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

Thanks!

somehow i'd never listened to "the idiot" by iggy pop??!?!? even though i've listened to "lust for life" a million times? anyways, the idiot is amazing while also making me feel seasick

omfg

"The Idiot" >>>>>>>> "Lust For Life"

I don't think they can really be compared. The Idiot is a Bowie album with Iggy on vocals; Lust for Life is Iggy and his road band, with Bowie as keyboardist but not dominating the sessions the way he did the first time. If you like Bowie more than Iggy, The Idiot is always gonna be your pick, but for me it's the exact opposite. I like almost every Iggy album to one degree or another (and Fun House is the greatest rock album ever made), and don't really listen to Bowie at all anymore except for Low, "Heroes" and Blackstar.

Also they are both thought of as Berlin albums but The Idiot was only mixed there, it was recorded in Switzerland and Munich. Lust for Life is a total Berlin album made in the same room as "Heroes."

i've always thought of iggy as having at least two distinct musical personas: proto-punk rocker dude and art school dropout. it was always a little blurred in the early and mid-70s, but with the idiot and lust for life —to me anyway— it feels like he was distinguishing them for the first time.

i also revived the penguin cafe topic to say this, but it's relevant here too: that first penguin cafe orchestra record is all kinds of awesome.

Jim Hall did a couple of records on the CTI label with Chet Baker called 'Concierto' (75) and 'Studio Trieste' (82) that are excellent records. Bands are great on both records as Steve Gadd is drummer on both but the first one has Paul Desmond and Ron Carter and the later one also features Hubert Laws. Beyond the music, the production on those records is immaculate. I wish you could hear Ron Carter on those old Miles Davis records like you can on 'Concierto'.

'Concierto' features "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Rodrigo, which was also one of the main parts of Miles Davis/Gil Evans 'Sketches of Spain'. The version by Hall/Desmond and Baker is very beautiful.

Yeah I had an epiphany with The Idiot some years back too. I wish someone had played me peak Iggy at 17. I knew nothing by him at all except the 80s pap; first time I heard Lust For Life was in the Trainspotting trailer.

Same deal, Pisces, though I had his "Nude Rude" best of since the mid-90s. I didn't get around to hearing all of "The Idiot" until I was almost 50! It's clear who the idiot was. Still, it's never too late!

maybe the wrong place for this, but

does iggy have any undisputed classics in his solo catalogue, outside of those two albums?

because i'm in the mood to get knocked out again today.

imo New Values is prime Iggy

Yeah, New Values is killer, but be prepared for the last two tracks, which are prime "you could never get away with that today" stuff.

Don't get any of the old versions, but the late mix of 'Kill City' puts it up pretty close with Ig's other 70s records. I did not check that out for a long time as I had one of the old Bomp versions and it kinda makes Charlie Patton sound like Dark Side of the Moon.

"The Endless Sea" off 'New Values' is a track fans of 'The Idiot' should search out if they don't know it. That one reminds me of the Doors quite a bit.

hey this *is* really good. any idea where i might have heard "i'm bored" before? definitely recognize it.

also "don't look down" holy shit iggy goes stax!!??!

xp I like Kill City a lot… I have that Bomp! version you mentioned, lol (on a single disc w/the “I Got a Right” single). New Values is also good.

Agree about Kill City. It's Iggy in 70s Stones mode, and it really works a lot of the time.

"Bang Bang," from Party, is an incredible single, but there's nothing else on the album that's remotely its equal. This TV performance is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcUa65cgX9c

Kill City has been my go-to Iggy record for a few years.

I like it a lot too, probably better than any of the proper solo records, but it's a real case of stretching the material (which was only supposed to be a demo) to fill out the record: ending both sides with an instrumental (plus Iggy mumbling), the first of which is reprised at the beginning of the second side. I mean, it's all listenable and it adds to the sense of utter dissolution.

Austin you're in Oz or an expat, right? "I'm Bored" is the jumped-up gyrating Countdown performance which follows The Ig's legendary amphetamine interview with Molly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMtH58M3HXA

Hum Dono by Joe Harriott and Amancio da Silva

yeah picked that up a few years ago when it was reissued. I think I'd already meant to get some Harriott and saw some great reviews of that. It is pretty lovely.

Yonin Bayashi
Great japanese prog lp from the early 70s. I think i'd heard bits of this some years ago but just found a cd copy so listening to that on my 3 changer this week. great guitar which is pretty US psychy. & the rest of teh band is pretty decent too.

which one, stevo? I'm listening to Ishoku Sokuhatsu right now and it's hitting the spot.

that one.
yeah forgot it wasn't s/t cos it was in another room.
BUt yeah saw that Dodax had some copies so picked it up and yeah its really something .
Not sure if the later ones are as good.

I have a 1978 UK issue of Kill City on Radar and I think it's great, no idea if there's any different to the Bomp! versions but I don't think so?

New Values obv good but I also like Zombie Birdhouse a lot.

"Bang Bang," from Party, is an incredible single, but there's nothing else on the album that's remotely its equal. This TV performance is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

just watching this video now and yeah its amazing. when those ping pong balls fall, waht is happening lol

Not to overly de-Iggify the thread, but

The Clientele - The Violet Hour

https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/digify.jpg?w=1200&strip=all

The net's forgotten site

baby detonate for me

Hum Dono by Joe Harriott and Amancio da Silva

another in a long line of good jazz albums ruined by vocals

yeah singing, who ever thought that was a good idea

whaaat? It's Norma Winstone!

The Clientele - The Violet Hour

― Kangol In The Light (Craig D.), Thursday, April 29, 2021 8:51 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Some of the greatest music ever. So much atmosphere.

matthew! that's it! such a classic clip. right up there with lou reed's "i don't do drugs" interview.

another one for me today and another reminder of the collective i've underrated so much through the years:
paul kantner's blows against the empire. just the scope of that stuff is wild enough, but it's like a british psych folk album in its execution. maybe not good for every day listening, but it's way better than i expected. is it considered a classic album?

it should be! That is one rad kinda fucked up album, glad to hear you’re digging it.

best part was: i went into barnes + noble to get the newly reissued / remixed plastic ono band (not the big boy version tho) and they had blows against the empire in the $4.99 bin! it's the legacy edition too, with the bonus tracks!

is it considered a classic album?

I figured maybe it had to be older than 20 years or so to be a classic, but someone listed jessie ware's "what's your pleasure?".
A lot of these are also pretty obscure (Yonin Bayashi? Amancio da Silva?), so we're not exactly sticking to 33 1/3 canon.

But then again, I think you kinda answered your own question:

maybe not good for every day listening, but it's way better than i expected.

yeah, makes sense. i worked in a used record store for several years and i just recall seeing it all the time; very common record. so, i always just assumed it was at least considered a classic of the period.

don’t know if it’s considered a classic or not - I had never heard of it, a casual mention by Marcello Carlin on his revived Then Play Long blog caught my attention - but No Nos Pararan by La Charanga 76 (from 1980) is fantastic.

slightly raggedy, somewhat dubby en-español reworks of then-recent disco hits (mostly of the Chic kind, their “Good Times” is spectacular), plus “C-U-B-A Is Cuba”, which is *not* a raggedy, dubby en-español reworking of the Gibson Brothers hit, but an original (afaict).

(I see that this was a bit of a diversion from them, as they were actually a salsa band)

a diversion from for them

love their cover of “ain’t no stopping us now”

yep, that’s the title track (and the one Carlin referred to), but their “Good Times” is even better imo

I'd heard Aretha's Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) in the past, but it's been a very long time, and I've never owned it. Right now I can't even express how much it's knocking me out. It's going to take a few more listens.

70s aretha in general is some of the best shit ever.

also let us not forget the un-classic review of that album on allmusic:

Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) was just about Franklin's last gasp before succumbing to disco. This odd album, with its cheesy, junky artwork, contains some gems -- notable are a poignant cover of Bernstein's "Somewhere," and a sparkling "Moody's Mood," and the beautiful Carolyn Franklin composition "Angel."

(three stars)

yeah, when one succumbs to disco that's when you know it's over.

(angry eyeroll)

I haven't heard anyone say anything good about Aretha's disco albums, though.

Although "Until You Come Back to Me" was on her next record, and that's not disco but is great, so that's two inaccuracies in that review.