It’s got to be an act (artist/group) with a significant body of work. You can’t binge-listen Clear Light, no matter how much you like their album (and I’ve tried). Binges have to be nearly exclusive, with only occasional breaks for other artists. Generally they’re roughly chronological – I like to follow the narrative of their history. I haven’t had a serious binge listen for some time (my last was Binge Crosby hahalol), but favourite acts have merited repeated binges over the years: the Beach Boys, Zappa, Beefheart, the Byrds, Shawn Phillips, Pink Floyd, Santana and many others from “the narrow field of Classic Rock”(©Dr. Volume 2017) have all been big bingers.
So I think you can see where I’m going with this: assuming the Beetles as a given (although not pour moi, merci very much shudder cringe), which artists do you binge on?
H.P. Saucecraft says
And the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead. And Miles Davis (possibly the one binge to rule them all). And Herbie Hancock. And the Firesign Theatre.
jazzjet says
Miles Davis is indeed the one binge to rule them all. Each phase of his remarkable career is a binge in itself (the two classic quintets, the Birth of The Cool band, work with Gil Evans, the dark funk period of Agharta and Pangea, etc etc).
H.P. Saucecraft says
And the amazing thing is, whatever your tastes in music, you’ll find an awful lot of Miles to like. He has a heavyweight rep, but there’s no jazz artist easier to get into. Personally I skip the Dark Funk years, but I appreciate their importance. I find it strange that his crossover effort, Bitches Brew, is to me one of the least likable of his albums – for a long time I thought I ought to like it – because it looks like a rock album – then I just gave up. But everything else is like air to me. Nobody else comes close, in terms of innovation, range, and influence.
Moose the Mooche says
If you start with his tentative tootlings with Charlie Parker, you follow him on a journey that is like no other (even if you stop at BB). Coltrane arguably travelled further faster in the same period (from R&B to Ascension), but he’s too caustic for a binge.
retropath2 says
I love early bebop Miles, obviously love Kind of Blue/Sketches of Spain, and his later stuff around Tutu, even the Marcus Miller ones. But Bitches Brew is unlistenable tripe. It isn’t even real, being a cut’n’paste by Teo Macero.
Tiggerlion says
Miles’s playing doesn’t dominate in the way that Coltrane’s or Mingus’s or Monk’s does. I often find myself listening to the musicians around him and it’s easy to overlook his skill. He has an exquisite singular sound that remained consistent throughout his career despite the ever changing musical landscape that surrounded him. Apparently, when he first learnt to play, his teacher, Elwood Buchanon, rapped his knuckles whenever he used too much vibrato. As a result, his tone is clean, round and strong, right in the middle of the range. Like Count Basie, it’s not just the notes he plays, it’s the notes he leaves out. Dizzy could shred at great speed in a high register. Clifford Brown was blessed with a naturally beautiful technique. Miles places the notes rather than plays them. He is often accused of being cool, cold even, but his sense of harmony, space and timing invariably add a tension and emotion. He possesses a lyrical musicality, an unerring ability to get to the heart of a melody. His playing resembles the human voice, even more so than his actual damaged voice. He ‘speaks’ to people. At least he speaks to me, whichever phase he’s in. Bingeing on Miles is always a pleasure.
Moose the Mooche says
Well, on some of those seventies albums you can be waiting maybe 15 mins for him to show up. And when he does he’s playing some funny-ass keyboard through a sock.
Tiggerlion says
File that under ‘notes he leaves out’.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Here:
http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx
Tiggerlion says
It’s amazing how little time he spent in the studio. Nine days in 1959, the year of Sketches Of Spain and Kind Of Blue. The other LP released that year, Miles Davis And The Modern Jazz Giants was recorded over a day and a bit in 1956. Relaxin’, Workin’, Cookin’, Steamin’ were recorded on two days (11th May & 26th October 1956).
SteveT says
I have tried to do this a few times most notably with Costello, Steely Dan, Leonard Cohen and rarely get past about 3 albums played back to back.
The one exception is maybe Paul Simon if you can include his work with his guitar tuner.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Ooh yes. Steely Dan. I can work my way through all their albums without a pause, with great pleasure.
Artery says
I’ve done Steely Dan in chronological order though I still can’t “get” Aja. It baffles me why it is so admired by Dan Fans: it seems glacial and clinical to me. My favourite Album is Pretzel Logic. It’s always er “fun” trying to work out what the songs are actually about.
Black Celebration says
Much as I like to pretend otherwise, aside from a handful of acts where I can get quite in-depth, most of the time I’m rather shallow and it’s the dancey pop singles that give me the most pleasure. So every now and then I get the urge to go ape crazy on an era, more than a band as such. The Now compilations are really good for that kind of thing. There’s also the odd dance song that still sounds grrreat.
Maybe it’s because I like the feeling of a new thing, the rush of a new sound or (sorry about this) a “scene”. If I listen to, say, the brilliance of Shannon’s “Give me Tonight” I am unlikely to want to listen to a whole album of it. I heard that song really loud in a nightclub at the time of its release and it made sense there, it wasn’t just a follow up to the similar-sounding Let the Music Play by the same artist. I hate nightclubs, by the way.
The upbeat pop song can be the most joyous thing there is and at any one time there’s at least one out there that somehow gets it right. In a trendy clothes shop yesterday (teenage offspring, I was the wallet) the PA blasted out earnest-sounding rap full of cuss words that cleverly merged eventually into DeeLite’s Groove is in the Heart – and I swear that the mood of the shop lifted. That is a what Smashey and Nicey would call a timeless classic given its been, what, 25 years – it didn’t sound dated and embarrassing. There’s plenty more one-offs where that came from. Even some songs by AW-repellant Stock Aitken Waterman totally get it right.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This counts. A different take on The Binge.
mikethep says
Quite often when someone dies. The Late Great Tom most recently.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is quite common, isn’t it? I’ve never had the “they’ve just died, so I want listen to them” urge.
minibreakfast says
That’s because you’re a special flower, Haitch Pee.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Have you done the “grief binge”, then, mini?
minibreakfast says
Not as yet. But when you pop off I plan to read all of your books, if that counts.
H.P. Saucecraft says
You won’t be able to read them for the bitter tears of remorse welling up in your doe-like eyes. That’s how I picture it, anyway.
Lemonhope says
‘Haitch’ ? not around theses parts! Drop and roll please
minibreakfast says
Gotcha!
Only took 9 hours.
bogl says
I’ve just started doing this.
Queen. Yes, sneer all you like, it was great, contrary to my expectations, even the latter albums. Though, as a cohesive album, Queen II is pretty much unbeatable.
The Dan. Great until the last two albums (yawn).
Sparks. Did this in reverse order, from the marvellous Hippopotamus right back to Halfnelson, all 23 albums. Some low points I’ll admit, but my life! were they pretty consistent and often brilliant. I’d recommend it to anyone who only knows This Town…
Bowie. Done this several times, will do it several more before I shuffle off this mortal coil.
Next: Faith No More.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is a sneer-free zone.
Tiggerlion says
I have a list:
Tamla Motown singles up to 1974
The Beatles
Nina Simone
Aretha Franklin
Otis Redding
Sam Cooke
The Temptations
The Four Tops
The Supremes. Really good albums.
Solomon Burke
The Rolling Stones up to 1973
Jimi Hendrix
Creedance Clearwater Revival
Roxy Music
Lowell George’s Little Feat
Steely Dan, especially the last two
David Bowie from Space Oddity. I’m not as fond of his Deram days as deramdaze.
Talking Heads
Brian Eno
Pixies
The White Stripes
Four Tet. He gets better & better. His latest has shorter tracks, Saucey. Your ADD might cope.
John Coltrane
Miles Davis
Thelonius Monk
Charles Mingus
Bob Marley
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Grace Jones. Yes. Even her disco days.
James Brown singles
Agnes Obel
Donald Fagen
Leonard Cohen
Randy Newman
Blondie
Eminem
Missy Elliot
H.P. Saucecraft says
My ADD, indeed! I listen to a lot of ambient/electronica stuff ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Currently Off Land’s “Afterglow”, Chronotope Project’s “Ovum”, and Thorsten Quaeschning and Ulrich Schnauss’ “Synthwaves”, each of which qualifies as a minibinge. Good bingelist, though but.
retropath2 says
Did you enjoy Synthwaves? A little dull I thought, but that is the point of much ambient/electronica, I feel. (And no, I can’t think of a better terminology for the genre) But one 40 minute record becomes a binge if you wake up 4 hours later, dunnit?
H.P. Saucecraft says
I’m just a sucker for old school synth albums. Headphones only, of course. This stuff makes no sense if you have your eyes open.
Martin Hairnet says
I had a mate who said he was going to try a Klaus Schulze binge a while back. Haven’t seen him since.
H.P. Saucecraft says
And Tomorrow’s Explorers by the irritatingly-named 36 is on the bliss binge list, too.
Mike_H says
At least a year is needed for a Klaus Schulze binge.
Rigid Digit says
12 months to build up the courage?
Martin Hairnet says
@Mike_H, @H.P. Saucecraft – I’ve dipped my toe into Klausworld with Ihrlicht, Timewind, and X, but I’ve found nothing there as satisfying as his collaborations with Pete Namlook. Is there anywhere else I should be looking?
H.P. Saucecraft says
I don’t think so.
Gatz says
I’m like that with Dylan. I either don’t think about him much, or I’ll be on a binge of a month or more when i listen to little else.
minibreakfast says
My last ones were Fela Kuti and the Isley Brothers. Because box sets.
Mike_H says
Yes. I dun a Fela box set binge when mine arrived. Also a live Magma binge for the same reason, but with some “unofficial” recordings too.
Other artist box set binges in the not-so-distant were the Miles Mono box, the three “Dark Side Of The Moog” boxes from Klaus Schulze & Pete Namlook, the Man, theOtis and the ‘Reetha Original Album Series sets and the Coltrane “Heavyweight Champion” box.
A fairly recent genre box binge was the Prestige Jazz “Rudy Van Gelder” box. Also the two 4-CD Properboxes of “The Cosimo Matassa Story”.
It is primarily new box-set binges with me.
I did start a ‘Dan binge after the death of Walt, but somehow didn’t get past Katy Lied.
Although I don’t dislike Tom Petty in the slightest, I have none of his albums so no bingeing there.
Martin Hairnet says
Despite my initial doubts, the Schulze/Namlook box-sets are now part of the furniture chez Hairnet. Just wow.
retropath2 says
Finding a copy of the Doors singles boxlet led me to a Doors binge. And a realisation. The received is that they were’nt much good post Jimbo. And indeed they aren’t. But, if you try and strip out the duff singing and imagine Morrison singing those songs, they seem better. So I did the same in reverse, imagining Krieger, Manzarek etc singing the classic repertoire, it too suddenly seeming wan. So, naysayers, that’s proof enough. The Doors were only good because of the vocals of Jim Morrison, and with him they were great.
H.P. Saucecraft says
How true these words are, even today.
Tony Japanese says
I have binge-listend the following artists at some point (with varying degrees of success)
The Beatles
Bob Dylan – can be a struggle after a while, post ‘Blood on the Tracks’.
The Decemberists
Simon and Garfunkel
Now That’s What I Call Music – I’ve managed to get from about Now 1 – Now 62 before losing interest and starting something else.
On the whole, I find bingeing a bit of a challenge, and more often than not, tire of it before I reach the end.
John Walters says
Recently binged on Harry Nilsson from his fantastic box set.
Listen to Scott 1 to 4 about once a year.
Currently binging on Van ( including ” Roll” !!! ).
Moose the Mooche says
I could comfortably Van binge up to and including Enlightenment. Especially with the still-underrated Them.
Rob C says
Dylan this past few days. Haven’t listened for many a moon. Always loved him but easily go a few years sans Zimmy, but one listen of ‘Foot Of Pride’ and I was off on a bender.
Other regular binges:
Alice Coltrane
Pentangle
Grateful Dead
Incredible String Band
Charles Mingus
Mike_H says
Hmmm.
A Mingus binge could be a very nice thing indeed, post this year’s BBC Proms “Beneath The Underdog” concert.
Rob C says
Proms Mingus concert?! I missed that Mike. Is it available on catch up ?
H.P. Saucecraft says
It takes a brave man to binge-listen the ISB. Respect.
Rob C says
First album through to and including Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air is a sheer joy. I don’t bother after that. A band in swift decline. Mike Heron’s solo ‘Smiling Men With Bad Reputations’ and Robin’s ‘Myrrh’, recorded when the band we’re still active, are excellent, and included in my binge.
I didn’t shave for a week, had riverbank moss on my tongue and dandelions growing up my nose, and fathered a changeling, whilst spannered on Elvish Soma.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I love those albums individually, but I simply don’t have enough patchouli to get me through more than one at a time.
Mike_H says
The Mingus Prom has now expired from the iPlayer, but there are both video and audio torrents to be found.
minibreakfast says
Mingus Oh Yeah is still available on the Trunk Records site as a 50p Fridays download: https://trunkrecords.greedbag.com/dept/~jazz/
Mike_H says
A really good tip, Ms. @minibreakfast. (peck on cheek)
Bought that, the 1st Moondog album, a weird-sounding piano/vocals jazz duet album by Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake and the Delia Derbyshire + Anthony Newley single, all as WAV files.
Two quid very well spent, I reckon. Even if the others turn out to be a bit “meh”, it’ll be worth it just to upgrade “Oh Yeah”. Had it already but only as a set of dodgy mid-quality mp3s.
minibreakfast says
Groovy. I bagged the 50p Thelonious Plays Duke. Bargain!
Rob C says
Actually, that’s a bit presumptuous of me, expecting you to know/see, when I should google it myself instead of being lazy arsed. On the case.
Gary says
A little off-topic, but have you seen the new Decathlon snorkel masks? They’re genius. You can breathe through your nose while underwater! And they have a rather groovy Hannibal Lecter vibe.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I don’t see why this is off-topic, Gary. Breathing through your nose while underwater has long been an essential component of binge-listening.
Mike_H says
Tried that once while listening to “Echoes”. Never again.
I was young and foolish. Now I’m old and completely cracked.
Carl says
Not genius at all, but stupidity.
I thought these things had been consigned to the dumper years ago.
You need a mouthpiece for air because it is easy to clear the tube using lung capacity and chest muscles. If the face mask fills with water, try clearing it and the tube by breathing out through your nose. You might have drowned before you can surface.
Gary says
I beg to differ, Carl. It’s become very popular here this summer and so far there hasn’t been a single death that I’m aware of, I don’t think, as far as I know. So that must be enormously reassuring to any parents reading. As an Amazon reviewer says, “The system does an excellent job of preventing water from leaking into the mask. And any water that does get in gets expelled with an exhale.” I wouldn’t know about that as no water got in at all whenever I used it. Mind you, so far I’ve only used it in the local High Street. And once at a disco.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I’m still unconvinced. For deep immersion listening, all I need are clear sinuses and ears free from wax. Oh, I’ve tried various masks in my time, including a full-head Scooby-Doo, but after spending six gruelling months atop a Tibetan mountain learning how to breathe from a staff-happy monk I prefer the natural, “free head” method. No flippers, either.
Sewer Robot says
Indeed. Although dolphins are notoriously clever as well as gifted navigators, they are seldom found atop the mountains of land-locked countries..
nickduvet says
Bought the Uncut special on Joni Mitchell and binged on the classic albums up to Mingus. I can stretch to Chalkmark in A Rainstorm at a push, but my natural cutoff point would be Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter. The progression – especially from Ladies Of The Canyon through to Don Juan – has any artist in the popular song sphere made such a radical transition?
My current binge is early Chicago, I have done the first three albums, 12 sides of vinyl. It’s a bit head-spinning at times. So many musical ideas and shifts, but it’s all of a piece. I need a break though, before proceeding onto IV.
Moose the Mooche says
The first two Chicago albums are good bingers. So inventive and so brilliantly and unapologetically NOISY.
pawsforthought says
I like the idea of reading one of those uncut magazines whilst going through the albums (chronologically of course) but then I like to have pictures and words with the music, if you see what I mean. The only two of those magazines I brought were PJ Harvey and The Cure. Suppose I could try out a binge on one of those.
deramdaze says
I get stuck on one CD, playing it over and over, so rarely focus on one artist, and even then it’ll be an act with a relatively slight back catalogue (Nick Drake, Doors, Love, Scott 1-4, and psych one-offs like Andwella’s Dream, Arzachel and The End are all currently on the “easily reachable” shelf).
Ten or so successive plays of “Pet Sounds” last Friday hasn’t led me to “The Beach Boys Today!” or “Smile,” but instead to “Rockabilly Rarities Volume 4.” I’m not quite sure how that happened.
Martin Hairnet says
I like it when binges beget binges. A recent Faces binge morphed into a Rod binge, which opened the door to a Ronnie Lane/Pete Townshend binge.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is technically known as chain-bingeing.
Rob C says
Sometimes one is not fully aware of the binge. Take Yes, for example. You have to start with the very first album and through to the end of Tormato. Sort of a Topographic blackout. I have also had a similar Sibelius bender.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Yes is a great binge-band. I bail before I get to Tormato, though.
Rob C says
I have to make it through Tormato as a matter of honnour. Slug the last few delicious remnants amongst the otherwise corked.
Rob C says
Ditto Small Faces to Ronnie Lane with me recently.
Slim Chance. What a band! What a great talent Ronnie was and a lovely bloke as well.
Martin Hairnet says
And what a fantastic singer. Sometimes he sounds uncannily like George Harrison, but better. Have you heard the Townshend/Lane Rough Mix album Rob?
Rob C says
The major talent in The Small Faces, not to denigrate Steve Marriot, but Ronnie had something extra special, and yes, what a singer. I haven’t heard the whole album but various songs and they’re superb. It’s such a shame that so much of his catalogue is deleted/hard to find and very expensive. Criminal even. I have ‘Anymore For Anymore’ and the recent ‘Ooh La La’ s disc comp, and very fine indeed they both are.
Rob C says
Not so much a fan of The Faces, funnily enough. Too ‘lad/cock rock’ in general for me. No wonder he got tired of it. He was a spiritual cat basically.
Martin Hairnet says
If you have Spotify, Rough Mix is listed under Pete Townshend. Both of them play and sing on that record like their lives depended on it. Wonderful and diverse selection of tracks. It’s quickly become one of my all time favourites.
Rob C says
I don’t have Spotify. I disapprove of it, and when I did try a free trial, what they recommended me was highly insulting. How dare they. Awful shite.
I’ve just googled and the album is easily available so on my Chritsmas list. Thanks for reminding me!
mikethep says
I have a feeling, Rob, that your emotional life might run on a more even keel if you could learn not to be insulted by algorithms. No good ever comes of it.
PaulVincent says
Robyn Hitchcock is a favourite, starting with the Soft Boys albums and moving through his solo career thereafter, with and without assorted Egyptians, Venus 3s, etc. Always a massively diverse and entertaining trip. Then there’s Bill Nelson; the Be-Bop Deluxe years are easy enough, but as his solo catalogue goes along it becomes near-impossible to be sure of comprehensiveness, as there are so many limited-release albums brought out for Nelsonica conventions and the like.
pencilsqueezer says
Ray Charles. It’s nearly always Ray except when it’s Duke Ellington, Joni Mitchell or Lucinda Williams.
For the past month or so however my brain has been binging on Steely Dan. Every morning around 4:00 am I have been woken from my sweet slumbering by a greatest hits of Steely Dan playing on a loop in my head.
It became so intrusive I decided to make a piece of work about it in a pigment drenched act of exorcism.
I finished the piece yesterday.
It worked.
This morning it was all about Jason Isbell. At 3:00 am.
My head is completely fu*ked.
attackdog says
Any chance of posting the Dan inspired work, Mr Squeezer? I am sure there are a few gauchos here who’d appreciate it.
pencilsqueezer says
I’ll give a go. I bunged it up on Facefook and Twatter yesterday as I usually do when I finish a bit o daub.
Posting images on here is a bit more trying…
pencilsqueezer says
Sorta works after a fashion I guess.
I titled it ‘You Throw Out Your Gold Teeth’.
minibreakfast says
Is it a commission or for open sale?
I’d buy it in a heartbeat if a) I had some dosh, or b) I even slightly liked ver Dan.
pencilsqueezer says
It’s for sale.
Don’t dig The Dan but actively likes GnR.
Good and indeed grief.
Moose the Mooche says
Two month Bowie binge at the beginning of last year. I’d do it again as well. I can’t think of listening to any other artist that much. I left no stone unturned, even those frightful Labyrinth songs. It culminated in me constructing a terrifying 50 hour playlist with everything in chronological order from Liza Jane to I Can’t Give Everything Away.
I’m mental, me.
H.P. Saucecraft says
*backs slowly away, avoiding eye contact*
Moose the Mooche says
Which eye? The permanently dilated one?
badartdog says
The National
Afghan Whigs
and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs recently.
Rob C says
My next binge starts this afternoon. I ordered a Tom Petty anthology from the library a couple of weeks ago to get into deeper Tom, and then sadly he passed over, so I ordered a lot of other complete albums too. Seems a fitting chain link after Bob.
Artery says
No one has mentioned Neil Young? Well worth a binge though I find his first album to be his most inaccessible for some reason, so persevere. You must include Decade when you get to 1977 so you hear Expecting To Fly and Broken Arrow. I even like his 1980s albums, with the exception of Landing On Water
Edit – the recent HDCD reissue Of Decade has best ever sound and available for less than a tenner on Tax Dodgers.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Anyone who binges Neil into the nineties is a hardy soul. Or the eighties. Or after.
Moose the Mooche says
Go to the shops for the bit between Trans and This Note’s For You. Come back and your iTunes says you listened to it even though you were in the safety of the World Foods aisle.
But still stop after Sleeps With Angels, please.
slotbadger says
Chas’n’Dave. Their mid 70s albums are really good
H.P. Saucecraft says
You. Outside.
slotbadger says
Gertcha!
Rob C says
I’m rather fond of Chas and Dave. They remind of proper fish and chips in newspaper.
slotbadger says
Enjoy!
H.P. Saucecraft says
SECURITY! Can we get the mods in here, please?
slotbadger says
Alright, alright, I’m going! Get yer ‘ands orf, gertcha cow son etc etc
Moose the Mooche says
Really. London is the richest city in the world and they can’t afford razors…. or English teachers? For shame.
Rob C says
Cheers Slottydude! A fine way to unleash my inner cockney shadow, dear heart.
slotbadger says
You’re most welcome, astral one – I heartily recommend Chas’s autobiography, covering his early years (with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers), jobbing session musician, the massively underrated Heads Hands and Feet and of course, what we all want to know, how they wrote ‘The Sideboard Song’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aIft448lBA
Rob C says
Nice one Slotty. Not heard that before.
This is rather cool. Has a bit of a Dylan vibe:
Rob C says
Also, if anyone can recommend a good George Formby compilation with all the essentials I’d really appreciate it. Ditto Al Bowlly.
*It’s not all Free Jazz and Ravi Shankar*
Carl says
Bruce Cockburn, who has released 30 odd albums and I’ve got about half of them.
Chuck Prophet, whose sol catalogue can be expanded to include Green On Red
Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Lucinda Williams and Shawan Colvin can all be included in artists I have binged on.
duco01 says
Recently, I’ve been bingeing on the first eight Al Stewart albums (in chronological order, naturally). Good man, Al!
Bedsitter Images 3½ stars
Love Chronicles 4 stars
Zero She Flies 4½ stars
Orange 4½ stars
Past, Present and Future 4½ stars
Modern Times 5 stars
Year of the Cat 4½ stars
Time Passages 2½ stars
You enjoy a bit of Al too, occasionally, don’t you, H.P.?
H.P. Saucecraft says
I have indeed rediscovered Al this year, and discovered a whole load of his new (to me) stuff. Literate, thoughtful, poetic, atmospheric, evocative, melodic, and a smile-inducing way with a lyric. He’s a major artist. My favourite is Orange at the moment.
Moose the Mooche says
I discovered the works of Stew only a few years ago. He is indeed a major artist and if it wasn’t for his marmitey singing voice he would be up there in terms of fame with Van and Rod and Bob Carolgees.
bungliemutt says
I have loads of binges on artists with substantial back catalogues, often in an anally retentive chronological or reverse chronological order – Dylan, Young, Fabs etc. My Tom Petty grief binge is pretty much completed, though I did find the needle kept skipping over my tears on the turntable.
attackdog says
I regularly binge on Celtic, contemporary folk, progressive folk, folk rock, psychedelic folk, electro, cool jazz, jazz blues, jazz funk, jazz fusion, jazz rock, smooth jazz, soft rock, pop soul, progressive pop, psychedelic pop, funk, stoner rock, chill out, and trance, to name but a few.
All at the same time.
It’s called John Martyn.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Mmm … nice!
ClemFandango says
Aged 16, listened to everything by Genesis from Trespass to Invisible Touch on my Walkman in the back of the car on a journey from West Scotland to West Somerset.
duco01 says
You did well to miss out “From Genesis to Revolution”, Clem.
ClemFandango says
Was pretty hard to find in 1988, plus as the band pretty much had disowned it I stuck with their first ‘official’ release.
If only they’d disowned some others
Moose the Mooche says
Kraftwerk’s Big Five.* If I listen to one I usually end up listening to all of them.
(*I don’t mean their Prince Buster cover… good as that is )
Junior Wells says
African wise I tend to go for musical styles / countries
Rhumba – Congo region Franco et al
Juju Nigeria Obey – Ade
Chimurenga Mapfumo et al
Makossa well that’s Dibango
And of course Afro Beatfrom Fela
I binge on Dylan frequently
Less frequently but not infrequently. Muddy Waters, Culture, Burning Spear, Ed Kuepper, Santana, the Mahavishnu, Celtic Van, Planxty, Nick Cave, Go Betweens
Rigid Digit says
I started doing this a couple of months ago with the intent of writing something on my blog.
I’ve recently done:
Dire Straits
Blur
Oasis
Led Zeppelin
Iggy Pop / Stooges
Previously done “the binge” with Rolling Stones, Jam and Slade.
minibreakfast says
Did you ever get round to investing in the big Bob box, Rigid?
Rigid Digit says
I did – but only got it a couple of months ago.
Got it from the US about 30 quid cheaper than Amazon
Still working through it (not bingeing)
Last played: Planet Waves
Black Type says
I usually start bingeing if I’m reading/have read or watched something about a particular favourite artist. Quite regular binges of this nature include Bowie, Prince (stories about them never get old for me, and there’s a lot to binge on), Roxy, REM, Kate and Cave. I had an American Recordings/late period Johnny Cash binge a few weeks ago, after catching the peerless Hurt video on TV.
bricameron says
Can one binge on one album? Because I’ve had Aladdin Sane on repeat for almost a week now and I’m showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
fitterstoke says
I binge on Van der Graaf, but tend to start with Least we can Do….somehow, Aerosol Grey Machine doesn’t seem to fit.
King Crimson (all the way) & Yes, up to and including Tormato.
Sibelius & Vaughan Williams symphonies, Beethoven and Shostakovich quartets….in order, of course…..
In fact, I listened to VW symphonies on rotation while I was writing my thesis – don’t know why, they just seemed to fit the job, in a way that other music didn’t…..
Wheldrake says
Binged exclusively on Bowie after he died for several months. Nothing came close.
Recently have been binging on Nick Cave’s back catalogue (all excellent, especially the post Murder Ballads stuff).
MC Escher says
Bowie – a two-year ongoing Binge leavened with periods of Shuffle.
Lewis Taylor
Steely Dan
They Might Be Giants
Blur
Talking Heads
James Brown
I am tempted to try a Fela Kuti boxset binge too. Just need to get it organised.
I tend to hear a track I love and this then triggers the binge. Most of these are short-lived, a couple of hours, but they still count, right?
H.P. Saucecraft says
A binge of a couple of hours? That’s more like a dainty sip. So no, they don’t count. Bingette, perhaps.
Junglejim says
Just finished a major Art Pepper binge, from the cooking be bop of the 50s up to the fab ‘comeback’ albums of the 70s & ending up with the heartbreaking expressions of ‘Living Legend’. What a player.
Also enjoyed in binge amounts are Joni Mitchell (the jazzy stuff), live Coltrane, Steely Dan, Fountains Of Wayne, King Tubby & for those essential psych-groove phases The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Paul Wad says
Well, when I listened to my entire iTunes from A to Z I sort of binged on every artist as I went along. Over a thousand Beatles tracks and Dylan tracks in there, so that took some time, and quite difficult with The Beatles, cos most of them are different takes on the same songs. Also quite difficult with bands whereby I have loads of different versions of the same song, i.e. Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Frankie GTH, The Beloved, The KLF.
I’m now in the midst of ranking all my albums for each year. I’m listening up all my 2017 albums first, but intend to binge on artists, to be able to put each artist’s albums in context, whilst simultaneously reading the Uncut Ultimate Music Guides for some of the artists (Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, etc). The first one I am going to do is Wu Tang Clan and offshoots.
H.P. Saucecraft says
If there’s ever an Afterword Sash of Pride award, Paul, you are first in line.
Mike_H says
And he still finds time to not only to eat, sleep, shit and breathe, but he earns a living in this cruel, cruel world and posts here too.
I am humbled. We all should be.
Paul Wad says
Well that’s the thing. Due to illness and the medication I have to take I no longer earn a living, barely sleep, rarely shit and thanks to a chest infection and asthma, have been struggling to breathe this past week. Life is indeed cruel.
But on the upside, of the albums I have listened to today, Ghostpoet’s is fabulous (whereas the albums by Illa J, J Dilla and Feist were a bit meh), so it provided a bit of light. Actually, the antibiotics are providing the most welcome relief, as it’s nice to finally stop coughing. Having a coughing fit when you have no bone down the back of your neck, leaving the remaining bits of vertebrae a little unstable with a tendency to nip nerves and send pain flying in all directions is not good, I can tell you. A nasty little addition to my usual aches and pains.
But hey, in a couple of years, or so, I’ll have all my albums arranged into a rough sort of chart for each year, that will change around quite a bit as I go off records or rekindle love for others, and with all the placings below the first 10-20 being pretty much interchangeable, apart from the Ringo albums at the bottom, so it will all have been worthwhile, sort of. At least it will make me listen properly to things I don’t usually listen to. Already it has led me to realise that Gary Numan has released some ruddy fine albums over the past few years, which I have stupidly ignored, and that The Kinks have only had a few songs worth listening to since around 1970, the rest being pretty ropey.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Good man, Paul.
Junior Wells says
I’ve cracked ribs coughing with bronchial asthma. I was quite impressed with myself.
Paul Wad says
That’s pretty impressive. I’ve only broken them (3 times, all in the same place) playing football.
In my A&E nursing days we used to make sure we gave people advice re deep breahing when they broke their ribs, as people would have a tendency to shallow breathe because of the pain, meaning they wouldn’t clear the bases of their lungs and would be at risk of a chest infection and coughing with broken ribs is a thoroughly unpleasant thing to do, so it must have been fun for you then if you had broken ribs and your asthma was playing up!
Junior Wells says
Yeah good times 🙄
Black Celebration says
I remember you going through Depeche Mode and I am glad that you have been listening to recentish Gary Numan. His new one, Savage, is also top-notch BTW if you liked those ones.
H.P. Saucecraft says
The Monkees are a great binge-listen. From that fantastic theme song (all groups should have a theme song. And a -mobile) all the way through to Good Times, possibly the greatest comeback album ever. Chewns a-plenty. Hit after hit. Irony-free happiness.
Black Celebration says
Really impressed with Good Times. Mentioned it to a friend of mine who last year and he’s still going on about it, quite rightly.
Martin Hairnet says
If we’re talking greatest comeback albums, then That’s Why God Made the Radio has to be up there. It deserved far more attention than it got (if a reformed Beatles had come out with something of equivalent quality in 2012, the world would have swooned). ‘Summer’s Gone’ is in my all time top ten Beach Boys tracks.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Oh goodness gracious yes. I just hope they bow out with that one, and don’t give Brian’s “rock n’ roll” album another thought (I hope he doesn’t read this blog – I might have reminded him).
I’ve never managed a Total Catalogue Binge on the Beach Boys, as there’s some very scary stuff in there indeed (the Stars n’ Stripes album, the *ulp* NASCAR album, and so on), but TWGMTR is a beautiful way to finish the binge.
Leicester Bangs says
Hands up to being a binge listener here. Currently on a Fabric mix binge now. Today’s choices were Midland, Commix, LTJ Bukem and Four Tet.
Bingo Little says
I LOVE the Fabric: Live albums.
Have you done the Diplo one (24) yet? One of my favourite records of all time: Love4TheWorld, Notorious by Turbulence, My Chrome, that mix of B.O.B by Outkast into Deceptacon by Le Tigre…. some absolute bangers on there.
Leicester Bangs says
Aargh, I don’t have it. I’ve been an on-and-off subscriber over the years so I’ve got quite a mountain, but that must have come out during an ‘off’ period. Must fix.
Both Fabric and FabricLive have their 100th edition out next year, so it would be nice to think they’ve got something special lined up.
Bingo Little says
You must get it! It’s so good.
From memory, the other one I was really fond of was Craze (38). I dropped out after about 50 though, one of the great sadnesses of having switched to a Spotify only listening existence.
minibreakfast says
Darn it, I saw three of these albums lined up in a charity shop today (I think one was James Murphy) but didn’t get them.
The only one I have is the Filthy Dukes one.
Leicester Bangs says
They can be a bit hit-and-miss, but I often find that I revisit mixes I wasn’t so keen on the first time around and find that I really like them.
bigstevie says
I’ve tried this before and always failed, probably because I’ve tried it with artists of whom i have too many albums, ie 20 or so.
Started yesterday on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s catalogue and all’s going well. It helps that I haven’t played some of them for years.