Last record that suprised you?
Posted by Mark Dando on 15 January 2008 - 4:54pm.
Ok. I really should be working but wanted to put this up. What was the last album that suprised you? Something you thought you would not like, possibly from a genre you dont normally listen to, but did.
To start i bought The Pigeon Detectives album yesterday. Thought it was a bit chart friendly for me, but i was seduced by the 3 singles and so got the album yesterday and its great
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Hardly original but...
...I'd have to say 'In Rainbows.' I'm sure many people weren't surprised by it, but I've never particularly been a Radiohead fan, and to be honest, only really bought it because I could get it on the cheap (I did pay some money for it, mind).
It just seems to get better and better with each listen. Personally I prefer it to both 'OK Computer' and 'The Bends.'
(he said, preparing for the onslaught of abuse)
Great album...
"Weird Fishes / Arpeggi" is such a beautiful song.
Can't Get Over The Beautiful Rainbow
It's my favourite of the album too. Although it's a cliche, "In Rainbows" does just get better and better with every listen. Well worth the £4 I paid for it; I do feel a bit guily about that, I may buy the shop version too.
£4?!
I paid the princely sum of £2.50 for mine I think, and I won't buy the CD version. Although I still prefer owning music in a physical format, it doesn't take me long to see who wins the 'poor university student' versus 'extremely wealthy rock stars' debate.
Radiohead
Im a bit of an obsessive Radiohead fan so obviously im gonna agree but i did think In Rainbows was a stunning piece of work. certainly their best since Kid A
And i wont hurl any abuse. I never understood the uproar when they released Kid A, with everyone saying that it was a huge departure. i think if you listen the the albums in order you can hear the progression. But then i guess its easy to say that with hindsight.
Hmmm...
I think they're a good band, I've just always been slightly wary of them because of the hype. There are plenty of bands I prefer the music of who don't get anywhere near as much press coverage. In my opinion, they've become shorthand for "I take music seriously and like proper bands," which is obviously no fault of their own. Then again, I should judge them solely on merit, the 'honesty box' idea made me think "why not?" and I've been very pleasantly surprised - it's the album I'm listening to the most at the moment.
But relating to your comment, are you claiming that Hail to the Thief is a 'progression' from OK Computer or Kid A?
Maybe not a progression
To be honest was not realy thinking of that. More the time around the release of Kid A. There was so much coverage of that in the music press and people were so upset/suprised by Kid A but i never found it such a removal. I could see the progression from Ok Computer.
But i guess it may have been different for me as i was already listening to some of the things that they were influenced by like some of the Warp acts, so maybe in a way i knew what to expect (my god that makes me sound like such a snob!)
On the subject of Hail to the Thief i do like the album but i feel it is one of their poorer offerings. Bit too long really. But will always have a special place in my heart due to Glastonbury 2003. They played a lot of the album that night and it is still the best gig i have ever seen
Hail
There are some amazing tracks on Hail To The Thief. "There There" and "Where I End And You Begin" are up there with their best stuff.
Well said that man...
"Hail To The Thief" has taken a lot of stick recently, but I think it's a great record! "Sail To The Moon", the aforementioned "WIEAYB", "Go To Sleep"... loads of classic Radiohead music.
I'll take your word for it
I was just playing Devil's advocate really. I've heard Hail to the Thief and thought it pretty average, although I do very much like 2+2=5.
Anyway, back on topic, yes, In Rainbows is really very good!
Oh God
I think that's the Radiohead set I caught at Glasto too. I'd tried to wipe it from my memory, but you've reopened the wounds. Over an hour of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Endless tales of trauma from Oxford's noisiest export. If I hadn't been too trashed to find my way back to our tents on my own, I'd have left the field. As it was, I just sat down in the mud and tried burrowing.
The one that surprised me
was Malcolm Middleton. It was an impulse purchase - never heard anything he did but was taken by some of the reviews. I expected him to be like Damien Rice but its something quite different and the opener could almost be an anthem.
Quantic Soul Orchestra is another one that I am well into. If you took a straw poll of our purchases I wonder what percentage are new artists not previously appearing in collections as opposed to trusted favourites. Oh by the way Neil Youngs Chrome Dreams is better than the tepid reviews it got.
Not an album but...
I'd say the song that's caught my imagination most of late is probably "John Barleycorn" from the Imagined Village CD, courtesy of the recent best of Now Hear This (not creeping at all, honest !)
I'd never heard this song before but there's usually a bit of a story behind anything "Trad arr.", so I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that, far from it being an epic folk song telling of how our hero John Barleycorn was hunted down and captured by three ruthless mercenaries before being brutally tortured and killed, he's actually "the personification of the cereal crop barley" and everything that happens to him "corresponds with the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barleycorn
You learn a little something every day.
R.E.M. Live
Having seen the track listing in advance and noted that it was a recording of a relatively recent show, incorporating many songs from the unloved Around The Sun, I approached this album with the weary resignation of a helpless completest.
The last thing I expected was an enjoyable live album. The band sound well-rehearsed and energetic. The contemporary material has a bite, absent from studio recordings, confirming my suspicions that recent R.E.M. albums have been over-thought and over-produced.
I would go further and say that...
most recent albums full stop are over-thought and over-produced. Hold on... over-thought, maybe not. Let me think about that for a while...
Totally agree.....
Spot on assessment of R.E.M. "Live". I was lucky enough to see them in Cardiff on the same tour and I agree the newer material really held its own against the classic older stuff. I just wish they'd go back and work with Scott Litt again, everything they've recorded since they stopped working with him has been overproduced.
'Call The Shots'...
by Girls Aloud. I really didn't buy the critics' worshiping of them, and still don't, but that is a damn good record.
Call the Shots
They dont look bad either
I don't like folk...
...but last years Rachel Unthank and the Winterset - The Bairns is lovely and it's not Radiohead.
Lovely.
Bill Withers & Radiohead
I bought Bill Withers live at Carnegie Hall a few week ago and It is just amazing. Couldn't recommend it enough. The crowd interaction is incredable and the way he finishes and restarts the first track Use Me egged on by the audience is stunning.
Up there with Van Morrison Its Too Late to Stop.
I never downloaded or listened to the new Radiohead till it came in the post (the Big Box MOTHER)a couple of weeks ago and its the first new album in years that I put on and played about 5 times over. Maybe its because its 10 tracks and 35 mins odd but having been a fan and given up on them this actually blew me away.
And for fun who couldn't like the Reverned and the Makers.
Bill Withers...
Live at Carnegie Hall is a masterpiece. Incredible songs, incredible band, incredible atmosphere.