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Other music forums => Various Artists, Lyrics, Discographies => Topic started by: nimrod on July 05, 2022, 10:28:02 PM

Title: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: nimrod on July 05, 2022, 10:28:02 PM
I'll start with...............Tommy & Exile On Main St.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 06, 2022, 02:09:25 AM
I never heard Tommy in its entirety either, just the songs from the LP that were played on FM radio which weren't very many.

I've listened to Exile on Main St. several times over the years.  My favorites on that LP are Tumbling Dice and Happy.

There are many "classic" albums I haven't heard because they were either disco or glam rock.  Anyway, from 1972 until 1982 all my attention was devoted to my studies and hospital residency training.  I was stuck in a time warp during those years and only listened to My LPs from the 60s...The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, Neil Diamond and stuff like that.  When 1982 came along, I had to get used to contemporary music.  That took a while.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Moogmodule on July 06, 2022, 03:41:27 AM
Yeah I can’t recall ever listening to Tommy all the way through.

Exile on Main Street I listened to a lot. I do like that one.

I’ve never listened to Pet Sounds from end to end.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Normandie on July 06, 2022, 01:01:40 PM

Ditto on Exile Main Street. Also, Blonde on Blonde.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: nimrod on July 06, 2022, 11:41:15 PM
I never heard Tommy in its entirety either, just the songs from the LP that were played on FM radio which weren't very many.

I've listened to Exile on Main St. several times over the years.  My favorites on that LP are Tumbling Dice and Happy.

There are many "classic" albums I haven't heard because they were either disco or glam rock.  Anyway, from 1972 until 1982 all my attention was devoted to my studies and hospital residency training.  I was stuck in a time warp during those years and only listened to My LPs from the 60s...The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, Neil Diamond and stuff like that.  When 1982 came along, I had to get used to contemporary music.  That took a while.


Com'on Baz Baby, you gotta like Chic  ;D

Mannnnn....that funky Bernard Edwards Bass !!

https://youtu.be/Er9xGRolrT4 (https://youtu.be/Er9xGRolrT4)

https://youtu.be/W2kDHulZdX4 (https://youtu.be/W2kDHulZdX4)
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: tkitna on July 07, 2022, 02:47:21 PM
I dont want to come across as pompous, but I cant think of any right now.  I've listened to a lot of music I guess.  I'll have to think this one over.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Normandie on July 07, 2022, 05:46:41 PM
I'll start with...............Tommy & Exile On Main St.

I never heard Tommy in its entirety either, just the songs from the LP that were played on FM radio which weren't very many.

Yeah I can’t recall ever listening to Tommy all the way through.

You all are really missing something—in my fanatical Who opinion, anyway.  ;)  I have Tommy memorized.

I found this excerpt from an interview with Pete Townshend about Pinball Wizard and thought the musicians here may find interesting:

Building the melody around an old symphonic piece that Townshend discovered around the time of recording, he later told Guitar World: “The chordal structure for the intro was inspired by [English Baroque composer] Henry Purcell, who did this very short piece called ‘Symphony Upon One Note’. It’s a very plaintive piece, almost like the [20th-century US composer] Samuel Barber composition ‘Adagio for Strings’, only the Purcell piece was written in 1600 or something. A single bowed note runs throughout that whole piece”.

Townshend added: “I found that a stunning thing to call upon while I was in the process of writing ‘Pinball Wizard.’ I analysed every single chord, and found ways to play them on guitar. I attempted the same mock baroque guitar beginning that’s on ‘I’m a Boy’ and then a bit of vigorous kind of flamenco guitar. I was just grabbing at ideas, I knocked a demo together and took it to the studio, and everyone loved it. Damon Lyon-Shaw (the engineer on Tommy) said, ‘Pete, that’s a hit.’

And this, about Pinball Wizard, but I'd always heard this in relation to Squeeze Box. This confuses me because I don't see any double entendre in Pinball Wizard. Maybe I'm naively missing something.

Despite the somewhat poetic process of creation, Townshend has, over time, slowly distanced himself from the track somewhat, watering down the significance of its creation. “[The song was] Intended as a poorly aimed dirty joke,” Townshend shared in the liner notes for his compilation album Scoop. “I had bought myself an accordion and learned to play it one afternoon. The polka-esque rhythm I managed to produce from it brought forth this song. Amazingly recorded by The Who to my disbelief. Further incredulity was caused when it became a hit for us in the USA.”
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: zipp on July 07, 2022, 08:01:40 PM
It's so easy nowadays to hear an album for free on internet that not hearing a specific album is a voluntary decision.

So if you can't be bothered to listen to a "classic" album then you obviously don't really consider it to be a classic album.

Or you're just trying to stand out from the crowd.

Either way it's the expression of a self-inflicted limited vision of musical excellence or the expression of total distrust of the current ethos.

Which is to say that it's nothing to do with the actual album itself.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: nimrod on July 08, 2022, 12:02:59 AM
It's so easy nowadays to hear an album for free on internet that not hearing a specific album is a voluntary decision.

So if you can't be bothered to listen to a "classic" album then you obviously don't really consider it to be a classic album.

Or you're just trying to stand out from the crowd.

Either way it's the expression of a self-inflicted limited vision of musical excellence or the expression of total distrust of the current ethos.

Which is to say that it's nothing to do with the actual album itself.

Kind of agree, kind of don't agree.

I liked The Stones Sticky Fingers album. Some nice country rock and some nice R & B. When it came to Exile I knew the single Tumbling Dice which I thought was not a bad song. However when I heard the track Rip This Joint and another one (can't remember) I did'nt like the overall "feel" ...not really my type of music, quite heavy and unmelodic. I see it's regarded as a classic and is usually in best album lists quite high up.

Tommy, I knew the single Pinball Wizard of course but the crappy looking movie put me right off the project. It just didn't appeal (like Exile). I'm not a Who fan anyway (not keen on the members tbh). So I gave it a miss (this included all the Who albums). I really don't like guys who smash guitars and amplifiers up, smash hotel rooms, drum kits, throw tv's out the window, (Keith Moon) to me they're just spoilt brats who don't know the value of things.
I would've died for a Fender Strat as a broke 18 years old and here was Townsend smashing them up to show off, like "I'm so rich I can just smash expensive guitars whenever I want"............No thanks.

Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Moogmodule on July 08, 2022, 12:27:31 AM
I’m my case I’ve heard most albums  considered  classic at one time or another. With Pet Sounds even recently I put it on. But halfway through I took it off again. There’s obviously some great stuff but I was never the biggest fan of the Beach Boys sound. I could have just left it on I suppose
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 08, 2022, 03:51:17 AM
You all are really missing something—in my fanatical Who opinion, anyway.  ;)  I have Tommy memorized.

I found this excerpt from an interview with Pete Townshend about Pinball Wizard and thought the musicians here may find interesting:

Building the melody around an old symphonic piece that Townshend discovered around the time of recording, he later told Guitar World: “The chordal structure for the intro was inspired by [English Baroque composer] Henry Purcell, who did this very short piece called ‘Symphony Upon One Note’. It’s a very plaintive piece, almost like the [20th-century US composer] Samuel Barber composition ‘Adagio for Strings’, only the Purcell piece was written in 1600 or something. A single bowed note runs throughout that whole piece”.

Townshend added: “I found that a stunning thing to call upon while I was in the process of writing ‘Pinball Wizard.’ I analysed every single chord, and found ways to play them on guitar. I attempted the same mock baroque guitar beginning that’s on ‘I’m a Boy’ and then a bit of vigorous kind of flamenco guitar. I was just grabbing at ideas, I knocked a demo together and took it to the studio, and everyone loved it. Damon Lyon-Shaw (the engineer on Tommy) said, ‘Pete, that’s a hit.’

And this, about Pinball Wizard, but I'd always heard this in relation to Squeeze Box. This confuses me because I don't see any double entendre in Pinball Wizard. Maybe I'm naively missing something.

Despite the somewhat poetic process of creation, Townshend has, over time, slowly distanced himself from the track somewhat, watering down the significance of its creation. “[The song was] Intended as a poorly aimed dirty joke,” Townshend shared in the liner notes for his compilation album Scoop. “I had bought myself an accordion and learned to play it one afternoon. The polka-esque rhythm I managed to produce from it brought forth this song. Amazingly recorded by The Who to my disbelief. Further incredulity was caused when it became a hit for us in the USA.”


I can see where Fantasia Upon One Note served as an inspiration for Pinball Wizard...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGwQo0qlG38# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGwQo0qlG38#)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrDpx7zLtA# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrDpx7zLtA#)

...but I don't see any "poorly aimed dirty joke" or double entendre.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 08, 2022, 04:27:24 AM
Tommy, I knew the single Pinball Wizard of course but the crappy looking movie put me right off the project.

The only movie I ever walked out on, right after Tina Turner's lip spasms.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Normandie on July 08, 2022, 02:12:41 PM
It's so easy nowadays to hear an album for free on internet that not hearing a specific album is a voluntary decision.

This tendency makes me a little sad, thinking that the younger generations will never know the joy of listening to entire albums start to finish. I can't (well, won't) listen to Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road broken into individual songs that are scattered throughout my playlist. There are other examples of this besides the Beatles, of course. I'm not sure if that's what you meant, zipp.

I really don't like guys who smash guitars and amplifiers up, smash hotel rooms, drum kits, throw tv's out the window, (Keith Moon) to me they're just spoilt brats who don't know the value of things.
I would've died for a Fender Strat as a broke 18 years old and here was Townsend smashing them up to show off, like "I'm so rich I can just smash expensive guitars whenever I want"............No thanks.

Just as a trivia point—and not to argue with you—the guitar smashing stuff started by accident, and out of anger. One night the neck of one of Pete Townshend's guitars got stuck in the low ceiling of the club where the band was playing. He was so fed up and annoyed that he yanked the neck out and started angrily bashing the guitar onto the stage floor. Apparently the audience went wild, so he kept doing this. If I recall correctly, the band didn't get into the black until Tommy because of this habit. I agree that it's wasteful.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Normandie on July 08, 2022, 02:15:32 PM
I’m my case I’ve heard most albums  considered  classic at one time or another. With Pet Sounds even recently I put it on. But halfway through I took it off again. There’s obviously some great stuff but I was never the biggest fan of the Beach Boys sound. I could have just left it on I suppose

Pet Sounds took literally years to grow on me. I remember excitedly buying it after hearing Paul rave about it, and I was so disappointed at that time. I was expecting to be blown away, and I wasn't. I can appreciate it more now, but I too am not a big Beach Boys fan.

The only movie I ever walked out on, right after Tina Turner's lip spasms.

It is a very strange movie. I've watched it only a handful of times. The first time I watched it, I was 14, and it confused the heck out of me.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Loco Mo on July 08, 2022, 02:39:25 PM
Well, I've never listened to a Bob Dylan album in its entirety.  I haven't listened to most of the Rolling Stones albums.  Seems like I listened mostly to the "hits" over the albums of most artists I've liked.

Lots of them I had to force myself to listen to a whole album because a lot of the songs seemed more like filler than anything super good to listen to.

An exception for me would be Steely Dan.  I don't know if there's a song I don't like.  But I've listened to all their albums.

Could any Frank Zappa album be called "classic?"  I listened to Joe's Garage but nothing beyond that (if I can trust my memory).  Sometimes I've listened to an album once but never again.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: tkitna on July 08, 2022, 05:33:56 PM
Looking over a few top classic rock albums of all time lists, i've come up with these -

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
Van Morrison - Moondance
Judas Priest - British Steel
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Radiohead - Ok Computer (I've tried, but just cant do it)
Green Day - American Idiot

That was after looking at four different lists.  I'm grasping at straws.  A better question would be, "What classic album have you listened to that you would never listen to again"?  My list would be tremendous.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 08, 2022, 09:00:18 PM
Looking over a few top classic rock albums of all time lists, i've come up with these -

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
Van Morrison - Moondance
Judas Priest - British Steel
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Radiohead - Ok Computer (I've tried, but just cant do it)
Green Day - American Idiot

That was after looking at four different lists.  I'm grasping at straws.  A better question would be, "What classic album have you listened to that you would never listen to again"?  My list would be tremendous.


I never even heard of Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Radiohead and Green Day.  I guess I'm...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXP1MSFwMnc# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXP1MSFwMnc#)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWBSmfZTi4s# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWBSmfZTi4s#)

 :(
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Normandie on July 08, 2022, 09:11:32 PM
It's so easy nowadays to hear an album for free on internet that not hearing a specific album is a voluntary decision.

I see I did miss your point on this, zipp. I should have read more carefully.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 08, 2022, 09:42:10 PM
It's so easy nowadays to hear an album for free on internet that not hearing a specific album is a voluntary decision.

So if you can't be bothered to listen to a "classic" album then you obviously don't really consider it to be a classic album.

Or you're just trying to stand out from the crowd.

Either way it's the expression of a self-inflicted limited vision of musical excellence or the expression of total distrust of the current ethos.

Which is to say that it's nothing to do with the actual album itself.

I think you nailed it zipp.  These "classic" lists are opinionated.

I guess I shouldn't feel sad being out of time and left out, out of there without a doubt after all.  :)
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 08, 2022, 09:43:56 PM
Ditto on Exile Main Street. Also, Blonde on Blonde.

Now my generation would feel differently.  We welcomed Blonde on Blonde as Bob Dylan was leading the way from folk to folk rock.  And it was a two-LP album which was novel at the time.

Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. let us know that after The Beatles broke up, we still had The Rolling Stones.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Normandie on July 08, 2022, 10:03:56 PM
Now my generation would feel differently. 

Well, to clarify, I wasn't saying that I don't like Blonde on Blonde or Dylan's work, just that it's an example of a classic album that I haven't listened to in its entirety. As with the "Bands That You Never Got Into" thread, it's not a criticism of Bob Dylan, just a fact. One that I should probably rectify.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: nimrod on July 08, 2022, 11:42:22 PM
OK Computer by Radiohead is nearly always a top 3 album in these lists. Some lists are voted by the public so not some critics opinion.
I've never heard it.
I did like the single Paranoid Android though so maybe it deserves a listen. :)

I'm just listening to Rumours. A classic that deserves it's status imo. However, Pink Floyd albums always seem overrated imo.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Moogmodule on July 09, 2022, 12:04:34 AM
OK Computer is a good album. One of the few bands of the 90s I got into.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 09, 2022, 12:39:49 AM
Well, to clarify, I wasn't saying that I don't like Blonde on Blonde or Dylan's work, just that it's an example of a classic album that I haven't listened to in its entirety.


It might still be a generation thing.  The release of Blonde on Blonde coincided with my being in the Folk Music Workshop when I was in high school...


(https://i.postimg.cc/jK6QB3zL/0083.jpg)


No, I'm not in the picture.  I'm not sure where I was that day.  I was probably out horseback riding.  I was in the riding club too but our picture never made it into the yearbook.  Anyway, we dissected Blonde on Blonde and learned many of the songs on that album.  I had a Guild F-30 guitar in those days.  We did notice that Fourth Time Around sounded a bit like Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).  And that was without any internet to research...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSIboHqtXY# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSIboHqtXY#)

We were onto something!    ;D
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 09, 2022, 12:41:21 AM
I'm just listening to Rumours. A classic that deserves it's status imo.

I agree, Kev.  It was one of the very few LPs I bought in the 1970s.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: stevie on July 28, 2022, 05:52:35 AM
Lol I bought Blonde On Blonde in the early 80’s. Only because I ‘felt’ I had to own it as it was considered a classic album. The only song I liked was Memphis Blues Again lol
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Loco Mo on July 29, 2022, 02:38:04 AM
Stevie: Rainy Day Women is a classic from that album.  I like it a lot.  Bob laughs a lot while singing it. I don't know if he thought the lyrics were funny or it was something else that made him laugh.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 29, 2022, 03:54:06 AM
Loco, the musicians and crew in the studio were providing background laughter and comments.  I'm sure that and their antics made him laugh.  Or he might have thrown in a few laughs just because he wanted to.

Here's the rehearsal and the finished track...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLQyzWCHT0Q# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLQyzWCHT0Q#)


Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Moogmodule on July 29, 2022, 06:26:21 AM
Love Blonde on Blonde.

One of Us Most Know, Visions of Johanna, Absolutely Sweet Marie, I Want You, Stuck inside of Mobile….. some of my favourite Bob stuff.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Loco Mo on July 29, 2022, 08:59:36 PM
Thanks for the info, Hello Goodbye.  The band really kicked in on the outtake after putzing around and bantering back and forth a while.  Just goes to show how good and professional they were.

I want to note that while listening to the album this time around, "Obviously Five Believers" reminded me of a Beatles song.  After thinking about it for a while, I think it is similar to "Leave my kitten alone."  I need someone else to hear this to confirm or is it another song?

It's often been stated that Bob was an influence on Lennon's songwriting.  I will have to listen to the album again because there was a song that sounded Lennon-like to me, but I can't remember which one.

I remember from the time (decade) that some people preferred Dylan to the Beatles about the time of Sgt Pepper or shortly thereafter.  I think it's interesting that some fans who didn't like the Beatles later stage of musical development somehow liked Dylan's musical style because I don't think it compared to the early Beatles in any way.  Maybe I'm wrong about this.
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Hello Goodbye on July 29, 2022, 10:28:43 PM
I want to note that while listening to the album this time around, "Obviously Five Believers" reminded me of a Beatles song.  After thinking about it for a while, I think it is similar to "Leave my kitten alone."  I need someone else to hear this to confirm or is it another song?


I think so too, Loco.  They're both fine R&B rockers.



It's often been stated that Bob was an influence on Lennon's songwriting.  I will have to listen to the album again because there was a song that sounded Lennon-like to me, but I can't remember which one.


You're thinking of Bob Dylan's answer song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSIboHqtXY# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSIboHqtXY#)


...to The Beatles'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_V6y1ZCg_8# (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_V6y1ZCg_8#)
Title: Re: What "classic" albums have you never heard ?
Post by: Moogmodule on July 29, 2022, 10:48:17 PM

It's often been stated that Bob was an influence on Lennon's songwriting.  I will have to listen to the album again because there was a song that sounded Lennon-like to me, but I can't remember which one.


Dylan’s influence on Lennon is thought to be as early as I’m a Loser on Beatles for Sale. Lennon himself said You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away on Help was him trying to do Dylan.