Where are all the 'good' new albums these days?

DiscoStu

Public Service Broadcasting's 'The Race For Space' is a wonderful album.

stickyfiddle

Fwiw I think a lot of the stuff already mentioned in this thread are awful, but I guess I feel the same way about many established classics.

Either way, I agree that there will be fewer album regarded as classic because there are so many records being made these days. But that doesn't mean there aren't great records still being made. 

EricTheWeary

I was listening to Danny Baker on the radio and he was talking about ( I'm probably massively paraphrasing now) 'golden ages' and how we accepted things like the jazz age or the golden era of Hollywood musicals so why not the golden age of rock albums or the pop single or that calling anything made in 2017 punk is basically ridiculous. 

I don't think that I was ever part of a golden era as a teenager (tail end of punk, bit of 2Tone, the NWOBHM - although I'm not sure middle aged men in spandex was a golden age of anything)that was somehow better than anything since and my tastes didn't stick with what I was listening to at 16 ( otherwise I'd still be listening primarily to the Tygers of Pan Tang). I can enjoy something made in 1975 or something that sounds like it was made in 1975 ( several mentions of Clutch on here). But in 1975 an album release was a big thing with big art and cost a lot of money. Punk and independent record labels then downloads and YouTube killed off the 'album experience' to a large extent. I have no problem with that, I'm not quite sure why something released in 2017 should be measured against a 40 year old set of values.

Octahedron

EricTheWeary said:

I was listening to Danny Baker on the radio and he was talking about ( I'm probably massively paraphrasing now) 'golden ages' and how we accepted things like the jazz age or the golden era of Hollywood musicals so why not the golden age of rock albums or the pop single or that calling anything made in 2017 punk is basically ridiculous. 

I don't think that I was ever part of a golden era as a teenager (tail end of punk, bit of 2Tone, the NWOBHM - although I'm not sure middle aged men in spandex was a golden age of anything)that was somehow better than anything since and my tastes didn't stick with what I was listening to at 16 ( otherwise I'd still be listening primarily to the Tygers of Pan Tang). I can enjoy something made in 1975 or something that sounds like it was made in 1975 ( several mentions of Clutch on here). But in 1975 an album release was a big thing with big art and cost a lot of money. Punk and independent record labels then downloads and YouTube killed off the 'album experience' to a large extent. I have no problem with that, I'm not quite sure why something released in 2017 should be measured against a 40 year old set of values.

Hmmm wisdom given for that, the last part especially...

The "second coming" of vinyl seems to be bringing a second coming of the album 'concept' though, which I think is great. I'm personally not a big vinyl junkie. The reason is that I like to be able to take something in the car and listen to it on my often painful commute to work. I still go out to the record stores, independent or otherwise, and buy a new release on cd unless it's totally impractical to do so (usually cost inhibited by imports of lesser known releases that don't have a label or distributor in Australia)... for example I'm a fan of Kamelot, but they don't have a distributor in Australia so you have to pay $30+ for a standard edition imported by a chain retailer. So then I'd buy it on iTunes instead because by the time you've paid to ship something out here it's just that I may as well have paid the import cost in a chain retailer...

I still buy old stuff. Recently got Born in the USA, Toto IV, etc...

But there's still a lot of great new albums coming out in my opinion  

Reverend

TTBZ said:

For me, bands such as Clutch, QOTSA, Mastodon, Wolf Alice and Whores have put out some very memorable stuff that will stand the test of time. At least for my musical tastes.

The first Queens album is killer but after that it's lots of filler. 

I can't help thinking about how good kyuss were whenever I here them 

Bidley

Reverend said:

TTBZ said:

For me, bands such as Clutch, QOTSA, Mastodon, Wolf Alice and Whores have put out some very memorable stuff that will stand the test of time. At least for my musical tastes.

The first Queens album is killer but after that it's lots of filler. 

I can't help thinking about how good kyuss were whenever I here them 

Same. Incidentally John Garcia has a new album out that shits all over QOTSA's offerings (IMO).

Winny_Pooh

Reverend said:

TTBZ said:

For me, bands such as Clutch, QOTSA, Mastodon, Wolf Alice and Whores have put out some very memorable stuff that will stand the test of time. At least for my musical tastes.

The first Queens album is killer but after that it's lots of filler. 

I can't help thinking about how good kyuss were whenever I here them 

My favourite are Like Clockwork and Them Crooked Vultures is better than almost all the QOTSA stuff. Guess that's just the nature of taste eh. 

TheBigDipper

Hand. Cannot. Erase. 

This needs to be heard in sequence, in one listening session, for maximum emotional connection. 

Reverend

Winny_Pooh said:

Reverend said:

TTBZ said:

For me, bands such as Clutch, QOTSA, Mastodon, Wolf Alice and Whores have put out some very memorable stuff that will stand the test of time. At least for my musical tastes.

The first Queens album is killer but after that it's lots of filler. 

I can't help thinking about how good kyuss were whenever I here them 

My favourite are Like Clockwork and Them Crooked Vultures is better than almost all the QOTSA stuff. Guess that's just the nature of taste eh. 

Did you ever hear the first Master O Reality album?

Winny_Pooh

Reverend said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Reverend said:

The first Queens album is killer but after that it's lots of filler. 

I can't help thinking about how good kyuss were whenever I here them 

My favourite are Like Clockwork and Them Crooked Vultures is better than almost all the QOTSA stuff. Guess that's just the nature of taste eh. 

Did you ever hear the first Master O Reality album?

@Reverend ,never heard of them, can check if out if you reckon it's not too dated.

Reverend

Winny_Pooh said:

Reverend said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Reverend said:

The first Queens album is killer but after that it's lots of filler. 

I can't help thinking about how good kyuss were whenever I here them 

My favourite are Like Clockwork and Them Crooked Vultures is better than almost all the QOTSA stuff. Guess that's just the nature of taste eh. 

Did you ever hear the first Master O Reality album?

@Reverend ,never heard of them, can check if out if you reckon it's not too dated.

From 1988 but it's phenomenal. The influence on QOTSA and TCV is massive. Josh Homme's vocal style is total Chris Goss and the influence on song writing is massive. Goss produced a lot of his records from Kyuss into QOTSA 

Philly_Q

The first Masters Of Reality album is one of the best albums ever, by anyone.

PolarityMan

Rocker said:

@Dopesick, good reply with reasoned argument. Could you name a few albums that might appeal to me (aging rocker/guitar & bass player/golfer of sorts). An album or two that can be bought in Tower Records or similar. Thanks

PM me your address and ill send you my bands album!

andyp

Bidley said:

Same. Incidentally John Garcia has a new album out that shits all over QOTSA's offerings (IMO).

Just listened to this... well "The Coyote Who Spoke in Tongues" if that's the one you were meaning? Wow, it's brilliant!

Philly_Q

andyp said:

Bidley said:

Same. Incidentally John Garcia has a new album out that shits all over QOTSA's offerings (IMO).

Just listened to this... well "The Coyote Who Spoke in Tongues" if that's the one you were meaning? Wow, it's brilliant!

I'm a little disappointed it's so acousticky, although I haven't listened to it all yet.  His previous solo album is excellent - like nearly all his projects.  I don't hate QOTSA or begrudge Josh Homme his sucess, but I'd far rather listen to anything John Garcia's done.

andyp

I was really surprised it was acoustic, but it works. I was out for a walk and put it on, expecting a much more rocky / metal sound and it was labelled as "heavy metal" in the genre on Apple Music... I went to change it but decided to stick with it and am so glad I did. One of those albums I had no idea existed and it didn't sound anything like I expected, but I loved it.

I am a big fan of Kyuss but didn't ever know much at all about them. I really liked Rated R when it came out, then Songs for the Deaf is one of those seminal albums for me - but since then QoTSA have got more and more popular and I've found their music has never quite been as good as the earlier stuff... pretty much how it goes with most bands, I suppose.

I'll definitely be checking out the other John Garcia album I saved last night.

Dopesick

Should be catching the John Garcia Band at Desertfest in a couple of months. His old band Slo Burn are playing on the Friday as well but I won't be there.

stickyfiddle

I agree QOTSA lost their way a little after Songs for the Deaf, but Like Clockwork was a triumph for me. It's a fantastic record from start to finish.

Bidley

andyp said:

Bidley said:

Same. Incidentally John Garcia has a new album out that shits all over QOTSA's offerings (IMO).

Just listened to this... well "The Coyote Who Spoke in Tongues" if that's the one you were meaning? Wow, it's brilliant!

That's one I'm loving it!

Philly_Q said:

I'm a little disappointed it's so acousticky, although I haven't listened to it all yet.  His previous solo album is excellent - like nearly all his projects.  I don't hate QOTSA or begrudge Josh Homme his sucess, but I'd far rather listen to anything John Garcia's done.

I didn't expect it to be unplugged either, but I'm really digging it. Garcia sounds as great as he did in the early 90's, and the reworking of Green Machine is pretty cool too. Agree with you, I'm a big Garcia fan along with all his projects.

andyp

Totally agree. Green Machine is an amazing track and the reworked version really... eh... works. It's brilliant.