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

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

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.)

― greta van vliet (morrisp), Tuesday, October 30, 2018 12:47 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is me exactly. The only Rush music I've heard I heard from watching their documentary. Some of the song snipets from the doc sounded awesome, some brought the lolz.

This thread needs more ridiculous pop: Cher, Celine Dion.

agreed. honestly I nominate Nickelback for the same reason

ha Nickelback is kinda perfect tbh

all these white guy artists do kind of beg the question - just how many mega-popular non-white/non-male acts are there that critics tend to shit on/not care about?

don't you all get tired of talking about and listening to classic rock and AOR or if not that then groups of straight white american voc-lead-rhythm-drums groups in whatever genre? because i honestly have no idea where you all manage to muster up the enthusiasm for revisiting that stuff yet again. not trying to have a go at anyone, this is probably going to be something i will never get.

well the whole point of the Eagles + Billy Joel + Elton John threads was that outside of the hits most of those guys' catalogs were unfamiliar territory for most of the listeners (including me, and god what hideous territory it was)

but if you think that "groups of straight white american voc-lead-rhythm-drums groups in whatever genre" comprise the majority of what anyone around here listens to I dunno what to tell you

Cher is a great idea.

I listened to the first five Nickelback albums a few years ago (I worked for their label). They're a lot like the Eagles in the sense that the singles were the singles for a reason - they don't have a single good album cut in their catalog as far as I could tell.

xxp I don't! But guess it boils down to that i'm not sold on looking into these guys music for hidden gems when there's so much else out there

now envisioning a Nickelback cover of the Disco Strangler so thx a lot

xp

Cher is a great idea.

Is it? I dove into some 70s Cher albums a couple weeks ago just to expand my knowledge and hoo boy once was more than enough.

I think the only Cher I ever tried to slog through was her Phil Spector singles and even those I couldn't take

About the same misery index as The Eagles.

Nickelback, Rush, and Queen are not American tbf. (Queen not all straight either.)

Guardian had a list of "Cher's 30 greatest songs" last week, I listened to the top 10, I liked I think three? And even those not much.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/18/chers-30-greatest-songs-ranked

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