Albums that are only listenable if you're in the right mood

[23 Daves]

A comment in another thread got me thinking about this...

It seems to me that there are tons of albums out there whose brilliance only truly gets realised when you are in the right mood to hear them.  On first, second or third listen they may seem dirgey, depressing, overly bouncy or even irritating, but if they happen to be put on when in the right mood they're absolute dynamite.

A classic example for me is Scott Walker's "Tilt".  I probably only listen to this album 3 or 4 times a year in all, but every time I do I'm always astonished by how continually surprising it can be and how disturbing as well.  Unfortunately, the jarring nature of it makes it just about completely unsuitable for background noise, and if I'm in an upbeat mood it kills it almost instantly.  I really need to have an hour spare and be in a sombre, reflective sort of mood before I can even think about putting it on.

Suede's "Dog Man Star" is another.  I used to put this on early in the morning if I couldn't get to sleep, or was in a drunken, depressed mood.  I used to live in a flat on a hill in East London and if I turned my bedroom light off and whipped the curtains open I could look out over the half-sleeping city whilst sticking it on – worked perfectly.  In fact, I really wish I still lived there so I could do it tonight.  During daylight hours the album seems oddly inappropriate, though.  It seems too lethargic, almost.

Any others?

[Jemble Fred]

Nearly every single album I own.

For instance, PSB's 'Behaviour' is strictly for Autumn, The Beatles' White Album strictly for summer, and so on. There's a rule for nearly every album I own.

[sick as a pike]

I got Mr Wainwright's 'Want Two' on Friday, started to listen to it and gave up a few tracks in, summing it up to the lady of the house as "noises, then something slappable about peach trees."  But now I think it's brilliant.  I know he can take a while to get to grips with anyway, but there was something about my mood on Friday that made it unlistenable.  Ah, looking back at my posts on here, Friday was the day of 'nameless dread,' which might explain it.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
Listening to this for the first time on a bus was not a good idea, I haven't listened to it again since but I'm guessing it's best enjoyed in very relaxed surroundings, possibly with some drugs too

[SurferGhost]

I'll second Tilt, though I can only manage it about once a year myself. These days I find I can only listen to Pink Floyd's The Wall if I'm feeling very sorry for myself.

[23 Daves]

I'll second Tilt, though I can only manage it about once a year myself. These days I find I can only listen to Pink Floyd's The Wall if I'm feeling very sorry for myself.

I only listen to The Wall if I want to absolutely torture myself these days - so that'll be never.  I loved it when I was 16/17 though.

Interesting seasonal rules there, Jemble Fred - I find "The White Album" to be an early autumn waxing, myself.  "While My Guitar...", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Helter Skelter" and "Cry Baby Cry" all have a smokey whiff of bonfires and cold snaps about them.  Though I'm buggered if I know why I think that.  Probably because I don't find those tracks very summery and upbeat and there's something of a suggestion of death or the end of good times about a lot of them, unlike "Abbey Road" which has Beach Boys harmonies, twittering birds and a lot of pomp and ceremony about it.

Thought of another one - I always seem to think of John Cale's "Paris 1919" as being a Christmas album, and every year without fail it goes on the festive turntable.  The only real reference to Xmas on the thing is on the track "A Child's Christmas In Wales", though.

[The Mumbler]

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
Listening to this for the first time on a bus was not a good idea, I haven't listened to it again since but I'm guessing it's best enjoyed in very relaxed surroundings, possibly with some drugs too

I'm always a bit shocked when people say it's a relaxing album, actually.  I have to say I find it anything but - I find it very anxious listening, and not just because of the two rude awakenings on Desire.  I tend to only listen to that LP when I'm feeling a bit down.  Same goes for The Colour of Spring, although that one is genuinely associated with a bad period of my life.

[Adrian Brezhnev]

I happen to have been listening to Spirit of Eden more than any other album recently.

If you're feeling a bit melancholy about the state your life is in, and listen to Spirit of Eden, you'll not want to listen to anything else afterwards. It really is an album that you can listen to on repeat. In fact, Inheritance on it's own is such musical perfection that you can put this track alone on repeat.

The Colour of Spring is very different- because I associate this with one of the happiest periods of my life, I listen to it in a very different way.

[Rats]

early mercury rev, you have to be unhinged and euphoric or it just hurts.

[InfiniteFury]

Mike Oldfield - something particulary hey-nonny-nonny from the dry 80s era like Punkadiddle which can only be listened to after a particularly good day at work and you just feel lovely

It's still shit, don't get me wrong (and I used to listen to his stuff constantly) but sometimes it just sounds great.

Shall I go outside and kill myself now? :-)

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Phaedra- Tangerine Dream always comes on when I'm getting ready for bed. The worst thing is falling asleep during the end of Phaedra, and the first quiet minutes of 'Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares', then waking up with a start when the synth kicks in during 'Movements of a Visionary'.

Come to think of it, Rubycon might be more appropriate.

I always put 'The Test' by The Chemical Brothers on when I'm getting ready to go out, and usually 'Fat Of The Land' by Prodigy also.

There are certain tracks that are perfect for the car like 'Star' by Primal Scream and The Youth Groups new album is pretty good for car listening too.

I usually play my guitar during certain moods to see if I conjure up something interesting.

[Darrell]

Pet Sounds at Christmas.

[Rats]

What mood do you have to be in to listen to cliff richards by the way? Any? Are you christian? Just curious, because some bands that I really like do god songs and they're always really uplifting, but cliff's odes to the big man always smack of self love. I'm assuming you weren't joking about liking cliff, if anyone else had said it, but you're the darkest of horses.

[V]

That bit in "We Don't Talk Anymore" where the backing vocalists have to sing "Sheep!" always raises a smile...

I ain't losin' sleep  (daaa da da da da-daaa)
An' I ain't countin' sheep  (SHEEP!)



Edit: Fuck, I fell into the trap of answering a post about Cliff Richards.

[The Boston Crab]

Most Venetian Snares, you've really got to be able to give yourself to it for the duration or it's just horrible and irritating. Maybe the new one would be all irght actually as background, but the stuff that really excites me (Chocolate Wheelchair, Higgings Ultra Low... and Songs About My Cats) demands concentrated listening. Imagine something like Hand Throw in the background, you'd feel like you were getting told off.

[Neville Chamberlain]

I'm always a bit shocked when people say it's a relaxing album, actually.  I have to say I find it anything but - I find it very anxious listening, and not just because of the two rude awakenings on Desire.  I tend to only listen to that LP when I'm feeling a bit down.  Same goes for The Colour of Spring, although that one is genuinely associated with a bad period of my life.

I totally agree. The same goes for Laughing Stock which, again, is a very tense, nervous, edgy album where even the more upbeat bits (e.g. New Grass) end up being rather hypnotic and sinister. I love both these albums, though - at a push - Laughing Stock is the one I'd take to the proverbial desert island.

[Adrian Brezhnev]

Phil Collins- in particular No Jacket Required, during a messy four-year divorce and while trying to dump a girlfriend is a surprisingly refreshing artist to listen to.

Oh, and Tubular Bells 2, Rachmaninov's 3rd, and Scritti Politti.

[Jemble Fred]

Interesting seasonal rules there, Jemble Fred - I find "The White Album" to be an early autumn waxing, myself.  "While My Guitar...", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Helter Skelter" and "Cry Baby Cry" all have a smokey whiff of bonfires and cold snaps about them.  Though I'm buggered if I know why I think that.  Probably because I don't find those tracks very summery and upbeat and there's something of a suggestion of death or the end of good times about a lot of them.

Well a lot of it is probably due to first hearing it on a hot summer's day. But 'Mother Nature's Son', 'I Will', 'Across The Universe' and so on all instantly conjure up a lazy hazy crazy summer's afternoon to me.

'Brewing Up With Billy Bragg' is only to be played on a grey-ish day, with clear white skies. Preferably a week day in autumn/spring with no work. Amazing how specific these things can be. When you're a nutter.

[Adrian Brezhnev]

Ah, Billy Bragg! I very nearly mentioned him in the 'Bands you now like' thread- I was in my early teens when Levi Stubb's Tears was on the radio, and the Back to Basics album came out, and I just coundn't understand why people liked such a miserable git.

But he's brilliant, and always has been. He's regarded widely as the spokesman for the beaten generation (to quote the excellent Matt Johnson, ah, yes, The The is another band that deserves greater recognition)- and it's his eloquence that leads to him being invited back to being on Question Time quite so often.

Listening to Billy Bragg makes you want to go straight out and subscribe to the Socialist Worker & the New Internationalist and spend much of the rest of your life helping put the world to rights.

[DJ One Record]

King Geedorah "Take Me To Your Leader". I can listen to individual tracks from it all the time but to listen to the entire album in one sitting is something I can seldom do, just 'coz of its intensity.

[Hoogstraten'sSmilingUlcer]

Leonard Cohen's The Future, which is quite sombre and downbeat, so I can't listen to it when I'm extremely happy, but it's a great album for melancholia. Waiting for the Miracle is excellent.

[The Mumbler]

Because Of, from his last album, brings tears to my eyes.  I think it's the female chorus of "Look at me Leonard/One last time".

[La Tristesse Durera]

I tried to listen to the recent album 'Arular' by M.I.A. when I was in a particularly bad work-induced mood. In fact, I actually put it on while I was trying to crack a particularly devilish work-oriented egg at my computer. Big mistake. All I could think was 'shut up you whiney voiced little fashionista pretentious myah nyah nyah isn't this inventive and kyool hag'. I nearly punched the speaker right through the wall. I found every element of the music annoying. All those parts which I had previously seen as being part of her charm were now making my blood boil.

But put it on in a party / whimsical relaxation situation and it's somewhere in my top albums of the year so far.

Strange that. I put on some of my old favourites (the Prodigy and stuff) and the egg was thoroughly cracked and cooked. Silly M.I.A.

Ps. I wholeheartedly agree with Jemble (I think it was him?) who said there's music for every mood/situation. Out of all the albums I own (a lot), I think I could easily give a time/place/sitch that suits each one and also criteria when I would never dream of putting them on. For example, the one which changes most often is 'the-going out music', which is played before a night out. Funnily, M.I.A.'s meeting that at the moment, along with Vitalic, System of a Down's newie and the dirtier moments of The White Stripes' 'Get Behind Me Satan'. But my current relaxation needs are met by X&Y and a few of it's most obvious forbears. It's like that and that's the way it is.

[La Tristesse Durera]

Double-the-post.

[Peking O]

'Arular' just sounds like coffee table music to me. It's for yuppies who think they're terribly into all this grime stuff that the kids are on about these days.

[La Tristesse Durera]

'Arular' just sounds like coffee table music to me. It's for yuppies who think they're terribly into all this grime stuff that the kids are on about these days.

I agree on the second count. It did seem to be adopted by that lot. Maybe they had to find an aceptable face to hype for 'grime' or whatever. I don't know. It's not a lot like anything else that's classed as 'grime' so I don't know. I just enjoy it because I find it refreshing, playful, textured, fun etc. Fuck what the yuppies say!