The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: jough on January 13, 2005, 10:55:39 pm
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Hey kids,
AllofMP3.com is doubling their prices on Friday, so I'm in the process now of getting everything from them that I want while it's still only a penny per megabyte.
I know there are a number of other music threads but we never really got to the nut of "YOU MUST MUST MUST HEAR THIS".
So while I wait for the entire Rolling Stones catalog to download, I thought I'd ask for suggestions as to albums that you think anyone who is at all interested in music should own. I'm thinking of a Top 5 Most Essential type of list. Double albums and boxed sets could still count as 1 selection.
To start things off I'll offer my own lists:
Classic Rock
1) The Velvet Underground "Loaded"
2) David Bowie "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"
3) The Beatles "White Album"
4) Frank Zappa "Hot Rats"
5) The Who "Tommy"
Alternative Rock - UK
1) The Smiths "The Queen is Dead"
2) Blur "Parklife"
3) Roxy Music "Avalon"
4) Belle & Sebastian "If You're Feeling Sinister"
5) Elastica "Elastica"
Alternative Rock - US
1) Jane's Addiction "Nothing's Shocking"
2) Morphine "Cure for Pain"
3) Nirvana "In Utero"
4) The Pixies "Trompe le Monde"
5) Tom Waits "Rain Dogs"
Punk Rock
1) Sex Pistols "Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"
2) The Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables"
3) The Clash "London Calling"
4) The Misfits "Misfits"
5) The Dead Milkmen "Big Lizard In My Backyard"
These lists are completely arbitrary and don't necessarily represent my favourites, but you get the gist.
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1) The Velvet Underground "Loaded"
4) The Pixies "Trompe le Monde"
5) Tom Waits "Rain Dogs"
Sorry. I know the point is not to respond to your lists, but still, I am shocked (shocked!) that these are not The Velvet Underground, Doolittle, and Closing Time, respectively. I can understand the choice of Rain Dogs (it's my second-fave), but the first two just perplex me, sorry.
that (totally unnecessarily) said,
Some Essentials. They are not in an order mostly.
0. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (ZERO because I think that, tied with the first two Velvet Underground albums, it is essential not in an essential albums way, but more in the way that oxygen is, in that I hesitate to even have it im my list)
1. Neutral Milk Hotel, Aeroplane over the Sea
2. Sonic Youth, Washing Machine and/or Murray St.
3. They Might Be Giants, eponymous and/or Flood
4. Ry Cooder, Into the Purple Valley
5. Some Bob Dylan album. I'd say Blood on the Tracks or Bringing it All Back Home
6. Nick Drake, Pink Moon
7. Patti Smith, Land
I'm sure I'll think of more. I am the list-writing kind of geek.
Edit.
Here I am again.
It's been a long time since I was significantly into punk, but I disagree fervently with your choices for necessary punk albums, so I've formulated my own.
1. Television, Marquee Moon
2. X-Ray Spex, Germfree Adolescents
3. Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Blank Generation
4. Zounds, The Curse of Zounds
5. Stiff Little Fingers, Inflammable Material.
I'm going to not say anything about the Sex Pistols.
And I will try to go a week without making any subsequent lists, as I think I have a problem.
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I have those two Pixies albums, and Flood - and none of the rest. Oh my word that is fun.
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What Springs to Mind:
My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
The Auteurs, New Wave
Lush, Split
Boards of Canada: Music Has the Right to Children
The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour / This Nation's Saving Grace / The Wonderful and Frightening World of...
Big Black: Atomizer EP / Songs About fuck*ng
Stereolab: Refried Ectoplasm, Switched On v.2 / Peng!
Where I Agree with Selected Artists But Disagree with Albums, Politely:
Belle & Sebastian: Lazy Line Painter Jane (three EP box set)
Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation
The Smiths: Louder Than Bombs
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Sublime's eponymous is usually the first record that leaps to mind when I think of things people ought to own. Cure for Pain is second.
I'd probably end up listing about 180 of the 290 or so artists currently in my catalogue, were I to think about it.
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I have Marquee Moon and love it, but it never makes me think 'punk'.
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Yeah, Television is totally new wave.
Some good suggestions of things to try out. I have a number of those mentioned of course.
And please, show some respect - "Loaded" is the VU's best album, and they are my favourite band.
Also, I was tempted to go with Doolittle but Trompe le Monde edged it out by being spacier and being more replay worthy for me. I wouldn't want to give up either, but if I had to choose I'd trick the world.
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The Band -- The Band
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I will humbly argue that Apollo 18 and John Henry are also TMBG essentials. Also, if you're going to buy the eponymous, you might as well get the Then: The Earlier Years two-CD set, which actually covers the entirety of their first three albums plus some other rarities. Good times.
Other essentials, at least IM(ns)HO:
Moxy Fruvous, Bargainville and You Will Go To the Moon
R.E.M., Document, Life's Rich Pageant, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi (there are like six or seven essential R.E.M. CDs, but if I had to pick three, these would be them)
Mono Puff, It's Fun to Steal
The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink *****s (Hello, choir, how are you this fine afternoon?)
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John Lee Hooker. Muddy Waters. Etta James. Sinatra. Early 70s Stevie Wonder. Marvin Gaye and Al Green. Aretha and Otis Redding. P Funk.
The Stones up tilll about Some Girls. Van Morrison. Earth Wind & Fire and Commodores. Prince.
Queen. Thin Lizzy. Motorhead. Misfits Collections. Bad Brains. One of the first two Iron Maiden albums. Black Sabbath (anything before Technical Ecstasy).
Beck, Weezer, White Stripes.
I second (or third) REM, Smiths, Pixies, Bowie, Jane's Addiction, Zappa, Clash, Nirvana.
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Harold Budd, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois: The Pearl
Steve Tibbetts: Safe Journey
James Brown: Love Power Peace
Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
Peter Gabriel: Up
Also, what Nabu said. ( Except for the White Stripes )
"Loaded didn't have Maureen on it, and that's a lot of people's favorite VU record. So we can't get too lost in the mystique of the Velvet Underground." - Lou Reed
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And please, show some respect - "Loaded" is the VU's best album, and they are my favourite band.
Whoa--blasphemy! VU & Nico is clearly the best.
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I have Marquee Moon and love it, but it never makes me think 'punk'.
That album is so beautiful. I guess it's punk in the way that the Talking Heads and Patti Smith are punk.
I love making lists but am really bad at it, so I'll do my best to stay as close to a top 5.
1)Charles Mingus: Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2)Slint: Spiderland
3)Built to Spill: Keep it Like a Secret and/or Perfect From Now On
4)Tortoise: Everyone Now Living Will Never Die
5)Red House Painters: Down Colourful Hill
6)Fugazi: In on the Killtaker
7)The Jesus Lizard: Liar
8)Calexico: The Black Light and/or Feast of Wire
9)Funkadelic: Maggot Brain
10)Mekons: Fear and Whiskey
11)John Coltrane: Love Supreme
And I second the suggestion that you must own a Bob Dylan album. I suggest Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisted as well. Though if I had to choose....I'd shoot myself.
I realized that this isn't really in any particular order, so I don't know why I numbered it.
Edit: Jesus I suck at making lists. Can never limit myself. How could I forget Talking Heads "Remain in Light?" And from last year, Madvillain's Madvillainy. It's my favorite hiphop record of all time, and I would find it very difficult to live without it. That's enough.
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Yes yes, I have over 5,000 albums already, so I have many of these artists entire catalogues.
I did realize that the only Talking Heads I had was the two disc Sand in the Vaseline, though, so I'm remedying that now, along with some other blind downloads.
I discovered the Flaming Lips earlier this year when listening to a KCRW "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show where they played live with Beck, doing mostly Beck songs but a few of their own, and I promptly acquired all three of their albums and find that they are excellent, especially Yoshi.
And of course I have Dylan - right now I'm just sticking with Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde (don't tell anyone you don't have Blonde on fuck*ng Blonde!), and Biograph, the boxed set. That's enough for now.
Good call on Miles's "In a Silent Way" - one of the few I've never heard - but unfortunately they don't have it, so I'll have to pirate it the old fashioned way.
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When I began to make my list I had intended including the caveat "but you already have all of these" but I forgot by the end. The problem with discussing music with people who have 5000 albums is you have to be hugely obscure if you want to suggest something they don't have. I am a bit surprised your collection had deficiencies in the Stones and Talking Heads, though.
Let's see . . . Little Sue, Radio Birdman, Brad "Shame", Clutch, Blossom Dearie (not that obscure), Forreals, Hellacopters, Pink Martini, Rocket from the Tombs, Poison Idea, and Roman Candles.
Also, did anyone mention Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, RatM, Ramones, Teenage Fanclub, Warren Zevon, or the Red Hots?
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Also, did anyone mention Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, RatM, Ramones, Teenage Fanclub, Warren Zevon, or the Red Hots?
No, I don't think so, but Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Zevon is one of the greatest songs of all time.
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Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner gives L, G, & M a run for its . . . well, you get the idea.
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6)Fugazi: In on the Killtaker
I think my call for Fugazi would be Thirteen Songs. Something about it... I probably, really do ought to get a copy of In on the Killtaker again, but Thirteen Songs is, well, it's the one I still have a copy of around.
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When I began to make my list I had intended including the caveat "but you already have all of these" but I forgot by the end. The problem with discussing music with people who have 5000 albums is you have to be hugely obscure if you want to suggest something they don't have. I am a bit surprised your collection had deficiencies in the Stones and Talking Heads, though.
Let's see . . . Little Sue, Radio Birdman, Brad "Shame", Clutch, Blossom Dearie (not that obscure), Forreals, Hellacopters, Pink Martini, Rocket from the Tombs, Poison Idea, and Roman Candles.
Also, did anyone mention Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, RatM, Ramones, Teenage Fanclub, Warren Zevon, or the Red Hots?
Thank you for mentioning Steely Dan. Awesome.
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When I began to make my list I had intended including the caveat "but you already have all of these" but I forgot by the end. The problem with discussing music with people who have 5000 albums is you have to be hugely obscure if you want to suggest something they don't have.
Not really, though. I mean, I have a bunch of things on vinyl still, so I never ripped them to mp3. So I'm downloading things like "Loggins & Messina" and Neil Young's "Harvest" which are necessary albums.
I am a bit surprised your collection had deficiencies in the Stones and Talking Heads, though.
I think I sold my Talking Heads CDs without ripping them first, just assumed that I had them.
And as for the Stones - I mean, they have 26 albums, not including live and bootleg albums. Do you have them all[/]? I didn't, but I will before the day is out.
Let's see . . . Little Sue, Radio Birdman, Brad "Shame", Clutch, Blossom Dearie (not that obscure), Forreals, Hellacopters, Pink Martini, Rocket from the Tombs, Poison Idea, and Roman Candles.
The problem with many of these is that neither this Russian site nor emusic have them.
Also, did anyone mention Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, RatM, Ramones, Teenage Fanclub, Warren Zevon, or the Red Hots?
Okay, so maybe I'm weird but I never understood the appeal of Steely Dan. But I have completed the Elvis Costello collection, and I am pleased with even some of his awful mid-80s albums.
I just have the two Ramones collections, those "All the Stuff and More" which is quite enough. I know not of Teenage Fanclub or the Red Hots - I mean, I've heard of TF but I don't know the music - is there a particular album I should start with?
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Also, did anyone mention Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, RatM, Ramones, Teenage Fanclub, Warren Zevon, or the Red Hots?
No, I don't think so, but Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Zevon is one of the greatest songs of all time.
My favourite Zevon is "A Certain Girl."
Oh, and yes, I've got Zevon covered. I didn't really start listening to him until I heard he was ill and saw him do an hour on Letterman a couple of years ago.
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Thank you for mentioning Steely Dan. Awesome.
Okay, I'm still going to plead the ignorance here. I've heard a little SD but I don't understand why someone would like them.
Could you enlighten me? Are they one of those bands where their singles suck but the rest of the album is good?
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Steely Dan music I like because - it's hard to describe - I find the sound of Steely Dan to be unbelievably clean - almost like a pure sound. There is nothing extraneous, no 'noise' and the storytelling is pretty good. (Some people would probably say they were overproduced.) They have (to me) their own category and I don't really think anything they did was particularly derivative or eventually copied.
I'm not the 'music guy' some of you are but there was a guy named Jerry Rafferty I put more-or-less in the Steely Dan category in terms of clean sound and storytelling but he didn't have a lot of songs that got radio play that I can remember.
<><>Edit<><>
1) It's Gerry Rafferty
2) Right Down the Line and Baker Street are the songs I most remember (1978)
3) He was also in the band "Stealer's Wheel" who did Stuck in the Middle With You in 1973
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I have to weigh in in favor of "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" here, but this may be because the song is a massive nexus for inside jokes on my quad. (Yeah, can you tell we're the cool kids? Ohh yes.)
Also, I believe that I am contractually obligated to state that "Hit Somebody" has earned my undying love and should earn yours as well.
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Steely Dan combines virtuoso musicianship with great lyrics. Poppy? Sure. Overproduced? I'm not sure what that means, but could be -- it's very slick. Whatever it is, I like it. Can't Buy a Thrill, Pretzel Logic and Aja are probably the best albums.
How can you not like a song like "Dirty Work"?
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Steely Dan is an interesting case. I've been pretty well mad for them forever - as my brother introduced me to them when I was youngish. However, I had a friend who always dismissed them as elevator music crap. Now there's a certain note of truth to that. They're extremely polished. Interestingly, some years later that same friend came back to me and faulted me for not doing more to turn him on to SD.
It's basically sort of light jazzy I-don't-know-what-you'd-call-it. The musicians are very, very accomplished. Don and Walter always knew exactly what they wanted and kept working on the songs until they got it down. I'd go so far as to easily recommend "Nightfly" and "Kamakiriad" - Fagen's solo joints. And I'm going to say that I would normally put the song "Royal Scam" into any listing I made of the greatest 10 songs of all time. Also, there's a lot of ironic/smartass humor in their songs. If they are more or less giving away mp3s, you really ought to have Pretzel Logic and The Royal Scam. "With a Gun", "Charlie Freak", and "Don't Take Me Alive" are all really nice caper/scam songs that I think almost anyone could really enjoy.
If what you are thinking of when you think of SD is the songs "Rikki . . . " or "Reelin' . . ." (both songs I enjoy) you owe yourself a listen to "Kings", "Black Friday", "Parker's Band", "Buzz", or "Show Biz Kids". * Having said that, I'd say that probably most people have heard the song "Kid Charlemagne" - I guess I'd say if that song doesn't convince you that they're a worthy band, maybe they aren't for you.
*(My perspective on this is the same as the way I feel about people who write off Stevie Wonder because he wrote "I Just Called . . .")
I switched some things around to keep things together and I don't know what . . . anyway:
I will add about clean/pure/overproduced that Steely Dan is very like Pink Floyd to my mind in this way. You could call it overproduced, or you could say these bands ended up with enough money and studio time and concern for their listeners that they decided to make things exactly right and exactly how they wanted them. It probably ends up driving producers/mixers/musicians nuts, but there's something to making things exactly how you want them. I'll admit, I listen to plenty of slapdash shit, and I don't listen to Pink Floyd much anymore, but there's a lot of very carefully put together music out there which is a pleasure to listen to.
In order, for me:
1) Royal Scam
2) Pretzel Logic
3) Can't Buy a Thrill
4) Aja
5) Countdown to Ecstasy
6) Gaucho
7) Katy Lied
8) Two Against Nature
I have not listened to Everything Must Go.
Honorable Mention: I also have a number of collections and other crap, and on Steely Dan Gold there's a (nearly eight minute) live version of Bodhisattva (a fine song) that features a spoken word intro in which a clearly inebriated individual praises a "Mr. Steely Dan" while the band members laugh.
"If it good to ya, it gotta be good for ya!"
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For Teenage Fanclub, just get "Bandwagonesque". I have others, but they are quite similar and not as good.
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This is going to earn me hella geek points (and Jough probably can't DL it anyway) but I have to say Cowboy Bebop OST 1. It is, as a review said, bulletproof cool.
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I bought the Citizen Steely Dan box set, and the drunk introducing "Bodhisattva" is one of the highlights.
"All you purty, purty, purty little purty ones can tell all your friends tomorrah, that Sanna Monica...has been defenetly...set on fiyah."
iTunes has thoughtfully included a snippet of this introduction for your perusal.
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6)Fugazi: In on the Killtaker
I think my call for Fugazi would be Thirteen Songs. Something about it... I probably, really do ought to get a copy of In on the Killtaker again, but Thirteen Songs is, well, it's the one I still have a copy of around.
I tend to think that Fugazi improved slightly with time until 1993 (although Repeater is a better album than Steady Diet, but, you know), and then kind of leveled out. Although I do love 13 Songs, Repeater, and Steady Diet dearly. Fugazi has never released a bad song or album.
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"Loaded" is the best VU album. This is not an opinion. This is cold stone FACT.
I'm godawful at lists. I can only talk about stuff I've recently listened to, which is why I tend to talk more about what am i listening to now, as opposed to what I always listen to.
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I don't know - isn't it impossible for anime to be cool, let alone the soundtrack to an anime film?
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Well, some of the Cowboy Bebop music is pretty good (though I don't have a sndtrk; I have watched the show) and the theme to Serial Experiments Lain is nice. not stuff I'd want to listen to all the time, but since I sort've was an anime fanatic a few years ago (I'd say I still am, but I realised collecting was a ridiculously expensive hobby. I see certain ones on cartoon network from time to time and read some manga now and then; it's cheaper), I guess that's why I can see the appeal in the music.. I own some sndtrks. not essential though.
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As far as essential goes, pretty much some people already listed what I would have listed. here's some I think I didn't see:
Afghan Whigs - Black Love
Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
Tortoise - TNT
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (I'm probably getting Laughing Stock next; by the one song I sampled, perhaps get that as well)
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
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As far as essential goes, pretty much some people already listed what I would have listed. here's some I think I didn't see:
Afghan Whigs - Black Love
Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
Tortoise - TNT
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (I'm probably getting Laughing Stock next; by the one song I sampled, perhaps get that as well)
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
I love TNT almost, but not quite, as much as Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I haven't liked the last two records from Tortoise as much, however.
I like Yo La Tengo too, but I rarely will listen to an entire album. I probably like Eloctr-o-pura best, but And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out and I Can Hear... are nearly as good. Painful too. Hopefully I get to see them on Jan 26. There here (Salt Lake--Park City actually) for Sundance but it can be tricky getting into some shows.
The Cocteau Twins--I need to get some of their albums, and most people seem to recommend Blue Bell Knoll as a starting point. My ex loved them, but I only know songs minus their titles, so it's hard to know.
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Yo La Tengo shows are amazing. I've seen them live twice, and have like 5 bootlegs of shows. Kill people to get into that show.
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Jough, I respect your musical taste and discretion. Not to belabor a point or anything, but may I ask you to elaborate on your Steely Dan opinion? It's hard for me to believe that you have not been extensively exposed to their (fairly ubiquitous) popular work. Why do you have a negative opinion of them? I ask out of simple curiousity. Educate me about what you think is wrong with them.
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Yo La Tengo shows are amazing. I've seen them live twice, and have like 5 bootlegs of shows. Kill people to get into that show.
OK, I'll take out Redford himself if I have to. I actually saw them once about 6 years ago or so, and really liked it. They rarely make it out here, so it's all a matter of whether I can get a ticket or not.
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Jough, I respect your musical taste and discretion. Not to belabor a point or anything, but may I ask you to elaborate on your Steely Dan opinion? It's hard for me to believe that you have not been extensively exposed to their (fairly ubiquitous) popular work. Why do you have a negative opinion of them? I ask out of simple curiousity. Educate me about what you think is wrong with them.
I know this is for Jough, but hey, my taped episode of 24 is on commercial break.
Even though I'm only 25, I was, and still am to a point, a huge (though somewhat picky) fan of classic rock. That said, my exposure to Steely Dan, beyond Reeling in the Years and my father's Aja tape is also fairly limited. It's not like classic rock radio plays all their stuff. I like Reeling in the Years, but everything else I've heard doesn't appeal to me at all. But that really only includes a few songs off of Aja.
Didn't they beat out Radiohead and Eminem to win a Grammy a few years ago?
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I don't know - isn't it impossible for anime to be cool, let alone the soundtrack to an anime film?
oh wow, it's friday again.
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Clutch's Elephant Riders. if you don't have this album, you should have it. i love clutch. the stuff earlier is harder, the stuff later is jammier. Elephant Riders is just the right size bowl of porridge.
on a tangental note, i don't go to a lot of concerts. rarely, perhaps. i had tix for a clutch show for my birthday last year, year before? apparently the lead singer for "let the bodies hit the floor" died, and they were opening? and they cancelled the show. shit.
If you don't have Jawbox's "For Your Own Special Sweetheart" then you don't have an album that is rather good and amazing and that you should have.
if you don't have one of or both of Front 242's 1993 twin "Evil" albums, you are shit out of luck because you do not have the pinacle of EBM.
if you don't have babyland's "a total letdown" you should get it right away, because the beats beat any beat a beater could beat.
if you don't have another six pack, you are out of beer.
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As far as essential goes, pretty much some people already listed what I would have listed. here's some I think I didn't see:
Afghan Whigs - Black Love
Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
Tortoise - TNT
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (I'm probably getting Laughing Stock next; by the one song I sampled, perhaps get that as well)
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
I love TNT almost, but not quite, as much as Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I haven't liked the last two records from Tortoise as much, however.
I like Yo La Tengo too, but I rarely will listen to an entire album. I probably like Eloctr-o-pura best, but And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out and I Can Hear... are nearly as good. Painful too. Hopefully I get to see them on Jan 26. There here (Salt Lake--Park City actually) for Sundance but it can be tricky getting into some shows.
The Cocteau Twins--I need to get some of their albums, and most people seem to recommend Blue Bell Knoll as a starting point. My ex loved them, but I only know songs minus their titles, so it's hard to know.
Well, TNT is the only one I have.. perhaps I should purchase more.. it seems I only get a few old school albums a year. I'll sample some!
As for YLT, well, I only have that one and Summer Sun which didn't make my decision that hard.. heh.. I keep meaning to get And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out, but keep putting it off. I hear it is very good though.
Oh as for a namedropper song, I suggest Hot Chip - Playboy (http://www.sardonic-hee.com/music/mp3s/Hot_Chip-Playboy.mp3) ..brilliant 'gangsta' parody involving mention of Yo La Tengo... I'll never think of YLT in the same way.
Yeah, I'm a fairly new Cocteau Twins listener (well, I sampled some over the last 3yrs and just got that particular album sometime last year), but I haven't heard a bad song yet.
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I don't know - isn't it impossible for anime to be cool, let alone the soundtrack to an anime film?
No, I'm with CJ on this one. Bebop has one of the finest soundtracks of anything, ever,
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I've neither seen nor heard it, and it may be very good, but my point is that in the Americas it is not cool to like anime. Anime is generally something for geeks, like Natalie Portman day calendars and Babylon 5 dvds.
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As for Steely Dan, I never cared for Reelin' In The Years - I find it kind of bland. And I can't even think of any other Steely Dan songs now. My uncle is a huge fan of theirs and has all of the albums, so I could always borrow them from him to rip I guess, but of course he has all of Gino Vanelli's albums too, so his taste is suspect.
I guess what I've heard of SD hasn't really impressed me, and I'm a fan of classic rock and the only decent radio station in philly happens to be a classic rock station (we had an all 80s station for a time that I listened to constantly, but then that was replaced by "Jammin' Gold" which had nothing but 70s and 80s R&B, funk, and soul, and I listened to that even more constantly - woke up to "Treat Her Like A Lady" by Cornelious Brothers and Sister Rose every day in college, but now it's changed over to an "unoffensive smooth pop" format and I just leave the dial on the classic rock station.
Anyway, I'll have to sample some SD, but let me know which album in your opinion is their best and I'll start there. I figure if I don't like that I can just stop.
Meanwhile, I have downloaded all of Lush's albums (I had "Spooky" back in high school) and it's like 1993 all over again in my house.
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I've neither seen nor heard it, and it may be very good, but my point is that in the Americas it is not cool to like anime. Anime is generally something for geeks, like Natalie Portman day calendars and Babylon 5 dvds.
I see your point. I'm just such a geek that I think to be a geek is cool.
Also added to my list would have to be:
Ojos de Brujo - Bari
Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
Tom Waits - Nighthawks and Bone Machine are essential, but you can't go far wrong with Real Gone.
Think of One - NAFT2
Jaune Toujours - Brusk
The Cat Empire - eponymous. One of the very first things I'd replace were I to lose everything.
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I've neither seen nor heard it, and it may be very good, but my point is that in the Americas it is not cool to like anime. Anime is generally something for geeks, like Natalie Portman day calendars and Babylon 5 dvds.
The Cowboy Bebop soundtrack is still cool as long as you don't tell anyone what it is. If you say "Oh, yeah, this is jazz by some Japanese dude" it will be true and you will be okay, because it is pretty good music and it is by some Japanese dude. (Actually, I think it's by some Japanese chick. I don't remember. But whatever.) If you say "This is TANK! opening theme of super waiwai sugoi Cowboy Bebop yahoo! ^_^" people will know you for a dork and shun you. Heck, I will shun you if you say that, and I'm a super dork anyway. I'm feeling the urge to shun myself after saying that.
Not that I know what's cool. The last thing I listened to was "Animetal", where members of Japanese heavy metal bands get together and play a bunch of covers of the theme songs from their favorite anime when they were kids. It's the Japanese equivalent of that "Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits" album.
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Well, TNT is the only one I have.. perhaps I should purchase more.. it seems I only get a few old school albums a year. I'll sample some!
As for YLT, well, I only have that one and Summer Sun which didn't make my decision that hard.. heh.. I keep meaning to get And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out, but keep putting it off. I hear it is very good though...
All Tortoise albums are pretty different it seems, so each one is worth checking out. TNT seems to be the most popular, but I know Millions best, and it was my first.
Check out the opening song off of YLT's electr-o-pura, Decora is the title, I think. It's gorgeous. The rest of the album too, but that song in particular makes my day whenever I put it on.
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All Tortoise albums are pretty different it seems, so each one is worth checking out. TNT seems to be the most popular, but I know Millions best, and it was my first.
Check out the opening song off of YLT's electr-o-pura, Decora is the title, I think. It's gorgeous. The rest of the album too, but that song in particular makes my day whenever I put it on.
Yeah, I do notice that whichever thing I hear first is usually my preferred album.. there are some exceptions to that rule though.
Okay, I dled 'Decora' and now I see another one I must add to the list. on dialup I hardly dl whole albums (only live stuff and advance copies do I get determined which take me all day to get.. ahah), but hardly anyone had that one song as is when I checked, so I couldn't have if I wanted to..
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As for Steely Dan, I never cared for Reelin' In The Years - I find it kind of bland.
It may be bland, but a pleasant bland. Bland's not always so bad.
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Okay, I dled 'Decora' and now I see another one I must add to the list. on dialup I hardly dl whole albums (only live stuff and advance copies do I get determined which take me all day to get.. ahah), but hardly anyone had that one song as is when I checked, so I couldn't have if I wanted to..
Isn't it heavenly? There are few songs more beautiful.
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Steely Dan - Royal Scam, Countdown to Ecstasy, or Pretzel Logic. After some re-listening, I am going to move Countdown to Ecstasy above Aja on my list. I know that Aja is supposedly the most perfectly realized conglomeration of rock and jazz, but I never thought it was their best work.
These are different than what always gets played. If you can get them for less than you feel a cheap meal ought to cost, by them. If you are on food stamps or have to give blood to buy cigarettes, maybe you shouldn't buy them. Jough, you really don't have a reason not to get them all, unless you feel that your time is too valuable.
Also, I hope that you didn't download anything after Some Girls (Stones) because it is all basically crap after that.
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Also, I hope that you didn't download anything after Some Girls (Stones) because it is all basically crap after that.
I don't really like much after Exile. Well, Goat Head Soup's OK. I agree though--it reaches crap status after Some Girls. The gap between the Stones best material and their worst is probably the widest in popular music. I mean, at their best they are untouchable, but man, they can suck absolute ass.
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Also, I hope that you didn't download anything after Some Girls (Stones) because it is all basically crap after that.
I don't really like much after Exile. Well, Goat Head Soup's OK. I agree though--it reaches crap status after Some Girls. The gap between the Stones best material and their worst is probably the widest in popular music. I mean, at their best they are untouchable, but man, they can suck absolute ass.
That would be a whole nother thread, which would probably be very interesting. I will say this about that. I adore Stevie Wonder's work, as I have discussed at some length, but there is a massive gap between Innervisions and The Woman in Red.
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I love Steely Dan, maybe partly because my dad liked, so I grew up hearing them a lot, but hey, aren't we supposed to *hate* our parents' music? So that proves that Steely Dan is good. Also, "Steely Dan" is an olde-tyme term for a dildo.
In all the Steely Dan talk that has gone on in this thread, I can't believe nobody has mentioned the song "King of the World" (http://posdef.net/stuff/01_king_of_the_world.mp3).
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Some things about Steely Dan
"Lay down your Jackson and you will see the sweet things you've been dying for."
Their songs are about various losers who are up to no good. They are either hooked on drugs, in love with a prostitute, in trouble with the law, or generally fuckin' up in some way. It's like they're singing my life.
Steely Dan is way up the list of my favorites.
~Paul
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I love Steely Dan, maybe partly because my dad liked, so I grew up hearing them a lot, but hey, aren't we supposed to *hate* our parents' music? So that proves that Steely Dan is good. Also, "Steely Dan" is an olde-tyme term for a dildo.
I don't think it's old-time so much as Burroughsian in origin. Or Burroughs used an old-timey term. Anyways, in Naked Lunch (or one of them, I forget which), there's a dildo called Steely Dan III.
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Yeah, the Steely Dan was in Naked Lunch - a steam-powered metal dildo that killed the subject upon orgasm.