Plankton

I was just listening to Faith No More - Angel Dust and was wondering if you'd ever had the opportunity to hear it?

Some of their best work. I'd say it's a classic.

__________________
See location...

Urban Hat€monger ?

I notice you don't have Rum, Sodomy & The Lash by The Pogues on your list.

Is that because it's the against law in Dublin not to have heard it, or is it because it's against the law in Dublin not to like it?

__________________

Trollheart

No, it's because I think the Pogues are a joke and I'm embarrassed to be from the same country as them...

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Urban Hat€monger ?

That a no then?

__________________

Trollheart

That would be a no.
You've already challenged me with three (I think) albums I hadn't considered, so you're done pal. Don't try to convince me to listen to the Pogues too!

Ah, ZZ! Pure Texas blues bliss! Now THIS is what I like! (More later)-ish

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

duga

Obviously, I don't know what you've listened to, so here are a few pretty accessible albums that are classics in my book. I tried to provide a nice variety.

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Dio - Holy Diver
Dr. Dre - The Chronic 2001
Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy if you want to push yourself Darklands if you want to stay accessible
Television - Marquee Moon

and someone mentioned the Low End Theory from A Tribe Called Quest…I completely agree. That album has helped so many people enjoy rap, including myself. Maybe you will want to ignore The Chronic 2001 for now...but seriously...listen to the Low End Theory.

__________________
Confusion will be my epitaph...

Gavin B.

Low End Theory is a classic which should be heard by more people. A lot of late '80s/early '90s rap groups who were attempting to expand the creative boundaries of hip-hop were crushed in the monsoon of gangsta rappers. Among my favorite albums of indie hip-hop from that era are:

3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... by Arrested Development

3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul

Of the Heart, Of the Soul and Of the Cross: The Utopian Experience by P.M. Dawn

Blow Out Comb by the Digable Planets (Blow Out Comb is perhaps the greatest alternative rap album of all time)

Grandmaster Flash's earliest collaborations with the Furious Five and the Sugarhill Gang were released on Sugarhill Records as 12" singles and those oldest of the old school recordings are still the best. All of those singles have been collected on two different long playing albums, Message From Beat Street (1994) and The Best of the Best of the Sugarhill Gang (1996). Those two collections of Flash's earliest single releases simply blow away all of the current day rap music artists.

__________________
There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

Trollheart

Thanks Duga. As I think I mentioned I'm not looking to stray far, if at all, from my usual genres. This isn't a genre-busting or crossing exercise. What I'm looking to do is listen to albums which are considered classics and that I should really have heard.

So in your list, I've bolded the ones I already know and have heard (as a dedicated headbanger in my youth I should bloody hope so too!), italicised the ones I may try and underlined the ones I have no intention of going near. I don't want this list to get out of control, so I'm trying to confine it to albums that mean something to me but that I've never listened to. Rap and hiphop I have no interest at all in, zero, sorry. Not gonna happen.

Thanks for the interest and the list: I'll add any I decide in the next draft.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Paedantic Basterd

Still, that's what we're suggesting to you. I'll offer a few more, though I'm not certain if you've heard them yet.

The Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

Trollheart

Title: Tres hombres
Artiste: ZZ Top
Year: 1973
Chronological position: Third album
Previous experience of this artiste: "Eliminator", "Afterburner", the Greatest Hits, "La futura" and some singles.
Why is this considered a classic? This was ZZ's breakthrough album (first time) and their first hit single, "La Grange" was on it

My thoughts
One minute (or thereabouts in) ---- Good, great, bad, meh, still waiting or other? Ger-eat!
One track in --- Great!
Halfway through --- Great!
Finished --- Great!

Comments: I'd love to tell you I was one of those people who was into ZZ at the start, long before they kicked the **** out of the charts with "Legs", "Gimme all your lovin'" etc and made having a beard cool and synonymous with sexy girls in leather minis (ahhh!) but no, I can't. Although I had heard "Tush" previously, and that only on the basis of wanting to know what the original sounded like having heard the Girlschool version, I knew nothing of the tres hombres prior to the explosion that was "Eliminator". I also got to hear Jesus just left Chicago, as it was the B-side of Tush, if I recall correctly. But now I can hear them in all their glory, before fame, before videos, before synthesisers and drum machines.

I did however know that ZZ were all about the blues, and this certainly shows on their third album, widely regarded I believe as one of their finest. Unknown Soldier, correct me if I'm wrong! This is just pure blues heaven all the way through, and while some of the tracks are a little weaker compared to giants like Jesus just left Chicago and La Grange it's a solid album with pretty much nothing on it I don't like.

Favourite track(s): Jesus just left Chicago, Hot blue and righteous, La Grange, Have you heard?, Move me on down the line
Least favourite track(s): Non Sequitor, Senor!

Final impression --- ZZ as they were meant to be, as they started out, before all this electronic nonsense made them pop stars. Ah yeah, I loved "Eliminator" but this is REAL music!

Do I feel, at the end, A) I wish I had listened to this sooner
B) I'm sorry I bothered
C) I might end up liking this
D) Have to wait and see
Definitely a big A!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018