what was the last 'classic album' you got and were knocked out by?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (2370 of them)

two of my answers already mentioned: Odyssey & Oracle, Pink Flag.
also, Chairs Missing, and pretty soon i imagine, 154. i'm loving Wire

― common_person (common_person), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Slugfuckers -- Cacaphony

― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations.

― shookout (shookout), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
The Kinks - Village Green

― darin, Wednesday, 28 July 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

on the beach.

i more or less have all of his records and i have the feeling otb is his best studio album. it's the most intense of his folky/soft songwriter albums. there are no real standouts except the first song which i knew from decade. it's all pretty much made of one stone. by the way neil did many shit and average albums. most of his 90s (except ragged glory, dead man was ok) and a lot of his 80s releases (trans, reactor, landing on water etc., hawks + doves was ace) should be mentioned here.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Bill Withers - Still Bill

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance. I own most of their other stuff, alwasy loved Dub Housing, and the Hearpen singles, so I was familiar with all the 'normal' stuff, but when dudes played this record in the car during our last tour, I was completely knocked out by the dubbed out What-the-fuckness of the rest of that record. Nobody told me it was that good!!

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I listened to Exile on Main Street for the first time in maybe ten years and was mightily surprised to find my rotten mood found a home in there. For years I couldn't see the fuss.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

black sabbath, master of reality

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Black Caesar by James Brown, though I don't know if that's a "classic".

oh and Kinda Kinks

― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I second Marquee Moon.

Before that, probably Galaxie 500 - On Fire.

― kickitcricket (kickitcricket), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

'the lexicon of love'.

― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

united states of america ... i think that probably only qualifies as a lost classic though

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

and

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

all singer/songwriter up in this shit:
silk degrees, boz scaggs
late for the sky, jackson browne
exile in guyville, liz phair

― drew, Wednesday, 28 July 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

the other On The Beach, by The Paragons, which obviously is leagues better than that more well-known one.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark

...although What's Going On is still in its shrink-wrap, so that may surprise me yet.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread reminds me I had a dream last night that I was playing some music for David Gedge as he was walking around my house. It was only after some minutes had passed that I realized I was actually playing him the Wedding Present, his own band. I was left with a strange feeling of embarassment.

― Bimble (bimble), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Can "Tago Mago"
Faust/Faust So Far
Dusty Springfield "Dusty in Memphis"

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

The re-release of Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam & the Ants.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Echo & the Bunnymen, Crocodiles

― Snnap Dragon (snnap dragon), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

oh yeah, recently the re-release of the first OMD album. a couple years ago i played it a couple times and thought it sucked, now i realize it is great.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

i second Stevie Wonder - Talking Book - knocked me right out.

Dylan's Planet Waves too.

― piers, Thursday, 29 July 2004 05:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Randy Newman - Sail Away

ELO's Greatest Hits (is that classic?)

Another Green World too, though it wasn't immediate, and I'm still not into all of it.

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:07 (twenty-one years ago)

KISS -- love gun

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Negativland's 'Escape From Noise'

― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Funkadelic - Maggot brain

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 29 July 2004 07:53 (twenty-one years ago)

SMiLE

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 29 July 2004 08:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Probably Harvest by Neil Young. But I prefer After the Goldrush which I only got a couple of months before and blew me right away.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 29 July 2004 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"Heart of the Congoes" -- possibly now my favorite recording ever.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 29 July 2004 08:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Ditto Forever Changes and Dusty In Memphis.

― Mog, Thursday, 29 July 2004 08:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oooh! ooh! Heart of the Congos and Smile! Love those two more than anything ever!

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 29 July 2004 08:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i third smile. also, jerry lee lewis's live at the star club.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 29 July 2004 09:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't think of a 'classic' record that I've even bought in the last 6 months, let alone one that's knocked me out.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 29 July 2004 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i'm really gonna check that donna summer 'bad girls' one i reckon. that and some nico stuff.

― piscesboy, Thursday, 29 July 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Def. The Congos, gotta cop to Pfork being my gateway into them, honestly Heart of the Congos sounds better than just about any Marley I've ever heard.

Also John Prine's first, Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners, and a bunch of Eno

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Thursday, 29 July 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't think of a 'classic' record that I've even bought in the last 6 months, let alone one that's knocked me out.

Me neither... On the other hand there are definitely some classics which still knock me out on the rare occasions where I dig them out and put them on again. I think the last ones I did that with were Marquee Moon and Van Halen's first record, in the wake of this thread.

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 29 July 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Make three for "Dusty In Memphis" & I'll add "A Brand New Me" too.

― Doobie Keebler (Charles McCain), Thursday, 29 July 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh man, I first heard Songs for Beginners recently and my jaw dropped like ten feet when I heard "Chicago" and realized that that is where that ominous organ sample from Beanie Sigel's "The Truth" came from. Such an unlikely origin! The album has some great tunes- I like the first song a lot- but on the whole, it's just too PC in that oh-so-'71 way.

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Friday, 30 July 2004 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Willis Allen Ramsey - Willis Allen Ramsey

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 30 July 2004 03:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm with Michael Daddino on Exile On Mainstreet. I listened to it a few times after I bought it and it never grabbed me, but I found myself listening to it over and over again when I was driving to Pasture.

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Friday, 30 July 2004 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I got drunk and managed to lose my justbought copy of "Heart of the Congos" once, Ray Charles's "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" too but I bought that again

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 30 July 2004 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Eno-Here come the Warm Jets. Bought it yesterday. wow.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 30 July 2004 13:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Big Star - No. 1 Record and Radio City (on the same CD).

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 30 July 2004 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

"feel" is one of the best album openers ever!

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 30 July 2004 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Scott Walker - Scott 4

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Friday, 30 July 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Stan Getz - Getz/Gilberto

― dleone (dleone), Friday, 30 July 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

'MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDINGS AND FOOD'

talking heads

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 11:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Not mentioned yet (and also my current last one): Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited.

Seconded (from the last coupla years): Odessey & Oracle, Village Green Preservation Society, Forever Changes.

― OleM (OleM), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 2270 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

war ina babylon

― ||||||||, Friday, 19 June 2026 22:54 (two days ago)

Wrong is a 5 star classic all the way thru, not a weak track on there!
there's no classic album just compilations but I'm currently getting knocked out by Charley Patton, holy shit that guy was versatile.
the compilations themselves are an absolute minefield though, each one takes a different approach to surface noise as ancient 78s are the only source remaining. some just play the 78s without any noise reduction which makes them difficult to listen to depending on the 78, while others overdo the noise reduction until the guitar has a gross spindly digital sheen.

― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 20 June 2026 02:34 (yesterday)

Always liked the sound of my Yazoo 2xLP, not sure what would be available now digitally

― Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria de Episcopio, Saturday, 20 June 2026 02:53 (yesterday)

yeh this is just going thru comps on slsk, will be on the lookout for LP version tho

― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 20 June 2026 03:52 (yesterday)

I bought Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirrors recently. On compact disc, no less. Because it was £5.75. I have about one-quarter of the album already, scattered across Virgin's Brief History of Ambient compilations, and I was worried that it was going to be monotonous - the same basic idea repeated with variations for forty minutes. Sometimes Brian Eno turns up the reverb. Sometimes he turns it down. I was worried that Virgin's compilation people had picked the best tracks.

I had that problem with Mustt Mustt. "Sea of Vapours" and the Massive Attack remix of the title track are both on the Brief History compilation, and they're by far the best tracks on the album. Ditto Trisan. Nonetheless I can truthfully say that I have bought four compact discs in 2026. Four!

It has been over a decade since Apple last sold a computer with an optical drive, but Itunes/Apple Music can still rip compact discs. But, anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. Not exactly knocked out, but pleasantly surprised. Mirrors is diverse, consistently interesting, mostly timeless, and it has a cold unsentimentality that has aged well. It feels weird that it came out in 1980 and thus coincided with Sham 69 and the Ford Cortina. It must have felt like a portal into a different world back then.

I also bought Time Out by Dave Brubeck. I didn't knock me out, but I enjoyed it. It struck me that the basic experiment - jazz music in unusual time signatures, done in a way that sounds normal - was too successful, in that I largely didn't notice the unusual time signatures, at which point it's just a pleasant jazz album.

I was struck by the cover of his previous album, which oozes modernist 1950s rulers-of-the-world energy:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/sWAAAOSw83dmtdjw/s-l1200.jpg

― Ashley Pomeroy, Saturday, 20 June 2026 12:59 (yesterday)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.