The Album Review Club - Week #196 (page 1316) - Aja - Steely Dan

FogBlueInSanFran said:
Well . . . . if The Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and Who are the "greatest" classic rock bands of the late 60s and 70s (and many would argue all-time), who are four "greatest" post-punk/pre-grunge bands of the 80s? Would someone make a case for U2, REM, The Police and Talking Heads?

This is not to open a can of worms (I know a lot of folks dislike one or all of those four 80s bands) -- just trying to draw a parallel at the number 4.
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whilst I can reasonably happily listen to a little bit of any of those 80's bands without wanting to cut off my ears, trying to draw a parallel is a bit like comparing 5.5% real ale with alcohol free lager, sorry
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Well . . . . if The Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and Who are the "greatest" classic rock bands of the late 60s and 70s (and many would argue all-time), who are four "greatest" post-punk/pre-grunge bands of the 80s? Would someone make a case for U2, REM, The Police and Talking Heads?

This is not to open a can of worms (I know a lot of folks dislike one or all of those four 80s bands) -- just trying to draw a parallel at the number 4.
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The Smiths, REM, Talking Heads maybe, The Stone Roses, Depeche Mode, The Cure. Don't think The Police or U2 would feature.
 
Chesterbells says it best for me regarding a dip in quality song for song in 3 &4 however Bron-Y-Aur ( a master stroke to play a short Scottish folk instrumental with only acoustic , bass and spoons to hear in effect after a longish intro track to side 3) , the Wanton Song and Boogie with Stu would grace any album they made and IMO make the double album more than hold its own as a double album.

Their version of In My Time of Dying cheekily got them line credits but its such a departure from Dylan's shorter earlier version and his inspiration from the traditional gospel blues from Blind Willie Johnson it gets my nod as a Led Zeppelin original and for me its in my top 3 all time Zeppelin songs.

I am sure I have listened to it over 1000 times in its entirety and I never grow tired of it as I do with some of my other favourites that I come back to when required.

Amazing band at the peak of their powers in 1974/75 that have given me so much enjoyment for so many years when alone and with people I hold dear to me and I didn't need to get high to get high on this album which for me says a lot about the brilliance of the sound and the musicianship of the four members the obvious stand out as the forerunners of heavy metal with their brilliant and clever mix of blues and folk and hard rock throughout this album.

Side 2 as fog has already said speaks for itself as pure musical genius.

I have to put it above as a rating over Fogs pick as much as I love listening to and enjoy the Replacements and have for over 35 years now so its a 10/10 for me but if half points were allowed it would be 9.5 because its not perfection for me at least even for Led Zep as great a band that they are.

Great choice OB1 I would have been more than happy the untitled number 4 but its clear to me they have with this a stand out of their rich and varied catalogue given you some of your most enjoyable hopefully inspirational music you have had the pleasure to listen to and I can say honestly hand on heart they have likewise for me.
 
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YES.

Yes. Yes. YES.

This is the best album by the best band that ever existed.

Ten Years Gone is possibly my favourite moment in music. The Rover is one of the best riffs ever. In The Light does things in my belly. Night Flight makes me stop whatever I was doing. Sick Again just makes me want to play it all over again.

I LOVE THIS RECORD.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Well . . . . if The Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and Who are the "greatest" classic rock bands of the late 60s and 70s (and many would argue all-time), who are four "greatest" post-punk/pre-grunge bands of the 80s? Would someone make a case for U2, REM, The Police and Talking Heads?

This is not to open a can of worms (I know a lot of folks dislike one or all of those four 80s bands) -- just trying to draw a parallel at the number 4.
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Wow - it's like a who's who of who I don't want to listen to............ ;-)
 
Stuuuuuu said:
YES.

Yes. Yes. YES.

This is the best album by the best band that ever existed.

Ten Years Gone is possibly my favourite moment in music. The Rover is one of the best riffs ever. In The Light does things in my belly. Night Flight makes me stop whatever I was doing. Sick Again just makes me want to play it all over again.

I LOVE THIS RECORD.
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Solid 4/10?
 
Stuuuuuu said:
YES.

Yes. Yes. YES.

This is the best album by the best band that ever existed.

Ten Years Gone is possibly my favourite moment in music. The Rover is one of the best riffs ever. In The Light does things in my belly. Night Flight makes me stop whatever I was doing. Sick Again just makes me want to play it all over again.

I LOVE THIS RECORD.
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Are you giving us a score, @Stuuuuuu (or are you too busy boogying?)
 
On a separate note Plant was in the local Indian by me while my missus was in there a couple of Thursdays ago and offered them a cake they didn't want on his table. He was in there on what they call "Happy Days" which is the cheap special night. Obviously tighter than those jeans he used to wear. She said he was a smooth bastard
 
nickmcfc1 said:
On a separate note Plant was in the local Indian by me while my missus was in there a couple of Thursdays ago and offered them a cake they didn't want on his table. He was in there on what they call "Happy Days" which is the cheap special night. Obviously tighter than those jeans he used to wear. She said he was a smooth bastard
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download (5).jpeg
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Smiths maybe. Depeche Mode in with a shout. The Cure — possibly. But Stone Roses? Two records? No way, as much as I love the first one.
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Again have to concur with Fog on this one and despite their commercial success in the nineties REM set the scene in the eighties with their best material and it was consistent over 6 albums.

I would have Blondie well ahead of the Smiths for Autoamerican and The Hunter alone if t came down to two albums and some of Eat to the Beat wasn't played in nightclubs etc until well into 1980.
 
bennyboy said:
Smith's,Bunnymen,New Order and Tom Petty.
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Petty is fair. I was thinking more new wavey bands though. I mean personally I would say New Order since they’re my favo(u)rite band of all time but they didn’t have quite the spread of the other four. Also this could be an Yank v Brit thing. The four bands I mentioned were ludicrously popular here (esp. the three who aren’t TH). That Brits overrate late REM has always been odd to me; I agree with @mancity1 above.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Petty is fair. I was thinking more new wavey bands though. I mean personally I would say New Order since they’re my favo(u)rite band of all time but they didn’t have quite the spread of the other four. Also this could be an Yank v Brit thing. The four bands I mentioned were ludicrously popular here (esp. the three who aren’t TH). That Brits overrate late REM has always been odd to me; @mancity1 is correct above.
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How do you rate Monster Fog ?

I couldn't get much out of Out of Time and Automatic For the People and I assume of course that nobody will choose Monster on this thread.
 
chesterbells said:
Wonderful album review from OB1, as per the other poster’s comments. And like probably everyone else who has read it, it’s got me desperate to dig it out again and play the album again too.
It seems churlish to take issue with anything in tbh, as I basically agree. However, this being a forum an’ all, I guess I might as well.
1) I had it for ages on a single AD 90 TDK tape, and would always play side one of the tape, but just FF the second side. Like others have posted, I think sides 3&4 are more uneven, and the quality dips, with some ‘throwaway’ tracks. For that reason it’s a 9/10 album for me. If they’d just released sides 1&2 as a single album then it would be 10/10.
2) re the comment about Kashmir, great track that it is, for epic sounds, I actually prefer Stargazer. Even though possibly, ahem, inspired by Kashmir, that Rainbow track is unsurpassed in terms of lyrics, vocal performance, instrument playing and orchestration. They say Phil Spector created the Wall of Sound, well that track for me has it and then some.
3) ob1’s frequent mentions of layering of guitar sounds just kinda reinforces my view about how Zeppelin really were masters of the studio recording, but that with technology as it was in the 70s they would have benefited so, so much from having an additional musician tour with them live. Floyd did it to fantastic effect with Snowy White, and I don’t know if it was the band or Grant being money-minded, or an ego thing from Page, but to do justice to these off-the-scale studio tracks live they needed it, imho.

Anyway as I said, cheers @OB1 - a pleasure to read :-)
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I agree almost completely.
 
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