plus they pretty much kicked everyone's ass on album covers. (my favorite of which is the bottom one).
maybe even album names as well.
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Six classic sequential studio albums from a single band/artist. Who ya got, fellow music aficionados?
- Thread starter cosmickid
- Start date
plus they pretty much kicked everyone's ass on album covers. (my favorite of which is the bottom one).
maybe even album names as well.
Ha ha I could probably write for Rolling Stone or one of those old metal guitar rags.
Nah I just think they have an incredible and surprising arc as a band and they've done it while not getting the attention that they probably deserve from main stream radio.
That's coming from a shready, wannabe 80's guitar rock guy.
They literally blew up on the scene with Creep (which was recorded live as a practice, warm up throw away song which is why there are so many flaws like pitch issues, feedback, etc) and instead of being crushed under the pressure to make another creep, they continued to evolve album by album that followed.
The Bends was supposedly a masterpiece (get it, 'The Bends' which was the follow-up to Pablo Honey which had Creep) but then then they followed that with OK Computer which was another level up. Then came Kid A which was a 180 lturn from the sounds of OK Computer and it's considered visionary (I personally like the Bends and OK better because again, I'm a wannabe, shready guitar guy and Kid A didn't have much guitar work).
Anyway, they had a great run during an era where it was really difficult to have a great run because the day of the Album band that can pack an arena on its own seem to be gone. It's about singles more than album concepts (most of the bands listed in the thread are older but the goal was to make great albums).
Calling back to Rolling Stone, they released a top 500 albums of all time list and Radiohead got 4 of them.
The Bends - #276
OK Computer - #42
Kid A - #20
In Rainbows - #387
Not too shabby for what was expected to be a one hit wonder.
Same song (Exit Music) used in Westworld in Black Mirror:
Let Down in Afterlife (when he has a flashback to his deceased wife that he's grieving over) and the ending of The Bear.
Karma Police in Ted Lasso (during the moment that Ted is outed for having panic attacks which is one of the emotional arcs of the season at the end of the penultimate episode).
A choir hauntingly singing Creep for The Social Network trailer:
Anyway, they supposedly have 58 songs that have been featured in movies and television over the years, it's because they have mastered how to play on this tension/insecurity emotion combined with a singer that has a very distinct, fragile sound.
Again, not too shabby for a one hit wonder.
Molly Hatchet is the greatest disappointment in epicness of album cover to epicness of music.
plus they pretty much kicked everyone's ass on album covers. (my favorite of which is the bottom one).
maybe even album names as well.
I mean how can an album cover that looks like this have pussy ass songs like Flirting With Disaster and Dreams I'll Never See???
I second your notion that the Moody Blues are extremely underrated but I'm a sucker for the full sonic experience with bands like Moody Blues, ELO, Queen, Yes, Genesis, etc
I can’t believe Tom Petty hasn’t been called out yet:
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
You’re Gonna Get It!
Damn the Torpedoes
Hard Promises
Long After Dark
The next album is Southern Accents which is excellent as well. Then there is another run:
Full Moon Fever
Into the Great Wide Open
Wildflowers
Music from She’s the One
Echo
Simply amazing how consistently excellent he was for 4 decades.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
You’re Gonna Get It!
Damn the Torpedoes
Hard Promises
Long After Dark
The next album is Southern Accents which is excellent as well. Then there is another run:
Full Moon Fever
Into the Great Wide Open
Wildflowers
Music from She’s the One
Echo
Simply amazing how consistently excellent he was for 4 decades.
John Prine
Diamonds in the Rough
Sweet Revenge
Common Sense
Bruised Orange
Pink Cadillac
I'll stop at 6...
Diamonds in the Rough
Sweet Revenge
Common Sense
Bruised Orange
Pink Cadillac
I'll stop at 6...
I kept waiting for someone to do Bowie...I'll start with the 5 slam dunk albums I bought...Released from "71-'74
Hunky Dory
Ziggy
Aladdin Sane
Pinups
Diamond Dogs
Those are the 5 albums I bought, and ironically it was subsequent albums like Young Americans, Station to Station and Low which really never interested me that sold even more copies. Bowie reinvented himself, which is perfectly fine- I just chose at the time to not go along for the ride. But he certainly fits the criteria of this thread...
Interesting. I can recognize the technical abilities of these bands, but outside of a portion of the work of the Moody Blues and just a little bit of Yes (could never stand Jon Anderson), you’ve listed some bands and a style I just can’t stand. A Queen song can come on Sirius and I get the channel changed in a couple of notes. Billy Joel also elicits this response.Molly Hatchet is the greatest disappointment in epicness of album cover to epicness of music.
I mean how can an album cover that looks like this have pussy ass songs like Flirting With Disaster and Dreams I'll Never See???
I second your notion that the Moody Blues are extremely underrated but I'm a sucker for the full sonic experience with bands like Moody Blues, ELO, Queen, Yes, Genesis, etc
We’re all tuned a little differently.
Next up, Mr Browne...Again extremely prolific over a relatively short period of time to establish himself and flaunt RRHOF credentials.
Many people, myself included thought the debut album was titled Saturate Before Using, but that was because we got confused over the lettering on the water flask looking like it was part of the album cover, rather than writing within the cover photo. I didn't live in Cali or the desert, so I'd never seen an actual water flask before...
Anyway, the album blew me away when I first heard it, and basically all I knew was that artists I admired (CSNY, Ronstadt, Joni, JT) were friends of his who recommended his music... So starting in '72...
Jackson Browne/ Saturate Before Using
I didn't even have a stereo, just a mono record player. So I couldn't even pick up all these harmonies ( Mr Crosby, btw...) and the brilliance of the voices on the counter melody verse. And I had no idea Silver Lake was a suburb of LA. But this song and the entire album still blew me away..
And it just got better with each successive album...
For Everyman '73
Late For The Sky '74
Pretender '76
Running On Empty '77
Then in 1980 he released Hold Out, which was his first #1 album, and my least favorite among those first 6. It's not bad, just not brilliant like any of those first five. Somebody's Baby was a smash hit and part of the Fast Times soundtrack, and memorable songs include Of Missing Persons which memorializes Lowell George and others like Boulevard and Call It A Loan.
I think after that Jackson became more hit or miss for me. I'd find myself really liking some songs on an album, but not so much others. He sort of shifted his focus, but I always thought his brilliance was in his lyrics, especially Sky and the other first 3 albums. I also think Jackson deserves a massive amount of credit for producing Warren's first album and introducing the world to the brilliance of Warren Zevon...
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That was an Allman bros pen called Dreams.. Gregg to be exact. Rearranged and renamed by Hatchet .. who were a studio marketed band trying to cash in on Skynyrd popularity.
Yeah, they sucked balls .... so did 38 spec. same thing, they actually played pop rock riffs. Wasn't anything close to southern boogie rock.
Original was very different .. duane switches to slide half way through.
Ween:
| 1994 | Chocolate and Cheese | — | 10 | 80 | |
| 1996 | 12 Golden Country Greats | — | 23 | 72 | |
| 1997 | The Mollusk | 159 | 5 | 69 | |
| 2000 | White Pepper | 121 | 2 | — | |
| 2003 | Quebec | Sanctuary | 81 | — | — |
| 2007 | La Cucaracha | R |
Yeah Anderson has crazy range but not the most pleasant of sounding voices.
It always amazes me how music reaches each of us personally. I'm a note/interval/melody guy. Have always had an ear for 'notes' which is what tends to hook me. Plus I've been pretty good at reciting notes, etc and has always been pretty good at quickly finding and singing harmonies.
Some people are lyrics first. I'm not. Words to me are basically instruments that put out notes. It's how I can love a band like Muse even though lyrically they are terrible, almost cringy...but I don't pay much attention to the actual lyrics unless they are really good.
Some people are drawn to rhythm first. Some are drawn to tone (as a guitar player myself, I've never had a strong ear for tone which is why I gave up and play through a Kemper now). Tones are different from notes in my example. Tone is more about the overall sound or depth of a sound. Notes are the collection and arrangement of how the sounds used together.
Anyway, make a short story long, bands like were mentioned tend to overload you and fill the spectrum with notes that I enjoy picking out, etc. Again I don't pay much attention to lyrics, it's the arrangements that talk to me for the most part on if I enjoy something.
So yeah, your post is spot on.
I had no idea this was an Allman bros tune. I just always thought it was funny how it came off an album that looked like it should be nothing but gutteral screams. Lol
I was too young at the time but looking back it now makes total sense how the industry, like it tends to always do, will quickly over saturate a market, and southern rock was definitely a big thing in the 70's. Got some crazy good guitar work out of it, particularly rock slide (I'm a terrible slide player but I throw it in to charge things up. Wish I was better as it really sings when you can do it well and I have moments but I'm not consistent. Of course it doesn't help playing slide standard tuned on a guitar that's set up with low action but rockers gotta rock).
Thanks for sharing!
The way you relate to melody/rhythm/lyrics is pretty much exactly how i relate to music as well.…..especially with regards to music with pedestrian lyrics. I have accepted some shitty lyrics for the sake of the a beautiful melody or musical mood. Even though i work nearly exclusively with music with vocals, I’m drawn to instrumental music. Maybe its *because* i work with the vocalists all the time. Also, good description of tone.
By the way, the Kemper gets great reviews from serious guitarists I know. Its not just for home studio internet recording and headphone jamming. Of course I wouldnt choose it over a classic real tube amp, but ive never been upset to see it used otherwise.
Me too ... I use an old beat up guitar with horribly high action to play on.
Beat>Rhythm>Melody>Lyrics
I've learned to lock on the beat first... it's the meat, everything else is a condiment.
Unless something outstanding lyrically, I only know the first verse and chorus, it' all I need to know. I tend to consider vocals as just another instrument ... unless it's poetry.
fwiw - in listening and songwriting ... lyrics first equal feminine, rhythm first equals masculine. Or that's how it was once described. Named such as females generally fit rhythm to words when writing and pay more attention to the words, while males generally fit words to rhythm and pay less attention to the words. Generalized of course, as there's always exceptions.
“Me too ... I use an old beat up guitar with horribly high action to play on.”
Aren’t all guitars that are to be played with a slide meant to have super high action?
Time for Reginald Dwight to stand up and be recognized. I may have gone back and bought Empty Sky retroactively, but I'm going to start the list with the self titled Elton John, from 1970. Your Song, Border Song, 60 Years On, Take Me To The Pilot... Just an extraordinary debut album with Elton's musicianship and Bernie's lyrics...
That same year 11-17-70 was recorded live off an FM radio broadcast and Elton basically became a superstar overnight...The next 5 studio releases were a whirlwind...
Tumbleweed Connection '70
Madman '71
Honky Chateau '72
Don't Shoot Me Jan '73
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Oct '73
IIrc, Elton's show at Assembly Hall (my freshman year) was basically a day or two following the release of GYBR, and he played many of the songs including opening with Funeral/Love lies Bleeding. The move to record at Caribou ranch in Co resulted in Caribou, Captain Fantastic and Rock of the Westies and all were hugely commercially successful, but not albums I ended up buying...
Among the best
Can’t Buy a Thrill — November 1972
Countdown to Ecstasy — July 1973
Pretzel Logic — February 20, 1974
Katy Lied — March 1975
The Royal Scam — May 31, 1976
Aja — September 23, 1977
Can’t Buy a Thrill — November 1972
Countdown to Ecstasy — July 1973
Pretzel Logic — February 20, 1974
Katy Lied — March 1975
The Royal Scam — May 31, 1976
Aja — September 23, 1977
I saw Elton John in 71 or 72 as the warmup act for Yes in Oxford Ohio. This was before he went crazy with the costumes. He had some big funky glasses, but otherwise it was just him and the piano, and the guy rocked the place. He was a performer in the same sense as Jerry Lee Lewis. This was also before he ended his collaboration with Bernie Taupin. He may have had more commercial success afterwards, but the music wasn't nearly the same after they split.
I believe Goat hit SD earlier. Regardless I agree with both of you. A fantastic run.
That makes sense in political threads, I guess. But on a music thread I'd undo ignores, just to see if there was worthwhile info posted. GOAT nailed SD, and in particular the ambiguity myself and several others indicated that we felt regrading some of the releases subsequent to the brilliance of Can't Buy and Countdown to Ecstacy...
With SD it is squarely about the music through the first six.
I just laugh at some of the clown show acts listed here by some as quality music.
I have your "Dreams" as "Dreams I'll Never See" . . . .
I have the impression that "Dreams" was the name of the album, not the song.
Hmm. Always heard original name was plainly Dreams. It was one of his first songs and the one that got him in the band .. or something like that. I may be wrong.
Got him in the band? What was it called before, with just one Allman?
My Aim is True
This Year’s Model
Armed Forces
Get Happy
Trust
Imperial Bedroom
This Year’s Model
Armed Forces
Get Happy
Trust
Imperial Bedroom
Before looking this up to make sure, I was going to post that you needed to place this in the Dad Joke thread (yes, there is one...sort of).
I guess Duane and Gregg were into Dad Jokes.
Wait. Are you telling me that there are people who don’t like Van Halen???Except for the "Van halen" aspect.
ELO
On the Third Day (US Chart - 52)
Eldorado (16)
Face the Music (8)
A New World Record (5)
Out of the Blue (4)
Discovery (5)
Time (16)
Suck it, haters.
(BTW, Jeff Lynne still has one of the most melodious voices in rock history.)
On the Third Day (US Chart - 52)
Eldorado (16)
Face the Music (8)
A New World Record (5)
Out of the Blue (4)
Discovery (5)
Time (16)
Suck it, haters.
(BTW, Jeff Lynne still has one of the most melodious voices in rock history.)
Just because he was much wealthier, more famous, better looking. I mean what the heck.
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I had to think of the best two rock bands I ever saw live.
So....I've got two 5 spots, because thats all we deserved even though there were other later attempts and good attempts too, but in their prime...Hmmm best couple shows I ever saw live.
Outlandos d’Amore
Reggata de Blanc
Zenyatta Mondatta
Ghost in the Machine
Synchroncity
I saw these guys more than once BUT I actually found the original show we went too back in 1979. We sat right up front at Park West. Cool place! The Police were played on the radio, but mostly not out front, KROQ type channels back then. It was obvious they were something special. Copeland...F*cking amazing drummer and I've enjoyed everything from Peart to Cobham and others.
COSMIC thanks for starting this thread because I would have never looked for this and found it.
This was the actual show we went to in Chicago
We finally saw these guys at the.Louisville Palace in 2002. JAWDROPPING performance. I've seen every front man from Mick to Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Bono, Daltrey and many others. Scott was the shit. The devil himself. He didn't dance, he slithered. Commanded the stage.
Core
Purple
Tiny Music
No. 4
Shangri La Dee Da
So they open with...Shine On You Crazy Diamond...Holy shit and nailed it, followed by Vasoline and Crackerman.
Thanks Cosmos!
So....I've got two 5 spots, because thats all we deserved even though there were other later attempts and good attempts too, but in their prime...Hmmm best couple shows I ever saw live.
Outlandos d’Amore
Reggata de Blanc
Zenyatta Mondatta
Ghost in the Machine
Synchroncity
I saw these guys more than once BUT I actually found the original show we went too back in 1979. We sat right up front at Park West. Cool place! The Police were played on the radio, but mostly not out front, KROQ type channels back then. It was obvious they were something special. Copeland...F*cking amazing drummer and I've enjoyed everything from Peart to Cobham and others.
COSMIC thanks for starting this thread because I would have never looked for this and found it.
This was the actual show we went to in Chicago
We finally saw these guys at the.Louisville Palace in 2002. JAWDROPPING performance. I've seen every front man from Mick to Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Bono, Daltrey and many others. Scott was the shit. The devil himself. He didn't dance, he slithered. Commanded the stage.
Core
Purple
Tiny Music
No. 4
Shangri La Dee Da
So they open with...Shine On You Crazy Diamond...Holy shit and nailed it, followed by Vasoline and Crackerman.
Thanks Cosmos!
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