Entertainment For Lively Minds
Actually, I prefer this one...
I have discovered that my favourite albums by a number of artists are not typically the ones generally rated as their top-quality work.
For example, amazon.co.uk purchasers rate Bruce Springsteen's albums Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The Ghost of Tom Joad most highly. Allmusic.com chooses Born to Run as its "album pick". My preference is for Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
It's the same with Leonard Cohen. Amazon purchasers prefer The Songs of Leonard Cohen, Various Positions and Songs From a Room. Allmusic.com goes for The Songs of Leonard Cohen. My favourite is New Skin for the Old Ceremony.
And Tom Waits: Amazon people go for Rain Dogs, Alice and Nighthawks at the Diner; allmusic.com, Closing Time and Rain Dogs. Me: Blue Valentine (admittedly, this is highly rated by Amazon buyers, but not by allmusic.com).
The reason for my preferences? I think it's a combination of the fact that these are the first albums I heard of these artists, especially combined with the fact that my memories of those first hearings are bound up with other sentiments.
My guess is that others have a similar set of contrary views. Or is it just me?
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Nope it's not just you
REM - Automatic and Out of Time are the 'nation's faves' but Life's Rich Pageant is the flawless one.
The Smiths - they say Queen is Dead, I say Strangeways.
Not just you
U2 - everyone normally goes for The 'Joshua Tree' or 'Achtung Baby' but for me it's 'The Unforgettable Fire'
Van Morrison - People's Choice: 'Astral Weeks' - I'll take 'No Guru, No Method, No Teacher', 'Beautiful Vision', 'Into The Music', 'Avalon Sunset', Poetic Champions Compose' or 'Veedon Fleece' (you can't have just one with Van)
The Who - As great as 'Who's Next' is, as an album I'll have 'Quadrophenia'
Yep - I'm the same and for
Yep - I'm the same and for similar reasons. For me, Nebraska is the top Springsteen album and Bossanova is the Pixies' best, contrary to popular opinion. The "first heard" theory is often true, which is perhaps why I more or less go with the flow for Dylan and the Beatles ("Blonde on Blonde" and "Abbey Road").
Me too
Pink Floyd: rest of the world says "Dark Side Of The Moon", I say everything after "Time" on that album is dull and turgid, give me the much-maligned "Atom Heart Mother" and "Ummagumma" any day. Let's face it, most bands do their most interesting work in their early days, after which they either dissolve into penury, or else find a mass-appeal winning formula to which they cling like drowning men for the rest of their careers (for which they can't be blamed, since they've got to pay for their beer and fags somehow, like everybody else).
I never understand it either
I typically prefer the before and after albums
Beatles
Sergeant Pepper - take it or leave it, much prefer Revolver and White Album
Bowie
Ziggy Stardust - Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane are light years ahead of Ziggy
Queen
A Night at the Opera
Sheer Heart Attack and A Day at the Races leave it standing in the stalls
They're wrong you're right
With Bowie it always has been 'Diamond Dogs' for me. I was a little bit too young for Ziggy. But when 'Diamond Dogs' came out I borrowed it from Stuart Johnson, stuck a TDK C-90 in the Sanyo music centre, and I've loved it first and foremost ever since. Can't remember what was on the t'other side of the tape mind...
First Loves.....
Tom Waits,Blue Valentine every time. Floyd,Wish You Were Here,Dylan,Desire,Steely Dan,Aja,Bowie,Hunky Dory.These are pretty much the first albums I bought by these artists and remain my favourites despite buying just about everything else by them.Ooh!Just remembered another one Elvis Costello Spike.Fucking terrific album!!