CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: betarhoalphadelta on March 17, 2025, 01:47:44 PM
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Inspired by utee and his vinyl lounge, I've created some spotify playlists that are just single albums, in order, with the intent of listening start-to-finish. Sometimes my main playlist on random can be a little too... random.
So I'm wondering what albums you can think of that fit that mold? I.e. an album that isn't just a collection of songs, that works really well from start to finish, and doesn't have "clunkers" in the middle that you're just tempted to skip?
I've got four so far. Unsurprisingly, Pink Floyd is three of them, as they leaned hard into the concept album idea. That's Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon, and The Wall. And the fourth is Pearl Jam's Ten.
What would your go-to albums in this genre be?
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I feel like we've done this topic before, but since some of us have been posting together for almost 30 years, I guess that's inevitable.
I refer to these as "complete" albums and personally I omit Greatest Hits and other types of compilations (like movie soundtracks) because I consider those to be cheating, but others can opine as they wish of course.
Some of my faves:
The Cars - The Cars
Willie Nelson - Stardust
Boston - Boston
Styx - Grand Illusion
Prince - Purple Rain
Definitely agree on Pearl Jam - Ten. And the Pink Floyd albums are good too.
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I feel like we've done this topic before, but since some of us have been posting together for almost 30 years, I guess that's inevitable.
I think we've done some "best album" discussions over the years, but I'm not sure that I've ever seen it done quite this way.
I.e. I think there would be some albums that I might consider in the tops of best albums because of the quantity of quality songs, but still not be something I'd just want to listen to straight through.
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I think we've done some "best album" discussions over the years, but I'm not sure that I've ever seen it done quite this way.
I.e. I think there would be some albums that I might consider in the tops of best albums because of the quantity of quality songs, but still not be something I'd just want to listen to straight through.
Well I'm pretty sure we did this recently, because I specifically omitted U2 - The Joshua Tree from my list. I did so because, while it's one of my favorite albums of all time, it doesn't pass the "no clunkers" test for me, due to my passionate hatred of one song on that album-- "Bullet The Blue Sky."
But now that I recall more clearly, it was a discussion on a more general thread, and didn't have its own thread. For ease of reference if nothing else, this is a good place to have the discussion again, so that it's more easily searchable.
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Added two more:
Led Zeppelin - IV
R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
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REM - Document (My favorite album of theirs)
The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta
The Outfield - Play Deep
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Who's Next The Who
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Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd
(Pronounced)
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At Fillmore East Allman Bros Band
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Born to Run Bruce & the East Street Band
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Days of Future Passed Moody Blues
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Toys in the Attic Aerosmith
Get Your Wings
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Led Zeppelin IV Led Zepplin
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The Doors The Doors
L.A. Woman
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On The Border The Eagles
Desperado
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Blow by Blow Jeff Beck
Wired
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Night Moves Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Stranger in Town
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Inspired by utee and his vinyl lounge, I've created some spotify playlists that are just single albums, in order, with the intent of listening start-to-finish. Sometimes my main playlist on random can be a little too... random.
So I'm wondering what albums you can think of that fit that mold? I.e. an album that isn't just a collection of songs, that works really well from start to finish, and doesn't have "clunkers" in the middle that you're just tempted to skip?
I've got four so far. Unsurprisingly, Pink Floyd is three of them, as they leaned hard into the concept album idea. That's Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon, and The Wall. And the fourth is Pearl Jam's Ten.
What would your go-to albums in this genre be?
For me I would add Animals as a goto album. When I mow the yard, I can start that album and it will finish just about the time I finish the lawn. Nice and relaxing.
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Hope you're using a manual push mower so you can hear them play
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Pink Floyd, Animals, Dark Side, Meddle, Wish You were Here, The Wall. (I consider Floyd the ultimate album band).
Lynard Skynyrd - Pronounced, Second Helping.
Led Zeppelin - II, IV, II, Physical Graffiti.
The Beatles - Abby Road.
Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic, Rocks.
ZZ Top - Dequello, Tres Hombres.
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds, High Voltage.
Rolling Stones - Some Girls, Let it Bleed.
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Hope you're using a manual push mower so you can hear them play
John Deere Zero Turn with my shooting ear muffs with blue tooth to my phone. Works great.
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Agree with many above.
Part of my vinyl includes these listen thru records
Steely Dan, Aja. 1977
Fleetwood Mac Rumours 1977
Bjork, Homogenic 1997
Bjork, Vespertine 2001
Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique 1989
Rush 2112
Alvvays, Antisocialites 2017
Audioslave, self titled 2003
Metallica, Puppets. 1986
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Smashing Pumpkins — Siamese Dream
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Steely Dan Aja, for sure. I just ordered a recent re-pressing of this album on 180g vinyl.
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Throwing Metallica - The Black Album out there on this list too...
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J.Geils Band (live) Blow Your Face Out
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Live albums tend to be compilations of greatest hits so I'll typically avoid them in these discussions, but Rush - Exit Stage Left is pretty great.
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Good topic, I'll really have to knock the rust off the mental gears because it's been so long since I listened to music that way.
Oddly, the first thing that pops in my mind is Bonnie Raitt's Luck of the Draw.
I'd probably never think to name it in my Top X-number of albums, but it's one of the rare ones I enjoyed listening straight through.
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James Taylor "Hourglass"
The more I think about this, the more I realize what a weird list it probably is for me. These aren't necessarily my favorite albums, or even artists. But it's really rare for anyone to put out an album where I'm not tempted to skip a song or two.
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James Taylor "Hourglass"
The more I think about this, the more I realize what a weird list it probably is for me. These aren't necessarily my favorite albums, or even artists. But it's really rare for anyone to put out an album where I'm not tempted to skip a song or two.
Yup same here. Like my example of U2-Joshua Tree. Easily one of my favorite all-time albums, but there's also a must-skip on the record so it doesn't qualify for this discussion.
I think I noted before, when I copied that album to tape in 1987, I actually omitted that song, and was so much happier for it. Did the exact same thing when I got my first CD burner.
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Yup same here. Like my example of U2-Joshua Tree. Easily one of my favorite all-time albums, but there's also a must-skip on the record so it doesn't qualify for this discussion.
I think I noted before, when I copied that album to tape in 1987, I actually omitted that song, and was so much happier for it. Did the exact same thing when I got my first CD burner.
I did this constantly when I first loaded my CD collection onto my iPod/PC. That PC--from 2005, I believe--had an 80 gig hard drive capacity, and I needed to conserve space, and also I was just into the idea of leaving off all the songs I don't like. After 20 years of that, sometimes I hear real albums and one song goes into the real next song, but my mind is expecting a different next song because I'm so used to the deleted-song version of the album I created.
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Yup same here. Like my example of U2-Joshua Tree. Easily one of my favorite all-time albums, but there's also a must-skip on the record so it doesn't qualify for this discussion.
I really like Bon Jovi's "New Jersey" album, but I always skip the first song, "Lay Your Hands on Me." Other than that, it's one of my favorites.
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G'n'R -- Appetite for Destruction.
Actually, when I was younger this wouldn't have been on the list. Some of them I didn't like. By the time I was in college, a good 10ish years after the album came out, I liked all of them and still listen to it straight through.
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I really like Bon Jovi's "New Jersey" album, but I always skip the first song, "Lay Your Hands on Me." Other than that, it's one of my favorites.
I actually like that song, Bon Jovi loved to open their albums with high-flying wide-open rock anthems, and I thought it fit well for that. Same thing for "Let It Rock" off Slippery When Wet.
In fact New Jersey is probably one of my complete albums that I'll play all the way through. I just uncovered my vinyl copy of it so I'll have to give it a try tonight maybe.
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RUSH: RUSH, 2112, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves
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I'll listen to most Rush all the way through.
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Pretty much.
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I don't know... I really like Rush, but the only straight-through album I want to listen to is Chronicles, and that's a greatest hits record, so it doesn't count.
I actually added Chronicles, plus a couple of songs off Counterparts and Test For Echo, as its own playlist but I'm not sure I'd listen to much else straight through.
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Just listened to a recent re-pressing of Steely Dan- Katie Lied. This is a great album that sounds bad due to some poor sound engineering. Over the decades they've done everything they can to correct it, but the flaws are in the master.
But anyway, it's definitely an all-the-way-through album for me.
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I've got four so far. Unsurprisingly, Pink Floyd is three of them, as they leaned hard into the concept album idea. That's Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon, and The Wall. And the fourth is Pearl Jam's Ten.
There's a two-year period where I intensely listened to Pink Floyd albums all the way through, most often Dark Side of the Moon, and I managed to turn it into a specifically memorable experience. For several college semesters, I tutored math, from remedial Algebra through Calculus. In the library study rooms where students would meet me for tutoring appointments, I would play Pink Floyd at a courteous volume. One day, with Dark Side of the Moon playing, a Calculus student asked if I knew about the album's 'synchronicity' with Wizard of Oz. He told me to look it up, promising how "unreal" the album aligns with scenes from the film. This was back when YouTube videos were limited to 10 minutes. I found a playlist stringing together videos of the first 40 minutes of Wizard of Oz cut over with Dark Side of the Moon. The music slowing to a piano interlude during the tornado dream sequence. The tonal shift once Dorothy crash lands in the land of Oz. I was more than impressed.
Dark Side of the Moon is definitely an album I've many times listened through, and to this day my memories of Calculus, Wizard of Oz, and Dark Side of the Moon are interconnected, reinforcing each other - one doesn't come to mind without the other.
Radiohead's OK Computer and Kid A also come to mind as Albums I listened to to hear them all the way through. As an older Millennial born in the mid-80s, I'm among the last ages to appreciate listening to albums all the way through. From what I remember, it was my friend's older siblings (younger Gen-Xers, high schoolers while I was in middle school) who took seriously to keeping an after-school habit of laying on the carpet of their bedroom floors and letting their minds drift to full albums by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Bush's Sixteen Stone, and REM's Out Of Time.
By the time I was getting into high school, the new music was already getting truncated into more digestible bite-sizes through MTV's Total Request Live, Napster downloads, iPods, and Apple's iTunes Store selling singles for 99 cents. Although an older Gen Xer might argue that "bite-sizing" was already in the works once Mix Taping was popularized in the 1980s.
By then it wasn't only consumer demand preferring the single, but the music industry quietly moved on from emphasizing the larger structure of albums. I remember back around 2000 reading several Rolling Stones reviews bemoaning the loss of "unity" in new albums. Commentary that would emerge when the reviewer would be surprised by an album that achieved an internal "balance." For example, the Wallflowers 2000 album (Breach) was praised by Rolling Stone for its "interconnectedness."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=627aciBA2E8
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By the time I was getting into high school, the new music was already getting truncated into more digestible bite-sizes through MTV's Total Request Live, Napster downloads, iPods, and Apple's iTunes Store selling singles for 99 cents. Although an older Gen Xer might argue that "bite-sizing" was already in the works once Mix Taping was popularized in the 1980s.
By then it wasn't only consumer demand preferring the single, but the music industry quietly moved on from emphasizing the larger structure of albums. I remember back around 2000 reading several Rolling Stones reviews bemoaning the loss of "unity" in new albums. Commentary that would emerge when the reviewer would be surprised by an album that achieved an internal "balance." For example, the Wallflowers 2000 album (Breach) was praised by Rolling Stone for its "interconnectedness."
Yeah and it's kind of funny, because the "album era" was actually pretty short, comparatively. Really just the 70s-thru-90s. Before that, it was all about singles and radio airplay.
We've effectively just returned to what I started calling "the jukebox model" in the late 90s.
But I do really enjoy listening to complete albums, which is why I created my music room/Vinyl Lounge in the first place.
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Oh and a comment about mixtapes-- we definitely started re-shuffling our music, but for most of us mixtapes were created with a specific goal or purpose. They were party mixes, or lovesong mixes for making out with your girlfriend, or driving/cruising mixes, or road-tripping mixes. But they still never replaced the whole-album experience.
I will say that record labels sort of shot themselves in the foot starting sometime in the 80s, too, when they started urging their bands not to put all their good songs on one album, and instead create a lot of lame filler. I have more than a couple albums that I was really disappointed in, with how much filler crap they actually put on there. Ultimately consumers were trained not to buy whole albums and that ushered in the late 90s jukebox era in the first place, and it was of course aided by technology like faster broadband, file sharing, mp3 players, the ipod, and eventually itunes and then streaming services. But the decline in the album era was already underway, IMO. And it's the greedy record labels that killed it.
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One aspect that's been lost is where the A side and the B side each stand alone.
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Oh can't believe I haven't listed Van Halen I. That's a full album for sure.
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G'n'R -- Appetite for Destruction.
Actually, when I was younger this wouldn't have been on the list. Some of them I didn't like. By the time I was in college, a good 10ish years after the album came out, I liked all of them and still listen to it straight through.
Axel does great with his/their own materiel but damn when he covers others like Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" he shreds it - screaming like a cat in a caught in a fan belt
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Oh snap.....a lot of Van Halen probably belongs on here for me. Overlooked because, again, it's not necessarily my most favorite stuff.
But......1984 and 5150 are both winners. When I'm in the mood for VH, I generally listen to those all the way through.
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Axel does great with his/their own materiel but damn when he covers others like Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" he shreds it - screaming like a cat in a caught in a fan belt
Well, that comes from the Use Your Illusion albums, not Appetite For Destruction.
I can't actually remember the Use Your Illusion albums anymore. I have a compilation UYI that was released which had the best songs from each, and that's all I've listened to for years. I would actually include that, but I reckon it technically counts as a compilation. The originals may be on my list.....I just don't remember them as well.
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Yeah 1984 is probably my favorite VH album, and my favorite VH song is "I'll Wait" which I think is extremely underrated.
Most VH is easy to listen all the way through for me because, even if there are 1 or 2 songs that aren't compelling, Eddie's guitar work is still so intricate and amazing, that I'll focus in on just that.
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An obscure album, but one I love start to finish:
Start the Car -- Jude Cole
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Well, that comes from the Use Your Illusion albums, not Appetite For Destruction.
I can't actually remember the Use Your Illusion albums anymore. I have a compilation UYI that was released which had the best songs from each, and that's all I've listened to for years. I would actually include that, but I reckon it technically counts as a compilation. The originals may be on my list.....I just don't remember them as well.
Yeah I have all three of those, but the only one I ever go back and listen to all the way through, is Appetite for Destruction. So at some point I guess I decided that UYI 1 and 2 just weren't all that great, all the way through.
Maybe I'll give them another listen soon, to see if my opinion has changed.
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Blizzard of Ozz
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GnR just doesn't do it for me
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Just listened to a recent re-pressing of Steely Dan- Katie Lied. This is a great album that sounds bad due to some poor sound engineering. Over the decades they've done everything they can to correct it, but the flaws are in the master.
But anyway, it's definitely an all-the-way-through album for me.
The incomparable Jeff Porcaro on drums.* Everything he touched was magic. To hear him and a lot of others tell it, the way Becker and Fagan operated Steely Dan's recording sessions, they were perfectionists to the nth degree and they drove the takes in the ground with relentless redo's. The engineers were also legends, and I wonder if any bad audio is the result of the splicing that took place on some of those songs when the musicians revolted and had it out with the duo. There was no cut, edit, and paste in those days. You either played the take perfectly, or you could literally mark tape, cut and splice it, if you were good enough and knew what you were doing. Their sessions were some of the first to mangle the technology that way, that I know of.
*Hal Blaine on 1 track, from the old Wrecking Crew.
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Speaking of Jeff Porcaro...
Toto IV
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GnR just doesn't do it for me
More of a Soggy Bottom Boys type,huh?
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Back on Topic
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
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More of a Soggy Bottom Boys type,huh?
He is, in fact, a man of constant sorrow.
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The incomparable Jeff Porcaro on drums.* Everything he touched was magic. To hear him and a lot of others tell it, the way Becker and Fagan operated Steely Dan's recording sessions, they were perfectionists to the nth degree and they drove the takes in the ground with relentless redo's. The engineers were also legends, and I wonder if any bad audio is the result of the splicing that took place on some of those songs when the musicians revolted and had it out with the duo. There was no cut, edit, and paste in those days. You either played the take perfectly, or you could literally mark tape, cut and splice it, if you were good enough and knew what you were doing. Their sessions were some of the first to mangle the technology that way, that I know of.
*Hal Blaine on 1 track, from the old Wrecking Crew.
There's a lot of discussion about it over the years and in the liner notes of the new repressing. It was something about using the then-new DBX noise reduction system rather than the more established Dolby system, as I recall. The overall recordings came off really dull and even fuzzy. Allegedly the band refused to ever listen to the album again after it was cut.
Speaking of Jeff Porcaro...
Toto IV
Agree, definitely an all the way through album for me.
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Some R&B albums I like all the way through:
Anita Baker--Compositions
Brian McKnight--I Remember You
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A contemporary jazz album with a twinge of funk: Joe Sample--Spellbound
I'm having more luck thinking about this by genre, rather than just pulling an artist/album off the top of my head.
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Oh man, can't believe I haven't named Miles Davis - Kind of Blue. Even over the past two decades when I'd almost completely stopped listening to albums, I'd still throw this one on a few times per year.
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A funk classic:
Tower of Power--Back to Oakland.
Excellent from start to finish.
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I can't think of a single album I consider all bangers or a true "just push play" album. So, considering the vinyl aspect of this discussion, I'm running this through the criteria of, "would I get up to move the needle for a song?" instead of "I'd definitely bump past a song on Spotify."
Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
Beatles - Abbey Road
Fall Out Boy - Take This to Your Grave
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Green Day - American Idiot
Guster - Lost and Gone Forever
Nada Surf - Lucky
The Shins - Oh Inverted World, Chutes Too Narrow
The Strokes - Room on Fire
Weezer - Blue Album
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I really thought Fleetwood Mac's Rumours would be on my list. I haven't listened to it all in a couple of decades but I remember liking it.
So a couple months ago I sat down and listened to it on vinyl at my buddy's place, and realized I couldn't even get past the first song, "I Don't Want To Know."
I love "Dreams" and "The Chain" but there are several songs on that record that I just didn't like. Maybe nostalgia, maybe my tastes have changed, but I'm just fine with leaving that one on the shelf and jukeboxing a couple of my favorites every now and then.
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I think Rumours still holds up as one of the best albums of all time. "Oh Daddy" is weak and I considered excluding the album from my list because of it. I think "Songbird" and "Gold Dust Woman" are merely OK. "You Make Loving Fun" is a song I can recognize as quite good, but just not my style. For me, everything else is very good to great.
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Yeah, opinions and all that. I already wanted to skip tracks after listening to track 1.
Like I said, I had remembered it as being quite good. Upon review, it was decidedly not so.
But, it does have a couple of great tracks on it.
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I never got into FM. I dislike Nicks' voice.
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I really thought Fleetwood Mac's Rumours would be on my list. I haven't listened to it all in a couple of decades but I remember liking it.
They were quite good with Bob Welch before Buckingham/Nicks joined the group. This classic comes to mind
https://youtu.be/fDzXbdxeeHI
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Secret Combination -- Randy Crawford
Excellent pop/r&b straight through.
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Great concept to think about. I'm starting to realize how that out of pretty much all of my favorite albums, almost none of them are no-skippers for me. On a great albums list I could put Don Henley's "The End of the Innocence." But it's null and void for this exercise because it has two tracks I usually pass on.
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The Way It Is -- Bruce Hornsby and The Range
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Great concept to think about. I'm starting to realize how that out of pretty much all of my favorite albums, almost none of them are no-skippers for me. On a great albums list I could put Don Henley's "The End of the Innocence." But it's null and void for this exercise because it has two tracks I usually pass on.
I think the premise has to assume that you don't live in the CD / streaming era. That you live in either the record or cassette era where skipping a song takes a little more work than just pressing a button.
I.e. if you're like @utee94 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=15) and a song on an album is one that you hate SO much that you'll copy the tape (or burn a CD) with every song except that one? Then it's enough to disqualify the album. But if it's a song that wouldn't make you get up out of your chair to move the needle on a record, or press "fast forward / play" and keep repeating to make sure you didn't go too far, and you'd otherwise sit through it... Then it's okay for this.
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Hmm....well that changes things quite a bit.
Don Henley's end of the the innocence goes back on the list.
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Yeah... Plus this is sort of a "choose your own adventure" OT thread.
Like the one that I think I started about best one hit wonders. Some band has one MASSIVE hit and gets tossed into the ring and someone else says "but they had that one other song that briefly charted!" and thus claims they're not a one hit wonder.
To me, it was more about bands that you remember as being one hit wonders, rather than an absolute definition.
For me that was a-ha and Take on Me, and someone pointed out The Sun Always Shines On TV, a song I'd either never heard or just flat out didn't recall. Maybe that means they don't perfectly fit the definition...
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Yeah... Plus this is sort of a "choose your own adventure" OT thread.
Like the one that I think I started about best one hit wonders. Some band has one MASSIVE hit and gets tossed into the ring and someone else says "but they had that one other song that briefly charted!" and thus claims they're not a one hit wonder.
To me, it was more about bands that you remember as being one hit wonders, rather than an absolute definition.
For me that was a-ha and Take on Me, and someone pointed out The Sun Always Shines On TV, a song I'd either never heard or just flat out didn't recall. Maybe that means they don't perfectly fit the definition...
Yeah that was my own specific brand of pedantry. But I loved a-Ha and classifying them as a 1-hit wonder was downright offensive.
Dexys Midnight Runners, on the other hand, only had 1 single that made the US charts, the stereotypical 80s hit "Come On Eileen." They actually had numerous singles that charted in the UK, but only the one here in the US. To me that's a one-hit wonder.
Surprisingly Toni Basil had 3 hits that charted in the USA. The only one I recall, was "Micky." But she sucks, while a-Ha is awesome, and therefore they are not the same at all.
:)
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What are the worst albums to listen to straight through? The one where you should have just picked up the single, because the rest of it is nothing but clunkers?
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I never got into FM. I dislike Nicks' voice.
Same, but I just don't get it. Her voice is not my reason, but I don't find it especially good. I've never heard a F.M. song I enjoyed.
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It's a completely personal and subjective response. Lots of people love Bob Dylan. I can't stand him. I don't like Mick Jagger's voice either and there are only a couple of Rolling Stones songs that I like, the vast majority I really, really hate.
On the flipside, I love Rush, but a lot of people really don't like Geddy Lee's voice. Just the nature of subjectivity.
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What are the worst albums to listen to straight through? The one where you should have just picked up the single, because the rest of it is nothing but clunkers?
Back in the mid-90's one of the Batman movies had Seal's "Kiss From a Rose," which I liked, so I eventually bought the album. I don't know if it meets your exact criteria because there was another song on there I wound up liking (which was also a single), but the rest of it was pretty meh. I don't know that I'd call them clunkers, but almost none of the rest of it lived up to what I thought I'd be getting based on the Batman song.
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Back in 1992, Blind Mellon's first album had "No Rain" which I liked, so I bought the CD, and then didn't like any of the rest of it. Independently at the same time in College Station, my i s c & a aggie wife did the exact same thing.
So now we have two copies of that album and only the one song we like between the both of them.
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What are the worst albums to listen to straight through? The one where you should have just picked up the single, because the rest of it is nothing but clunkers?
Anything Celine Dion comes to mind.
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What are the worst albums to listen to straight through? The one where you should have just picked up the single, because the rest of it is nothing but clunkers?
Silverchair - Frogstomp album comes to mind.
Blind Melon was also a good call.
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Anything Celine Dion comes to mind.
🤮
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Anything Celine Dion comes to mind.
It sounds like you just don't like Celine Dion.
I think BB was more trying to get at, albums from artists you like (for at least one song) where the album was a dud and you wished you'd just bought the one good single it had on it.
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Oh have we listed Michael Jackson's Thriller on this thread yet? Not only is that album 100% listenable but it's got to have one of the highest banger percentages of all-time.
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Oh have we listed Michael Jackson's Thriller on this thread yet? Not only is that album 100% listenable but it's got to have one of the highest banger percentages of all-time.
I guess by brad's clarified standards I'd list it here too. I actually don't much care for the title track, but in a vinyl/old-school setting, I don't think I'd be working hard to avoid it. It's iffy for me, because in the digital age, I'll hardly ever let that one play through.
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And I know a lot of folks around here don't like her, but for me Taylor Swift's 1989 album is another complete listen.
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Phil Collins -- But Seriously
Actively look forward to each next song.
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I guess by brad's clarified standards I'd list it here too. I actually don't much care for the title track, but in a vinyl/old-school setting, I don't think I'd be working hard to avoid it. It's iffy for me, because in the digital age, I'll hardly ever let that one play through.
I'm not necessarily adhering to bwar's standard. For me, I'm trying to name albums where I genuinely like every single track on them. No temptation to FF at all. But of course everyone on this thread is free to define it as they like.
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And I know a lot of folks around here don't like her, but for me Taylor Swift's 1989 album is another complete listen.
I haven't heard that one much, but back when it came out one of my nieces was staying with me for a couple weeks and she was playing it with me intermittently paying attention. I started to comment on that album earlier in this thread, but I remember thinking it was one of the few albums I'd come across in a while that seemed to have a consistent flow throughout.....like, it was designed to be an album experience, like the old days.
But, as I say, I was only half-paying attention, and if anybody ever accuses me of listening to Taylor Swift I will deny everything.
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I'm not necessarily adhering to bwar's standard. For me, I'm trying to name albums where I genuinely like every single track on them. No temptation to FF at all. But of course everyone on this thread is free to define it as they like.
Thriller is still on a weird middle ground for me. I can't say I genuinely like the track, but I don't genuinely dislike it either. It's more a case of I know I don't like it as much as the others and impatience tends to get the best of me.....I want to get on to the next song I know I like more, which describes the rest of the album. So by your standards, I'm not sure where that puts it.
Toto has an album like that. For years I skipped two tracks on it. One day I forced myself to listen through those again and found I didn't actually dislike the songs, at least anymore. But it's still apparent to me that I don't like them as well as the rest of the album and my FF finger gets twitchy.
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I haven't heard that one much, but back when it came out one of my nieces was staying with me for a couple weeks and she was playing it with me intermittently paying attention. I started to comment on that album earlier in this thread, but I remember thinking it was one of the few albums I'd come across in a while that seemed to have a consistent flow throughout.....like, it was designed to be an album experience, like the old days.
But, as I say, I was only half-paying attention, and if anybody ever accuses me of listening to Taylor Swift I will deny everything.
No worries, you've been a closet Horn for decades. You can be a closet Swiftie now, too.
I think the album flows well. I don't know if it's specifically designed to do so, in the way that 70s and 80s bands did, or if it's just a factor of having so many good songs that are all pleasant to listen to. But either way, it's one I'm definitely thinking about getting in vinyl, just for the fun of it. I already have the CD.
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Sequencing.....the art of arranging album tracks so that everything flows well and creates a desired listen-through experience. Probably an increasingly forgotten art, but one that's harder than it sounds. When I was the interim music director at the San Marcos church for a while I had to procure a Christmas mix, and I was surprised at how long it took me to arrange the order of a bunch of good songs in a way that didn't feel hodge-podge, and make them flow well together. Of course, that was probably harder than normal because I was dealing with different artists, styles, and eras. But I've heard from industry guys that it's a serious thing that used to not be taken lightly.
One of my favorite bands initially put out an album in the 90's overseas, and the front-end felt awkward for some reason. They weren't happy with the sequencing and they were able to get the record label to re-sequence the tracks for the American release. That one flows way better, imo. But it's all the same songs. Very interesting.
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Sequencing.....the art of arranging album tracks so that everything flows well and creates a desired listen-through experience. Probably an increasingly forgotten art, but one that's harder than it sounds. When I was the interim music director at the San Marcos church for a while I had to procure a Christmas mix, and I was surprised at how long it took me to arrange the order of a bunch of good songs in a way that didn't feel hodge-podge, and make them flow well together. Of course, that was probably harder than normal because I was dealing with different artists, styles, and eras. But I've heard from industry guys that it's a serious thing that used to not be taken lightly.
One of my favorite bands initially put out an album in the 90's overseas, and the front-end felt awkward for some reason. They weren't happy with the sequencing and they were able to get the record label to re-sequence the tracks for the American release. That one flows way better, imo. But it's all the same songs. Very interesting.
For sure. I've always thought I'd be good at that. I make a lot of mixes, either for parties or roadtrips or whatever. Originally it was mixtapes, then CDs, and now it's generally streaming mixes. But regardless of medium, I've always taken a lot of time to get the order of sequence just right. Some songs just can't follow another one, and some fit very naturally.
I still make an annual music mix (actually burned to CD!) for our roadtrip up to TX-OU in Dallas. It focuses on brand new music that's either just been released or is pre-release, and it crosses many genres but it all has to fit the vibe of a car roadtrip up the highway for a big rivalry football game, on the grounds of a state fair. Tall order but I feel like I nail it each year.
It's called "Red River Jams."
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There are a certain two Journey songs that MUST be played together.
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For a limited time only! You can purchase the entire utee94 "Red River Jams" catalog! Act now while supplies last!
Just call 1-800-OU-SUCKS
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For a limited time only! You can purchase the entire utee94 "Red River Jams" catalog! Act now while supplies last!
Just call 1-800-OU-SUCKS
Word up.
I've been making the official mix since 2005. So this is the 20th anniversary. Before that I made mixtapes for road trips to Dallas but they didn't have the same feeling of purpose and intent, they were just mixes.
These days, Red River Jams tend to be a musical journey in three acts.
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There are a certain two Journey songs that MUST be played together.
Yup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50xbbx-8mxc
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Anything Celine Dion comes to mind.
anything by Journey - I wouldn't even buy the single
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(https://i.imgur.com/UTdKVoi.jpeg)
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anything by Journey - I wouldn't even buy the single
impeccable taste sir,You get a Yuengling
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(https://i.imgur.com/UTdKVoi.jpeg)
That's a good pick and it makes my list here as well.
Interesting that you would like HL&tN and dislike Journey. Usually a lot of overlap in those fans.
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That's a good pick and it makes my list here as well.
Yup, Sports is definitely on my list.
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Word up.
I've been making the official mix since 2005. So this is the 20th anniversary. Before that I made mixtapes for road trips to Dallas but they didn't have the same feeling of purpose and intent, they were just mixes.
These days, Red River Jams tend to be a musical journey in three acts.
You should start a thread detailing each annual mix. I think that would be very fun.
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The original Misfits' entire discography is a no skip em. (you can easily skip all the reunion stuff with a different vocalist)
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Oh man, can't believe I haven't mentioned Sting - Nothing Like The Sun. That was his second solo album.
Several hits, but I like every track on there, and the list of guest musicians that performed on the recording (and many of them on the live tour) is just incredible.
Branford Marsalis, Annie Lennox, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Andy Summers, Gil Evans, Kenny Kirkland.
I also really like Sting's first solo album, Dream of the Blue Turtles. It's probably a no-skipper for me, as well.
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Oh man, we must be tracking, because last night I was thinking I need to remember when I log in this morning to put
Ten Summoner's Tales -- Sting
on the list. I need to go back to the earlier albums you mentioned to refresh my memory on some of them. What that means is, they might belong on my list, but I'm not sure, because I don't know if there are any must-skip tracks. The fact is I have skipped them, and thus I don't remember them as well as most of the others.
But I know for a fact TST is a no-skipper. I have the European version with the track Everybody Laughed But You that wasn't included in the American release, and that one is a winner too.
Sting's entire early career is a wet dream for a drummer. Dream of the Blue Turtles was the masterful Omar Hakim. Nothing Like the Sun was the magnificent Manu Katche. Ten Summoner's Tales began Sting's decade-long collaboration with the incomparable Vinnie Colaiuta. If those guys had statues, I would bow before them. I know most people don't listen to music and focus on the drummers, and if they did, in many of these songs' cases one might wonder what the big deal is. It's not like Rush or Tool where the drummer is an obvious centerpiece and called on to demonstrate insane chops. But those guys are living clinics in how to play a regular song where the drums aren't the feature, but doing a million little things the average person may never notice and make the people who care about such wish they could imitate it.
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Jail Break by Thin Lizzy was pretty good,sans "The Boys are back in Town" as it got played ad nauseam. But Emerald,Cowboy Song,Jail break fill it in nicely. Phil Lynott's self titled solo album was good also with Mark Knopfler sitting in on a few sessions
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My favorite Thin Lizzy song is
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=thin+lizzy+holy+war&mid=5EB2105CAA9C3EB06E3C5EB2105CAA9C3EB06E3C&FORM=VIRE (https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=thin+lizzy+holy+war&mid=5EB2105CAA9C3EB06E3C5EB2105CAA9C3EB06E3C&FORM=VIRE)
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Can't remember if I named this earlier, or did it the last time we were talking about this subject, but...
Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Definitely all-the-way-through. My senior year in college it was my go-to CD for sitting out at the apartment complex pool, sipping beers, and chilling.
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Can't remember if I named this earlier, or did it the last time we were talking about this subject, but...
Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Definitely all-the-way-through. My senior year in college it was my go-to CD for sitting out at the apartment complex pool, sipping beers, and chilling.
This one crossed my mind, but there's a couple songs on there I've only heard once or twice. Not enough for me to endorse the entire album.
"Anna Begins" is possibly a top 10 song for me. Definitely in my top 20.
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Happy 80th birthday to Eric Clapton!
Eric Clapton with Sting and Jeff Beck backstage at the Secret Policeman's Ball concert - London, 1981
Guitarists that Clapton listened to — and learned from — in his early years include Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters.
Broonzy was "just an extremely good technician" and a "great player."
As he listens to a recording of Broonzy's "Hey Hey" , Clapton notes the audible sound of the guitarist's foot tapping.
"His rhythm — it's absolutely perfect," Clapton marvels.
"Muddy was there at a time when, really, the music was getting to me. I was really trying to grasp it and make something out of it," Clapton says.
Clapton says he would listen to a Waters' song such as "Honey Bee" and try to emulate the guitar great's technique and the effect he created with his playing — in this instance, the chime-like sound of a bell.
"It was a hook to me. And I made this as a sort of milestone for me, for my learning capabilities," Clapton says.
"If I can get that, I'm one rung up the ladder. And I did, finally, manage to do it one day, and I thought, well, you know, I think I can probably do this."
(https://i.imgur.com/yvmUzcw.jpeg)
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A nomination for Brutus' reverse-OP, i.e., a song where you should've just gotten the single and not bothered with the album.
Louisiana's LeRoux -- LeRoux
"All The Way" was such a marketable folksy pop ballad, but it tricks you into thinking the rest of their music is good. I should probably give them another shot because it's been decades, but I remember thinking the rest of that album sucked.
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A nomination for Brutus' reverse-OP, i.e., a song where you should've just gotten the single and not bothered with the album.
Louisiana's LeRoux -- LeRoux
"All The Way" was such a marketable folksy pop ballad, but it tricks you into thinking the rest of their music is good. I should probably give them another shot because it's been decades, but I remember thinking the rest of that album sucked.
I actually inherited this album on vinyl from my inlaws. I had no idea what it was, I haven't listened to it. Sounds like I shouldn't bother...
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Welp, I'm mistaken on everything today. The song is called "New Orleans Ladies," not "All The Way." It's still a classic song for anyone growing up in LA, though I've found people all over the world who know that song and like it.
But, I still recall not liking the rest of the album. Maybe this weekend I'll give it another try.
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They also have an okay song called "Back In America."
lulz.....every time I heard it I always thought "Back in America? Yall's coon asses ain't ever left the swamp. What do you mean, back in America?"
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A nomination for Brutus' reverse-OP, i.e., a song where you should've just gotten the single and not bothered with the album.
Louisiana's LeRoux -- LeRoux
"All The Way" was such a marketable folksy pop ballad, but it tricks you into thinking the rest of their music is good. I should probably give them another shot because it's been decades, but I remember thinking the rest of that album sucked.
Person I worked with BIL was their tour buss driver back in the day.
They had some good songs, but the only one that ever stood out with most people was 'New Orleans Lady'.
The only tour I ever recall seeing them on they opened for Blackfoot and Journey. That was in 1980
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@MikeDeTiger (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1588) I ran across this on a Facebook reel and it made me think of you...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gl_8XP3c54
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Oh yeah, I have that on VHS. It was made in 1988, though that's not when I bought it. That's where I learned to play the Rosanna shuffle, as its now commonly called, but it's used in a ton of other songs, long before him.
It's an actual great instructional video, unlike so many of those where the guy has no idea how to clearly explain what he's doing, how to do it, or when to use it. Most of those have value mainly in watching people play and being impressed with them, sort of like a concert. He actually explains very useful things very well, and none of it is so complicated that a regular-Joe hobbyist can't make good use of.
I always recommended my students get that video. It's not for beginners, but for people who are comfortable at a beginner level and ready to start challenging themselves and polishing the rough edges at an intermediate level, I don't know of a better video.
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I figured you were familiar with it. :)
I'm no drummer but I did appreciate the instructional aspect of the video as well.
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Last night my brother brought over the rest of his albums for me to "hold" for him, since he has no turntable and hasn't since about 1996. We listened to several of them, and one in particular jolted my memory, as an all-the-way-through album.
Yes - 90125
I really love this whole album. The hits were great, but the album tracks are totally listenable as well. And it was clearly designed to flow as an entire album, as was quite common for all of those 70s/80s "progressive" bands like Yes, Rush, Asia, and the rest.
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Last night my brother brought over the rest of his albums for me to "hold" for him, since he has no turntable and hasn't since about 1996. We listened to several of them, and one in particular jolted my memory, as an all-the-way-through album.
Yes - 90125
I really love this whole album. The hits were great, but the album tracks are totally listenable as well. And it was clearly designed to flow as an entire album, as was quite common for all of those 70s/80s "progressive" bands like Yes, Rush, Asia, and the rest.
Don't forget the other Canadian power trio.
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Listened to 'Wish You Were Here' (Pink Floyd) album last night. definitely a straight through record.
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OK I normally exclude movie soundtracks and other compilations and anthologies, but since this topic might have run out of steam, I'm interested in this forum's favorite movie soundtracks?
I'll throw out a couple of my favorites:
Vision Quest (1985):
Only The Young - Journey
Change - John Waite
Shout To The Top! - The Style Council
Gambler - Madonna
She's On The Zoom - Don Henley
Hungry For Heaven - Dio
Lunatic Fringe - Red Rider
I'll Fall In Love Again - Sammy Hagar
Hot Blooded - Foreigner
Crazy For You - Madonna
(https://i.imgur.com/0SPai0i.png)
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The Lost Boys (1987)
Good Times - INXS
Lost In The Shadows - Lou Gramm
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Roger Daltrey
Laying Down The Law - INXS
People Are Strange - Echo & the Bunnymen
Cry Little Sister - Gerard McMahon
Power Play - Eddie & the Tide
I Still Believe - Tim Cappello
Beauty Has Her Way - Mummy Cals
To The Shock of Miss Louise - Thomas Newman
(https://i.imgur.com/M60OmTG.png)
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Singles.
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On the harder side...
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
Shout It Out - Slaughter
Battle Stations - Winger
God Gave Rock and Roll To You - KISS
Drinking Again - Neverland
Dream of a New Day - Rickie Kotzen
The Reaper - Steve Vai
The Perfect Crime - Faith No More
Go To Hell - Megadeath
Tommy The Cat - Primus
Junior's Gone Wild - King's X
Showdown - Love On Ice
The Reaper Rap - Steve Vai
(https://i.imgur.com/2ODafqh.png)
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Singles.
Awesome soundtrack. I knew somebody would name it. Alice In Chains "Would" has got to be a top 25 all time song for me. And the movie just had an all-time great cast.
Singles (1992)
Would? - Alice in Chains
Breath - Pearl Jam
Seasons - Chris Cornell
Dyslexic Heart - Paul Westerberg
Battle of Evermore - Lovemongers
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns - Mother Lovebone
Birth Ritual - Soundgarden
State of Love and Trust - Pearl Jam
Overblown - Mudhoney
Waiting For Somebody - Paul Westerberg
May This Be Love - Jimi Hendrix
Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees
(https://i.imgur.com/SDkCXyd.png)
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Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
The Reaper Rap
(https://i.imgur.com/2ODafqh.png)
They melvined me
You may be a king
or you may be a sweeper
But sooner or later
You'll dance with the Reaper
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Awesome soundtrack. I knew somebody would name it. Alice In Chains "Would" has got to be a top 25 all time song for me. And the movie just had an all-time great cast.
Singles (1992)
Would? - Alice in Chains
Breath - Pearl Jam
Seasons - Chris Cornell
Dyslexic Heart - Paul Westerberg
Battle of Evermore - Lovemongers
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns - Mother Lovebone
Birth Ritual - Soundgarden
State of Love and Trust - Pearl Jam
Overblown - Mudhoney
Waiting For Somebody - Paul Westerberg
May This Be Love - Jimi Hendrix
Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees
(https://i.imgur.com/SDkCXyd.png)
That's my favorite song on that list.
Temple of the Dog (another listen to all album) was made in tribute to the lead singer of M.L.B.
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I kinda like the soundtrack from The Wall :57:
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Good addition to the thread, utee. This could be a fun one. And one thing about soundtracks is with them being a compilation, they maybe even lend themselves MORE to listening straight through like an album.
Been a while, but I really liked the soundtrack from The Crow back in the day...
(https://i.imgur.com/BUoqhiC.png)
Maybe I'll find the soundtrack album on Spotify and make it a playlist to see if any of it still stands up 30 years later...
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Forrest Gump is also a great one.
Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs would also be good selections.
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Good addition to the thread, utee. This could be a fun one. And one thing about soundtracks is with them being a compilation, they maybe even lend themselves MORE to listening straight through like an album.
Been a while, but I really liked the soundtrack from The Crow back in the day...
(https://i.imgur.com/BUoqhiC.png)
Maybe I'll find the soundtrack album on Spotify and make it a playlist to see if any of it still stands up 30 years later...
Great one bwar. I love the variety on that soundtrack. Some alternative, some metal, some punk.
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Forrest Gump is also a great one.
Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs would also be good selections.
I love the songs on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. But the way they cut in audio clips from scenes from the movie makes it not a great whole album listen for me. I bought that soundtrack in 1994 and was pretty disappointed in it.
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Beginning in 1971, the Eagles wasted no time getting to work in the studio. By 1972, the band was ready to release their self-titled debut album. Then, instead of slowing down, they stayed on the grind, releasing one in 1973 and another in 1974. With their fourth studio album, One of These Nights, in 1975, the band quickly rose in popularity as it became their first number one album on the US Billboard 200. It also landed them three Top 10 singles and won them their first Grammy Award.
To capitalize on all they had accomplished, the Eagles released a greatest hits collection. The band's first compilation, titled Their Greatest Hits, debuted in February 1976. The record included 10 tracks from across their first four albums. Initially, the album performed as well as they had hoped, spending five weeks as the number one spot on the US Billboard 200 chart.
The band's first compilation, titled Their Greatest Hits, debuted in February 1976.
By the end of the year, Their Greatest Hits continued to hold strong momentum as it ranked as Billboard's fourth-best album of 1976. Then, as time went on, the numbers kept growing. Along with spending over 450 weeks on the US Billboard 200, the album has been certified an astonishing 38x platinum in the United States, ranking it as the best-selling classic rock album of all time. The band's gamble of releasing this album less than a decade into their career paid off.
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(https://i.imgur.com/eBWfH6w.jpeg)
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I once had the DGG set of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies by George Szell and the Cleveland orchestra, I could listen to that all the way through given time.
The local ASO performed his Second, which is somewhat rarely played, and it's excellent.
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London Calling by the Clash
https://youtu.be/LC2WpBcdM_A
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10 No Skip Rock Debut Albums That Turned Unknown Bands Into Global Superstars (https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/10-no-skip-rock-debut-albums-that-turned-unknown-bands-into-global-superstars/ar-AA1Ck64Y?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=aee24377cb7f4e89b69f511c5ecf7814&ei=16)
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it seems many times the debut album is the best of the career
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it seems many times the debut album is the best of the career
Yeah and I think it makes sense. For the first album, the songwriters of the band have likely been saving up their good stuff for a while. They put it on the album, and then have to produce another album a year or two later, with far less time to develop more of the really good stuff. Then a third album a year or two later when the reserves of good writing are even more depleted, and so on.
That's my working theory, anyway.
It could also be related to novelty. For a first album, it's a sound we haven't heard before. After that, it's either more of the same which isn't all that interesting, or it's dramatically different which might turn us off since the debut album sound, is the one we liked in the first place.
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Albums from my youth I liked a lot when I was a yute:
Eat a Peach
Crosby Stills and Nash something something
Yes
Pink Floyd DSotM (this would be a topper for me)
Oscar Peterson We get Requests
I dimly recall having a slew of "Best Hits" albums and CDs by various and sundry.
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Sting's entire early career is a wet dream for a drummer. Dream of the Blue Turtles was the masterful Omar Hakim. Nothing Like the Sun was the magnificent Manu Katche. Ten Summoner's Tales began Sting's decade-long collaboration with the incomparable Vinnie Colaiuta.
I'd like to correct what I said here, because it's factually inaccurate and I'm not sure why I experienced brain-error in something I know so well. I guess I just had the TST album on my mind in that post. Vinnie Colaiuta began playing on Sting's records one album prior to TST, on Soul Cages.
@utee94 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=15) mentioned Kenny Kirkland in the previous post he made about Sting. He was on the early records, and then Sting switched to David Sancious on TST, who brought something different I really liked. But Sting went back to Kirkland on the follow-up album, Mercury Falling. Then Kirkland died (RIP), and I was hoping Sting would get back with Sancious, but I don't think he ever did. Post-Merury Falling, Sting began a gradual path where each album lost me a little more.
I have enjoyed his most recent effort from 2021, The Bridge. A couple of the songs remind me of the TST era. But like so many of my favorite artists, my favorite stuff is in the past, and they either can't do it anymore, or they have no interest in it. It sounds odd to suggest that maybe they can't anymore, but I believe a lot of what artists create is heavily built on zeitgeist, and just because they were the creators doesn't mean they can now create more just like it.
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Yeah and I think it makes sense. For the first album, the songwriters of the band have likely been saving up their good stuff for a while. They put it on the album, and then have to produce another album a year or two later, with far less time to develop more of the really good stuff. Then a third album a year or two later when the reserves of good writing are even more depleted, and so on.
That's my working theory, anyway.
It could also be related to novelty. For a first album, it's a sound we haven't heard before. After that, it's either more of the same which isn't all that interesting, or it's dramatically different which might turn us off since the debut album sound, is the one we liked in the first place.
Yeah, and I also have a theory that once a band has achieved fame, it's hard to come up with the "hunger" that they had when they were nobodies. Especially as I think a lot of the best art comes from the expression of the down times, and once you're famous, there aren't so many of those any more.
Like the old quote: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw
I think that once the fame and fortune come, artists often turn into the "reasonable" man, which they were not before.
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that's mostly my feeling
but, Utee's is a valid point
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Maybe it's the trifecta.
utee94 says the best stuff is used up. That seems right, and the little bit of empirical evidence I have from being around so many musicians backs that up.
brad says people change into "less hungry" people, which seems right, and is an observation I made about a rock band around 25 years ago whose second album was so popular, and people complained when their third came out, and it felt to me like they weren't angry anymore, which I thought drove the success of their first two albums.
I mentioned the times they live in and how some things just can't be duplicated because by the time their 3rd and 4th albums come out, culture has moved on and any particular artist capable of producing something amazing in one time can't necessarily do it in another.
None of those are mutually exclusive, and all seem reasonable, and even likely. If so, that explains a lot about why it seems so many bands/artists peak early. They could be facing any one of those things, or a combination.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLYOgtZCXrY
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Maybe it's the trifecta.
utee94 says the best stuff is used up. That seems right, and the little bit of empirical evidence I have from being around so many musicians backs that up.
brad says people change into "less hungry" people, which seems right, and is an observation I made about a rock band around 25 years ago whose second album was so popular, and people complained when their third came out, and it felt to me like they weren't angry anymore, which I thought drove the success of their first two albums.
I mentioned the times they live in and how some things just can't be duplicated because by the time their 3rd and 4th albums come out, culture has moved on and any particular artist capable of producing something amazing in one time can't necessarily do it in another.
None of those are mutually exclusive, and all seem reasonable, and even likely. If so, that explains a lot about why it seems so many bands/artists peak early. They could be facing any one of those things, or a combination.
Yup, agree, all make sense.
Your point kind of matches the second one I made, about novelty. First albums tend to debut a unique sound, but if the second album is "more of the same" then it can be less interesting because it's no longer novel, and possibly it no longer matches the cultural environment. Alternatively if the next album is a major departure from the original sound, then it might not capture what we liked about the band in the first place.
I think one of the best examples of changing times/culture/environment, is they way grunge just completely eradicated hair metal within the span of 18-24 months. All of a sudden the hair metal bands just couldn't get airplay, they couldn't fill venues, they almost completely vanished. A style that had existed for 15 or so years, just completely gone from pop culture, in a span of months. And they were HUGLEY popular, selling out stadiums and massive arenas one day, and then barely able to book night clubs the next. Some bands that had deeper roots and better chops survived, bands like Van Halen and Guns n Roses, but all of the Slaughters and Wingers and Warrants of the world were here today, gone tomorrow. And even Van Halen and GnR, never topped the peak popularity they had in 1991/92 or so. I've just always found that to be very interesting.
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The grunge revolution is one of the swiftest and most severe cultural changes I've ever witnessed in my four-and-a-half decades. You're so right, the hair bands were here one day, and poof.....gone the next.
What's odd to me about what I mentioned is that in a lot of cases, even when the bands stick around with less notoriety, they just don't seem to have a handle on their earlier vibe even when they clearly try. Referencing the hair bands again for an example, I picked up a Poison album around 2002 out of curiosity. They clearly were still aiming for the same thing they did in the 80's, but it just wasn't happening. It's like, they knew the formula, but the formula required the actual 80's to be present in order for it to work. It's a weird thing, because those bands can still perform their old material and it's just as good, so I know it's not a matter of my tastes moving on. They just can't write new stuff that quite sounds the same.
I also think your point about the catch-22 of audience expectations is right on. It may last for a few albums instead of just the first one, but after a while it does seem like audiences either slip into the "Oh, this is the same thing they've been doing....meh" category, or the "Oh, they changed their sound and I liked how they used to sound" category. Acts that maintained a good quality and good a fanbase over a longer time-span of multiple albums are probably rare, and they have my respect.
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The grunge revolution is one of the swiftest and most severe cultural changes I've ever witnessed in my four-and-a-half decades. You're so right, the hair bands were here one day, and poof.....gone the next.
What's odd to me about what I mentioned is that in a lot of cases, even when the bands stick around with less notoriety, they just don't seem to have a handle on their earlier vibe even when they clearly try. Referencing the hair bands again for an example, I picked up a Poison album around 2002 out of curiosity. They clearly were still aiming for the same thing they did in the 80's, but it just wasn't happening. It's like, they knew the formula, but the formula required the actual 80's to be present in order for it to work. It's a weird thing, because those bands can still perform their old material and it's just as good, so I know it's not a matter of my tastes moving on. They just can't write new stuff that quite sounds the same.
I also think your point about the catch-22 of audience expectations is right on. It may last for a few albums instead of just the first one, but after a while it does seem like audiences either slip into the "Oh, this is the same thing they've been doing....meh" category, or the "Oh, they changed their sound and I liked how they used to sound" category. Acts that maintained a good quality and good a fanbase over a longer time-span of multiple albums are probably rare, and they have my respect.
I meant to comment on this yesterday because it's a good point and I agree.
So it always strikes me specifically and differently, when I do hear a modern band with a new song, that sounds purely 80s. Muse is a good example of this. Much of their music has a retro vibe, that's pretty much their thing, but a few songs are so specifically 80s, they sound as if they're plucked directly out of 1988 or so, except it's brand new music. It always surprises me when a "new" band can pull that off, especially given that so many of the "old" ones never could, as you cite with the example of Poison.