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[Drygioni]

Right, well the weekends are generally pretty slow so maybe this could help make the 'board a little more active just before we all go back to the old Day In Day Out.

Here's what we do:

Someone posts a band/solo musician that they are interested in. Anyone who can should respond by recommending them the first/next album they should buy by this band.

Feel free to ask recommendations all you want. There are no ratios here.

To kick things off: Can anyone recommend a 'beginner's' Tom Waits album?

[Limmo]

Rain Dogs. 

[FlipConstantine]

Tom Waits: "Closing Time".  I have to admit it's the only one of his I like because it sounds very little like his later stuff. 

And how about, a Smiths album that's not "Meat is Murder" or "The Queen is Dead"

[Drygioni]

And how about, a Smiths album that's not "Meat is Murder" or "The Queen is Dead"

Easy-weasy. Their eponymous debut should set you up nicely.

[littlefallsmets]

See, I'd say "Small Change" insofaras... it is reasonably conventional in form and involves perhaps his most classic "storytelling" and yet... the experimental nature is bubbling up under the surface in little choices within those blues-jazz standards.

[jough]

Someone who has never listened to Tom Waits before should start with Rain Dogs.

The Smiths other than those two - gotta go with Louder Than Bombs. 

Or for more of an early sampler-feel - Hatful of Hollow or The World Won't Listen (each released only in the U.S. and U.K. respectively).

[V-Adore]

Let us theoretically posit that I have... a friend... who has just realized the immense error of her ways in not listening to the Talking Heads at length previously. Which album would be a good place to start? For this... friend. Yeah.

[wombat]

I would say Little Creatures. But this is mainly because I have been listening to it lately and it reminded me of how good the Talking Heads are. I haven't made, like, a scientific study of which is their best album or anything.

[FlipConstantine]

Remain in Light is probably the best for someone who's not heard much Talking Heads before, i.e. this friend of yours.  It's very accessible but definitely a good showcase of what makes them so great.

[KeithHernandez]

For the Smiths I would reccomend their last album, Strangeways, Here We Come.  For the Talking Heads I would go with any of their first 4 except Fear of Music (77, more songs about buidings and food or Remain in light).  With the Talking Heads 77 and More Songs are alot different than Fear of Music, Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues, so you should definately get one of the first two and Remain in Light.  This in no way means that Fear of Music is a bad record(probably my favorite, definately my favorite song: Life During Wartime).  For Tom Waits I could not recommend Swordgiraffetrombones enough, especially as a new fan, but Rain Dogs and Heart of a Saturday night should do you pretty well also.

The Pogues:  I have If I should Fall From Grace... and Rum Sodomy and Lash (I believe at someone on this boards advice).  I love Rum Sodomy and Lash, but don't like if I should Fall From Grace that much.  Are there any others more like Rum Sodomy...?  Also, the guy in the Pogues ( i am not going to look up his name now but sometimes I know it) was in some punk bands before the pogues, any suggestions on that?

Also, a friend real big into the Fall (great band, start with This Nations Saving Grace, if you want) recommended that I listen to Public Image LTD.  I have no idea who they are.

[linnea]

I have some questions about introductory albums. What would you recommend for someone who likes the following artists but isn't quite sure which albums to buy first? Iron & Wine, Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens.

[AugustWest]

Personally, my introduction to the Talking Heads was a tape with Fear of Music on one side and More Songs About Buildings and Food on the other.  I've been hooked ever since.

It was my workout tape the first time I ever lifted weights consistently.  Whodathot?

[theinevitable]

linnea-- for Sufjan, i would definitely suggest "Come on! Feel the Illinoise"

PIL's "Metal Box" is supposed to be wonderful. They're John Lydon's band after the Pistols broke up.

[Choop]

[redacted for fear of impending Religious War]

[jough]

I would NOT recommend Strangeways to someone as their first Smiths album.  It's not exactly representative of the band, and has the distinction of being their weakest album.

Anyway, Stevens's "Come On Feel the Illinoise" is pretty good.  I started listening to it when I started making a Chicago-themed playlist before I first came to interview here (you're all well-aware how much of a dork I am by this time, I'm sure).

It's hard to recommend a single Talking Heads album, so I'd suggest Sand in the Vaseline which is a 2-disc best of.

Also, R.E.M. - start with Automatic For the People - you'll already know half the songs on it and you'll fall in love with the other half.  Then go listen to Life's Rich Pageant or Murmur.

Radiohead: OK Computer is the way to go.

Elvis Costello - My Aim is True - start at the beginning.

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Beck - Midnite Vultures

The Violent Femmes - Why Do Birds Sing?

Van Morrison - Moondance

Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

Lou Reed - Transformer

The Velvet Underground - Loaded