Great rock and pop albums

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes, Benson gets my support. I do have the Collection although my moment of cutting off was whatever followed "Give Me The Night". I would choose "The Royal Scam" from Steely Dan - probably not the obvious - but I like "The Caves of Altamira".

I assumed that strictly speaking we weren't doing compilations. Hope so in a way because that potentially brings in hundreds.
The good news for all is that I am not going to go there.

[burning dog]

Pop jazz crossover people still often play a fair bit of Jazz live. Kool and the Gang play a lot more "jazz" than Kenny G. Smooth Jazz is a moniker to beware - means it isn't funky or jazzy enough to be jazz-funk or catchy enough to be Pop. It varies between intsrumental soft soul, not good, and instrumental wallpaper - bad ( not BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!.)

[burning dog]

The most surprising record -at the time - I had Ziggy Stardust and Alladin Sane but had lost track a bit with Bowie.


When the vocals kicked in. Eff me it's David Bowie!

.. 'In the pocket' bass and drums. eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-_30HA7rec

[hackneyvi]

[was there a rule about compilations?]

The only rule is that the poster thinks the album is great rather than generally perceived classics. The risk of asking for favourites is that it can make people feel apologetic about their choices.

Anna includes Soft Cell - The Singles; such a fine band who I'd rather forgotten and being reminded of them makes me long to hear them. I listened to The Stranger via your link; gorgeous playing and an impressive song, quite Lennon-esque but without the brutal spirit of his earlier 70s records.

[EdgeleyRob]

For what it's worth here are a few of my favourites.

The Clash - London Calling
Camel - The Snow Goose
Gentle Giant - In A Glass House
Yes - Relayer
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Bad Company - Straight Shooter
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Bob Marley And The Wailers - Exodus
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus

[burning dog]

The problem with early reggae compilations is they were almost random. No use recommending Reggae Chartbusters Vol 2 (Trojan 1969) as it was probably superceded with all but one of the tracks by Kings of Reggae Vol 2 (Trojan 1970) Another point is there were few 'Greatest Hits' albums until later and the earlier compilations were by "various artists"

This was a great album of cover version by John Holt in the mid 70s

[Lateralthinking1]

Oh well, if we are also allowed compilations! Here are another 50 I am very keen on:

Paul Robeson - Ol' Man River, Eddie Cochran - Best of, Ewan MacColl - Black and White : The Definitive Collection, Joe Meek - The Alchemist of Pop, Sam Cooke - The Man and His Music, The Impressions - Best Of, Sun Ra - The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Crosby Stills and Nash - Crosby Stills and Nash, Tim Buckley - Sefronia, Smokey Robinson - Greatest Hits

Velvet Underground and Nico - Velvet Underground and Nico, Leo Ferre - Avec Le Temps, Staple Singers - Be What You Are, Big Star - Number One Record, The Isley Brothers - Greatest Hits, The Abyssinians - Satta Massagana, Weather Report - Heavy Weather, The Undertones - The Undertones, The Pretenders - Pretenders, Prince Far I - Long Life

Kraftwerk - Computer World, Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain, Various Artists - Soundtrack to One From the Heart, Dick Gaughan - True and Bold : Songs of the Scottish Miners, Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands, Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust, Soul II Soul - Club Classics Vol One, Charlatans - Some Friendly, Northern Lights - Harp and Hammer Dulcimer, Milltown Brothers - Slinky

Todd Terry Project - To The Batmobile Let's Go, Nirvana - Nevermind, Galliano - The Plot Thickens, Paul Weller - Wild Wood, Supergrass - I Should Coco, Suede - Dog Man Star, Bluetones - Expecting To Fly, Sinead O'Connor - Universal Mother, James Iha - Let It Come Down, Mercury Rev - Deserters Songs

Cornelius - Point, Doves - Lost Souls, The Coral - The Coral, The Dears - No Cities Left, Richard Hawley - Coles Corner, Arcade Fire - Funeral, Eliza Carthy - Dreams of Breathing Underwater, Dr Ernest Ranglin - Ska Wey Dat, Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep in the North Sea, Pete Molinari - A Virtual Landslide

[Anna]

OMD (don't worry - I am dyslexic) Lat has now mentioned Jesus and Mary Chain, the terrible Reid Bros who shocked a thousand. Actually, I don't know if now I would like to listen to them again

But, it's strange how few listed here ring a cord with me. Yes, I had forgotten Leonard Cohen (did anyone see him at Glastonbury) who is timeless

But how many of these are pure nostalgia? I suspect some cringe-worthy listings such as Yes, The Yardbirds, King Crimson, Genesis, Rick Wakeman aka Watching Paint Dry, are just pure nostalgia trips and, to be honest, are just played once every 5 years on a wedding anniversary or suchlike. Like Lady in Red. The enduring ones, the classics, are a different kettle of fish.

As for Soul, or MoTown, well, Percy Sledge is the all time isn't he?

[Mandryka]

OMD (don't worry - I am dyslexic) Lat has now mentioned Jesus and Mary Chain, the terrible Reid Bros who shocked a thousand. Actually, I don't know if now I would like to listen to them again

But, it's strange how few listed here ring a cord with me. Yes, I had forgotten Leonard Cohen (did anyone see him at Glastonbury) who is timeless

But how many of these are pure nostalgia? I suspect some cringe-worthy listings such as Yes, The Yardbirds, King Crimson, Genesis, Rick Wakeman aka Watching Paint Dry, are just pure nostalgia trips and, to be honest, are just played once every 5 years on a wedding anniversary or suchlike. Like Lady in Red. The enduring ones, the classics, are a different kettle of fish.

As for Soul, or MoTown, well, Percy Sledge is the all time isn't he?

Lady In Red was always appalling, but Yardbirds, Yes, King Crimson and (pre early 80s) Genesis will always be great. I listen regularly to all four of those bands, though I'm a bit in the dark about Rick Wakeman's solo career.

[MrGongGong]

what always strikes me about so much of the rock music of the 70's and 80's is how thin it all sounds
even things which I remember as being epic (I remember seeing Tangerine Dream at Liverpool Cathedral in 1970 something and it being monumental ) sound lacking in sonic depth and subtlety and often really clumsy and badly played.

[Belgrove]

Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam, Aja - Steely
Dan
Most of Joni Mitchell,
Er... nowadays that's it!

[hackneyvi]

what always strikes me about so much of the rock music of the 70's and 80's is how thin it all sounds even things which I remember as being epic (I remember seeing Tangerine Dream at Liverpool Cathedral in 1970 something and it being monumental ) sound lacking in sonic depth and subtlety and often really clumsy and badly played.

The music hasn't changed so the difference is ourselves. What was it that responded in us that we were so energised and moved by this music? I'm sorry to say it but I think our senses are dulled with age and our experiences dull with the dulled senses. More positively, as adults we've learned to separate our feelings from the apparant 'causes' of them. Less positively, as adults, perhaps, we exist at one remove from ourselves? More positively, that means we're less prone to make some of the same hideous mistakes that may (or may not) have plagued our youths.

I'm sorry to bring him up again but I can remember when I first got into Tippett's string music and the Schubert piano sonatas. It was the loudest music I'd ever heard, I realised, because I was so completely absorbed by it that I wasn't hearing or thinking about anything else except it. I find now that a condition resembling that absorption, preoccupation is a more or less permanent state - whatever I'm doing.

[Anna]

Yardbirds, Yes, King Crimson and (pre early 80s) Genesis will always be great. I listen regularly to all four of those bands

Let's Do The Time Warp Again!!

[Mandryka]

I'm a bit mystified by some of the comments about technical incompetence and poor sound: though live sound has improved immeasurably since the 70s, some amazing results were obtained in the late analogue era - to my ears, Yes's Fragile still sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

Can't get excited about much music after 1980: I think rock had gone as far as it could by 1975 and punk was just a return to the amateurism of the 50s.

[antongould]

I suppose I will be the only boarder who will admit to buying 2 pop CDs this year and therefore will be expelled!