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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
cd318
2,636 posts
 

Springsteen appreciation might require a dollop of some Catholic guilt or similar, and a small dose of self pity.

 

Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town are good places to start as Bruce finally found his own voice after sometimes brilliantly aping Dylan previously.

 

@stevewharton 

Great post!  I'll never got tired of the following lines -

 
Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero, the commander-in-chief
Saying, “Tell me, great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?”
 
The commander-in-chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken"
 
 
Some called it blasphemy, I call it clever.
 
 
As for Kind of Blue, I think it has to be listened on vinyl as I can't remember any good digital versions, and I've heard a few. 
All of them sounded too thin.
curtdr
348 posts
 

Although I like some tracks and the sonics of the album, I have not really been able to listen to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" very consistently in recent years.  Turgid...  I'm also not a fan of "Wish You Were Here."  For PF, I prefer Animals and Dark Side, although I wish Dark Side wasn't so darned overproduced that it's softened down...

I saw Waters do Dark Side in entirety show and he stripped it all back to fundamental rock, not so glossy, live and it was excellent as such.  His semi-recent Wall tour, which I did go see, bored me.. the show just bored me.  

lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
688 posts
 

The chaotic Bebop jazz never did it for me, it’s just very annoying.  I can’t listen to country music either.  Dylan, Neil Young & CSNY are as country as I get.  I like funk & soul of the 60’s-80’s but not rap, house or whatever other noise can be made when you don’t play any real instruments.
 

Grunge from the 90’s is my cutoff!  Anything past that in the last 25+ years pretty much sucks, except for a handful of songs.  Please help me out here, I’m sure that there’s much more good music during this stretch of time that I just don’t know about.

 

On the Boss:  once he did that Nebraska LP, he jumped the shark, IMHO. His early stuff was great though.  Now & ever since Nebraska every song has a midwestern twang to it.  He just can’t even speak like he’s from North Jersey anymore.

 

The 80’s music was just fun music, mostly all of it, even the whiny New Wave stuff. Love the 60’s & 70’s music, even the terrible “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” kind of horrible 70’s music :)

 

larsman's avatar
larsman
2,027 posts
 

@curtdr - If you can find it, see if you can hear a live version of 'Dark Side Of the Moon'  from the 'Meddle' tour, well before the album came out, and it was called 'Eclipse: A Piece For Assorted Lunatics' - quite different from what was eventually released! 

danager's avatar
danager
961 posts
 

For those who want to get Steely Dan but don't, I recommend FM (No Static at All)

It didn't appear on any of their albums but shows up on the compilations.

FM was a 1978 film where Martin Mull in my opinion stole the move.  Fun movie, great soundtrack and a great representation of what Steely Dan is all about.

 

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