ILX 70s album poll - results

-- fred solinger (fred9157...), May 14th, 2001.

Histoire de Melody Nelson is the only album of his I have and I can't imagine him having bettered it. it's also great for sample-spotting. De La Soul's "it ain't over til the fat lady..." from De La Soul is Dead nicks the crazy frenchfunkrock from track 2, and countless scoundrels have remixed and sampled the 1st and last tracks, none of whom have managed to improve it one jot.

We mustn't underestimate the importance of Serge Gainsbourg. His death raised his profile outside France considerably. Without him, Lounge would have been faceless and anonymous, just Muzak. He provided Neo-Lounge with an Auteurist model to aspire to. 'Melody Nelson' is a Lounge album, but also the script for an imaginary film. None of the neo-Lounge artists have yet matched its ambition.

-- Momus (nic...), July 13th, 2001

I bought it when I was staying at a mate's and he was very sceptical. I put it on and could hardly believe how good it was - everything I'd expected. Of course then I left it at someone's flat after a party and have never seen it again.

-- Anthony Miccio (anthonymicci...), April 17th, 2003.

He wouldn't have been much without the Attractions, I don't think. I believe it was Langdon Winner, writing in Harper's when "Imperial" appeared, who said that EC knew more about music than anyone else who had previously played rock music...and while I do think he knows a lot, I've always found him to be a guy who played at being smart but whose opinions were actually fairly pedestrian. Anyway, if you've ever sat down to play any of EC's tunes, you'll find that he relies on the same tricks in every song, and I think they sound exactly like tricks or mannerisms and not the work of someone really attempting to do something cool with the pop-music format. EC's world is just such an enclosed one--you could say the same thing about Brian Wilson, except that Wilson's stuff does have that certain something else that opens up as opposed to closes you in. Basically, when I hear Elvis Costello now I want to run from the room, another great example of hidden woman-hating and so forth disguised under stupid wordplay and the typically English addiction to "the great tradition of pop music" and all that shit...uncharitable, I suppose, and a bit unfair. When I see EC's mug these days I simply cannot bear it, stop it, man, stop it...
-- eddie hurt (eddshur...), January 13th, 2004.

To me, the anger on This Year's Model feels more adolescent, brighter, and more optimistic even as it spits and condemns.
-- Kenan Hebert (khebert...), August 3rd, 2003.

i've always thought Elvis Costello (another glaring omission here, guys!) never outdid this year's model (which also rocks pretty hard):

It is a great album and a great song. It's been many years since I've played it, one day I will again. Did I mention how great the song is?
I read somewhere that a bunch of copies were pressed with the image in the gatefold mistakenly being the image from "The Slider".

-- Sean (saturns...), July 26th, 2002.

I think it is perhaps the most repugnant album ever made. Second only to Harvest.
-- davidh(owie) (howied41'@hotmail.com), July 25th, 2002.

after the goldrush was a screenplay, but it was never turned into a movie. this is why it is not on IMDB.
neil young is NOT a blues singer. anyone who makes this mistake does not know music. neil was first and formost a folk singer. his rock is amplified folk, or folk-rock (with a bit of country.)
the best example of this was everybody knows this is nowhere.(for the heavy)or goldrush(for the folkie)

-- brian goldberg (rabbitfighte...), January 29th, 2003.

THere is absolutely NO excuse for anybody on "I love Music" to not own at least one Neil Young CD (preferably either "harvest", "everybody knows this is nowhere" or "after the goldrush")
shame

-- geeg (gee...), January 6th, 2004.
However, "After The Goldrush", "Harvest" and "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" are great. Out of his later material, "Harvest Moon" is the one sounding more like Young at his best than any of the others.
-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), March 6th, 2003.

I ask because while I know it qualifies as a "classic" by radio standards, its such a weird song. That whole album is pretty fucked up, with enigmatic lyrics and nonsensical song styling, and it makes it great. But Southern Man is one of Neil's first songs where his trademark overdriven guitar tone combines with a brooding bend-solos, providing one of the first bit of classic electric Neil. However, that pounding piano is just so damned chaotic and the vocals are a bit too over the top for me.... Opinions?
-- Bryan Moore (BWMUConn...), February 28th, 2005.

I keep trying, because so many smart people love it...but I have to agree. It sounds okay, but never compelling.
-- Not That Chuck (noemai...), January 9th, 2004.

Overrated? Cheap Trick? Teenage Fanclub?
Daisy Glaze, September Gurls, O My soul, Life Is White, Whats Goin Ahn, Back Of A Car, Way Out West....these songs don't really sound like anything or anybody else. Thats why attempts to rip them off always sound more like the Raspberries or Cheap Trick and miss out on whatever it is that makes them sound unique.
-- David Nolan (dnola...), January 9th, 2004.
I like 'Radio City' because of its ultimate middle-albumness, the way it's still got some of the pop sheen/focus of the 1st alb but at the same time already seems to be sliding down ("any downs at all") into the total breakdown/collapse of the 3rd alb - and yeah, Jody Stephens on 'Radio City', sure is some of the most distinctive rock drumming I've ever heard.

There are maybe more great songs on the first alb, but there are no total duds on the 2nd (I can't really face the 3rd one too much any more and besides, 'Like Flies on Sherbert' is more fun, more scary and just generally more drunken/drugged/wigged out)

-- Andrew L (theplum...), January 9th, 2004.

Radio City is one of my all-timers, but I do know exactly what Anthony means, it does feel sluggish, almost drunken, lovably woozy without being sloppy. I'm listening to right now for the very first time in a long time, and I'm actually amazed how short the songs -- in my mind they're twice as long as they really are!
The first time I ever heard #1 Record/Radio City I feel asleep. Listening to it conscious, I found it impressive but not heart-tugging; then a year later it all seemed to make perfect sense.

It's like Beatles '65 played in Al Jackson time but not funky in any obvious way. It's hard to describe.

-- Michael Daddino (epicharmu...), January 10th, 2004.

Anyone else bothered to check out the lyrics to Daisy Glaze?
The music in the 'third section' is this ecstatic, life-affirming rush, all ringing chords beautifully layered, and i always thought the lyrics would match the same feeling. Instead they're about Chilton getting in a bar-brawl... 'who is this whore?' Totally changes the feel of the song, not necessarily for the worse though.
(RE White Album comparisms - this is clearly their 'Happiness is a Warm Gun')
-- pete s (petesesnai...), January 10th, 2004.

All I know is, "Jesus Christ" has the most perfect electric
guitar I have ever heard, I wish I could play EXACTLY
like that.

-- Squirrel_Police (goblinatri...), January 10th, 2004.

i am a huge powerpop fan and always thought Big Star were over-rated.
-- Orbit (JustOneOpinio...), January 12th, 2004.

I like 'When my baby's beside me' best. I remember reading somewhere that Gordon Brown is a huge Big Star fan, i'd love to think it was true.
-- leigh (melodynelso...), January 12th, 2004.

#1 Record is pretty kickass throughout, but I think Radio City only has a few great songs and then it's all a blur. I'm willing to admit, though, that this may because once you make it to the second half of the CD yer kinda fatigued...(ie, I have the twofer)
)
-- John 2 (poo...), January 10th, 2004.

The "clunkiness" is what prevents it from sounding like The Raspberries - well, that and the superior songwriting, singing and playing
-- Dadaismus (kcoyne3...), January 12th, 2004.

Radio City is great, start to finish. Third is more innovative, # 1 is a bit more conventional pop music. Stuff like the Raspberries sounds frantic and contrived now, whereas the "sluggish" Big Star, with their mastery of tempo...get it? sound just fine now. Radio City doesn't mean to squash you with its rock and roll power, etc. So if you want that, look elsewhere. Cheap Trick! I mean, entertaining and not bad, but it's completely one-dimensional, which they mean to be. There's room for both "September Gurls" and "Southern Girls," thanks, and I do think that the critical response to Big Star has always been a bit ridiculous; there is something flawed and a real drag about Chilton in general and Big Star in particular that one has to come to grips with, and most critics aren't, ahem, chickwithdick enough to say this...but Radio City is supposed to be a drag anyway, that's the point, so it achieves its goal even more subversively than the more obviously screwed-up Third.
The songwriting isn't always great but it's the way it's done that matters; and as an expression of stasis that still "rocks" or whatever, Radio City is hard to beat...

-- eddie hurt (eddshur...), January 12th, 2004.

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-- Sterling Clover (s_clove...), April 26th, 2003.

Loaded (on the tracks where Lou sings) is where Lou's voice comes into its own (by Rock & Roll heart he sounded way younger, and prior to Loaded he was sounding too callow

Sterling Clover (s_clover@empty.org), April 26th, 2003.

Loaded: I like "Sweet Jane." I like "Rock and Roll." I like "Oh Sweet Nuthin'!" The rest ssssuuuuuuccccckkkkkkkkkssssssssss.

-- Evan (savage156...), April 27th, 2003.

As for albums, I would say "Velvet Underground & Nico" and "Velvet Underground" are the ones that contain most great songs, while "Loaded" is the only one that contains nothing that is so totally unlistenable it has to be skipped every time.