Let's Talk About This Guy's 50 Favorite Records

http://members.home.nl/patriczik/bestall2.htm

1: Millennium - Begin 1968/
2: Raspberries - Starting Over 1974
3: Big Star - #1 Record 1972/
4: Beach Boys - Pet Sounds 1966
5: Morning - s/t 1971/
6: Del Shannon - Home & Away 1967 (never released)
7: Colin Blunstone - One Year 1971/
8: Curt Boettcher - There's An Innocent Face 1973
9: Lou Christie - Paint America Love 1971/
10: Eric Carmen - s/t 1975
11: The Left Banke - Too 1968/
12: The Grays - Ro Sham Bo 1994
13: The Yellow Balloon - s/t 1967/
14: Don Agrati - Homegrown 1973
15: Zombies - Odessey & Oracle 1967/
16: Bread - Manna 1971
17: Stories - s/t 1972/
18: Emitt Rhodes - s/t 1970
19: Raspberries - s/t 1972/
20: Chris Rainbow - Looking Over My Shoulder 1978
21: Sagittarius - Present Tense 1967/
22: Paul Rever & The Raiders - Revolution! 1967
23: The Beach Boys - Sunflower 1970/
24: Wondermints - Bali 1998
25: The Toms - s/t 1978/
26: The Hobbits - Down To Middle Earth 1967
27: The Tokens - Intercourse 1968/
28: Chamaeleon Church - s/t 1968
29: The Association - Birthday 1968/
30: Nilsson - Aerial Ballet 1969
31: The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee 1967/
32: David Pomeranz - New Blues 1971
33: Nilsson - Harry 1969/
34: John Townley - Townley 1979
35: Chris Rainbow - Home Of The Brave 1975/
36: Wondermints - s/t 1995
37: Leon Haines Band - I Wanna See You Now 1980/
38: Billy Nicholls - Love Songs 1974
39: Raspberries - Side 3 1973/
40: Pilot - From The Album Of The Same Name 1974
41: Gordon - Gordon 1999/
42: Todd Rundgren - Something/Anthing! 1972
43: Ricci Martin - Beached 1977/
44: Colin Blunstone - Ennismore 1972
45: Raspberries - Fresh 1972/
46: Chi Coltrane - Let It Ride 1973
47: Tommy Roe - It's Now Winter's Day 1966/
48: William Lyall - Solo Casting 1976
49: Owsley - s/t 1999/
50: Krispies - Solid Gold Rockstars 1998

Clearly, this is a big pop guy -- with really good taste. So, rather than creating a thread that lionizes Odyssey and Oracle for the 834th time or singing the praises of "Walk Away, Renee," let's discuss some of the more obscure records here that sound really interesting and haven't been discussed elsewhere on ILM:

Chris Rainbow's "Home of the Brave" (co-produced by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff of TONTO's Expanding Head Band) -- I pulled down a best of, which is very good, but based on AMG's review, this thing sounds great.

William Lyall's "Solo Casting" -- the Pilot keyboardist doing a pop record with analog synthesizers.

Ricci Martin's "Beached" -- Dean Martin's kid, Carl Wilson's involved in this, as are many other luminaries.

Billy Nicholls' "Love Songs" -- I have his 1968 "Would You Believe" and like it, but the notion of him being seventies'd out w/ Ronnie Lane and the like is appealing.

Have at it, people!

Let's not.

i have one emmit rhodes that's pretty awesome..."mirror" maybe? sounds like what i wish mccartney solo rex were like

Let's not.

Boo.

Mirror Mirror isn't bad -- Rhodes' s/t is classic.

Records I know and love on this include those by Millennium, Raspberries, Eric Carmen, Nilsson, Colin Blunstone, Owsley.

I just pulled down The Toms -- I think I'm liking this. Check out the New Wave artwork:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd200/d238/d23833s0meq.jpg

26: The Hobbits - Down To Middle Earth 1967

^^ this record kind of sucks. by the number exploito psych. nice cover & band name, of course.

i like both hobbits records. the production on both is amazing. big studio budgets and bands/production for a faceless non-group. and the fake freak-out/acidtrip stuff is creepycrawly in a way that even real freak-out/acidtrip stuff doesn't always get to. that sentence probably does't make sense. sometimes studio hacks making acid rock, for whatever reasons, make creepier acid rock than acid heads. sorta like how when creepy old porn people make horror movies they end up being way sleazier than movies made by gore lovers who love sleaze. (they, in a sense, have less inhibitions and they don't know when to stop cuz they have no love for acid/gore in the first place.)

i own 25 or more of these records and none of them - with maybe the exception of big star - would make a top ten or fifty of mine, but i like them a bunch. anyone who puts that don agrati record in their top 20 is someone i'd like to meet. i mean, they have a very definite world-view going on with those 50 records. first chi (pronounced "shy") coltrane album is better than the one they have up there though.

it's nice and fitting that he put the yellow balloon album right next to the agrati album too.

i think this guy e-mailed me once!

where is his love for barnaby bye and the alessi brothers though?

this album might make my top 50 though:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_In5M5mqIDqU/RhqRIRHfrlI/AAAAAAAAAA8/4AvHa7f9_VI/s1600/Vance%2Bor%2BTowers%2BCover.JPG

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_In5M5mqIDqU/RhuLQaz4w_I/AAAAAAAAAF0/DNcq8nbmf10/s1600/Vance%2Bor%2BTowers%2BCover%2B2.JPG

no, really, it might.

oops, it went away.

That's a weird Bread album to choose, too.

Nice selection of power pop, 70s soft rock and sunshine pop, though few of these albums rank among my all time faves.

Three Raspberries albums, but nothing by the Free Design or Beatles.

Three Raspberries albums, but nothing by the Free Design or Beatles.

I'm not really sure what the point of that statement is.

Listening to the first track of the Billy Nicholls record, "Winter Rose" -- it's fucking amazing and possibly better than anything on Would You Believe. The record seems to have a very Townshend-Lane-ish production, but his vocals and melodies are much more pop.

Also, I think I actually know about half these records -- and most of the ones I know are pretty great.

3 Raspberries albums, a Beach Boys album, but nothing by the Beatles (or Free Design).

maybe i just overestimate the popularity of the free design. but no beatles? come on, dude's a contrarian.

Or maybe he's just bored.

To be honest I've always found The Raspberries a tad too corrosive for my taste. Perhaps I'm picking the wrong songs to start with... any recommendations to try and change my mind?

"That's a weird Bread album to choose, too."

it's great though!

i'm down with about a 1/3 of these, most of the others i don't know or haven't heard.
i was on this type of trip about 6-7 years ago, still dig it now

needs more chicks

Chicks or not, part of what I like about this is that 1/3 of these people I've never or barely heard of.

Whatever about the no Beatles, it's kinda weird he has §1 record at 3 and leaves out Radio City

Why? I've never thought those two records sound a thing alike.

Why? I've never thought those two records sound a thing alike.

No?!

Chamaeleon Church I know from a Bosstown compilation that included the very-much-of-their-time but sweey "Off With the Old" and "In a Kindly Way." Chevy Chase was their drummer.

I just heard that William Lyall album recently, actually. Found it to be a Pilot album without good refrains.

But on the whole I really like this guy's taste. Anyone know any Internet radio stations that specialize in this kind of stuff?

er, "sweet"

This guy should have Gandalf on there, judging from the rest of it. And Let's Have Some Tea With The Tea Company.

The guy has rather good taste actually. Good and interesting. There are some not very well known gems up there.

I mean, even if no Beatles is a bit strange considering he has such Beatlesque taste otherwise.

Whatever about the no Beatles, it's kinda weird he has §1 record at 3 and leaves out Radio City

"#1 Record" is a more fully fledged pop album. (And also the better of the two IMO)

A bit surprised that he is ranking "Bali" ahead of "Wondermints" though. I always saw their debut as their strongest moment. Sadly, these days, Wondermints are most famous as Brian Wilson's backing band. They do good for him, but I'd much rather have seen Brian Wilson joining Wondermints and contributing some material, but also letting the other members contribute stuff.

Interested in hearing that Millenium/Boettcher stuff. I know almost nothing about it, but what little I've read on it sounds positive.

A lot of the material here from the 70's is really interesting -- guys who nurtured 60's pop fetishes in an era where soft rock was the language. Less Beatles than the Beach Boys in most cases. Carmen is the obvious purveyor of this approach -- but whether it's Lyall, Ricci Martin or Chris Rainbow, a lot of these guys took a similar route, and wound up going down some pretty interesting rabbit holes in the process.

Also, since the Martin is hard to locate online thus far:

And here's a pretty good song by Chris Rainbow with an amazing arrangement:

I downloaded the Don Agrati album after reading this thread, i love this shit

http://www.originalmmc.com/images/DonG/Don_Agrati_med.jpg

I'm finding Jeff Tweedy similarities in some of the songs. Especially on Love, Come My Way, which also seems to be the nicest song on the album.

just bought the vinyl on ebay

it's a pretty crazy record.

i don't think all of it is that great. it's worth owning though.

I downloaded the Don Agrati album after reading this thread, i love this shit

I haven't been able to find it on slsk.

it's obv a vinyl rip, I'll webmail you with a link when I find it.

webmailed link : )

It's hard for me to imagine someone with so little variation in their top 50 albums. It seems a bit obsessive.

seconding or thirding Billy Nicholls' Love Songs.

It's hard for me to imagine someone with so little variation in their top 50 albums

Well, I have some prog and synthpop in there ;)

seconding or thirding Billy Nicholls' Love Songs.

Yeah, it's very good. It's almost like a Who record if all the songs were poppy and sung by Townshend, while Daltry was sent off to Siberia.

I should also add that some of the Nicholls songs absolutely smoke -- it has that "we recorded this directly to tape and overdrove the shit out of it" quality.

If folks on here haven't heard The Toms record, they should. It's kind of as if Dwight Twilley met Rick Springfield and went up to his room with a pile of Adderall and laid down as many tracks as they could on a Tascam four-track before passing out. The energy level of these songs is ridiculous.

Agrati's fun -- just started listening. Thanks, wilter!

Also, these records aren't as same-y sounding as suggested above. They have melodic songwriting -- that's about all each of them have in common. Notwithstanding the Chris Rainbow, almost none of the ones I've discussed here are "Hey, I loved ARTIST X in the Sixties and here's what I wish they were doing in 1975!"

48: William Lyall - Solo Casting 1976

This album is the funnest shit ever

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hh0NG2hgL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

i thought this thread would be about Geir

choosing Birthday from The Association discography is a little wtf

that morning album is excellent. poco-lite country rock from back in the day. "easy keeper" is a jam

lots of really great stuff here.

anyone heard that tokens album up there?

have not heard the tokens, but amazon reviews look to be VERY promising.

i found a copy of the toms-s/t recently after reading in the liners for Meet the Scruffs that the former is a minor masterpiece. i agree with the liners, and Meet the Scruffs is even better, IMO.

just wiki'd Don Agrato- he was a mouseketeer, and Robbie on My Three Sons.

only raspberries i have is fresh, should listen to the rest i guess

fresh is awesome obv

this thread made me go back and listen to those great records by The Cuts - the band that sounds like the stones/big star etc...

i wanna recommend them to this guy who made the list...can you hear me? wherever you are?
(though he probably knows bout them anyway)

Revive! The Morning record is really nice. The first few things anyway. I should really compile a Spotify list of what’s available here.

He is absolutely correct that Harry and Aerial Ballet are the two best Nilsson albums because they are, although not in that order.

real gone music is reissuing his #49, owsley.

I've never like the Raspberries, and I tried. The opening to "Go All the Way" is awesome - just through cultural osmosis, I already knew it before I even knew the song or who the band was. As soon as I played that record, I thought I was going to love this band, but as soon as that intro's over, it's like a bait-and-switch for some cheeseball crap. I think "Overnight Sensation" is the only track I sort of enjoy, but after dozens of tries, the rest wouldn't take.

*liked

The filler cuts on that first Raspberries record are really appalling, limp countrified soft rock sung by non-Carmen band members. Fresh is better but I haven't heard the next two records.

Interesting that this person ranks the second Left Banke record higher than the first. I wouldn't go that far but it's way more than an afterthought to the first, despite Michael Brown's limited contributions.

choosing Birthday from The Association discography is a little wtf

B-b-but the "Everything That Touches You" / "Toymaker" / "Barefoot Gentlemen" sequence is top-shelf syrupy ear candy.

you're gonna get syrup with eric carman, no doubt. but "go all the way" is a masterpiece of translation from piano chord inversions into guitar rock -- that long buildup back to the main riff is pure delayed gratification. also, the raspberries "starting over" lp really kicks.

(xp) Yes, "Birthday" possibly is their best album.

I've never like the Raspberries, and I tried. The opening to "Go All the Way" is awesome - just through cultural osmosis, I already knew it before I even knew the song or who the band was. As soon as I played that record, I thought I was going to love this band, but as soon as that intro's over, it's like a bait-and-switch for some cheeseball crap. I think "Overnight Sensation" is the only track I sort of enjoy, but after dozens of tries, the rest wouldn't take.

"Tonight" and "Ecstasy" are in a similar vein to "Go All the Way" but better.

I should really compile a Spotify list of what’s available here.

One of the records I’ve listened to the most off this, I realize, is the Billy Lyall Solo Casting record which is this kind of offbeat mix of angular Godley and Creme melodies, Stevie Wonder multitracked TONTO-synth harmonies and very zig zaggy string arrangements. Alas it is still not streaming.

like, the obvious place to go after the "come on -- come on" part is back to the riff, but instead they circle back through the chorus a couple of times, then, *again* not going back to the riff, they do that arpegiated descending thing which is just a masterstroke of diversion, and by the time you've given up, *then* they hit you with the riff. sorry for the xpost, but that thing destroys me.

Totally agree