The 'Recommend me an album by this artist' Thread

Sometimes you hear a song or two by an artist or band, go to check out their discography, and discover they’re incredibly prolific and have released 10 or 20 albums! If you’re short on cash, like me, then you can’t buy them all and sometimes “Best of…” or “Greatest Hits” compilations aren’t available. So where to start?

This thread is for posting queries on which albums are the best starters for different bands. If you’re a fan of the artists mentioned within, this is your chance to help corrupt – err, introduce a new fan to their work. My choices:

Recommend me a Lacuna Coil album.

Recommend me a Rammstein album.

Comalies is very accessible for someone who’s familiar with mainstream alternative metal, but it’s their weakest album, IMO. I prefer In a Reverie, their first album, but Unleashed Memories is also a good choice because it’s packaged with the Halflife EP.

To put it politely, Rammstein’s sound is very consistent. Sehnsucht and Reise Reise are both good choices, and if you like one, you’ll probably like the other. The former is more electronic and the latter more eclectic.

What’s the best place to start with each of Shostakovich, Brahms, Mahler, Mendelssohn, and Schumann?

Thanks for the recs, ultrafilter. I’ll keep a lookout for those albums. I’m sorry I can’t help you with your question, but hopefully some classical music fans will be along shortly – I know there’s several on the SDMB.

Shostakovich: Symphony #5
Brahms: Symphony #1
Mahler: Symphony #4 (or #1, or #2)
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Schumann: Piano Concerto

Thanks much, Biffy.

For any new Genesis fans, I’ll suggest *Selling England by the Pound * if they want to hear Peter Gabriel and *A Trick of the Tail * for fans interested in the Phil Collins years

I keep hearing Laibach recommended for people who enjoy Rammstein. They have a good reputation, but they also have about 10 albums, of which a couple are covers albums. So I put the question to you again, Teeming Millions…

Recommend me a Laibach album.

Laibach and Rammstein would both be considered industrial, but that’s about where the similarity ends. Rammstein is accessible and dance-oriented (they describe their sound as “tanzmetal”–lit. “dance metal”), whereas Laibach is more like opera and performance art.

Nonetheless, AMG offers Opus Dei up as the best starting point, and Let It Be generally gets very high marks from the people who like it. But you might want to see if you can sample some of their tracks first.

Please recommend me an album for The Flaming Lips, one for Interpol, and one for Tom Waits that is not Rain Dogs (which I own). Thanks.

Waits is tough, since he’s changed so much over the years. Definitely checkout his early stuff. My personal favorites are “Blue Valentines”, “Small Change” (probably my favorite), and “Heart Attack and Vine”, in which you can hear the beginning of his segue from whisky-voiced crooner to the more experimental stuff. His very first commercial album (I think), “Closing Time” will give you a sample of what his voice sounded like pre-whiskey rasp. The later stuff…pretty much anything after “Heart Attack and Vine”…starts to get less generally accessible but no less brilliant. Takes a few listenings to warm up to, though.

The Flaming lips
Yoshimi Battles the Pink robots

Interpol
Turn on the Bright Lights

Though not an album, rathergood.com’s Stomping Communist East German Kittens video of Laibach’s ‘Tanz Mit Liabach’ (also found on their Anthems compilation) can be very addictive.

I’d recommend starting with Nighthawks At The Diner.

Ooh, ooh! I see I’ve been beaten, but I will still throw out recommendations for:

Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights

Tom Waits - Nighthawks At the Diner (a live set with plenty of funny and cool inter-song banter, so you get to know him more as a performer and a person; plus the material is all significantly different from Rain Dogs, so you get some early Waits to contrast against the mid-career Waits you already know.)

The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin. Much better than Yoshimi…, I thought.

The Smiths, anyone? A compilation album is fine, if you think that’s the best choice.

And The Soft Bulletin is definitely better than Yoshimi.

There are two Smiths singles collections, I believe. You can’t go wrong with those, but of the albums, my favorite is Louder Than Bombs (simply because it has the most songs on it). Their first, self-titled album is much darker in tone, and I don’t care for it as much as the others. Their most popular/widely-regarded singles seem to be “How Soon Is Now” and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” so you may want to seek out the albums or compilations that have those songs if you REALLY want to become a fan. But I love the Smiths, and anything you get from them will be great.

Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones

How about Thelonius Monk?

Good thread.

I’ve been wondering lately about the best Talking Heads, and without it being a best-of (a la Changesbowie), early David Bowie.

I know there’s more I’ve been pondering, but damn if my wine isn’t starting to take pleasant effect. :smiley:

The Name of This Band is Talking Heads and Sand in the Vaseline are both good collections for a casual fan, and there’s surprisingly little overlap between them. If you’re looking to dig a little deeper, their first four albums (Talking Heads '77, More Songs about Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, Remain in Light) are all absolutely essential. The next two (Speaking in Tongues, Little Creatures) are pretty close, and the band’s last album (Naked) is definitely underrated. That leaves only album #7 (True Stories), which is kind of weak, but still worth picking up. And as long as you’re at it, Stop Making Sense (both the soundtrack and the film) are worth getting too.

And that’s been my problem. It seems like anything I’d pick up would probably be great. But I want THE best album for my (at the moment limited) money.