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

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.

Prine's weakness is cuteness, and Common Sense avoids that without getting so dark it's no longer him.

Nazareth - Hair of the Dog

I always liked the title track and of course Love Hurts but this whole album is just a righteous platter of '70s rock.

Not so much album since this was a standout track on a compilation surrounded by decent music but nothing that stood out as much to me. I heard the guitar on Skinhead Moonstomp by Symarip which is really surprising. I must have heard it before so surprised i is hitting me as a surprise but it isn't what I would have expected, though not sure what that is.
It's noisy , quasi psychedelic possibly and more about creating distortion with a clean guitar without pedals though possibly with a slide. I think it may sound like guitar of its time in 1970 when I think I might be expecting something more linear or rhythm oriented. I haven't listened to the lp in a while so not sure if there is more of this style elsewhere. Also not checked if this is the standard version or not. But really struck me as a bit other for the song it was a part of.

Had me thinking of Syd Barret or Blixa Bargeld or something . Though more compressed timewise and fitting within the music played but still like totally abstract.

Let's start a rumour Syd Barrett played on it.

After listening to Chicken Merry where the guitarist is making clucking sounds I wonder if it is a literal take on the idea of moonstomp so he's making spacey sounds. But he is doing it in a coherent way that I would like to hear more of.
I think his playing elsewhere is more linear. Surprised to hear psychedelic guitar coming from this group though. I did just read that they moved to Germany and started playing Afro Rock which could tie in more with that since I think that's one title for the genre cropping up across Sub Saharan Africa combining traditional sounds with more psychedelic contemporary western ones. Really not sure what specific guitar style I would be expecting from a West Indian band playing mostly ska in the late 60s, probably would be picking up on some contemporary stylings. Sounds like he is an interesting guitarist anyway. So would like to hear this later incarnation of the band. Think I was expecting something more blues based or soemthing. but this was surprising.

better than making trite smug comments really,

He's making spacey sounds.

Also Symarip were a British band.

whaaaat?!? things I was shockingly old when I learned

British West Indian band, which I thought was pretty well known.
I found the guitar part on that track notable.
I don't really give a fuck about Tom's opinion he seems to have a lot of them that I find a bit misguided,

What opinion have I given on this track that is misguided?

THe band that had been Symarip turned up in a 1973 Sidney Poitier film>
Sound of teh band had changed abit , they were more groove oriented and guitar more prominent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx_ZkLUyjjU

From what I have read about the late 60s/early 70s the 2 factions that had split from mod had pretty much polarised. It took John Peel to popularise reggae with hippies because it had previously been so associated with skinheads. So I am finding it odd that psychedelic guitar is turning up on a skinhead anthem. I thought the focus of the music was elsewhere, more short sharp rhythic stuff (ska partially derived from the sound of a cat scratch like guitar) but it does seem like the individual players were more versatile. I was thinking of when I found out how good Ernest Ranglin was as a guitarist when I heard the track this morning. I did find that an interesting listen as I may have already said.
Think I may pickup the cd if I get a chance had the vinyl for a short while when I was in my midteens and thought it pretty great but somebody broke it at a party thing.
Looks like this later band only put out 2 singles and were successful enough to get into a film but didn't get great success at least with records.

not sure if universally considered a "classic album," but

propaganda - a secret wish

Oh hell yes.

Thirded.

idk if it's canonically "classic" but I had never heard Malcolm McLaren's Duck Rock album before, what a wild ride

(like sure I knew a single or two, but the record is a journey man)

Duck Rock is a classic to me!
have been listening to Japan and really digging Quiet Life - the title track is basically the template for Duran Duran isn't it?

Karen Dalton - In My Own Time
One of those albums that inhabit their own realm

Here’s the original Duck Rock VHS which really should come on a DVD with the new reissue but.. doesn’t oddly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXnUb5w9mcU

I can’t say enough good things about the McLaren albums, particularly Waltz Darling which is so crazily charming and I still play it a lot. Nothing else is quite like it.

Sir Victor Uwaifo Guitar-Boy Superstar 1970-76
Soundway compilation of African psych guitar player and bandleader who I hadn't picked up on for some reason a the time this came out when I think I was discovering a few other artists from the time and general location. Somehow took me getting hold of the Wire guide to West African psychedelia for the 2nd time to actually get hold of the set.
So pretty great funky stuff which I should have picked up earlier, I think I do have a couple of tracks by him and co elsewhere hat are repeated here. So glad i have this now.

Cal Tjader Agua Dulce
1971 lp by jazz vibes player that had a couple of tracks turn up on a mix Spotify presented me with. Hasa cover of Gimme Shelter which was one of those in that mix.
pretty clean a bit electronically augmented and reflecting the time it came from or the previous couple of years.

a bunch of Proper box sets i foun in a charity shop for cheap mainly early country and bluegrass which is pretty great.
Also had a copy of Farewell To Ireland the set of early recordings made by police and fire brigade bands in New England way before there was much recording being done back home in Ireland. So among the earliest recordings of traditional Irish music.
Have had an earlier copy of this but a very cheap replacement couldn't be passed up.
I was listening to some Bill Monroe earlier.

Just discovered I have a copy of what appears to be a reshuffled version of Mogollar's first l.p. repackaged as Mogollar Efsanesi.
Great grooves based on traditional Turkish sounds meet Western rock.
Unfortunately no linernotes but seems to have semi decent sound. Whatever the bowed drone instrumentvis ceryainly adds layers of atmosphete.
Glad I found this. Have a different set by the band plus some tracks by Silhueter or something similar so think I forgot I had this too. & I think this is much better.not sure how this would feel if it had the original track order, if that would change anything.
But this is definitely what I was looking for when I started looking at Anadolu Pop and some of what i got from the US Kaleidoscope

"getting an album" - this turn of phrase is pretty obsolete now, isn't it? nobody "gets albums" anymore unless they're weirdy collectors like us. people listen to albums (sometimes), rather than "get" them. but they don't even do that very much.

idk a lot of music made much more sense to me when I got older, like pet shop boys

oh wait by “get” you meant literally “obtaining” an album, lol me

Probably safe to say that no one buys a record anymore to see what it sounds like.

Hey Stevo, always enjoy your updates.

If you don't already have the debut album by Selda (reissued on Finders Keepers) you should get that one right away. And do you have Erkin Koray's Elektronik Turkuler?

Been digging Julius Eastman's "Stay on it". idk if "classic" enough to qualify, but very fashionable atm.

Have the 2nd Selda I think. Guerssen had a load of middle eastern psych or funk influenced titles going cheap a few years back soon grabbed a few. May still do under their sale section. Couldn't find 1st. & Spotify had that l.p. as a suggestion a few weeks ago then had all the tracks unplayable. Don't getvthatvand come across it semi frequently.

Do have Elektronik Turkuller and I think another title by Koray. Bought a number of titles from the area a while back. Had just forgotten I had this set among them.
Which is now a recognised oversight cos its getting played a few times. Great stuff.
I bought the book Anadolu Psych which I've also seen denigrated by somebody who lives there and knows the genre. But does seem an ok starter.
Worth having a look at that Guerssen site if you like the area. Think they did still have some stuff at like €6 a pop last time I looked which is like 3 years after I bought mine. Think I had to wait for postal services to start back up after the initial lockdown to order my stuff.

just checked Guerssen and they do have a number of the titles I got on sale a few years ago still on sale it's worth looking through the whole sale area though
https://guerssen.com/product-tag/oferta/

got a few other titlesnon middle eastern in there worth a look too Dave Bixby's 2nd lp for one. Bought a copy of that from there a couple of years back too.

not sure if this counts for a couple reasons-
1. it's a song not an album.
2. i've known it since i was a kid. just haven't heard it in 25+ years.

anyway, tara kemp's "hold you tight" is surely one of the definitive radio hits of my childhood and i support any retro love it receives.

I've never heard of that song or artist, but I've just added it to music videos featuring industrial exhaust fans and blowers

Anyway, that's a solid tune, Austin.

Prince, "Dirty Mind". God knows why I had never heard it before now.

a couple recently, but with caveats

Japan - Quiet Life. i had a tape of some best of since 6th form ('86 or so) but never followed up. bought this and love the tracks that i knew from the best of, but everything else is a bit meh.

West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Part One. great byrdsy jangle from 1967, except for the one where he's being a rock. this was in a box with two more lps and some outtakes but the second is much heavier and the titles and lyrics start to get dodgy in an underage girls kind of way, something he was apparently investigated for. only The Smell Of Incense gets anywhere near the quality of the first LP.

I decided many years ago I just didn't like David Bowie as his voice got on my nerves and I found the music a bit blah in comparison with a lot of the acts he inspired. But, having recently enjoyed a song I heard burbling away in an airport which then revealed itself to be Sound & Vision when it got to the chorus, I thought I'd try again.

Young Americans and Station To Station - whatever. But Low is not bad at all! Clearly this was the sole inspiration for about a thousand 80s bands on 4AD, Factory Benelux and Les Disques Du Crépuscule, rather than Neu! and Cluster like they all claimed.

So, 45 years after everyone else, I now like Low. Next up - Heroes.

I've listened to it many times on a crappy mp3 that was on my last iPod, but just bought it on vinyl and it sounds amazing.

In re: Roxy Music - Siren.

not an album per se but I've been going thru the early Dangerhouse catalog and really enjoying it. the bands usually have an arty edge to their punk, an identity. particularly love the expanded Eyes "TAQN" EP and the Deadbeats "Kill The Hippies" EP.

Oh, I got a copy of "ABCD" / "Let's get rid of New York" in a chuckout sale from Good Vibrations recs (mystery pack - should have bought ten!)

"Charlie" Mingus, Tijauna Moods

As my big Mingus phase was in the CD era, ran out of cash before I got to this one, though I'm familiar with everything else all around it. So rowdy! Especially the crazy flamenco fusion of "Ysabel's Table Dance"

Anyone know why the 1975 rerelease I just picked up is called "Tia Juana Moods"? Is that some late-life pun Mingus wanted for it?

The Floating Bow
A collection of solo Donegal fiddle.
Picked up in a charity shop a few days ago.