Bands you keep trying to like but can't get into

eh i don't think that's true. pepper sounded really different from anything i'd ever heard even when i was 12. revolver took me a lot longer to "get"

sorry to talk about the beatles again

the major leap of Pepper was having so many fuckin' great songs in ostentatiously different styles and arrangements, performed and recorded really really well

I'd argue Revolver did it first (and much better, overall).

Brad, I love One World. I've always defended it, even though a lot of people consider it a move to the more commercial soft rock thing. To me, it's his last thoroughly classic album from his brilliant 70s run. And one of his best eras for live stuff too; check out the deluxe edition for a great solo set.

The solo live versions of 'Big Muff' from the time are pretty much badassery of the highest order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btRv4MnPOBE

Man, check out that Frankensteined guitar!

Brad, I love One World. I've always defended it, even though a lot of people consider it a move to the more commercial soft rock thing

i don't hear this particular criticism in the record itself, but fair! "big muff" kicks so much ass

That version of Big Muff is immense!

I always send folk to this live version of Small Hours if I feel they need a Martyn conversion: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pYLVM560Fok

Jeez, when you *want* something to embed...

If you want it to embed, clip the "s" off the "https" part of the URL.

My nomination for this thread: Magma. I've tried multiple times, heard all the canonical albums, and they never sound the way they're described. It just doesn't do it for me at all.

Just thought of one: Can. like, I like a few select tracks (notably Vitamin C and Future Days) and some of their solo stuff but whenever I've put on any of their key albums it's like the music isn't hitting the sides which us a shame cos I really want to like them

Yeah, cosign on Can.

Also, The Blue Nile.

I'm ready to just resign myself to the fact that Ry Cooder's solo albums are terrible

This is my favorite ever version of 'Big Muff':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_zpNgamalw

That guitar tone is just huge. It's got that like "cocked wah" sort of sound. Some sort of filter.

Eleven years on from the start of this thread and nothing has much has changed, the Big Two remain...

1. Jefferson Airplane - though I have at least stopped buying their albums.

2. Derek Bailey - given that I've probably saw him live more than most Derek Bailey fans this has long been a lost cause.

Another one for me: Psychedelic Furs.

But it's a bit less-so with them, as I've always owned and rather enjoyed All of This and Nothing. It's just when I try to get into the proper albums that they lose me. Although, I do recall hearing Book of Days and World Outside and thinking they were kind of solid-ish.

re: psychedelic furs
I mean I'm kind of a huge fan and would say you're probably fine with a compilation. go to 'Should God Forget' or get the 1st album.

Ilx weighing in on kind of blue is one of my least favorite things ever

yeah totes. that's the neat thing about Miles is he has an album for almost every taste / occasion. If you like funk, go for On The Corner; if you're more into ambient or kraut or even house music, Silent Way; if you're more melodically inclined then Birth of Cool; psych-rock or experimental-rock, Bitches - KoB, I'm not sure?? Just a good all-rounder I guess, but it is very 'JAZZ' qua JAZZ to these ears, despite how groundbreaking it was when it first came out. I think I was expecting some mad freakout shit or some moody Waitsian stuff when I first wanted to hear jazz, but this felt a bit staid, a bit sleepy, a bit 'traditionalist' or something?

― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Friday, June 8, 2018 10:26 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So “jazz qua Jazz” = “traditionalist”

But “sounds like music I’m already familiar with that isn’t jazz” is presumably the “adventurous” choice?

Kind of Blue is a great entry point if you’re hoping to understand what miles davis was about at a core level, something close to an eternal essence that connects every piece of his entire career from his earliest recordings with Parker to his songs with easy mo bee; an understanding of his melodic genius, of his spare, minimal style, of his preference for understatement and unpredictability

But sure, on the corner is good if you like to rock out while reading Lester bangs or whatever

Three letters: G.B.V.

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, July 9, 2007 7:08 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm now as old as Bob Pollard circa. Isolation Drills and I still don't get this band.

But sure, on the corner is good if you like to rock out while reading Lester bangs or whatever

To write a novel, you don't have to study Charles Dickens—you'll do that in time. You'll exhaust your limitations first; don't forget, tradition is all around you. You're sinking in it, breathing it, and you can't escape it or resist it. To force it as a prerequisite—the most you can get out of it is that it presents you with such a phenomenal bunch of facts about how things are done that you're intimidated from ever doing anything. Art goes on forever, and my experience is that you start from where it excites you and if you're intelligent, you look from where the hell did this thing come?

Sure, whatever makes you horny, but this started bc people were questioning KoB’s facility as an introductory point not the other way around, as if bitches brew had some intrinsic “accessibility” KoB does not... thats not really the case unless rock is the center of your musical universe... and KoB is definitely, inarguably, a more representative work so...

It’s about whatever one encounters whenever one happens to encounter it. If it happens to be KoB, and if that resonates, great. If it happens to be, say, Dark Magus, that’s great, too.

You can choose to approach an artist based on a nebulous (and ultimately distancing) idea of THIS WORK IS MORE REPRESENTATIVE THAN ALL THE OTHERS, or you can stumble upon an artist in such a serendipitous way as for it to be a gateway into an investigation of their work.

and KoB is definitely, inarguably, a more representative work so...

Ween

same

My dad thought I’d enjoy talking to his neighbor, because he’s a music guy... he turned out to be a Ween fanatic who goes to lots of their shows... I was all, “Cool”

Of course it’s arguable. His sound, phrasing, and sense of orchestration/arrangement all evolved and changed dramatically in the ensuing decades.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, June 9, 2018 5:07 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't think it's arguable at all that say 'bitches brew' somehow represents a greater swath of his career than Kind of Blue! certain fundamentals are consistent across his career (minimal melodic style primarily), KoB was an inflection point where he shifted from traditional jazz compositions to modal styles, highlighting those career-long consistencies ... birth of the cool sounds nothing like bitches brew but kind of blue kinda sounds a little like both

KoB strips down miles' style to the essence of his performance, of his fingerprint sensibilities ... stuff like 'the cool' and incorporating rock/R&B were just changing the canvas...

you're right, it does suck when ilx weighs in on kind of blue

yeah

Ween's one of those bands where I'll hear a song on Spotify randomly come up and go "Oh shit, this is cool. I should get around to checking out more of their stuff."

And then when I do, I'm all What is this, I thought I had heard something cool?

yeah

they probably have lots of other stuff that's like the things you hear, make sure to come here for unimpeachable advice each time

It's the only use I have for this board.

One of the design guys at work told me he met his wife online and then sheepishly told me it was through some sort of Yahoo! Ween Group. "Have you even ever heard of Ween?" he asked me.

I looked at him and said, "Yeah, I've heard of Ween. Ever heard of the Silver Jews?"

Steely dan.

I owe Aja but I find it ducking tedious

Drink your big black cow? Lame.

I looked at him and said, "Yeah, I've heard of Ween. Ever heard of the Silver Jews?"

― pplains

man i haven't thought of them in ages. used to have a copy of "starlite walker", don't remember shit about it besides that it existed. listening to "american water". i guess that makes them a band i'm trying to like but can't get into!

I don't get people who don't get Steely Dan

Completely understandable... and I like them.

I'll listen to pretty much anything to check it out. There is music that I find more interesting in context but doesn't have a sound I want to check in on very much. The music is interesting and I'm glad I checked it out, but I got to be in a very certain mood to want to have a listen again.

There is also plenty of music I do like to listen to because it was of a type or particular era as I just like that sound, even though by context it might be dreck or at best obscure by most audiences. I'm sure part of this is because of nostalgia.

gonna try to get into steely dan again, i'm probably wrong

I love I See a Darkness, but I have never been able to get into anything else by Will Oldham.

The Hope EP by Palace Songs (iirc) has a similar feel.

Did you try Master and Everyone? I think it is different from the others. Low-key production - that's nothing special for him - but gorgeous melodies. Imagine Nick Drake without the dark clouds and the never-ending rain. Something like that. My fave album by him. I don't know most of them though.

When you say you love I See A Darkness, I take it you mean the song and not the album? Ease Down The Road is quite accessible. And on Spotify etc as of last week

Have you tried “Days in the Wake” and the Palace singles comp (“Lost Blues”)? I’m not a big Will O. fan, but those are classics...

Will Oldham's huge output makes it near impossible to keep up

I’d recommend listening to the “West Palm Beach/Gulf Shores” single (which he describes as his version of Jimmy Buffett) and Superwolf.