Most unlistenable album you spent good money on...

Philly_Q

In the early '90s I was a big fan of the band Living Colour, and bought a couple of albums just because Vernon Reid was on them, namely: Avoid the Funk: a Defunkt Anthology and Reid's collaboration with Bill Frisell, Smash & Scatteration.

They're probably not bad albums, but they're just not my kind of thing at all.  Way, way over my head.  Probably just as well I didn't buy anything by Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society...

Samgb

Gagaryn said:

frank1985;665319" said:

Samgb said:

Im probably going to get some flak for this, but...

Captain Beefheart : Trout Mask Replica

Now, thats not because i dont like The Captain - i like almost all of his other albums. But its his worst album by a mile and everyone raves about it. The spoken bits in between songs make it worse because he sounds like a right smart arse who thinks he is hilarious and he isnt. Put me right off him for a good few years until a mate set me straight. 





I fuckin' hate that album. I haven't heard any of his other stuff though - any recommendations?

Safe As Milk is a good Zappa introduction.

What he said.

Start at the beginning. If you swerve Trout Mask youre in for a treat. Then you can try it and see without being put off.. 

octatonic

Way too many of my favourite albums in this thread makes for uncomfortable reading.

Samgb

Skarloey;665396" said:

ICBM said:

Samgb said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Samgb said:

Skarloey said:

Astral Weeks by Van Morrison.

Not to my tastes at all I'm afraid.

*Splutters in outrage*

Astral Weeks is awesome

Thats what i meant


Much as I detest Van Morrison, I'd never actually heard this supposedly amazing album so I thought I really should give it a go...


I agree with Skarloey. I don't hate it quite as much as I expected - I did manage to listen to all of it - but I really don't get the fuss about it, I don't really hear any memorable songs and if I have to hear his whiny nasal rambling again it will still probably be too soon.


Right, I have just listened* to it again, and my opinion hasn't changed (and bear in mind these are purely my opinions). 

I don't like the instrumentation on it. Yes, I know it features members of the Modern Jazz Quartet, but I never liked them much either. 

He keeps confusing shouting with singing. 

You could grate cheese on that voice. 

The songs go on endlessly and Dylan-like with barely a token glance in the direction of a key change, middle eight or anything else to relieve the disappointment. 

His most annoying vocal mannerism is to keep repeating phrasing like "no, no, no, no, no" and "never, ever, never, ever, never, ever, never, ever". 

When he stops sounding like Boris Johnson on a bad day attempting to start a sentence, his attempts at lyrics remind me of Dylan Thomas, who I also take a dim view of. 

Sorry if this offends, but c'est la vie. As in called it up on Spotify and reprised a few tracks by dragging the slider across at random intervals to get the 'feel' of the disc. 

I guess this one divides opinion - if you dont like Van's voice youre going to struggle! It certainly isnt full of catchy tunes like most of his other early 70s stuff. Ive grown to like Astral Weeks more and more over the years. Its a cumulative thing and a lot of tracks run into one another almost. I always thought he might have been listening to Tim Buckley when he made Astral Weeks. It shares a dreamlike quality with the likes of Happy Sad, Lorca and Blue Afternoon. I love this kind of thing where a bit of jazz seeps in. Like Chet Baker making a singer songwriter album   

Samgb

Maynehead said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

... And Justice For All (Metallica)

I did actually buy this one, because someone told me there was classically-influenced guitar solos on it. At the time I was listening to Yngwie. So was there anything on this album that I actually wanted to hear?


No.

HOLY BLASPHEMOUS BATMAN!!!1

...And Justice For All is the No.1 album in history that would benefit massively from a complete remix/remastering.

BigMonka

My vote goes to that U2 album which Album thrust upon us (Songs of Innocence). I like early U2 stuff so I made the effort and listened to it, but really there aren't any good songs on there - it's so bland its as if I never listened to it!

ICBM

BigMonka said:

My vote goes to that U2 album which Album thrust upon us (Songs of Innocence). I like early U2 stuff so I made the effort and listened to it, but really there aren't any good songs on there - it's so bland its as if I never listened to it!

You can't have that one because you didn't spend good money on it .

But I - as a U2 fan - agree, it is a very dull album with at most a couple of half-decent songs on it… but I can't remember which ones because I haven't listened to it more than a couple of times since I got it.

Samgb

BigMonka said:

My vote goes to that U2 album which Album thrust upon us (Songs of Innocence). I like early U2 stuff so I made the effort and listened to it, but really there aren't any good songs on there - it's so bland its as if I never listened to it!

Its the first U2 album i can remember without a single memorable song on it. Very poor

Maynehead

Samgb said:

Maynehead said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

... And Justice For All (Metallica)

I did actually buy this one, because someone told me there was classically-influenced guitar solos on it. At the time I was listening to Yngwie. So was there anything on this album that I actually wanted to hear?


No.

HOLY BLASPHEMOUS BATMAN!!!1

...And Justice For All is the No.1 album in history that would benefit massively from a complete remix/remastering.

Well I agree with the first part... 

Moe_Zambeek

frank1985;665319" said:

Samgb said:

Im probably going to get some flak for this, but...

Captain Beefheart : Trout Mask Replica

Now, thats not because i dont like The Captain - i like almost all of his other albums. But its his worst album by a mile and everyone raves about it. The spoken bits in between songs make it worse because he sounds like a right smart arse who thinks he is hilarious and he isnt. Put me right off him for a good few years until a mate set me straight. 





I fuckin' hate that album. I haven't heard any of his other stuff though - any recommendations?

It's the album Beefheart snobs recommend to show how avant grade they are. And it instantly turns off 99% of people who listen to it...which is a shame because he did so much good stuff otherwise. As noted already, Safe as Milk is good 60s r&b with a weird edge. I like pretty much everything after that too, my personal favourite is Shiny Beast but Clear Spot and the Spotlight Kid are good, I love the later albums too, doc at the radar station and ice cream for crow. Basically everything other than trout is more accessible and showcases the genuine genius that he and his band were. And the voice...what a voice.

I do still listen to Trout now and then and in short bursts some of it is ok, but it's an art project rather than an album to listen to in a sitting.

BigMonka

ICBM said:

BigMonka said:

My vote goes to that U2 album which Album thrust upon us (Songs of Innocence). I like early U2 stuff so I made the effort and listened to it, but really there aren't any good songs on there - it's so bland its as if I never listened to it!

You can't have that one because you didn't spend good money on it .

But I - as a U2 fan - agree, it is a very dull album with at most a couple of half-decent songs on it… but I can't remember which ones because I haven't listened to it more than a couple of times since I got it.

True, no money involved (luckily), but I used good bandwidth with it being downloaded onto my phone, ipad and PC, and it's using up good hard-drive space too!! (I really should get round to deleting it!)

Reverend

Bucket;665630" said:

Possibly "Honor Found in Decay" by Neurosis... I knew I liked "Through Silver in Blood" but I'd never heard this more recent album. I assumed it'd be good so I bought it, but I was wrong. I think it was mainly the vocals, I just found it pretty much impossible to enjoy.

Most unlistenable album of all time has to be "Death, Pierce Me" by Silencer. The sound of a mentally unstable man having a complete, psychotic breakdown, set to bleak black metal. I don't mean the usual idiot's criticism of metal "IT'S JUST SCREAMING OMG HE SOUNDS LIKE HE'S DEPRESSED"... this is serious. Apparently he was self-harming while recording the vocals, which consist of very high-pitched shrieking that kind of sounds like King Diamond or Rob Halford, except monotonous and off-key. That is an extremely unsettling and incongruous sound, and it'd be hilarious if I wasn't so acutely aware that it's the sound of a mental breakdown.

There's a lot of rumours surrounding it, some obviously bullshit. I do think the situation has been exaggerated, but I'd be surprised if the vocalist wasn't genuinely mentally ill and cutting himself while recording the vocals. I've listened to a couple of tracks, once, and I've never been able to repeat the experience. It scared the ever-loving SHIT out of me.

I think part of the aim was to portray depression, and they nailed it. As someone else puts it:

"I love Death - Pierce Me. It's got this droning, monotone quality to it that completely captures depression. It's empty, cavernous and grey - without any romance. Just buzzing meandering noise - with distant screams. It's good."

Maybe it is good... but I can't stomach it.

Death Pierce Me is fantastic.
One if the best dsbm records ever.


I'm guessing the likes of Sutcliffe Jugend, WOLD, Prurient etc might be might be of interest. .. ha ha

Grumpyrocker

Samgb said:

Maynehead said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

... And Justice For All (Metallica)

I did actually buy this one, because someone told me there was classically-influenced guitar solos on it. At the time I was listening to Yngwie. So was there anything on this album that I actually wanted to hear?


No.

HOLY BLASPHEMOUS BATMAN!!!1

...And Justice For All is the No.1 album in history that would benefit massively from a complete remix/remastering.

Definitely. I'd even be happy with just a version where they simply turn up Jason in the mix.

Grumpyrocker

Samgb said:

Maynehead said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

... And Justice For All (Metallica)

I did actually buy this one, because someone told me there was classically-influenced guitar solos on it. At the time I was listening to Yngwie. So was there anything on this album that I actually wanted to hear?


No.

HOLY BLASPHEMOUS BATMAN!!!1

...And Justice For All is the No.1 album in history that would benefit massively from a complete remix/remastering.

Definitely. I'd even be happy with just a version where they simply turn up Jason in the mix.

english_bob

Samgb said:

Im probably going to get some flak for this, but...

Captain Beefheart : Trout Mask Replica

Now, thats not because i dont like The Captain - i like almost all of his other albums. But its his worst album by a mile and everyone raves about it. The spoken bits in between songs make it worse because he sounds like a right smart arse who thinks he is hilarious and he isnt. Put me right off him for a good few years until a mate set me straight. 

I'm going to be that guy. I like Trout Mask Replica. It took repeated listens and months of believing the hype about it being this great masterpiece, and I still wouldn't want to listen to it every day, but I really like it. It's amazing to me how something so seemingly chaotic is actually highly ordered and complex, and how once you can wrap your ears around it this apparent dog's dinner of a record is actually quite beautiful in parts.

Personally, I think it's a far worse thing to be bored by a record than to actively hate it and know why.

Mark_25

I'd go for a recent one - Coming Up for Air by Kodaline. After their first album I had high hopes (pun intended) but the second album is just a dire mess of drippy songs. I stopped at track 8 and haven't touched it since.

Teetonetal

Samgb;665726" said:

Maynehead said:



Phil_aka_Pip said:

... And Justice For All (Metallica)



I did actually buy this one, because someone told me there was classically-influenced guitar solos on it. At the time I was listening to Yngwie. So was there anything on this album that I actually wanted to hear?





No.










HOLY BLASPHEMOUS BATMAN!!!1





...And Justice For All is the No.1 album in history that would benefit massively from a complete remix/remastering.

Have you heard st anger?

Drew_TNBD

Always Outnumbered never Out-gunned by The Prodigy. Load of wank.

bingefeller

axisus;664610" said:

bingefeller said:

Zero Tolerance for Silence by Pat Metheny. 





Word.

Most of you seem to be talking about music that you don't like, which is fair enough, but this PM album is seriously unlistenable. I bought it from HMV around 1995. I was a big PM fan and a CD with just one long track in 5 parts sounded right up my street, however, I was seriously wrong! My recollection is that it is basically Pat sat with one guitar and amp making feedback noises for about 40 minutes. Critics were unkind to say the least, and this is a quote from PM himself 

"To me, it is a 2-D view of a world in which I am usually functioning in a more 3-D way. It is entirely flat music, and that was exactly what it was intended to be"

Hardly inspiring words! Anyway, the bottom line is that I took it back the same day and demanded a swap for something with music on it - which they agreed to!

yeah when I first heard it I thought it was the wrong CD. Absolutely awful, especially when you consider how beautiful some of PM's music is.

mike_l

Teetonetal said:

Samgb;665726" said:

...And Justice For All is the No.1 album in history that would benefit massively from a complete remix/remastering.

Have you heard st anger?

Justice needs remixing and remastering, the songs are awesomes. especially live, when the bass is audible.

St.Anger needs a re-write,Remaster and remix.