Artists you've always meant to give a listen but have never got round to

[Monsieur Verdoux]

On the ferry tip - These Foolish Things

i second this

These Foolish Things and Another Time, Another Place pretty much exactly sound like 'Stranded' era Roxy

[a duncandisorderly]

a mate of mine kept dragging me to see cardiacs... I think three times in one year. I loved tim smith's other band, sea-nymphs, & his production work for levitation, monsoon bassoon & others, but I just didn't get cardiacs. one gig, absolutely rammed sold-out at the garage in islington, they were very late coming on, & something was clearly wrong. it was explained to me that they'd rented a multitrack tape machine t play some of the denser arrangements, & this thing was misbehaving. eventually they cancelled the show & everyone went home.

a few days later, smith was at a gig I was at, at the red eye in copenhagen street... monssons or someone, I forget, & while he was scrounging a quid off me to pay for a round, I remonstrated with him about this show. six people on stage, there were, & the show couldn't go on?

"but the arrangements, dear boy.." or somesuch. basically, the sound he was after was a full-on west-end musical kind of vibe. I didn't get it then, & I still don't, but fair fucks to him & his fans, & I hope his health continues to improve after his terrible thing.

[kngen]

Rudimentary Peni. They sound like they would be fascinating, but most anarcho-punk I've listened to (admittedly not a huge amount) has fallen somewhere between 'overly forbidding' and 'just boring'.

I don't think there's a record more overly forbidding than Cacophony, but not in an anarcho-punk way, just in a 'whaaaa.?' way.

Death Church is great though. Totally unique, even in the rarified world of Crass-related artists - it's definitely not boring.

[Sin Agog]

I don't think there's a record more overly forbidding than Cacophony, but not in an anarcho-punk way, just in a 'whaaaa.?' way

Then you can't have heard Flux Of Pink Indians' The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXpz3D8TOTU

[kngen]

Then you can't have heard Flux Of Pink Indians' The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXpz3D8TOTU

Yep, you got me. Had forgotten about that hidden treasure. Remember getting that in the post in my tape trading days (and with a title like that, how could I go wrong?) and slowly regretting the 75p I'd spent on a TDK D-60 to capture it all in its standalone glory.

I suppose it's got some cache in as a proto-harsh noise document - that and annoying that crazed religious Mancunian copper.

[hermitical]

Remember getting that in the post in my tape trading days

Not tape trading but related. Did you remember BBP tapes?
I mentioned it in another thread but nobody responded. I'd love to get hold of an old catalogue from around the time I was ordering (1986/87/88)

[Ferris]

Get on Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes right now. Or, if you'd rather wait for a more opportune moment, when walking alone in unfamiliar country, or smoking hashish in a rocking chair by a fire. The man was clearly possessed by something supernatural - I've never heard anyone work up as much hypnosis and gravitas with just an unaccompanied guitar, let alone an unamplified one.

Spanish Dance bends my head. Can't believe that's one bloke playing. Not to mention the intricacies of the composition, how the patterns invert and mirror each other. That bit at 1.13 where it resolves again makes me want to punch the air.

Dry Bones In The Valley (I Saw The Light) from Old Fashioned Love is one of my absolute all time favourite songs. I used to listen to a lot of John Fahey when my insomnia was bad. Start there. It's amazing.

To contribute to the thread:

Cardiacs
Can
The Replacements
Kraftwerk
Bowie (I think I've only heard Low all the way through?)
Teenage Fanclub

Tons of others, but I can't think of them. Typically when I remember a band I want to hear, I studiously listen to them for a few hours on Spotify and keep going if I like them.

[jobotic]

I'd heard of John Fahey but never listened to him until I heard (no idea how), Robbie Basho. I now love his stuff, wwl most of it, and the Fahey I heard as they were both on a compilation sounded pretty good too.

[non capisco]

XTC. I saw they'd reissued their albums and was really tempted but I haven't knowingly heard anything apart from Nigel.

Black Sea's the one I'd recommend starting with as I think it's flat out one of the finest albums anyone's ever made ever, although sonically I guess English Settlement is the perfect halfway point between early new wave XTC and later pastoral pop XTC.

[Ferris]

Captain Beefheart

[sevendaughters]

Then you can't have heard Flux Of Pink Indians' The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXpz3D8TOTU

Heard this for the first time last year and it just rendered i. my trousers and ii. so much other 'angry' music completely stupid. Probably one of the most overlooked heavy releases of all time for me, the equal of a 20 Jazz Funk Greats or a Reign In Blood.

[kngen]

Not tape trading but related. Did you remember BBP tapes?
I mentioned it in another thread but nobody responded. I'd love to get hold of an old catalogue from around the time I was ordering (1986/87/88)

Oh man, what a time capsule that would be! I only had a couple of things by BBP - had no idea how prolific he was - and, in that time-honoured way, looking him up just now meant I discovered he died a few years ago :(

In other tape-related geekery, when I was on tour with my old band in California, we played San Diego and I got talking to a middle-aged guy, who was very nice, and very knowledgeable about old European hardcore. He told me chilling tales about watching fights between the Venice Beach Cycos and LA Death Squad at the big Dead Kennedys show at the Olympic Auditorium in 1984 (he was there to see Raw Power and BGK naturally). Then towards the end of the conversation, he produced a shoebox full of cassettes and offered one to me for free. Yeah, he was only Chris bloody BCT, who was the whole reason that Raw Power and BGK were able to play that legendary show (and Riistetyt, too, I'd imagine). Unfortunately, we were due to play, and I had to go and rouse my flu-ridden bandmates dying in the back of our van, and try and get them to stand up for 10 minutes so we could stumble through our set. So many questions, though ... still, got a great memento from it.

[easytarget]

Apart from the well-known tracks, it's these big sixties/seventies heavy rock hitters like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy AC/DC that I'm green about because I really defied all that hairy stuff as an eighties post-punk teenager. 

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is great, it's not just a amazing riff after amazing riff (like Master of Reality, Paranoid, Volume 4 ), there's hooks. and, weirdly,  synths (check out Who Are You)

[grassbath]

Steely Dan.

The seven albums they did in the 1970s are ridiculously consistent song-for-song, so you can pick up almost anywhere. You could do worse than just starting with Can't Buy a Thrill ('Do It Again,' 'Dirty Work') and going from there - the formula of top-notch production, virtuoso musicality and wry, gnomic lyrics is pretty fully formed already. If you're looking for a specific angle, the follow-up Countdown to Ecstasy ('Bodhisattva,' 'My Old School') is a little harder-rocking and the next one Pretzel Logic ('Rikki Don't Lose That Number,' 'Any Major Dude Will Tell You') is the most trim and poppy. By Aja ('Peg') they've become too slick for some, but there's a reason it's widely considered the peak - just depends on your tolerance for high gloss I guess.

Sonic Youth.

Me too. I still only really know 'Teenage Riot.' There's something foreboding about the idea of trying to get into all those noisy albums.

[Ferris]

Sonic Youth: start with Goo

Most accessible and it's the famous one. It's also fucking great.

[jobotic]

Nah, Sister.

[Jockice]

Apart from the well-known tracks, it's these big sixties/seventies heavy rock hitters like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy AC/DC that I'm green about because I really defied all that hairy stuff as an eighties post-punk teenager.  Didn't have a problem with Motörhead though in 1982. They got a free pass with every youth cult for some reason.

Anyway, I almost feel it's too late in the day to start dipping my toe in that furnace now.  Although, it's not like much effort has to be put in with Hendrix with only three studio albums under his massive belt.

I'm like you. That stuff was the enemy as far as I was concerned, surmounted by being the sort of thing my elder sister was into. I did hear a bit of Hendrix in my 30s thanks to a mate who was a fan and quite liked it. I also quite like the popular songs by most of those bands nowadays but doubt if I'll ever really inspect them further. Which may be my loss.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Nas.

Not sure if I've listened to a Led Zeppelin album all the way through, now I think about it.

[Paaaaul]

Nah, Sister.

Nah. Goo.
Sister's a better album, but Goo is a better entrance to the band.

[Crabwalk]

Thirding Goo as the best entry point. It's not intimidating at all - it's a blast.

Nas.

I only got round to Illmatic a couple of years ago. It's superb. Wish I'd got it 25 years ago.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Everyone loves illmatic. I don't know why I've not listened to it.

[Absorb the anus burn]

There's lots of proggy / space rock / jazz rock I should dip into....

Pierre Moerlen's Gong.
Eloy (other than the ubiquitous Ocean)
Novalis (except Sonnengeflecht)
Soft Machine (heard no albums after Wyatt left)
Nektar.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Captain Beefheart

He's someone I've never listened to a second of, but over the years I've read snippets here and there and the hype kindof built up in my mind and I assumed he was someone on a par with Frank Zappa...  and then a couple of weeks ago they showed one of his songs in a compilation on whichever channel it is that shows the old TOTP episodes... and my reaction was "Is that it?????".  Very disappointing, not what I'd expected at all.

[Gregory Torso]

Fugazi
Boredoms

In On The Killtaker or Red Medicine for Fugazi.

Super Ae for Boredoms, if you like the freak-out tribal jam side of things; Onanie Bomb Vs The Sex Pistols if you like the DIY punk cut up/fuck up screaming shit (if you do like this side of the Boredoms, also listen to UFO Or Die and The Hanatarash)

Slint

Spiderland - it's only six songs, but what a six songs!

[Gregory Torso]

Captain Beefheart

Just dive into Trout Mask Replica. You'll either think "fuck off!" or "fuck yes!". His other records are patchy, Ice Cream For Crow is a good 'un, and if you get Clear Spot/The Spotlight Kid on CD, you;re all set for Beefheart, I'd say.

[Ferris]

Just dive into Trout Mask Replica. You'll either think "fuck off!" or "fuck yes!". His other records are patchy, Ice Cream For Crow is a good 'un, and if you get Clear Spot/The Spotlight Kid on CD, you;re all set for Beefheart, I'd say.

Will give it a go!

Another plug for Spiderland by Slint. Great record.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just dive into Trout Mask Replica. You'll either think "fuck off!" or "fuck yes!". His other records are patchy, Ice Cream For Crow is a good 'un, and if you get Clear Spot/The Spotlight Kid on CD, you;re all set for Beefheart, I'd say.

Safe as Milk is not patchy.

[Gregory Torso]

Safe as Milk is not patchy.

Oh yeah, good call,  Safe As Milk, too.

[greencalx]

Kraftwerk

That's a tricky one. I got into them via The Mix when it was released, and found that a good gateway drug to the original albums. The character of the songs is retained on the remix album, although have a more modern 'digital' sound to them. Of the classic albums, I'd probably start with Trans Europe Express for the full Mellotron experience, or The Man Machine for poppier numbers.

[Avril Lavigne]

He's someone I've never listened to a second of, but over the years I've read snippets here and there and the hype kindof built up in my mind and I assumed he was someone on a par with Frank Zappa...  and then a couple of weeks ago they showed one of his songs in a compilation on whichever channel it is that shows the old TOTP episodes... and my reaction was "Is that it?????".  Very disappointing, not what I'd expected at all.

There was a long period in which he was aiming squarely at the mainstream. None of the Trout Mask era or any of his weirdest stuff ever got played on TOTP or Old Grey Whistle Test or anything like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94_t1L11W0I