I was digging through my musical selections tonight and stumbled across an idea for a thread. It's threads like these that sometimes end up turning us onto music / bands that we might not have otherwise been aware of or checked into. Since i'm always on the prowl for something new and different, i figured that others might be in the same boat.
Having said that, what band or performer do you have the most recordings by? Personally, i was kind of shocked to see what the answer was in my own case. That is, it's a band called "Skyclad". While a rather unique and popular band in Europe, you'll have a hard time finding their recordings here in the USA. With very witty and twisted lyrics courtesy of Martin Walkyier and various Celtic musical influences from a female "fiddle" player, this band blends old world European influenced folk music with modern day metal. Most of the lyrics are scathing satires of various political and social situations, making them easy to love and hate at the same time. That is, i love the witticisms and fact that Martin's lyrics make you think well beyond surface deep, but at the same time, i tend to disagree with many of the ideas / points of view that one uncovers after really thinking about what he's trying to say. This is kind of like eating something bitter and making a face, but still enjoying it enough to go back for more : )
With me owning 14 of their releases, it's not hard to tell that i like them more than dislike them, so that about sums that up. The only thing that i wonder about is that Martin left the band a while back and they've had major line-up changes, so i'm kind of curious as to where they're going as a band and how well they'll pull things off in the future. Obviously, the only way for me to find out is to buy their latest releases : )
How about sharing some comments and maybe a link or two about the band / performer that you have the most recordings by? Mind you, this might not be your favourite bunch of musicians, but they are the ones that you've got the most money invested into : ) Sean >
PS... Owning a dozen different copies of any given recording doesn't count, so those that collect multiple copies from different pressing plants / formats aren't allowed to count these. They have to be individual releases with different names / titles to them. For those Classical music lovers that want to participate ( and i HIGHLY encourage this ), i see no problem with listing "the 35th movement of Bach", etc... as performed by various conductors / orchestra's. If you are going to do this, please pick out your favourite versions of this piece of work and tell us why you think they stand out amongst your collection of similar works.
frank zappa, with the box sets & bootlegs 109 albums, i was really suprised to see that i had 25 black sabbath albums.
its been a long time scence i looked thru my entire collection & i was really suprised that out of almost 1,000 titles in the main collection thought i woulda had more complete collections.
my favorite zappa has got to be the thing fish or the grand wazoo.
my favorite sabbath would have to be the 1st album,black sabbath.
I just looked and it appears the clear winner is W.A. Mozart, coming in at 42 cd's. And I will try to nail down my "favorite", however it will be difficult. No matter what's going on in my life, Mozart has music that I can enjoy/relate to time and time again.
For me it is Bill Frisell, I've got about 20 CD's where he is the leader. There are many, many more where is he is a guest artist (see http://www.billfrisell.com/ for a full listing). He's got a unique guitar style which is easily identifiable, yet isn't the same riff over and over.
At least 50 in vinyl, LD, DVD, and CD, no SACD's yet but I do have Phil and Friends on SACD. Odd Sony includes a cut from that one on their demo disc that came with my NS999ES.
Close seconds, Floyd, and Dire Straits/Knoppler(s)
Between my albums and cd's, Mozart is the clear winner. Followed by Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Louie Armstrong, Beethoven, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Talking Heads/David Byrne, Coleman Hawkins, Dylan, Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry. As far as less known artists: Willie and Lobo
Sean - very interesting choice. I only have their first album, and find it quite intriguing. If you haven't, you might be interested in SABBAT, Martin Walkyier's earlier band. Same scathing commentary - sometimes oblique, sometimes more direct. Musically much heavier, with some insane crunch factor on "Dreamweaver", more light and fast-paced (in relative terms!) on "History of a Time to Come". "Mourning Has Broken" is forgettable, having been released after Martin left to form Skyclad.
I'm not at my CD rack right now, but I can already name some of the top space takers:
Hawkwind - so many different styles, so many "lives" of this band, they have travelled the cosmos over the last 30+ years
King Tubby/Scientitst/Agrovators/Roots Radics - have to list these classic Jamaican dub artists as a junta, Scientist being the protegee of the esteemable engineer and innovator King Tubby, and Aggrovators and Roots Radics being sort of "house bands" for Tubby's studio during the periods of his greatest output
Parliament/Funkadelic - classic 70's funk mob only - I'm probably one of few who loves the funk mob, but retches at anything modern involving "look-at-me-now" Bill Laswell.
Magma - super strange French avant-fusion band (70's). Intense musical experience, sometimes virtuosic, sometimes sounds like a drag racer flying apart at 300mph. Never dull.
King Diamond/Mercyful Fate - one of heavy metal's stranger frontmen, he produced classic after classic in the '80s, and has continued to release quality material up to the current day. Some howlers in the catalog, but he always surprises, seldom going a few years without proving his worth anew.
Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Beethoven, Dvorak, Cowboy Junkies, Cream, Steve Earle.
I have between 5 and 8 of all of the above (though I haven't done a full count of all of my vinyl). I also have several Mozart, Metallica, Buddy Guy and Colin James.
Just glancing at my CD collection: Eric Clapton CDs (mostly so-so recordings from the 90s and all the obvious ones including the Crossroads box set) and Fila Brazillia (totally eclectic and top-notch English electronic duo from Hull).
1. Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry are the winners in my collection 2. Windham Hill- Various Artists - I love New Age 3. Dead Can Dance - Would atually be the winner if they had more albums.
First off I want to say that this is a great thread with a lot of great music. I have the most CD's by a swiss group called Yello. I have 14 of their albums and 5 of their CD singles (which have some very rare tracks that are not available on any of their albums). Yello have been around for a good 20 years and are still going strong (they just released their newest CD "The Eye" in the fall of 03).
While not a lot of people are too familiar with this group, they may have heard of their music somewhere at some point. The song that most will remember is "Oh Yeah" that was played in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off", when they first show that bright red Ferrari. Well if you liked "Oh Yeah" I guarantee that you will love most of their other songs. I have been collecting their works for ten years now, so I guess you can call me a fan.
Yello music yearns to be played back on a high quality hi-fi system. If you want some awesome demo material that will really put your setup through it's paces, this is it! While all of their albums are great, the ones that are truly my favorites are One Second, Flag, Baby, Essential, and Zebra. Good stuff.
It would be nearly a toss-up between Bob Dylan and Jethro Tull. I have over thirty of both. I'm at work now so I can't give an exact accounting, Dylan might be close to forty.
After that is goes down into the teens or twenties, next highest count would probably be Gordon Lightfoot.
At #1 with a total number of 14 cds in my collection is Momus. At #2 with 12 cs in my collection is Beautiful South. Funny, both bands offer "witty and twisted lyrics" same as Sean's description of Skyclad not that I've heard of them. Momus is heavy on the synthesizer though while Beautiful South is a real band with real instruments dabbling between pop and soul. I guess a lot of this is based on who came out with the most CDs.
Beatles. Between the original albums, the collections, the Anthologies, the bootlegs, I must have everything at least once on vinyl (In most cases I have them two or three times for different pressings), and once more on CD.
Actually, I am surprised that I am the first person to list them.
The thickest area in my vinyl collection is occupied by CAN and its members. The second thickest shared between King Crimson and Jethro Tull. The thirdk thickest is shared between Frank Zappa and Dave Sylvian
I'm another Tom Waits collector: 16 Lp's and 13 Cd's (there's some overlap between CD's and Lp's). My LP collection is close to getting complete (in this regard).
Runner up: Miles Davis with 4 Lp's and 11 Cd's and Coltrane with 4 Lp's and 7 Cd's.
Neil Young enjoys the largest number of albums at around 60. Bob Dylan would be next at about 30 with Kieth Jarret, John Coltraine, Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis with around 25 each. I should also mention that the number of Beatles albums exceed all but the Neil Young section but they don't really qualify since most are multiple copies. What is really surprising, as I've never considered it previously, is the number of artists/groups that have ten or more albums for me to listen to. Good thread.
I bought the Stones SACD reissues, the whole series. Next might be Brad Mehldau -- I have everything he's done, or Miles Davis since I have the Plugged Nickel box, or an old collection of Beethoven's symphonies on vinyl bought by my parents.
Adopting a loose "artists comprising more than 1% of the collection" threshold, I end up with a list of: The Clash, Steve Earle, The Dead, Husker Du(*), The Pixies(*), REM, Uncle Tupelo(*), and Townes Van Zandt.
(*) I file progeny & solo efforts under the original band (call me anal retentive). That means Du picks up Sugar & Bob Mould; Uncle Tupelo picks up Son Volt, Wilco, and solo efforts; and the Pixies includes... well, a *lot* of successor bands.
Without doubt, Grateful Dead. All their vinyl, the Dick's Picks series, From the vault DVD series, a thousand or so hours of shows on cassette and DAT tape. A lot of the side projects, JGB, RatDog, Other Ones....
Runner up would be Pink Floyd.
Many, many versions of the greats of classical music on vinyl as well
Surprising results (to me at least): across all formats, it comes to effectively a nine-way tie: Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, J.S. Bach, Arvo Part, XTC, Beatles, Pink Floyd and by virtue of number of hours of music rather than number of works, Wagner.
Great thread with great music. Thanks Sean! Lots of stuff for me to try out in the months ahead (just wish this thread had come a couple of weeks ago when the local stores were having sales!).
Frank Zappa, by far. My personal favourite is "Tinseltown Rebellion" followed by "Does Humour Belong in Music?" Hmmmmm, so many titles come to mind I'm not sure I'd ever be able to limit myself to a few picks. He was a true genius.
Plenty of Jethro Tull, Rush, Blue Rodeo, Tragically Hip, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Led Zeppelin, Tom Cochrane, Bare Naked Ladies, and of course Dire Straits/Knopfler.
Perhaps a new thread is due, bands that you wish had put out more material before fading way and/or breaking up?
You folks are probably doing what i did i.e. digging up old stuff that you forgot you had and giving them a spin. It's amazing how many good discs we have that end up collecting dust just because we forget about them.
I expected to see stuff like the Beatles, Stones, the Dead and possibly even Hawkwind due to the volume of releases and age of the band, but i'm pretty surprised at how many different discs / recordings that some have of Neil Young. While i know that he's no spring chicken ( like most of us ), i had no idea that he had that many recordings available. I'm guessing that at least a good portion has to be live bootleg recordings, etc...
As far as Classical music goes, the fact that you can have 100+ versions of the same Beethoven piece by a million different artists is confusing as hell to us that aren't well versed in this type of music. That's why i mentioned that it would be good to share specific recordings of specific pieces i.e. your experience in this area can help some of us find the cream of the crop and maybe help to widen our appreciation of Classical music.
Personally, i'll stick "spin-off" bands with the main band that they splintered from until the "spin-off" has several discs of their own in my collection. Then i'll give them their own space.
Speaking of spin-off or "off-shoot" bands, what bands came out of / were related to the Pixies? This is a band that i'm not familiar with but i've been told ( a million times ) that i would really like. Maybe i'll have heard some of their "siblings".
As far as Skyclad goes, i've got some Sabbat and loved it, hence my search for more of Martin's work, which turned up Skyclad. He's now doing Return To The Sabbat, which i hope to pick up soon.
Glad you like the thread and i hope that others will contribute. The more specific we can be, the more likely we are to picque someone else's curiosity about that band / performers. After all, if "Billy Bob" likes them enough to buy XX amount of their recordings, maybe there's something to them : ) Sean >
PS... The subject line above where your response goes gets cut off when you enter a post. As such, we end up losing any info, names, comments entered there. Please don't enter data there as not knowing what was said there sometimes changes the meaning or level of understanding of your post due to getting cut off. This is something that Agon needs to address and should delete. Hopefully, they'll read this and take note : ) Sean >
In terms of quantity it would be Crystal Gayle with 19 LP's and 4 CD's closely followed by Dolly Parton with 11 LP's and 10 CD's. In terms of favorites though I've got every LP released by C. W. McCall, Dave & Sugar, and Dire Straits and would own more of all of them if only they had released more.
My overall favorite music is '70's and early '80's Country. Hey, I like to be different, plus someone's got to listen to that stuff...
The Smiths and Morrissey. Beside every pressing from every country and every promo from every country and every colour vinyl - that's right! - from every country, (Remember I started with "Beside") - I have over 100 vinyl boots and over 100 cd boots.
Why? I don't know. But somehow I still feel part of those Smiths tunes and some of the Morrissey tunes. (Although the new album is pretty bad).
Oh, and I have more Smiths stuff too! (Books, posters, ...) BUT YOU KNEW THAT ALREADY.
Jackson Browne LP's and Cds The Bodeans CSN and their solo stuff LPs and Cds Carly Simon Lps and Cd's The Beatles - Lps , Cd's Bootlegs - Solo works by each in Lp and CD
Van Morrison, Richard Thompson (and Linda), Rosanne Cash, Greg Brown, Cowboy Junkies, John Hiatt, Guy Clark, John Gorka, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Bill Frisell, and Buddy and Julie Miller. They all have greater than 8 CDs in my collection and depending on my mood I'll be stuck on one for awhile. Lately its been Richard Thompson.
great thread, my clear winner is Claude Debussy, mostly solo piano--- 20 cds. the winners are:the 2 double cd albums,complete solo piano by Jean Yves Thibaudet on decca( great recording).Next: Walter Gieseking all remastered on EMI,a short recital by Kyoko Tabe on Chandos and (surprise!) Yolanda Kondonassis transposing to harp on Telarc.
Over 25 albums by Neil Young, Hendrix, Stones & Kinks, followed closely by Dylan, Who, Dead, Otis & Beatles.
Sean the first Pixies spin-off that come to mind are Frank Black & The Breeders (Cannonball was a great song). You should give the Pixies a chance, start w/ Surfer Rosa or Doolittle.
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