Bands that are better 'in theory' than in reality

You were talking about one of the other albums apart from "Black Monk Time", yeah? or even that one from the "Nice Legs" hitmakers instead, yeah? Please reassure me...

You'll have to explain this one - what do you mean by 'sloppy execution'?

Second Mogwai.

The idea of a group of travelling bohemians who never play a song the same way twice; of musos with solid folk and blues roots constantly playing extended improvisations with, yeah, free jazz influences and prepared pianos and West African drumming and detailed explorations of feedback; all in the service of an idealistic communal philosophy - this sounds great to me in theory. You'd think it could be like the Allman Brothers or Band of Gypsys. Unfortunately, AFAICT, the execution is so clunky it only pulls together maybe once per record I've heard and the rest is near-unlistenable.

Also, after trying to listen to Disraeli Gears, I'm starting to suspect Cream (thought I like them far more than the Dead). You wouldn't guess it from the compilations though. Maybe Clapton in general. I also suspect the Jefferson Airplane. And I kind of agree about the Velvet Underground and MBV. Although I do generally like both bands, the ideas are more exciting than the records, which still have great moments.

Second Band of Susans.

i think in theory i should love all of those bands but they all fall into bands that i just don't 'get' or otherwise can't really get into.

also, i'll second these previously mentioned picks: dj shadow, my bloody valentine, joy division, boards of canada

I don't agree with anything I just wrote, I'm just saying I can see an argument such as this.

**Today, bands that want to cover similar terrain of tension and angst usually sound much bigger**

I won't ask if you ever saw them live, cos you're probably 23 or something, but have you heard any good quality live recordings of theirs e.g Les Bains Douches? They made a HUGE sound - check out the brutal Shadowplay on LBD.

Add (some) Sonic Youth to the list. As in "Gosh, i haven't heard this Sonic Youth record in ages, but I remember it being totally clinic" but then when I play it it's just sort of okay.

'Seems a bit off' is a choice phrase for this thread.

'Black Monk Time' on the other hand delivers all the way down the line.

Choice of The Kinks is pretty baffling!

Not live, he wasn't! e.g Procession on 'Still' , Disorder on LBD...

**You don't ever even hear a buzzing or muted string or a note out of time (definitely from "Transmission" onwards anyway).**

I'm talking about live performance. Barney was freqeuently all over the place. (and frequently fantastic).

Cage had many ideas: so which do ppl think sound exciting? surely not all of them?

x-post: As far as those kind of bands go, it means having to go to gigs bcz a lot of improvisation is involved, and that doesn't always translate well to records.

That being said, I agree about the Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead (God, I so wanted to like them before I heard them) and Captain Beefheart, and add the MC5.

My problem with GWAR is that they just don't sound like they should given their ferocious appearance. I should confess that I haven't listened to one of their albums since probably about 1990 (circa Scumdogs of the Universe) but I remember feeling so let down that they didn't sound nastier, ruder, angrier, louder, less polished, etc. They just don't sound aggressive and heinous enough. They just sounded like bad metal. Maybe they've changed since, but after that record, GWAR became a "see live only" band and not a "seek out all their albums" band.

Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes Total Est. Distance: 87.27 miles

I could see that for "TMR" (it's kind of long and not ideally sequenced), but definitely not for "Safe as Milk". I couldn't ever see myself getting tired of listening to that album, or "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)".

It's their best record. There are many others, however.

I'm listening to a bunch of Pram right now, and they fit this bill without question.