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Where to start with [artist]

Started by alan nagsworth, April 10, 2008, 02:03:21 PM

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alan nagsworth

Hello. Last year at ATP I saw Yo La Tengo live and they were MINT.* But looking on Last.fm you can only do 30-second previews, which is useless considering the length of some YLT tracks... so I was just wondering, with which artists/genres are they best compared, and which is the best album to start with?

This thread is for like-minded requests by the way, not just my enquiry.


*not enough people use this word

Ignatius_S

Can't really recommend a particularly album, as I've only got bits and pieces – sorry! However, each year they perform a gig on WFMU – pretty sure that these are archived on the station's site.

Have you checked their website? I think there's a couple of free tracks there. Youtube is bound to have a lot of stuff.

They're an eclectic bunch and I would find it hard to categorise them, but one big influence was the Soft Boys – and YLT have toured/recorded with Robyn Hitchcock. I would say very much influenced by various sixties stuff and US New Wave.

As I say, I've only got bits and pieces, but have been meaning to rectify this for a while... so I'll be seeing if anyone can suggest something!

The Argus

Yeah, Yo La Tengo are fantastic live.  I saw them at a wonderfully intimate venue called the Sage in Gateshead a couple of years back and they were just brilliant.

I'd say their biggest influences by far are The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth but I actually prefer to YLT to both those bands.  Best place to start would probably be their magnum opus I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One - listen to it late at night in the dark with a candle on.  Have a bottle of red wine and a spliff ready and you'll be in heaven.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Ignatius_S on April 10, 2008, 02:19:25 PM
Can't really recommend a particularly album, as I've only got bits and pieces – sorry! However, each year they perform a gig on WFMU – pretty sure that these are archived on the station's site.
Lovely as they are, it's a bad way to get into YLT as they're often shambolic as hell, being covers they're, in some cases, working out on the fly. They're pretty easy to get hold of (Soulseek) but if you're going to get one I'd suggest chucking a few quid in WFMU's appeal bucket as they're the best radio station in the world by a million miles.

Derek Trucks

QuoteLast year at ATP I saw Yo La Tengo live and they were MINT

They were so good it took you a whole year to bother checking out their music?

Don_Preston

Right, I have my own request. I've no idea where to start off with the Carter Family. I know there's a 12 disc boxset with the complete Carter Family, which comes with books and the usual box set rigmarole, and was labelled as the best release of 2000, but comes at 140 odd pounds, and that seems a bit drastic, even for me. I'm sure there are plenty of companies piping out the same complations due to the material belonging to the public domain, but are there any better than others?

alan nagsworth

Quote from: Derek Trucks on April 10, 2008, 03:05:04 PM
They were so good it took you a whole year to bother checking out their music?

I've been checking out thousands of other bands since ATP, some of which also played there. I've been sort of mooching around every now and then trying to suss them out but so much has caught my eye in the meantime that has been immediately accessible. That's why I started this thread. I don't quite understand why you'd care enough to ask that question.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on April 10, 2008, 03:01:38 PM
Lovely as they are, it's a bad way to get into YLT as they're often shambolic as hell, being covers they're, in some cases, working out on the fly. They're pretty easy to get hold of (Soulseek) but if you're going to get one I'd suggest chucking a few quid in WFMU's appeal bucket as they're the best radio station in the world by a million miles.

Ahh, okay – it was just that I'm sure that I saw some on the WFMU site and thought it might be a good way of listening to some for free (and legally).

Quote from: Don_Preston on April 10, 2008, 03:05:18 PM
Right, I have my own request. I've no idea where to start off with the Carter Family...

Can't answer your questions, I'm afraid but I would have a look at archive.org – my connection is playing silly buggers at the moment, but it does have some stuff (how much, I have no idea!).... now it's behaving... only one track http://www.archive.org/details/Wildwood

NoSleep

Quote from: nagsworth on April 10, 2008, 03:18:28 PM
I've been checking out thousands of other bands since ATP, some of which also played there. I've been sort of mooching around every now and then trying to suss them out but so much has caught my eye in the meantime that has been immediately accessible. That's why I started this thread. I don't quite understand why you'd care enough to ask that question.

The ATP event I attended in Dec 2006 was an eye-opener for me regarding many bands I had neither heard or heard of until then. I'm still catching up now.

Derek Trucks

Heh, I'm just ribbing with you Nagsworth, wasn't having a go.  God knows how long it took me to get into stuff I should have checked out earlier.

Backstage With Slowdive

With The Fall, just start with 458489A-sides, or 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong if you want to try a bigger selection. Those have the most accessible, radio-friendly stuff on, so if you don't like it you won't like anything else they've done.

Don_Preston

Quote from: Backstage With Slowdive on April 10, 2008, 04:46:13 PM
With The Fall, just start with 458489A-sides, or 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong if you want to try a bigger selection.

I'd recommend doing what I did, which was buy the expanded "Live at the Witch Trials" and get stuck into that.

I started at the beginning with The Fall too.  I know they've recorded better stuff, but as with other bands with huge back catalogues, it's best to start at the beginning.

...And that's the best advice I can offer to anyone looking to check out Elvis Costello too.

NoSleep

A good early Fall collection is the 3CD set Psykick Dance Hall (cheap, too). Or just go straight for Hex Enduction Hour, my personal favourite. I'm also partial to Slates/A Part Of America Therein, the Apart bit being live, the Slates part being a great EP. I remember In A Hole being a good live album too (in NZ).

Roy*Mallard

The best place to start with The Fall is the wonderful Peel box set. Ok, it's costs between 25 and 35 quid, but you get a great 6 disc retrospective, covering all their styles.

Backstage With Slowdive

The thing is, there's quite a variation in mood and style and accessibility across all the albums, which is partly (but not entirely) the result of the changes in musical personnel, production values, amount of cash available from record company etc. Perverted By Language (1983) is almost the definitive example of a band turning their back on the world and making an album for themselves, yet straight after that you get the Beggars Banquet era and the first serious effort to write hit singles.

Witch Trials doesn't give you much guide to what Dragnet will sound like, even though they came out in the same year - Bramah left, his Television-ish guitar style vanishes and in comes the rockabilly influence and lo-fi production (the sleevenotes are clear that MES wanted to steer the band away from "commercial rock").

Years back I tried to work out all the "eras of The Fall" in a long post on the website (I think it was still the Official Site at that point) and I ended up saying there were about 9 of them, and that Dave Bush's early 90s techno was different from Julia Nagle's late 90s techno, etc.

Neil

Quote from: The Argus on April 10, 2008, 02:53:36 PMBest place to start would probably be their magnum opus I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One - listen to it late at night in the dark with a candle on.  Have a bottle of red wine and a spliff ready and you'll be in heaven.

Yes, this is the correct answer!  And "We're An American Band" is one of my fave songs of all-time, the guitar solo and extended outro is beyond my ability to adequately describe without sounding like a tosserish NME scribe.  Sugarcube is great too, of course:

YLT meets Mr Show:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=d_LkAAzCQrQ

The Korean special edition comes bundled with the Little Honda EP.

To save time, you could also grab the "Prisoners Of Love, A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent Songs", which is a three (or two) disc box-set of almost 20 years of their best music.  It's a phenomenal collection. 

Ah, not listened to them for a few months, I'm sure you've just set off another massive binge. 

scarecrow

I think their Fakebook album makes a great intro, the covers are fantastic and the original tracks even better. Shows off their influences and what the heights their own stuff is capable of reaching. Except it's deleted and is often very $$.

mister_enmity

I think with the Fall, you should first start with either Hex Enduction Hour or The Nation's Saving Grace, before alternating between eras, like the one with Brix Smith and the others.

Identity Crisis Ahoy!

I prefer to use Allmusic but I'll give you guys a whirl.

New York Dolls; where to start?

The Ramones; where to start?

I'm serious, I've heard about 10 songs by both these bands, I need to get on this shi*t.

NoSleep

#20
Quote from: Identity Crisis Ahoy! on April 12, 2008, 03:51:18 AM
I prefer to use Allmusic but I'll give you guys a whirl.

New York Dolls; where to start?

The Ramones; where to start?

I'm serious, I've heard about 10 songs by both these bands, I need to get on this shi*t.

For the Ramones, just buy their first album. It's the quintessential Ramones experience. You can work onward from that, but for me it's all there on that one album.

alan nagsworth

Ramones? I'd say this is the best shi*t to start with.


Don_Preston

With The Ramones, buy the cheap Anthology album and have done with that.

With the New York Dolls, I can't help you there with that Mock Rock

Identity Crisis Ahoy!


First New York Dolls album isn't mastered very well on CD but it's the best one.  Also get Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers - LAMF (Lost '77 Mixes).  He was the Pete Doherty of the Dolls, and someone on here once very aptly described him as the punk Keef.  Good album, most of his live stuff and solo stuff has some nice tunes on it as well.  This feller's reviews of the whole Thunders oooooohvre are a great guide.

Here he is being silly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgtkTUwegVQ

scarecrow

Do Squeeze have any worthwhile records besides Cool for Cats, Argybargy and East Side Story?

NoSleep


Marvin

Quote from: scarecrow on April 12, 2008, 04:30:27 PM
Do Squeeze have any worthwhile records besides Cool for Cats, Argybargy and East Side Story?

Yep, all the other ones.

Paaaaul

Where to start with Ramones

If you want to dip your toe in, get the Hey Ho, Let's Go Anthology which is a pretty ace 2xCD compilation. The first CD covers the first 5 albums and is excellent. The second CD crams in the rest of their career, quite rightly as a lot of it was cack, but still manages to be pretty good.
Beware about other Ramones compilations as there are many, including loads of Crysalis ones claiming to be "Best of The Ramones" etc but only containing tracks from their last few albums and a few late recordings of the classics. These kind of cheapo crap compilations are easy to get hold of and must be detrimental to the bands record sales as they're not going to encourage people to buy another Ramones CD.

If you either like that or don't want to start with a compilation, start from the beginning and get yourself either copies of the first two albums (the reissues are very good, with second album,Leave Home, containing a full live set from the time too) or a copy of the CD All The Stuff and More Vol.1, which contains the original (unremastered, and thus a bit dirtier and more "authentic") versions of the first two albums, a couple of excellent early demos and a couple of live tracks.
If you enjoy them move on to Rocket To Russia and Road To Ruin, their 3rd and 4th albums. They are also compiled on All The Stuff and More Vol 2 which also contains a load of bonus tracks too, as do the remastered single album releases.
If by this point you don't want to chuck out all your Rolling Stones albums, you might as well give up(and I don't mean give up listening to Ramones albums)

scarecrow

Quote from: Marvin on April 12, 2008, 04:41:38 PM
Yep, all the other ones.
what one should i make my priority? 'Ridiculous'? I actually have Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti too, and although I think it's consistently well written and has great songs, the production is kind of a bummer. Plus the Hits of the Year video.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iaTyx_phX0&feature=related  my goodness.