Albums you have spurned

^ I got into BOTT in high school, via my mom’s LP collection, and didn’t really know anything about its reception or rep. It was... interesting to get to college and hear frat guys blaring the album as they prepped the grill on a Saturday morning.

great, great post j, thank you

Yeah, I have somehow avoided that problem with that particular album but am otherwise quite familiar with it.

I stopped listening to Therapy? when they released Infernal Love.

It took this deep into the thread for someone (me) to say Metallica's s/t ("black") album??

Infernal Love was so lousy.. But it was kind of their commercial peak - I remember it getting a lot of press at the time. But it was a very serious, broody record compared to everything they'd done before and I'm not sure they pulled it off.

Crikey, I'm just rooting through Therapy's Wikipedia entries. So many albums! And each entry says something like 'the album was seen as a return to their punk-metal roots as heard on Troublegum'

I really like most YLT albums after "Summer Sun" but that album felt like a huge letdown at the time and I never have the slightest urge to listen to it.

Yeah summer sun is a good example of this kind of album for me - a record that causes me to think "I'm going to have to rethink how I follow this band and what I expect from them."

(Although tbh that changed with their last record, their first once since And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out that I actually find exciting and interesting all the way through - feels like the album that Summer Sun wanted to be or should have been, shame it took them 15 years to get it right.)

Speaking of spurning, I didn't bother listening to Therapy? when they appeared because they were (initial consensus opinion) "a poor Big Black rip off".

I actually find this kind of ridiculous but I'm an early SY guy and they really lost me with the Geffen records. I'm sure I'm missing out.
Kind of.

Crikey, I'm just rooting through Therapy's Wikipedia entries. So many albums! And each entry says something like 'the album was seen as a return to their punk-metal roots as heard on Troublegum'

"Their best since Some Girls"

I’m not sure I became aware of the name Therapy? until the late 90s, and for a while I thought they were a nu-metal group? Their name just seemed right at home on the back of a Family Values tour T-shirt for some reason.

I was a huge Pixies fan, but Bossanova was a big letdown for me. Weirdly though, I've listened to it a ton, and still do. But I have never, ever listened to Trompe Le Monde and don't ever intend to, no matter how good or bad it may be.

I didn't bother listening to Therapy? when they appeared

i never even considered listening to therapy? because what the fuck is that, a question mark in a band name, that's irregular, likely a sign of poor musical sense

otm

except Neu!

that's exciting

so new it had to be in german

I was a huge Pixies fan, but Bossanova was a big letdown for me. Weirdly though, I've listened to it a ton, and still do. But I have never, ever listened to Trompe Le Monde and don't ever intend to, no matter how good or bad it may be.

I am a huge Pixies fan, love Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, could not give one shit about Surfer Rosa.

I'm with Moodles, sort of. Bossa Nova was patchy and Tromphe le Monde seemed like a mess at the time. I vowed not to squander any more of my pocket money on them and it seemed entirely appropriate that they broke up! (This thread is reminding me that 1991-92 was an big era for disappointment with US indie rock stalwarts for schoolkid me. I turned to the UK for solace.)

Er, Trompe, obv.

I well remember the realisation that “less Kim, more UFOs” was actually where they were headed, rather than a one-album glitch. It was years before I bought a (used) copy of Trompe and I reckon I’ve listened to it a dozen times in three decades.

I love all the original Pixies albums but I like to forget that those Kim-less reunion records exist, even though I have listened to them once each (see also: the '00s Big Star and Stooges albums).

I also love the original Pixies albums, and had pretended the reunion albums didn't exist until now, but I just bought tickets to see them in September, so I'm going to give them both a listen before then. wish me luck

Hello Nasty basically changed me from a Beastie Boys superfan to never wanting to hear then again.

I’ve definitely spurned the modern-day Stooges albums.

pre-cats and dogs royal trux albums. i have lots of love for this band but zero interest in ever listening to their early stuff.

why? it’s great

what i've heard was just more shambolic than i enjoy.

fair enuff

If a band splits then reforms I'm not interested in anything they subsequently release, even if I really loved them before and they weren't split for long (eg Go-Betweens).

I'm pretty fickle with bands generally - they're not sports teams, you don't have to support them for life. One dud album and I'm moving on.

Yeah I used to be really loyal with bands up to my early twenties but I got burned too many times and eventually realised there was no point. On the other hand Spotify has made it really easy to catch up on things I skipped and I've found myself listening to a lot of records that way just out of curiosity.

If a band splits then reforms I'm not interested in anything they subsequently release

Agree with this generally. The only exception is King Crimson, who have always been Robert Fripp + whoever can stand to be around him, so in that case there are just particular eras of the band I choose to ignore (everything involving Adrian Belew).

I think this happened to me with Death Cab For Cutie who I went off 100% with Transatlanticism which I thought was just terrible and it made it hard for me to like their first two / three records after that.

weirdly I loved Transatlanticism but went off them big style with the next one

along same indie lines, Picaresque is where I left the Decemberists train and never got back on. And I'd loved their first album (and liked the second one too) at the time. I still think if they'd just broken up after the debut it'd be held in higher esteem.

I'm a big Jefferson Airplane fan, but never listened to their 1989 reunion album until today... and, well...

But have you listened to Sweeping Up the Spotlight - Live At the Fillmore East 1969?

No, is it a good one?

If you like their psychedelic blues jams it certainly is.

Some discussion here: Favorite member of Jefferson Airplane (Main lineup)

sweeping up the spotlight is absolutely top-notch stuff, i don't know why the airplane don't have more of a reputation as a live band, they could completely kill it. casady in particular is super underrated as a bassist

I first became hip to Jack Casady because another bassist, Anthony Jackson, was such a huge fan.

huh, one of his two main influences, along with messiaen... didn't realize all that went into "for the love of money"!

my one complaint about "sweeping up the spotlight" is that they did this absolutely killer version of "fat angel" and left it off!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCK_QflkxFo

best airplane gigs ever?

Many xps, but I feel the same about Trompe Le Monde-- that is, fuck it-- but conversely I have always enjoyed Frank's first two solo albums

Metallica put out an album called Load, and I was too grossed out to bother. Their desperate attempt to look more grunge didn't help.

I still haven't listened to the Danger Mouse produced Parquet Courts album.

thought Sonic Youth reached an amazing second peak with Murray St. and Sonic Nurse, their collaborations with Jim O'Rourke - they felt like the equals of Evol/Sister/Daydream Nation - but I was disappointed by their final two albums

xp

It's really good!