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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 22, 2024 21:00:42 GMT -5
What I'm thinking of now is more the various traditional Mexican styles - for example La Bamba is supposed to be based on a traditional song in the Son Jarocho style; and the song that first got me interested, El Llorar from the Kronos Quartet cd Nuevo, is in the Son Huasteco style. It's such big subject I hardly know where to start but eventually I'll try to read a bit more on the history, listen to a few older things, and continue on from there. Also I'd like to try something else from the two guys who did that El Llorar song, but so far I haven't been able to find much.
Your probably aware but just in case Linda Ronstadt recorded 3 highly praised Spanish language albums Canciones de mi padre (1987) Mas Canciones (1991) Frenesi (1992) Personally I've never heard those albums |
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Post by berkley on Oct 22, 2024 21:56:37 GMT -5
What I'm thinking of now is more the various traditional Mexican styles - for example La Bamba is supposed to be based on a traditional song in the Son Jarocho style; and the song that first got me interested, El Llorar from the Kronos Quartet cd Nuevo, is in the Son Huasteco style. It's such big subject I hardly know where to start but eventually I'll try to read a bit more on the history, listen to a few older things, and continue on from there. Also I'd like to try something else from the two guys who did that El Llorar song, but so far I haven't been able to find much.
Your probably aware but just in case Linda Ronstadt recorded 3 highly praised Spanish language albums Canciones de mi padre (1987) Mas Canciones (1991) Frenesi (1992) Personally I've never heard those albums No, I wasn't aware of those. I'm a bit leery of Linda Ronstadt's popular music from the late 70s onwards, which seemed to me to lose all the spontaneity and charm of her earlier work - not that I've heard a whole lot, just the usual radio things. But comparing a song like Different Drum (title?) form her earlier days to the commercially successful but to me flat and dead sounding Buddy Holly covers and so on in the late 70s and 80s, there's a big drop-off in quality. Since her voice was as good as ever, I assume it's the producers and arrangers she was working with. But perhaps these Spanish-language albums are different, I'm definitely interested. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 23, 2024 6:22:19 GMT -5
Another busy day today, unexpected
Guess I'll post my final 2 choices tomorrow. Looking forward to all of yours
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Post by berkley on Oct 23, 2024 9:11:02 GMT -5
4. Badfinger - Straight UpI'll have to fill in my explanation later tonight but this wasn't an album I bought myself - it was my older brother's - but it was one of the first rock or pop albums in our household that I remember getting really into. Before this he had bought almost exclusively 45s.
edit: After this this I'll keep to Supercat's idea of albums we bought ourselves in our earliest album-buying days but I wanted to include this one because it was an important milestone in my young musical awareness - as I said, I think it might be the first rock album I really got into. And I think it's in keeping with the spirit of our little exercise since my older brother was certainly the biggest influence on me when it came to rock music. My favourite song on this album was Baby Blue but the entire record is great.
The story of the band is quite tragic, with two of the band's three songwriters - Pete Ham and Mike Evans - committing suicide ten years apart. And apparently they were swindled by their management - according to a book I once read about them, they were walking around with holes in their shoes when Day After Day was a huge #1 hit internationally, which sounds incredible.
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Post by commond on Oct 23, 2024 9:27:40 GMT -5
It's not traditional Mexican music, but two of the best alternative Mexican rock bands of the 80s and 90s were Caifanes and Café Tacvba.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 23, 2024 9:36:20 GMT -5
#2 - Swinging Doors and The Bottle Let Me Down by Merle Haggard (Capitol 1966)  Is there anything left for me to say? Another one of Dad's albums, another one that I will pull up and listen to very frequently. This was Hagg's second album, but the first one that really showcased him as a songwriter of both hits and of album tracks. The hits on his first album "Strangers" were all written by other people (Liz Anderson, Wynn Stewart, and Tommy Collins). Hagg did some nice album tracks on that album, but this is where his song-writing really began to shine. He had really worked hard with Fuzzy Owens to hone his writing skills and all but two tracks on this one came from Haggard's pen. As much as Waylong and Willie defined country in the early 70s, Haggard defined late 60s country. So let's have those two hits that gave the album it's name.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 23, 2024 9:50:20 GMT -5
If you want to dip your toes into Mexican music without getting too far out of a comfort zone at first, give the Texas Tornados a listen. That was a supergroup consisting of Flaco Jimenez, Freddy Fender, Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers. Their first album is outstanding. It’s a nice fusion of Conjunto with more modern sounds and is a good starting point for gringos to branch out.
Yes, I like them and have their first two or three cds. When I first started buying cds in the early 90s a Doug Sahm compilation was one of the first I picked up and from that I went on to the Texas Tornados. Good stuff.
What I'm thinking of now is more the various traditional Mexican styles - for example La Bamba is supposed to be based on a traditional song in the Son Jarocho style; and the song that first got me interested, El Llorar from the Kronos Quartet cd Nuevo, is in the Son Huasteco style. It's such big subject I hardly know where to start but eventually I'll try to read a bit more on the history, listen to a few older things, and continue on from there. Also I'd like to try something else from the two guys who did that El Llorar song, but so far I haven't been able to find much.
My issue is that, as far as Mexican music goes, I'm mostly familiar with Norteño music which is pretty much border music and is heavily influenced by the German and Czech immigration into the Southwest U.S. and Northern Mexico. For example, I'm a big fan of Flaco Jiimenez, but he's really heavily influenced by Clifton Chenier and Zydeco in general. For a little older 1950s Norteno music you could look for Narciso Martínez or Los Donneños (which had some pretty nice bajo sexto playing). |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Oct 23, 2024 11:00:32 GMT -5
I recommend checking out The Doors album which came out after Jim Morrison's death. Titled Other Voices (1971) it had some killer tracks. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek supplied most of the lead vocals but it is easy to imagine Jim Morrison belting these out. The song Tightrope Ride was a top 40 single. Ships With Sails was a great extended Doors Jam Their final album, Full Circle (1972) was not as good but had a weird, catchy song, The Mosquito Do you know the American Prayer album that the three surviving Doors completed in tyhe late '70s using archival recordings of Jim Morrison reading his poetry and a couple of previously unissued full band tracks? That to me is every bit as essential as the Doors' six regular studio albums. |
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 23, 2024 11:13:17 GMT -5
I recommend checking out The Doors album which came out after Jim Morrison's death. Titled Other Voices (1971) it had some killer tracks. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek supplied most of the lead vocals but it is easy to imagine Jim Morrison belting these out. The song Tightrope Ride was a top 40 single. Ships With Sails was a great extended Doors Jam Their final album, Full Circle (1972) was not as good but had a weird, catchy song, The Mosquito Do you know the American Prayer album that the three surviving Doors completed in tyhe late '70s using archival recordings of Jim Morrison reading his poetry and a couple of previously unissued full band tracks? That to me is every bit as essential as the Doors' six regular studio albums.
+1 on American Prayer.
It's #4 on my all-time favorite Doors (or Doors-tangent) albums.
For the sake of posterity, my top three faves are Morrison Hotel, L.A. Woman, and The Soft Parade, in that order.
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Post by Confessor on Oct 23, 2024 11:14:18 GMT -5
Some brief comments on other folks' recent picks... #4 - Same Train, Different Time by Merle Haggard (Capitol 1969) #2 - Swinging Doors and The Bottle Let Me Down by Merle Haggard (Capitol 1966) I knew we'd see some Merle Haggard in this run down. Nice. King Crimson-In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969) I don't know any King Crimson at all. I'd long regarded them as being impenetrably overblown prog nonsense, but just the week before last, a friend of mine who I think has great taste in music was saying that I should check them out because they are excellent. He also said he's not sure if he would describe them as being "prog", per se. I'll have to give this album a listen sometime and find out. Neil Young - After The Gold Rush (Sept 1970) Yeah, great album. Along with the preceding Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and the following Harvest, this is probably Neil Young's peak as a songwriter, I'd say (though there were certainly some good albums after this too). #3 - Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous by Johnny Cash (Sun 1958) I said just a day or two ago that you can't go wrong with Sun era Johnny Cash. It's just brilliant, life affirming stuff. 4. Badfinger - Straight Up Muso friends have been telling me for years that I need to listen to Badfinger more. I only really know the Paul McCartney-penned single "Come and Get It". I need to check them out properly sometime. |
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 23, 2024 11:19:03 GMT -5
4. Badfinger - Straight UpI'll have to fill in my explanation later tonight but this wasn't an album I bought myself - it was my older brother's - but it was one of the first rock or pop albums in our household that I remember getting really into. Before this he had bought almost exclusively 45s.
This album and its predecessor, No Dice, are great, straight-up (pun intended) rock & roll/power pop hybrids -- Beatles influence notwithstanding.
For Confessor 's sake, check out this gem from their third album, No Dice--
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Post by Confessor on Oct 23, 2024 11:52:24 GMT -5
#3 - Synchronicity by The Police (1983)  As a child in the late '70s and early '80s, I had enjoyed a few of The Police's singles, but Synchronicity was the first of their albums that I had bought. My best friend back then got this album before me, and it was while listening to it in his bedroom that I realised I really wanted a copy myself. He did me a cassette tape copy, which I had for around a year before I'd managed to save up enough pocket money to afford my own copy of the LP. This was the band's commercial peak, with the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "King of Pain", and "Synchronicity II" all being taken from the record. But I also regard it as their artistic peak, though the earlier albums had been brilliant too. The reggae influences of their earlier career had been eradicated because they were alienating the middle-American market, and in its place came subtle world music touches and a new sharpness and sophistication to Sting's songwriting. Not that there weren't odd and quirky moments on this album too: Stewart Copland's "Miss Gradenko" is a fabulously tongue-in-cheek song about an illicit workplace romance, while Andy Summer's "Mother" is a maniacal-sounding, Psycho-influenced song that never fails to produce a grin when I hear it. The sophistication, complexity, and soulfulness of Sting's lyrics really made an impact on me at the time. This was a good few years before I encountered Bob Dylan's music, so at this point, I hadn't come across anybody who wrote such thought-provoking song words as the ones found on Synchronicity. The album's lyrics were an education, and some of the concepts and ideas presented here certainly changed the way I thought about the world forever. Here's the wonderfully poignant deep cut, "Tea in the Sahara" for you to check out…
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Post by impulse on Oct 23, 2024 12:01:54 GMT -5
Well, after all my blather about posting on time, life happened, and here we are. We've had a lot going on this week, and company arrive tomorrow, so we will see when I can get them in. Next for me... 3. Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1995)  It would be impossible for me to overstate the importance of this album in my musical development. I was SPOT ON the right age for the game and movie at the time. I could not have been more closely the target audience. Elder millennial with an 80s childhood and 90s adolescence, NES generation to arcade and SNES and on and on. Huge into video games and violence as any typical teenage boy stereotype would be. Mortal Kombat was the coolest thing ever. The movie was absolutely better than it had any right to be, and honestly holds up surprisingly well for what it is. The setting and costumes and characters and sets and the fights, seeing the game brought to life in a satisfying way and done justice, it was incredible, as was the music. The Music. The "MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAT!!!!" scream was iconic, and that driving 90s techno song was a staple for years all over. The fight choreography and effects were incredible, but the use of the music perfectly heightened it all. I built an association with the cool fights with the cool visuals from the property that was the coolest shit ever with this cool driving high energy music. This is the first CD I ever bought for myself. I'd bought a few cassettes earlier, but this was my first CD, and it was well-used. I even bought two, because my friend was as big a fan as me and we listened to it all the time as we played with our X-MEN toys. He had the uncensored version, while mine had word cut out of a few songs, as Walmart would only carry those. But there was no way to know which you would get, so I bought it twice somewhere else this time hoping to get the uncnesnored, but alas. The impact?I didn't know it at the time, but this album basically laid like 75% of the foundation my entire musical taste would be built on. I got started on Weird Al (multiple genre appreciation) and the traditional blues-based 60s and 70s rockers, but I always wanted more. I wanted it to rock a little harder, and then I was exposed to this. Let's look at the album description: Genre: EDM; electronica; techno; industrial rock; industrial metal; death metal; groove metal I mean, geez. Add in thrash metal (which is a parent genre of death and groove) and that's most of what I listen to anymore. This is also the album that kind of snuck in before my "that's too heavy/noisy/extreme" filter came up, when I was just young and took things at face value, so I was listening to death metal because "oh, it's the song from the fight I liked. That was cool!" "Ohhh that's the Reptile fight, that music was really cool!" It would take me years to catch up to that level of heaviness on my own in seeking music directly. I liked those particular songs because I knew them already, but I couldn't tolerate the harsher genres' vocals until I was in my 30s. So kind of funny being a teenager listening to Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Weird Al, The Doors, the Stones, and Napalm Death and Fear Factory. Anyway, I was a huge fan of video games, of the movie, of the soundtrack, it was the backdrop of playing with my other comic book nerd friend in the neighborhood, I was the perfect age for it, and it informed the majority of my future musical trajectory. And I still love it today. Examples:Iconic. Juke Joint Jezebel Fun, dancy iconic uptemto industrial song. Pretty approachable, and great fight scene. Napalm death - Twist the Knife (slowly) I don't expect (m)any people here to like it, but this was probably the heaviest song on the album that I enjoyed as a teenager, and I would not listen to other stuff this heavy until my late 20s probably Geezer - The Invisible This one is fun. It was a solo project of founding Black Sabbath bassist, Geezer Butler. Groovy and heavy. Type O Negative - Blood and Fire (Out of the ashes mix) I loved this one. It's an alternate mix from the album version, but it fits. It would take me a long time to make my way back to these guys on my own outside of this, but they're a lot of fun. Interesting mix of 80s and 90s kind of punky vocals, Halloween, and irreverence. I'll stop before I list the full album. I don't expect many here will appreciate much of this, but this was a big one for me. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 23, 2024 12:02:10 GMT -5
4. Badfinger - Straight UpI'll have to fill in my explanation later tonight but this wasn't an album I bought myself - it was my older brother's - but it was one of the first rock or pop albums in our household that I remember getting really into. Before this he had bought almost exclusively 45s. I only know Badfinger from their very few radio tracks. For me they were very much a blank slate. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Oct 23, 2024 12:16:47 GMT -5
I may have prematurely presupposed we would run out of musical overlap around this time. I was not familiar with this group, but I can appreciate the quirky punkiness. Or is it punky quirkiness? In any case, I like it. I wonder, if you don't know it, if you's like the collection on The Crow motion picture soundtrack. It didn't make my list, but was a runner up. It's got a similar progression from 80s-esque bands like this into the 90s with a more melancholy and alternative flavoring to it. It was my bridge into alternative, but sounds similar to a lot of things I've seen you like. Not sure it will be your cup of tea, but there might be a few songs that click with you. If you're in the market for music you (possibly?) don't know. I don't know The Crow soundtrack album, actually, but looking online, there are a few bands on it who I like, such as The Cure, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Violent Femmes and The Nine Inch Nails. A fair bit of it is the more "metally" side of alternative rock though, such as Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, and the Rollins Band. I see it also has Pantera on there too and they are really, really not my bag. |
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