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

As I'm sure I've said elsewhere, Hawkwind is what I thought the Grateful Dead would sound like, and the Grateful Dead is what I thought Hawkwind would sound like.

I think I had back burnered Skull & Roses for years cos '71 is the Dead when they're not being extremely improvisatory for the most part. Not like their peak for me like August 68 or May 70. Then I picked up an extended copy cheaply when a new record shop opened last year or the year before and I got to hear it actually was pretty good.Maybe the most rocky the band got. I've heard it referred to as them bein the ideal bar band at the time.
Think I do still prefer them in free fall improvisatory mode overall. But they do still do an 18 minute The Other One I guess.

As I'm sure I've said elsewhere, Hawkwind is what I thought the Grateful Dead would sound like, and the Grateful Dead is what I thought Hawkwind would sound like.

― bendy, Thursday, February 23, 2023 12:30 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

totally

i mean i didn't but i wasn't knowledgeable enough to know that a band like hawkwind could exist

I had mentally filed away "Watershed" as the beginning of Opeth's turn into proggy territory and my gradual loss of interest in following them, but I somewhat randomly decided to listen to it again today and was blown away by how much I like it now.

has taken me perhaps a couple of years to realise eno's Tiger Mountain is full of tunes i enjoy every time they shuffle to the top of the playlist. i must check out the others of that vintage.

The other material from the era differs quite heavily, The other solo rock lp is Here Come The Warm Jets which might be seen to be even more protopunk and features several different line ups of backing musicians. Has some good stuff on.
If you can get hold of his live stuff with The Winkies it is also somewhat protopunk. They were more fo a blues band so not quite so avant garage. Somebody turned up with a copy of teh Derbyu tape that was supposed to be better than the previously circulated one on Dimeadozen recently but its still distant and whatever which is a shame cos it does sound like the gig as pretty good.

Otherwise there are 2 collaboration lps with Robert Fripp which are both good and there has been an officially released live set too. Atmospheric textured instrumental stuff. I thought I was hearing echoes of Evening Star in early Sonic Youth among other influences. Very worth hearing anyway.

There are also a pair of studio lps collaborating with Cluster that are pretty interesting. They are a little bit later though.

PLus this mid 70s period was also when he started developing the idea of ambient music, apparently triggered by him lying ill and not having the strength to get up and change the record when a copy of Miles Davis tribute to Duke Ellintgon "He Loved Him Madly" was playing on the other side of the room a bit too quietly. I thought that was teh story I heard but may be him recoveirng from a car accident and the record one of 18th century harp music which was drowned out by the sound of rain.
Anyway it lead to him investigating music best heard in teh background and putting out lps starting with Another Green World and leading through an entire ambient series of music for locations.

Before And After Science is song based and a few years later than the great just post Roxy Stuff, first 2 Roxy are pretty essential if you don't already have them. I think I somehow haven't picked up a copy of Before and After Science which I may need to remedy.

oh yeah, I knew I had enjoyed the Bauhaus version of Third Uncle when I was first coming across solo Eno. But that might be a bit misleading as a signpost os I think his music has a different shape and feeL.
Obviously different perspective on relevance of that cover if one wasn't encountering it as it was current I guess. Not sure how well remembered taht early Eno stuff was at teh time and I was just about to be a teen when it came out and probably experienced it most as part of the singles mini lp.

yeah, i knew the ambient stuff but not really this vocal stuff (apart from the bauhaus cover)

and i know and like the harmonia stuff but hadn't bothered with the cluster collab

it's just, y'know, getting around to it.

The other solo rock lp is Here Come The Warm Jets which might be seen to be even more protopunk and features several different line ups of backing musicians. Has some good stuff on.

Something of an understatement.

a great Eno song from about Tiger Mountain is his track Big Day on Phil Manzanera's solo album, later covered by Feelies side project Yung Wu (which is where I first heard it, a pretty great album too!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03-EJBnzW1A

always blows my mind that Tiger Mountain is from '74 and not like, '77

looking for the others and, at the risk of sounding like tracer hand, i'm not sure where to buy cds from anymore (that isn't amazon). not vaguely mainstream back-catalogue cds. boomkat doesn't have it, bandcamp doesn't have it, hmv.com isn't loading...

(whsmiths online do, and i can get it delivered to a branch which saves me some postage, am now looking for other things from my list to make it slightly more worthwhile)

In the UK, maybe Action Records? Looks like they've got plenty of Eno.

I'm into discovering 60s boomer records, like I really like the first Procul Harum album, as boring as Whiter Shade of Pale seems, it works in the context of the album.

I would like one late pass to De La Soul Is Dead, please

The last "Classic" album I was etc, was probably "Blood on the Tracks". A few years ago, when the "test pressing" came out, but

mccoy tyner, “expansions”

(a whole host of classic jazz records really.)

all those Tyner records are great including the ones on Milestone

xps Rarewaves are also decent in the UK. They have TTMBS for £5.64: https://www.rarewaves.com/products/5099968453626-taking-tiger-mountain-by-strategy

Expansions is really great. I got it and listened to it a bunch before realizing how good it is. Second side especially.

wowwww

https://i.discogs.com/h0rFNKCrAlVdWI_I_kr8KW0L4dkNYUfACLGisvtvezw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:594/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE3ODEz/MC0xNTYwNzI1OTkw/LTQ4NDQuanBlZw.jpeg

https://www.discogs.com/release/178130-Roger-The-Many-Facets-Of-Roger

I'm into discovering 60s boomer records, like I really like the first Procul Harum album, as boring as Whiter Shade of Pale seems, it works in the context of the album.

― Fuck You Know About a Tralee (I M Losted)

it's not on the album!

i guess probably _in the dark_ by toots and the maytals is my most recent.

It's on the US version, not the UK.

_in the dark_ by toots and the maytals

yeah I finally heard this in its original form a few years back, so good

well i got the maria toledo album. it's so good. nothing unexpected or surprising, just very beautiful music. i put it on youtube since it's not on spotify.

― things repeat forever and there never is a remedy (Austin), Saturday, July 17, 2021 2:12 PM

my yt upload of this earned me a copyright strike, but the assholes finally got their shit together and it's on spotify now. highly recommended.

not an album but spotify's This is the Gap Band playlist has really been doing it for me recently as the weather turns warmer

Charlie Christian The Daddy of Them All.
great cheap 2cd of work by jazz guitar pioneer with various bands.
I might like thsi even more if there was room for him to stretch out instead of it all being 2 1/2 or 3 minute tracks. What is here is pretty atmospheric, melodic, groove bound but would be good to hear him truly jam. I assume this is partially down to recording ability at the time. He's surrounded by other instruments including a vibraphone or whatever specific variation taht is.
Also looking forward to hearing this play clearly throughout.

Youssou N'dour Egypt
possibly even better discovery since this was a Euro from a charity shop and I had to go back to get it.
Stupid should have grabbed it immediately since i love his earlier work with Etoile De Dakar.
Here he is trying to tell his audience about his relationship with his brand of islam.
Beautiful set with very rhythmic usage of strings. & his voice being great as per usual.

Re: eno according to his discreet music sleeve notes it was an album of 18th c. harp music that was playing too quietly, not miles, although I am pretty sure he called “he loved him madly” “proto-ambient” or something

When I was a kid, I went from 3 Feet High and Rising as a 5th-grade kid to Buhloone Mindstate as a stoned teenager. Totally missed De La Soul is Dead and I've been remedying that problem. I think it's my favorite.

This week I listened to both of Alice Cooper (band)'s 1971 LPs: Love It To Death & Killer, borrowed from an old head in the hood. Huge blindspot for me.

Compared to my "canonical analogues" of this era (Sticky Fingers, Hunky Dory, Meddle, IV/Zoso, #1 Record, Every Picture..., et. al.), I was genuinely surprised at how catchy and genre-less both these records are. Definitely some Detroit (Stooges/MC5) microflora seeping through at times, some southern-fried boogie/glam, some post-Altamont proggy psych, but honestly a lot more proto-punk than the proto-metal I expected.

4 bags of popcorn and maybe a little spidery eyeliner to add some drama.

Love it To Death is definitely great. I picked up a 5 classic Los set to get a decent CD version so should have Killer.
Think I got a Billion Dollar Babies expanded set in FOPP too.
Mainly been Love It To Death I loved though.
I think Shotgun Wedding did a decent Black Juju. Lydia lunch & Rowland S Howard et al.

There's a decent Detroit Tubeworka and a Midsummer Rock set by the original band worth checking out too.
Birthday cake like

This week I listened to both of Alice Cooper (band)'s 1971 LPs: Love It To Death & Killer, borrowed from an old head in the hood. Huge blindspot for me.

Compared to my "canonical analogues" of this era (Sticky Fingers, Hunky Dory, Meddle, IV/Zoso, #1 Record, Every Picture..., et. al.), I was genuinely surprised at how catchy and genre-less both these records are. Definitely some Detroit (Stooges/MC5) microflora seeping through at times, some southern-fried boogie/glam, some post-Altamont proggy psych, but honestly a lot more proto-punk than the proto-metal I expected.

4 bags of popcorn and maybe a little spidery eyeliner to add some drama.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, May 12, 2023 2:26 PM (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this happened for me some years ago, obv i knew the classic rock radio staples, his image, wayne's world, etc but yeah they were truly one of a kind, a weird thuggish damaged art rock band both proto-punk and broadway, i think the original band is one of the greatest bands of all time.

when people compare kiss to alice cooper i see red, not even in the same universe.

Check out Billion Dollar Babies too, Steve. "I Love The Dead" is the only weak spot, and is a harbinger of the horror movie shtick he would do later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i87emyiiicg

Wow, crazy. Does a beer hit him at 9:18?

A piece of cake?

Wiki says cream pie!

I was just reading the Lester Bangs piece last night where he writes about this show, and for a recollection from a single viewing, it’s surprisingly accurate (moreso considering Bangs’ drug/alcohol intake at the time). The pocketwatch, “Bodies…need…rest…”, someone shouting, “So what?”, and then the cake/pie.

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

I’ve had the record for probably 10 years but for most of that time my turntable was broken. I finally got a new turntable and so I’ve been playing it again. I don’t like Rumors as much as many people do, so I was skeptical, despite the reputation of Tusk as being their difficult album. Certainly some songs are weird: Buckingham’s trebly twitchy tracks especially. Nicks’s tracks on the other hand seem so mellow as to almost evaporate. In contemporary parlance, the vibes are off, the mood is tense and glum, and yet it’s never a dull listen. Much to the contrary. It’s strangely riveting.

Electric Light Orchestra - Balance of Power

This may be sacrilege, but I think this is as good as Out of the Blue.

lol i went through the exact same alice cooper journey described above several years ago. i believe it was la lechera posting this incredible live video of them playing "is it my body" that lead to me taking them more seriously. all of the albums with the original lineup are definitely worth checking out.

John Prine's self titled debut. Had never heard this dude or this album before for some reason. Pretty dope record! Illegal Smile is a hell of an opener.

i think that's still and always the best one, but Octobeard you have a wealth of Prine ahead of you if you like that style of songwriting. Seek Sweet Revenge, Bruised Orange, Jesus The Missing Years for starters

I had friends in college who loved john prine but he never clicked with me.

When he died a whole lot of other people I know who normally didn't talk much about music posted about how much they loved him which kind of surprised me, and when I saw wilco in chicago last year I was shocked at how many john prine t-shirts I saw, by far the most common "band" shirt I saw that.

that night

Heh I just realised it was listening to Elton that kicked this thread off 19 years ago and here I am watching what might be his last ever British gig. On telly like, I’m not there sadly.

My favorite John Prine album has always been Common Sense; it doesn't get mentioned that much for some reason, but for me it's the Prine album that coheres the most, that I can play all the way through with no skips, and it's got a dark surreal moodiness that I love.