Some gaps in my musical knowledge (and what to do about it.)

Cafe Society
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(Post prompted by @Mean_Mr.Mustard latest “Songs beginning with …” threads; and encouraged by @EinsteinsHund)

Ahem. A confession. Shockingly, until a few weeks ago, I had never listened to an album by…The Rolling Stones. No, honestly. I mean, I knew a loads of the songs - but I realized that I had never actually listened to an album (!) (Note 1).

I have now (thank you, YouTube). Listened to the “key” four albums (Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St.), beginning to end, one after the other, in that order.

And it’s not just the Stones. In this long winter I revisited the early Bowie albums; caught up with Happy Mondays/Black Grape (every recording I could find); The Stone Roses (can’t remember if I made it to the end of the first album); Cowboy Junkies (first half dozen albums); Steely Dan (#1, then #4 to the end); The Smiths (all). Radiohead (in progress). Turin Brakes (2 albums so far). Next up: Adele, Teenage Fanclub and (big breath) Taylor Swift.

It’s been interesting. Anyone fancy joining in as we wait for spring? Just pick an album you really, really ought to know (but don’t), and YouTube (etc) awaits. Tell us what you think.

j

Note 1: In the case of the Stones, I guess it’s an age thing – just as I was reaching the age when I might have gone out and bought a Stones album, I heard Starman on the radio - suddenly there was Bowie, and who gave a shit about the Rolling Stones? And a few years later, when I was at college, and you would think people would be introducing each other to favourite artists, I walked into a record shop and Complete Control by The Clash was playing - and who gave a shit about the Rolling Stones? So it goes.

Endnote: there have been two albums which, having listened to them, I immediately played again. They were: OK Computer and Hail To The Thief, both by Radiohead.

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By way of kicking us off, let me tell you about me and Steely Dan. I bought the second and third Steely Dan albums when they were released; for some reason I bought the singles off The Royal Scam (#4) rather than the album – no idea why that was. Re subsequent albums, see under Stones, Note 1, in the OP.

I had also tried and failed to get the first album at time of release. As an early teen growing up in the far north west of England, anything that wasn’t in the top ten had to be ordered at your local record and electrical appliance store. Exotica from America (and, given the time and my location, Can’t Buy A Thrill was almost unimaginably exotic) could pose a real problem. I had it on order for months before I finally gave up.

So: the unheard albums: I have to say, I congratulate myself on getting through Aja. Eight minute long jazzy noodling? Please God, no – what happened? I dislike (well, loathe) jazz. Aja was an interminable listen of instrumental noodling and cleverness. Hated it. Gaucho was better – passable elevator music, I would say. Nothing much to like, but relatively inoffensive. As a rule of thumb, the fewer tracks there are on a Dan album, the less I like it.

As there is then a twenty year hiatus, I approached the final two albums (Two Against Nature; Everything Must Go) with trepidation. Fear not, they’re really good – a surprising return to form and well worth a listen.

j

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Totally with you there. The playing and production were immaculate, but where were the songs?
As we said in our band at the time: they had disappeared up their own arseholes…

The final two albums were something of a return to form, I agree.

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Now don’t be bashing my Steely Dan. I love everything they’ve released.

Anyhoo, doing the 2000s polls is a good thing for me. It is so easy to dismiss the music the kids are playing these days, and I go through long periods of listening to just “my” music. Every now and then I make an effort to get current (and, honestly, I’m usually disappointed). That said, I do desire to remain knowledgeable about what’s going on in music.

I am extremely ignorant about Olivia Rodrigo. And Ariana Grande. And Dua Lipa. And Lizzo. And Doja Cat. And, yes, Taylor Swift.

Although, maybe I get a point for even knowing these names?

Many of my submission into the 2000s polls will be the likes of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Neil Young. But I have been doing a lil bit of research, and I am finding a few nuggets that I like by artists who are 40+ years younger than I.

mmm

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Yes, even less-great Steely Dan is better than an awful lot of other stuff!

I got a bit of an update a while ago when my kids were teenagers and listening to current music.
Early Maroon 5 were good, though they seem to have sunk into a formula now.
And there were a few nuggets like ‘Stacy’s Mom’ and ‘1985’.

But I’ll admit that I haven’t been listening to much lately.
I did decide early on that Rap (and similar stuff) is rubbish, and I’m not going to apologise for that.
It ain’t music, and nobody is going to be playing ‘Rap Classics’ in 50 years time.

I’m not sure that there is such a thing as a ‘music scene’ these days? In the way that there was in the 60’s at least for white middle-class dudes like me…

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I’ve never tried listening to a whole Steely Dan album – not really my jam – but “Peg”, with Rick Marotta’s tasty drumming, is among my favorite songs of anyone ever.

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I definitely need to catch up with recent stuff, but my brief was wider than that - it was just albums that I really wanted to listen to but had never found the time - rather pathetic of me, really. Plus Turin Brakes was a suggestion from a young(ish) friend, and Teenage Fanclub was a suggestion from @EinsteinsHund.

There was a time when I thought rap/hip hop was going to be great (that moment being The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill) but that passed. No, there’s no rap on my list.

By the time Peg came around I was already handsomely zoned out.

j

ETA - I forgot: my original list of listens should also have included Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

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This happens to me from time to time: I realise that there’s some band or album that I’ve sort of known about for years but somehow never actually heard.

Can go either way, of course when you finally hear it (and almost everything is somewhere on Youtube these days):

  • Wow, that’s really good, how come I never heard this before? or…
  • Meh. I can see why this didn’t really get anywhere.

It would certainly be interesting to learn of some good discoveries…

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Aside from Aja, the only one falling into the 40-minutes-of-my-life-wasted category (and a big surprise, given their reputation) was the Stone Roses. It felt like listening to a strangely failed Mamas And Papas tribute act.

j

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I want to thank you for proposing the 2000’s poll. It caused me to start paying more attention to recent songs in my YouTube suggestions and adding Sirius channels (2K, 10 Spot, Hits) and paying attention to songs I like.

I discovered ZZ Ward, Olivia Rodrigo, Flogging Molly, Alicia Keys, and Alice Merton, and widened my perspective on Gin Wigmore, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Brandi Carlile, to name a few.

I’d certainly appreciate album suggestions for the last twenty years. I don’t think I’ve purchased many “albums” from this century.

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Re Radiohead: not all the albums make your 20-year cut. The first album is rough around the edges; and Kid A and Amnesiac are a bit self indulgent; but all 3 are certainly worth a listen. But every other studio album they made is excellent. Highlight of the gap-filling project.

j

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I haven’t listend to a Stones or Beatles album either. Their hits is enough for me.

I have listened to some Jim Croce, Emmylou Harris, CCR,Bread, Alan Jackson, Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan albums.

Most of my collection is greatest hits.

Croce only made three albums with Maury Muehleisen before the fatal plane crash. They’re very good. Emmylou’s six 1970’s albums are extremely good. Alan Jackson’s early albums are very enjoyable.

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As I was the one who recommended Teenage Fanclub to you, here are some tips to get into the band:

They started out as an indie noise band with pop sensibilities, and in the course of their career the noise diminished more and more while the jangly pop took over, especially the perfect Byrds-like harmonies. So I wouldn’t start with their debut “A Catholic Education” which still was very rough and lacked those harmonies. It seemed like the boys had some vocal lessons between that and their second album “Bandwagonesque”, their first great album, which was a perfect mixture of noise and pop, and a classic. Kurt Cobain was a big fan. This started their great run in the 90s, “Thirteen”, “Grand Prix”, “Songs From Northern Britain” and “Howdy!” all being great albums. SFNB is IMHO their masterpiece, the noise already much reduced, but a collection of perfect pop songs with harmonies only matched by the Byrds, the Beatles and the Beach Boys. All that came after was also good stuff, but didn’t quite keep the quality of their 90s output.

“The Bends”, “OK Computer” and “Kid A” are all masterpieces, hands down. You should also check out the two albums by The Smile, a side-project by three guys of Radiohead with one outsider and Thom Yorke on lead vocals. Just as good as the Radiohead stuff.

P.S.: “Aja” is my favorite Steely Dan album (with “Katy Lied” as a close second), and I like all their stuff…

ETA: a proposition for your next project: Belle And Sebastian. IMHO the greatest pop band of the last 30 years, with the cleverest lyrics since Elvis Costello.

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Ha! I was just going to suggest them. Not sure which album to suggest, as I find the first 3 to be masterpieces. The rest are also brilliant they just start to go down different paths musically.

Perhaps “The Boy with the Arab Strap” will be my nomination.

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Noted, thank you (and thanks for the “how to” for Teenage Fanclub.)

Yeah. I have and love The Boy With The Arab Strap, so it’s a bit of a mystery as to why I haven’t listened to any of their other albums. Good call. Though I am running out of winter…

j

Posted while I was typing. Try again! :wink:

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83 minutes will get you BOTH “Tigermilk” and “If You’re Feeling Sinister…”

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It’s a deal!

j

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Have you listened to Blood, Sweat & Tears’ first album " Child Is Father to the Man"? Because, fuuuuuuuck…

Also, what do you know of Chicago?

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I feel the same way. However, I am inexplicably drawn to the music of Eminem. I went through a period of time lasting maybe 6 months or longer where I just couldn’t get enough of his music. I think he’s brilliant.

Oh, and I also like “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (which I just looked up and am astounded to learn that it is 26 years old!).

mmm

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Yeah, I concur, the first three albums by Belle And Sebastian are all excellent. They couldn’t keep up that quality with all their albums, but I also strongly recommend “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” and “The Life Pursuit”.

Aren’t you in England? I bet there’ll be some rainy days in spring and summer… :wink: