It was mentioned elsewhere that, just as one blog sets up a discussion of one side of an argument, so another pop up shortly afterwards to present the opposite perspective.
The excellent thread about loving the runts of the litter led me to conversely ponder how many sacred cows I just can’t get on with. It’s not about familiarity breeding contempt, not about hating a band or artist’s work wholesale. It’s about those albums that are supposed to represent the pinnacle of a body of work but which just leave you cold.
I’ll kick us off with Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Currently enjoying a canonisation that I’m sure it didn’t quite have 10-15 years ago it now seems to be generally accepted to be the pinnacle of their career, adored by hipsters and the general public alike.
To me it just drones on and on in the middle of the road, only peeking up briefly when the bit from the Grand Prix briefly pops in to give a proustian rush of Sunday afternoons in the 80s before the cocaine whiteout AOR wafts back in to stupefy the listener for another 25 minutes. I’d far rather puzzle through the flawed but charming sprawl of Tusk. Or, if I’m really honest, junk the later stuff and wallow in Live in Boston.
So, which ‘major works’ leave you cold and longing for the quieter corners of a band’s oeuvre?
Here’s a little ditty from the Mac; in which they round on Rumours more concisely than I ever could.
Dodger Lane says
Television and Marquee Moon…..sorry, but it’s dull.
My view however may be coloured by the fact that when I went to see them, I walked out before the end given their very obvious contempt for the audience.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
Perfect example. I love Marquee Moon. The title track is most likely the one I’d save from the waves when Kirsty asks me. But it’s not for everyone. Out if interest; how do you feel about Adventure? Is your dislike confined to the ‘classic’ album, or does it encompass the band’s entire output?
Dodger Lane says
Good point. I must check it out. TBH, I must get over my dislike of them after the gig – it’s been 15 years now !
salwarpe says
Adventure is much better than Marquee Moon.
Stephen G says
Nah, two good songs, the rest forgettable
salwarpe says
Go on then – which are the only two – in your opinion?
Stephen G says
Ok – Carried Away and erm… Foxhole ?
Truth is I haven’t listened to the whole thing for 30 odd years but my recollection is major disappointment (apart from Carried Away, which is among their best). I’ll give it another go on your recommendation.
salwarpe says
I look forward to your review. I like most of the songs on the album, though those might be the most easy to remember. I’ve just relistened to Marquee Moon. and my two good songs off that album would be the title track and Elevation. The rest just don’t do it for me.
Carl says
Prove It.
Tiggerlion says
Friction
ivylander says
See No Evil
salwarpe says
Those are song titles you all like, rather than challenges or comments on the conversation, I’m guessing. All too angular for me. I like a nice rounded song, myself.
ivylander says
Ok, then, here’s why I consider ‘See No Evil’ a textbook album- and career – opener. Within a minute, you know what Television is about: the slinky, mesmeric dual-guitar attack (which owes nothing to, say, Wishbone Ash, but is its own contrary thing), some of the most original drumming I’ve ever heard (so propulsive without any brutality, those oddly-timed but somehow perfect cymbal splashes – Billy Ficca so unfairly forgotten. Sad!), the disjointed, maddeningly-just-out-of-reach lyrics, the Tom Verlaine voice (an acquired taste, to be sure, but an essential part of their sound). And all this within the strictures of a perfectly crafted pop song that doesn’t sound in the least like a pop song. It is brilliance.
salwarpe says
Thanks for the full response, @ivylander – I like what you’ve written. My challenge this year, to write a blog a day around a song is testing my descriptive powers. Being able to express why music moves us is a great skill, which I may improve towards by December – you do it well here. It’s still not my favourite song, but now, when I listen to it in future, it will have an extra, ivylander-inspired layer of meaning to it.
ivylander says
Thanks for your kind words….
Gary says
Unknown Pleasures. Admittedly I haven’t listened to it in… ooh, coming up to three centuries this March, I believe. But it never did anything for me back in the day. Which is odd cos I really rate Closer, as well as all the singles.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
God, I’ve spent years pretending to like much more than the odd single by Jou Division. I’m a New Order man, really. And even then I prefer the later stuff. Probably my age; I wasn’t there at the time. Love the idea; lukewarm on the band for more than the odd track. Although I like so much of what they undoubtedly influenced.
I liked that video where Ian Curtis is on a rollercoaster though.
duco01 says
Unknown Pleasures:
5 brilliant tracks:
“Disorder”
“Day of the Lords”
“New Dawn Fades”
“She’s Lost Control”
“Shadowplay”
5 not-so-brilliant tracks
“Candidate
“Insight”
“Wilderness”
“Interzone”
“I Remember Nothing”
niallb says
I have every Van Morrison album, and play him a lot. But I cannot get on with Astral Weeks. God knows I’ve tried. I’ve bought every new remix/remaster/deluxe edition, just in case there is a sound, a nuance, sprinkling of fairy dust that my stereo has been missing.
…….Nada. It just doesn’t have the captivating melodies of other albums. I have convinced myself that it’s a ‘you just had to be there’ album.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
It’s interesting; Astral Weeks was the first Van I heard as an album. I’d been aware of tracks here and there, of course. I was probably 16/17 when i bought it and it became a firm favourite in a nascent record collection heavy on seminal 60s/70s records by the heavyweights. But, as I’ve got older and explored Van further I too find that I rarely turn to AW over other albums. It’s an album that drifts and wafts along; when taken in context with the rest of his output it is quite surprising that it’s become ‘the one everyone must own’.
NigelT says
I was exactly like that with AW for years, but I suddenly connected and ‘got it’ almost by accident – I heard it at someone else’s house on a summer evening, sat in the garden with a glass or two. I think it was because I didn’t force myself to ‘try again’ at home…?
fentonsteve says
My ‘got it’ moment was chronically hungover one Sunday morning. I don’t drink any more, so have never got it again.
Moose the Mooche says
Horses …. seriously, it’s average. And she’s got quite a silly voice for someone who takes herself so seriously.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
I like Horses. But I saw her do it live at Field Day in 2015 and was bored rigid. Patti Smith always makes me feel like I’m being told off for something I didn’t even know I’d done.
Bartleby says
Perfect encapsulation. Doubleplusgood.
Dodger Lane says
That’s good, but I really enjoyed it the only time I ever saw her, though we all pissed off to the bar when son of Patti came on to do Smoke on the water.
nogbad says
Rumours – obv. Phoned in.
Dark Side of the Moon – can’t remember hearing it all the way thru’ or at least, can’t remember ENJOYING hearing it.
Sorry !
The Muswell Hillbilly says
Yes! Yes! Yes! This was my other contender for the OP. I cannot fathom how Dark Side… has come to be considered the essential cut from Pink Floyd’s canon. Terribly dreary. I’m not their biggest fan but almost everything else I’ve heard by them is more diverting than this.
Argot says
DSOTM for me too. ‘Is there much of this to go?’ running in my head throughout.
fentonsteve says
I borrowed DSOTM on SACD recently and played it in full for a podcast recording and thought “this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be”. I gave it back afterwards and haven’t felt the need to listen to it, or any other Floyd, since.
Gatz says
Has everyone forgotten Pet Sounds? Not surprising, given that it’s aural beige. I always thought that Sloop John B was quite jaunty, then I found out that was the one one your not supposed to like.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
I stand with you on that one. Except even Sloop John B has been ruined now by being coopted by every football crowd ever. I can’t bear the Beach Boys. In a world containing The Sonics, how did they manage to achieve supremacy in the US charts in the early 60s?
Twang says
Thirded. I can’t bear it.
count jim moriarty says
Anyone who is not be captivated by Pet Sounds has my sympathy. I suppose it has become something of a cliche, but Pet Sounds really IS that good.
bobness says
Sorry, Jim, it’s pants.
count jim moriarty says
Like I said, you have my sympathy. I despair that anyone could not appreciate it.
Moose the Mooche says
Shatner again?
Yes. I’ve tried another cross-thread joke that will die on its arse. So bite me!
Bartleby says
Is it safe to mention Steely Dan? Not just one of them either. And Richard Thompson too – step away from your boingy guitar sound and hire someone who can sing ffs. Like your ex wife.
Gatz says
Ah, but there are single (boingy) bars of Thompson which please my ears more than the whole Dan catalogue. I did think of mentioning SD but they don’t really fit the OP because I have never been able to find any redeeming music in their output.
Friar says
On this we agree. Never heard a record by either of these two which doesn’t make me go, “eh?” Load of old cobblers.
Bartleby says
Amen brother.
Black Celebration says
Tubular Bells. Tubular *shit* if you ask me.
Moose the Mooche says
Wow. That’s quite a trick.
Junior Wells says
aren’t they all tubular?
fentonsteve says
Is there a doctor in the house?
Moose the Mooche says
What, hollow inside? Dude, you got prablimzzz!
Sewer Robot says
Kudos if you can craft that shape off the album cover in one squat. It seems almost a shame to flush that….
Moose the Mooche says
What comes from a cow and sounds like a bell?
DUNNNGGG!
Dave Ross says
Can I have “Sgt Pepper”? A collection of too clever for it’s own good childrens nursery rhymes put to music. Some highlights “A Day In The Life” for example but too much Junior Choice style filler for me.
Smudger says
With you on that Dave. There’s so many better Beatles albums that Sgt Pepper.
atcf says
Never Mind The Bollocks. Punk is much better suited to 3 minute bursts of energy than a whole album. It grates on the ears very quickly.
The engine Driver says
Can I put Sheer Heart Attack in Room 101?
Admittedly I’ve never got Queen so the adulation of the above leaves me bewildered.
ganglesprocket says
Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
I did try.
Gatz says
I’ve put in the hours with Bruce but don’t get it. Sometimes you just have t shrug your shoulders and say that it’s not you, it’s them.
Declan says
I’ve been buying his stuff of late, having required 40+ years to get him. Gateway record was Nebraska. Also, grew up in the 60s but needed until the 80s to get Dylan. Gateway record: Time Out Of Mind.
So disliking stuff needs to be regarded with reservations.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
I’ve tried so hard with Bruce for years. On a good day I can do about 3/4 of Nebraska or Tom Joad. There’s odd other track but, on the whole, I just can’t get on with him. Despite all that, I really, really like him as a public figure and I suspect that if he was a novelist I’d be a big fan. There’s just something a bit too earnest and blustery about most of the music.
Bartleby says
Me too guys. Twas a sad day when I realised I’d never be David Hepworth’s new best friend…
Stephen G says
Who’s Next. Roger goes all shouty and I don’t really like shouty. Don’t like Live at Leeds either
Exile on Main Street – patchy, some great stuff but not their best
Junior Wells says
oh FFS -this is getting out of hand.
Your Honour- I object !
The Muswell Hillbilly says
Denied! It’s a free for all, Junior. There must be some sacred cows you’re longing to slaughter, too? Go on; it feels good to unburden.
I must say I don’t agree with all of those that are being posted. But it’s good to see I’m not alone on some of them, too.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I agree Junior. It’s time we took back control! Democracy, innit? Bloody experts.
Harold Holt says
With you on Exile. I bought it because I thought I should. Couple of decent tracks/singles (Rocks Off, Tumblin Dice, All Down The Line), and that’s it. The rest is a junk fueled dirge.
Arthur Cowslip says
What!
Sweet Virginia!
Just Wanna See His Face!
Happy!
It’s hit after hit!
Friar says
Exile on Main Street. It’s incredibly dull.
Junior Wells says
Nick Drake
Which one you say?
All of em.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
Attaboy
Friar says
Loveless.
It has a couple of really great moments but it’s actually very boring. I feel like everyone wants it to be better than it is, just because of the legends around its birth. Shields was having a nervo and the inkies just loved the old cliche of the tortured genius. Tortured, sure – genius? Hmm.
Paul Wad says
My brother in law’s favourite album and he cannot understand why I think it’s just a load of noise, only a short step up from Metal Machine Music. I listen to it every couple of years to see whether I have ‘got’ it yet, but it still doesn’t do anything for me. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether my BIL has spent 25 years winding me up. It’s terrible.
Friar says
Let It Be by the Replacements. Some great, great moments but it sounds like shit and there’s a lot of crap on it too. A real case of a band I’ve always been desperate to love but can only really get on board with a tiny proportion of their stuff.
Husker Du have the same problem with production: tinny and weedy so much of the time. Imagine if New Day Rising sounded like Copper Blue. It’d be incredible.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
You’re damn right on New Day Rising/Copper Blue. Sugar are the superior band in my opinion, largely due to the actual sound of the records which much more heft and dynamism.
moseleymoles says
Yep listening to Warehouse Songs and stories today and the production is so trebly – just checked and they produced it themselves. Clearly Lou Giordiano knew his way around the bottom half of a mixing desk (I’m making that bit up now)
dai says
Spot on about Rumours and Dark Side of the Moon. I think all Beatles fans know that Pepper is about their 7th best album. Those slagging Exile, Pet Sounds or Astral Weeks see me outside ….
Vulpes Vulpes says
I’ll kneel behind ’em, you shove ’em backwards, we can both give ’em a good kicking.
dai says
Oh yeah The Boss too, but I can understand he’s not to everybody’s taste.
nogbad says
Dear oh lor’
we are building up a head of steam aren’t we..
This has brought back any number of horrors which are revered elsewhere so
Rumours
D S of the M
Sgt Pepper
90 % of Springsteen
New Ordure
Most Radiohead / Coldplay
Post Boy U2
Oasis
( I’m suddenly finding out that I don’t actually like anything, which is a mild worry….I shall now go and take a long hard look at myself …………….No I’m still right.)
Freddy Steady says
Um….Blackstar. Sorry everyone.
Beany says
Anything by Radiohead. No really…anything. And stop calling them Prog fer chrissakes!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Is the right answer. Except Creep, which I quite enjoy.
Harold Holt says
Well, after Ok Computer I’ll agree, but up to that point there are some things to love.
Vincent says
Anything earnest, anything that was bland mainstream, anything pushed by NME indie-rock snobs…
Never got the charms of:
Fleetwood Mac after 1969
Bob Marley after 1975 (I prefer ska to reggae any day)
Abba after Waterloo
Eric Clapton after cream
Anything involving Germans or blokes with “creative” haircuts making music with angle-grinders and a 4:4 drum beat
T rex apart from 20th century Boy
Van Morrison apart from his work with The Chieftains
Anything where Phil Collins does anything but play the drums
Rock artists going country
Almost anything played on John Peel after 1982
Bowie after Lodger
Stephen G says
Scary Monsters?
Vincent says
It would have been OK (I thought about allowing it thanks to the title track and “Fashion” (both fab”) but it lost it for “Ashes to Ashes” and those New Romantic prannets in the video cocking it up.
Beany says
I’m not talking to you. Phil’s Disney soundtracks are marvellous. So there.
Vincent says
Beany, i can take any amount of shite, and the shiter the better (I like the Cliff Adams Singers). But Phi Collins?. Just don’t there, mate.
moseleymoles says
No Kraftwerk then. Or James Last.
Fifer says
Interesting that nobody has nominated Bob yet, but then which album would be fairly described as seminal? For me, I can take or leave the first four studio albums. It wasn’t until ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ that I got ‘it’ and then kept ‘it’ through to Blood On The Tracks Over the years, I’ve mislaid ‘it’ a few times – the Christian trilogy – but found ‘it’ again with Time Out Of Mind through to Together Through Life. Right now, ‘it’ has gone missing again with the news of three discs of Sinatra covers. I just can’t bring myself to go looking yet again.
Bingo Little says
Revolver. Revolver sounds like total shit to me.
Gatz says
The Donald Trump Tweet thread is over there —>
Bingo Little says
I know the standard of the Afterword is bad, but Gatz is the worst. Not funny, awful grammar. Terrible poster!
Gatz says
Put Bingo on other side of wall! Make Afterword great again!!
😉
NigelT says
Splutter..! Total shit? Like….everything? Eleanor Rigby…Tomorrow Never Knows…For No One….Here, There And Everywhere….obvious when you think about it…
Bingo Little says
I don’t mind I’m Only Sleeping and And Your Bird Can Sing. Obviously Tomorrow Never Knows is an important moment in time, but it wouldn’t bother me a single iota if I never heard it again.
Eleanor Rigby and Here, There and Everywhere I find actively annoying.
Aware I’m in the absolute minority, have listened to the album many times. I just don’t think it’s any good, and life’s too short to pretend otherwise.
Arthur Cowslip says
We’re on our way round to your place with a van with blacked out windows, gaffa tape and baseball bats. We’ll change your mind.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
Nevermind is a great example of this (if I do say so myself). Clearly the worst Nirvana album, given that Nirvana were one of the great garage punk bands. I’d rather hear any of their other work before listening to it again.
ClemFandango says
This Year’s Model
Sounds like it was recorded in a toilet cubicle with Elvis singing down the bowl trying to find his thesaurus.
count jim moriarty says
Anything by Radiohead.
Anything by Prince.
Anything by Nirvana.
Anything by Yes.
Anything by Genesis.
Anything by Elbow.
Anything by The Beastie Boys.
Worst of all, anything by Manic Street Preachers.
Dons soldier hat and retires to a safe place…
Gary says
I know exactly where you’re coming from, Count. Only my list would differ slightly:
Anything by Bob Dylan
Anything by Neil Young (except Harvest Moon)
Anything by The Beatles
Anything by The Who
Anything by The Kinks
of course there are some songs I like, but no way could I be doing with a whole album (except Harvest Moon).
count jim moriarty says
I would say (almost) everything by everyone on your list!
Moose the Mooche says
Nice to see someone sticking up for Harvest Moon. I think it’s great.
Gary says
For many years (many decades) I’ve been stating my dislike for Mr Young’s stupid whiney voice and horrible songs (I say that with the utmost respect). I sort of liked Old Man, Needle &TDD, Heart Of Gold and Little Wing, but even those were somewhat spoiled by his stupid whiney voice. Then I recently heard Harvest Moon and I think it’s great. Almost all of it. (Not the one about his dog.)
Moose the Mooche says
Oh bloody hell I’d forgotten that. Is it just me or are songs about dogs always crap?
While I’m here… those long tortuous Crazy Horse songs that go on forever like Cortez and Down by the River that are supposed to be so sublimely wonderful…. Keep it snappy, feller! Cinnamon Girl, that’s more like it!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Ah yes, especially the nineteen minute version on the 2012 bootleg….
Tiggerlion says
Martha, My Dear?
itfc1959 says
Anything by Bob Dylan
Sitheref2409 says
Yes.
I think Springsteen is great. Dylan does nothing for me.
jazzjet says
Anything recorded after 1975?
Moose the Mooche says
Anything recorded by The 1975
deramdaze says
Pretty much anything recorded after 1970 for me, obviously. Only Golden Age need apply. Once the uglies take over, I’m outta there.
I really don’t like anything “famous” by Bob Marley and can’t quite get to grips with his world domination. However, I heard a pre-fame 45 by him, actually circa 1970, on some rare records programme a few years ago, and it was terrific.
ivylander says
There’s a ‘deluxe’ edition of ‘Catch a Fire’ that includes the unretouched Jamaican mixes – it’s pretty terrific. If there were a similar version of ‘Natty Dread’ (and there may be, for all I know) it would probably be similarly wonderful. After that, Marley goes downhill fairly fast in my view. And yes, I include the live album in that stern judgment…
duco01 says
The Wailers cuts recorded with Lee Perry and released in 1970 and 1971 as ‘Soul Rebels’ and ‘Soul Revolution’ are really good. They’ve been reissued and repackaged many times since, under various titles. One of the best of these is the Trojan compilation “African Herbsman” (originally 1973), which I can warmly recommend.
Sewer Robot says
Just this once double D, your taste coincides with the orthodoxy. Not my opinion mind. I think most artists would give their right nut to have made Bob’s “tail off” records – Uprising, Survival and Exodus (I’ll give you Kaya), never mind the decade plus of genius that preceded them…
Happy Harry says
Stone Roses – Dull dull dull.
Everything by Radiohead after OK Computer
Pet Sounds
Nick Drake in his entirety
Rigid Digit says
The evocation of standard Afterword wisdom:
Second Coming is the better album
LesterTheNightfly says
Jeff Buckley “Grace”
Tried 3 times with this and 3 times it’s ended up at the charity shop*
Think him dying at a tragically young age has probably elevated to a level it probably doesn’t deserve.
And “Hallelujah” is a massively overrated song by whoever sings it
*My other 2 copies were bought for 50p and £1 from car boot sales when I was encouraged by friends to “give him another go”
minibreakfast says
I have Grace in a CD double pack with another JB album (don’t ask me which), bought for £1.50 in a chazza in December. It remains the only one of all the many chazza buys of the last couple of months that I haven’t got round to playing yet. Not sure why.
The Muswell Hillbilly says
I really loved Grace, and other assorted Jeff tunes, for a long time. It’s music that is rooted in a very specific time and place. But to listen to the album now would be a bit too much, I think. The very thought of digesting the whole thing puts me off. A little nibble would be sufficient. Like a Cadburys creme egg.
Harold Holt says
I love ‘Grace’, and my wife makes me turn it off with the same vehemence she reserves for my extensive AC/DC collection. Different strokes as they say…
Tiggerlion says
I am incapable of nibbling a crepe egg. I put the whole thing into my mouth at one go, then bite. Orgasmic!
Sewer Robot says
Crepe egg? Wouldn’t fancy crepping that out…
NigelT says
Mystery White Boy..? I bought the double pack on reputation – his voice annoys me.
Mike_H says
Some very peculiar selections up above. And some that I totally agree with.
I’ve mentioned quite a few on previous threads that I Just Don’t Get. Not going to repeat them here.
daff says
Lennon’s Imagine
Harrison’s All things Must Pass
Cash’s Ric Rubin produced albums
Pink Floyd’s the Wall
Who’s Tommy
Lots more but that is enough for now!
deramdaze says
Favourite Beatle = George.
I can’t stand “All Things Must Pass.”
If George had done a stripped-down “McCartney”-style record in ’69/1970, he, with songs as strong as “All Things Must Pass,” “Not Guilty,” “Sour Milk Sea” and “Isn’t It A Pity” on it, would now be sitting on a Top 10 record of all time entry…..it wasn’t, and he, alas, isn’t.
Mind, he is on every other record in the Top 10 ‘cos he was in The Beatles!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Ziggy Stardust was the first LP I bought then gave away two weeks later (to a woman I fancied – I never saw her again). And I gave it away when with virtually no spare cash I was buying at the very most one LP a month: so every record purchased was played and played until I persuaded myself it was really, really good.
Ziggy annoyed me intensely from the first listen, silly voice, immature lyrics, just awful. I adore most of Bowie’s later works (although completely unmoved by Blackstar) but to this day I find it unlistenable
Black Type says
Oh yes, we mustn’t have immature lyrics in pop music – whatever next?
Sewer Robot says
Hey Lodey, your title is not like the middleweight belt – you don’t have to regularly step up to prove you deserve to keep it…
Lodestone of Wrongness says
By the Law of Averages one out of every 12647 opinions I opine is in fact correct. That time has arrived….
Gary says
Which makes this one incorrect. Now I’m confused.
Harold Holt says
Is that like a stopped clock ? So at just under 9 opinions a minute, you’d be right twice a day. Not bad. Probably way ahead of me.
huskerdude says
Couldn’t agree more. Like listening to pantomime. Horrible album.
retropath2 says
Forever Changes. Half clunky and half twee. And trumpets!!
I despised and espoused all trumpets until 1994.
Bingo Little says
You espoused all trumpets?
Moose the Mooche says
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
Bingo Little says
Parp!
retropath2 says
Yes, sort of. I thought the trumpet was the arch instrument of evil, used to prop up ghastly songs on TOTP. I slowly agreed it could be good when paired with a saxophone, as in the Memphis Horns, always playing in unison to dull the trumpetiness of it. Then I heard Chumbawamba and got it. now? Love it. (So, who’da thunk it, the Chumbas as gateway drug to Miles Davis and Chet Baker!!) But don’t ever, ever play me Earth, Wind and too many fucking trumpets.
Tiggerlion says
Live, the EWF horn section consists of a trumpet, a saxaphone and a trombone. Just one trumpet.
Moose the Mooche says
Just one trumpet.
That’s all it took, yeah.
dai says
The Doors, he can’t sing, lyrics are godawful and the band are clunky. Nobody should be impressed by them after the age of 20 when they discover there is much more beautiful stuff out there.
* I like Crystal Ship and Wishful Sinful
Harold Holt says
This.
Kid Dynamite says
Yep. Loved The Doors when I was sixteen, haven’t felt the need to listen to them for oooh, a couple of decades.
deramdaze says
I’ve done The Doors the other way round, based on the assumption that if 60s-dodgers liked them in the truly dire 1980s, they had, at best, to be deeply suspect.
Now all the 60s-dodgers largely ignore them, they sound fabulous.
In 1987 I’d have found it incredible that in 2017 they’d be pretty much my favourite group. Playing “Soft Parade” right now.
Bingo Little says
Ya big mentalist.
Moose the Mooche says
To most people, The Children of Men is a nightmare dystopia…
Arthur Cowslip says
Marvin Gaye – What’s Goin’ On?
Absolute dirge of an album. I can’t work out whether it drowns in its pomposity or its treacly reverb-soaked production. Ugh.
Friar says
Yep, totally agree. It’s the token “soul” album in the collection of all Eagles fans. Cack.
Tiggerlion says
Try the Detroit mix. Less reverb.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Nope, still overated crap…
bungliemutt says
Anything by Tom Waits. Awful.
Paul Wad says
Taken me ages to break through with Tom Waits, but I finally found some stuff I liked a few months ago. Probably because I’d dived straight in with Swordfishtrombones. But I listened to Closing Time and The Heart Of Saturday Night and really liked them. Maybe by working my way up from there I will eventually start to like the later, more challenging stuff. It’s really irked me over the years, because I have always seen Tom Waits as someone I should like, given other artists I am a fan of.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Two wholly essential albums (you know what they is) – all the rest, bah and cack etcetera etcetera
Mohair-Sam says
Trout Mask Bastard Replica
count jim moriarty says
What he said!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Oh dearie me, one album to shoot myself by: nonsense and pretentious nonsense – what’s not to love? Perhaps my most disliked album of all-time…
Moose the Mooche says
My wife is overrated.
As for my children….
Life? Don’t talk to me about life…
Kid Dynamite says
Anything by The Who. There’s music you just don’t get, and then music which is just actively dreadful. The Who fall firmly into the latter camp. It’s hard to put my finger specifically on what I dislike so much, but I suppose really it’s just the horrible noise they make.
The Beatles. More indifference than dislike. It’s just that those songs are so much part of the background, part of the fabric of British cultural life, that I just don’t feel the need to actively go and listen to them.
Surf’s Up by The Beach Boys. Isn’t this supposed to be a late classic, a meditation on the dark side of the summer dream, a lament for lost youth, a baroque psychdelic masterpiece? Nah, it’s pish.
If anyone would like to offer up any more sacred cows I’ll see you down the abbatoir.
Friar says
Absolutely with you on The Who. A tasteless Lyon’s Corner House meat pudding of a band.
Gary says
With crap lyrics.
retropath2 says
Surf’s Up is great! (Except for Student Demonstration Time, of course.)
I’ll be by the Thornbridge tent thursday evening in my Beach Boys T.
Kid Dynamite says
I will almost certainly be at the Thornbridge tent at some point Thursday night, although I like the look of Don Letts in the Woodland.
count jim moriarty says
Is the correct answer.
duco01 says
I loathe everything I’ve ever heard by Happy Mondays with a passion bordering on mania.
Stephen G says
Beethoven. Mozart. Tossers
Moose the Mooche says
They were much better when they became the Bee Gees.
Stephen G says
Eine Kleine Nachtfever
bobness says
Ha!
bungliemutt says
That joke’s much funnier now that I’ve seen it signposted from the other thread.
Paul Wad says
Lots of albums I just don’t get or like very much, many of which are mentioned above (although loads mentioned above are favourites of mine too!). I’ll just name a few I wish I liked, particularly as I own many of them!
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Anything by The Fall except their cover of There’s a Ghost in My House
John Martyn – Solid Air (except May You Never)
Tommy by The Who…in fact, The Who’s music in general, apart from a few great singles. My strong dislike of Pete Townshend (“I was just researching a book” – the worst excuse ever until “yes, well that should never have been put on the side of the bus”) has a lot to do with this
Most things by Radiohead, post The Bends – I kind of like them, but they’re so far up their own arse
We Shall Overcome by Springsteen – I’m a Springsteen fan, but this is just awful
Smile by Brian Wilson…and if I read once more that Wilson is a ‘genius’ I’ll scream!!! A genius who made one good album and a handful of decent singles???!! He had mental health issues. That alone doesn’t make him a genius. George Martin and The Beatles were way, way more innovative and made much better records, yet the tag genius never gets attached to them, or anybody else in popular music for that matter. Drives me mad…actually, if it drives me completely mad maybe they’ll start calling me a genius?
Arthur Cowslip says
Solid Air, yeah I’m with you on that.
The Good Doctor says
I could never care less about ‘Classic Albums’ and I’m certainly not going to spend the limited time I have on this planet listening to records that a bunch of 1970s/80s era music journalists have deemed ‘Classic’. I’ll take recommendations from you lot, and mates and from whoever – but otherwise I’d much rather just discover my own favourites and discover stuff through the usual random routes –
I’m a great believer that the records you “need to hear” will find you eventually
Vulpes Vulpes says
You’re such a rebel.
Jackthebiscuit says
Good comment Dr V.
Johnny99 says
There’s a lot of the above that I agree with – and the odd one that I don’t.
My choice would be “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis – I was told it was brilliant and I have tried many times to like it but . . .I just cannot get into it. I like a fair few other things by Miles Davis but this one just leaves me cold
fishface says
LED ZEPPELIN 4……there, I said it.
I’ve wanted to say that for nearly 40 years.
in particular, stairway to heaven.
how this overlong, overdone pile of shite tops magazine polls year after year amazes and sickens me.
And the solo….the lazy widdle at the end makes my teeth hurt.
p.s, a “bustle in yer hedgerow” is NOT a springclean for the mayqueen……its a CAT!!!
FISH