The Pinnacle Of.....?

octatonic

SYL

ICBM

richardhomer said:

I actually think Cream's reunion worked better for me than they did first time round. There was a lot more discipline, doubtless far fewer drugs and an altogether more concise approach.

Ah, but he wasn't using a Gibson and so it couldn't have been any good .

I'm not sure it matters actually. A Clapton Strat with the mid boost turned up can be pretty humbuckery, and I've never seen the need to 'nail' sounds from studio recordings… back in the day, no-one really bothered and they still made great live albums.

Didn't look right though .

RocknRollDave

I've tried with Cream, i really have...but no. And the reunion was even worse. Really dislike Clapton's tone with the Strat, and his playing is so uninspired it is beyond belief. (Just to balance out my negativity, though, what he does for his Crossroads charity is hugely commendable - especially selling off guitars that had considerable sentimental value to him...fair play to him, a case of "putting your money where your mouth is", for sure)

richardhomer

ICBM;189595" said:

Didn't look right though .

Fully agree. Neither did EC's tweed Twins, nor Jack Bruce's Warwick or Ginger Baker's Drum Workshop kit.

That said, although I'd object to (say) a Beatles tribute band using the wrong gear, this actually was Cream, playing the instruments they wanted to - I still objected to it though!

Personally I would have preferred to see EC borrow back his Cherry '64 335 from the Guitar Center and stand in front of a couple of Marshall stacks - even if he had the tweed Fenders behind them. The black maple neck signature Strat he used just reminds me too much of the 461 Ocean Boulevard to Behind The Sun period.

Like you, I like the 'Blackie Years' - but that guitar did not look right in Cream! Sounded great though....

mike_l

I find I like some songs of Clapton/Cream, but all the stuff I like/want to hear is on the "best of" compilations.

I can't think of a guitar tone of his I like rather than tolerate because I like the song.

I'm ready to get lynched by Clapton fans now.

Phil_aka_Pip

tinfoil hat time, Mike

mike_l

as long as I'm not strapped to a chair with a power lead attached.........

JAYJO

Never mind the bollocks (sex Pistols)

Parallel lines   (Blondie)

Out of the blue  (ELO)

Bat out of hell (Meat loaf)

Thriller (Michael Jackson)

Sgt Peppers (The Beatles)

Blood on the tracks (Bob Dylan)

Slade Alive  (Slade)

ICBM

JAYJO said:

Parallel lines   (Blondie)

Close call with Eat To The Beat. They're both great and each contain a similar number of their best songs.

From that period I'll add Boomtown Rats - Tonic For The Troops.

JAYJO said:

Out of the blue  (ELO)

Or Time.

I'll also add…

Queen - News Of The World

The Who - Who's Next

Wishbone Ash - Argus

Lixarto

ICBM said:

From that period I'll add Boomtown Rats - Tonic For The Troops.

Top record

EricTheWeary

Oh +1 on News of the World. Again, not really something I would go out of my way to listen to these days and Queen and I had gone our separate ways by the 80's but NOTW was/ is almost certainly a peak.

Bellycaster

ICBM said:

JAYJO said:

Parallel lines   (Blondie)

Close call with Eat To The Beat. They're both great and each contain a similar number of their best songs.

From that period I'll add Boomtown Rats - Tonic For The Troops.

JAYJO said:

Out of the blue  (ELO)

Or Time.

I'll also add…

Queen - News Of The World

The Who - Who's Next

Wishbone Ash - Argus

Queen is a tough call regarding Albums. News of the World is a top album and probably gets overlooked.

Too many to choose from for me and I'd have to pick one from the 70's and one from the 80's. Innuendo would feel left out.

B-)

ICBM

Bellycaster said:

Queen is a tough call regarding Albums. News of the World is a top album and probably gets overlooked.

Too many to choose from for me and I'd have to pick one from the 70's and one from the 80's. Innuendo would feel left out.

Surely The Works is the only possible candidate from the 80s? And even that doesn't really match the quality of NOTW or Innuendo, partly because it's too short.

I admit that NOTW will always have a special place for me because it was the first one I heard in full at release… but still, almost every track is great and a couple are among their very best and most iconic.

EricTheWeary

We done Van Halen? Fair Warning. :-bd

RocknRollDave

My problem with Queen is that whilst they were consistently very good for much of the 70's and a wee bit more, they never did that one album that stands out as their classic, IMO

mudslide73

EricTheWeary;191294" said:

We done Van Halen? Fair Warning. :-bd

That's their most dark work by a mile.. It's a personal favourite of mine too.

EricTheWeary

mudslide73;191319" said:

[quote="EricTheWeary;191294"]We done Van Halen? Fair Warning. :-bd

That's their most dark work by a mile.. It's a personal favourite of mine too.
[/quote]
I simply don't like the Van Hagar period and out of the Roth ones I think some of the best individual songs are elsewhere but Fair Warning is the one that works best as a whole to me. I haven't actually heard it for a while but yes their darkest and also, as I remember it, the one that's the strongest as a group and not as a guitarist and backing band.

EricTheWeary

RocknRollDave;191300" said:

My problem with Queen is that whilst they were consistently very good for much of the 70's and a wee bit more, they never did that one album that stands out as their classic, IMO

Ironic? :-/

Night at the Opera being in every classic album listing ever. Possibly.

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

Ironic? :-/

Night at the Opera being in every classic album listing ever. Possibly.

Agreed, it's definitely the 'classic' - I just think NOTW is even better.

Same with Blondie as mentioned earlier - Parallel Lines is the classic, but Eat To The Beat is marginally better overall, I think.

johnnyurq

Lixarto said:

ICBM said:

From that period I'll add Boomtown Rats - Tonic For The Troops.

Top record

A big +1 to that it was a revelation at the time and stands up well now.

Parallel Lines just edges Eat to the Beat for me but is damned close.

Some more suggestions.

The Jam - Setting Sons

SLF - Inflammable Material

The Ruts - Grin & Bear It

The Stranglers - Black & White

Too many, must remember more.