A young'uns guide to purusing extensive artist discographies

[Yablonowitz]

Hoka-Hey or "today is a good day to die" was a phrase used by the Lakota

made famous by Crazy Horse when Custer got his ass handed


some of you foos need a brush up on American History

They actually figured that out during their set. Still, how do you know the Lakotas didn't time warp travel and get that from Star Trek?

Answer. You don't.

[Jenniehoo]

Shut up.

[mountmccabe]

Greg, I already said that. I think you're just bitter that I finished my Leonard Cohen thing before you did your Springsteen one. And that Cohen > Springsteen.

[bug on your lip]

i like how mount went back and edited his post & dropped

"Or that that quote wasn't particularly new when Worf said it anyway."

in it

[york707]

John -

You can do it without New Moon for now and add it later...

[bug on your lip]

photo of a turd in the toliet > Cohen

[i_like_cake530]

someone should do Frank Zappa...........

now that would be a challenge

[Courtney]

Yay, you did Leonard Cohen! Thanks John. I was hoping someone would do him, because I always feel a little inadequate knowing zero about him other than the fact that musicians I like always cover him. I think I'll get Songs from a Room.

[mountmccabe]

They just reissued/remastered the first three albums too.

[i_like_cake530]

too lazy to read through pages 13+ has anyone done zeppelin yet? cause if not, ill do it.

[mountmccabe]

Yes, page 20.

Here's the latest index from a couple pages back.

[i_like_cake530]

Since no one has done this and many people COULD have, I will review

LED ZEPPELIN

***Please be mindful, these grades are all relative to each other. I know that the Mighty Zep is the most powerful, all-creating, rock and roll force in the universe, but some of their albums are even more mightier than others. For the uninitiated, if you like hard rock at all, you cannot go wrong with any Zep you find in your uncle's collection.

1. Led Zeppelin I (1969)---From the ashes of the Yardbirds arises the pentatonic maniac Jimmy Page and his band of merry-rocking men: Robert Plant, a more testosterone-laden Roger Daltrey, Drummer Emeritus John Bonham and bassist supreme John Paul Jones.

You'll hear that they ripped off every bluesman to ever live and you'll be hearing right. But if young Americans wanted to hear the real blues, BB King's "Live At The Regal" would have sold 10 million copies. And it never sold a million. We want rock and roll and this is how we like our blues distilled. "You Shook Me", "How Many More Times" and "I Can't Quit You Baby" fill that quotient just fine. "Good Times, Bad Times" and especially "Communication Breakdown" show the Zep can write the rocking single and "Dazed And Confused" is your the albums required 60's freak-out. This album was originally trashed by Rolling Stone, leading Jimmy Page to boycott the magazine for a few years. The magazine was wrong. A cock-rock extravaganza. A-

2. Led Zeppelin II (1969)---Better songwriting (mainly because they actually wrote most of it instead of stealing it), killer riffs, monster drums. From the opening riff of "Whole Lotta Love" this album will just steamroll fresh ears. "Heartbreaker" may have the greatest solo in rock history, "Living Loving Maid" has swagger for days, "What Is And What Should Never Be" is a surprisingly mature forbidden love song and one can always get their drum on with 'Moby Dick'. By the way, the "drumming" in "Ramble On" is Bonham playing a plastic garbage can during the verses. Absolutely essential. A+

3. Led Zeppelin III (1970)---Zeppelin goes acoustic, half way. "Friends", "Tangerine" "Gallows Pole" and the gorgeous "That's The Way" (used to great effect in "Almost Famous") are fantastic acoustic-based songs, but any album with "Immigrant Song", "Celebration Day" and "Out On The Tiles" isn't your mama's John Denver CD. "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is a hoe-down fo sho. Zeppelin's most relaxed CD. Not the place to start---unless you're just really cool like that. A

4. ZOSO (a.k.a. Zeppelin IV) (1971)----This album has only sold 25 million copies in the United States since its release, so finding a copy may be scarce, but it's well worth the look. All jokes aside, you've heard "Stairway" a thousand times and Cadillac co-opted "Rock And Roll", but no amount of overplaying can take away from the power of this album. "When the Levee Breaks" is Bonham at his most rock solid, "Going to California" does indeed ache and "Misty Mountain Hop" is a travelogue Tolkien-style. It too is absolutely essential until one day you just can't take it anymore. Takes about 1/2 a lifetime for that. You know it's essential. A+

5. Houses Of The Holy (1973)---Like a comfortable pair of old shoes. Not the best, just reliable. "Dancing Days" rocks and lyrically makes no sense, "The Rain Song" was the makeout song for the older girls in my neighborhood when I was I kid (ha, along with "Goodbye To Romance!) and "The Crunge" is Page's shout-out to James Brown. "No Quarter" is flat-out weird (bong-hit anyone?) and the highlight of the album is one of the best songs in the entire Zep oeuvre "Over The Hills And Far Away". A-

6. Physical Graffiti (1975)---The 2nd best selling Zeppelin album, by this time they were the true kings of the rock world....but, I've heard it said and I believe it, nearly all double albums would be better if they were shortened into one and while I wouldn't go that far here, there are certainly some songs that could have been left for the box set (Down By The Seaside and In The Light come to mind). That being said, there are monster riffs everywhere (Sick Again, Custard Pie, Trampled Under Foot) two monster epics (In My Time Of Dying and Kashmir) and my all-time favorite Zeppelin cut (Wanton Song). A

7. Presense (1976)---And one year later, this. Depending on why you like Zeppelin will determine if you like this album. If you dig their songs, take a pass. If you worship at the altar of Jimmy Page, by all means, feast. "Achilles Last Stand" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" rock like you know Zep can, "Tea For One" reprises "Since I've Been Loving You" from Zeppelin III, "For Your Life" and "Royal Orleans" do sound like "Graffiti" outtakes. I would not have said this until I saw how Stacy Peralta used it perfectly in Dogtown and Z-Boys, but now I think that "Hots On For Nowhere" may be the most overlooked song in the entire Zeppelin catelog. The worst selling Zeppelin album, the boys were going through some big-time issues while recording this and it shows. B-

8. In Through the Out Door (1979)---The last album Zeppelin would record before Bonham's death, this is the John Paul Jones album as his keyboards are all over the place. This is not exactly the legacy that Zep would have like to left with, but....."In The Evening" is late-Zep epicness and and "Carouselambra" tries but it's too much keyboard. "Hot Dog" is about as bad as the Stones "Far Away Eyes". "All My Love" (written by Plant for his deceased son) is pretty straight forward and sincere. Oddly enough, my favorite track on the album is it's closer "I'm Gonna Crawl"---it's a fine way to say goodnight to THE BAND of the 1970's, but the rest of the album is not up to lofty Zep standards. C+

There's a live album "The Song Remains the Same" that I just can't recommend--it's overwrought and silly. While Zeppelin (and the Stones) were the biggest concert draws of the 1970's, Page was very much a studio musician and so much of what made the Zep albums great was the way Page would overdub in the studio.

The album "Coda" was released in 1982 as an album of outtakes. For collectors only.

good read, you did them really well. not that i needed any help on zeppelin's discography

[i_like_cake530]

Well done, sydaud. But I have to ask: Am I a heretic for finding it really hard to get into their first two albums?

im sorry dude, but i can't forgive you for that one. those are arguably their best two albums.

[sydaud]

So, here we go. CAN-The discography

Let me preface this by saying that Can is my favorite band of all time, and that, in my opinion, they had the best three record run of any rock group ever. Two of these guys were classically trained minimalists, the drummer was nuts, the guitar player was nearly 10 years younger than anyone else in the group, and they couldn't hold onto a singer. Germany spit out some amazing acts, but nothing to compare to the genius of Can.

I have never heard anything by Can. The only thing I knew about them before reading this is that they were German and the band Spoon got their name from one of their songs. So, in the spirit of learning, I have acquired ALL of their studio albums with the exception of the self-titled 1979 release and Rite Time. I have started with Ege Bamyasi, just this morning, as recommended and I hope to, over the course of the next couple weeks, try to absorb as much of this as I can.

I will report back with my thoughts. Wish me luck.

[Yablonowitz]

OK, I'm too pathetic to do one of these in its entirety in one post. So, in this installment I'll just cover the pre-Bruce-as-working-man-icon era; his first three albums.

This will be good for me and boring for the rest of you. I used to listen almost exclusively to KBRUCE for probably two years straight (around '90-'92) and acquired everyone of his official releases and quite a few bootlegs and unreleased recordings. I’ve now spent enough time away from his music and been introduced to so much more music that I can be more objective about his work.

If anyone has interest in his early stuff, I'd actually recommend getting his live album first or at least the first third of his live album - it captures the music much better and there are much better versions of a lot of his early songs done live: "Growin' Up," "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", "Spirit in the Night," "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City," "Rosalita", and "Thunder Road" are just so much more passionate and rich on the Live collection than the original recorded versions. In fact, I can't even think of a reason to listen to his first album at all except for the historical aspect that you get to hear the original version of this:



Greetings from Asbury Park N.J.


But really, even Manfred Mann sounds better than Bruce and the band with that song. It's clear from this album that Bruce was trying to emulate "Highway 61 Revisited" era Dylan with vaguely similar surreal lyrics, yet the difference is that they don't resonate and their verbosity can't replace actual meaning. Like "Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street" has some stupidly wacky crap like "Where dock worker's dreams mix with panther's schemes to some day own the rodeo. Tainted women in Vistavision perform for out-of-state kids at the late show. Wizard imps and sweat sock pimps, interstellar mongrel nymphs." Puke.

Also, his voice is not as heavy and grounded as it gets two albums later, it's more whiney (and also strangely flat at times too) than anything else. There are glimmers of talent and hints of his emerging strengths that you can hear in "Growin' Up" and "Spirit in the Night" - songs about youth and growing up that actually have life to them. Both songs sound infinitely better on the live album.

But unfortunately, the bulk of the album is uninspiring, flattened out and dull. Although I do like "The Angel" which is a passable tune. But if you can actually sit through "Mary Queen of Arkansas" and "Lost in the Flood" without feeling nauseous, then you're a stronger person than I am. The E Street band's strengths just do not come across on this recording.
Grade: D+


The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle


This is a tough one to make sense of, really, in terms of comparison to any of his other albums. For one thing, IT'S FUCKING AWESOME but, for another, it's not like anything he and his band ever come close to replicating which is both good and bad. One major step forward is how much more integrated and alive the band sounds, even more significant of an improvement is the quality of the songwriting and the focus of his lyrics.

But this album just doesn't compute, it's an outlier in the hall of Bruce. You could hate Bruce or find him overrated and still love this album. There are wonderfully beautiful jazz arrangements and instrumental jams of pure joy. A multitude of instruments are used here - including a coronet, accordion, strings, organ, and even a fucking well-placed tuba in "Wild Billy's Circus Story."

There are two songs that do have the Springsteen romantic youth imprint on them - "4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" which is clearly why they showed up on the live collection. But on this album, those tracks are actually my least favorite. Part of that is because I heard the songs on the live album first, but it’s also because they lack the beauty and electricity of the other fine jems on this album - most notably "Incident on 57th Street" and "New York City Serenade" which are songs that just must be listened to, regardless of your opinion of Bruce in general.

One of the most enthralling and grooving jazzy jammy songs is "Kitty's Back," a really enjoyable, rollicking tune. Bruce sounds a million times more confident and in command of his vocals here plus he sounds like he's actually having a fucking good time, too. The one thing that runs through almost all of Springsteen’s songs from any era is they tell stories of people. What’s unique and interesting about “Wild and the Innocent” is the setting of the characters are mainly all in urban environments where he later moves his focus to working class people in smaller towns. This will continue in “Born to Run,” but not with the pervasiveness of the freeflowing instrumental arrangements showcased on the bulk of the songs here. The jazz and funk sounds also make a quick exit from his repertoire.

This album is really a band effort and probably might just be better off called The E Street Band’s “The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.” It’s a shame that multi-instrumentalist David Sancious essentially disappeared from the E Street band after this album as he provided a solid flavor to the album – with a nice organ solo on “Kitty’s Back” and an interesting piano intro to “New York City Serenade” as well as setting up the string arrangement for that song. Also sad is the departure of Vinnie “Mad Dog” Lopez as The E Street’s drummer. Lopez had so much more finesse and subtlety to his playing than the exclamatory and often overly bombastic Max Weinberg. But whaddya do?

There really isn’t a Springsteen album like this one – four of the seven tracks exceed seven minutes! - and I’m including a couple of tracks that showcase that. I've played this for people who'd never heard it and they almost invariably say, "This is Bruce?" Yes, it is. And if he stayed on this path, his career would be vastly different but hard to say that it would be any less impressive. But what follows this album is a definitive change of image and presentation - Bruce gets placed front and center and his persona as a deep throated, troubadour and speaker for the common man takes root.
Grade: A
Incident on 57th Street
New York City Serenade

Born to Run

Clearly Bruce’s breakout album. It frequently gets placed in the upper echelons of best albums ever, which I find sort of mystifying. For one thing, the original version of “Thunder Road” is horrible. I HATE IT. It really should be a slow, piano only tune. The instruments take over the more romantic lyrical portions of the song. The first time I heard this song was on his Live album and it really drew me in – the intimacy, world weariness and optimism were so perfectly expressed than the overdone hammering that the song becomes on this album. I think I just really hate Max Weinberg's overwrought presence, that’s part of the problem. But more to the point is that it’s not as focused as the following three albums he put out which better encapsulate the “image” of Bruce more than this.

After “Thunder Road,” things do get much better. “10th Avenue Freeze Out” does contain an element of that jazz feel from “The Wild and The Innocent…” but without it’s freestyling element. Also, in this album, Bruce’s voice undergoes the vocal equivalent of a facelift. It’s more muscular and heavy which is what makes the power of the self-titled hit single such a momentous single for him. And while its hard to argue with the greatness of “Born to Run,” the real standout track on this album for me is “Backstreets.” It’s a heartbreaking song with an anthemic sound, and evokes sadness, regret and nostalgia. It’s also, in my opinion, his first major lyrical success. Not that his other songs didn’t have their moments, but “Backstreets” really showcase his potential as the humanist songwriter he becomes.

The last vestiges of the rambling, jamming E Street Band style can be found in the album closer, “Jungleland” which, like the songs in “The Wild and The Innocent” take place in the city and describe alienated and beat down youth. It’s a wonderful 9 minute long track and pretty much is the last we see of epic, urban, jamming E Street Band tunes. Bruce will move to fully embrace the working man, small town romantic, trying to find hope in the tragedy of being dealt a bad hand in life.

This is probably the result of his dropping Mike Appel has his producer and sticking with John Landau, a marriage that still exists to this day. Landau was better at selling the working class image of Bruce and probably had more business acumen. I think. There are books on shit like that but I’ve never cared enough to read them. Anyway, regardless of the behind-the-scenes image alteration, Bruce is now primed to put out my three favorite “working class” Springsteen albums. I’ll get to those next. I’m sure you’re dying to hear about it.
Grade: B

[sydaud]

I know you're busy with all your interviews and the such, but I NEED to know how you feel about "Nebraska" and "The River", so if you could please find the time......

[Yablonowitz]

I know you're busy with all your interviews and the such, but I NEED to know how you feel about "Nebraska" and "The River", so if you could please find the time......

I got "Darkness on the Edge of Town" done...on to those next. Soon, I hope.

[ragingdave]

ARTO LINDSAY

This discussion of Arto's music will exclude any of the music that he created prior to his solo work (Ambitious Lovers and DNA).

For those of you who aren't familiar with Arto...

As far as ranking his albums, I would recommend jumping in with his records
"Prize" and "Noon Chill."
Both of these albums are where Arto perfected his combination of samba/bossa nova feel with illbient/no wave production and twisted it all into a somewhat pop accessible blend.

"Prize" probably has the more concise flow and direction while "Noon Chill" tends to drift away more into an abstract aesthetic but still shining through with pop bliss in songs like "Re-Entry."

"O Corpo Sutil (the Subtle Body)" and "Mundo Civilizado" are the two earlier works that while both are excellent, sound like Arto is still trying to find that perfect blend of experimentalism and commercial charm.

"Invoke" starts to leave a bit of the pop arena and delve back deeper into the samba realm of the Tropicalia movement with less song form and a heavier lean on texture rather than melody.

"Salt" is his latest record and the biggest wildcard. It certainly can be looked at as his most accesible record but I think it does have a couple of throw away tracks that mess up the feel and flow of the record. However, A few of these tracks put into a shuffle with "Noon Chill" and "Prize" would fit right in.

I would also mention that one might keep their ears open for the remix records of most of his releases especially the release "Hyper Civilizado" with remixes of his second record by artists including DJ Spooky, Mutamssik and Sub Dub.

To sum up:

1. Prize
2. Noon Chill
3. Mundo Civilizado
4. O Corpo Sutil
5. Salt
6. Invoke

[bmack86]

That's an awesome addition. I've never even thought to start with Arto. I've always just loved DNA.

[roberto73]

It's been a while since I did my Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds epic. I can find time to piece together one (or more) of the following. Any requests?

The Blue Aeroplanes
Echo & The Bunnymen
Eels
The Go-Betweens
Idlewild
Mercury Rev
Midnight Oil
The Pogues
Super Furry Animals
Supergrass
Teenage Fanclub
Tindersticks
XTC

[ragingdave]

Eels or Teenage Fanclub would be nice.

[ragingdave]

Little Creatures is good too.

I love "Little Creatures."
Lady Don't Mind is one of my favorite songs of all time...

[hawkingvsreeve]

I've been hoping someone would do XTC as well. I'm starting to get into them.

[Yablonowitz]

I've been hoping someone would do XTC as well. I'm starting to get into them.

I've never heard of them.

[KooKoo Banana Funtime]

GO-BETWEENS !!!

[mountmccabe]

I'll second the call for Eels.

[ragingdave]

XTC would work too.
It would tie into my new found Veils fetish...

I also worked with them on a children's record back in the day.
Great songwriters and vocalists.

[Hannahrain]

Just to keep us up tp date...

Updated index:

Page 1

#1 - Radiohead - swdshfsk - intro
#3 - David Bowie - Courtney - intro
#4 - Boredoms - bmack86 - full
#5 - Can - bmack86 - intro
#6 - Spiritualized - bmack86 - intro
#9 - Elvis Costello - TomAz - intro
#10 - the Wedding Present - roberto73 - intro
#12 - Tom waits - Slushmier - extended intro
#13 - Mogwai - swdshfsk - extended intro
#14 - Hanson - tessa|asset - extended intro
#15 - Guided by Voices - mountmccabe - intro
#23 - the Velvet Underground - PsyGuyRy - extended intro
#24 - Luna - york707 - intro with discog listed
#25 - Jonathan Richman - breakjaw - full

Page 2

#32 - The Dismemberment Plan - Tylerdurden31 - full
#33 - Bob Dylan - TomAz - extended intro
#36 - Talking Heads - bballarl - full
#37 - Pink Floyd - PsyGuyRy - very extended intro
#45 - Pearl Jam - Slushmier - full
#51, 53 & 56 - Fugazi - PotVsKtI - ranked list of albums

Page 3

#65 - the Beatles - TomAZ - full

Page 4

#101 - the Kinks (early period) - bmack86 - extended intro
#109 - Beethoven's 7th Symphony - mountmccabe - full (selected, incomplete)
#117 - the Cure - bmack86 - full
#118 - the Dandy Warhols - Hannahrain - full

Page 5

#124 - the Jesus and Mary Chain - mountmccabe - full
#131 - Yo La Tengo - Courtney - full
#132 - the Roots - Slushmier - full
#138 - Sonic Youth - bmack86 - full
#141 - the Rolling Stones (US albums) - sydaud - full
#146 - the White Stripes - bballarl - full

Page 6

#173 - Faith No More - thinnerair - full
#175 - Failure - thinnerair - full
#176 - Magazine - breakjaw - full

Page 7

#196 - Creed - bmack86 - full
#200 - Metallica - bmack86 - full
#202 - the Who - sydaud - full
#217 - Massive Attack - Thinnerair - Full
#219 - Elf Power - Bmack86 - Full
#225 - Genesis - Thinnerair - Intro
#232 - Bikini Kill - Mountmccabe - Full
#238 - Muse - Thinnerair -

Page 9

#241 - Big Black - Bmack86 - Full
#249 - The Arab Strap - Hannahrain - Intro
#253 - The Clash - TomAz - Full
#267 - Nick Cave - roberto73 - Full

Page 10

#299 - Jeff Buckley - PassiveTheory - Full

Page 12

#334 - Jawbox - Tylerdurden31 - Full
#338 - Hum - thinnerair - Full
#344 - REM - sydaud - Full

Page 13

#375 - Depeche Mode - Amyzzz - Extended Intro

Page 14

#395 - The Replacements - TomAz - Full
#402 - Spinal Tap - Breakjaw - Full
#405 - Cheech and Chong - Anita Bonghit - Discography
#416 - Pixies - Bmack86 - Full
#419 - Spiritualized - Bmack86 - Full

Page 15

#425 - Rush - MonsoonSeason - intro
#427 - The Orb - Desphrs - full
#446 - Miles Davis - sydaud - full

Page 16

#455 - Boards of Canada - desphrs - full
#463 - Blur - Slushmier - full
#474 - Serge Gainsbourg - bmack86 - intro
#477 - Beat Happening - bmack86 - full
#479 - Circle Jerks - york707 - full

Page 17

#504 - Joe Jackson - MsTekno - extended intro
#505 - Oasis - Stefinitely Maybe - full

Page 18

#518 - The Magnetic Fields - mountmccabe - full

Page 19

#562 - Wilco - mountmccabe, york707, and TomAz (compiled by Hannahrain) - full

Page 20

#573 - Spoon - sydaud - full
#580 - Decemberists - Hannahrain - full
#600 - Led Zeppelin - sydaud - full

Page 21

#616 - Minutemen - sydaud - full
#619 - Can - bmack86 - full (selected, incomplete)
#625 - PJ Harvey - bballarl - full

Page 22

#635 - Bjork - bmack86 - full
#649 - Cake - PassiveTheory - full
#650 - The Faint - hawkingvsreeve - full

Page 23

#672 - Death Cab For Cutie - hawkingvsreeve - full

Page 24

#720 - Leonard Cohen - mountmccabe - incomplete

Page 25

#735 - Bruce Springsteen - Yablonowitz - first installment
#738 - Arto Lindsay - ragingdave - Solo work only





We're accomplishing less and less on every page.

[sydaud]

It's been a while since I did my Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds epic. I can find time to piece together one (or more) of the following. Any requests?

The Blue Aeroplanes
Echo & The Bunnymen
Eels
The Go-Betweens
Idlewild
Mercury Rev
Midnight Oil
The Pogues
Super Furry Animals
Supergrass
Teenage Fanclub
Tindersticks
XTC

While I would love read what your thougths are on XTC (Black Sea is one of my all-time favorites), Midnight Oil is one of those bands that I've like everything I have heard, but it hasn't been that much....

[mob roulette]

For one thing, the original version of “Thunder Road” is horrible. I HATE IT. It really should be a slow, piano only tune.

aaaaand here come the flames.

also, yabs? if you give "nebraska" anything less than an A, i'm totally putting you on ignore. for reals. this of course from a man too lazy/busy to post one of these but still. it needed to be said.