Perfect albums
Sheila was asking about perfect albums. That is, albums that you want to listen to in their entirety, in order, because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, because it tells a story. I think of the Kinks' concept albums as perfect in this sense, the best one being The Village Green Preservation Society. I love that album. I think of Tattoo You in that way, too. I appreciate the order and the flow of it. Generation X used to be my favorite album, as a whole. And I always wanted to listen to Exodus from beginning to end.
posted by fortuna at 10:46 PM
9 Comments:
Tommy
I don't think I ever listened to Tommy. Not part of my pantheon, I'm afraid.
I think of albums that have a strong atmosphere and mood.
Looking at the CD's I have at my desk I'd mention
Ziggy Stardust
Soft Commands (the new Ken Stringfellow album)
Faust (Randy Newman)
Disraeli Gears
Return to the Land (Gordon Bok)
Yeah, Ziggy Stardust, absolutely. A uniformity of theme helps. The others on your list I'm not familiar with.
The list was deliberately eccelectic, so I assumed you wouldn't know all of them. But I'm surprised that you aren't familiar with Disraeli Gears which is the best known of the group.
I would recommend all of the albums (of course, since I'm listing them as "perfect" albums).
In general order of preference
Faust is Randy Newman's humorous concept album featuring Randy Newman as the Devil, James Taylor as the lord, etc. . . and is very very funny. You can read the liner notes here (scroll down) and that should give you a sense of whether it's to your taste.
Gordon Bok is one of the few contemporary singer / songwriters that could reasonably be described as writing "folk music" rather than "singer/songwriter" He's a Maine sailor (one of his albums is subtitled "songs of the Maine coast) and his songs draw on a strong sense of tradition, both musically and the traditions of a place and culture. He's a wonderful singer and guitar player. He's somewhat emotionally reserved and the music tends more to the "pretty" rather than the emotive, but it's fantastic music.
The Ken Stringfellow is a newer album and I'm sure that to some degree my praise is based on the fact that my initial enthusiasm hasn't entirely worn off yet. Ken was one of the founders of the Posies -- on the of premier "power-pop" bands of the 90's and had influences ranging from Big Star to Elvis Costello. Soft Commands is a solo album that sounds quite different, but has some of the same influences. I think it has a great, timeless, pop feel and can be completely enveloping (hence its inclusion on the list)
Disraeli Gears is widely considered to be Cream's masterpiece. Despite the presence of Eric Clapton it is quite good. I am particularly fond of Ginger Baker's drumming and I even like Jack Bruce's singing.
Hey Anne! The first of many "Kinks" essays is now live on my site. I think you'll get a kick out of it.
I see. I'm not feeling so "Bring it" now.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be pushy.
I just wanted to give you enough information that if you do decide to look up any of those albums you would have some sense of which would be most likely to appeal to you.
I enjoy recommending music that I like, I know most people aren't actively looking for new music to listen to so I have no expectations that you (or anyone) will care.
Nick - I am, fortunately or unfortunately, no rock critic. Every musichead I know scoffs at me because I tend to like rock stars because they're pretty.
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