Today I played...

[Wilfrid]

I had completely forgotten Costello produced that Specials album.

[Wilfrid]

It speaks volumes that The Beatles could only reach #17 with Please Please Me. Not a major work, but hey, it's not bad. A bunch of covers, of course, nothing that overstays its welcome (nothing reaches 3 minutes, and the whole thing is about half an hour).  "There's a Place" is short enough to be a Wire track.

 

Of course, after listening to Moby Grape and the Flying Burrito Brothers through the murk of history, I was acutely aware that this was a superbly re-mastered version of a 1963 mono album.

 

At #16 a record I know backwards, The New York Dolls. This kicks off ferociously with "Personality Crisis" and "Looking for a Kiss," but side two really doesn't let up. I like those pills.

[hollywood]

 

#22 Murmur. I followed R.E.M. from a distance, I guess. Some admirable albums, some great songs. I didn't remember anything about this so I had to go back and listen. It's fine, but I'd say not compelling. Great background music, but nothing which makes me want to listen really hard and try to figure out what Stipe is on about.

 

#20 The Specials. Ironic to find this next to Morrissey.  I listened to some of the tracks I don't remember (most of them I do), and it's some good stuff. But it does highlight the omission of One Step Beyond from the list. Certainly, Madness's greatest songs were spread over several albums, but their debut should be on this list. A hit factory, but perhaps not taken as seriously as Dammers and The Specials -- perhaps because they were very funny.

 

I was awakened to R.E.M. via Robert Hilburn; I had a subscription to the Village Voice from the minute I moved to California, in order to see what I was missing in NYC; I forget how he put it, but I raced out to buy the album and was fortunate enough to see them in a little club in Palo Alto, on what was probably their first foray to the left coast. Been a fan ever since, and am still trying to figure out what he is saying in many of those songs.  

 

The Specials - but of course I had to love them; look who produced that first album.

 

Horses was sorta like nothing else I'd ever heard before...or since.

 

Do you mean Robert Christgau?

[Sneakeater]

When the indie "Radio Free Europe" single came out, it like took over New York.

 

I couldn't really see it.

[Sneakeater]

Handel:  Clori, Tersi e Fileno (Bonizzoni/La Risonanza)

 

Mezrow-Bechet Quintet:  The King Jazz Records Story (Disc 5)

 

Julio Guitierrez:  Cuban Jam Session

 

Zs:  Score (Disc 1)

 

Computer Magic:  Phonetics (I really don't understand why Computer Magic isn't better known.  I really love her stuff -- and so does everyone I ever play it for.)

 

Vallertotonda/I Bassifonda feat. Enrico Onofri & Emóke Baráth:  Roma '600 (pieces by Kapsperger/Lori/Improv./Anon.Marchetti/Vallerotonda/Frescobaldi/Foscarini/Pasquini/Valdambrini/Kircher) (I was not expecting this to be as totally wonderful as it was)

 

Manu Delago:  Silver Kobalt

 

Ravel:  Le Tombeau de Couperin/Pavane pour une Infante Défunte/Miroirs (Queffélec)

 

Hoffmeister:  Flute Concertos Nos. 16, 17 & 22 (Meier//Prague Chamber Orchestra)

 

Braulio Cruz:  The Braille of the Soul

[Wilfrid]

When The Beatles come, can the Stones be far behind?

 

No, they're at #15. I listened to the U.S. version which substitutes "Not Fade Away" for "Mona" on side one. This is like putting on an old pair of slippers. So familiar.  The strong contrast with The Beatles is the much heavier blues roots in the Stones' repertoire: Willie Dixon, Slim Harpo, Jimmy Reed.

 

#14 is a curate's egg. The Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, presenting a handful of great, guitar driven tracks, padded out with a lot of silly, nursery rhyme twaddle. "Interstellar Overdrive" is over-extended but immortal, "Lucifer Sam" sounds like a James Bond theme, "Astronomy Domine" almost makes me think of the MC5 in their Sun Ra mood. But oh dear, the rest: influential, certainly, but not in a good way. If you want twee Englishness, I'd direct you to early Soft Machine (why do I tolerate that so much more?).

 

#13 And some pure pop from The Byrds, Mr Tambourine Man. Is this too high on the list? I think the sheer sound tends to justify it; McGinn's jangle. Gene Clark's "Feel a Whole Lot Better" is my personal favorite here.

[Wilfrid]

Down to the top 12, 10 of which I own, and it's a pretty solid list.  But I'll dip into them, and find something to say.

 

I wonder if one of the two I don't own is obvious?

[joethefoodie]

 

 

#22 Murmur. I followed R.E.M. from a distance, I guess. Some admirable albums, some great songs. I didn't remember anything about this so I had to go back and listen. It's fine, but I'd say not compelling. Great background music, but nothing which makes me want to listen really hard and try to figure out what Stipe is on about.

 

#20 The Specials. Ironic to find this next to Morrissey.  I listened to some of the tracks I don't remember (most of them I do), and it's some good stuff. But it does highlight the omission of One Step Beyond from the list. Certainly, Madness's greatest songs were spread over several albums, but their debut should be on this list. A hit factory, but perhaps not taken as seriously as Dammers and The Specials -- perhaps because they were very funny.

 

I was awakened to R.E.M. via Robert Hilburn; I had a subscription to the Village Voice from the minute I moved to California, in order to see what I was missing in NYC; I forget how he put it, but I raced out to buy the album and was fortunate enough to see them in a little club in Palo Alto, on what was probably their first foray to the left coast. Been a fan ever since, and am still trying to figure out what he is saying in many of those songs.  

 

The Specials - but of course I had to love them; look who produced that first album.

 

Horses was sorta like nothing else I'd ever heard before...or since.

 

Do you mean Robert Christgau?

 

 

Of course; I was just seeing if you were awake  .  Too much time for me in southern Cal, I guess.

[Sneakeater]

Beethoven:  Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 (Gardiner/Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique)

 

Vivaldi:  Juditha Triumphans (Kielland/Redmond/de Liso/Martín-Cartón/Mulders//Savall/Le Concert des Nations/La Capella Real de Catalunya)

 

Zs:  Score (Disc 2)

 

Devo:  Q:  Are We Not Men?  A:  We Are Devo!

 

Sayer/The Temple Church Choir:  A Knight's Progress (choral works by Parry/Walton/Nico Muhly/Tavener/Vaughan Williams/Bairstow/Haydn)

 

C.P.E. Bach:  Sechs Sonatinen für das Clavier/etc.  (Markovina)

[Wilfrid]

#12 The Ramones. Summer 1976. One of my friend's parents are out of town, so a bunch of us are crashing at his place. Underage drinking, Ouija board, music.  He played this album, and I could make nothing of it. We had all been looking for music with rougher edges than the pomp and prog rock which fascinated our contemporaries. We had Dr Feelgood, Eddie and the Hot Rods, the Count Bishops. But this was rougher than anything I could have imagined. It sounded like a vacuum cleaner, rhythmically monotonous and devoid of melody.

 

It might have taken me two or three weeks, but eventually of course it all made sense. It's an iconic work, hilarious, and stuffed with tunes. "Hey ho, let's go."

 

In addition to the bands mentioned above, we also had recourse to The Who and the Stones. My journey with The Who doubtless began with the hit records and Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. Then the more complex Who's Next. Quadrophenia took over when Nicky Horne played it all the way through on his Capital Radio show, week of release.  (I was never obsessed with Tommy.)

 

But if I had to pick one Who album, it would be this one (My Generation #11); I discovered the first last. Not for the writing, not for Townsend's guitar, but for the most creative, unpredictable, explosive rhythm section in rock. Try an experiment: play this, and listen to nothing but the drums. It is not time wasted.

[Steve R.]

I actually missed the 1st 2 albums and then heard them when “The Who Sells Out” came out. It became one of my most listened to albums & I still think it’s pure genius. And, I agree that listening to Moon play drums on these early works is incredible. Entwistle ain’t half bad either. Daltry’s vocals were always the weak point and, although I’m fond of Tommy, nothing afterwards kept my attention.

[cinghiale]

Mary Ann with the Shaky Hand on Sell Out is priceless. Wouldn't prolly do so well today in the MeToo moment.

[Sneakeater]

The drumming on "The Kids Are Alright" . . . . . !

 

(Also "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere", but I guess that's a non-LP single.)

[Sneakeater]

(I also agree strongly with Wilf's implicit point that John Entwhistle is highly underrated as a musician.)

[Sneakeater]

Schumann:  Manfred Overture/"Zwickauer" Symphony/Szenen aus Goethes Faust Overture/Hermann und Dorothea Overture/Genoveva Overture/Die Braut von Messina Overture/Julius Caesar Overture (Holliger/WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln)

 

Cowell/Grainger:  Works for Saxophone (Ulrich Krieger etc.)

 

Julio Gutierrez:  Cuban Jam Session Vol. 2

 

Gene Pritsker:  Sound Liberation

 

Braulio Cruz:  Pool

 

Wordsworth:  Symphony No. 3//Searle:  Symphony No. 2//Joubert:  Symphony No. 1 (Braithwaite/Krips/Handley/London Philharmonic Orchestra)

 

Miss Information:  Sequence (LOVELOVELOVE this)

 

Valerie Kuehne/Joey Molinaro:  7" Split

 

Charles Lloyd:  8:  Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobrero)

 

Bach:  Raritäten für das Cembalo (Cristiano Holtz)