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It's Good, But It's Not Right...

Started by TJ, May 21, 2004, 12:50:27 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

TJ

Are you a fan of a band or artist whose entire body of work you enjoy, but who are responsible for one or two albums (or singles) that you have never felt are quite on a par with the rest of their output? Two personal examples...

The Velvet Underground - I *like* the third and fourth albums, but I've always felt that there was a massive slide after the first and White Light/White Heat that was never really recovered from. Yes, they're both full of great songs, but they rarely stray outside the 'monotnous chiming' template and there's certainly nothing quite as remarkable as 'Run Run Run', 'Femme Fatale' or 'Lady Godiva's Operation', let alone anything of such exhiliarating visceral brilliance as 'The Black Angel's Death Song', 'European Son' or 'Sister Ray'.

The Charlatans - I've never been able to shake the feeling that Telling Stories is merely 'good', whereas the other albums have all been teriffic. I've certainly never listened to it as much as I have any of the others.

european son

Quote from: "TJ"
The Velvet Underground - I *like* the third and fourth albums, but I've always felt that there was a massive slide after the first and White Light/White Heat that was never really recovered from. Yes, they're both full of great songs, but they rarely stray outside the 'monotnous chiming' template and there's certainly nothing quite as remarkable as 'Run Run Run', 'Femme Fatale' or 'Lady Godiva's Operation', let alone anything of such exhiliarating visceral brilliance as 'The Black Angel's Death Song', 'European Son' or 'Sister Ray'.

well, the third LP is my second favourite (i go 1-3-4-2)...

but the reasons for the change are obvious...
first off, losing Cale after White Light/White Heat, also, getting all their weird noise machines nicked at an airport promted a softer sound.

and getting the pretty straightforward Doug Yule in, (and indulging him a bit too much on Loaded maybe) was a turn away from the whole EPI sound, recording the last LP without Moe was for me unforgivable... they should've waited till her bairn was born.

i do think that The Murder Mystery is as brilliant and fucked-up as anything on the first two LPs though.

mayer

Quote from: "european son"i do think that The Murder Mystery is as brilliant and fucked-up as anything on the first two LPs though.

The Velvet Underground - The Murder Mystery

VU's third LP is great. "Candy Says", "What Goes On", "I'm Set Free" and "After Hours" are some of the best VU songs. And if you think the band wasn't as good without Cale, listen to the Quine Tapes. The 38 minute version of "Sister Ray" has to heard to be believed.

Loaded ain't too bad either. "Who Loves The Sun", "Rock and Roll", "Sweet Jane", "New Age"...all classics! But yeah, White Light/White Heat was probably their best studio album. I find Nico to be overrated...it's good, but not great, and some of the best songs on the album are for me ruined by Nico's voice.

I suppose a really good example of this though has to be Morrissey. Viva Hate, Bona Drag, Your Arsenal and Vauxhall and I are all great albums, but then we got, well, pure shit to be honest, in the form of Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted. He's redemmed himself with You Are The Quarry though.

The Culture Bunker

I'm a huge fan of the Psychedelic Furs, but their "Midnight to Midnight" album is atypical 80's pop, and therefore nowhere near to being as endearing as any of their earlier or later albums. I believe the record company was putting huge pressure on them to follow up the re-recording of 'Pretty In Pink', which resulted in some pretty hurried songwriting.

Almost Yearly

Cardiacs - I still think Heaven Born And Ever Bright was a trifle below par.

mayer

the Quine tapes are indeed lush. three CDs of lovliness, in a gorgeous box.

Quote from: "Ghost of Troubled Joe"
I suppose a really good example of this though has to be Morrissey. Viva Hate, Bona Drag, Your Arsenal and Vauxhall and I are all great albums, but then we got, well, pure shit to be honest, in the form of Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted. He's redemmed himself with You Are The Quarry though.

ah, but his worst LP for me, Kill Uncle, was his second proper LP.

he did tell Zane Lowe that his second favourite LP (after Quarry) was Southpaw Grammar, the silly old man.

smoker

i was a huge fan of a little known band called sugar ray, who used to be a quality rock / hip hop outfit, but by their third album had degenrated into sappy ballads and american college rock. weak. but the first two albums, and especially the first, are well worth checking out.




nicole eggert there, used to live with the singer's girlfriend

The Osmonds' Crazy Horses is a stonker, the rest is utter gash.

I hate Phil Collins with every sinew of my being, and try to forget that he was in Genesis when they were good as well as when they became That Phil Collins Band.  However, the Du-duh du-duh du-duh du-duh duh-duh drum bit of In The Air Tonight is ace.

de selby

VU's third album is marvellous. That fantastic strummy guitar ending on What Goes On gets me every time. Spawned a whole bunch of 80s indie groups it did.

Magazine - Magic, Murder and The Weather - weak.

elderford

Velvet's entire career rests on the way Lou Reed delivers the word "sweetly" at the end of Cale's "The nurse smiles...", in his most tone-deaf rendition, followed by the show stopping "...weakly pump aaaaaaiiiiiiirrrrr". I am of course speaking of Lady Godiva's Operation.

Other highlights of WL/WH include listening really hard to the If she ever comes now song and trying to hear Cale's viola riff as remixed by Lou.

You kids need to be made aware of a recent live release featuring a 1973/4? live concert in Italy? of Cale, Reed and Nico. (actually Spain '72)

Here it is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DBK5S/qid=1085147038/sr=1-15/ref=sr_1_2_15/202-0442674-6932624

mwude

Belle & Sebastian - "Fold your hands..." is rubbish.  And I absolutely adore everything else they've done.  But I didn't like a single song off that album and took it back.  If anyone defends it I can't help but compare it to "If you're feeling sinister" and it just re-confirms my original opinion that it's a bag of shite.

TJ

Quote from: "mwude"Belle & Sebastian - "Fold your hands..." is rubbish.  And I absolutely adore everything else they've done.  But I didn't like a single song off that album and took it back.  If anyone defends it I can't help but compare it to "If you're feeling sinister" and it just re-confirms my original opinion that it's a bag of shite.


I'd agree completely. I've only ever listened to that album once. Rubbish from start to finish.

Rats

The pogues, when shane macgowan left, I mean they had a bloody good go but it was never the same, there was loads of talent in the band, it's just that a lot of it belonged to him.

23 Daves

Microdisney's "Crooked Mile" (long since unavailable for all the right reasons).  The band always were an odd combination of satire, biting lyrics, west coast guitar pop harmonies and eighties productions anyway, but on this album the eighties production seriously got the better of them.  "Bullwhip Road" is a fantastic song in itself - the Peel Session version of it is superb - but on the album it sounds dried to death, and Cathal Coughlan seems to just sing it as if he really couldn't give a shit.

XTC's "Oranges and Lemons".  I think Q listed this as being the XTC album to check out recently, and being stupid sods most of my friends did rather than asking me first.  I could have told them that (once again) it's over-produced, mild, sixties tinged pop with a Tears for Fears-esque feel.  It's got some good tracks on it, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to start listening to XTC with that album.  It's possibly the least adventurous thing they've ever done.  Serves my friends right for reading Q in the first place, I suppose.

Wire's "Manscape".  A truly terrible piece of work (and universally reviewed as such) by a band who should have known better.  Nothing can describe my teenage disappointment when I got this one home and put it on the turntable only to hear lyrics like "Do you see the Blue Man?/ I HEAR HIS NOISE ON THE STAIIIRS!/ LISTEN LISTEN!" over a bland, plodding arrangement.  Most of the tracks start, lock into a groove, meander, then finish as they came in.  And they're not even interesting riffs.  After this album I gave up on them pretty much completely until the more recent releases, all of which have been superb.

Doctor Stamen

Quote from: "TJ"The Charlatans - I've never been able to shake the feeling that Telling Stories is merely 'good', whereas the other albums have all been teriffic. I've certainly never listened to it as much as I have any of the others.

I feel the same about Wonderland.  Never really got into it and there's a few songs on there which I just can't bring myself to listen to, but I love Tellin Stories.

Mr Manson

Weezer - The Blue Album and Pinkerton are straight up brilliant, while Malldroidt (sp) and The Green Album are... ok.