Albums seen as ‘classics’ that you think are rubbish.

darthed1981

Blueingreen said:

Philly_Q said:

Blueingreen said:

darthed1981 said:

I think the harsh fact we all probably secretly realise is that most classic albums are really albums with 4-5 "great" songs on them, and then "the rest" - if you love the band you will spend more time on the rest than others do, but thirty years later...?

For most bands, a "greatest hits" easily covers everything you "need" to hear - even the Beatles Red/Blue albums together have most of their best songs.

I broadly agree with this. I think it’s a good criterion for measuring an artist (or at least how much I like them personally). Could everything I really value by them be fitted on a single CD greatest hits? The list of artists that didn’t apply to would be short. It would definitely include The Beatles though.

This only applies to pop music though. Classical and jazz operate under completely different rules.

I think it's different for rock and metal too.  The "greatest hits" - if there ever were any hits - tended to be the most throwaway tracks on the albums, often put there to try to please the record company by getting some airplay and mainstream exposure.

Of course you could do a "best of" rather than a "greatest hits" as such, but even then I don't think the fans would universally agree on the track listings.  And if you're talking prog, the "best of" might have to be a triple album... with only six tracks.

By Greatest Hits I really just meant a collection of their best stuff - not necessarily actual hits. 

As did I.

Jalapeno

Philly_Q said:

Jalapeno said:

Any decriers of The Beano album should listen to the sequel - Hard Road with Peter Green on guitar duites.  (I find The Beano one pretty good, quite fresh for the time and set the model for Blues Rock for a generation).

Are you saying A Hard Road is worse than the Beano album, or better?  (I'm not arguing either way, I've never heard it)

Oh better !

Snags

Obviously all incredibly subjective, and I can generally see why other people might like classic albums even if I don't, but I still don't really get The Bends (Radiohead, just in case).

I mean, I can enjoy listening to it, but I often get confused as to which track I'm actually listening to (maybe that's part of the thematic nature of it), and, well, yeah, it's OK but I just can't bring myself to give a shit. It doesn't engage me to the degree that something that people rave about ought to.

That said, I rave about things that loads of other people think are total shite, so ...

timmypix

Jalapeno said:

Pink Floyd after DSOTM (probably diss DSOTM too, but it did suffer from chronic overexposure in the 1970s).  Echoes is my fave.

Just listened to Echoes having not listened to it in years and realising I could only really remember One of These Days and Echoes... and now I realise again why.

JezWynd

Led Zep. Side 2 of III is okay, and Evermore and Stairway from IV are excellent work but a lot of the other stuff is 70's excess at its bare chested worst.

rlw

Anything by David Bowie

Greatape

Any time Clapton is allowed to play guitar.

I mean, props to him for popularising guitar, but the man has no idea of pocket, push/pull, etc - things which particularly mark out the blues greats like BB.  

wesker123

Greatape said:

Any time Clapton is allowed to play guitar.

I mean, props to him for popularising guitar, but the man has no idea of pocket, push/pull, etc - things which particularly mark out the blues greats like BB.  

I understand lines 1 & 2.
3 & 4 completely lost me. 

Greatape

wesker123 said:

Greatape said:

Any time Clapton is allowed to play guitar.

I mean, props to him for popularising guitar, but the man has no idea of pocket, push/pull, etc - things which particularly mark out the blues greats like BB.  

I understand lines 1 & 2.
3 & 4 completely lost me.

If you don't hear it, you don't hear it.  

Compare this

To this

Placidcasual79

Metal, 
Country, 
Jazz...
Never heard a record I liked by Bob Dylan or the Smiths. 

Horses for courses and all that 

Tannin

Cols said:

Exile on Main Street.  It’s held up as the Stones’ finest work, but for me it’s a messy jam that’s a difficult and unrewarding listen.

Yep. The playing is probably better than it seems, but who can tell with that appalling turgid dog's breakfast of a mix? And I speak as an unreconstructed Stones fan. Let it Bleed is of course their very finest, but it is one amongst at least a dozen truly excellent works. Exile is not amongst them. 

Throw in anything Springsteen ever did. (Except write some songs that more talented people turned into classics.)

PaulWarning

Tubular Bells

viz

Beethoven, horseshit. 

darthed1981

I think we have all established that taste in music is totally subjective, and "objective" classic albums lists are really more a way of labels selling reissues than anything else.

The lovely thing is now that we have streaming, you don't have to spend a tenner a go to find out all the "classic" albums that leave you cold.

EricTheWeary

viz said:

Beethoven, horseshit. 

And what’s he done lately eh? 

scrumhalf

viz said:

Beethoven, horseshit. 

Is that a new spin on "Beethoven's last movement"?

equalsql

Dexy's Midnight Runners:Too-Rye-Ay

Apparently it's a classic, I feckin hate it.

Lodious

Tannin said:

Cols said:

Exile on Main Street.  It’s held up as the Stones’ finest work, but for me it’s a messy jam that’s a difficult and unrewarding listen.

Yep. The playing is probably better than it seems, but who can tell with that appalling turgid dog's breakfast of a mix? And I speak as an unreconstructed Stones fan. Let it Bleed is of course their very finest, but it is one amongst at least a dozen truly excellent works. Exile is not amongst them. 

Throw in anything Springsteen ever did. (Except write some songs that more talented people turned into classics.)

I love the production on Exile on Main Street, it fits the music and the way it was recorded so perfectly.

To be fair, I bought Exile when I was a skint student and thought it was so disappointing when I first heard it. Months later I left it on repeat at a barbeque and at some point during the afternoon of getting pissed in the sunshine it just clicked and track after track turned into little nuggets of musical perfection. 

PaulWarning

Lodious said:

Tannin said:

Cols said:

Exile on Main Street.  It’s held up as the Stones’ finest work, but for me it’s a messy jam that’s a difficult and unrewarding listen.

Yep. The playing is probably better than it seems, but who can tell with that appalling turgid dog's breakfast of a mix? And I speak as an unreconstructed Stones fan. Let it Bleed is of course their very finest, but it is one amongst at least a dozen truly excellent works. Exile is not amongst them. 

Throw in anything Springsteen ever did. (Except write some songs that more talented people turned into classics.)

I love the production on Exile on Main Street, it fits the music and the way it was recorded so perfectly.

To be fair, I bought Exile when I was a skint student and thought it was so disappointing when I first heard it. Months later I left it on repeat at a barbeque and at some point during the afternoon of getting pissed in the sunshine it just clicked and track after track turned into little nuggets of musical perfection. 

lots of music does sound better when you're pissed , and you know what? once you've got it, it still sounds good when you're sober

Cols

Lodious said:

Tannin said:

Cols said:

Exile on Main Street.  It’s held up as the Stones’ finest work, but for me it’s a messy jam that’s a difficult and unrewarding listen.

Yep. The playing is probably better than it seems, but who can tell with that appalling turgid dog's breakfast of a mix? And I speak as an unreconstructed Stones fan. Let it Bleed is of course their very finest, but it is one amongst at least a dozen truly excellent works. Exile is not amongst them. 

Throw in anything Springsteen ever did. (Except write some songs that more talented people turned into classics.)

I love the production on Exile on Main Street, it fits the music and the way it was recorded so perfectly.

To be fair, I bought Exile when I was a skint student and thought it was so disappointing when I first heard it. Months later I left it on repeat at a barbeque and at some point during the afternoon of getting pissed in the sunshine it just clicked and track after track turned into little nuggets of musical perfection. 

It is, frankly, a sprawling and unfocused mess.  

With its revolving door of guest appearances, frequently dense instrumental production, sloppy playing and poor recording it’s a very difficult listen.  Jagger’s vocals are frequently buried in the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mix, and Bill Wyman is absent for half the album.

I do realise that the loose, sprawling nature of it is a huge part of the appeal for many; just not for me.  It’s a real shame, as there’s some gems buried in there; the languid splendour of Tumbling Dice, the ZZ Top prototype of Shake Your Hips, the Deep South soul of Shine A Light to name a few.  There’s just a lot of crap to wade through in order to get to them.

Listening to it while pissed is probably the best way to enjoy it, as you’re unable to stagger over to the stereo and put something different on.