Hunter T Wolfe
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 12:49
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On the Stones front, can I stand up for Goat's Head Soup? Ironically, as it was recorded in Jamaica, it has a real rainy London, downbeat, end of the sixties, the party's over, Withnail & I kind of vibe to it, which maybe was the last thing people wanted to hear from the Stones at the time. Very much influenced by Astral Weeks too, I think, and full of great, under-rated songs. One of my favourites of their LPs, and I think it should be considered as the last of their classic period rather than the start of their decline.
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Fitter Stoke
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 13:06
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Some damn good calls there - especially 'A Different Kind Of Tension', side two of which is easily my favourite sequence of songs by the Devoto-less line up. 'Love Bites' is the Buzzcocks' nadir to my ears - a real rush job with only two or three half decent songs.
'Kid A' seems to have elicited some revisionism in recent years, with many critics claiming to have loved it all along. Personally, I loved it from day one - 'Amnesiac' ditto.
And, inspired by your mention, I'm grooving to 'Confessions Of A Pop Group' right now. After that I'm going to spin the late period house stuff that got Weller hoyed off his label - wrongly, IMHO.
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Fitter Stoke
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 13:11
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Agreed on all counts. 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' is a masterpiece to my ears. The critical panning that was given to 'Technical Ecstacy' was much more deserved.
I don't remember 'Magic Murder and the Weather' being that badly received critically speaking, but like you I regard it as Magazine's low point, though only in comparison with the magnificent 'Real Life' and 'Secondhand Daylight' that came before it. (I've always thought that 'The Correct Use Of Soap' is OVERrated, mind. It doesn't have the cohesion of the first two albums and Martin Hannett's murky production robs the songs of vitality.)
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Fitter Stoke
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 14:14
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Wise words, but I'd take that argument one album further and cite 'It's Only Rock'n'Roll' as being the last of the Stones' classic sequence. There's not a duff track in evidence: indeed, I'd claim 'Time Waits For No-One' and 'Fingerprint File' as representing, respectively, the Stones' greatest ballad and Keef's greatest riff.
Not that I dislike 'Black and Blue' either, mind - but there are a couple of clear clunkers there. 'Some Girls' was a return to form: 'Emotional Rescue' was back on the downward slope that they've stayed on ever since, the odd decent track notwithstanding.
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Popel Vooje
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Edited Feb 22, 2010, 15:24
Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 16:42
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I've thought of two more. There's "The Burning World" by Swans - which seems to be regarded by most fans, and by Michael Gira, as their fatally compromised major label debut (he and producer Bill Laswell didn't click, apparently) but I think it's still a damned sight better than most bands' career highs. The songs are good enough to withstand the sometimes over-lush arrangements, and it shows that Swans could hold their own as a song-based band just as well as they could their longstanding position as bludgeoning noise-merchants. So there...!
Also Love's "Four Sail" has a dfamned signt more subtance than some fans give it credit for - the decline in Arthur Lee's songwriting talent was clearly a gradual process rather than an overnight development. There are several songs here which equal "Foerever Changes", even if they're sometimes obscured by the uber-virtuoso soloing of the new line-up. "August", "Singing Cowboy" and "Nothing" are as good as anything on their first three LPs.
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keith a
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 16:48
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I've always liked IOR&R a lot, too, though this is maybe down to the fact that it was one of the first Stones LP's I bought (first was the excellent Through The Past Darkly compilation). As you say, Time Waits For No-one is pretty special.
Another fave Stones song is Silver Train from GHS, though I initially knew it from being the b-side to Angie. I heard an ace alternate mix of that a few years ago, from the Acetates LP, though unfortunately I'm not able to locate it at the moment.
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mingtp
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Edited Feb 21, 2010, 17:30
Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 17:26
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At the risk of being booted off this forum, I still like Steeleye Span's All Around My Hat. Admittedly not their best work but having been reared on the Steeleye albums up to Sails of Silver, it's as much part of my childhood as their critically acclaimed albums.
EDIT: The other one that springs to mind is the latest Monster Magnet which alot of people slagged but I love to bits. To my mind they are the ONLY band in my entire collection, bar none, that have never made a bad album. I love all the Monster Magnet albums, from the Love Monster demoes to 4 Way Diablo.
Hey nonny, hail metal \m/
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thesweetcheat
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 22:38
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Pursued By Trees wrote: Always been prepared to defend Dazzle Ships ... it was all downhill from there for me with OMD though.
Couldn't agree more. Their last unmissible album (and beautifully packaged).
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thesweetcheat
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 22:42
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dave clarkson wrote: Buzzcocks - A different kind of tension
Style Council - Confessions of a pop group
The Fall - Room to Live
Miles Davis - Tutu
Parliament - Motor Booty Affair
Magazine - Magic Murder and the Weather
Beach Boys - Surfs Up
Stevie Wonder - Secret life of plants
Donald Byrd - electric byrd
Radiohead - Kid a
Kraftwerk - electric cafe
Butthole Surfers - Widowermaker EP
Jimmy Smith - house party
U-ziq - Royal Astronomy
Durutti Column - another setting
8)
Some great albums there. Room To Live maybe just got missed by virtue of being a mini-album in close proximity to the mighty Hex-Enduction. Another Setting sounds great in remastered form, like a new record. A Different Kind of Tension is the best Buzzcocks' album IMHO, but perhaps their time was already past?
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Dog 3000
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Re: Maligned albums: which do you rate?
Feb 21, 2010, 22:43
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I also dig Umasked . .. it is their "California" album.
Ace Frehley wrote a couple particularly catchy songs, including one about a submarine! (Is that a torpedo in your codpiece or are you just happy to spit blood at me?)
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