A Beginners Guide To ...

monquixote

Q magazine used to do this back in the day, but I haven't bought it for years. 

Essentially when you are thinking about getting into an artist like: Dylan, Neil Young, Bowie they've always done about 30 albums some of which are all time classics and others total garbage. If you don't want to cop out and buy a greatest hits which ones should you buy?

Would be cool if people could contribute for artists they are familiar with.

The breakdown is total classics, good, for fans only, and garbage. 

Bucket

Devin Townsend.

Classics - "Ocean Machine", "Accelerated Evolution", "Ki"

Very good - "Epicloud", "City" by SYL, "Terria", "Addicted", "Ghost"

For fans only - "Deconstruction", "Sex and Religion" with Vai, "Ziltoid the Omniscient"

Garbage - Genuinely can't think of anything.

Lixarto

"Classic Rock" do it now. It was Rainbow in the last issue I looked at (in the shop).

They got it wrong.

monquixote

KISS 

Classics 

Alive & Alive II - Alive is the double live album that broke them. Essentially the first three albums played live with Alive II being the same thing for studio albums 4-6. The sound of a rock and roll party and two of the quintessential rock live albums. Heavily studio doctored, but then so are most so called "live" albums,

Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun - The success of Alive let them hire expensive producers and beef up their sound a bit more. This is the classic period of Kiss studio albums with all the classics like Detroit Rock City and Dr Love Etc

Good Albums

Kiss, Hotter Than Hell, Dressed To Kill - The first three albums show the early much rawer sound of the band. Classic glam rock sound, with lower production values, but plenty of great songs including Rock and Roll All Night.

Creatures of the Night - A slightly heavier return to form just before they went into the 80's no makeup period

Revenge - An unexpected decent early 90's album before grunge killed off glam metal. 

Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, - Ace Frehley is the best of the official Solo albums. Paul's is worth a listen.

For Fans

Dynasty - A weird late 70's disco rock hybrid, but features the awesomely camp I Was Made For Loving You

Lick It Up, Animalize, Asylum, Crazy Nights, Hot In The Shade, - The 80's glam metal period. All of the albums have a couple of decent tracks on them, but they aren't really a patch on the 70's output. Animalize and Asylum are also horribly produced. 

Avoid

Unmasked - The low watermark of chasing sales at the expense of musical quality. Limp pop music.

Music From the Elder - A terribly ill advised attempt at prog rock in the middle of the punk era, baffling.

Gene Simmons, Peter Criss - Shitty vanily solo albums, Gene Simmons is especially nauseating.

Alive III IV - Pointless fake live albums. The drums were the only thing played live on Alive III.

Psycho Circus, Sonic Boom, Monster - Post "back in make up" studio albums. Generally crap and not worth bothering with.

FelineGuitars

monquixote said:

KISS 

Classics 

Alive & Alive II - Alive is the double live album that broke them. Essentially the first three albums played live with Alive II being the same thing for studio albums 4-6. The sound of a rock and roll party and two of the quintessential rock live albums. Heavily studio doctored, but then so are most so called "live" albums,

Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun - The success of Alive let them hire expensive producers and beef up their sound a bit more. This is the classic period of Kiss studio albums with all the classics like Detroit Rock City and Dr Love Etc

Good Albums

Kiss, Hotter Than Hell, Dressed To Kill - The first three albums show the early much rawer sound of the band. Classic glam rock sound, with lower production values, but plenty of great songs including Rock and Roll All Night.

Creatures of the Night - A slightly heavier return to form just before they went into the 80's no makeup period

Revenge - An unexpected decent early 90's album before grunge killed off glam metal. 

Ace Frehley - The only one of the official Solo albums worth listening to.

For Fans

Dynasty - A weird late 70's disco rock hybrid, but features the awesomely camp I Was Made For Loving You

Lick It Up, Animalize, Asylum, Crazy Nights, Hot In The Shade, - The 80's glam metal period. All of the albums have a couple of decent tracks on them, but they aren't really a patch on the 70's output. Animalize and Asylum are also horribly produced. 

Avoid

Unmasked - The low watermark of chasing sales at the expense of musical quality. Limp pop music.

Music From the Elder - A terribly ill advised attempt at prog rock in the middle of the punk era, baffling.

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss - Shitty vanily solo albums, Gene Simmons is especially nauseating.

Alive III IV - Pointless fake live albums. The drums were the only thing played live on Alive III.

Psycho Circus, Sonic Boom, Monster - Post "back in make up" studio albums. Generally crap and not worth bothering with.

Yup - pretty much agree but seriously: 

Paul Stanley's solo album is awesome along with Ace's 

Dynasty fo all it's Disco leanings is a solid album even though it would have benefitted from heavier production.

monquixote

Actually on reflection you are right about Paul's solo album. I'll shift it.

I like Dynasty it's just not what people will expect from a Kiss album.

FelineGuitars

monquixote said:

Actually on reflection you are right about Paul's solo album. I'll shift it.

I like Dynasty it's just not what people will expect from a Kiss album.

Magic touch is an awesome song , and if it were given a heavier production it would be freaking awesome.

Samgb

I used to love those articles. Many the collection for a band started with that.

stickyfiddle

Muse, IMO:

Total classics

Absolution

Black Holes and Revelations

Origin of Symmetry

Good

The Resistance

The 2nd Law

For fans only

Showbiz

Garbage

none, probably though Showbiz is far from special towards the end.

monquixote

Foo Fighters

Total Classics

Colour and The Shape - The point at which Dave started taking the band seriously. Many of the classics like Monkey Wrench and Everlong feature here. Grohl plays the drums on most of the tracks.

Wasting Light - Most recent album. Back to basics with lots of guest stars. Not everyone will agree with this, but for me the best thing they've done since Colour and The Shape

Good

Nothing Left To Lose - First album with Taylor Hawkins. A bit less polished than most of the others.

One by One - Dave becomes mates with Queens of the Stone Age and starts to sound like them. Heaviest album. Let down slightly by the over compressed production that "pumps" weirdly.

In Your Honour - Double album, partially acoustinc. Patchy in places, but some brilliant songs. 

Echoes Silence Patience and Grace - Probably the weakest album since the first, but still plenty of decent tunes.

For Fans Only

Foo Fighters - Back from when it was still a bit of a jokey side project. Every instrument is played by Grohl. The production is a bit sketchy, but it's got a few decent songs.

richardhomer

John Martyn

Classics:

Solid Air, One World, Grace & Danger

Good:

Bless the Weather, Sunday's Child, Glorious Fool, Sapphire, Piece By Piece, The Apprentice

For Fans Only:

Inside Out, Live at Leeds, Philentropy, And, The Church, With One Bell, No Little Boy, On The Cobbles, Heaven and Earth

Best Avoided:

Well Kept Secret, Couldn't Love You More, Glasgow Walker.

I'm a massive fan, so I love them all - particularly the ones under the 'For Fans Only' heading....

TTony

Nice idea for a thread!

Bucket

Metallica

Classics - Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Metallica

Good - Kill 'Em All, Death Magnetic

For fans only - ... And Justice for All

Garbage - Load, Reload, St. Anger

dafuzz

The Doors

Classic - The Doors

Good - Strange Days, Morrison Hotel, LA Woman

For fans only - Waiting For The Sun, American Prayer

Avoid - The Soft Parade


Every album has at least one great track on it, but then that's what greatest hits are for, eh?

Phil_aka_Pip

Camel

Classics: Mirage, Snow Goose, Stationary Traveller, Never Let Go

Good:      Camel, Moonmadness, I can see your house from here, Rajaz, Harbour of Tears, Breathless, Rain Dances, Nude,

               The Single Factor, Dust and Dreams, On The Road 1981, Coming Of Age, The Paris Collection, Pressure Points

For fans:   A nod and a wink, A Live Record, Gods Of Light, On The Road 1972, The Snow Goose remake

TBH I think they're all well good in their own way, but for anyone wanting to get into Camel, this is the way I'd recommend doing it. The above are EllPee/CeeDee titles. There are quite a few DeeVeeDees around too of live performances

viz

Great concept! OK, Al di Meola:

Classic:

Where Have I Known You Before (1974, With Return to Forever)
Elegant Gypsy (1977)
Casino (1978)
Splendido Hotel (1980)
Friday Night in San Francisco (1981)
The best of (Manhatten years) (1985)
Kiss My Axe (1991)
World Sinfonia (1991)
Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody (2011)

Good:

No Mystery (1975, with return to forever)
Romantic Warrior (1976, with return to forever)
Land of the Midnight Sun (1976)
Electric Rendezvous (1982)
Tour De Force – Live (1982)
Scenario (1983)
Passion, Grace and Fire (1983)
Cielo e Terra (1985)
Soaring Through a Dream (1985)
Tirami Su (1987)
World Sinfonia II – Heart of the Immigrants (1993)
Orange and Blue (1994)
The Infinite Desire (1998)
Winter Nights (1999)
World Sinfonía III - The Grande Passion (2000)
Consequence of Chaos (2006)
Vocal Rendezvous (2006)

For fans:

Di Meola Plays Piazzolla (1996)
Flesh on Flesh (2002)
Diabolic Inventions And Seduction (2007)

Don't know:

Live in London (2007)
Melodia Live in Milano (2008)
Returns (2009)
World Sinfonia: Live From Seattle (2009)
Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival (2012)
All Your Life: Tribute to The Beatles (2013)

NervousJohn

I was going to try and do one for Tom Waits, but I can't really think of much for the fans only/garbage pile. There are gems everywhere, just different types of gem. Therefore a breakdown by phase is more useful with a suggested order of purchase.

1) Drunken lounge singer. (Up to late 70s) This is the sort of the gateway to Waits starting with "Small Change" an "Nighthawks at the Diner". It's melodic, funny stuff and while the narrator may be in the gutter he's looking at the stars. See also "Blue Valentines". Start your Waits oddessy here.

2) Experimental Honking and Plonking. (Late 70s to late 80s) This can be a tough listen to the uninitiated. There is more of the shrieking bluesman and xylophones but there is a creativity at work missing from the earlier stuff. I love it now although I ran a mile from it at first. "Swordfishtrombones" and "Frank's Wild Years" are your choices here although "Big Time" has Marc Ribot at his best.

3) Throwing toolboxes down staircases while shouting about midgets. (90s to present). This is a glorious hodgepodge phase of percussion and noise, with absurdly tender ballads buried in there. "Mule Variations", "Real Gone" and "Orphans" are standouts here.

But really you can pick up anything and it will be good stuff.

ChrisMusic

If we are allowed requests, then I would love to have a guide to Focus, Jan Akkerman, and any other spin offs from that core.

Maybe @Fretwired would be up for that ?  

not_the_dj

I keep thinking about doing a Dylan one....but that's a lot of typing....so watch this space incase I get bored!

Fretwired

@ ChrisMusic

Focus:

The essential albums: Moving Waves, Focus III and the Hamburger Concerto

Basically forget everything else.

The first album was In and out of Focus - a couple of decent tracks including House of the King and Anonymous and Focus 1 but too much filler.

Mother Focus [Mother Fucker] was Akkerman's last album. They were big in the US at the time and were persuaded to produce a US inspired instrumental album. Akkerman called it elevator music and hated it. He quit. Avoid like the plague.

Akkerman was replaced by Philip Catherine and for some bizarre reason the band recorded an album with P J Proby. I had a drink with Catherine who told me Proby was pissed 100 per cent of the time. There are a couple of OK instrumental tracks but this is one car crash too many and the band folds.

The band reformed in 2000 and has recorded a few albums none of which are worth buying. Akkerman was asked but declined and the line-up has seen a steady stream of guitarists pass through its ranks.

Worth a listen: Live at the Rainbow, Live at the BBC in 1972, Live at the BBC in 1976 and the Greatest hits compilation.

not_the_dj

Ok, here's my first draft of Dylan!

 

Part 1

 

The early folk ones:<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

Bob Dylan (mostly folk standards, collectors only)

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (almost essential) contains “Blowing in the Wind” “Masters of War” “ A Hard Rain’s-a-Gonna Fall” “Don’t Think Twice”

The Times They Are a Changing (almost essential) All original songs for the first time, contains more early classics from the protest years, for example the title track and  “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”

 

The transition album:

Another Side of Bob Dylan (almost essential

Dylan the poet emerges, less protest, more complex writing some simple throwaway pop but you can see him developing the writing style that’ll become the legend, contains “It Ain’t Me Babe” “My Back Pages” “All I Really Want to Do”

 

Goes Electric

Bringing it All Back Home (totally essential)

He’s steaming now, this is where he strikes gold. Classics like “Subterranean Homesick Blues” “Maggies Farm” “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” on the electric side, then “Mr Tambourine Man” “It’s Alright Ma” on the acoustic side.

 

Highway 61 Revisited (totally essential)

Utter classic, musically and lyrically. “Like a Rolling Stone” “Tombstone Blues” “Desolation Row”

 

Blonde on Blonde (totally essential)

Personally I don’t listen to this one as much as the previous two, but of course no Dylan collection would be complete without this. There’s mad songs like “Rainy Day Women #12 &35” and “Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat” alongside masterpieces like “Visions of Johanna” and “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”.

 

Back to the acoustic sound, and a bit of country

 

John Wesley Hardiing (almost essential)

A bit of a change from the “wild mercury” sound of the previous album, more stripped back, but still some great classics “All Along the Watchtower” “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” and country pop like “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”