Entertainment For Lively Minds
Mainstream and under appreciated
It may be lazy journalism, but I suspect that deep down everybody loves a list, whether it's the Best 100 Comedy Moments of the last 1,000 years or Stuart Maconie's Top 10 sofas (and yes, I know it's not actually him). Best of all of course is Best Albums of All Time. There's probably a general consensus amongst the Word Massive - a 'Pet Sounds', a 'Revolver', an 'OK Computer' from the junior form, and maybe a 'Trout Mask Replica' from the slightly odd chap in the corner. I like to play this game too - great scope for establishing your credibility, and sparking debate - if not actual physical violence - by throwing something by Gentle Giant into the mix.
I am sure this has been asked here before, but how many of these All Time Top Ten actually ever make it to your turntable / CD player / ipod? I'm quite happy to listen to 'God Only Knows' any day of the week but I'm not sure when I last listened to 'Pet Sounds' all the way through. And I have never yet made it to the end of 'Trout Mask Replica', although it sits on the shelf because of course no music collection is complete without it.
There are however albums that, over a period of years, I have listened to a lot and returned to often, and the overlap with those lists has generally been pretty limited - sometimes it may be a critically approved artist but not the usually most-lauded album. I don't think that these are 'guilty pleasures' particularly, just fairly mainstream, solid, maybe a little under appreciated, and most of which will never make anybody's All Time Top Ten list. Without feeling the need for justification or explanation:
The Rolling Stones - 'Goat's Head Soup'
Teddy Thompson - 'Separate Ways'
Paul Simon - 'One Trick Pony'
Aretha Frankin - 'Aretha In Paris'
Joni Mitchell - 'Hejira'
Cowboy Junkies - '200 More Miles'
Lloyd Cole - 'Love Story'
John Mellencamp - 'Lonesome Jubilee'
David Bowie - 'Heathen'
Bob Dylan - 'Street Legal'
Little Feat - 'Dixie Chicken'
So, is there perhaps something by say the Steve Miller Band that I should add?
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3 albums
Three albums I would never be without:
Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs
Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes - Hearts Of Stone
Ry Cooder - Show Time
These aren't even necessarily the "best" albums by the artists but they are perfect nonetheless.
Good to see 'One Trick Pony' and 'Hejira' on your list...
I would add...
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Sandy Denny - The North Star Grassman And The Ravens
Randy Newman - Sail Away
amongst many others...
Nice to see...
...'Goats Head Soup' on that list. It's always passed over as not being a classic but they'd kill to make an album that good now, I think! Also agreed on 'Heathen', one of his best I reckon.
A few more:
Paul McCartney- Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (maybe his best solo work as far as I'm concerned)
Isaac Hayes- Hot Buttered Soul (always passed over in favour of 'What's Going On' as the token soul album in those awful Q polls- I prefer this)
John Martyn- Inside Out (a challenging, jazz-flavoured album but one of his best for me)
Richard Thompson- Rumor And Sigh (sorry! I'm no expert or fanboy but I like this)
Yes- Close To The Edge (a big seller but again, never in those Q-style polls)
Led Zeppelin- Houses Of The Holy (I've always loved this album)
yes , good call on one trick pony
...the "lesser" paul simon offers rich pickings. I love the Hearts and Bones album.
i would add
With The Beatles
Little Ship by Loudon Wainwright iii
Airs and Graces by June Tabor ( although maybe she's not that mainstream...Oh i don't know.)
Lonesome Jubilee
was the album with Cherry bomb on it? Had that on cassette and loved it - might need to check it out. Anyway here are 10 based on fact they got substantial airplay more than a year after purchase:-
Nils Lofgren - Acoustic live
Lucinda Williams - Car wheels on a gravel road
Elvis Costello - King of America
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (in fact any of their first 4 albums could have been chosen)
Neil Young - Freedom
Ian McNabb - Boots
Bobby Charles - Last train to Memphis
Leonard Cohen - Songs of
Richard Thompson - Mock Tudor (underrated from his later period)
Martin Stephenson - Boat to Bolivia
20 years or more without ever getting dusty
John Hiatt - Slow Turning
K.D. Lang - Shadowland
Prince - 1999
Ry Cooder - Bop Till You Drop
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
Neville Brothers - Fire on the Bayou
and, so as not to disappoint Steven:
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like an Eagle
Plus quite a few Demon/Edsel-type Best Ofs issued in the '80s, including James Carr, Garnett Mimms, Z.Z. Hill, Bettye Lavette and Percy Sledge.
All the above have been played regularly since I bought them. Interestingly, none of the ones I played to death for a year or two (example, Elvis Costello - Get Happy!) have stood the test of time. The ones that have made the list were all slow burners: I liked them a lot but was never obsessed with them.
Not in any order,
Graham Parker - Howlin' Wind
The Jam - All Mod Cons
The Who - Quadrophenia
Steve Forbert - Jackrabbit Slim
Roddy Frame - Surf
Yours is no disgrace.
If it's my ten most returned to titles, ones that I won't get as part of a commonly voted for set, and which I'm about to be marooned on an island with for the rest of my natural, I need these two to take me back to the heady greatcoat days of 1969-1975.
The Yes Album
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Neither of these show up in top ten lists, only ever scraping into the lower reaches of top 100s, but both are still regularly spun 'round these parts.
Five albums that I play
Five albums that I play regularly and that always have the desired effect, and the effect.
Squeeze - Frank (big smile)
Soulwax - Much Against Everyone's Advice (wandering about pretending I'm in the band delivering it live)
Francis Dunnery - Tall Blonde Helicopter (sitting back and spiralling into self-reflection)
Ash - Free All Angels (see Soulwax)
Pink Floyd - Animals (taking to the streets with a machete)
Jordan: The Comeback
Just posted a comment on another thread, referring to Prefab Sprout's 1990 album "Jordan: The Comeback", reminding myself in the process just how good this record was. It was well-received on its release and (I think) sold reasonably well but seems to be almost forgotten know. Definitely under-appreciated in my opinion - I think it represents the creative peak of one of the best songwriters of his generation.
Jordan not forgotten
You are not alone, Jordan features on my list also. As well as great music, it engages you on an intellectual(!) level as it weaves Elvis/ Jesse James/ God references in a way that you always find things hidden you didn't catch before.
Others that I keep coming back to include
The Clash - London Calling
Roddy Frame - Surf
The Blue Nile - Hats
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Elbow - Leaders of the Free World (although the latest is working its way there)
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky
Eels: Blinking Lights and other revelations
Mainstream, but hugely underrated. Like most dobules, it could possibly have made a single album, but the second disc is almost flawless and the first isn't bad either.
I'd go for...
Crowded House - Together Alone - often overlooked in favour of Woodface and its well-known singles.
Ryan Adams - Cold Roses - I think this double is more or less all fantastic and comfortably the equal of the more lauded Heartbreaker and Gold.
plonk
Ronnie Lane's first three
Mary Asquith's"Closing Time'
Bruce Cockburn "the one with "Great Big Love" on it produced by Booker T)
Robert Waytt"Cuckooland"
Stackridge "The Man With The Bowler Hat" "Extravagnaza"
Tom Waits"Foreign Affairs"
Much time for
Pink Floyd - 'Meddle'. The album of theirs of which I am most fond I would say, although I admire and enjoy those big albums that followed.
Pulp - 'His 'n' Hers'. The breakthrough album for them but tends to be overlooked in preference to 'Different Class' yet has some of their best tunes on it, like 'Babies'.
And Pink Glove...
..possibly my favourite Pulp song. And Lipgloss, Acrylic Afternoons, Joyriders. What a fine record.
Todays top 10
I'm Your Man/Leonard Cohen
Tambourine/Tift Merritt (spurred by last weeks postings)
North Star Grassman and the Ravens/Sandy Denny
Bongos over Balham/Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers
Holland/Beach Boys
Essence/Lucinda Williams
Home and Away/Clive Gregson & Christine Collister
Evidence/Boo Hewardin & Darden Smith
Music in Trust/Battlefield Band
Leave Home/Ramones
It'll all be different tomorrow.