| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 397 Registered: 05-2005 |
I must have been 14, perhaps 15 and was really getting into Bowie, the Velvets and Lou Reed. My local record shop only had two Lou Reed albums - Rock N Roll Animal (which I already had) and Metal Machine Music. So I proudly took MMM to the counter, the assistant looked at me as if I needed counselling _"are you sure you want this?" Yes I replied. Strange look from the assistant - "OK, here you go" and gave me the album. What a b£st5rd!! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 319 Registered: 04-2005 |
You fell into Lou's trap, Kevin. That's exactly what he wanted! (To be honest, though, I'd rather listen to "MMM" than "Rock 'n Roll Animal," but I might not have felt that way when I was 14.) I think my purchase from hell was the first Split Enz album (import). I had heard their first U.S. album was produced by Phil Manzanera (a hero of mine when I was a teen), and at the time I only knew Split Enz for their new wave-influenced "I Got You" stuff. Boy was I in for a shock when I got a pompous second-rate prog album that Manzanera didn't produce. I never was able to listen to all the way through. Bad, bad purchase. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 322 Registered: 10-2004 |
there are way too many to mention. but speaking of lou reed, this may ruffle some feathers: lou reed's berlin. what really deals the death blow for this one is the fucking drummer! whoever is playing drums just defacates all over the album, doing over-the-top fills at every single turn. obnoxious! i guess i'm harsh with this record because i had heard so many good things about it. i'm sure i'll think of some more as this thread progresses. let's just say i'm glad that amoeba records let's you return stuff for 75% credit if you simply don't like it. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 291 Registered: 08-2004 |
Berlin is just plain depressing, it would have been nice if Lou had put some songs on it. Never noticed the drumming problem, not prepared to listen again to check it out though. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 83 Registered: 01-2005 |
Berlin has got some very good songs, but I would much rather listen to his 80's stuff starting with the Blue Mask ending with New York. Better musicians for sure than his 70's bands. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 329 Registered: 04-2005 |
"Berlin" had the all-star cast of musicians Bob Ezrin brought in, including Steve Winwood on keys and Jack Bruce on bass. The drummer on most of the album is Aynsley Dunbar, who was later in the godawful corporate rock band Journey. Blame Ezrin and those guys. I'm sure Lou was too drunk/stoned at the time to have anything to do with how "Berlin" actually sounds. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 337 Registered: 05-2005 |
I recently got a 50 song, 3-CD set of Lou Reed stuff for $10 in Sydney. It cherrypicks the best of stuff from his 70s-early 80s albums and so is top value for money. The Day John Kennedy Died is an absolutely amazing song. I've always thought it was incredible since I first heard it more than 20 years ago. The only thing with the compilation being such a budget one is that there is a glitch on one song where at the start you hear the end of the previous song from the original album which played into it. But one glitch out of 50 songs on a $10 compilation I can deal with. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 85 Registered: 01-2005 |
I bought the Scissor Sisters eponymus debut. I played it a couple of times, and will never play it again. Sheer garbage. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 417 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff its a bit like the drummer from The Church in the late 80's, to many Neil Peartisms for my liking. I love a great drummer and really admire them, but when they shoot the listener with their pomposity pistol, you wonder where the artis (suposed to be credible) is when they are recording/mixing. I've always felt Lou Reeds small outfit sound like a piss poor pub band going through the 12 bar. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 418 Registered: 05-2005 |
ps Pete my friend saw Billy Bragg t'other evening and siad he was amazing, but guess what, he had the keyboard player form The Faces/Small Faces playing with him...Ian McLagan...watching him was mesmerising, now thats a flashy musician that we do want to hear...... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 324 Registered: 10-2004 |
spence, i've always felt that when lou reed doesn't have a great producer (which is most of the time), his outfit IS a piss poor pub band going through the 12 bar! a lot of reed's solo work just doesn't do anything for me because of this. about the only records of his i truly like are transformer (which has bowie ALL OVER IT, and that's a large part of why it's good), and metal machine music. well, i'm sort of joking about the latter, but i'm also sort of not joking! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 411 Registered: 03-2006 |
"pomposity pistol"... I love it, spence. You definitely have a way with words, buddy. My purchase from hell is, I'm sure, liked by some, and probably reveals my old-farty tastes...I like some hip hop, for instance love Kanye West and Outkast, etc., and have been making (baby step) forays into it...Someone told me a record by Cannibal Ox, called the Cold Vein was brilliant, and I, too credulously, bought it without checking it out first. Big mistake - very discordant, very trippy and headache inducing...completely lacking in "get on the good foot" energy, which is what hip hop is supposed to be all about, at least in my view. | ||
| Andy Robinson Member Username: Andyblue Post Number: 32 Registered: 03-2005 |
Spence and all - off to see the Braggmeister next Weds - will keep y'all posted. Never seen Billy as a flashy musician though - oh you mean McLagen! I can't wait! | ||
| David Matheson Member Username: David_matheson Post Number: 95 Registered: 12-2004 |
Spence, McLagen played with Billy Bragg and the Blokes when I saw them in Sydney in 2003. Great musician, great gig. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 435 Registered: 05-2005 |
Speaking of Metal Machine Music, Q magazine published a list of the 50 worst albums of all time. I am proud to say I own three of them At No 50 - Midnite Vultures by Beck ( a bit harsh this - by Becks standards its probably not great, but hardly merits inclusion here) At No 21 - Cut The Crap by The Clash. (first two words in the title are surplus to requirements, but being a Clash obsessive I had to buy it when it was released) At No 4 - Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed ( should have been No1 but that honour goes to Thank You by Duran Duran) | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 329 Registered: 10-2004 |
Okay, after giving it a lot of thought, I came up with a few more, although one is likely to ruffle a few feathers, while the other two will probably result in blank stares: Ludus - Danger Came Smiling -I'm a longtime fan of Ludus. They wrote challenging but really quite inventive and sometimes strangely pretty music. But this album, which I believe was their first full length LP, was one of the most unlistenable records I'd heard in my life. Pretty much every song consists of random, non-rhythmic thumping of drums, atonal blurts of sax, and singer Linder Sterling yelping and shrieking wordless vocals. I could think of no other reason for them doing this other than as a symbolic middle finger to someone, though I'm not sure who. Minny Pops - Sparks in a Dark Room -A lot of Les Tempes Modernes post punk reissues are great and necessary, but this was one of the most drab, monotonous, annoyingly repetitive, go-nowhere records I'd heard in years. Belle & Sebastian - Boy w/ the Arab Strap -I'd come to B&S reluctantly, thinking they were decent but unworthy of all the praise and comparisons to bands like the Go-Betweens and the Smiths. But I gradually warmed up to Tigermilk and Sinister. However, Arab Strap was the record where I more or less parted ways with B&S. To me it was clear that there was *way* too much democracy going on w/ in the band, which meant an excess of weak materal and a self indulgent, unfocused feel. But more than that, everything seemed so trite. *Not* thought out very well. But that is just my humble opinion. I know there some folks here who love this record, and that's great. But for me it was a disappointment. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 403 Registered: 03-2005 |
Jeff, I totally agree with you on "Arab Strap." The way I came to B & S was via "Tigermilk" which I loved. The next thing I bought was "Arab Strap" and it left me so unmoved that I never bought another B & S album until "Catastrophe Waitress" so many years later. I only recently picked up "If You're Feeling Sinister" which I think is great. I decided to play "Arab Strap" for the first time in many years about two weeks ago. I don't dislike it as much as I originally did, but it's clearly a weak album. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 335 Registered: 10-2004 |
just thought of another: crispy ambulance - the plateau phase. i heard their song concorde square on a les disques du crepuscule comp, and although it is a total joy division rip-off, it is a *great* song. i bought their first full-length, and found that the bulk of it would be much more suitable for a torture session. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 442 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff I agree with you re LTM. They are very important as a label, but James Nice is pushng out the boat in the wrong direction, now he also has Northside, a second rate baggy period Manc band, who were rubbish, relly , really rubbish, what is James playing at!? Cashing in that's what. I love the support LTM have given artists and pleasure seekers like myself for all their releases but "less is more" surely? I'm with you on Minny pops and Crispy Ambulance. there is a teriffic compilation on LTM soon, called Some of the most intersting things you'll see on a long distance flight, its from Crepescule '82, fetaures Richard Jobson, paul Haig and Marine amongst many others, its hosted by Wally from Mimi Pops who is very enetrtaining. Jeff y thye way, did you ever get the Happy Family cassette? Out on LTM in '84. It was vbasically the demo for the album, much faster pace and less polished. LTM also released a great William Burroughs album, Doctor is on the Market. One of Bill's best compilations, had to sell mine when I was broke, LTM did some great stuff in the 80's too. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 336 Registered: 10-2004 |
Spence - yeah, I think LTM are really scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as factory/crepuscule/etc... reissues go. It's hard for me to see how the world could be a better place with those Minny Pops reissues. Ditto Northside and several others. On the other hand, I've been pleasantly surprised by a few things, most notably the Room reissues a few years back. I hadn't even heard of them before LTM announced the reissue, but I think their album "In Evil Hour" is awesome. I was excited to see them reissue all the Passage albums too, not to mention the Swamp Children. But yeah, they haven't really put out anything crucial or interesting in over a year, with the notable exception of the Dislocation Dance reissues. And I guess that first Antena record is okay. And no, I've never heard that Happy Family cassette. That sounds really cool! |