A Beginners Guide To ...

not_the_dj

Dyan Part 2

More country, and a change of voice<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

 

Nashville Skyline (worth a look)

He starts singing through his nose, there was a bike crash and Johnny Cash guests. Also contains the simple but effective “Lay Lady Lay”

 

Self Portrait (what is this shit…well that’s what Rolling Stone said)

A mish mash of covers, some new stuff (that isn’t that good) and some live stuff. For collectors only.

 

New Morning (worth a look)

Better than the last few, still acoustic, George Harrison crops up with “If Not for You”

 

Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid

Very short. Some nice instrumentals and “Knocking on Heavens Door” is on there.

 

Dylan (Collectors Only)

Outtakes from Self Portrait, which was outtakes it self….so move along please, nothing to see here

 

 

The one with The Band (Interesting)

Planet Waves

Only full studio album he recorded with The Band (who backed him live of course)….much much better than the last few

 

not_the_dj

Dylan Part 3

Now we’re cooking again…<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

 

Blood on the Tracks (totally essential)

Classic, must have. “Tangled up in Blue” “Idiot Wind” “Shelter from the Storm”…..fantastic….but see if you can track down the NYC sessions as well.

 

The Basement Tapes (interesting)

Stuff recorded with The Band a few years earlier after the motorcycle crash in their Big Pink house. Badly recorded but captures some great moments between

 

Desire (almost essential)

“Hurricane” is a masterpiece and his first protest song for years. A few other classics like “One More Cup of Coffee”. Not quite as immediately brilliant as “Blood on the Track” but getting there

 

Street Legal (Interesting)

A couple of decent tunes, but it looks like a big change is on the way…

 

The god years! (be warned)

 

A trio of albums from his “born again Christian” years. “Slow Train a Coming” is the best, Mark Knopfler is playing guitar but the lyrically content won’t suit everyone.

 

“Saved” and “Shot of Love” follow the god theme, but they’re only worth tracking down for collectors.

 

The bad 80s

 

“Infidels”, “Empire Burlesque”, “Knocked Out and Loaded”, “Down in the Groove”….only for collectors  he was shit in the 80s….until….

 

The good 80s

 

“Oh Mercy” (Essential)

Daniel Lanois produced, back on form. “Man in the Long Black Coat” is worth it alone.

 

Into the 90s

 

“Under the Red Sky” (hmmm)

Some great guest starts (including SRV)…but the songs are a bit weak and it’s such a let down from the previous one

 

Writers block, lets’ record some old folk songs

 

Good As I Been to You (collectors only), and the worse acoustic guitar sound ever heard, and his voice is shot)

World Gone Wrong (collectors only), better than the last one, but still far from classic

 

not_the_dj

Dylan Part 4

 

Back on form!

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“Time Out of Mind” (essential)

Daniel Lanois is back! Brilliant, they worked out how to record his voice and make it sound great. Superb, buy it now…go one now! “Love Sick” “Not Dark Yet” classics of modern Dylan

 

“Love and Theft” (almost essential)

More great stuff, not quite on par with the last one, but “Honest With Me” and “High Water” are up there

 

“Modern Times” (almost essential)

It’s been a long time since we’ve had three decent albums in a row…worth it for just “Workingman’s Blues #2”

 

I’ll stop there as I don’t know the next couple that well to be honest…and there’s a dodgy Xmas album!

 

Anyway that’s the studio albums.

 

A brief summary of the live albums:

“Before the Flood” Essential, Dylan and the Band making a glorious sound

“Hard Rain” Interesting but missed opportunity to capture the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour (more on that below)

“Dylan at Budokan” awful arrangements pass on this one

“Real Live” awful horrid sounding recording and arrangements, Interesting to hear alternative lyrics to “Tangled up in Blue” but that’s about it

“Dylan and the Dead” Neither of them come across well…avoid

“MTV Unplugged”. Decent effort, also contains lost early classic “John Brown”

 

Now how about the Bootleg Series?…to be honest I’ve had enough typing, but so often in Dylan’s career what he left out is better than he released so if you’re serious then these are all essential. You’ve got utter classics like “Blind Willie McTell” which only a fool would have left on the cutting room floor, plus some of the NYC Blood on the Tracks song….and much much much more”!

 

Highlight of the series include:

 

Series 4 is the “Judas” gig (in Manchester not the Albert Hall) that’s utterly essential!

Series 5 is the long awaited decent live package of the “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour

not_the_dj

If you can't be bothered to read all that (and I bet you can't) here's my Dylan Summary of the essential ones:

Bringing it All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde on Blonde

Blood on the Tracks

Oh Mercy

Time out of Mind

Before the Flood (Live)

Bootleg Series 4 (Judas)

Bootleg Series 5 (Rolling Thunder)

 

JAYJO

not_the_dj said:

Dyan Part 2

More country, and a change of voice

 

Nashville Skyline (worth a look)

He starts singing through his nose, there was a bike crash and Johnny Cash guests. Also contains the simple but effective “Lay Lady Lay”

 

Self Portrait (what is this shit…well that’s what Rolling Stone said)

A mish mash of covers, some new stuff (that isn’t that good) and some live stuff. For collectors only.

 

New Morning (worth a look)

Better than the last few, still acoustic, George Harrison crops up with “If Not for You”

 

Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid

Very short. Some nice instrumentals and “Knocking on Heavens Door” is on there.

 

Dylan (Collectors Only)

Outtakes from Self Portrait, which was outtakes it self….so move along please, nothing to see here

 

 

The one with The Band (Interesting)

Planet Waves

Only full studio album he recorded with The Band (who backed him live of course)….much much better than the last few

 

I was gonna do one for Dylan but that would be rude! i await part 3!    Ps I hope someone opts for Van Morrison! only about 60 albums!

not_the_dj

JAYJO said:

I was gonna do one for Dylan but that would be rude! i await part 3!    Ps I hope someone opts for Van Morrison! only about 60 albums!

I was going to try Neil Young as well, but I need a rest now!

imalone

A wow just for typing all that. How astonishing is Bob Dylan's career?

PolarityMan

Bucket said:

Devin Townsend.

Classics - "Ocean Machine", "Accelerated Evolution", "Ki"

Very good - "Epicloud", "City" by SYL, "Terria", "Addicted", "Ghost"

For fans only - "Deconstruction", "Sex and Religion" with Vai, "Ziltoid the Omniscient"

Garbage - Genuinely can't think of anything.

Where is synchestra? O_o

NervousJohn

not_the_dj;251416" said:

If you can't be bothered to read all that (and I bet you can't) here's my Dylan Summary of the essential ones:

Bringing it All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde on Blonde

Blood on the Tracks

Oh Mercy

Time out of Mind

Before the Flood (Live)

Bootleg Series 4 (Judas)

Bootleg Series 5 (Rolling Thunder)

 

Correct. Have a gold star and goto the top of the class.

PolarityMan

Bucket said:

Metallica

Classics - Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Metallica

Good - Kill 'Em All, Death Magnetic

For fans only - ... And Justice for All

Garbage - Load, Reload, St. Anger

Load is one of my favourite metallica albums  

Justice has some of their best ever songs and is only let down by its production, I'd say it's far more essential than the rather lacklustre death magentic.  

you forgot lulu in the garbage too, or were you jsut trying to forget it ever happened?

boogieman

Fretwired;251368" said:

@ ChrisMusic



Focus:



The essential albums: Moving Waves, Focus III and the Hamburger Concerto



Basically forget everything else.



The first album was In and out of Focus - a couple of decent tracks including House of the King and Anonymous and Focus 1 but too much filler.



Mother Focus [Mother Fucker] was Akkerman's last album. They were big in the US at the time and were persuaded to produce a US inspired instrumental album. Akkerman called it elevator music and hated it. He quit. Avoid like the plague.



Akkerman was replaced by Philip Catherine and for some bizarre reason the band recorded an album with P J Proby. I had a drink with Catherine who told me Proby was pissed 100 per cent of the time. There are a couple of OK instrumental tracks but this is one car crash too many and the band folds.



The band reformed in 2000 and has recorded a few albums none of which are worth buying. Akkerman was asked but declined and the line-up has seen a steady stream of guitarists pass through its ranks.



Worth a listen: Live at the Rainbow, Live at the BBC in 1972, Live at the BBC in 1976 and the Greatest hits compilation.

Spot on ^

Hamburger Concerto is my favourite, it includes the magnificent La Cathedral de Strasbourg.

The band are still touring with Thijs Van Leer and Pierre Van Der Linden on board. If anyone is planning to see them though I'd advise going soon, TVL is very fat and unhealthy looking these days and looks like a prime candidate for a massive coronary.

ICBM

dafuzz said:

The Doors

Classic - The Doors

Good - Strange Days, Morrison Hotel, LA Woman

For fans only - Waiting For The Sun, American Prayer

Avoid - The Soft Parade


Every album has at least one great track on it, but then that's what greatest hits are for, eh?

Can't agree with avoiding The Soft Parade or that Waiting For The Sun is for fans only… it might be my favourite (it certainly has a lot of my favourite tracks on), although I am a fan admittedly. I would say all six of the original albums are almost equally great.

To be honest, I generally think that Greatest Hits albums are a good idea, and I can't see why they're a 'cop out'. They're a good way of judging whether you like a band enough - and which parts of their career - to dig deeper.

I'll do mine…

Lloyd Cole (and The Commotions) and wait for the backlash from other fans .

Essential: Rattlesnakes, Mainstream, Lloyd Cole ('X'), Love Story

Good: Easy Pieces, Don't Get Weird On Me Babe, Bad Vibes

For fans only: Lloyd Cole & The Negatives, Music In A Foreign Language, Etc, Antidepressant

Avoid: Plastic Wood. It's actually a very interesting album, but it's so wholly different from anything else he's ever done that you'll probably think they put the wrong CD in the box. He made an ambient album .

octatonic

Bucket said:

Devin Townsend.

Classics - "Ocean Machine", "Accelerated Evolution", "Ki"

Very good - "Epicloud", "City" by SYL, "Terria", "Addicted", "Ghost"

For fans only - "Deconstruction", "Sex and Religion" with Vai, "Ziltoid the Omniscient"

Garbage - Genuinely can't think of anything.

City, is only 'very good'?

Go to you room young man!

IMHO it is the best metal album of all time.

Jesus!

Fretwired

boogieman said:

Spot on ^

Hamburger Concerto is my favourite, it includes the magnificent La Cathedral de Strasbourg.

The band are still touring with Thijs Van Leer and Pierre Van Der Linden on board. If anyone is planning to see them though I'd advise going soon, TVL is very fat and unhealthy looking these days and looks like a prime candidate for a massive coronary.

Jan Akkerman told me he wrote the riff to the Hamburger Concerto whilst sitting in a New York hotel room eating a burger and watching cartoons on TV whilst noodling on his guitar. Great track ..

Personally I wouldn't bother seeing the new band as TvL 'lost it' years ago. How it all started sums it up .. three guys started a Focus tribute band. TvL hears them, asks to join so they go from being a tribute band to the real deal. The band's on its third guitarist in about five years and TvL recently managed to rope in Pierre van der Linden. One can't help but think their respective pensions need a top up as there's no other excuse.

viz

octatonic said:

Bucket said:

Devin Townsend.

Classics - "Ocean Machine", "Accelerated Evolution", "Ki"

Very good - "Epicloud", "City" by SYL, "Terria", "Addicted", "Ghost"

For fans only - "Deconstruction", "Sex and Religion" with Vai, "Ziltoid the Omniscient"

Garbage - Genuinely can't think of anything.

City, is only 'very good'?

Go to you room young man!

IMHO it is the best metal album of all time.

Jesus!

and sex and religion - whatever you think of the pairing, Vai is just FANTASTIC, and Devin is just FANTASTIC, so I reckon it's a good album, no?

boogieman

Fretwired said:

boogieman said:

Spot on ^

Hamburger Concerto is my favourite, it includes the magnificent La Cathedral de Strasbourg.

The band are still touring with Thijs Van Leer and Pierre Van Der Linden on board. If anyone is planning to see them though I'd advise going soon, TVL is very fat and unhealthy looking these days and looks like a prime candidate for a massive coronary.

Jan Akkerman told me he wrote the riff to the Hamburger Concerto whilst sitting in a New York hotel room eating a burger and watching cartoons on TV whilst noodling on his guitar. Great track ..

Personally I wouldn't bother seeing the new band as TvL 'lost it' years ago. How it all started sums it up .. three guys started a Focus tribute band. TvL hears them, asks to join so they go from being a tribute band to the real deal. The band's on its third guitarist in about five years and TvL recently managed to rope in Pierre van der Linden. One can't help but think their respective pensions need a top up as there's no other excuse.

Ha ha, I didn't know half that. >:D<  I actually saw them a couple of months back and they aren't that bad IMO, their latest guitarist is very good. I agree on their new material though, not that great.

dafuzz

Polite request for Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden and Queen if anyone's listening!

ICBM said:

dafuzz said:

The Doors

Classic - The Doors

Good - Strange Days, Morrison Hotel, LA Woman

For fans only - Waiting For The Sun, American Prayer

Avoid - The Soft Parade


Every album has at least one great track on it, but then that's what greatest hits are for, eh?

Can't agree with avoiding The Soft Parade or that Waiting For The Sun is for fans only… it might be my favourite (it certainly has a lot of my favourite tracks on), although I am a fan admittedly. I would say all six of the original albums are almost equally great.

Yeah I'm a fan too I just kinda ranked them and slotted them into the named categories. The accepted wisdom is that they got gradually worse until the Soft Parade nadir, then began improving again but never quite (imo) reached the heights of the first album. As I said tho, every album has at least one great track on it. I might go back and expand on the list with some justifications after I've finished the work I've had to bring home...

dchwhite

I'll just set my Joe Perry guitar down, dust off my official 'Joe Fucking Perry' t-shirt and stop drinking this Joe Perry hot sauce*...

Aerosmith

I would say the classics are Rocks and Pump. Both albums are at the end of developmental periods, and represent the apex of where they'd got to, in both their original period and in their 'MTV' era.

The 'standard' view of Aerosmith's career is that the first four albums increase in quality from Aerosmith to Get Your Wings and then Toys in the Attic (all of which I would say are good) to the brilliant Rocks. Thereafter, as the drugs start to take over a bit, things go downhill through Draw the Line, Night in the Ruts, and Rock in a Hard Place; I think there are good songs on all these albums, but I would call them 'fair'; I like them, but they're not essential.

Done With Mirrors is the first album post-reformation (and post-cleanup) and hence is fairly rough around the edges (again - I like it, but it's not essential), whilst Permanent Vacation is glossy, polished and good, and Pump is excellent.

Things again tail off a bit after this - Get a Grip, Nine Lives and Just Push Play all have good songs on them (and I would say in a higher ratio than the 70s albums that are 'fair' as well), but I wouldn't suggest rushing out to buy them. Honkin' on Bobo is covers of old blues songs - I like it, but it's not the first Aerosmith album I'd suggest someone buy. Music From Another Dimension is the latest and... I'll have to come back, it's dinner time!

[If I haven't bored everyone to tears, I'll update this post in a bit on the compilations, live & solo albums too].






.................
*Not all of this might be true, but you really can buy both the last two things from his website.

dafuzz

dchwhite said:

Aerosmith

[...]

Can't believe I didn't do Aerosmith first! The only thing I disagree with is Just Push Play - it's way worse than Nine Lives and Get A Grip which are both very decent, otherwise I agree completely

PolarityMan

dafuzz said:

Polite request for Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden and Queen if anyone's listening!

If I did iron maiden it would have a controversial placement of "somewhere in time"