Entertainment For Lively Minds
Unknown "perfect" albums
Like most Word readers, I've got loads of CDs. But there are only a few that are "perfect" (EVERY SINGLE TRACK, cover, sound, timing etc). These are mostly well known massive sellers and/or regular list toppers and critics' faves -Dark Side Of The Moon; Rumours; Nevermind; Kind Of Blue; Pink Moon; Astral Weeks; Stone Roses; Screamadelica; Blue Lines; Steve McQueen; High Land, Hard Rain; Exodus; Damn The Torpedoes; Is A Woman?; Peter Gabriel 3; Rickie Lee Jones debut; Norah Jones debut; Waits; Springsteen; Dylan; Beatles; Elton, Bowie; etc. etc. etc.
All the usual suspects we all know and love.
However there are a few "perfect" albums that I never EVER hear about. From my collection: The Games Up by Sniff 'N' The Tears; Creuza De Ma by Fabrizio De Andre; The Dub Factor by Black Uhuru; The Right Time by The Mighty Diamonds; Taureg by Agricantus. All perfect, they are.
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Can a Norah Jones album be described as perfect?
And surely this is all subjective anyway? I personally find Nevermind to be a pile of steaming you know what but as it came out when I was already 26, it is perhaps hardly surprising. Then again I think Germ Free Adolescents by X-Ray Spex is a brilliant album without a single weak track - something that you probably wouldn't agree with.
Mr UtrechtSimon
Of course it's all subjective. But that doesn't mean Nevermind isn't brilliant and you are totally wrong. Which is nice.
Fair enough..
...but then surely YOU must be wrong about Norah Jones being perfect. That is unless you're talking about background music as the album is so unintrusive as to be practically invisible (in an aural sense).
Anyway, to add another to your list of unknown perfect albums, I would have to suggest:
The National - Boxer
Norah
Hmmm, would be stramge as I've never been wrong before. Actually I find Norah's first two albums pretty perfect. Lazy, laid back, jazzy and background. Nowt wrong with that. Will check out The National. Ta.
I'll be sure
to check those out. You missed out the Zombies in your first paragraph.
The Cult
Their album Love is I think just perfect. I wouldn't say it's unknown though it never appears as a darling of the critics but each track just hits the spot for me.
unknown perfect albums
I have very wide ranging taste in music and its always going to be subject of debate and discussion to describe an album as perfect due to the huge range and variety of styles and personal preferences.
My choice of perfect album by a lesser known artist would be Normal for Bridgewater by Peter Bruntnell from back in 1997. I bought this when it came out and listen to it in its entirety almost every week and it still sounds brilliant every time.
Easy Listening
...Boz Scaggs " Silk Degrees " never puts a foot wrong.
good call
Silk Degrees is an overlooked masterpiece.
As I'm here, I'm going to nominate A Few Small Repairs by Shawn Colvin. Fabulous from beginning to end.
I don't know about 'perfect'...
but that is a fantastic record.
Could I also add Boz Scaggs
Could I also add Boz Scaggs 1980 album "Middle Man"
Not a dud track on it and the production still sounds fantastic !
Thank the Lord for that...
...I thought it was only me. Silk Degrees almost perfect, I even have a soft spot for Down Two Then Left.
Had forgotten my Boz phase for many years since the late 70s but surprisingly got the chance to see him when on a business trip to the US in October last year. Watched him play for 90 mins or so in a fantastic club just outside Washington DC - quality!
Roach
Down Two Then Left. Not a hair on its head would I change. Perfect!
Whilst I totally agree with you...
Every time I hear the first verse of We're All Alone, I'm stunned by the bizarre strangled singing style he adopts
If you like Boz,
you simply MUST hear his album 'Some Change', from 1994.
I used to drive to work from Bath to Bournemouth and back several times a week, a route without a yard of motorway; a two and a half hour slog across the A roads and B roads of Wiltshire and Dorset. When that album came out it ate up most the journey in fabulous style, and took me pleasantly home time and again. Highly recommended.
Sticking to the brief
As for "unknown" albums then the following for me are as perfect as better known fare:
Citay - Little Kingdom (some tracks here: http://www.myspace.com/citay07)
Cuchillo - Cuchillo (http://www.last.fm/music/Cuchillo/Cuchillo)
Hem - Rabbit Songs (http://www.last.fm/music/Hem/Rabbit+Songs or http://open.spotify.com/album/2HRHJvezC2hSOC9mTONxVu)
A Piece Of What You Need
Teddy Thompson.
Perfect from start to finish.
Not a note wasted, as Q magazine once said about the Blue Nile's Peace at Last.
Iain, i'm gonna disagree on TT for one small reason...
It's the secret/final/hidden track. I'm sorry. I just think in this day and age it's unpardonable and numptiness of the first water. Musically, the album doesn't put a foot wrong. It really shines. He's got a cracking voice, the songs stand up, the production is fine...but he loses the 'perfection' hat-doffing for the childish x minutes of silence. It means, quite simply, that if you want to hear it, you can either sit in silence, or be sat there in the car/wherever holding down the fast-skip button until it comes on.
Christ almighty, it was a royal pain in the hole when bands started doing it ten years ago, and it hasn't gotten any funnier with age!
rant over!
Bloody Hell!
It is a sign of my hectic lifestyle that at the end of what I believed to be the last track, I flicked on to the next album on my Pod.
I agree that it is a royal pain in the hole. Is the hidden track any good?
not a notion, old son...
if listening to it on CD in the car, i think it's kinda irresponsible to be feckin' around with the CD player in that sort of manner just to get to it. On the iPod, it gets the 'next song' treatment, like any song with a drawn-out fade-out would do...
See, if he'd just listed x tracks on the cover, but put x+1 on the disc, i'd have no bother. It's still a secret untitled track, but without the flippin' need to fast forward...
It's....
...The Price of Love, the Everly's cover he finishes his set with. Not worth the wait, but I'm going to ignore it, and repeat my belief that this is a perfect album.
and on reflection
i'm not going to disagree; my broadside against hidden tracks still stands.
Tom McRae's first album
One of the most fascinating, dark and beautiful albums I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Shoulda won the Mercury award all those years ago instead of PJ Harvey.
http://open.spotify.com/album/3XsvLCSxYqZvHvzKYRxeXC
Totally agree
tom mcrae's first is a stone classic.All his future ones got worse and worse due to over production.
Thirded
Have to agree, Tom McRae's debut is a stunner. Also he gave one of the best gigs I ever saw at Auntie Annies in Belfast in 1999 or maybe 2000.
I gave up on him after "Just Like Blood", for exactly the reason you state, ie over production.
Pity
Janis Ian
"Between the Lines" is perfection. Not a duff track. Although it might be a good idea to have the Samaritans phone number close at hand.
Well
you missed "Hats " Blue Nile in your first list plus "Solid Air"
and I know we are not supposed to rabbit on about him but Richard and Linda Thomson's "Pour Down Like Silver" is the seldom mentioned perfect gem of their catalogue. I have referred to this before in another thread but I also think "A Quiet Eye " by June Tabor is another, also Trashcan Sinatra's"Weightlifting" and Boo Hewerdine's "Thanksgiving" is a treat and seems to have spawned a few cover versions.
Jim White - No Such Place
Absolute genius from beginning to end, and I'm not much of an album fan in general.
http://www.luakabop.com/jim_white/cmp/album3.html
Off to listen to it all again now - marvellous.
Listen to the chap!
An extraordinary recording and probably Jm white's finest.
Average albums
can be beautiful in the eye of the beholder. It just depends how you came to know them.
For me it's Idlewild by Everything But The Girl (I know, I KNOW..). Any one of its songs takes me back to big hair, big jumpers and cold flats, and complicated relationships with intense women. Ditto Steve McQueen and Rattlesnakes - both perfect in my eyes, so there.
four nominations
for me, there are four albums that are certainly less heard of.... but I view them as perfect
if you've heard of them, well done, have a biscuit
Buffalo Daughter - I
Alfie - A Word In Your Ear
Julie London - Julie Is Her Name
Larrikin Love - The Freedom Spark
Steve's sister
Have a listen to Stacey Earle's first album Simple Gearle (Ok, maybe that dreadful pun mars its perfection) but musically it is wonderful.
Playing pianos filled with flames
In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel:
Only picked it up as I saw someone had taken the time and effort to write one of those 33 1/3 'classic' album books about it, they were right it is a stone cold...
A truly remarkable record.
Perfection is in the eye of the beholder I think, but ladies and gents behold. I give you "In An Aeroplane Over The Sea". One of the most remarkable albums in my collection which is not only perfect, it paved the way for some beautiful baroque pop; Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists. If these artists are to your taste and you haven't heard "Aeroplane" then give it a spin.
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Give It Back - wonderful stuff (recorded around the time they were being filmed for the excellent documentary film "Dig!").
Nick Heyward's
"From Monday to Sunday" is damn near perfect but then again the rest of his solo stuff is pretty much the same. Sickeningly ignored by the nostalgia trolling music press.
Jam today...
Nice Jam references on Caravan - 'about the young idea' refrain and 'she still loves to play the Jam'. Agree that he is unfairly overlooked. His work can easily stand comparison with more lauded 'classic pop' writers like Lee Mavers IMHO.
Tangled
is pretty damn fine as well.
He's on myspace you know:
http://www.myspace.com/nicholasheyward
Royalties
Glad to big up Nick Heyward and a lot of other unsung artists, but...(as I posted today on the main Spotify thread) - I've been quite content to play his albums on Spotify. I've not felt an overwhelming need to own a shiny silver disc with a stapled booklet in a jewel case. I'm sure Nick will be pleased to hear he is appreciated, but I bet he wouldn't mind also making a few quid as a result. I've already seen him live, in the mid-90s, and would be happy to do so again, but that may well be the end of my financial contribution. I've seen a few comments along the lines of 'try before you buy', but that to me applies more to the song snippets you get on the iTunes store, whereas listening to Spotify (assuming you've got reasonable PC speakers) is a near-identical experience to 'owning' the music. Thoughts?
I thought
the artists did get some form of royalties from being on Spotify?
I do know what you mean I certainly feel much less inclined to buy stuff now that I can listen to pretty much anything I want on there.
I'm awfully partial to the Masters Of Reality
Their first album, sometimes called "Masters Of Reality" sometimes called "The Blue Garden" has not one duffer on it. It's kind of Black Sabbathy rock, and the band's main man Chris Goss has since made quite a name for himself as a producer working with Queens Of The Stone Age.
Second album Sunrise On The Sufferbus is good but not as good. Also features a certain Ginger Baker on drums...
The tune below is from the first album, done live, with Baker on drums. It's as Word friendly as you like...
Beat me to it
Criminally under-rated album. I used to have it on both sides of a C100 tape in the car stereo to fast forward & play again when it finished. Sunrise on the Sufferbus is good and they have done several more albums, including ones with members of QOTSA, but none are as good as the debut. Their album covers probably don't help sales.
Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
Also perfect, not very well known & produced by Chris Goss of the Masters of Reality. I only found it when it was played while I browsed the racks in Jumbo Records in Leeds - I just had to know what it was. Awesome.
Can't argue with that.
Tremendous album with not a bad track on it.
I'd love to get this,
but I'm afraid it appears to cost silly money on Amazon to get a second hand copy. Anyone know a torrent link?
Another Batch
Gregory Isaacs - Extra Classic
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
The Cure - Faith
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Kiss In the Dreamhouse
Congos - Heart Of The Congos
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down
Elvis Costello - Get Happy
Feelies - The Good Earth
Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
Joe Higgs - Life Of Contradiction
Prince - Sign O' The Times
Replacements - Tim
Squeeze - East Side Story
XTC - English Settlement
No way!
I suspect you've got the point of the thread slightly wrong as you are giving me well known albums that are a bit rubbish. Not what I wanted at all!
The Burning Spear album quite good (but Garvey's Ghost is better), Heart Of The Congos is overrated and has got only one great track (Fisherman) but Perry's production makes it all sound like swimming in mud. (If it's roots you like, a far better album is Israel Vibration's first album, The Same Song).
As for the rest, know 'em well and can take or leave 'em. As with many "artistes" the best Prince, XTC, Souixie, Elvis, Cure and Squeeze albums are either the official "Greatest Hits" or my own compilations.
Cough Splutter!
The best XTC, Elvis & Squeeze albums are best ofs?!!??!! Wrong. Just Wrong.
This is the moment for which Mr Valparaiso could have invented
Wrongity-Wrong.
Absolutely wrong
There is a place for greatest hits albums, but they are very rarely better than an artist's best 'platter'. The Squeeze album mentioned here is prefect example; filled as it is with tremendous songs that not only work in their own right but somehow, together, are better than the sum of their parts. East Side Story is, every now and then, my favourite album of all time.
"Sign O The Times"???
Blimey - I'm a massive Prince fan (almost an obsessive) and even I acknowledge that "Sign..." is only 50-75% classic - I tend to stop listening to disk 1 after "Starfish and Coffee" and disk 2 after "I Could Never..." - the remains are bobbins.
It and The Cross, bobbins maybe
...but the rest are on the money. Still, it is Prince and you either do or you don't...
As I said...
...I'm a HUGE Prince fan (since 1983) and yet I find "Sign..." difficult to love. Disk 1 falls apart after "Starfish and Coffee" for me ("Hot Thing" is tedious, "Forever In My Life" dull, "Slow Love" just boring), and disk 2 is pants after "I Could Never..." ("The Cross" is great live but poor on CD, "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" is the worst send-off The Revolution could ever have, and I've never liked "Adore" one little bit). Those six tracks aside it's a great album.
Life is Sweet
Limiting myself to just one selection, Maria McKee's "Life is Sweet" is damn near perfect and nowhere near sufficiently praised.
Acadie
Daniel Lanois - Acadie (the 20th greatest Canadian album of all time). Now what were the other 19?..........
A tough call
Pick from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kathleen Edwards, Bruce Cockburn, Jim Bryson, Blue Rodeo, Sarah McLachlan, Jane Siberry, k d lang, Cowboy Junkies, Ron Sexsmith, Kate & Anna McGarrigle among the more prominent.
UNKNOWN???
Have Neil , Joni and Len done any unknown stuff??? (Actually, one of my fave Neil songs is the relatively unknown little gem "Little Wing" from the otherwise quite rightly overlooked Hawks And Doves).
Not what I was posting
If you read the post above mine, the question posed was what were the other 19 great Canadian albums. I thought the implication was that there were unlikely to be 19 other great Canadian albums. I wasn't looking to answer the main part of the thread.
Haven't you noticed that these threads tend to go off at tangents? Sorry if you feel I sullied the purity of your original concept. Additionally, there's no need to shout cf. the guidelines under FAQ.
Acadie
Great choice. I love the ambience of that album and the range of styles from cajun through to gospel.
With you on that Stephen
Life Is Sweet must be one of the most criminally underated records of all time.
I'll nominate "Lagoon Blues" by The Bathers. Nobody but me, and possibly the band, seem to be aware of it. Its fantastic and, like all truly great records, creates a world of its own.
Few more to add
Eyeless in Gaza - Caught in Flux
Octopus - From A to B
Ultravox - Systems of Romance
The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
Handsome Family - Through the Trees
All the above have not got a weak track amongst them
Surely this thread is...
...albums you know every single note of, think are perfect and should be shared with all. It's very subjective. Anyways...
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
This album is the one most listened to in the last 18 months and I think it's perfect. Album of the decade.
Flood & Apollo 18 by They Might Be Giants
Brutal Youth by Elvis Costello
Kimono my House by Sparks
Cobblestone Runway by ROn Sexsmith
100% Fun by Matthew Sweet
Agreed
Having listened to it just yesterday I was going to weigh in with Kimono My House. I'd also like to add "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful" by The Waitresses and "Nobody's Perfect" by The Distractions and the 1st Ramones album.
The Stranglers -The
The Stranglers -The Raven
Probably the fan's favourite too. Perfect and unique. I truly have never heard an album that sounds anything like it.
Stranglers Redux
The Stranglers in general seem to have been largely forgotten - hardly ever mentioned on this site or elsewhere for that matter. Always been fond of The Raven (great 3D cover too), with the exception of the meninblack song, which is a bit rubbish. Black and White is probably my favourite. Both definitley worth revisiting - haven't heard either entirely for well over a decade. How about their later work - are the post-Cornwell records worth a listen?
A brave shout
The Raven is quite a challenging album in many ways. It's like punk's response to Captain Beefheart with a touch of prog, Krautrock and Berlin Bowie...and that doesn't even begin to describe it. Dave Greenfield's keyboard work is fantastic throughout.
Strangled
Nah. Again, the best Stranglers album is the compilation I made up meself.
DrJ
I see where you're coming from,but for me there's a contradiction.
While I think Joe Henry's "Kindness of the World" album is as close to perfection as is possible,and can't understand why more people don't know it,I'm also pleased that I can feel that it's my secret.Even though I know it's not really.
Dave Alvin
King of California. It's one of my Top Five, with the usual classics.
His voice I like, the playing is fine, a kind of bright and springy production and none of the murk of some American. And every song is a gem. Each one tells a tale - almost a film or an American short story in so many of the lyrics. He didn't write every one and a few are old Blasters songs but they all fit together wonderfully. They are tales of men and women at points of crisis or decision, sorrow and failure with a spark of hope.
Seconded
I have a scratchy old CD-R copy of this, and despite having kosher copies of other DA albums, and a zillion others, it'd still be one of the first I'd grab as I headed for the bomb shelter.
The Nightfly
Perfect on every level - songs, arrangements, playing, production. And the singing - who would have believed that Fagen could harmonise so beautifully. Even the cover shot is perfect.
A controversial choice..
....my friend. I feel the same about "Gaucho" (bar the bit about the cover shot).
Ta ta
I agree with both of you
Gaucho and The Nightfly are both perfect.
'Gaucho' has a fantastic cover!
And the music is wonderful too... it's sadly overlooked in the Dan catalogue. I love its surgical precision... and in 'Glamour Profession' they came up with an absolute classic of a tune.
Such a shame
That the song which Donald Fagen regarded as his best ever and destined for the album was accidentally wiped by a technician. He was too devastated to re-record it.
The deleted Steely Dan song from Gaucho
The Second Arrangement is probably one of their best songs ever. It's floating around the web in hissy quality but there's enough of it there to know that it would have been the most commercially successful Dan song of all time (not that hard I give you...)
Perfect album for me on every level is The Nightfly.
One other that I would add to the list is 'Jackrabbit Slim' by Steve Forbert.
The Second Arrangement...
...can be found here, along with a load of other Gaucho outtakes
http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1500745/19670420/
The Nightfly
My goodness, I'd forgotten about that one. What an absolutely fantastic album.
I know it's a little more obvious but could I suggest Aja also.
I Didn't Get Where I Am
by Chris Difford is a masterpiece. (Danny Baker agrees).
Unknown is unknown
Lots of great suggestions here that I'm gonna check out. Thanks y'all.
Also lots of albums that are either WELL KNOWN or LESS THAN PERFECT (yeah I know it's subjective, but I think most music fans would agree that, for example, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is pretty damn flawless whereas Brian Jonestown Massacre's Give It Back isn't - even though the latter may be more to your taste).
Obscure female artistes alert
Here are some of my favourite not-very-well-known albums:
Innocenti - Elisabeth Valetti
Spinning - Pooka
Fantanicity - Nut
Nobody's Sweetheart - Sandy Dillon
The Dresden Dolls
A Girl Called Eddy
Underdog Victorious - Jill Sobule
And my current favourite:
The Roads Don't Love You - Gemma Hayes. I've listened to this more than any other album in the last couple of years, and I just can't praise it enough. It's pretty close to perfect. My favourite song is Undercover, which I think was a single in Ireland, although there's no "proper" video on youtube, just this very odd video game juxtaposition. Still, listen to this song, and if just one person gets the album because of it, my time on this blog won't have been in vain...
Gemma Hayes
is gorgeous. Like a full grown Kylie.
A Girl Called Eddy
Further to my last post, here's the exquisite opening song from A Girl Called Eddy. Like it?
Another one for you stingono
Peace Orchestra - Peace Orchestra
You can hear all of it here: http://www.last.fm/music/Peace+Orchestra/Peace+Orchestra
Bonus first-aid item!
Love that album! As far as I know the only CD that came with an actual band-aid stuck to the cover, too.
Don't stand me down
by Dexy's Mignight Runners.
Perhaps that too much of a cult record to be called unknown, but it's perfect.
Lagoon Blues
is absolutely superb. The Bathers were (are?) a terrific band. I don't know how unknown it is, but Birth's 'Gotten Bold' is played every week without fail 'round mine ten years after its release: dl is a genius. 'Don't Stand Me Down' remains the gift that keeps on giving as I must have made a present of it to at least a dozen friends and acquaintances by now.
The afore-mentioned Peace at
The afore-mentioned Peace at Last by The Blue Nile
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
Feasting with Panthers - William Topley
best-est
The afore-mentioned Peace at Last by The Blue Nile
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
Feasting with Panthers - William Topley
Red Box
Both of the Red Box albums - Circle & The Square, Motive - seem to have improved with age to my ears. Even their mums don't have a copy of the second one.
Stephen G Stranglers later
Stephen G
Stranglers later albums - Norfolk Coast and Suite 16 are best albums for 20 years.
But for me, it not really the Stranglers I know and love - that died with Cornwell going.
Still very good and well worthing listening to. Just played the albums at volume 11 in the car today, in fact.
Forget the rest, they're between appalling and okay.
Vauxhall & I by Morrissey
Magnificent, start to finish.
into the black by Tompaulin
second and best album by the strangely overlooked indie band. Not the famously grumpy poet before anyone asks.
Jerry Burns
One eponymous album on CBS. The female Blue Nile. Wonderful.
Nice
but a little too in debt to the Nile I think.
Bobby Charles
Last Train to Memphis
Would also say Peter Molinari's Virtual Landslide
Shelby Lynne - Just a little lovin
Paul Simon - Still crazy after all these years
Mavis Staples - We'll never turn back
Lucinda Williams- Car Wheels
Steely Dan - cant buy a thrill
Bettye Lavette - Scene of the crime
Dear Mr Stingono
I'm a little confused by some of your responses to your request - perfect albums which you "never EVER" hear about.
As none of us know what you do/don't know or have/have not heard about and similarly you don't know that about us, can I suggest you could have been a bit more gracious with your responses?
As you say peoples views are subjective but to then suggest others are wrong with their choices is clearly barmy.
So your Stranglers compilation is better than The Raven is it? Well done you.
Apparently I gave you "well known albums that are a bit rubbish". If you think The Feelies - The Good Earth or Joe Higgs - Life Of Contradiction fall into that category can I suggest, with respect, you are an idiot.
Actually, and please forgive my lack of grace here, but if you also think that Congos album I suggested only has one good track, with a muddy production, it confirms to me at least, you are a complete idiot. Or possibly your copy on a TDK c90 has seen better days?
Yours sincerely
Resting Place (you know, the Burning Spear track? Course you do...)
Two I can think of
Strange Kind of Love - Love and Money (although there are those who would suggest that Dogs In The Traffic is better)
Times Like These - Rick Danko
Both albums are "all killer and no filler" as we don't say round here
The Trials Of Van Occupanther
by Midlake.
A proper *Album* from beginning to end. Absolutely beautiful.
Bic Runga 'Beautiful Collision'
Brian Kennedy 'The Great War Of Words'
Eddi Reader 'Candyfloss & Medicine'
Stina nordenstam 'And She Closed her Eyes'
Josh Rouse '1972'
Eg & Alice '24 Years Of Hunger'
Mary Margaret O'Hara 'Miss America'
The Mutton Birds 'Envy Of Angels'
Natalie Merchant 'Ophelia'
& plenty of others already mentioned - Colvin, Sexsmith, Sprout, Blue Nile
Yes but ...
...re Midlake - I see what you did there Messrs `Chasandmorph
Are you watching us,
Steerpike?
(Don't tell him, [Steer]pike)
Mary Margaret O'Hara - good call
I just posted on the string that was looking for overdue follow-ups. Miss America (1988) was the last full album release from the wonderful Canadian artist with the odd performance style. Here, for the uninitiated:
Sadly, rather than 'last', it's 'only'.
There was a superb hour long 'BBC In Concert' programme however, which can be found lurking on the ether.
There is the Soundtrack to
'Apartment Hunting' which came out in 2001, I think that's what Boo means when he (she?) says 'Miss America' is the 'last', rather than 'only', full album.
Ooh Aah Mary O'Har-a
Thanks for the clip. Loved the album for years, but had never seen any footage of her at all. I'm in love again.
Brian Kennedy
What a great shout! This is one of the few records I can listen to from start to finish - even allowing for the dodgy uileann pipes on "Captured".
remember this one?
New Wave by The Auteurs. Everything about this album, even the cover, defines low-key perfection. It should have made Luke Haines a big star, or at the very least a beloved cult figure, but at the time everyone was distracted by lesser stuff like Suede and grunge.
and another thing...
Can I heartily concur with the suggestion that the person disrespecting Heart Of The Congoes is a complete fool?
I'm a complete fool, me.
I adore roots reggae - Israel Vibration, The Mighty Diamonds, The Meditations, The Gladiators, The Abyssinians etc. But I don't see why Heart Of The Congos is loved so much.
Apart from the fact that I always have to turn up my stereo to play it cos the production is so muddy, the song Congoman is awful! Just rubbish! I was pleased to see it got some 3 and 4 star reviews on Amazon.co.uk. I was beginning to think anything and everything always got five star reviews for a while!
Martin Stephenson and the Daintees - Gladsome Humour & Blue
Utterly, utterly perfect. Why this isn't more widely known - and talked of in the same breath as Solid Air, Bryter Layter, Oar or Grace is beyond me
It's a fab album
but the production is shite.
Martin Stephenson and the Daintees - Gladsome Humour & Blue
Utterly, utterly perfect. Why this isn't more widely known - and talked of in the same breath as Solid Air, Bryter Layter, Oar or Grace is beyond me
Smells of Summer
:-)
God bless... Btw, what the hell is 'chibed?!
:-)
Damn fine Daintees
The only 'album playback' gig I've been to was for 'Boat to Bolivia' a couple of years ago at the Jazz Cafe, in which MS used the CD for his set list. Absolutely marvellous. MS is still going strong, settling into middle age nicely:
http://www.martinstephenson.com/Daintees_site/HOME_.html
'Chibbed' usually means 'knifed', a 'chib' being a stanley knife or similar - is that it?
Oh, and Gladstone, Humour and Blue is available on eMusic:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Martin-Stephenson-and-the-Daintees-Gladsome-...
Does anyone have the booklet of poems The Daintees gave away with the LP? You had to write off for a copy, if memory serves. I've got two ; )
Got one
somewhere.
Chibed...
..molested and the end of it a birthday' - maybe you're right. If I was knifed and molested, however, I'm not sure 'fruitless' is the first word I'd use to describe the month!
Three more
Nic Jones - Penguin Eggs
Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
Richmond Fontaine - Post to Wire
Nic Jones
I don't know him at all, but as I love the KE album and am fond of the RF album I guess I should give him a listen.
I remember at different times
hearing good things about the Nic Jones album, but had forgotten about it til now.
Anyway, nipped over to Spotify and I'm halfway through it whilst writing this. It's not what I was expecting (I always thought it would be more like Nick Drake for some reason) but I'm enjoying it immensely. Thanks for the reminder.
Back to Spotify now to search for Richmond Fontaine. (I've got Kathleen Edwards - damn fine too)
Richmond Fontaine
win the "perfectly" depressing album of all time for me. "The Fitzgerald" contains stories of debt, car lot aggression, the discovery of dead bodies , domestic violence and all manner of other dark matter, but remains compulsive listening. Not sure if this has ever been a thread? However Post to Wire meets my perfect album criteria.
Jesus.
Somebody gave me that album, and I played it. Once. If you call that 'compulsive listening', I'd advise urgent counseling.
Only once?
I couldn't suggest a second listen then, on the basis that it might be grower!! Nurse the screens.
Good Call
The Fitzgerald is just a great, great album. Saw them in a tiny venue (Whelan's) in Dublin just after they released that album and Willy Vlautin was in great form, giving spoken intros to most of the songs (they played almost everything from The Fitzgerald as far as I can recall). Though a little bit on the depressing side alright, the stories in the songs (later partly used in Vlautin's so-so novel 'The Motel Life') are just great - especially 'The Warehouse Life' and 'The Janitor'. The rest of their catalogue I find a little bit hit and miss - most of their albums are just too patchy and a little too over-stuffed with songs, but this is just great.
David and David and David
I'd nominate "Boom Town" by David and David, the only album they ever made. A great summary of mid-80s LA from both sides of the tracks.
David Baerwald released two excellent solo albums: "Bedtime Stories" and "Triage". All perfect, quite obscure and hard to find. But worth it.
and Ricketts also
made a pretty good album with Toni Childs. And worked with Sheryl Crow on Tuesday Night Music Club
The Pretty Things
The Pretty Things - Parachute
The Impressions
The Impressions - The Young Mods' Forgotten Story.
Jackson Browne
"Late For The Sky" - perfect, but well-known.
"I'm Alive" however is almost as gorgeous.
I've thought of some more
Rockabye - Robin Holcomb (brilliant avant-garde pianist & composer turned singer-songwriter)
From the Blue House - Lauren Hoffman (one of the sweetest voices in music)
Same River Twice - Darryl Purpose (terrific singer-songwriter and guitarist)
Here's Darryl singing Mr Schwinn, which starts with a doozy: "Mr Schwinn was as thin as a pelican's grin".
Judee Sill's two albums
Judee Sill and Heartfood were pretty much unremembered until recently. I don't know if they are perfect but they're not half bad!
"It's Immaterial" "No, really, who's that record by?" etc
Here's two favourites:
Song by It's Immaterial
Astonishingly, this is out of print (so does that make it OK to download it from a blog?). It's a vaguely-linked series of songs, low-key electronica perhaps but full of good tunes and bits that make the heart ache and neck hairs stand on end. Whatever happened to them? They released no albums after this but there's a single acoustic track on emusic that is possibly the best thing they ever did.
Pirate's Choice by Orchestra Baobab
In a house full of CDs, vinyl and downloads, this is the most played over the last 15 years, bar none. We just never get tired of it. It's African, yet slower and more languid than anything else I've heard from that entire continent. Lots of sinuous guitar solos etc. Brilliant - try it, you'll be glad you did.
They got a lot
of mentions last week in the 'Liverpool Bands Spotify Playlist' thread (or whatever it was called) Some kind person posted a video of 'New Brighton'.
"Chelsea Girl"
by Nico. We're all supposed to prefer her later years ("Marble Index," "Desertshore" etc) and most critics see the "Chelsea Girl" debut as Nico unformed, developing, manipulated by Warhol and yet to find her true muse. To an extent that's true but it's got songs by Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, John Cale and Bob Dylan. It features most of the Velvets. The arrangements are fairly traditional but sympathetic and very well orchestrated, and not like the later harmonium-dominated songs. The final track is the jawdropping "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce" by the late Tim Hardin. It's unfair to tag such an album with cliches but this really is a criminally overlooked and neglected masterpiece.
Its Immaterial
had an excellent album out called 'Lifes hard then you die', which I believe is still available. Never heard the song album.
They had a few excellent eps out previous to this, most notably was the 'fish waltz ep', which is well worth searching out.
They were in an earlier incarnation The Yachts. Believe the keyboard player went on to form The Christians
That would be Henry Priestman
Singer songwriter who has a great album out at the moment "The Chronicles of Modern Life".
http://open.spotify.com/track/54stKUP0HaO86CWCu2RUfn
He is superb.
David Mead
Just seen this thread, and I'll make a list soon, but the one stand-out 'no-one bought it' essential album has to be David's 'Mine and Yours' album from 2001.
It's one of those albums where the stand out track changes the more you listen to it, and I never tire of listening to it. Go on ebay now and pick one up. You'll be spellbound. The album Paul McCartney would have made if he'd lived in NY. Paul Simon for the 21st century. Priceless.
Good Shout
Loved 'Indiana' too.
Deus - The Ideal Crash
I agree with previous thumbs up for the first 'Masters of Reality' album, 'Heart of the Congo's' is a stone wall classic, but Deus 'The Ideal Crash' deserves to be in that company too.
I'll take as my criteria...
...albums that I play from start to finish & have loved for a while that aren't part of any recognised canon (whatever that may be).
With that in mind:
Stoneage Romeos - Hoodoo Gurus
Peggy Suicide - Julian Cope
Music has the right to Children - Boards of Canada
Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld
Heartfood - Judee Sill
Consience - The Beloved (no, really)
Star - Belly
Ima - BT
Blue Bell Knoll - Cocteau Twins
Heaven or Las Vegas
..is the other perfect Cocteaus moment. Definitely with you on Blue Bell Knoll. In Rainbows - apologies if that's already up there somewhere.
On another thread I suggested...
....that "The Art School Dance" by Pete Brown and Piblokto! is a lost classic. Anyone (ANYONE?)else ever listen to this album?
This fits well with the
Are They Dead? thread.
Pete Brown used to live near me and I'd see him around the shops from time to time, but now you mention his name it strikes me I haven't seen him for years.
Things may come, and things may go,
but I'll always have a soft spot for Pete Brown's peculiar madness.
Especially
calling your band The Battered Ornaments.
By Cobweb's criteria
The Prize Fighter Inferno - My Brother's Blood Machine
Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
The Moody Blues - On the Threshold of a Dream
Takida - Bury the Lies
Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan: In Session
The Album Leaf - In a Safe Place
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3
Crashdïet - Rest in Sleaze
Crazy Lixx - Loud Minority
Dream Theater - Metropolis, PT. 2: Scenes from a Memory
Europe - Out of This World
Gavin DeGraw - Chariot
Hardcore Superstar – Dreaming in a Casket
Don't Stand Me Down - Dexys
Don't Stand Me Down - Dexys Midnight Runners
Zeke Manyika - Mastercrime (Yes, the former Orange Juice Drummer!!!) - Once saw him play to about 25 people at Portsmouth Poly - one of the best gigs I have witnessed!
Jean Louis Murat - Manteau de Pluie - france's best kept secret
Half Man Half Buscuit - This Leaden Pall
Two from the 80's
David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees
Propoganda - A Secret Wish
Five more from the Eighties and more on Nick Heyward
David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive
Blue Nile - Hats
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
It's Immaterial - Song (actually think this might have been 1990)
The Lilac Time - Paradise Circus
p.s. Agree (up to a point) with some of the posters here that Nick Heyward is underrated in a Boo Hewerdine/Bible kind of way. From Monday to Sunday was a really lovely little album. Everyone should hear the song Kite, it's a gem. Saw him around the time it came out at King Tut's in Glasgow and he was excellent, seemed a lovely bloke too. This was when he was on Creation and it was the height of Britpop, sadly an affable stance and songs that were almost the musical equivalents of a Martin Parr photo weren't really in vogue (not sure if it ever has been?)
Think Heyward is sadly yet another instance (see most of the artists I've listed above) of the British media (and maybe the public) not allowing a musician to forget a previous image/incarnation. In Heyward's case the image was: toothy, smily, skinny boy in a cricket jumper on the cover of the first Haircut 100 record. That look was the absolute antithesis of the hackneyed rock n roll persona, and part of the reason I'm rather fond of him, but such attempts to debunk cock rock's precious mythology really didn't help his career much.
Brilliant Trees
While reading through the various missed classics Brilliant trees came to my mind too. Good call.
David Sylvian
I've long thought Mr Sylvian the most undervalued record-maker England has. However, while most people seem to prefer Secrets Of The Beehive and Brilliant Trees I think Dead Bees On A Cake is his best. Most accessable (commercial?) at least. Several great songs, including the mighty I Surrender and the beautiful Krishna Blue.
David Sylvian
Gone to Earth, especially the instrumental disc, and Blemish are my other top DS albums. I took a friend along to see DS on the Blemish tour and he walked out so it's obviously not to all tastes!
Another stab at this thread
Thin White Rope-The Ruby Sea
Sam Phlips-Martinis and Bikinis
Don Dixon-Romantic Depressive
Grant Campbell-Beyond Below
Kid Creole & the Coconuts
"Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places". "Tropical Gangsters" has all the hits (and is still pretty good), but it's this one for me every time - "I Stand Accused" is his best song ever. Despite the cheesiness of his later years, the early stuff is still fantastic.
Meet Danny Wilson
Quite amazing tunes, arrangements and Gary Clark's voice. Couldn't quite believe it was possible when I heard it, still think that now.
Got to agree
Meet Danny Wilson is a fantastic album.
And to second a couple more on here (and add a few myself)
Eg and Alice - 24 Years of Hunger
The Lilac Time - Paradise Circus
Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness
Cosmic Rough Riders - Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine
Frazier Chorus - Ray
The Dream Academy - The Dream Academy
Andy Pawlak - Shoebox Full of Secrets
Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street
The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music
Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War
Shivaree - I Ought To Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump
Although I think I may have subconsciously stuck to a certain vibe with this selection.
Got a few
The Bluetones - Expecting to Fly. The real successor to the Stone Roses debut, great guitar songs and some excellent singing. Highly recommended.
Band Of Horses - Everything all the Time. Wonderful, wonderful southern rock from the most underrated band of the last 4 years.
The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4. From when pop had a heart, and when 'ver kids' really believed we would change the world. We didn't.
Frank Turner - Love, Ire and Song. Never heard of him, but was bought this, and cannot find a bad thing about it. Funny, folky and, you know, he means it maaaaaaan.
Band Of Horses...
....yes Yes YES!
Would not classify it as Southern rock tho'... More Drive By Truckers (with a hint of Mr N. Young) than Lynyrd.
Their latest Album "Cease To Begin" is not half bad either!
Thrice yes seconded
for Band of Horses.
Oh..
..nice one Vulpes, but do you go on forever?
Your wife sez sometimes!!
Two for consideration
First up is SUBAQWA's CHALK CIRCLE debut LP for being ahead of its time and a criminaly overlooked, closest UK came to REM
2nd is TOO MANY DAYS WITHOUT THINKING by SWELL
Unknown 'Perfect' Albums
How about 'You Gotta Sin to be Saved' by Maria Mackee. Just fab girl 'n' guitar acoustic album with a couple of great Van Morrison covers.
Other's that have sprung to
Other's that have sprung to mind from reading this:
The second album by The Bible Eureka - it's flawless. It's got Skywriting, Crystal Palace, Skeleton Crew and Red Hollywood and others. It's just lovely.
Also either of the two Danny Wilson albums, but I'd probably plump for Meet Danny Wilson because of 'the Girl I Used to KNow' and 'Davy'.
Unknown Perfect Albums
Then there's the imaginitively titled Blondie Chaplin, by ...er...Blondie Chaplin (sometimes called Rock & Roll because of the graffiti on the cover). I used to have this on vinyl and went and sold it ...... WHAT AM I LIKE ???
5 More
Lost in Space - Aimee Mann
Goodbye Jumbo - World Party
Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
Woodface - Crowded House
The Other Side of Daybreaker - Beth Orton
Birds - Bic Runga
Unknown?
Goodbye Jumbo was Q's album of the year
Rattlesnakes and Woodface both sold very well indeed.
As a Lloyd Cole fan, how do you rate Felt?
Not Totally Unknown
is Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus by Spirit
and
One Year - Colin Blunstone
My relatively unknown pick would be
Palm Tree by Superstar - a bit of a quiet classic.
A few more
I like Mark Lanegan's solo albums, but I think I'll Take Care Of You is the best. Also
Pieta Brown - Pieta Brown
Bill Pritchard - Jolie
Jonathan Richman - Rockin' & Romance
Some more suggestions
Can You Fly by Freedy Johnston.
The Ballad of Todd Rundgren by Todd Rundgren.
All Shook Down by The Replacements.
Side project better than main gig
A. C. Newman, The Slow Wonder. Great gleaming power pop by the leader of New Pornographers. He gets overshadowed in that band by Neko Case and Dan Bejar even though his songs are the best, and nowhere near enough people know about his solo stuff, though those who do sing his praises on high.
Clive Gregson
Most of Clive's albums are excellent, the pick of the bunch "I Love This Town" with "People and Places" a close second
We've had Clive, let's have Christine next
Christine Collister is my favourite singer. I've enjoyed all her solo albums, while accepting that they haven't quite hit the peaks of which I believe her to be capable; however, An Equal Love comes mighty close. There isn't a duff song, nor a duff note, literally or emotionally. I still cherish a hope that she will one day be more widely appreciated than she is now.
Grease Band
Grease Band from 1971; I always thought that was a perfect album.'Mistake No Doubt' still sounds beautiful in spite of the wooly production. Also, how about Colorblind James Experience's eponymous first album?
Unknown 'Perfect' Albums
'Little Dreaming Boy' by Thirteen Moons - a great Swedish band before Swedish bands became hip.
The Legendary BBC Recordings by Billy Pigg - the Robert Johnson of Northumbrian Piping!
Kontiki by Cotton Mather,
Thokozile by Malathini & The Mahotella Queens
The Dirty Boogie by The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Of all the albums listed here..
..that I know, much as a like a lot of them, I can find at least one thing wrong with all of them..even it's a snare or guitar sound.
Therefore none of them are perfect.
Surely "perfect" is an aspiration, not a reality.
Weighing In
Using sage like wisdom I have sat back and watched this thread unravel before weighing in.
Already personal faves such as Peter Bruntnell, The Triffids, The Jayhawks et al have all been given a gong but there are still hundreds needing to be recognised. I'll take a deep breath and list some off the top of my head - all need to be played from start to finish in one sitting:
'The Thorn In Mrs Rose's Side' - Biff Rose
'Mott' - Mott The Hoople (bring on October!)
'The Artful Dodger' - Ian Hunter
'Fathering' - Mark Mulcahy
'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man' - Guadalcanal Diary
'Cypress' - Let's Active
'Special Beat Service' - The Beat
'Drastic Plastic' - Be-Bop Deluxe
'Gossip' - Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls
'Radios Appear' - Radio Birdman
'Saturation' - Urge Overkill
'The Burning World' - The Swans
'It's Heavy In Here' - Eric Matthews
'Wake Up Everybody' - Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes
'Meet me At The Crux' - Dirk Hamilton
'Alive On Arrival' - Steve Forbert
'House Of Leather' - The Blackwood Apology
'Ju Ju Music' - King Sunny Ade & His African Beats
'Submarine Bells' - The Chills
'69 Love Songs' - The Magnetic Fields
That covers a bit of everything. All awesome.
Good list!
Only ever heard the Steve Forbert one.
erm..
how do you know it's a good list then?
The gift of Sturmer and Manning
For me it would have to be the second Jellyfish album (Spilt Milk), though the first (Bellybutton) also features astonishingly accomplished songwriting and production, and faultless performances delivered with wit and elan. Not everyone went for their retro arrangements, but there was far more to them than the obvious Beatles, Beachboys and Queen references and dodgy clothes suggested.
That Andy Sturmer largely abandoned public performance after their break up robbed popular music of a truly great voice. Not a shabby drummer either.
I would also highly recommend the work of another Jellyfish alumni - Jason Falkner - who released a near perfect pop/rock solo album 'Presents Author Unknown' back in 1996. I won't try to describe it here, but Spotify has five tracks available.
Your guarantee of listening quality
Anyone involved with Jellyfish is at least mostly great.
The aforementioned Jason Falkner's Can You Still Feel is nigh-on perfect, closely followed by Ro Sham Bo by the Grays, the band he formed with Jon Brion - who played a lot of guitar on the fabulous Spilt Milk. Brion's chamberlin and tack piano-laden production has brought me delights such as Aimee Mann's Whatever and his own masterpiece Meaningless. Hurrah for Jellyfish - one reunion I'd pay silly money to see.
Bona fide classics 11
Well, to my ear. 4-4-2 formation
Shiftwork - The Fall (Dependable keeper, very vocal)
Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks (Overlapping right-back)
Va Va Voom - Cinerama (Cultured left back)
Grand Prix - Teenage Fanclub (Versatile defender)
Pink Flag - Wire (No nonsense, keep-it-simple centre-half)
Skylarking - XTC (Midfield craftsman)
Get Happy! - EC and the Attractions (Playmaker)
This Leaden Pall -Half Man Half Biscuit (Tricky midfielder)
Ramones - Ramones (Speedy winger)
New Day Rising - Husker Du (Noise-em-up striker)
Psonic Psunspot - The Dukes of Stratosphear (From-an-other-era targetman)
I'm gonna stick my head
I'm gonna stick my head above the parapet and risk getting my head blown off for these suggestions but here goes:
Provision by Scritti Politti from 1988 - it's very much of its time but the songwriting is great, there are touches of someone being a bit too far up their own fundament to notice how preposterous things sound, but still, I love it.
Chinatown by The Be Good Tanya's - an album I bought on the strength of a recommendation in one of the first issues of The Word and have never regretted.
Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow The Green Grass by The Jayhawks
Baja Sessions by Chris Isaak
Also I'd have to agree with a previous posters comments on David and David and the David Baerwald stuff - excellent.
David Kitt
'Square 1'
Lovely, loved up, blissed out mellow gold.
Bravo!
A beautiful album that. His finest 'complete' work to date. He has a new one coming out this month, looking forward to it.
New Album Available now on Emusic & Word Download Store
[other download services are available]
http://www.emusic.com/album/David-Kitt-The-Nightsaver-MP3-Download/11399...
I played C'est Chic by Chic the other night.
Total cracker, nary a duffer. Chic's album's all have their moments but C'est Chic is wonderful. Happy Man is the best disco tune no one seems to know.
Does Orange Juices's You Can't Hide Your Love way Forever count as unknown perfect?
Nice choices
You can't go wrong with a bit of Chic and OJ
I'd add Chic's Risque - the perfect disco album for people who don't like disco - great floor shufflers like Good Times mixed with heartbreakers like What about Me. Singles sold in their millions - but LP seems to be lost in time.
I'd go for Orange Juice's Third Album - the guitars have been tuned, Zeke's chants banished and 'WHat Presence' and 'Guess i'm just a little too sensitive' round off their most consistent set..
Even As We Speak - 'Feral Pop Frenzy' anyone?
A jaw-droppingly fantastic album of antipodean indie pop on the Sarah label. Easily the best thing to come out of Australia since The Go-Betweens.
Anybody on here heard it?
unoriginal thought
As soon as I read this blog, I thought of 'Skylarking' by XTC, but I see that Stephen Hope included it in his first team. I've not heard 'Psonic Psunspot', but like 'Chips from the chocolate fireball'. I'm surprised Andy Partridge isn't more lauded.
Partridge genius
To theguyinthecorner: Chips From The Chocolate Fireball is 25 o'clock and Psonic Psunspot compiled onto one CD. The ten tracks from Vanishing Girl through to Pale and Precious are from Psonic. And you're right, the love for Andy Partridge's brilliant back catalogue should be more widespread!
Partridge genius
To theguyinthecorner: Chips From The Chocolate Fireball is 25 o'clock and Psonic Psunspot compiled onto one CD. The ten tracks from Vanishing Girl through to Pale and Precious are from Psonic. And you're right, the love for Andy Partridge's brilliant back catalogue should be more widespread!
American Music Club
American Music Club's 1988 opus California...sadly not on Spotify (which hopefully qualifies it as unknown)...grips you from start to finish. One of Cathal Coughlan's favourites as well - fact fans. Talking of which Fatima Mansions Viva Dead Ponies - absolute bonkers - more than the sum of its parts gives it a close run.
So called perfect albums(and admittedly not unknown) scuppered by 1 clunker
New Order - Technique (guilty partner)(still favourite LP ever though)
REM - Automatic for the People (Ignoreland)
Radiohead - OK Computer (electioneering)
What, even…
Bad Liquor?
Apart (possibly… ) from that, I agree.
I'd also venture Sleep No More by Comsat Angels.