Something tells me many older types from the Dylan-is-god reality tunnel see Donovan as a total joke. Whereas, a lot of indie-rock types dig the guy.
He wrote catchy songs with goofy lyrics that are fun to singalog to. He's the proto-Marc Bolan.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 17:57 (sixteen years ago) link
Don Johnson's "Heartbeat" vs Bruce Willis' "Respect Yourself."
I think you should let YouTube decide it for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULI5kolBpAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni90iL81wTQ (though it's being a bit wonky right now)
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 17:58 (sixteen years ago) link
I spent a bunch of time hating on Journey's greatest hits when some asshole put the whole thing in order on the jukebox in a bar I was in a few days ago.
― John Justen, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 17:59 (sixteen years ago) link
good point.
― QuantumNoise, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 17:59 (sixteen years ago) link
some asshole put the whole thing in order on the jukebox in a bar
well that's just obnoxious regardless of what album it is
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link
RE: Johnson vs. Willis controversy - at least Johnson had the courtesy to not restyle himself as a bloozeman.
― John Justen, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
"You know, I'm actually starting to like Journey."
"Well, you're gonna be very pleased with the next 23 songs!"
― Sundar, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
There is something genuinely confounding about Donovan that has to do with "seriousness" in music - eg, conventional wisdom is Dylan is better cuz he's "deeper/more authentic/serious" whereas Donovan is a silly little teenybopper trying too hard. And Donovan - if you ever read him talking about himself (not recommended) - DOES totally try to hard. Its clear he was always desperate for credibility. What's interesting is that his failure to attain said credibility is the result of writing a bunch of childlike songs that are well-constructed and well-executed and really rather charming in their naivete and silliness (there are some exceptions - Hurdy Gurdy Man and Season of the Witch both have some genuine creepiness going on).
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
it's as if by trying too hard and taking himself too seriously, Donovan inadvertently stumbled into creating a very satisfying but completely UN-serious body of work.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:06 (sixteen years ago) link
totally. he took the scenic route to arrive at Tommy James.
― QuantumNoise, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Listening to Donovan talk about himself vs. Bob Dylan always reminds me of the "Boris Karloff is a cocksucker!" scene from Ed Wood.
― John Justen, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Shaggs!
― Jordan, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Shakey OTM. The conventional wisdom on Dylan and Donovan comes out of Don't Look Back, where one of the long-running jokes is "Who is this Donovan?" that they keep seeing ads for while traveling the UK. They finally meet up, jam a bit, Donovan plays "Catch the Wind" or something, and then Dylan plays "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Actually, both versions are pretty good, but in the book this thread is about, the authors say that Dylan totally showed up Donovan (after the song, everyone is quiet until Donovan says "I used to know a girl named Blue", which is a pretty silly remark). But yeah, the Donovan record is one of many silly choices on this list, but the book really is hilariously written.
― Euler, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link
(after the song, everyone is quiet until Donovan says "I used to know a girl named Blue", which is a pretty silly remark).
hahaha - imagine if the roles had been reversed and Dylan had made that remark in the appropriately sarcastic tone after Donovan played the song, everyone woulda gone "ooooh, BURN".
the "Dylan good/Donovan bad" narrative is inherently stupid, classic baby-boomer rockist posturing.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
it woulda been funnier if Dylan had played "Froggy Went a-Courtin'"
Shakey again OTM
― Euler, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:27 (sixteen years ago) link
How is Aqualung in any way 'frat boy'?
Half the frat boys I knew owned that record!
― polyphonic, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Nice poll, Kevin! And you're right: pretty funny book, even though I like many of their choices and take issue with most of their assumptions. (OH NOES STEVE HOWE NOT INFLUENCED BY BLUESMEN)
It comes down to a near-tie between moody Moodies muzak and metal machine music...Days Of Future Passed takes it!
Of the 50, I currently own eight, used to own a further eight, and WISH I owned Elvis/Journey/Milli Vanilli. Maybe that second Shaggs album too, tho I suspect it's kinda redundant.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Wow, you knew some really freaky frat boys dude.
― humansuit, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:45 (sixteen years ago) link
I've been looking for that Elvis record for 12 years.
― Euler, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
I was gonna say, if Aqualung and Topographic Oceans are really considered frat boy classics, I love America! (Moving Pictures and DSOTM I don't doubt, OTOH.)
xpost
― Sundar, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 18:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Stop and Smell the Roses is like the second best Ringo LP.
― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:12 (sixteen years ago) link
what's the first? I only have the "Ringo" one with "I'm The Greatest" on it.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I think that one's probably the best.
― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Toss up among the Queen sets and Topographic. Seven Seas of Rhye and Now I'm Here are great songs!
Yes gets my vote.
― Bill Magill, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:16 (sixteen years ago) link
What about Goodnight Vienna? It has some cool glam-like production.
― QuantumNoise, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, maybe. It's been a while since I've heard that one.
― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Ok I found and listened to Having Fun With Elvis On Stage. It is really terrible, worse than I thought it would be. Listening to it, I felt drunk, without being drunk. It's like being inside the head of a bored, boring person who has no idea what to say, and does not care. So he says a whole lot of garbage. I know, this probably sounds classic. I thought that for 12 years! Well, now I know, and knowing is half the battle. (The other half is not listening to it again. That one's easy.)
― Euler, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:51 (sixteen years ago) link
to really have fun with Elvis onstage you should just watch "That's The Way It Was" which is really great and also full of many wtf moments (did Elvis just say, in all seriousness, "I am totally insane, and have been for many years" to a sold out audience? yes he did)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:53 (sixteen years ago) link
see also: Elvis drunkenly falling off his chair during rehearsal, wearing his sunglasses upside down, sweating bullets before going onstage, lambasting backup singers and threatening to replace them with Mahalia Jackson etc etc
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Can it compete with the master?
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link
haha I've never actually heard that, unfortunately
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:57 (sixteen years ago) link
You have not lived.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link
*kills self*
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:00 (sixteen years ago) link
glad we got the Donovan ball rolling then! :D
― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd never heard of the Paul Stanley banter record, but I've found it. We'll see if it "tops" Elvis'.
― Euler, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Here we go. (The original bootleg single is from a different era than the compilation we were all freaking out over last year.)
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:22 (sixteen years ago) link
New York, lemme hear ya! Good people! This is where it all began! There wouldn't be KISS ... without New York CITY! Without the good STATE of New York! We got a lot of stuff for ya tonight...
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah I just found a 70 track compilation.
― Euler, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:33 (sixteen years ago) link
That would be the one from last year. And it is a joy forever.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:40 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah "That's The Way It Was" = sheer insanity.
I saw it several years ago while bar-tending a super-fan hotel party during "Elvis Week" (week-long tribute on the anniversary of his death). It was made all the more surreal by weeping Europeans watching it on the jumbo screen.
― will, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:58 (sixteen years ago) link
yikes
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:59 (sixteen years ago) link
DO YOO LAWK THE TAYSTE OF AWK-KO-HAWL???
― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:12 (sixteen years ago) link
that paul stanley thing is one of the top 50 best albums of all time.
Every time one of the tracks comes on during itunes random play, the world seems a little brighter. Especially when a Nurse With Wound song comes on afterwards.
― John Justen, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:14 (sixteen years ago) link
YSI...?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:15 (sixteen years ago) link
(its okay to ask for YSIs of unofficial bootlegs, isn't it???)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:16 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't think anyone would begrudge you this one.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:17 (sixteen years ago) link
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK! WE LOVE YOU ALL, INDIANAPOLIS, WITH OUR LOVE...GUNS! cue Salt Marie Celeste.
― John Justen, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:18 (sixteen years ago) link
DETROIT YOU'VE OPENED YOUR HEARTS...AND YOUR LEGS...TO US
shakey i'll try to find my cd-r i don't know where it is at the moment...
― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 21:26 (sixteen years ago) link