Albums you do not get...a plea for help and understanding


So like most of you (I bet), I listen to tons of music.  But there are just some albums I never learned to appreciate.  I hope this thread can serve as a teaching tool.  I did not get Mingus at first but now he is one of my favorites.

Perhaps ending each post with, "What am I missing?" would be a good idea.

I will start with Graceland by Paul Simon.  Most of my friends call me crazy (still after all these years...OUCH that was bad) but I never desire to listen to this record.  I get the African influence and rhythm but it just does not impress me.  Alternatively when Peter Gabriel did the African influence thing I found it stunningly good. Paul Simon as a musician impresses me in his other works.  What am I missing?

bancsee

Showing 2 responses by winnardt

I agree on Graceland. Good, but far from mind blowing and hardly worthy of the massive praise it received. If you jump around to different tracks you can hear Simon using identical phrasing on many of them. Gets a bit repetitious.

One genre that I never cared for was the new wave whiny British sound of bands like The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, New Order, Flock of Seagulls, etc. that can best be represented by the album Republic by New Order. Like many of the albums from those bands, there might be a good song or two, like Regret on Republic, but then the rest of the albums are pretty much garbage. Having grown up on The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Queen, etc. that whiny new wave sound never did it for me. But there are a few songs from those bands that I do like, such as Ghost in You and Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs, Space Age Love Song by Flock, and all of Tears for Fears, which manages to be new wave but not whiny.

@shtinkydog

Agreed, forgot about Duran Duran. My list wasn't meant to be comprehensive, just representative, but Duran Duran would have been a good inclusion. Never much cared for them either.