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.
Twang’s mum fancied Paul. Snigger.
She was a John girl actually.
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
The Long Tally Sally EP has three better covers recorded just a couple of months before they started on Beatles For Sale. To be fair, back then a month lasted a year. They also had Leave My Kitten Alone up their sleeves.
I do love Words Of Love, though.
I knew @dai would come back on this, and I was being a bit mischievous 😀. I think it’s Mr Moonlight that colours it for a lot of people – all the others are perfectly fine for me, and even the aforementioned never bothered me that much. I’ve said this before, but the ranking of the Fabs’ output seems to be different for those of us who experienced them in ‘real time’ and thus also the surrounding cultural milieu.
I probably agree with @Tiggerlion – I always loved Ringo singing Matchbox, but I have seen opinions reckoning it is terrible – but these could easily have been on AHDN and the weaker tracks from that dropped. Our view of that album would then probably be very different.
By the way, what great EP that is! 1964 was a terrific year for them – two albums with 27 tracks in total, a 4 track EP and a unique single for Christmas!
Am I so predictable? For the originals No Reply and I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party are great, I’m a Loser is fine, obviously 8 Days a Week is the single that never was, I Feel Fine is better though. I quite like What you’re Doing but it isn’t really top notch Macca, Follow the Sun is, not a fan of Every Little Thing, sounds like filler.
Bowie
Popular – Lets Dance
Connoiseur – Low
Yep, or possibly Lodger for the connoisseur
Back in the olden days, Hunky Dory was always the one to indicate the true fan.
Still is.
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
@moseleymoles – mm, yes you’re right, Low Life is a deep well of riches. Technique is my all time fave NO album though,
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!)
The sign that leads the way.
The path we cannot take.
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!
@uncle-mick
I might go for Hello Young Lovers for the Sparks connoisseur choice though to be fair it could pretty much be any of their albums
Graham Parker – connoisseur choice: The Parkerilla
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.
And my thumb is up for One Trick Pony.
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.
Common one? Surely Veedon Fleece?
Nah Wavelength.
Like I said, it’s my personal favourite, so inauthentic. Veedon Fleece is great, but does it have two 15 minute+ songs about boots and greatcoats/English Romantic poets? Surely enough to put off the idle listener looking for more Moondance?
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.
Presence definitely
Tend to agree (despite my “trying to be clever” choice).
Certainly true(er) when broken to individual tracks.
Stairway vs Achilles …
Connoisseur: Meddle
Agree to a point: anything pre-DSOTM would probably count as a connoisseur choice these days…
Yep.
Connoisseur: Led Zeppelin 2
Nah – that’s the runner-up for the Popular 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 .
“Popular” always has a context
Especially on a site like this! 🙂
For Free, I think the connoisseur choice is Highway.
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.
My favourite REM album, must be said.
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.
Only known to the hipster connoisseurs, innit? 😉
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?
But A Love Supreme tops all the polls. How about Giant Steps, then?
Depends who votes in the polls, I suppose…
And yes, Giant Steps would be good – splits the difference between A Love Supreme and the more straight ahead 1950s stuff. Then again, I’m not really any kind of expert!
My thought too.
In fact a few years ago when my youngest brother was asking about jazz albums to explore I warned him off, as a neophyte, A Love Supreme.
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
No ones interested are they ⬆️?
Agree with you 100% on Priest = Aura
Thank you @henry-haddock
You a fan?
Not extensively but do like P=A a lot, and their early stuff (saw them in London in 1983, on the back of buying a 10”EP that included “The Unguarded Moment”)
Yep, they’re not quite the same band anymore are they? And no more UK dates ever alas @henry-haddock
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
Perhaps Boces is more a hipster than connoisseur choice
Being there is surely the connoisseur’s choice for Wilco.
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
Big Elt:
Popular: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Connoisseur: Tumbleweed Connection
Peter Gabriel
Popular: Peter Gabriel
Connoisseur: Peter Gabriel
Arf! Except So is the obvious popular choice.
XTC
Popular:
English Settlement
Connoisseur:
Nonsuch
Echo And The Bunnymen
Popular:
Ocean Rain
Connoisseur:
Heaven Up Here
The Smiths
Popular:
The Queen Is Dead
Connoisseur:
Meat Is Murder/Strangeways Here We Come
I was pondering how to place XTC albums. I reckoned Skylarking was the Popular – I seem to remember that being the consensus on an Afterword XTC podcast.
I reckon Apple Venus Vol 1 is the Connoisseur’s, unless you permit The Dukes.
I love them all, of course.
Deep Purple
Popular, I’ll go ‘In Rock’ and ‘Machine Head’
Connisseur, ‘Burn’ and ‘Perfect Strangers’
Connoisseur is Come Taste the Band.
I think it’s fairly rare that an artist’s most popular album isn’t representative of their catalogue for a new listener. When it does happen, it’s usually when their most popular record is the result of a successful comeback or makeover. So I reckon that Let’s Dance, So, I’m Your Man, Invisible Touch and Johnny Cash’s American albums are examples where a casual buyer who bought them and subsequently explored the catalogue would have surprises in store (pleasant in the case of Bowie).
Still, I haven’t answered Henry’s question, so here goes:
B-52s
Popular: Cosmic Thing,
Connoisseur: The B-52s
And slightly off-topic:
J.D. Salinger
Popular: The Catcher in the Rye
Connoisseur: Franny and Zooey
And I’m speaking as the casual buyer who loved I’m your Man when it came out but subsequently found the early stuff a bit dull.
Steve Earle
Popular – Guitar Town
Connoisseur – I feel alright
Steve Millar
Popular – Abracadabra
Connoisseur – Fly Like an Eagle
I wondered if anyone would get to Steve, given the word “popular”…
(Smily face thing)
I’d go El Corazon or The Mountain, though. That said, there are many choices.
Jerusalem pour moi
I should add
Sonic Youth
Popular: Dirty
Connoisseur: Sister
Happy Mondays
Popular: Thrills, Pills and Bellyaches
Connoisseur: Bummed
Lou Reed
Popular: Transformer
Connoisseur: Berlin
Correct
New York or Magic and Loss
Buzzcocks
Popular: Another Music In A Different kitchen
Connoisseur: Singles – Going Steady
Fountains Of Wayne
Popular: Welcome Interstate Manager
Connoisseur: Utopia Parkway
Think I’d invert the Buzzcocks
sʞɔoɔzznq
Arf!
With Fountains of Wayne, both the Popular album and the Connoisseur album are impeccable choices!
The Jam
Popular: All Mod Cons
Connoisseur: Sound Affects
Paul Weller
Popular: Stanley Road
Connoisseur: As Is Now or Sonik Kicks
Frank Zappa
Popular: Hot Rats (Europeans) Over-Nite Sensation (USA-ians)
Connoisseur: One Size Fits All
Weather Report
Popular: Heavy Weather
Connoisseur: Night Passage
Soft Machine
Popular: Third
Connoisseur: Volume Two
Brian Eno
Popular: Here Come The Warm Jets
Connoisseur: Before And After Science
Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band
Popular: Gorilla
Connoisseur: Keynsham
Frank Zappa – I’d suggest The Yellow Shark for the connoisseur
Weather Report – I’d suggest Mysterious Traveller for the connoisseur.
Yep
I concur
Having said that – I think the Great Lost Weather Report Masterpiece is their self-titled first album…
Popular preference- John Paul II
Connoisseurs choice – Agapetus II
Bit sophomore for me.
That would be an ecumenical matter…
The Stranglers
Popular: Rattus Norvegicus / No More Heroes
Connoisseur: Black and White
Dire Straits
Popular: Brothers In Arms
Connoisseur: Love Over Gold
Blur
Popular: Parklife
Connoisseur: 13
@rigid-digit
Am I allowed Black and White as Popular AND connoisseur??
OK – I’ll do albums then
Bros
P – Push
C – Les Trois Valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté
Rolling Stones
Popular – Sticky Fingers or Exile On Main Street
Connoisseur – Aftermath
The Who
Popular – Who’s Next
Connoisseur – Who Sell Out
John Lennon
Popular – Imagine
Connoisseur -John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Wings
Popular – Band On The Run
Connoisseur – Back To The Egg
Neil Young
Popular – Harvest
Connoisseur – On The Beach
Van
Pop – Astral
Con – Veeden
Bob acoustic
Pop – Blood
Con – JWH
LOU live
Pop – Rock n Roll Animal
Con – Take No Prisoners
Allmans
Pop – Brothers and Sisters
Con – Eat A Peach
The Beach Boys
Popular – Pet Sounds
Connoisseur – Holland
Bob Dylan
Popular – Blonde On Blonde
Connoisseur – John Wesley Harding
Bruce Springsteen
Popular – Born in the USA
Connoisseur – Nebraska
Yup, agree with you on t’Beach Boys.
Spirit
Popular – 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus
Connoisseur – Future Games
Fleetwood Mac (Buckingham version)
Popular – Rumours
Connoisseur – Out of the cradle (LB solo album)
Connoisseur – Spirit Of ’76
Foxy is correct.
I have to go with Future Games. Masterpiece.
Groundhogs
Popular: Split
Connoisseur: Who Will Save The World
OK, let’s keep doing this!
Small Faces
Popular: Ogden’s…
Connoisseur: Small Faces (Immediate, 67)
Kinks
Popular: Village Green…
Connoisseur: Something Else
George Harrison:
Popular: All Things Must Pass
Connoisseur: Wonderwall Music
Pretty Things
Popular: S.F. Sorrow
Connoisseur: Emotions
Jethro Tull
Popular: Aqualung
Connoisseur: Stand Up
Who
Popular: Who’s Next
Connoisseur: My Generation
Paul McCartney
Popular: Band on the Run
Connoisseur: McCartney
The Yes
Popular: The Yes Album or 90125
Connoisseur: Relayer
Controversial: TFTO
King Crimson
Popular: ITCOTCK
Connoisseur: Starless and Bible Black, maybe? Or the big Heaven and Earth box…
Van der Graaf Generator
Popular: none
Connoisseur: all
Connoisseur: Discipline maybe?
Nah – I’d suggest that Discipline sits on the “popular” side of the spectrum.
I’d nominate Red as the connoisseur choice.
Maybe I was being wilfully obscurantist – but, on reflection S&BB still cuts the mustard as a connoisseur choice!
Larks Tongues In Aspic for the connoisseurs.
To be honest, I find them hard to separate: if the neophyte had already listened to ITCOTCK and said “fine – but what else is there?”, I think I’d give them Larks, Starless and Red – and maybe throw in USA as well…
I agree. They’re joined at the hip, those two.
Which two?
Larks’ Tongues and S&BB
Gotcha.
It’s the vanishing band trick: five for Larks, four for Starless, three for Red…
Magpie!
Well played, that man…
Joni
Pop Blue
Con Hissing
The Dan
Pop Aja
Con Countdown
Stephen Stills
Pop Stephen Stills
Con Stills
Good to see another fan of Stills. – thats a terrific record
Ravel
Bolero
Gaspard de la Nuit
Supergrass
Popular: I Should Coco
Connoisseur: Road To Rouen
Massive Attack
Popular: Blue Lines
Connoisseur: 100th Window
Elvis Costello
Popular: Armed Forces
Connoisseur: Blood and Chocolate
Tom Waits
Popular: Closing Time
Connoisseur: Mule Variations
For Elvis, Connoisseur choice is King Of America
(shirley?)
Imperial Bedroom
John Lennon
Popular: Imagine
Connoisseur: Plastic Ono Band
Paul McCartney
Popular: Band on the Run
Connoisseur: Ram
George Harrison
Popular: All Things Must Pass
Connoisseur: Brainwashed
Ringo Starr
Popular: Ringo
Connoisseur: Ringo
John Lennon
Popular: Double Fantasy
Connoisseur: Walls and Bridges
Paul McCartney
Popular: Band on the Run
Connoisseur: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
George Harrison
Popular: Cloud 9
Connoisseur: George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Popular: Ringo
Connoisseur: Beaucoups of Blues
The Chameleons
Popular: Script of the Bridge
Connoisseur: Strange Times
A random selection:
Paul Weller
Popular: Stanley Road
Connoisseur: 22 Dreams
Joe Jackson
Popular: Night and Day
Connoisseur: Blaze of Glory
Everything but the Girl
Popular: Walking Wounded
Connoisseur: Love not Money
Joan Armatrading
Popular: Me Myself I
Connoisseur: The Shouting Stage
Eric Clapton (solo)
Popular: Unplugged
Connoisseur: There’s One in Every Crowd
The Eagles
Popular: Hotel California
Connoisseur: On The Border
If I may suggest:
Joan Armatrading
Popular: Joan Armatrading
Connoisseur: To The Limit (or possibly Into The Blues)
Lloyd Cole/Commotions
Popular – Rattlesnakes
Connoisseur – Don’t Get Weird on me Babe
I’d expect other opinions will follow…
@bamber
They will.
Connoisseur: Mainstream