Here I will take my stand in defense of Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes. One of the greatest albums ever recorded! It was fashionable for rock critics to dump on TFTO as the symbol of everything that was “wrong” with progressive rock and the reason “punk” had to come along and destroy it. Dumping on TFTO even became a cliché. But over the years, Yes’s music has held up better than anything else from that era. Revisiting it more than 25 years down the road, once passions have cooled, it becomes clearer than ever that it was a work of sheer genius. Rock music had never attained such complexity, depth, and spirituality together. It isn’t Yes’s best album (that accolade unquestionably belongs to Close to the Edge), but I am defending TFTO because it had to take so much shit, had to be the whipping boy for all of progressive rock, and they tried to make you ashamed to admit to liking it. But hey . . . turns out that the music in it stands the test of time after all. Yes has successfully revived TFTO in concert the last few years and found that on reappraisal, their audiences really love it. So there, critics!
It’s one of my favorite reggae albums. He did this around same time he colaborated with the Clash on Sandanista!. The whole disk is great. Rocker’s Delight and Mental Slavery are the high points of the dub sound. I still listen to it almost as much as Broken English.
The runner up is:
Nilsson sings Newman - Harry Nilsson
It’s over 30 years old and sounds so current. He had such a great voice.
Cave In’s Jupiter. Cave In used to be a hardcore band, and was very popular in underground circles. Their last two releases have been more mellow, and the last album, Jupiter is almost a straight rock album. It’s really good, but a lot of ex-fans see them as Metallica wannabe’s and scorn Jupiter.
There are people who don’t recognise Pet Sounds as a work of genius?
I was listening to Ocean Songs by the Dirty Three while at my parents’ house over Christmas. My father Burst in to the room, yelled, “This is the biggest load of prog rock crap since ELP!” and left, slamming the door behind him. This was not in character for my Dad. I don’t know why the Dirty Three touched his ire nerve.
People who give you shit about Pet Sounds aren’t really your friends, didn’t your mother tell you this?
I tend to get shit for my more demanding techno/grunge/punk music, but if I have to name an artist it would have to be Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn. He was a mystical Pakistani Sufi of a genius of a man, and someone on these very boards actually dared to call it “curry house music”, but he’s british so I forgive him The music is inspirational, the muslim religious fevor in it is unrivaled.
The Ernie Kovacs Record Collection, aka Music to Listen to Records By.
I’ll be in the kitchen making dinner and happily singing along to “Hot Cakes & Sausage” or “Rats in My Room” or “Indian Love Call” or the Wolfgang Neuss version of “Moritatensanger,” and my wife will come in and give me real funny looks.
A lot of my friends give me grief for owning Journey’s Greatest Hits (except one and you know who you are).
Like I posted in the Confessions of Bad Musical Taste thread-I know what Journey is…souless corporate arena rock. Cd sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the Nirvana,Hole,REM,U2,Depeche Mode,Nine Inch Nails,Red Hot Chili Peppers,Liz Phair,etc…
But Steve Perry’s voice ::sigh::
And if I could find someone to dedicate “Open Arms” or “Faithfully” to me ::sigh::
“In December of 1966, I heard the album ‘Rubber Soul’ by the Beatles. It was definitely a challenge for me. I saw that every cut was very artistically interesting and stimulating. I immediately went to work on the songs for ‘Pet Sounds’!”
Brain Wilson, LA, CA. March 1990
As I understand the thing, The Beatles and Wilson bounced off each other for quite a while. I saw an interview some time ago in which Wilson talked about hearing Sgt Pepper for the first time – I think he played it quite literally non-stop for a month – and it was hearing that which confirmed for him The Beatles were into acid. I don’t know when they all did meet but when he said that, it made me realise they just communicated their mutual admiration and competitiveness through vinyl during that heady period.
My guilty secret is ‘Tapestry’ – strange gender stuff going on but the simple beauty of her (piano) work is inspiring. Then there’s 70’s Prog Rock but maybe I’ve revealed enough.
HARDY! Next Chidope, this is all we’re playing. I came in here specifically to defend Journey and found it was already done. That CD is near to flawless if you need something to play while you’re packing china.
But for a whole different reason, (and you knew this was coming) I have to ALWAYS defend Sehnsucht by Rammstein. An album which I don’t find to be their best…but was caught in the center of controversy during Columbine (even though, upon further inspection, neither Dylan nor Eric owned it). I have to defend it as a great creative metal/industrial album with only two songs that feature any subject matter other than hot sweaty sex. And I don’t see how THAT could be detrimental to anyone’s mental health.
I’m surprised at some of the suggestions here – I can’t believe that anyone would have to defend “Pet Sounds”, “Tapestry” or The Dirty Three. (Okay, so maybe you’d need to defend The Dirty Three to your parents, but does that really count? My parents won’t listen to anything but Neil Diamond.)
“Standing on the Shoulder of Giants” by Oasis. Now there’s an album that requires some real defending.
Nick [sub][sup](who purchased a new copy of “Tapestry” just last week)[/sub][/sup]
Another “Amen!” to Journey. I have a lot of Journey. Steve Perry has a great voice. I refuse to listen to the new group, simply because Steve isn’t there.
*I Predict 1990[/], by Steve Taylor. Simply because the first song “I blew up the clinic real good.” caused so much controversy among brain-dead christians it wasn’t funny. I loved the song. (The song is about a guy who blows up abortion clinics, thinking he’s ‘saving the kids’. The song condemns people who think this way in the last verse, but by this point, most Christians have shut their brains off and moved into High Drama mode.)
I love Enimem too. I may not agree with all his lyrics but the man has talent.
Same thing goes for Public Enemy and Tupac…
People always focus on what offends them and miss the point entirely. All the people who slag Tupac have never listened to “Brenda’s Got a Baby” or “Dear Mama”, two songs that bring me to tears.
Same goes for Hole…with all the attention Courtney gets for her escapades the songs lose out.
Now if we knew if SHE actually wrote them or if it was Kurt and Billy Corgan…
