A Beginners Guide To ...

ICBM · May 2014

stickyfiddle said:

U2

Completely agreed - although I'd maybe put Zooropa in Good rather than Fans Only.

October does have Gloria on it but the live UABRS version is far better.

JAYJO · May 2014

not_the_dj said:

If you can't be bothered to read all that (and I bet you can't) here's my Dylan Summary of the essential ones:

Bringing it All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde on Blonde

Blood on the Tracks

Oh Mercy

Time out of Mind

Before the Flood (Live)

Bootleg Series 4 (Judas)

Bootleg Series 5 (Rolling Thunder)

I would add Infidels for Jokerman and Mark Knopfler input.

And Desire!!!! imo Brilliant album Hurricane, Isis, Black diamond bay, Mozambique,Sarah. One more cup of Coffee!! (Avoid JOEY!!) You have to include This Album!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

JAYJO · May 2014

JAYJO said:

not_the_dj said:

If you can't be bothered to read all that (and I bet you can't) here's my Dylan Summary of the essential ones:

Bringing it All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde on Blonde

Blood on the Tracks

Oh Mercy

Time out of Mind

Before the Flood (Live)

Bootleg Series 4 (Judas)

Bootleg Series 5 (Rolling Thunder)

I would add Infidels for Jokerman and Mark Knopfler input.
And Desire!!!! imo Brilliant album Hurricane, Isis, Black diamond bay, Mozambique,Sarah. One more cup of Coffee!! (Avoid JOEY!!) You have to include This Album!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze! ps And Oh sister!! cmon!

not_the_dj · May 2014

JAYJO said:

not_the_dj said:

If you can't be bothered to read all that (and I bet you can't) here's my Dylan Summary of the essential ones:

Bringing it All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde on Blonde

Blood on the Tracks

Oh Mercy

Time out of Mind

Before the Flood (Live)

Bootleg Series 4 (Judas)

Bootleg Series 5 (Rolling Thunder)

I would add Infidels for Jokerman and Mark Knopfler input.
And Desire!!!! imo Brilliant album Hurricane, Isis, Black diamond bay, Mozambique,Sarah. One more cup of Coffee!! (Avoid JOEY!!) You have to include This Album!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

Yeah, you're right about Desire. In my defence I did list it as "almost essential" in my original post ;-)

Jokerman is the highpoint of Infidels for sure, and of course "Bliind Willie McTell" should really have been on there. I haven't actually listened to that album for ages, I'll give it a spin later on.

Phil_aka_Pip · May 2014

@Fretwired there's a CD of Focus in time on Amazon for £68 !!!! :-O

ChrisMusic · May 2014

@Fretwired, oh yes I do recognise that

and I am just listening, as I type, to the version Eruption which you posted, thanks, just loving the guitar on that, superb feel and sensitivity. Reminded me that I have unfinished business with the instrument, now there's a challenge.

I had the privilege of working with the BBC's live recording unit in the mid 80s so I must listen to the BBC live stuff, I have immense respect for those guys. The truck was just an amazing Aladdin's cave of the latest tech.

Time to start checking out Jan's releases I think. Good pointers there, thanks Fretwired. I have to agree with @Phil_aka_Pip's comments, muzak on the solo albums and that awful Mother Focus pretty much put me off at the time. Ship of Memories was cobbled together just to get a release out IIRC.

So many wasted years having walked away from the whole music business, of not listening to anything, & not playing at all again until last year, so this is a fantastic resource for catching up on a couple of lost decades of music, thanks to @monquixote for starting it off, what a great idea.

JAYJO · May 2014

not_the_dj said:

JAYJO said:

not_the_dj said:

If you can't be bothered to read all that (and I bet you can't) here's my Dylan Summary of the essential ones:

Bringing it All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde on Blonde

Blood on the Tracks

Oh Mercy

Time out of Mind

Before the Flood (Live)

Bootleg Series 4 (Judas)

Bootleg Series 5 (Rolling Thunder)

I would add Infidels for Jokerman and Mark Knopfler input.
And Desire!!!! imo Brilliant album Hurricane, Isis, Black diamond bay, Mozambique,Sarah. One more cup of Coffee!! (Avoid JOEY!!) You have to include This Album!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

Yeah, you're right about Desire. In my defence I did list it as "almost essential" in my original post ;-)

Jokerman is the highpoint of Infidels for sure, and of course "Bliind Willie McTell" should really have been on there. I haven't actually listened to that album for ages, I'll give it a spin later on.

Dont fall apart on me tonight.Is a song a disliked and then it became a favourite. Defo worth getting into that album (Infidels) if you havent played it for a while.

stickyfiddle · May 2014

ICBM said:

stickyfiddle said:

U2

Completely agreed - although I'd maybe put Zooropa in Good rather than Fans Only.

October does have Gloria on it but the live UABRS version is far better.

Tbh I don't really like Gloria anyway. I considered lifting both Zooropa and Pop, but while they both have great moments you have to be in the mood to begin with, which puts them in Fans Only for me.

bobblehat · May 2014

stickyfiddle said:

ICBM said:

stickyfiddle said:

U2

Completely agreed - although I'd maybe put Zooropa in Good rather than Fans Only.

October does have Gloria on it but the live UABRS version is far better.

Tbh I don't really like Gloria anyway. I considered lifting both Zooropa and Pop, but while they both have great moments you have to be in the mood to begin with, which puts them in Fans Only for me.

I would disagree about No Line on the Horizon , I thought it was at least good .Takes a while to get into but there are some good songs on there if not great.

Phil_aka_Pip · June 2014

Can someone do a Beginner's Guide to Bill Nelson?

mike_l · June 2014

PolarityMan said:

dafuzz said:

Polite request for Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden and Queen if anyone's listening!

If I did iron maiden it would have a controversial placement of "somewhere in time"

Me too.

My Iron Maiden

Musts

Number of the beast

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Somewhere in time.

Piece of Mind

Powerslave

Live after Death

Good

Fear of the Dark

No Prayer for the Dying

Dance of Death

Brave new world

Ok

Virtual 11

Killers

Iron Maiden

Octahedron · June 2014

dchwhite said:

I'll just set my Joe Perry guitar down, dust off my official 'Joe Fucking Perry' t-shirt and stop drinking this Joe Perry hot sauce*...

Aerosmith

I would say the classics are Rocks and Pump. Both albums are at the end of developmental periods, and represent the apex of where they'd got to, in both their original period and in their 'MTV' era.

The 'standard' view of Aerosmith's career is that the first four albums increase in quality from Aerosmith to Get Your Wings and then Toys in the Attic (all of which I would say are good) to the brilliant Rocks. Thereafter, as the drugs start to take over a bit, things go downhill through Draw the Line, Night in the Ruts, and Rock in a Hard Place; I think there are good songs on all these albums, but I would call them 'fair'; I like them, but they're not essential.

Done With Mirrors is the first album post-reformation (and post-cleanup) and hence is fairly rough around the edges (again - I like it, but it's not essential), whilst Permanent Vacation is glossy, polished and good, and Pump is excellent.

Things again tail off a bit after this - Get a Grip, Nine Lives and Just Push Play all have good songs on them (and I would say in a higher ratio than the 70s albums that are 'fair' as well), but I wouldn't suggest rushing out to buy them. Honkin' on Bobo is covers of old blues songs - I like it, but it's not the first Aerosmith album I'd suggest someone buy. Music From Another Dimension is the latest and... I'll have to come back, it's dinner time!

[If I haven't bored everyone to tears, I'll update this post in a bit on the compilations, live & solo albums too].

.................
*Not all of this might be true, but you really can buy both the last two things from his website.

Essential Aerosmith for me is... Pump, Get a Grip, Draw the Line, Toys in the Attic, Permanent Vacation, Rocks, Just Push Play and the first (self-titled) album. I think MFAD was disappointing. Done With Mirrors can just be binned (except 2 songs). Night in the Ruts was alright. Some of Nine Lives is worth hearing. I think for compilations they've been generally good. Live albums wise, I think A Little South of Sanity is a sweet-as retrospective and has a great sound and vibe to it.

Octahedron · June 2014

Led Zepp!

Essential:

- Physical Graffiti: double album full of classics and some really odd stuff too. The Rover, Sick Again, Custard Pie and Trampled Under Foot persist to be some of my favourite Led Zep songs ever.

- 1: just an absolute classic from Communication Breakdown to How Many More Times, it's loud, raw and raucous, bluesy and sensitive, passionate and emotive. Smashing!

- 2: some classics here including Whole Lotta Love, Ramble On and Heartbreaker!

- 4: another undeniable classic, Misty Mountain Hop's another that I keep close to my heart!

Good:

- 3: it's got some good tunes, including Immigrant Song, but I found it a bit inconsistent up against 1, 2 and 4.

- In Through the Out Door: largely the contents of this album aren't particularly memorable but it's got some 'different' stuff to the Ell Zee we "know and love" and it's worth having for that. I think the 'different' songs on the record are better than the sorta typical LZ stuff that they made on this one.

- Presence: overall fabulous, but missing something. I was torn between putting it in the essentials and here... so I conceded it must go here if I can't decide that it must go up there! Standout moments include Candy Store Rock, Hots On For Nowhere and Nobody's Fault but Mine.

Discard in bargain bin:

- Houses of the Holy: just never could get in to this... nothing stands out to me on this one at all.

- Coda: not strictly a full album but it's outtakes and it's scrappy and inconsistent and generally just couldn't be arsed with it.

- Celebration Day (live): bloody awful sound. Don't quit your day job Plant. He just ain't what he used to be!

Octahedron · June 2014

dchwhite said:

EricTheWeary said:

dafuzz said:

dchwhite said:

Aerosmith

[...]

Can't believe I didn't do Aerosmith first! The only thing I disagree with is Just Push Play - it's way worse than Nine Lives and Get A Grip which are both very decent, otherwise I agree completely

Not the biggest 'Smiths fan in the world but surely Toys is essential - title track, Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion, Big Ten Inch Record,etc.

I agree, I think it's a very good album - I suppose I was trying to keep within the paradigm set out in the OP, and put everything into just a few categories, rather than acquiesce to my (over-!) enthusiasm, and tell people they NEED to buy the Box of Fire, and PV, and Pump, and whilst you've got that far, it's a shame to miss out on Done With Mirrors, because that fills the chronological gap, and then of course, there's some cracking songs on Get a Grip, and ....

So, having to draw the line* somewhere, I thought the two I listed were the essentials, but I agree, Toys is very, very good as well; if someone wanted to go out and buy more than two Aerosmith albums, I'd say that would be the third one to get.

......................
*sorry

I wish I had Box of Fire. I have the 3 disc Pandora's Box and a couple of singles and oddities here and there. Got "Classics Live 2" the other day for 50 cents hahaha...

I definitely need more!! I'd love to know more about your Aerosmith collection, @dcwhite - it sounds like you may have "the lot"!! I'm pretty close... but there's so much more out there that I don't have!

Octahedron · June 2014

dchwhite said:

EricTheWeary said:

dafuzz said:

dchwhite said:

Aerosmith

[...]

Can't believe I didn't do Aerosmith first! The only thing I disagree with is Just Push Play - it's way worse than Nine Lives and Get A Grip which are both very decent, otherwise I agree completely

Not the biggest 'Smiths fan in the world but surely Toys is essential - title track, Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion, Big Ten Inch Record,etc.

I agree, I think it's a very good album - I suppose I was trying to keep within the paradigm set out in the OP, and put everything into just a few categories, rather than acquiesce to my (over-!) enthusiasm, and tell people they NEED to buy the Box of Fire, and PV, and Pump, and whilst you've got that far, it's a shame to miss out on Done With Mirrors, because that fills the chronological gap, and then of course, there's some cracking songs on Get a Grip, and ....

So, having to draw the line* somewhere, I thought the two I listed were the essentials, but I agree, Toys is very, very good as well; if someone wanted to go out and buy more than two Aerosmith albums, I'd say that would be the third one to get.

......................
*sorry

I wish I had Box of Fire. I have the 3 disc Pandora's Box and a couple of singles and oddities here and there. Got "Classics Live 2" the other day for 50 cents hahaha...

I definitely need more!! I'd love to know more about your Aerosmith collection, @dcwhite - it sounds like you may have "the lot"!! I'm pretty close... but there's so much more out there that I don't have!

ChrisMusic · June 2014

There was a thread with Dream Theatre a while back, it would be nice to have a guide repeated here please

mudslide73 · June 2014

Octahedron said:

Led Zepp!

Essential:
- Physical Graffiti: double album full of classics and some really odd stuff too. The Rover, Sick Again, Custard Pie and Trampled Under Foot persist to be some of my favourite Led Zep songs ever.
- 1: just an absolute classic from Communication Breakdown to How Many More Times, it's loud, raw and raucous, bluesy and sensitive, passionate and emotive. Smashing!
- 2: some classics here including Whole Lotta Love, Ramble On and Heartbreaker!
- 4: another undeniable classic, Misty Mountain Hop's another that I keep close to my heart!

Good:
- 3: it's got some good tunes, including Immigrant Song, but I found it a bit inconsistent up against 1, 2 and 4.
- In Through the Out Door: largely the contents of this album aren't particularly memorable but it's got some 'different' stuff to the Ell Zee we "know and love" and it's worth having for that. I think the 'different' songs on the record are better than the sorta typical LZ stuff that they made on this one.
- Presence: overall fabulous, but missing something. I was torn between putting it in the essentials and here... so I conceded it must go here if I can't decide that it must go up there! Standout moments include Candy Store Rock, Hots On For Nowhere and Nobody's Fault but Mine.

Discard in bargain bin:
- Houses of the Holy: just never could get in to this... nothing stands out to me on this one at all.
- Coda: not strictly a full album but it's outtakes and it's scrappy and inconsistent and generally just couldn't be arsed with it.
- Celebration Day (live): bloody awful sound. Don't quit your day job Plant. He just ain't what he used to be!

I'd go with

Essential

i,ii,iii,iv,hoth,pg,presence,tsrts

Good

htwww,bbc sessions

Completists Only

Coda,ittod.

Hoth has some classics on it.. I couldn't put it in Room 101.

not_the_dj · June 2014

Houses of the Holy would be in my essential list as well.

Song Remains, Rain Song, Over the Hills, No Quater....all classics, and my wife's fav Zep track is D'yer Mak'er

mudslide73 · June 2014

not_the_dj said:

Houses of the Holy would be in my essential list as well.

Song Remains, Rain Song, Over the Hills, No Quater....all classics, and my wife's fav Zep track is D'yer Mak'er

They're all essential to me but I'd have got laughed at

eg

Essential

i,ii,iii,iv,hoth,pg,presence,tsrts,ittod,Coda,bbc sessions,htwww.

Good

Completists Only

Octahedron · June 2014

Alright, I'll take on Dream Theater!

Essential: Images and Words, Awake, Scenes From A Memory, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Octavarium (it's up there IMO!!), Systematic Chaos, Dream Theater, Train of Thought, Black Clouds & Silver Linings,

Good:

Falling Into Infinity, When Dream and Day Unite, A Change of Seasons (not sure it can be counted as an 'album'??)

Avoid:

A Dramatic Turn of Events (it is ok, I can tolerate it, but at the same time it's got that stench of the band trying to re-define themselves without Portnoy and so I just pass it off as background music - can't really get into any of the songs enough to actually remember them!)

And they're one of those bands who have so many live releases that I just can't be stuffed with! If anyone wants to do *that*, then yeh, go ahead!!

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