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Blast Fantasto posted:Howsabout Peter Gabriel era Genssis and Gabriel solo? caveat - I'm a terrible prog fan. I love prog instrumentation and structure, but I'm a sucker for a melody. I'm going to get eviscerated for what I'm writing. Peter Gabriel recorded with the group from 1969 to 1974, for six studio albums. The first, From Genesis To Revelation, is mostly forgettable 60s pop with occasional psych influences. The other five are all brutally uneven, with wonderful high points and dreadfully boring bits in between. The least uneven of these, and probably best thing to start with, would be the fifth overall album, 1973's Selling England By The Pound. At the core of the record are three tracks: More Fool Me, The Battle of Epping Forest, and After The Ordeal. If these songs bore you to death, it's okay. They do it to me, as well---and two of them don't even have Gabriel singing (one's instrumental, one's Phil) so they wouldn't help you much anyway. However, the remaining tracks are all top picks from me any day, especially The Cinema Show, goofy as the lyrics might be, I cannot deny that melody or that synth solo. Firth of Fifth is also an all-time classic. Beyond Selling England, check out the albums immediately following and preceding, and don't be afraid to skip the boring bits. On the album before Selling, Foxtrot (`72), you've got another instance of the good stuff bookending the record---opener Watcher of the Skies is phenomenal, as is everything on side two. Side two consists of a brief instrumental (some would say it's an overture) and then their big long-form piece of the time, Supper's Ready. Supper is a singular experience, with great weirdness on Gabriel's part throughout. After Selling, you have the over- and underrated concept record The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974), which is another instance where skipping some bits is not unreasonable. It's loving LONG. However, there's no real way to point out the useless bits, since the record really needed an editor. There's great stuff all the way through, it just sometimes goes away for a little while. The remaining records show the band just beginning to develop their writing chops, with The Musical Box (from `71's Nursery Cryme) and The Knife (from `70's Trespass) being the only songs to survive much beyond their initial runs. With Peter Gabriel's solo career, there's some problems. His first four solo records are confusingly enough, all named "Peter Gabriel." They go in this order: The one where he's in the car on the cover, the one where he's scraping his fingers through reality or something on the cover, the one where his face is melting on the cover, and the one where he's not on the cover. Start with the facemelter, it's pretty solidly the high point of his early solo outings. From there, you're safest if it's self-titled or if it was released in the 80s. The remainder of his records may not hit those earlier highs, but there's worthy material on all of them. I can only think of one single PG ever cut that really doesn't do it for me (The Barry Williams Show.) hexwren fucked around with this message at 10:16 on May 20, 2012 |
# ? May 20, 2012 10:07 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 19:05 |
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Thanks heaps for the Neil Young help guys, can't wait to get into it!
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# ? May 20, 2012 10:47 |
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boonsha posted:I'm sorry if this has been asked before, I couldn't find it. Seriously and I'm not joking here, get volume 1 of the Archives. That is really the best place to start with Neil Young. It has everything from his early stuff with The Squires to Buffalo Springfield to his early solo stuff and some stuff with Crazy Horse. It's a pretty drat good starting point.
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# ? May 21, 2012 01:58 |
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Just get Decade.
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# ? May 21, 2012 03:25 |
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Blast Fantasto posted:Howsabout Peter Gabriel era Genssis and Gabriel solo? Well I think the post above me covered everything, but I just wanted to emphasize that Selling England by the Pound pretty much has to be your first Genesis album - personally, I don't think I could have gotten into the group otherwise. Yes or King Crimson they are not.
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# ? May 21, 2012 14:22 |
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screenwritersblues posted:Seriously and I'm not joking here, get volume 1 of the Archives. That is really the best place to start with Neil Young. It has everything from his early stuff with The Squires to Buffalo Springfield to his early solo stuff and some stuff with Crazy Horse. It's a pretty drat good starting point. The Archives box is phenomenal, but it also costs like eight million dollars.
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# ? May 21, 2012 21:31 |
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Allen Wren posted:The Archives box is phenomenal, but it also costs like eight million dollars. They came out with a cheaper CD re-release of it awhile ago. It's only $76.70 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ASIN=B001O12TO4
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# ? May 22, 2012 01:59 |
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What about Blondie? I already have Parallel Lines and the Sights & Sounds compillation, but I'm not sure where to go next.
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# ? May 22, 2012 05:01 |
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I feel like you Neil Young fans are lacking a little perspective when it comes to your recommendations. Archives is not a good starting point for someone wanting to get into Neil Young. It's really for the completists. Decade is an excellent best-of from the first ten years of his recording career; it's an incredibly solid retrospective. And it's cheap. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...2Cpopular%2C321 As far as single albums go, I think the best album to start with is After the Gold Rush. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWNfbvun0To There is a newer release which I would also recommend called Live at Massey Hall, recorded in 1971, featuring early versions of some of his most-loved songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFDFBMokqlo
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# ? May 22, 2012 07:39 |
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Wilbur Swain posted:I feel like you Neil Young fans are lacking a little perspective when it comes to your recommendations. Archives is not a good starting point for someone wanting to get into Neil Young. It's really for the completists. Decade is an excellent best-of from the first ten years of his recording career; it's an incredibly solid retrospective. And it's cheap. Yeah, I admittedly forgot about Decade. I'm personally not much of a fan of best-of compilations, though, so mileage varies. Decade is certainly one of the best of that sort of record, though. I rather like Gold Rush as well, but I felt for a guy who'd already been listening to Harvest and Comes A Time, he needed a starting point with a bit more guitar, hence my suggestion of Everybody Knows. I haven't heard the Massey Hall record yet, but I have a bootleg from the same tour, with a similar track listing. I should track that down, now that I've got a few dollars in my pocket.
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# ? May 22, 2012 11:06 |
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I just dug up Faraquet - View From This Tower after not listening to it for years, and the orchestral part in Conceptual Separation of Self is loving ridiculous. Every time I try to find stuff like it myself, I never get a hit. Can anybody point me in the right direction if they're familiar with what I'm talking about?
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# ? May 23, 2012 00:08 |
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someone help me with Ramleh!! also maybe direct me to some other Skullfloweresque essentials.
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# ? May 23, 2012 11:37 |
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nadabolt posted:someone help me with Ramleh!! also maybe direct me to some other Skullfloweresque essentials. For all things Ramleh, you should buy the fourth issue of the brilliant Niche Homo zine). http://nichehomo.blogspot.com/ It's got an extensive interview with the band and after reading it you'll be pretty much set. Also I'd recommend checking out Gravitar, especially "Edifier" album. Noise levels are off the charts there and that includes the Skip Spence cover (they play "Diana" of all things). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq8KDgO4CL8
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# ? May 23, 2012 14:04 |
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I'm really curious about The Desert Sessions. Where should I start with them if I want to get into them?
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# ? May 24, 2012 03:55 |
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screenwritersblues posted:I'm really curious about The Desert Sessions. Where should I start with them if I want to get into them? Get the latest one from, like, nearly ten years ago and go backwards. They are all good, but it is easier to just go backwards especially because the earlier stuff is a lot of jams. Also, their cover of Eccentric Man is so good.
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# ? May 24, 2012 08:58 |
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Where do I start with Elvis Costello? His discography is daunting because of its size.
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# ? May 24, 2012 10:40 |
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escape artist posted:Where do I start with Elvis Costello? His discography is daunting because of its size. His first two albums are by far his best. So start with My Aim is True and This Year's Model. From there I'd jump forward to King of America or Imperial Bedroom to get an idea of his later work. My personal favorite is Trust, but that's a little weirder so hit it up after the others.
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# ? May 24, 2012 13:00 |
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For E-Cost it's really not a bad idea to go in order. Blast is right about those first two albums, and they're both very different from one another. Then the next three (Armed Forces, Get Happy!!, and Trust) are all very good as well. Skip Almost Blue (a country covers album) and go to Imperial Bedroom for the first taste of the more "mature" E-Cost. After that you really have to pick and choose your spots (for example, definitely skip Goodbye Cruel World, as Elvis's heart definitely wasn't in it)
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# ? May 24, 2012 14:55 |
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Almost Blue is massively underrated. It totally foreshadows the entire alt country movement. Definitely worth a listen after you get in to Costello.
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# ? May 24, 2012 15:19 |
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Blood & Chocolate is massively underrated, IMHO. I love every song on there.
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# ? May 24, 2012 17:52 |
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I like the songs 38 Years Old and Now the Struggle Has a Name, but where should I really start with The Tragically Hip?
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# ? May 24, 2012 21:43 |
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I have been listening to Eight Miles High on repeat for weeks now, so I'm wonderwing where should I start with The Byrds, and what are recommendations for bands with a similar sound (psychedelic rock)?
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# ? May 25, 2012 05:01 |
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Pobrecito posted:I have been listening to Eight Miles High on repeat for weeks now, so I'm wonderwing where should I start with The Byrds, and what are recommendations for bands with a similar sound (psychedelic rock)? Albums? Fifth Dimension has Eight Miles High on it and is very good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5XuMWRHGU8 Just as good or better is Younger Than Yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ODvfc2XvXE Better yet is Notorious Byrd Brothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6pb2pLeR_s Psychedelic rock is too big a topic, so I'll just recommend some Byrd spin-offs and solo projects. Gene Clark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBIMqoGhBs David Crosby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNO9DRzTEc Flying Burrito Brothers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tHoNZp7POA This went in more a country-rock direction than psychedelic, but gently caress it. There's only two kinds of music, good and bad. I'll be back with more dadrock recommendations later.
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# ? May 25, 2012 06:13 |
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It occurred to me that I really like classic, Tolkein-inspired power metal, but I haven't actually heard most of the big names in that field - particularly Blind Guardian. Where should I start with them?
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# ? May 29, 2012 04:03 |
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Cobweb Heart posted:It occurred to me that I really like classic, Tolkein-inspired power metal, but I haven't actually heard most of the big names in that field - particularly Blind Guardian. Where should I start with them? You could do worse than A Night at the Opera.
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# ? May 29, 2012 04:09 |
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You could do a lot better, though, too. Start with their big Silmarillion concept record, Nightfall in Middle-Earth.
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# ? May 29, 2012 05:07 |
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Cobweb Heart posted:It occurred to me that I really like classic, Tolkein-inspired power metal, but I haven't actually heard most of the big names in that field - particularly Blind Guardian. Where should I start with them?
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# ? May 29, 2012 10:03 |
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Any 1960s instrumental experts here? Where should I start with Vince Guaraldi?
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# ? May 30, 2012 19:13 |
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DasNeonLicht posted:Any 1960s instrumental experts here? Where should I start with Vince Guaraldi? I'm not super familiar with his output, but I can say that if you're interested in his soundtrack work he did for the various Peanuts specials, your best starting point is definitely A Charlie Brown Christmas (or, if you don't feel like Christmassy music at the moment, his soundtrack for the unaired TV special A Boy Named Charlie Brown). If you're interested more in his earlier, pre-Peanuts output, go with Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus instead.
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# ? May 31, 2012 05:43 |
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This is super broad, but where do I start with Bossa Nova? Say I wanted a fifteen track mix to get a feel of the genre, what's a good starting point?
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# ? Jun 2, 2012 19:25 |
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Schiavona posted:This is super broad, but where do I start with Bossa Nova? Say I wanted a fifteen track mix to get a feel of the genre, what's a good starting point? A few classics: http://youtu.be/G-G8-M10BZ4 (album has the same title) http://youtu.be/tHEQ-m4KSaQ ("Elis & Tom") http://youtu.be/NOQfwNhmlgg ("Dez Anos Depois") http://youtu.be/9YxHjSH917c (weird version, but Nara's isn't on youtube) http://youtu.be/dCa0nwZ7Se8 (all of Vinicius' albums with Baden Powell and Toquinho are sublime) http://youtu.be/CzRfUUJelcg ("A Música De Edu Lobo Por Edu Lobo") http://youtu.be/a4SUDEGAhXs (Chico's never really done straight bossa nova, but talking about '50s-'60s Brazilian music without reference to him would be absurd) For broader compilations, Soul Jazz Records put out two really good ones last year, and there's a pretty expansive Brazilian one from ages ago, titled "Bossa Nova, Sua Historia, Sua Gente" iirc.
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# ? Jun 2, 2012 22:57 |
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Here's a couple of different artists and bands I'm interested in checking out and would appreciate some tips on where to start: Meshuggah The Dillinger Escape Plan Maudlin of the Well Billie Holiday Frank Sinatra Esperanza Spalding Van Der Graaf Generator Gong
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# ? Jun 3, 2012 16:42 |
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Attitude Indicator posted:The Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan started out doing some pretty insane stuff, but after they fired their vocalist, they pretty seriously chilled out and added more melody to their stuff. Where to start depends on which of those styles you like better. If it's the latter, then you can just go in reverse chronological order with the main albums, and probably stop when you hit Miss Machine. If it's the former, you need to hear Calculating Infinity and their EP with Mike Patton, Irony is a Dead Scene. Here are a couple tracks to help you make up your mind: Unretrofied: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QNVwH8ROn4 Caffeine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5yAzN9tK-0
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# ? Jun 3, 2012 16:54 |
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ultrafilter posted:
Caffeine is definitely the more interesting track of the two. Guess I could pretty much go at it chronologically until I get bored. Cheers.
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# ? Jun 3, 2012 17:09 |
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Attitude Indicator posted:Van Der Graaf Generator This is my favorite progressive band but I have to admit that you probably will have difficulty getting into them unless you start with H to He, Who Am The Only One, which is the one that I think will sound most familiar to those who are into classic prog. The first two tracks are amazing but that whole record is really great - plus, it'll get you used to Hammill's style. If you like that, you could really go anywhere - all their releases are great - but if you're looking for something more difficult, check out Pawn Hearts which is their big opus album, if you want something that rocks a little harder, check out their post-reformation albums Godbluff and Still Life, which show the band in full-throttle theatrical evil rock mode. In fact, if you're not really a prog guy maybe just start with Godbluff since I think that one really transcends the genre of "progressive rock".
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# ? Jun 4, 2012 13:16 |
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I recommend starting withe the "Radio Gnome" trilogy - Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg (my favorite Gong record and the one I push on newcomers), and You. Gong doing "Clarence in Wonderland" with Kevin Ayers himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuvomE4O2jY
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# ? Jun 4, 2012 16:11 |
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Attitude Indicator posted:Here's a couple of different artists and bands I'm interested in checking out and would appreciate some tips on where to start: Start with Sinatra at the Sands It's a live album that perfect encapsulates why I, and many others, love Sinatra. The performance features a casual Sinatra at the height of his game, along with his two greatest collaborators: Count Basie / his orchestra, and Quincy Jones providing arrangement. After that I'd check out Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely which highlights his slower, more ballad-like material.
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# ? Jun 4, 2012 17:04 |
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ultrafilter, Allen Wren, Charlie Mopps posted:words Thanks, people!
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# ? Jun 4, 2012 17:58 |
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My first Gong album was You, and it's still my favorite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO54hWftlnA
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# ? Jun 4, 2012 19:52 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 19:05 |
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Ras Het posted:A few classics: Thanks. I picked up the SJR album off their website and it's good, and I've been listening to a lot of Nara Leao on Spotify. I really like her music, is it the most "traditional" or "popular" bossa nova?
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# ? Jun 6, 2012 16:00 |