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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 20, 2024 11:22:33 GMT -5
#5 - Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants (1980) I also enjoyed this LP when it was released. Don't recall how I heard about it but it was so quirky sounding and catchy. Adam went on and came up with a bunch of fine songs. This was my favorite album of his
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 20, 2024 11:30:35 GMT -5
Wherein Slam tries to play catch-up after being under the weather for roughly 24 hours. 7. The Carlton Showband at the Pig and Whistle Huh. Well that's the damnedest thing I ever did hear. #6 - 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 by The Beatles (1973) I used to have these two on CD (well my wife did) coming from my late brother-in-law's estate. The second one got significantly more play as I much prefer later Beatles to early Beatles. I know how much Slam_Bradley will love this one. 7. Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin - 1969I mean it could be worse. It's not like it's The Eagles or The Doors. I'm pretty sure I had this one in high school. I know I had Led Zepplin 4...who didn't? That said, if I never heard them again it would be far too soon. Soul Kitchen, Twentieth Century Fox, Alabama Song, Back Door Man-the album was packed. And the finale, aptly titled The End- WTF? Yeah, this was one of those albums I loved and which broadened my taste in music Oops. Yeah...I hate The Doors. Not quite as much as The Eagles though. So they have that going for them. 6. Machine Head by Deep Purple (1972) I had a few Deep Purple albums in high school. I don't think this was one of them. I could do fine without hearing Deep Purple again as well. 6. Harry Hibbs at the Caribou Club Huh. I didn't hate that. That was kind of interesting. My Aunt also played the accordion as a child and was apparently good enough that she got to play on Lawrence Welk's show as a guest. This was when his show was still a local southern California thing. #5 - Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants (1980) I never "got" Adam and the Ants. They were clearly not as big here in the States as they were in the U.K. but they had a following. I know there were some girls to definitely listened to the group in junior high. They weren't for me though.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 20, 2024 11:54:07 GMT -5
5. Greatest Hits by Trini Lopez (Reprise 1966) And this was definitely Mom's album. I must have listened to this a million times while she cleaned the house on Saturday mornings. Lopez was a folk/standards singer who really didn't do much until he got a residence gig at PJ's nightclub and was discovered by Frank Sinatra who signed him to Reprise. He was a fairly big pop star in the mid 60s and even started a movie career...which he quickly short-circuited by being difficult. Some of this may be nostalgia, but I find him to be infectiously listenable. I will say that's I've seen a number of live performances of him from the 60s on video and he was one hell of a live performer. Which makes some sense since he made his name in nightclubs. He is still my touchstone for a number of folk songs that he puts a pop twist on. And I think his version of "America" is the best I've heard. And he had the biggest version of Will Holt's "Lemon Tree."
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 20, 2024 12:17:32 GMT -5
Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company- Cheap Thrills -Released Aug 1968This would be the next chronological album to blow my socks off. The power, the soulfulness, the vulnerability in Janis' vocal delivery is iconic. And while this album had a bunch of her early classic hits like Ball and Chain and Piece Of My Heart, I might rank her final album, Pearl , even higher But this album had some personal significance for me. I had made friends in 1969 with a couple who were into the biker lifestyle. The only music they played in their house would be this album and a few LPS from Steppenwolf. So I know who I borrowed the album from to make a copy for my tape recorder I also remember this album being played when I finally lost my virginity And that album cover by Robert Crumb, wow I chose this live 1969 video of Janis singing Summertime from Cheap Thrills. I don't think I've ever seen this video clip before
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 20, 2024 12:38:14 GMT -5
5. Greatest Hits by Trini Lopez (Reprise 1966) Lots of similarities between Harry Belafonte and Trini Lopez. Both were born in the United States but heavily identified with their parents ethnicity (Harry with Jamaica, Trini with Mexico) Both were essentially folk singers who infused that ethnic flavor on those folk songs as well as recording folk music from their parents homeland Both also appeared in many fine films. Trini Lopez was one the The Dirty Dozen My mom might have had a Trini Lopez album, not sure.
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Post by impulse on Oct 20, 2024 13:06:05 GMT -5
And here is where it gets interesting! And hard. After raiding my dad's collection and getting a good start into the world of rock, I took it and ran with it and kept going. With the classic rock foundation from him, I started discovering other stuff on my own through media, my friends, etc. It gets extremely difficult for me to narrow it down to five because of how fast this all went down in a few short years and how much I can microfocus on things I'm into, so there were quite a few. I'm not going to be able to feature all of the influential albums here, but I'll try and pick the highlights to represent key bands if not all relevant key albums, and to kind of paint a broad picture. So all that said, let's get to it with my own picks!5. Weird Al Yankovic: Off the Deep End (1992) I could not begin to overstate the impact and air play Weird Al had on my life. He was the first musical artist I really got into. I remember seeing the music video for Fat on TV as a kid before I knew what MTV or music videos were. It was funny and the song was good. A friend I met in grade school also knew about him and had some albums, and we played them a lot. I could pick any number of his albums here, but I picked this one because it was the first one I owned myself, and I WAS OBSESSED WITH IT. I played that cassette tape over and over and over and over. I played it so much I still know pretty much all of the words, tones and cadences he used. It was also important because it was one of the first times I remember hearing some pretty hard rocking tunes packaged in a completely kid-friendly way. The Nirvana parody obviously, but several of the others were just loud blaring rockers in the style fo the time. I also wouldn't realize this until later, but my first time hearing Metallica's music was in the polka medly on this album. One of the songs, I Was Only Kidding, had blaring chugging almost punky guitars, ripping guitar solos, leads all over, wild singing. My friend's dad didn't like it because it was a "loud" song. I didn't understand what he meant. Why not just turn the volume down if it was too loud? At the time, I didn't really notice things like heavy music or rocking too hard or what have you. That's just what that song sounded like. I took it at face value. Side note, there will be a few examples of this where I end up punching above my musical heaviness weight early on due to being exposed to it before I had a barometer for it, but some harsh stuff slipped in before we had the gate setup. It took me a long time to catch up to equivalent levels of heavy music organically, but I digress. But there you have it. I credit Weird Al for introducing me to a wide array of musical genres and for being my earliest introduction into harder rock music, in his way. My selection for this one is Trigger Happy. I picked it for two reasons: One, it's a pretty darn good Beach Boys spoof which I thought folks here might appreciate, and two, it still cracks me up every time I hear it.
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Post by impulse on Oct 20, 2024 13:27:25 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley berkley I am woefully inexperienced with Johnny Cash. He is a culturally significant omission that I really have no good excuse for. I'm going to make a playlist out of the suggestions here, and I'm specifically interested in checking out his work. Confessor I do like the little Everly Brothres I know, but this is another area where I need to spend some time. I'd like to explore my history a bit more so to speak. #9 - The Best of Tex Ritter - Tex Ritter (Capitol 1966) I know absoutely nothing about Tex Ritter, and my curiousity is piqued. I guess it's the pure soulfulness in her voice, that she was singing from experience rather than from some lines on a paper. It was my first exposure to someone who could meld jazz, blues, R&B, gospel and pop together. There's an unmistakable note of melancholy in her voice which makes it more poignant. 8. Queen - News of the World The original source of the album art is the cover of the Oct. 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, painted by Kelly Freas. It is titled "The Gulf Between", intended as the representation for the story within of the same name by Tom Godwin. Freas took the original art concept and expanded it for the News of the World artwork, almost 25 years after he first created it, and put a new spin on it for the inner gatefold artwork. While I can't confirm, I would suspect that Roger Taylor probably had something to do with hiring Freas to recreate the cover art and concept. Taylor has been a lifelong science fiction fan, and was likely very aware of Freas' talent and legacy. I had no idea. That's really cool, and it makes sense not all of these album covers were wholly created just for the albums themselves. is another I need to get around to. I've listened to Hank III some. My embassaing Beatles story is I blew them off and turned my nose at them as a teenager. I (ignorantly) thought they were just the stupid NSYNC boy band of the 60s singing stupid love songs to teenage girls. I mean, they did do that, but that's not all they did. Then in college my friend made me listen to the White Album, and I came around. I also now love NSYNC. I don't care for the sacharine ballads, but I like boisterous 90s dance pop which they are great at. The Doors Greatest Hits was one of my runners up. I wasn't a huge fan of theirs then or now, but it was one of the ones my dad bought with the others I mentioned, and I liked a couple of songs, particularly the uptempo Break On Through, and Road House Blues for being a gritty, groovy catchy swaggy little bluesy rocker. More of the blocks I'd continue building on. I'm largely unfamiliar with the other artists mention, and I will be glad to check out yoru selections.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,113
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Post by Confessor on Oct 20, 2024 16:52:17 GMT -5
OK, catching up with some comments I wanted to make on other people's picks... 7. Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin - 1969 You can't really go wrong with Led Zeppelin. My personal favourite of their albums is probably Led Zep III, but II and IV are also great. Nice choice. The Doors 1967 debut album... I really LOVE the Doors, but it took be a little time to get into them back in the early 90s, when I first heard their music. I was into a lot of other West Coast psychedelic bands before the Doors properly clicked with me. And it was this debut album in its entirety that finally won me over. These days I have all of their albums, and I think they never really made a bad one while Jim Morrison was in the band (even The Soft Parade is pretty damn good really). When it comes to my favourite Doors LP though, it's always a battle between this and the follow-up, Strange Days, which is at least every bit as good as The Doors, even if it doesn't quite have that reputation, generally speaking. 6. All Aboard the Blue Train by Johnny Cash (Sun 1962) You can't go wrong with Johnny Cash -- especially if it's the Sun Records era stuff. Great pick! 6. Machine Head by Deep Purple (1972) Deep Purple and their ilk really aren't my cup of tea at all, I'm afraid. It's all a bit too " metal" for my tastes. Really, Led Zeppelin is about as close as I can comfortably get to that kind of hard rock, but what makes Zep interesting are the folk and world music influences to be found amongst the testosterone-fuelled hard rock riffing. Obviously, I know "Smoke on the Water" from this album, but yeah...it doesn't do much for me at all. This just isn't my bag. 6. Harry Hibbs at the Caribou Club This is totally new to me. Never heard of Harry Hibbs. It's reasonably nice and I kinda like the Irish folky vibe of it. Not sure I could ever imagine listening to this at home, but I think I'd enjoy it in a bar with a few Guiness stouts inside me. 5. Greatest Hits by Trini Lopez (Reprise 1966) Trini Lopez is one of those names that I know, but I have no idea what kind of music it really is (except that it's vaguely easy listening or clean-cut pop, I guess). I don't think I've ever knowingly heard any of his music. Listening to those two tracks you posted, his music actually swings a bit more than I was expecting it to. It's fine for what it is, but yeah...it's probably a little too clean-cut or adult MOR for my tastes, I'm afraid. Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company- Cheap Thrills That's a great album; it carries the zeitgeist of the Haight-Ashbury ballroom scene every bit as well as Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxters and Quicksilver Messenger Service's first album. For my money, this is Janis Joplin's best album. I like Pearl a lot too, but I always felt Janis was best as part of Big Brother, rather than as a solo artist. I really like how her voice compliments guitarist Sam Andrew's singing on "Combination of the Two". Cool choice. 5. Weird Al Yankovic: Off the Deep End (1992) I only know a handful of Weird Al Yankovic's singles, such as "Eat It", "Like a Surgeon", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "The Saga Begins". I like those fine for what they are. But if I'm honest, I have a really, really low tolerance for comedy records. I'm glad Weird Al exists and is still out there doing his thing, but personally, I just kind of write him off under the banner of "joke act". I have exactly the same problem with Tenacious D: I just can't see the point of this kind of stuff beyond a couple of listens, I'm afraid.
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