what dedicated listening thread should we do next (the poll)

Loads of great Serge from earlier days people aren't that aware of, Gainsbourg Percussions, some great early jazz stuff, way more than just Melody Nelson, even the 80s stuff is interesting to talk about.

Voted EW&F, but would be happy with Metallica, and would hate-read a Queen thread.

Voted Queen, seems to fit the original concept best.

Write in vote for Sun Ra

I voted for Rush (as I did in the OG thread), b/c they're a band who falls outside my usual "taste profile," but I've been intrigued by bits & pieces that I've heard. I've wanted an incentive to explore their catalog, but feel like I would benefit from running commentary by others who fall more into that wheelhouse. (Also, it just seems like it would be "fun" to churn thru their albums, even/especially the wacky stuff.)

xp we have a listening thread for Sun Ra already!

Metallica so I can proselytize on behalf of St. Anger

i take it back

Write in vote for Sun Ra

tried
Sun Ra in Chronological Order: An Arkestra Listening Thread + Related Solar Sounds

I am willing to be swayed

BOC

fwiw BOC played here the other day and everyone I know that was there said they were incredible live

they're all in their 70s right?

yes, iirc

I'm all for a Sun Ra listening thread but as noted it doesn't fit the criteria at all (he is neither popular nor critically ignored) and plus we already had one

also his discography is a complete nightmare to organize

yup

sorta more interested in EWF but voting for MJ as the only eagles-elton-joel level of artist... where I really feel the gulf between their worldwide unstoppable megastardom and how little i know of the catalog. let's do queen after we do some non-white people and some women? and then garth brooks.

tbh I'd be interested in revisiting Invincible

and then garth brooks.

― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, October 30, 2018 10:56 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

excellent suggestion

mj is a weird choice to me but i know those records front to back. but maybe the dedicated listening could include the jacksons and motown solo michael?

^^^ which i'd be super down for

my antipathy towards MJ is well-established and if that's the result can't say I'll participate but whatever.

garth brooks I know nothing about

I'd be more interested in some country women (which is why I included Dolly) but not sure who else would really qualify? Loretta Lynn or Tammy Wynette maybe. Shania Twain lol

and then garth brooks.

Great away of ensuring an Americans-only thread

Ditto Rufus/Chaka Khan, Blue Oyster Cult tbh

... though to a lesser extent.

if non-americans sit out on a rufus thread, their total fucking loss

Maybe, they're not highly popular outside the US. Mind you, Serge Gainsbourg isn't highly popular outside France.

Garth Brooks is a step too far though.

i don't see how he's a step beyond billy joel

I don't now, I've never heard a Garth Brooks song.

but maybe the dedicated listening could include the jacksons and motown solo michael?

I nominated MJ and what I meant was definitely to include any solo Michael Jackson albums released during his lifetime - so no Jackson 5 but all of the Motown solo albums. I haven't listened to any of the pre-Off the Wall MJ solo albums. Whether or not we include the two posthumous albums (which I also haven't listened to) was more up in the air.

Voted for Metallica, though.

now's your chance to hear them all! xp

Woohoo!!

I forgot to nominate Vangelis.

Fwiw, based on Wikipedia, GB has two gold and one silver album in the UK, two platinum and one gold album in Australia, one gold album in New Zealand, and six multi-platinum albums in Canada. I probably wouldn't listen to them all either, though.

O Canada

This thread needs more new age: Mike Oldfield, Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Michael Hedges, etc.

Mike Oldfield is a good suggestion.

none of those people are anywhere near the commercial success league of previous thread subjects

Neither are Blue Oyster Cult.

Hot Chocolate for the global audience.

I can't imagine myself listening to Christmas Together by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

try closing your eyes

the only problem with a garth brooks listening thread: impossible to stream!!

^^ good point imo

I nominated Love / Arthur Lee but it ain't there

not huge and also not critically dismissed

Arthur's got a shitload of records that are critically dismissed, but usually for good reason

sure, but Arthur himself not so much

lmao

If we do BOC, we probably should start with the Stalk-Forrest Group album.

my idea was to start with the first böc album and then get to the stalk-forrest group/soft white underbelly to fill in a few days of context before tyranny and mutation unless i hear dramatic objections. not everyone's gonna be immediately enamored with deadhead böc, and it's also stretching it a little to refer to st. cecilia as an album

also chronology is overrated

but i was thinking of starting this on monday

(to my point above, i'm also trying to avoid the redundancy of covering "i'm on the lamb"/"red and the black" three separate times)

Sticking to chronology would mean a bunch of stuff before arriving at the debut, which as you say might not be the best way to start and keep people interested (in addition to St. Cecilia, there's also some audition demos recorded afterwards that were added as bonus tracks to the reissue of the S/T, all in all making for about two weeks of listening before getting to the real albums).

Actually less than two weeks--Those CBS demos are almost all already covered on St. Cecilia.

yeah i think i'll introduce the stalk-forrest group during "i'm on the lamb" and then expand further after the s/t's done

cool, can't wait to do this, i'm already writing up the first few tracks

psyched

wgaf about demos, stick to official releases

(full disclosure: I know nothing about the BOC catalog)

I own a couple of BOC records I've neglected so this would be kewl

wgaf about demos, stick to official releases

they're the only songs credited to the soft white underbelly. regardless i will not be spending four days on them. maybe one

on a weekend

XP To Shakey: I confused matters by bringing up the CBS demos. The band--when they were the Stalk-Forrest Group--had recorded an album's worth of material (known as St. Cecilia) for Elektra Records in '69-'70. The label dropped them after a failed single, and the rest of the material stayed in the vault for 30 years until Rhino Handmade put it out.

Most of those songs also didn't resurface in BÖC's repertoire.

so

who's up for Kenny Rogers

I'd do Rush or Sly & the Family Stone. Not really in the mood for any of the others tbh.

Sly catalog is pretty small, really.

True. I'd still be down, but that's just me.

Sly, defintely.

well that's three of us... is that enough for a quorum? I'd be happy to run it. I guess we'd have to decide whether to include Sly productions/side projects like the Stone Flower records stuff etc.

lot of great early stuff worth checking out imo

doesn’t need to be comprehensive, but it would be fun to hear some of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZ0SCHcb2A

maybe we should compile a list first

I'd never heard of that Stewart Bros track before, for ex., that predates what I thought were his earliest releases

sounds good, i’ll put a list together

Thanks!

I know all the Sly & Family Stone + Stone Flower stuff, but his pre-Family Stone stuff is all over the place

so i think this should be sufficient:

stewart four - walking in jesus name 78 (1952)
stewart brothers - the rat 45 (1959 **conflicting info here, may not be sly**)

v/a - “sly stone: the doo wop years” (covers most of the rest of the early releases, be sure to OMIT tracks 15-19)

demonstrators - sunset violets 45 (1964)
sly stewart - i just learned how to swim 45 (1964)
sly - buttermilk 45 (1965)
sly - temptation walk 45 (1965)

v/a - “listen to the voices: sly stone in the studio 1965-1970” (i’ll let you decide what’s worth including here: demos, rarities, some non-stone flower productions, the french fries 7” is essential imo)

sprinkle in stone flower releases as you see fit and i think we have a party

n.b. this isn’t a comprehensive list, or even anything close. just stuff i’ve either enjoyed or always wanted to check out, and think would make a good prelude to the family stone stuff.

that looks like a solid starting point to me - I'm inclined not to include productions, albeit mostly because including the Beau Brummels doesn't seem apropos lol

OK so we're doing this, yeah?

Sure, I'm in.

budo, what is this:

demonstrators - sunset violets 45 (1964)

I don't have the liner notes to "listen to the voices" does anyone know what years the following tracks are from?

Freddie and the Stone Souls Something About You
Freddie and the Stone Souls Superfunk
Sly and the Family Stone Man Does Not Live
Sly and the Family Stone Take My Advice

sorry that should say “sweet violets” and on second thought i think we can skip that track, demonstrators was a group sly apparently played in

i have no idea about the years on that comp as i just have the files, sorry :/

I think the two Freddie Stone tracks are 1965, not sure about the other two. whatever, I'll just throw them in there ahead of the first proper album. I think I have a relatively full list together, about 170 tracks. Will start tomorrow