| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 299 Registered: 05-2005 |
Mines is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco. Probably because it comprises lots of my favoutite styles of music -what could loosely be described as Americana, but blending in with art rock (Eno, Berlin period Bowie etc) and electronica (afx twin, Boards of Canada etc). Whats yours? Feel free to post a top 3, top 5, whatever - I'll stick to 5 2. Flaming Lips - Yoshimi.... 3. Drive By Truckers - The Dirty South 4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 5. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 290 Registered: 10-2004 |
1. Go-Betweens - OA 2. Brian Wilson - Smile 3. High Llamas - Beet, Maize, and Corn 4. Cathal Coughlan - The Sky's Awful Blue 5. Paddy Macloon - I Trawl the Megahertz Honorable Mention: The Shins - Oh Inverted World | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 304 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff, I love The Shins and was seriously thinking of putting Chutes Too Narrow as my No5. I have Oh Inverted World and rate it just behind Chutes Too Narrow. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 268 Registered: 04-2005 |
Gotta go with the Arcade Fire's "Funeral." Yet some here say it pales in comparison to their live show, which I haven't seen. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 333 Registered: 05-2005 |
GB's Oceans Apart/Friends of Rachael Worth Wilco - A Ghost is born Spike Priggen - The very thing that you treasure Nad Surf - The weight is a gift The Winnebago Orchestra - Fifteen | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 106 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oceans Apart Seachange Yoshimi battles the pink robots Smile | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 283 Registered: 05-2005 |
Paddy Macloon - I Trawl the Megahertz. Jeff, I saw The Shins live in December 04 and thought they were awful. Does that mean I won't like the records? | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 252 Registered: 08-2004 |
Stephen Jones - Almost Cured Of Sadness Arcade Fire - Funeral Public Enemy - Revolverlution Doves - The Last Broadcast YYY's - Fever To Tell | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 293 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig - as for the Shins, I don't know! I like their first album, Oh Inverted World, but I really couldn't get into their 2nd record, Chutes Too Narrow. And I've never seen them live either, so I don't know how well the music translates on stage. But if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Oh, and there's one more, very important honorable mention I neglected to mention: The Aiserls Set - How I Learned to Write Backwards | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 25 Registered: 07-2005 |
Jeff, I take it you mean The Aislers Set. I picked up their three albums a few months back but have yet to give them a proper listen. Will pop this one into the c.d. player sometime tomorrow. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 296 Registered: 10-2004 |
whoops! yeah, that should've read the aislers set. they were one of the few bands from SF that my last band used to really enjoy doing shows with. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 52 Registered: 01-2006 |
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi BTPR Beck - Seachange | ||
| kuba a Member Username: Kuba Post Number: 45 Registered: 05-2005 |
British Sea Power first LP. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 277 Registered: 03-2006 |
Lucinda Williams - "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road" | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 272 Registered: 04-2005 |
Hardin, not to nitpick, but that album--great though it is--isn't from the "oughties." It came out in '98. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 280 Registered: 03-2006 |
You are correct, sir. Excellent musical knowledge on your part. I guess it's aura of greatness was so powerful it extended into the next decade and made me conflate the different eras...that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it! OK, so here's some, actually from this decade: Bob Dylan - Love & Theft Joe Henry - Tiny Voices Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears Loudon Wainwright III - Last Man On Earth Outkast - Speakerboxx/Love Below | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 282 Registered: 03-2006 |
and, of course, that should've been "its" rather than "it's"...ah, Mondays... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 292 Registered: 03-2006 |
and 5 more, to round it out to 10. These, far's I know, actually came from this decade, as well: Bruce Springsteen - the Rising Tom Waits - Blood Money & Alice (I'm cheating and combing them into one) Finn Bros. - Everyone is Here Johnny Cash - American IV - The Man Comes Around Kanye West - the College Dropout | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 322 Registered: 03-2005 |
Nick Cave -- No More Shall We Part Neko Case -- Fox Confessor Linda Thompson -- Fashionably Late Cathal Coughlin -- The Sky's Awful Blue Bright Eyes -- Digital Ash Vic Chesnutt -- Ghetto Bells On the subject of Lucinda Williams, I think her proper this-decade candidate "World Without Tears" is an improvement on "Car Wheels." | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 259 Registered: 08-2004 |
Nick Cave Abatoir Blues/LOTO Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning Babybbird - Bugged Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs World Party - Dumbing Up | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 301 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rand, hate to disagree with you, because all of the Lu albums are really great, but as good as WWT is, it's eclipsed by Car Wheels. CW has better singin', playin' and songs - apart from that, they're pretty much equal. CW is, for me, probably the best album of the last 20 years, let alone the last 10. I seriously can't think of one better. Which is why I was confused about when it came out: it really is that big in my musical landscape. Joe Boyd called it the Blonde on Blonde of the 90's - I don't think that's far off the mark. Speaking of the Boyd connection, I do agree with you about that Linda Thompson. What a loverly comeback... Must confess puzzlement about Digital Ash, too. I don't get that one..I bought both because they were cheap at Target, like $7, and because I'd heard the fuss, and though I thought the "Morning" one had some decent songcraft and got bonus pts. for having Emmylou on it, the charms of DA completely eluded me. Perhaps it was a little rash trading it in the next day.  | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 324 Registered: 03-2005 |
I almost never listen to "Morning" though I do have it. It's too conventional and predictable. "Digital Ash" just goes from one great scene to another. It is an intensely visual album and should be played all the way through in one sitting each time. I am a Joe Meek fan and if the production and arrangements on "Digital Ash" were not influenced by him, then it's a hell of a coincidence. I haven't heard "Car Wheels" in a long time and I might have a different view now. Originally I thought of it as a solid but unremarkable effort, ranking perhaps with some Roseann Cash albums other than the wonderful "Interiors." | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 311 Registered: 05-2005 |
I love Car Wheels. Is World Without Tears the one with the heavy, bluesy guitars? I could never get into that one; and I really tried. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 312 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yes, WWT is the one with the tight little 3 person combo and features a lot of screaming, bluesy guitar solos...I think it has a lot of great songs, but there are, it pains me to say, some real fingernail on the blackboard moments...but still it's got some just magnificent songs, like "Ventura" and "Overtime" (Willie Nelson does a great cover of which, btw)... Car Wheels is way more tuneful, songful, etc. and focuses on more narrative-style songwriting. I like the arrangements and production better, too...more intricate arrangements with 3 or 4 guitars playing at any given moment - basically doing different chord voicings (not unlike a lot of the GBs arrangements)... Maybe, too, it's my being from the South that makes me particularly susceptible to CW's charms - the whole thing just hits me right. Indeed, I'm way familiar with all of the locales mentioned...not that I feel affection for them all. For instance, Lake Charles is a dump! And being from the South, I can't think of a more evocative phrase to sum up life there than, "car wheels on a gravel road"...it just stirs up all kinds of tactile sensations and sense memories. She has a great poetic sensibility (also not unlike the GBs), which she comes by honestly. Her dad, Miller, was a fairly famous poet, who actually wrote an inaugural poem for Clinton's second go round. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 282 Registered: 04-2005 |
Well put, Hardin. Musically, "WWT" has a lot of appeal to me, but she's lost a lot of subtlety in her writing, so I don't find myself playing it often. Too many of the songs feel very heavy-handed and obvious. The "you're a mean and cruel and thoughtless lover but I understand why you are because your parents did the same thing to you" song (I forget the title) always annoyed me the most. It's not really worthy of her. But "Car Wheels" was razor sharp, and you're right--"car wheels on a gravel road" is such a simple yet perfect phrase. So evocative. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 328 Registered: 03-2005 |
I should disclose that for the most part I am not really a lyrics guy except on my own stuff where I have a better shot at decent lyrics than at decent music. When listening to others I will usually focus on the music and only on the lyrics when dealing with someone exceptional, i.e., Dylan. So I confess that my choice of "World Without Tears" is based on the musical choices and that tight little band which I really like. The talking blues of "Sweet Side" works great for me. We'll see how it sounds when it's ten years old. But if we must comment on lyrics, I got the impression (admittedly only after about 3 listens) that the title song on "Car Wheels" was either about misbehaving while the parents were away or while the lover/spouse was away. I was too lazy to find out which. As a word image standing alone, "car wheels on a gravel road" always sounded like a cliche of rural life to me but it IS a pleasant-sounding sequence of syllables. I've never thought of Lucinda Williams as being subtle at all and this may just be a failing of my own perception. For what it's worth she sure as hell doesn't try to project an image of subtlety. A similar focus sends me to "Digital Ash" over "Wide Awake" for Bright Eyes although in fact I will actually pay some attention to his lyrics especially on something like "Hit the Switch" which is the best song about bipolar disorder I can think of even if they still have the adolescent overblown quality. The arrangements and music on "Digital" are much more adventurous than on the usually hyped offering with Emmylou Harris guesting. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 112 Registered: 08-2004 |
There is another version of 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road' doing the rounds among Lucinda Williams aficionados. This is the version that Lucinda made with long time collaborator and guitarist Gurf Morlix, before Steve Earle was brought on board. I believe Lucinda and Gurf fell out over this decision. Many people prefer it to the Steve Earle produced sessions which were released (but who doesn't love a little controversy?) I've listened to it (only a little) and it certainly is less produced and closer to Lucinda's earlier stuff. I can't really say whether I prefer it. I saw Lucinda perform the World Without Tears material live and she was superb - really intense, particularly on the blues material. It's easy to overlook the fact that she is not just a country artist - her first album was a collection of mainly blues and folk standards and she has always cited Memphis Minnie as a big influence | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 326 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ah Randy, that probably accounts for some of our differences in taste...I'm totally a lyrics guy -"big time" as our estimable VP would say. In the pop/rock world, whatever you call it, if the lyrics don't work, the music doesn't work and the whole thing is rendered null and void. Basically, if the artist has nothing to say, why should I give a rat's ass? Which is not to say that complexity necessarily equals profundity...In my world at least, "be bop a lula" can be as meaningful as "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face". Context plays a huge role. So, I guess one man's cliche is another man's profundity. Gravel roads possibly are a signifier of the rural South, but the simplicity and the starkness of the phrase, to me, lend it a lot of impact. I can really almost feel them when I hear the phrase, having been on many of them in my life (actually the driveway of my house in BR was shell - same thing virtually)... It reminds of that line from the GM song, "simple yes, but never easy"...some things seem screamingly obvious once someone thinks of them. But, of course, THEY thought of them. There's a great line in the Dylan song, "You're a Big Girl Now": Time is a jet plane, it moves too fast. Now, my 8 year old nephew could've come up with that, but in the context of the song, it's just heartbreakingly profound and brilliant. The GBs do a nice cover of that one, btw. Sorry to natter on so about Lu - she's one of my alltime faves, up there with the GBs...so, the protagonist of CW is a young girl, relaying memories of a somewhat abusive family situation (Lu's father actually apologized to her, after hearing the song.) By the final verse, LW plays a clever trick: the camera is reversed and all the observations are in 3rd person, so we the little girl crying, covered in dirt and tears. Where does one find a copy of the alternate CW, Cichli? I must have it! I've seen her 7 or 8 times (like I said, I'm a bit of a fan), but not on the "World" tour (wannnhhh)...however, every time I've seen her, she plays a lengthy and delectable set of old blues as part of her encore. As you point out, she is amazingly proficient in that genre, too. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 327 Registered: 03-2006 |
ps - I actually like "Sweet Side", too...she got derided for attempting to rap, but really it's just the old talking blues thing... On her live disc that came out last year, her version of it is pretty raggedy - she lapses a little into the style my wise-ass brother likens to the sound of cats f-ing...he's still a fan too, though. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 115 Registered: 08-2004 |
Hardin, I found it at this 'live tape' swapping site. They only swap stuff that hasn't been officially released so I guess they don't get too much heat from the RIAA. http://www.dimeadozen.org/index.php I listened to it this evening and it is better than the officially released version - bluesier and more downbeat. If you can't find it, email me. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 332 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thanks bunches, Cichli...that sounds very cool. I will check it out. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 338 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yeah, for as long as I can remember critics have gone on and on about lyrics. Presumably this is because they are writers themselves. And, frankly, I think they often missed a lot of the essential trashy wonderfulness of rock n roll. If we really start fairly evaluating the lyrics a lot of our favorite records will start circling the drain. I go for the overall sound and, as somebody said on one of these threads, the atmosphere or the mood. | ||
| steven drennan Member Username: Dj_steviedee Post Number: 2 Registered: 04-2006 |
THERE ARE A FEW BUT FIRSTLY ABERFELDY=YOUNG FOREVER..... ...SIMPLY A BEAUTIFUL ALBUM GO BETWEENS=OCEANS APART GO-KART MOZART=TEARING UP THE ALBUM CHARTS... .....BECAUSE LAWRENCE IS LAWRENCE BELLE AND SEBASTIAN= DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS JUST BECAUSE OF STAY LOOSE AND TO ROUND OF SECRET MACHINES=10 SILVER DROPS AND ALL AND EVERYTHING BY MOGWAI | ||
| steven drennan Member Username: Dj_steviedee Post Number: 3 Registered: 04-2006 |
A FOOTNOTE TO ABOVE I LOVED LUCINDA WILLIAMS COVERING TIM BUCKLEYS BUZZIN' FLY | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 309 Registered: 04-2005 |
Shift key, Steven, find the shift key! |