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?
I think Yoko almost goes without saying. She’s what you might call an acquired taste or just frankly unlistenable. The real conundrum might be when you find yourself unable to listen to singers that millions of people apparently love. A few obvious ones for me would be Aretha Franklin (hysterionics), Billie Holiday (screech) and Adele (pain). Having said all that, is there anything in the history of recorded sound as disturbing as Diamanda Galas’ Schrei X? Seriously, it’s a record that should come with a health warning. On this occasion I’d advise you to simply take my word for it. Don’t risk anything more than a quick listen. Not if you value your sanity. I didn’t believe in channeling previously, but I do now. |
Totally agree with some of the posters here---the current ’Bro country’ is absolutely horrendous. It’s the same theme over and over: living in the country, dogs (or my girl) in my pickup, drinking......ugh! Same with certain types of jazz. We went to a friend’s birthday party at a brewery a couple of weeks ago and we sat outside next to the stage while they played jazz for over two hours. Someone else reserved the table. We could barely hear each other talk with all the noise--so annoying we left early. |
I thought my turntable was running at half speed, except I don't have a TT anymore. |
@tony1954 My sentiments exactly. Graceland does not hold together as an album for me. I am not into Springsteen. There's so much Miles Davis-I prefer his 50's and early 60's recordings with great sidemen. I generally prefer Lee Morgan (and like 30 or 40 reed players as much). However, my childhood in the 50's-60's was filled with opera, classical music of post classic period eras, pop, do-wop, blues and some traditional jazz. Quite unusual for a 4 to 10 year old. Now I have 42,500 LPs/CDs/78s which have a nice big dose of jazz from all eras (about 5,000 of the total) rock to early 1990 (helped by my wife who loves rock) but NO hip hop or rap. There are some imaginative artists today but just so much dross that it is difficult to shift through it all. SNL artists are typical of what we don't like. I like country as well, especially great singers from pre-1980s, (mirroring rock era as well). |
