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

Cafe Society
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I listen to a relatively narrow range of music, in terms of genre labelling, but that’s largely because I know I enjoy so much of it and there’s so much to discover! I don’t have the time or energy to range further, though I do enjoy listening to other stuff in general when I hear it at people’s houses or whatever.

I listen primarily to punk and related music. I live in an area with a lot of festivals, with lots of bands coming through, many of which are awesome even if they never make it big. And the headliners are often names I know, but might be bands I’ve never really listened to or heard more than a few songs of (“they were big in the 90’s”). I also love that these festivals have a lot of local/Canadian bands too. I love exploring the music of bands that will be playing at whatever festival I go to next. It’s how I personally discovered new favourites like The Flatliners, War on Women, The Bronx, The Anti-Queens…over the past few years, and loaded up on buying the albums I didn’t have of “classics” like Lagwagon, Propaganhi, and Good Riddance.

Currently hooked on The Penske File. I just hit play on entire discographies and listen straight through.

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I had never heard of this but thought I’d give it a listen. I’m not crazy about the guy’s voice but there’s some good material there. And since I’m starting at the beginning it’ll be awhile before I catch up. Thanks for sharing!

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Unless I’m driving or exercising, I just read the transcript and C&P the songs into a YouTube search bar.

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@Treppenwitz , I initially forgot to ask you this, that’s why I’m bumping this thread: how did that go? Because for me, these four albums are not only the essence of the Stones, but of rock music in general. Genre defining music. So what did you get out of it?

(I was reminded of this thread because I’m listening at the moment to “Let It Bleed”)

ETA: “Sticky Fingers” has been my favorite album of all times since I first heard it about forty years ago. Many albums I heard afterwards (and some before) can compete, but not beat it. It also was Townes Van Zandt’s favorite album. I’m blessed to have seen him perform “Dead Flowers” in person.

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Sorry about the slow response – we were out last night.*

It was a couple of months ago now, so my recollections are not exactly sharp. I certainly enjoyed the experience. I knew a lot of the songs, of course, but I was still surprised at how bluesy a lot of the music was (yeah, I know, I shouldn’t have been). Another embarrassing confession: I was aware of the Stones doing Love In Vain, I think from a BBC Session, but I didn’t realize that it was a Robert Johnson song. Sigh. I was taken aback by Country Honk- a little gem, just as good as it’s better known alter-ego.

These are definitely albums I’ll come back to; but my objective was basically to cover as much territory as possible for now, rather than study in depth, so I only listened to these albums the once (so far). Perhaps I should have made notes…

Anyways, very useful bump, as I can use it to update progress. I forgot to include, in my original list (how??), later Oasis albums (OK, but a bit More-of-the-same) and one or two by Soul Coughing (way too jazzy for me.)

It was one of the rainiest Februarys on record, and a very wet start to March, so I’ve been cracking on. NOT in chronological order:

Stupidity by Dr Feelgood (Less enjoyable than I expected – felt very dated and without the excitement I was expecting.)

Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister by Belle And Sebastian (Loved them – thank you @ZipperJJ)

Child Is Father to the Man by Blood, Sweat & Tears (Uh – got through it. Not my thing).

Teenage Fanclub – up to and including Man Made. (Early ones OK, getting better and better to this point).

Turin Brakes – up to Invisible Storm (Always enjoyable. They’re almost a folksy version of Teenage Fanclub).

Raskit – Dizzee Rascal (Yeah, I said no rap, but what little I know of Dizzee I haven’t minded. And I was getting along with it OK until one track, don’t remember the name, and we were back to B*tches, violence and all that. (English language) rap always seems to revert to type. No more.)

Reverence – Faithless (Good, but much more chill than I was expecting. Must investigate more.)

Adele – every studio album (She has a great voice and the occasional great song, but on the whole I was slightly disappointed) Unlike

Frank – Amy Winehouse (Wow. Joyous – just great fun. Very different from Back To Black.)

Wet Leg – Their only studio album to date (Great, just great. Good call @MrDibble and @pulykamell .)

The Shires – first 2 albums (The UK’s leading country music band – very enjoyable poppy country.)

London Grammar – every studio album. (Hypnotically wonderful – I can see me becoming obsessed with these guys)

And (big breath) Taylor Swift. (Wow! Just fucking Wow! Started with Midnights (thank you @msmith537) immediately thought, shit, this is MUCH better than I expected; total convert 30 seconds into song 3 (Anti-Hero). Also 1989 (Taylor’s version) is almost as good as Midnights.)

So many albums, so little time…

j

* - out seeing Richard Coles talk about his life - from pop star to openly gay Church of England vicar. His best story? This will only make sense if you know Coles’ musical history:

Standing in the vicarage garden in his new parish the Reverend Coles notices an elderly lady peeping at him over the fence.

RC: Hello!
Parishioner: Hello. Are you the new vicar?
RC: Yes I am.
Parishioner: Well. You’re not quite what we were expecting.
RC: Really? What were you expecting?
Parishioner: Well…somebody black.
RC: Really? Why?
Parishioner: Weren’t you in The Commodores?

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BTW - anybody else been doing any research?

j

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Awesome! I’m impressed by how impressed you were with Taylor Swift. I might have to give her a listen…I’ve just been so obsessed with podcasts lately, and now baseball season is coming up, so I don’t know if I’ll have time to give any full albums a proper listen.

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Maybe I was so blown away because I started with really low expectations. But in any case, I think I’m forced to the conclusion that she’s famous for a reason…

j

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Maybe you knew it from the live version from “Get Your Ya-Yas Out”, with Mick Taylor on guitar (he was still absent on the studio version). His guitar elevates the song, nobody could beat the two-guitar force of Keith and Mick Taylor, they harmonized perfectly.

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I dunno. I was convinced it was from a Peel session, but it appears they never did one.

j

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The early Stones did BBC sessions (before the Peel sessions), and there’s “On Air”, a compilation of more than 30 songs from these sessions, but the latest is from 1965, long before they first recorded “Love In Vain”.

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I’m still digesting all the content in this thread, but I want to thank you for getting me to go back to thinking of rock and roll in terms of albums, a set of songs in a particular order.

So I dragged my vinyl out of the basement, and right now I’m listening to albums, instead of singles or playlists.

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Excellent!

j

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I am continuing to listen to the “A History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs” podcast recommended by @Elmer_J.Fudd upthread. I’m about thirty songs in, currently listening to the “Mystery Train - Elvis Presley” episode. Andrew Hickey takes some getting used to, but he’s starting to grow on me.

One thing I like about the podcast is that, while episodes are named for a specific song by a specific artist or group, that specific cut is really the focus of only about ten percent of the episode, with most of it being backstory that got us to the making of that record, and what happened after. And he does a really good job of pulling together different threads across various episodes. I always thought I was pretty knowledgeable about not only rock but blues and R&B, but I’m learning a lot!

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Interesting story - During COVID Taylor Swift starting working with Aaron Dessner of one of my favorite mid 2000s indie rock band The National to produce her more “folksy” albums. I highly recommend pretty much any album by that band as well.

Even if you’ve never heard of them, chances are you heard one of their songs on a film soundtrack over the past 20 years (including Game of Thrones).

Here is pretty representative sample of their music (featuring Ms Swift)

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Why, Thank you! I will take a look over the next couple of days. (Out in London tomorrow; and currently working my way through - with another nod to @EinsteinsHund - Daft Punk).

j

BTW - also gone through the first two (the original) Libertines albums, and all 3 by Babyshambles (the common theme being frontman Pete Docherty). Personally I prefer Babyshambles (especially the first 2) - the Libertines were a bit more guitar thrashy, Babyshambles are a more interesting soundscape.

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Oh, nice! I know the Libertines, but never had even heard of the Babyshambles, so I’m going to check them out some time this weekend.

My favorite 90’s/00’s band I haven’t even mentioned – Sleater-Kinney. It’s hard for me to recommend a single album, but I love Dig Me Out (1997) and The Woods (2005). “Jumpers” from the latter album is a particularly amazing, IMHO, treatment of somebody jumping off the Golden Gate bridge. Pay attention to the drums and the two guitars interplaying in all their work. No bassist in this band.

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Let us all know what you think!

Your recommendations are noted, but my there’s a long list now (which is a good thing).

j

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Oh, I don’t expect you to get to all the stuff in the thread. I know how hard it is. But if there’s bands I’ve been obsessed with over the years, there’s the Smashing Pumpkins, Sleater-Kinney, Stereolab, the Police and the Pixies. (I know the Police are kind of the odd band out there, but I just love Stewart Copeland so much.)

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This thread has inspired me to also fill some gaps in my musical knowledge. Since I’ve had a week off, it was a perfect opportunity to do so. In typical Moonrise fashion, I squandered it doing… not much actually.

So, I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours at the moment. That was one of two albums that I had shortlisted, the other being The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead.