I’ve been thinking of how certain artists’ best-known or loved albums aren’t always the ones you might recommend to a new listener, especially once over-familiarity sets in. Sometimes, the less obvious choice sheds more light on their talents.
Examples:
Bruce Springsteen
Popular: Born In The USA
Connoisseur: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Velvet Underground
Popular: Produced by Andy Warhol (Banana)
Connoisseur: White Light/White Heat
Lemonheads
Popular: It’s a Shame About Ray
Connoisseur: Lovey
Bob Marley/The Wailers
Popular: Exodus
Connoisseur: Burnin’
Fleetwood Mac
Popular: Rumours
Connoisseur: Then Play On
Mercury Rev
Popular: Deserter’s Songs
Connoisseur: Boces
Feel free to take issue with my selection, or add some of your own.
Pentangle (though both are terrific):
Popular: Basket of Light (1969)
Connoisseur: Sweet Child (1968)
Iron Maiden
Popular: Number Of The Beast or Seventh Son
Connoisseur: The Book of Souls
(although Seventh Son is a very close second)
Madness
Popular: Complete Madness / Utter Madness / Divine Madness
Connoisseur: Liberty Of Norton Folgate
Meat Loaf
Popular: Bat Out Of Hell
Connoisseur: Bat Out Of Hell
(be honest, it’s really the only one worth having)
I have to vote for Bat Out of Hell II over the original.
Jim Steinman clearly listened again to the first one and thought “That’s not big and crazy enough.” Hence every dial turned up higher, more musicians – well, more of everything really, a backing singer credited as Mrs Loud (!), etc., and yet it still sounds great. Big, singalong choruses, guitar chords to die for, and ver Loaf singing as if his very life depends on it. From this point on, everything else could only feel smaller.
But Bat 2 is let down by some recycling – half the songs had been out before on Steinman’s Bad For Good and Pandora’s Box.
Then again, many (if not all) were written for Meat’s pipes so why not get them as Jim intended
(and also turning everything up to 11)
For Brooce, popular choice is true, but the connoisseur choice is “anything but the popular choice”
Until this morning I thought it ‘Nebraska’. Now I would go for ‘The River’. Sure, it is a double, with an album’s worth is disposable, but the good’uns are his best.
What changed today? A video I posted?
My failure to realise the song you posted was a song I thought I loved.
The Beatles:
Popular: Revolver
Connoisseur: Yellow Submarine
Eh?
Popular: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Band
Connoisseur: A Hard Day’s Night
Blimey, I agree with Dai!!
I am reliably informed by Beatles fans that Hard Day’s Night is not an album, it is a soundtrack. Just sayin’.
Nope, the American version is a bonafide soundtrack including incidental music, the UK version has 7 songs from the film on side 1 and 6 other (mostly brilliant) songs on side 2. Help! follows a similar template, as does (US) Magical Mystery Tour, however Yellow submarine has soundtrack music (from George Martin) on it.
You can interchange any and all of The Beatles albums
They were all very very popular didn’t they all sell millions
Connoisseur: Best of the Beatles
I don’t think everyone has realised I was joking.
…err…arf!
It’s like the spirit of Frank Carson is here with us!
It’s the way he tells ‘um
I had to look him up to see if he was still alive (no, and he would be about 99 if he was).
It’s a cracker
I don’t disagree@dai, AHDN is my favourite Battles album and technically the first album I owned – my mum took me to see the film on its first run and bought me the album after. I was 6.
My first also, or at least one of the first two I owned. 3.60 pounds from Woolworths (cassette) which would be about 25 quid today. Yikes!
Perfect musical summation of that era and the film was excellent too. 9/13 tracks are Lennon, could almost be considered his first solo album
Yes, perfect. That bit where they walk through 4 front doors into one huge groovy pad. With a sunken sofa. Toooo cool.
That’s Help!, but yes a great scene
Rookie error…
There’s a scene in Help where Ringo talks about a ladder. It’s very Bob Mortimer.
Popular (obviously, from the comments): A Hard Days Night
Connoisseur: Beatles For Sale
Ignore the twaddle about the (brilliant) covers – just listen to the progression in the song writing and arrangements in those few months.
Yes: I am not really a Beatles partisan, but I also prefer “Beatles for Sale” for that reason.
The originals are decent, the covers not too much Mr Moonlight, Honey Don’t, Kansas City, Everybody’s Trying, just mediocre songs. Coming after 13 mostly brilliant Lennon/McCartney songs, a definite downturn for me
Bowie
Popular – Lets Dance
Connoiseur – Low
New Order
Popular – Substance
Connoisseur – Technique
Not sure you can have compilations – singles and greatest hits are always popular choices. However you put your finger on the fact that they were/are a great singles band with many that broke through. Their albums are all connoisseur to some extent or other, but if push came to shove it would be
Popular – Technique
Connoisseur – Low Life
I’d go with…
Popular – Technique
Connoisseur – Brotherhood
Connoisseur: Power Corruption and Lies, surely? No obvious singles on that one, and it’s where they really started to flourish.
@salwarpe I’d rate Movement as a better album than PC&L. I find PC&L has more skippable tunes. As for Brotherhood, I find it still worth listening to with two distinctive sides; guitars/synths and an overall good standard of tracks.
Though I’d happily listen to any of the first four albums at any time, (the quality dropping sharply and remaining low after Substance), Movement is the least of these, as it is a transitional ‘chrysalis’ album and doesn’t really have the New Order sound that truly butterflies on PC&L.
…hence Movement is a better album. (Boom-tish!)
ABC
Popular – Lexicon of Love
Connoisseur – Beauty Stab/ Skyscraping
Sparks
Popular – Kimono My House
Connoisseur – Hippopotamus
Graham Parker & The Rumour
Popular – Squeezing Out Sparks
Connoisseur – Three Chords Good
Kim Wilde
Popular – Close
Connoisseur – Here Come The Aliens
HCTA is ace!
ZZ Top
Popular: Eliminator
Connoisseur: Deguelo
Jethro Tull
Popular: Aqualung
Connoisseur: Minstrel in the gallery
I’d go with Tres Hombres for ZZ Top
I agree it’s brilliant but it was also very popular so it’s not the second category however Eliminator is the global smash. So TH is neither really, by my logic.
.
You could almost say
Popular: 80s ZZ Top
Connoisseur: 70s ZZ Top
I’m ashamed to say I knew nothing of their 70s output until, ironically, I moved to Texas in 2008. Heard a lot of their early stuff on a classic rock radio station and had to investigate.
Jonathan Richman…
Popular – First Modern Lovers album
Connoisseur – Rockin’ and Romance
Edwyn Collins
Popular – Gorgeous George
Connoisseur – Hope and Despair
Roddy Frame/Aztec Camera
Popular – High Land Hard Rain
Connoisseur – Surf
Pink Floyd
Popular: Dark Side of the Moon
Connoisseur: Obscured By Clouds
George Harrison
Popular: All Thing Must Pass
Connoisseur: George Harrison
Paul Simon
Popular: Graceland
Connoisseur: One Trick Pony
Adam & The Ants
Popular: Kings of the Wild Frontier
Connoisseur: Dirk Wears White Socks
Wow! I’m a Pink Floyd connoisseur.
Television
Popular: Marquee Moon
Connoisseur: Adventure
Van Morrison
Popular: Astral Weeks
Connoisseur: Common One
Sisters of Mercy
Popular: Floodland
Connoisseur: The Reptile House
I’ll admit – I’m just citing my personal favourites.
AC/DC
Popular: Back In Black
Connoisseur: Powerage
(with a side serving of If You Want Blood)
Pink Floyd
Popular: Dark Side Of The Moon
Connoisseur: The Final Cut
(I would suggest The Wall, but I know I’ll be shouted down)
Led Zeppelin
Popular: 4
Connoisseur: In Through The Out Door
(very happy to see that one getting a critical “actually, it’s not that bad” re-appraisal)
Re Pink Floyd: suggest away, dear boy…
…in fact, The Wall might be the popular choice in the US, if not elsewhere.
Re LZ: I’d suggest Presence is the true Zep connoisseur’s choice.
What do Cockney Rejects and Sham connoisseurs favour, I wonder?
Sham 69 – That’s Life.
It’s a concept album
If the Rejects’ ‘Oi! Oi! Oi!’ album was de-mixed and reassembled into surround sound by AI software, would they rebrand it ‘Ai! Ai! Ai!’…? And would there be a demand for a Dolby Atmos Cockney Rejects experience? These are the big questions of out time…
A Steven Wilson remix of The Greatest Cockney Rip Off and Flares & Slippers may well be the next unexpected Super Deluxe Edition release
Fairport Convention
Popular – Liege and Leif
Connoisseur- Unhalfbricking
Richard and Linda Thompson
Popular – I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Connoisseur – Pour Down Like Silver
( All 4 are great albums of course)
I was just thinking that for Fairport.
Unhalfbricking or even What We Did On Our Holidays (I prefer Fairport before they fully commited to folk rock)
I’ll extend that to Richard Thompson solo:
Popular – Rumor and Sigh
Connoisseur- Mock Tudor
Connoisseur – Henry the Human Fly.
Not a bad shout, but I always suspect people who say that’s their favourite RT are at least partly buying into the myth of its minimal sales.
I think they’re all varying degrees of excellent but in the spirit of the OP it’s underrated. It’s also one of the first I got to know, and he plays really well on it.
I have a soft spot for Henry but it’s far from the one I would play a newcomer, which is what the OP asks for. I fear it would scare off more than it converted.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to extend this concept to songs, so the reader can consider dipping a toe in to another side of said act:
OMD
Popular: If You Leave
Connoisseur: Sealand
Depeche Mode
Popular : Just Can’t Get Enough
Connoisseur: Home
The Cure
Popular: Just Like Heaven
Connoisseur: Primary
Kraftwerk
Popular : The Model
Connoisseur: Metal on Metal
Gary Numan
Popular: Cars
Connoisseur: We Take Mystery to Bed
I’m fascinated by the word ‘popular’.
If you asked 100 Brits about Love’s Forever Changes, how many would have a clue what you’re talking about? 3?
Anyway…
Popular: Forever Changes
Connoisseur: Four Sail
Free
Popular: Fire and Water
Connoisseur: Free (69)
Beatles
Popular: Abbey Road
Connoisseur: Rubber Soul, actually any pre-Revolver
Dylan
Popular: the mid-60s electric ones and/or Blood on the Tracks
Connoisseur: Nashville Skyline
Doors
Popular: Debut or L.A. Woman
Connoisseur: any of the other four!
Love first album would be my connoisseur choice.
Yes: “Strange Days” is by far my favourite Doors album .
Pink Floyd – DSOTM and what follows is popular. What went before was more cult or underground, i.e., connoisseur. Those who were fans before would consider themselves present with the cult when it was special and then resent the newcomers who jumped on the bandwagon. A kind of snobbery. A feeling of superiority as is often the case. Anyway, Meddle is connoisseur.
Agreed. Broadly. Although I’m not sure that Animals would convert a newbie…
Prefab Sprout
Popular: Steve McQueen
Connoisseur: Jordan: The Comeback
The Associates
Popular: Sulk
Connoisseur: The Affectionate Punch
Scott Walker
Popular: Scott 4
Connoisseur: Scott 3
Hmm, that notion of popular:
‘Scott’, ‘2’ and ‘3’ all did well at the time, ‘2’ even getting to no. 1 when that was a thing.
4 didn’t chart. So that’s retrospective popularity isn’t it?
Again, how many people would you have to ask on ‘the street’ before anyone would have a clue about Scott Walker… it’s gotta be very few.
So what? It’s a thought experiment for a group of people who all think they’re connoisseurs, not a nationwide poll…even the artists/bands we pick are skewed! 🙂
Roxy Music –
Popular: Avalon
Connoisseur: Most cons would say For Your Pleasure (making it also ‘Popular’), but I would go for Stranded.
ABBA –
Popular: Arrival
Connoisseur: The Visitors
Prince –
Popular: Purple Rain/SOTT
Connoisseur: Parade/The Gold Experience
Kate Bush –
Popular: Hounds Of Love
Connoisseur: Aerial
Pet Shop Boys –
Popular: actually
Connoisseur: Behaviour
REM –
Popular: Automatic For The People
Connoisseur: Murmur
Hipster Connoisseur: Chronic Town EP (on Hibtone label, obvs.)
1,2,3 and 6 are also my choices that I nearly wrote down.
For REM, the awkward sod choice is Monster
(yes, I am that awkward sod)
I listened to Monster and Green recently. Monster has aged much better.
Good call on ABBA @black-type
I love Aerial to bits, but surely the connoisseur choice is The Dreaming.
Yes, yes, yes – you beat me to it, Chesh!
Well, the original version of R.E.M.’s “Radio Free Europe” was indeed on Hib-Tone in 1981.
But, as far as I know, the “Chronic Town” EP (or 5-track mini-album) was first released on IRS records in 1982. I don’t think there was ever a Hib-Tone release of that record.
Popular – No Parlez
Connoisseur – Anything Else
Miles Davis
Popular: Kind Of Blue
Connoisseur: In A Silent Way
John Coltrane
Popular: A Love Supreme
Connoisseur: Live At The Village Vanguard Master Takes
Thelonious Monk
Popular: Brilliant Corners (Genius doesn’t count)
Connoisseur: At Carnegie Hall
Charles Mingus
Popular: Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
Connoisseur: Blues And Roots
Liking the Coltrane.
Thinking back to when I was a Coltrane novice – the only LP I owned was Blue Train. I’m not sure I’d use A Love Supreme to introduce Coltrane to a novice?
Miles: popular choice is spot on, since it might be the only one that everyone recognises. Connoisseur choice is harder – you could make a convincing case for Jack Johnson, or Miles Smiles…
I’d have”Some day my prince will come” for connoisseurs – hardly ever gets mentioned but I love it.
Nice…
The Church: Popular. Starfish
Connoisseur. P=A
Quo.
Popular, 12 gold bars.
Connoisseur, 12 gold bars.
All you need, faultless.
True, but I’d still be yearning for Quo Live.
Yes – recorded at the Glasgow Apollo. A venue where angels feared to tread.
I’d be tempted to suggest Quo for the connoisseur’s album. Definitely not for beginners.
Arguably the live album would also work as the popular album in the OP, since it demonstrates to a beginner exactly what they were all about.
To the OP, I would substitute Mercury Rev’s “Yerself is Steam”
Wilco
Popular: Hotel Yankee Foxtrot
Connoisseur: A Ghost is Born
The Fall (Beggars Banquet era)
Popular: This Nation’s Savings Grace
Connoisseur: The Wonderful and Frightening World of…
Pavement
Popular: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Connoisseur: Slanted and Enchanted
My Bloody Valentine:
Popular: Loveless
Connoisseur: Isn’t Anything
Aphex Twin
Popular: Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Connoisseur: Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Ian Dury
Popular New Boots and Panties.
Connoisseur Do it Yourself.
Simple Minds
Popular. New Gold Dream.
Connoisseur. Life in a Day.
J.S. Bach
Popular: Air on the G string
Connoisseur: Mass in B minor (BWV 232)
Chumbawamba:
Popular: Tubthumper
Authentic: Anarchy
Connoisseur: A Singsong & a Scrap