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Albums you do not get...a plea for help and understanding

So like most of you (I bet), I listen to tons of music.  But there are just some albums I never learned to appreciate.  I hope this thread can serve as a teaching tool.  I did not get Mingus at first but now he is one of my favorites.

Perhaps ending each post with, "What am I missing?" would be a good idea.

I will start with Graceland by Paul Simon.  Most of my friends call me crazy (still after all these years...OUCH that was bad) but I never desire to listen to this record.  I get the African influence and rhythm but it just does not impress me.  Alternatively when Peter Gabriel did the African influence thing I found it stunningly good. Paul Simon as a musician impresses me in his other works.  What am I missing?

bancsee
tds3371
49 posts
 

@bancsee Not that I understand the deeper meanings of the songs on "Graceland," are you sure you don't mean Paul Simon's "The Rhythm of the Saints"?  

audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,017 posts
 

Anything from Devo, the B-52’s, Boy George, Barry Manilow, the Captain and Tennille, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, I think you get the idea....🤮 grody to the max, gag me with a spoon....🤪

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,360 posts
 

Cassandra Wilson New moon daughter

 

ghdprentice
6,485 posts
 

I found that my interests expanded with exposure… but some stuff just does not appeal to me. I started with rock in the 60’s and 70’s… then jazz, classical, blues, electronic, world…

 

There is usually a gateway album… one that bridges the stuff I like with a new type. Then when “I get it”… and slowly a whole new genera opens up.

The biggest gateway for me was Michael Franks. I was mid twenties staying in a cabin on Lake Tahoe doing research (I was a geologist). I went to this tucked away high end cool restaurants hidden in an old growth forest. One of his albums was playing… it completely changed my world… opened it up.

I have run at opera many times… I am just not going to like it. Mozart… not happening… Shostakovich just sends me into a dream. Coltrane… not happening.

There is so much music… some you will just not like… it’s OK. Worth giving a try every once in a while, but life is too short to waste too much time on something that doesn’t appeal to you.

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

The biggest gateway for me was Michael Franks. I was mid twenties staying in a cabin on Lake Tahoe doing research (I was a geologist). I went to this tucked away high end cool restaurants hidden in an old growth forest. One of his albums was playing… it completely changed my world… opened it up

Sounds like it could have been “The Soule Domain.”
(But I am not sure that building had electricity?)

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