Album of the Week - Opinion/Samples
Okay - a thread along the lines of "What are You Listening to Lately". Hopefully this won't get out of hand, but - my thoughts are for thread participants to recommend (on a weekly basis) a single album/CD from their stacks, make a few personal comments, and add a link so people can hear some of the album. Keeping it to a once a week basis should let the pleasure extend indefinitely...
To link - add a mark-up tag to an Amazon page that has a "Listen to Samples" selection.
I'm sure everyone here has GREAT musical taste, and probably know quite a few hidden gems/personal treasures that have yet to hit mainstream consciousness ...
Starting out from my collection, I'm going to dust off the jacket and select:
The Blue Nile - Hats
The Blue Nile puts out an album about once every six years, and god knows I wish they were more prolific. Their first two albums - A Walk In the Rain and Hats from the mid-late 80's - are tone poems more than anything. I'd probably describe these two as "Impressionistic rock" or "smoky cabaret rock". It's sort of haunting and uplifting at the same time, with mournful horns - synthesized beats/keyboards - yearning vocals with a Scots burr. And the lyrics are poetry of an everyman ...
Last heard from with 1996's "Peace at Last". A little less atmospheric than the other two - but still great.
Hoping they release at least once more in my lifetime, because they are so damned good. I assume they were bigger in the UK - but are little known over here. Unfortunately "Hats" and "A Walk In The Rain" only appear to be on import labels now, but they are worth forking over the dough for...
To link - add a mark-up tag to an Amazon page that has a "Listen to Samples" selection.
I'm sure everyone here has GREAT musical taste, and probably know quite a few hidden gems/personal treasures that have yet to hit mainstream consciousness ...
Starting out from my collection, I'm going to dust off the jacket and select:
The Blue Nile - Hats
The Blue Nile puts out an album about once every six years, and god knows I wish they were more prolific. Their first two albums - A Walk In the Rain and Hats from the mid-late 80's - are tone poems more than anything. I'd probably describe these two as "Impressionistic rock" or "smoky cabaret rock". It's sort of haunting and uplifting at the same time, with mournful horns - synthesized beats/keyboards - yearning vocals with a Scots burr. And the lyrics are poetry of an everyman ...
Last heard from with 1996's "Peace at Last". A little less atmospheric than the other two - but still great.
Hoping they release at least once more in my lifetime, because they are so damned good. I assume they were bigger in the UK - but are little known over here. Unfortunately "Hats" and "A Walk In The Rain" only appear to be on import labels now, but they are worth forking over the dough for...
- ...
- 48 posts total
Dr John - Duke Elegant |
Dr John - Danveetc recommendation Also enjoyed the sampler from DJ. I have his "Television" album, which is alright (esp. the "Thank you for lettin' me be mice elf" cover; which brings back the "Right Place/Wrong Time" groove that seems to be the only Dr. John song you hear on mainstream radio). I like what I hear from the "Elegant" album more than the remainder of "Television" though. Fascinating to hear NwOrl funk reinterpretations of the Duke songs I'm familiar with (Don't Get Around Much, Don't Mean A Thing, Mood Indigo) So much great stuff; so little money!!! |
Ben Campbell - Wish I had your particular problem (too much to listen to!). I was at a friend's last night, and I'd guess he has about 1500 CDs and purchases at least 3-5 a week. I'm sure his album collection (much judiciously acquired in yard sales) also numbers in the 1000's. BTW - he played a few tracks from the remastered "Freewheelin" - and yes - AMAZING presence in the recording. Myself, I'd guess I had about 350-400 CDs, about 150 albums purchased in HS/college, and 100 or so tapes (mainly made in college). Not enough jazz or classical, or female vocalists. And yes - more than one good/great artist in my collection is poorly represented by a single "greatest hits" collection. However, much as I wish that I had the money and time to satisfy my musical obsessions - it ain't going to happen. That's why I thought this thread might be useful for the more typical music fan (not that I think Audiogon members are "typical" music fans). A personal recommendation of a single work (with the added bonus of hearing a few snippets) might actually sway me to buy an album! I hope that this would become a living/ongoing thread that doesn't OVERWHELM the reader with a list of great artists/works, but instead offers a reasonable sampler of selected works that they may not hear from mainstream sources. As an aside about music exposure - I'm really enjoying my experience with Internet radio. The stuff I hear on BBC6 is such a fantastic change from the homegenized radio playlists here in the US. I'm in the Northeast and listen to WXRV and WBOS - which, at first, seemed refreshing - but now seem as repetitive and shallow as any other station. Their rotation seems to get narrower all the time, and their "deep" album cuts might actually hit the second most popular track on an album instead of the first. Blecch... I do listen to the local college radio on occasion, but you have to put up with a bunch of insufferable crap to hear some of the good stuff as well. So, I'm glad that I finally took advantage of the Internet connection at my workplace to start listening over the web ... get to hear a lot of artists with no/little US exposure, and the DJ's seem to have a lot more variety in their playlists. Yes - a few "current" tracks get a bit more play, but it's never seemed repetitive. Yesterday's playlist from the currently playing DJ is here. |
- 48 posts total