I appreciate it.
What about Eminem? I asked about him in post 473. I’m curious if he is worth exploring.
He’s definitely one of the most talented rappers of all time so definitely worth a listen. "
You could start with the Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers LPs but he has hits scattered throughout his subsquent albums as well. The two Curtain Call: Greatest hits collections would give you an excellent picture of his career.
FTR, the track “Godzilla” is absolutely jaw-dropping with his lyrical ability.
I would include “Birth of the Cool” to that.
“Time Out” - Dave Brubeck Quartet; this introduced a whole generation to alternate time signatures and made jazz accessible to people who never liked the genre.
“The Crazy World of Arthur Brown” - Arthur Brown This was a wildly off the wall 1968 album by what appeared to be a very disturbed individual who used pyrotechnics on stage. His one-hit number “Fire” hit #1 in Britain and #2 in the US. As one-hit wonders go, he was very influential to those who followed him. I understand that he still tours.
“Elegant Gypsy” - Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucia - truly astonishing guitar playing on this 1970s album.
My favorite Miles album is On The Corner. I like his earlier stuff, but one can put on something like Porgy and Bess or ESP as background music. On The Corner is the kind of record that grabs you by the shoulders and says “you have to actually pay attention to this!” And Bitches Brew is surprisingly good driving music; I wouldn’t have thought it would be.
The guy spent his whole life reinventing jazz. If you didn’t like it, he basically didn’t give a damn. A unique musician.
I’m still exploring new music and have found some stuff I really like.
Visions of Atlantis - they have released two pirate-themed albums and both are terrific. I recommend these albums to everyone.
Sabaton - a fun history-focused metal band. Their latest album “The War To End All Wars” is terrific. If you want to listen to one song, find the song Dreadnought.
I’ve been listening to Queen’s discography. I was familiar with some of the big hits of Queen and I love Highlander, so I was aware of their album that served as the soundtrack. I actually haven’t found a ton of great songs aside from their hits, but I do love the song Innuendo on their almost final album(they made one more after Mercury died).
I did somewhat explore Eminem, by the way. I kind of grew tired of it. He’s great, he really is, but I think I would have preferred not binging him and listening to albums as they came out.
I enjoy Sabaton a good bit, I nominated their “Christmas Truce” in the most recent Christmas Holiday songlist. “The Last Stand” is also part of my daily workout mix, along with a few others.
This song hit when I was 14 or so, very into destructive art for the sake of destructive art. I just wanted to burn everything to the ground, so this became my anthem and my friends’ anthem. I passed out of this phase eventually, but while it was burning, it really burned.
My fellow hootch-mates in Vietnam thought I was some sort of nut case. There were three other people there who regularly listened to music: one loved The Beatles pretty exclusively, one was into Motown, and my buddy seemed to be stuck with the 50’s crooners. If I put on Hendrix or Brown or Airplane or Cream, I’d get a lot of pained looks, which only made me turn it up.
Chicago VII – the music varies, but check it out from start to finish.
Nino Ferrer - Blanat
Yoshiko Sai - Mangekyou
He does, we’ve kind of “seen” him twice. Once at a prog rock festival, HRH Prog, in Wales around 2018 when we did watch him, and another time he was playing the other tent at a Neme Valley Rock festival, I think 2022, where his around 2 hour set stole away most of the normal audience from the bands we wanted to see in the other tent. The audience for him were frankly, probably asleep. I think he was just pissing about for a lot of that.
Some of the best Queen songs are their non-hits around the late 70s and early 80s. This was at their creative high, though if you have a perchance for their eletronica stuff, then I guess they might not work for you. The three Night at the Opera, Day and the Races and News of the World are the ones I regard as the classic three where I skip the hits. Teo Torriatte might well have been their big classic song of all songs if they hadn’t done Bo rap after, so its a fan classic. Also of note is Sleeping on the Sidewalk, a song sung by Brian May, which was recorded in one take, with mistakes.
Do not play Hot Space. It is generally regarded as the worst Queen album of all time, not even any other is close.
Hot Space is such an odd album. Of course it does include the David Bowie collaboration “Under Pressure” and the much maligned “Body Language” There is little guitar work and a whole lot of synthesized bass and drums. The dance pop sound just didn’t work for Queen as a band and maybe should have been a Freddie Mercury solo project.
I hope @Mahaloth doesn’t mind if I slightly hijack his thread to ask about Sharon Van Etten. I’ve randomly heard a couple of songs from her on the radio recently and quite enjoyed them. I’ve Youtubed around a bit, and I’d like to buy a couple of her albums to explore further, but I’m not sure if I should just start at her first or skip ahead. Any Sharon Van Etten fans around this thread who could recommend an approach?
I’m curious and want to hear what people say.