Your favourite recordings that everyone else hates
Any of you have favourites that were rejected by reviewers and / or the public in general ? Well, here's your chance to bare your soul and plead your case before the Audiogon Court of Jesters : )
How about discs that you love even though the recordings are decidedly "lo-fi" ? Bootleg's don't really count, but you can list them anyhow : ) Sean >
I have the 1st CD by "Gravity Kills" its kind of a cross between Marilyn Manson and a car wreck crash sound. I first heard them on the radio but their time on the air waves was short lived. During this period they played locally at a small rats ass venue in Roch.NY I figured if they were playing there, they were going no where. When I bought the CD I had 2 others to buy (all used) and I didnt have enough money when I paid up.I had to decide which CD to put back so decided to put the Gravty Kills back and I told the kid at the counter I'd be back sometime to get it if it was still there as I really like the band.He replied "It will still be here,they suck" It pissed me off a bit he said that,but who am I to argue (me?) Yep,he was right.3 weeks later and I had my CD. I love this band and I can NOT figure out why they didnt make it big.The music is hard with cool sound effects. I bet someone shows up here to back me up on this band but commercially,they were flops. Great thread Sean.....been to summer band camp yet? :>o
Rammstein, with out a doubt. The lyrics are in German so Americans will not give in but the industrial-metal band has an addictive groove and excellent recordings so maybe some of you will try a disc or two. Hard core fans love the first, Herzeleid but the new one , Mutter is killer. The fact is that all 3 are great.
Brainwater (good name) I have 'Mutter' and love it! Its very piston fast,hard driving metal. It does wear on ya a bit with the German lyrics and you soon imagine you are listening to a Nazi rally,but I like it. Rammstein has toured in the US with other big name bands and had a video on MTV a few years back.
I'm partial to "Who's a Funkadelic", which is verboten in many funk catalogs (the anti-George lineup). Also "Performance" and "Metromania" are 2 of my absolute favorite Eloy albums, though most found them to be a low point in Eloy's long career (Frank Bornemann won't even talk about them). Just because they tell you it's good/bad doesn't mean a thing!
Probably Yes "Close to the Edge" a really terrible sounding recording with harsh hashy hard sound but I am still emotionally tied to that music from my youth and even like it today although I certainly don't play it every day. "Close to the Edge" could make even the best speakers sound bad.By comparison Yes's "The Yes Album" made a few years earlier has much more natural sound, also "Going for the one" a few years later also cleaner more natural sound.
Rammstein here in America. I was just in Russia on a river cruise vacation though and some of the deck hands were listening to the band back away from the passngers. I couldn't speak Russian but when I said "Rammstein Rules!" I made a bunch of Russian friends. Oh, I'm 50 and the other passengers were older so you can imagine the sailor's suprise.
Another CD that everyone hates but I like is Alien Ant Farm.
Culture Club's new boxed-set. Boy George could sing with the best. The remastering process worked extremely well on the tracks included in this set. Duran Duran was incredibly under-rated as a band. Their live shows are excellent, and (most) of the records were decent.
Sean, rejected (or ignored) by the critics and the public, with bad sound (by audiophile standards), is an apt description of at least half my collection.
I'm with Zaikes here; most of the stuff I listen to was never reviewed. The vast majority of music lovers out there have never heard of, most what is in my LP collection.
I am still learning about so many lost treasures. Who needs contemporary music. With so much old GREAT 30 year+ stuff out there, 69/74 seems to be magic for me.
Xiekitchen, You post made me pull out my copy of "Close to the Edge" today. After a thorough cleaning on the machine, you're right: HARSH! However, the emotional ties to my youth associated with that album, seeing them live on the tour supporting that album, made listening to it bearable. How I wish someone would get a hold of the tapes, and reissue that thing in 180 - 200g vinyl.
Hello Slipknot1: I have the MFSL 1/2 speed pressing, the best there is of this thing.. get one of these on ebay.. but you'll pay.. or try a mint copy UK pressing. My UK pressings of yes are better than domestic and Japan's.
I hear ya "Z". Most of my stuff is "less than desirable" from either a public or audiophile point of view.
Quite honestly, i like Elvis Costello. Too bad most all of his recordings sound "boxed in", compressed, have muddy, ill-defined bass and the upper mids are truncuated or "recessed". Then again, i guess that is the sound that he likes since he has produced / co-produced many of his own albums.
I also like Annie Lennox. While some of her stuff sounds pretty decent, the use of highly artificial sounding synthesized bass in more than ample quantities tends to lessen the experience for me. This may be more apparent to some more-so than others depending on the low bass capabilities of ones' speakers.
A disc that REALLY "bottomed out" in terms of being absolutely hated by both fans and critics, but one that i love, is Drugs N Poseurs ( oops, Guns N Roses ) "The Spaghetti Incident". Then again, i like the original versions of these songs and having GnR add their "personal touch" by paying homage only makes them "good but different". For the record, i saw Axl ( can't really call them GnR since nobody in the band is left ) a few months back and i'm glad i did. It truly was a good show. Having seen them in the past, i was prepared for the worst, but was surprised to say the least.
Having said that, has anyone noticed any "really bad" producers i.e. someone that consistently knows how to butcher the sound of multiple bands / recordings ? I bet that there are more than a few out there, but i've never really paid attention to that aspect of things. Sean >
Replying here is like revealing your darkest music secrets. You know, those CD's that you keep in a "safe place" in case someone comes over and decides to look over your collection.
Dokken, Outfield, Tesla, Lush, "Rock Star" soundtrack...I LOVE the Steel Dragons ;)
Sean, I realize that most of Elvis Costellos work has been well received by critics and fans, but this album got panned. It is a 1981 album of covers of country standards (everything from Patsy Cline & Merle Haggard to The Flying Burritos) recorded in Nashville. I have the original LP and the sound is much better than most of his early (best) recordings. Don't care what the critics say or that it didn't sell well, this album is alot of fun.
Actually, most of Costello's work up through at least "Imperial Bedroom" was critically adored and sold fairly well. The first album has a much different sound than those that followed, but the backing band was also different too. Of his records that I like (especially the first three), I enjoy the sound (see the current thread The Finest Technically Recorded Album for my take/tirade on why audiophilic considerations shouldn't necessarily apply to rock productions.)
I have an impression that a lot of Joan Siberrry's fans hate When I Was a Boy. I think it's brilliant and the only album of hers I have heard that I really love.
Jkaway: You are obviously a person of highly refined taste and discriminating judgement, not to mention a few years ahead of your time, since these guys basically schooled the Ramones before anyone had heard of either of them beyond NYC (an indignant Dave Marsh infamously didn't get the joke and gave all their original albums zero stars in the old Rolling Stone Record Guides). The Dics weren't recorded with passable sound until their third (and break-up) LP, "Bloodbrothers" ('78) - their sophomore effort "Manifest Destiny" ('77) being the worst offender sound-wise. The latter-day Dics offshoot Manitoba's Wild Kingdom had a relative left-field success (critically too) with "...And You?" at the dawn of the 90's, and subsequently the band reunited for touring (they still kill live) and then recorded a new CD a couple of years ago, "D.F.F.D." (Dictators Forever, Forever Dictators). Their second and third LP's were on Asylum (of all places) after the '75 Epic debut, and are still fairly easily found at better used record stores - something I highly recommend doing for "Go Girl Crazy" fans like yourself, or anyone else who enjoys humorous hard rock with a punk attitude and a pop heart (audiophile weenies consider yourselves warned!). Also check out www.thedictators.com
Zaikes, Thanks for your kind words.I always liked self-deprecating humor in music which is something notoriously lacking in our era ,or maybe any era.There's a razor thin line between that and "cute" but like any other musical signature some artists do it naturally and some add it as schtick.The latter become annoying real fast while the former cruise along doing their always entertaining thing. Last year I saw the weird L.A. hipster Chuck E. Weiss with a cool band, he had that good thing going on.Thanks for the Dics info--- here in Frisco I can check Amoeba foe their LPs. John
Wish I could go to a store like Amoeba anytime I wanted...I just discovered them when I was out in Cali last summer, and couldn't believe my eyes that a record store could have something like 10 cashiers working and still have a 5 minute line to check out - incredible.
BTW, be aware that the other Dictators LP's begin to subsume some of the obvious humor of the first in a bid to try and sell some records (it didn't work). To those not paying close attention or familiar with the debut, those releases could in many ways be casually mistaken for a metal band playing it either stoopidly overblown ("Manifest Destiny") or blue-collar straight ("Bloodbrothers"). And indeed, bassist (for "M.D." only) Mark Mendoza went on to relative fame and fortune with Twisted Sister (a band not without a sense of humor themselves, though not in the same catagory as the Dics), hot-shit lead guitarist Ross "The Boss" Funicello has also had a concurrent but separate career as a member of an 80's-vintage 'serious' metal band called Man'o'war, and second guitarist Scott Kempner was a founder of the conventionally straight 'heartland' rock band The Del Lords. (Personally, I don't like any of those bands, or even genres.) And it's probably worth saying, for those reading along who've never heard (or heard of) The Dictators, that they are not a 'joke' or 'cartoon' band, even to the extent that the Ramones were (a band arguably much greater, definitely more influential in the end, and less of an acquired taste); sardonic humor is a strong element in the Dics work (mainly the writing of leader Andy Shernoff), but they are sincere about their love for the music - and rocking out.
When I want people to leave I'll put on Shawn Phillips, either Second Contribution or Transcendance. Or sometimes Jean Luc Ponty. Amazing how fast my house empties. Then I can sit back in peace and quiet and enjoy.
yeap...Gravity Kills and Rammstein...I love both bands and i got all of their recordings...Rammstein has a killer DVD out...a must have...be careful with the volume!
Tgi: I guessed that age bracket as that is the age that many "ex-hippies" are close to nowadays. I was basing that "guesstimate" on the fact that both of my parents liked those performers and ... Well, you can put 2+2 together : ) For the record, i'm coming up on 40 this year, so we aren't that far apart in age. While you've listed some specific Shawn Phillips discs, what Jean Luc* discs are worth checking out?
Iasi: I think that Rammstein is a "luv it or hate it" kind of band. Some of the music is somewhat repetitive, but as a general rule, i love it : ) Sean >
* Jean Luc, as in Ponty, NOT Picard. I can see how some might confuse the "spaced out" sounds and names though : )
Albert: You and I are about the only members of Audiogon that like Hank. However, the world still likes him enough that he still sells worldwide between 100,000 and 200,000 recordings a year. That is not bad considering he has been dead for over 50 years and the recordings are in dreadful shape. It is a shame that nobody really can appreciate a song like "Weary Blues From Waitin'" like you and I. Unlike other songwriters who stuck within a single genre, Hank was master of the music he loved: country gospel, slow tempo honky tonk, uptempo honky tonk, country hokum blues,and the recitation/morality songs under the "Luke the Drifter" pseudonym. He could not do uptown pop no matter what his producer Fred Rose said, no conviction from ol' Hank on that count. But everbody covered Hank for the pop charts, even Tony Bennett had a #1 hit on the pop charts with "Cold,Cold Heart". Yeah Albert I cannot understand why everyone else hates him. But the really good news: Jett Williams and Hank,Jr won the rights to the "lost" radio songs from 1949-50, about 150 of them. I heard there is a killer version of Hank and his guitar doing "On Top of Old Smokey". Will be out in 2005. Cannot wait!
The McGarrigle sisters DANCER WITH BRUISED KNEES gets the most consistant bashing by my friends. I love this recording, even with all the add distortion of sighs,moans, and out and out protest.
"saraya"- female vocal rock group trying to be like pat benetar. formulaic but great guitar runs, and the vocals- well... and did i mention how attractive she was in black leather??
joan jett and the blackhearts- put another dime in the jukebox baby...
Sean seems you didn't get a response on the Ponty recommendation, Cosmic Messenger is a good 'ol favorite of mine! Yesterday I played it and went through a little trip to the past McLaughlin Extrapolation, Abercrombie Timeless, Close to the Edge, Selling England by the Pound, Islands and run out of time ..... There's also a two CD set that covers many different albums I also have it but Cosmic I spin more frequently
Paul McCartney, Give my Regards to Broadstreet was panned by the critics. granted, the movie wasn't great, but the songs are 80's pop perfection--witness "No More Lonely Nights." A great tune!
The MFSL of Close to the Edge is a great sounding disc IMS. In fact it sounds quite tubey and i love to crank it up. Go to BETTER RECORDS website,I believe they were saying someone is going to be re doing some of these in 200 gram pressings.
I love a CD called King Missle III / Failure. This CD is more reciting observations with music in the background. I have 3 CD's by this group and I enjoy them all. They had a regional hit with Detachable Penis back in 1992 and that Cd was pretty good. They followed it up with the self titled King Missle which I liked but it was now more observations with music in the background and as far sales go it died on the vine. This Cd is the same way but you can hear the dismay and frustration in the voice of the orator that they had it all and let it slip away. This Cd is recorded very well kinda like modern beat generation music. Quirky and funny worth grabbing if you see it in the cut out bin.
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