterly, utterly uncommercial, but absolutely brilliant.
And another favourite band of mine.
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties. I got 50 words of mine into the print edition of The Guardian on "1000 albums you must hear before you die" on this one.
@tim(kalyr), I keep meaning to mention that back in the eighties I regularly listened to, and enjoyed my copies of 'Script for a Jester's Tear' and 'Misplaced Childhood' and I've even got a tape of a live Marillion gig I got from the radio back then aswell. It's not that I dislike Marillion, it's just that I feel that I nipped in to them whilst they were famous and I am not worthy to mention them when you so obviously know so much more about them.
And whislt I'm on, I'm looking for the name 'Stereophonics' in the list of artistes and (gulp!) STEVIE WONDER. Can I be the first to nominate 'INNERVISIONS' for this obviously mistakenly overlooked category
@Gordon - you can indeed nab INNERVISIONS but I did (somewhat parenthetically) already try to launch us Stevie, somewhere up there... I took TALKING BOOK ahead of Innervisions simply because, for me, it came down to a straight fight between the insanely amazing closing tracks. By a close TKO I Believe... took the win from Misstra... But only just.
Man, you've all been busy. Will trawl for newies & update the list.
@Shiv, you are not anywhere close to boring. Have been just as bad at following my own "justify the choice" rule, but often it's a case of I like that better & buggered if I know why. Great job inciting the angry mob up above, by the way - let's storm the citadels.
B.O. Cult - No nothing, except the wonderful "Fear the Reaper", but they're coming to town soon.
Cowboy Junkies - "Trinity Sessions", more bands should record in a church if the sound is this good.
Pavement - "Slanted & Enchanted" reissue version with "Watery, Domestic" bonus, 48 tracks in all - even better deal than "Sandanista!"
Public Enemy - "It Takes A Nation Of Millions" Bring the Noise, Rebel Without A Pause, Party For Your Right to Fight.
St. Etienne - Only know bits & pieces, but wish there was a comp of some of their remix work for other folks.
Super Furries - Best of, as their albums are not that consistent for me .
Talking Heads - "Stop Making Sense" Full 16 song DVD complete with big suit edges out "Fear of Music".
My knowledge of Marillion is also largely confined to the Fish years, but am happy to agree that they are infinitely preferable to Akira the Don, at any rate on the basis of that ghastly song that turned up on RR Radio... Other than that, I'd agree with Tiger Bay for Saint Etienne, and don't have albums by any of the other new suggestions.
But my favourite Barclay James Harvest album is Everyone Is Everybody Else, followed closely by Octoberon...
Want One, Rufus Wainwright.
A masterpiece which was inexplicably omitted from the Guardian's '1,000 albums you must hear...'.
I love all the songs but ones that stand out include 'Go Or Go Ahead' which starts out as a gentle song of regret for the drugs he has had to give up and rises to a glorious crescendo, and 'Dinner At Eight', his beautiful but angry 'love song' to his father, written after a huge row with the latter.
Oops, forgot Neil Young & will throw in Barclay James Harvest, while I'm about it.
Will go with "Harvest" for Mr. Young, although very tempted by the noisy monster that was "Weld"
Neil Young- Rust Never Sleeps My teenage ears ricked up at mention of Johnny Rotten and never unpricked.
SFA- Radiator Just put the last 4 tracks on. Superb.
Will dond In Rock Mr Immel is right- best place to start.
Trinity Sessions Ditto, though it lacks a bit of oomph really. Ilove the track 'I sawyour shoes'. They should do more of that stuff.
Lambchop- What Another Man Spills. I know people love Nixon, but I love Vic Chesnutt.
REM- Fables . I'm not showing off. I love the twisted folk sound. A bit like th Byrds '5D'.
Van Morrison- Astral Weeks Apologies, but for me that really is a no-brainer.
Eels- Electro Shock Blues Goddam right it's a dismal world, but you can't stay down long after 'Climbing Up to the Moon'.
Post a Comment