whiskeytown--strangers almanac (quite great, actually)
sonny rollins--road shows (eh...)
the cure--seventeen seconds (underrecognized gem)
sonic youth--eternal (very sonic youth-y) |
zaikesman, great list(s)--you got good taste in tuneage |
1. loudon wainwright iii, album ii--alternatively sad and hysterically funny; best one guy with a guitar folkie album by someone not named dylan. as far as i know, never released on cd. "motel blues" (later covered by big star) is on this record.
2. lyres lyres--hadn't heard this in 20 years or so and was surprised at how great it is--tough, hooky garage rockers and really pretty ballads. "she pays the rent" is a classic.
3. wipers, over the edge---sorta hardcore punk rock for grownups. i bet nirvana wore out 100 copies of this record. |
1. procol harum--exotic birds and fruit. post-trower; generally ignored, but actually quite excellent--less arty, more concise than their earlier stuff. "the idol" and "new lamps for old" are among the best songs they ever recorded.
2. thin white rope--exploring the axis. the great lost guitar band of the 80s--brilliant, hooky, twisted psychy stuff in the same general ballpark as meat puppets and television, but entirely unique. the leader, guy kyser, is a genius.
3. sex clark five--strum and drum. really melodic, rem-ish one-minute pop tunes with clever, if incomprehensible, lyrics. 25 years after first hearing this, i still remember these songs. |
Chicago II--like most fair-minded music lovers, I've generally regarded their seemingly endless output as the clearest example of cultural decay. I've concluded, however, that this album is something of a masterpiece--in contrast to the AOR drivel that followed, it's actually soulful and raw-- just listen to those jagged guitar fills, random percussion parts and slightly off-key vocals. Plus the bass player really swings.
Richard Buckner, Surrounded--admittedly, there's not a ton of sonic variation in his ouevre, but he is a genius and noone comes close to doing this type of downcast Nick Drake-meets-Hank Williams stuff.
Earth, Angel of Darkness--my new guilty pleasures; they're usually mis-categorized as heavy metal, but to me actually sound closer to ambient, experimental guys like NIN or Tortoise. Intense, tuneful stuff. |
steve miller--recall the beginning...before his run as purveyor of mindless (tho catchy) am hits, sm was actually quite an ambitious fellow whose late 60s/early 70s records were very well conceived, flawlessly played and still sound good today. this one is something of a lost masterpiece--one side of short, melodic pop and the other a sorta spacey psychedelic suite culminating in the title track, which is awful purty. very good guitar playing throughout.
real estate--atlas...really tuneful jangly guitar pop somewhat reminiscent of early rem without the mumbling or velevet underground without the angst. real songs that stick in your head. |
southside johnny, "men without women"--live remake of little steven's late 70s lost classic. pretty great--johnny's a much better singer than ls and the horns, in particular, are spot-on. the songs are classic. really.
boris and michio kurihara, "rainbow"--intoxicating stuff; a japanese metal/post punk band (sorta sonic youthy) teamed up with a wacked-out guitar shredder who plays these searing, atonal solos over the surrprisingly melodic tunes. i can't stop listening to it... |
not really my genre, but "benjamin booker" is very good--raw, loose blooznboogie. nothing groundbreaking, but the kid's a natural and has a real way with the big, melodic hook. |
eddie floyd, big bird--mindbogglingly great r&b tune from the curiously underrecognized singer/songwriter (he wrote "knock on wood" and many others)
elvis perkins, ash wednesday--tony's son; very talented; unusually structured folk-rock with dark lyrics; sorta hypnotic |
great album, jaybo--havent heard it in 20 years--sign on the cross is classic |
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humble pie: performance/rockin the fillmore--it's been sitting on my stack for about a 100 years before i actually deigned to put it on. surprisingly, it's pretty great--the pre-megastardom peter frampton was a pretty good guitarist who eschewed alot of blues cliches, while steve marriott was arguably the great white soul shouter--check out "four day creep". i'd sorta remebered their rhythm section as somewhat lumbering, but in fact they keep up nicely, and overall it's a helluva ride. you might also check out their first two studio records (as safe as yesterday and twon and country), which are suprisingly folky/acoustic and sound not wildly dissimilar to what led zeppellin did in their less electric moments. |
procol harum!! so often overlooked, but at their peak so sublime...
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bdp, also check out exotic birds and fruit, which despite being post-matthew fisher and robin trower, is surprisingly great, with at least 3-4 classic tunes. keith reid's lyrics are more straightforward and less surreal than usual and gary brooker (a hugely underrated singer imo) sounds excellent.
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richard manuel's a real good analogy--i hear him as somewhat sweeter-sounding than ray charles, but he had in any event a great, soulful voice. i like all your other picks, too, but steve marriott was my main man--he's the great white soul shouter.
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the hollies--midas touch. their own songwriting is kind of spotty, but graham gouldman is one of the unsung songwriters of all times and the drummer is surprisingly great
go betweens--before hollywood. everyone should run out and buy at least two copies of this record.
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nirvana, "frances farmer"--what a brilliant song
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teenange fanclub, "i was beautiful when i was alive"--a really strange, brooding tune by their brooding guitarist, raymond mcginley, whose songs are less immediately grabbing than his bandmates', but are ultimately more interesting.
the jam, "in the city"--forgot how punk they once were
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bdp's comments on Kof A are well-observed--other EC records have a stronger set of songs top-to-bottom but do tend to sound over-polished, while this one has a natural swing. "Brilliant Mistake" and "Indoor Fireworks" are among his very best ever.
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reubent, i'd offer the following:
1. song for song, i'd say this year's model is the strongest, esp. the deluxe version, which has great obscurities like big tears and tiny steps. on a certain level, i think the playing's great, esp. the thomases on bass and drums, but as per bdps' remarks, it does sound a tad studied and restrained compared to, say, graham parker and the rumour.
2. my other go-to is imperial bedroom, which really is more of a chamber piece than a rock album; i think the songs are better matched to the band's more clinical virtuosity, although steve naive tends to overplay like a MF.
3. i also dig the odds and sods collection, taking liberties, which by and large rocks the hardest and is the least fussiest record in his canon.
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beatles--let it be. i'll submit that song-for-song this is their best album. granted, "one after 909" is a throwaway and "for you blue" mere filler, but side one is essentially perfect. the focus is justifiably on paul's opuses, but i always thought "dig a pony" and "don't let me down" were among john's finest.
elvis costello--taking liberties. an oddly coherent grab bag of outtakes and b-sides and as good a testament to his compositional genius as anything--this guy throws away better songs than 99% of his peers can even dream about. fully half of these 20 tunes rank with his best work, with "chelsea", "big tears" and "tiny steps" rocking as hard as anything he's done.
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slaw, i have heard the naked version and i like the original better, though it's a close call--murder aside, spector was a genius. abbey road was my second fave--agree about hard day's night, tho i might rate help higher
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i literally haven't listened to climax blues band in 30+ years, but was tweaked by the above to give 'em a listen--a few of their songs (rich man, couldn't get it right) are still insinuated in my brain, which i suppose is the sign of good music.
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i listened to side b of da capo once and vowed never again. side a, otoh, is as strong a set of songs as was produced in the 60s--"7+7 is" is a stone masterpiece.
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i agree with bdp on the untitled-era byrds, and untitled is kind of a schizophrenic record--the live sides are vg, but the studio side (chestnut mare notwithstanding) is pretty spotty. its predecessors, "dr. byrd" and "easy rider" actually hold up well, however.
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i actively hate everything pink floyd did after waters departed + everything waters did after leaving--the records have the sonics but none of the spirit
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i love animals and actually admired the final cut, which alienated a lot of fans--it's depressing but the songs stick with me some 35 years later, which i guess is the sign of a good record.
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