Entertainment For Lively Minds
Best uncool album in the world
A recent thread about coolness got me thinking about a couple of weeks ago when I was driving home late at night and decided to listen to one of my favourite albums of all time. I hadn't listened to it for a couple of years and it is one of those albums which really come into their own at special times, in my case driving late at night along empty roads or sprawled on the sofa in, that very definition of a relaxed state, which comes between a heavy night and bed. Another quirk of this album is that it has (to me at least) to be listened to in its entirety in the correct order. As the last track faded away I couldn’t help feeling, not for the first time, that this piece of work is very, very special.
So, where does coolness come into this? Well, for most people, including (perhaps especially) fans of the band in question, this particular album will never be cool despite the fact that they have probably listened to it and enjoyed it more than most of their library.
It also belongs to a genre of music in which involves a good deal of chin stroking and where there is a lot of kudos in obscurity, so it goes violently against the grain to admit that one of your favourite albums is, not only the biggest commercial success of the band in question, but one of the biggest commercial successes in the history of music. In short, it carries the stigma of popularity.
They are much more likely to say something like “I like everything they did except THAT”, or “it was OK but I preferred their early stuff”, or “this is where they sold out”…you know how it goes. It’s a bit like Stairway to Heaven, most Led Zep fans say they never liked it but, in reality, I suspect most of them did at the time.
So, you may have guessed we are talking 70s here and, for those who like this music and perhaps, like me, grew up with it, I would like to challenge you to look me in the eye, put your hand on your heart and deny that Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most remarkable albums ever made.
Can’t do it can you? Well, not many of you anyway, that’s what I thought. Don’t worry, your secrets safe with me.
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No disagreement here
In fact, do you not think this may be something of a straw man, Steve? Are there really loads of Pink Floyd fans who affect not to like DSOTM? There may be some grumbling about its ubiquity, but I don't think that's quite the same thing.
Surely "War of the Worlds"
is the best uncool album? I love DSOTM, (but usually skip "Money"). The ending is quite uplifting, and the disembodied voices of the various roadies and staff at Abbey Road are a stroke of genius.
Seconds Out by Genesis
Even Genesis purists probably think it was naff, for me it was my starting point for prog and I'll always have a soft spot.
No they don't
Really, they don't.
Seconded and Thirded
Seconds Out was my introduction to Genesis (in 1980). Still love it now as much as I did then.
It's a great album, but not
It's a great album, but not totally uncool. Supertramp - Breakfast in America now that is uncool but also great!
How strange is that!
Seconds apart... I must have been typing as you pressed the 'Post Comment' button!
Invisible Touch
that's where it all went chest up, as a Gabriel purest even I like Seconds Out
'Breakfast In America' by Supertramp...
however I couldn't give a stuff whether a record is cool or not. If I like it, I like it.
Good point, I'd forgotten War of the Worlds
although it doesn't pull me back nearly as often as DSOTM. The point about Money is interesting because I've often thought that it would be a better album without it, and the bells at the beginning of Time for that matter, but when I skip it, it's just not the same.
I don't think Floyd fans pretend not to like it but most do insist that it's not their favourite, at least the ones who opine on blogs like this. I just have trouble believing this is true in the majority of cases.
Breakfast in America - well OK but I'm not talking about all time uncool albums, rather denial in the specific fan base.
if you were
talking about the best uncool albums of all time - then Synchronicity by The Police is up there. Uncool - but really rather good
What's uncool
about Dark Side of the Moon?
Surely what is cool and not cool
is just a matter of opinion
Maria McKee
Show Me Heaven may have made her a nice tidy sum but it really isn't what she really does. It's an uncool single in an ocean of cool.
But it's still a lovely song
with that voice - what's not to like?
Who says DSOTM is uncool?
I don't think there's anything to object to.
I totally agree with War of The Worlds too. It really is a magisterially good album, full of great songs, great arrangements and great performances.
Actually, Tubular Bells isn't the coolest album ever, is it? Still bloody great, though.
The live version is however
atrocious.
Tubular Bells VIII
Not that's uncool
It's not uncool
Just tedious beyond measure. Its reputation baffles me.
Big sales, coolness and the like.
The Saturday Night Fever OST is spectacularly cool/naff as well.
Now look at this list of the biggest sellers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide
Which is interesting. Questions arise.
How much must Mutt Lange be worth?
Hootie and the sodding Blowfish??????
I've only shelled out for
seven of those albums;
Bat Out of Hell
Jagged Little Pill
Nevermind
The Joshua Tree
What's The Story Morning Glory
Legend
Parallel Lines
of those only Bat Out of Hell is truly uncool. Kind of fabulous though.
Come on everyone
this is a chance to confess, liberate yourselves,
Level 42: Running In The Family. A slap bass driven slice of British jazz funk with 80's over the top production. Full of singles and schmalz, completely uncool but completely wonderfull.
I sense one of those tumbleweed moments, who's with me?
and we all have our Daddy's eyes
'World Machine' is better,
'World Machine' is better, something of a minor classic but desparately uncool.
I'll not argue
with you. I'm just happy I have them both. If any of you haven't, give them a go, you won't regret it.
Fashion Fever
Here here, I'm Running In The Family wity you on this one. Children Say that once It's Over, you have to listen to it again and again.
cool or uncool, its still brilliant
Yeah, I see the premise of the argument, but DSOTM is not the best example. Its not cool, its not uncool its just one of the best pieces of rock art in the 20th century so it transcends these sorts of cliches.
If we're talking uncool secret favourites, you need to pick an obscure album from one of your favourite genres. I'll go for Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell. The opposite of cool but still fantastic schoolboy metal magic.
Ooh yes..
Good call.
Best start to any album. Neon Knights. In fact, probably a decent call for best Side 1 of an album.
I feel an urge to listen..
(please imagine sounds of a CD being dug out)
Oooh yesyesyes.
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
I had a serious argument with a friend who dismissed this out of hand as "dinner party music" : I think it's a cracker, and he thought I had lost it.
The cover versions are good,
The cover versions are good, but the self penned stuff is pretty desparate. She is a talent though with a genuinely original voice.
Born In The USA
Being that it sold 300 000 000 000 copies or something like that it must be considered uncool. Even if it´s not the Springsteen album I return to the most I must say that whenever I do I´m usually overwhelmed.
Bobby Jean and No Surrender are two of the most beautiful stories about friendship I´ve ever heard. It´s sentimental, but in a good way. The production is obviously very eighties and the snare on the title track is beyond all recognition. But still, the emotional power can´t be denied.
For me, and possibly for you too if you are reading this, "we learned more from a three minute record, baby, than we ever learned in school" rings true, silly as it may sound.
So I think I would go for Bruce.
No Surrender
The live version on the 75-85 Box set is hauntingly beautiful. Bruce almost accapella with the tiniest bit of piano support from Roy Bittan.
Without the pomp and backing vocals of the Born in the USA, it's one his songs that touches me more than any other
Bat Out Of Hell
there I've said it, I'm not proud at all.
...
I bet you say that to alllll the boys...
Michael Jackson's trio of Quincy Jones productions..
Off the wall, Thriller,and Bad are 3 sonically-thrilling LPs with only occasional clunkers. Okay, my 10-year-old daughter is a fan and we've been playing the albums a lot. A side is no disgrace.
One sec folks
lots of excellent suggestions for uncool albums here, hold your head up DFB, Bat out of Hell is superb and only uncool until the next Meatloaf resurgence. Just look at how uncool Abba were in the 90s.
My point, obviously very badly made, was more concerning the view among the cognoscenti of the particular band / genre and not music in general. I know a lot of Floyd fans and read a lot of magazines / blogs etc and I guarantee you that if you held a public poll asking for their favourite Floyd album, most of them would pick anything other than DSOTM. It's not done in "serious appreciation" circles to pick the most obvious choice because it implies that you are not a true fan and haven't done enough research. It also may be that this was the album that got you interested in the first place and if its the most accessible to the general public, its not really for the serious follower.
The DSOTM example came to me because it was fresh in the memory but I'm sure there are other examples of artists whose obvious best work is not embraced for the same reason. They would have to have longevity and a serious fan base for this to apply.
I think these things go in cycles.
There was a time when it was 'the accepted wisdom' that Pepper was the best Beatles album, if not the best album ever made by anyone. Then it became de rigeur to sing the praises of Revolver. The recent reissues seem to have pushed Abbey Road and Rubber Soul to the fore - and even the much maligned Beatles For Sale has its adherents.
Why is this? I think it's partly a desire to show 'cool' by distancing oneself from the obvious (which would, I think also apply to your Floyd example above) and also a bit of 'familiarity breeding contempt'. Which would also apply to DSOTM.
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Fantastic album - but anyone want to argue it was not also deeply uncool. I prefer it to the early pub-rock stuff, the only shred of cool the Straits could possibly lay claim to...
Rumours
dad rock, uncool forever, very good album ... "rulers make bad lovers, you better put your kingdom up for sale...:
Sheryl Crow with the empress herself, from ten years ago ...
America - Homecoming
The best album Neil Young never made.
Out Of The Blue-The Electric Light Orchestra
Cardboard spaceships,blue vinyl, remarkable double set I even like Jungle from this distance, extremely uncool still
Rightity Right
Desperately uncool, but at the same time utterly bloody brilliant. It's an album I can come back to time after time and still find something new and beautiful.
And even on the album, Concerto For A Rainy Day is utterly preposterous, but glorious. The string swell coming out of the middle eight of Summer and Lightning still makes the hairs the back of my neck stand on end. In a very very good way, in case you were going to ask.
QE2 Mike Oldfield
Comically uncool, I suspect. But ever since a neighbour lent me this at the ago of 11, I have nurtured a soft spot for this majestic, pompous, delightful bag of sibilant top-end 80s synth-prog!
The version of 'Wonderful Land' is fantastic!
James Last's 'Voodoo Party'
James Last's 'Voodoo Party' is a corker - racist sleevenotes apart!
His versions of 'Everyday People' and 'Sing A Simple Song' are great and his 'Inner City Blues' is utterly marvellous - however, Voodoo Lady's Love is kinda Gris Gris era Dr John gone Summertime Special. Boss!
Who decides what is cool anyway?
Probably the same idiots who thought Oasis were cool in the 90s and gave Be Here Now a 5 star review. If you like it, you like it. Who cares what anyone else thinks?
Hear hear!
I couldn't agree more, Martin. Worrying about what's "cool" is something most of us will have done at some point, and hopefully grown out of not too long after leaving our teens. Now I'm in my 40s it seems so silly. When I hear people like Robert Elms whittering on about his pantheons, guilty pleasures and all the rest of it, I despair.
Just for the sake of this entertaining thread
I will reconsider using the word "cool", but apart from that you´re right of course. If only it wasn´t so TOTALLY UNCOOL to point out that cool is uncool, dude.
Don't know what this says about
the folk I used to hang around with, but I used to have the p**s taken out of me rotten, for once admitting that not only did I like China Crisis, I even owned a couple of their records. Still reckon 'Flaunt the Imperfection' and 'Working with Fire..' are belters.
Are Tears for Fears uncool?
I admit it too
Flaunt the Imperfection
Is a belter Barbara!
Definitely not cool
...or intellectual, or even pc
Amen to that
Ar..
Is it not true that, deep down, we all love a bit of AkkerDakker?
Actually, you don't have to dig too deeply in my case.
Yes
a bit being the operative words. I couldn't manage too much at once, mind.
Much as I love 'em
You're right, Illuminatus. It's a rare thing or me to listen to an entire AC/DC album.
oops
double post
First one that springs to mind is...Queen II
Looks really out of place in my collection and shouldn't work...but it just does.
Queen II...
...is fantastic - the best thing they ever put their name to - even if you allow for the fact that it contains songs called "The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke" and "Ogre Battle".
Tarkus
or probably anything by ELP
Bless me, Father
for I quite like The Travelling Wilbury's Volume 1.
If
you only quite like it, you're not trying hard enough.
Alright Damn it !
My name is Robert and I am A Travelling Wilburys fan. ( I feel cleansed and accepted )...
Good man
Quite right too because it's great. I struggle to find anything less than good on this album. I think that anything containing Roy Orbison satisifes the good criterion, pretty much by definition. I bought it on cassette when it was first released and then bought the reissues. And it was a bargain.
Actually, volume 3 is good as well. Any album that contains a George Harrison sitar solo that's a shameless rip from Greg Lake's I Believe In Father Christmas can't be all bad.
George Harrison? Shameless rip?
Shorely shome mishtake?! He's so fine a musician...
Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison
Now there's an uncool album but I seriously love it. Ok, actually I seriously love every solo album he did up to and including Veedon Fleece; it got a bit wobbly and dull after that. But honestly, can anyone beat that ? I'm a bit obsessed with its bass sound at the minute, just a really great organic sound. And all that wife sitting by the fire waiting for the husband to come home old-fashioned stuff, hilarious but great.
As for the point about Zep, it's is only partially true - most Zep fans don't talk up Stairway to Heaven, but this is actually because it's no more than average by Zep standards and nor is the album. You wanna get some Physical Graffiti in you instead.
How is Tupelo Honey not cool - if such a thing mattered
I seem to recall some review about the title track which went along the lines of six minutes in which Van shows why he's got the best white soul voice ever. Which is more or less true. And cool. Seriously uncool cover - what was all that with the horse and the lady?
Don't forget
he is the Belfast Cowboy.
"36 Degrees"
by Placebo would appear to me to be pretty (un)cool.