Albums you really ought to like but don't

freakboy1610 · November 2013

The Who - Live at Leeds. Classic?........er not!

ICBM · November 2013

HAL9000 said:
And another one from me (prepares to be shot down in flames)... Cream's Disraeli Gears. I like a handful of tracks, such as Tales of Brave Ulysses and Back Door Man, but to me they're heavily outweighed by tracks like Strange Brew which to my ears is appallingly bad (though I'm sure people will put me straight on this).

I like Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire but don't get Fresh Cream at all, apart from I Feel Free and Spoonful. The rest just sounds like a bunch of great instrumentalists in search of a song.

Phil_aka_Pip · November 2013

Frampton Comes Alive ... having heard/read so much about this album I bought it expecting some sh1t hot guitar playing. However so much of it was through the voice box that I didn't get to appreciate it.

scrumhalf · November 2013

Neil Young - just too nasal.

REM - the same.

Say it quietly, I don't like BB King that much. Freddie, Albert, fine.

IanSavage · November 2013

No accounting for taste, I thought 'Grace' was one of those albums which it simply wasn't possible to not like.

ICBM · November 2013

IanSavage said:

No accounting for taste, I thought 'Grace' was one of those albums which it simply wasn't possible to not like.

I've heard that said about The Last Waltz too - having seen the thread about it - and I don't.

I'm sure there are more people than you'd think who don't like anything that's one of the 'recognised classics'.

Phil_aka_Pip · November 2013

ICBM said:

I'm sure there are more people than you'd think who don't like anything that's one of the 'recognised classics'.

Some 'classics' are recognised by their sales figures, others are recognised by critics who think these things ought to be liked by everyone. I think the latter category explains your suggestion.

Phil_aka_Pip · November 2013

scrumhalf said:

Neil Young - just too nasal.

His guitar playing is a lot worse than his singing

IanSavage · November 2013

ICBM said:

IanSavage said:

No accounting for taste, I thought 'Grace' was one of those albums which it simply wasn't possible to not like.

I've heard that said about The Last Waltz too - having seen the thread about it - and I don't.

I'm sure there are more people than you'd think who don't like anything that's one of the 'recognised classics'.

Oh, I'm not expressing disappointment or anything, just surprise

for me that album's the music equivalent of 'Withnail and I', had to buy it about four times over the years because when someone hadn't seen/listened to it I practically forced it into their hands then never saw it again 'cos it became one of their favourites

ICBM · November 2013

I remember feeling the same sort of surprise when I first came across someone who didn't like Crowded House. But that's just the way it is! I've got used to the idea now

.

Actually I can't stand Jeff Buckley's voice - or the way he uses it, possibly. Not a huge fan of his songs or his version of Hallelujah, either.

Lixarto · November 2013

Phil_aka_Pip said: His guitar playing is a lot worse than his singing

Bigsbies, Teles and now this.

How wrong can one man be?

jaygtr · November 2013

Bruce Spingsteen , i dont mind him as such, i just dont get it really. he is just ok.

Lixarto · November 2013

I have never understood Bruce Springsteen - he strikes me as a poor man's Lou Reed.

Phil_aka_Pip · November 2013

Lixarto said: Phil_aka_Pip said: His guitar playing is a lot worse than his singing
Bigsbies, Teles and now this.

How wrong can one man be?
"and it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong I'm right" (John Lennon, Fixing a hole)

not_the_dj · November 2013

Lixarto said:

I have never understood Bruce Springsteen - he strikes me as a poor man's Lou Reed.

Facepalm!

ICBM · November 2013

Lixarto said:

I have never understood Bruce Springsteen - he strikes me as a poor man's Lou Reed.

I assume this is some kind of oblique humour, because I can barely imagine two more musically unrelated artists in the broadly rock field…

siremoon · November 2013

Sgt. Pepper. It's not terrible by any means and it contains a couple of classics such as A Day in the Life but I can't see what all the fuss is about.

dogload · November 2013

siremoon said:

Sgt. Pepper. It's not terrible by any means and it contains a couple of classics such as A Day in the Life but I can't see what all the fuss is about.

It's contextual. To the modern listener perhaps it isn't anything special, but when it came out it was quite a revolutionary record in terms of production and content. The previous Fabs' LP (the much superior 'Revolver') was a mostly traditional collection of songs ('Tomorrow Never Knows' notwithstanding) whereas 'Sgt P.' was a 'concept' and it was an album of music that would have been virtually impossible to perform live at that time, so marked a shift from The Beatles as a pop group in the traditional sense.

I think that the influence of The Beatles on their contemporaries has been talked about so often as to have become a cliche, but a quick look at the amount of music that quite obviously use Sgt Pepper as a reference or jumping-off point shows how important an album it was at the time.

randomhandclaps · November 2013

^ Great post. Spot on. ^

siremoon · November 2013

First thing to get straight is that I was born in the 50s and so was around when it came out.

I accept that the points you make are a commonly held view but I didn't consider it the best Beatles album when I first heard it donkey's years ago and I still don't. I've never understood the reverence it is held in. Incidentally, based on the comments he made subsequently (and which are in the anthology), neither did John Lennon.

I've also never understood the labelling of it as a "concept" album either. Originally iirc the concept was to be an album about Liverpool. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were written with this theme in mind, then it was to be an album about a virtual band hence the first track and Billy Shears reference but then that petered out after about 2 tracks and it became an eclectic mix of songs with no concept that I can discern.

ICBM · November 2013

I think it's more important for its cultural impact than its actual musical content, a few songs excepted. I still like it better than the White Album though - I never understood why a disjointed collection of songs by a band clearly no longer really talking to each other - and which would have been much better as a single album, if they could ever have agreed which tracks to drop - is hailed as being one of their best.

I was around when Sgt. Pepper came out too… or was it the other way round?

(I was born the month it was released

.)

dogload · November 2013

@siremoon I wasn't trying to get into an argument. I agree with you about the revernce thing, and as i say I think Revolver is miles better anyway. It just is the case that like it or not, Sergeant Pepper was a hugely influential album.

I think sometimes these 'landmark' records pass us by- I never got Michael Jackson's 'Off The Wall' or Nirvana's 'Nevermind' despite being old enough at the time to be aware of them

Phil_aka_Pip · November 2013

Records become 'landmark' when someone influential decides that they are. Records that are your personal landmarks don't become other people's landmarks unless you are influential.

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Albums you really ought to like but don't

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