The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)

[Saddleworth2]

1971 was a good year, predates me but had some really iconic albums.

That was the year I would have bid for mate. Unbelievable quality across multiple genres.

 

[Saddleworth2]

As it's broadly similar to yours. I might as well say now that the idea I had a few weeks back was: Rock Evolution.

The way this would work is that for each two-week cycle, one person would pick 5 tracks from a year and people would nominate their own favourites from that year. We'd have the usual discussion but no voting.

This would work in chronological order, starting with the birth of Rock N Roll in 1955, working right up to the present day. i.e, it would be a 3-year project. (Maybe we'd have a pre-section covering everything before 1955 and maybe 1955-1959 could be covered in one session).

The idea of doing it in chronological order would be that we would all get to hear the advances in the order they happened. i.e. when did psychedelic music first appear? What was the effect of punk? What about the advance in synths and the appearance of rap? Did grunge really first appear in 1991 or would somebody come up with a grunge track in 1987 etc.

I'm not saying we should do this instead of your idea, just floating the concept for discussion as it was similar to yours. With the focus being on tracks, it's more easily digestible, but as you say, in your setup, there would be no requirement to listen to whole albums, just sample some songs from each.

It is very similar Rob. Maybe possible to use elements of both? The one drawback off the top of my head is if you do it in chronological order divided between the usual suspects, invariably we will get a year/s that we have little knowledge or love for. My sweet spot would be mid 60s to mid 70s. Pretty clueless after 2000 though. Whilst it’s nit a showstopper it is a consideration. If you can recruit 50+ who take a year they like and give complete coverage then problem solved but is that realistic? Anyway, you are the man on this thread and I’m happy to go with whatever you decide. Whatever we do, I like the focus on a year, what happened? What was released? Who emerged to become significant, who toured? What impact did the music that year have on the wider world.
It’s a fascinating subject.

 

[bennyboy]

Has a separate thread been discussed.
Not wanting to clog this thread up.

 

[Blumooniac]

You are more than qualified to talk about Steve Earle, and you've already written the review, so feel free to submit a score out of 10 for this album.

My Steve Earle listening/buying follows a strange pattern: after he disappeared from the scene due to drugs and jail, I missed his first album back Train a Comin but bought his next two: I Feel Alright, as I said yesterday is one of his best, and El Corazon was pretty good too.

For some reason, I then stopped buying and listening, so I missed Transcendental Blues, Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts Now. When Spotify appeared, I was able to catch up on these but only played them once through. I repeated them all yesterday and whilst i don't think they stand up to my favourites, there are some great tracks on all of those albums.

I got back into him with the Washington Square Serenade album and bought that and the next two, and I also enjoyed listening to Ghosts of West Virginia during lockdown.

There's probably some decent stuff I've missed from him because I don't bother with all the cover albums he does but overall he has an amazing back catalogue. It's when somebody nominates something like this that gets you back listening to some stuff you haven't heard for years, although I play "Copperhead Road" fairly often because it's one of my favourite songs of all time.

Guitar Town was, I guess, my first taste of Americana which later took me to Ryan Adams, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, The Truckers et al.

Bought it the week it came out from, IIRC, Piccadilly Records. I seem to remember Andy Kershaw championing him, along with Robert Cray, but I could be wrong. Played it to death. Back then it would've been a 9/10. Now, It's a 6/10. Didn't like his later stuff.

Heartbreaker, by Adams, had the same affect on me the first Van Halen album did, in 1978, when I was 13. Lol. It's a classic. Is he still cancelled lol? Saw him on that tour at the Academy 2 and it remains a highlight of nearly 50 years of gigs. Everyone on this thread should give it a listen.

Great thread, Rob, and all other contributors.

 

[bennyboy]

Guitar Town was, I guess, my first taste of Americana which later took me to Ryan Adams, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, The Truckers et al.

Bought it the week it came out from, IIRC, Piccadilly Records. I seem to remember Andy Kershaw championing him, along with Robert Cray, but I could be wrong. Played it to death. Back then it would've been a 9/10. Now, It's a 6/10. Didn't like his later stuff.

Heartbreaker, by Adams, had the same affect on me the first Van Halen album did, in 1978, when I was 13. Lol. It's a classic. Is he still cancelled lol? Saw him on that tour at the Academy 2 and it remains a highlight of my 50 years of gigs. Everyone on this thread should give it a listen.

Great thread, Rob.

Whiskeytown my first group from the above.Ryan Adams first came to the fore through them.
Car Wheels by Lucinda Williams and Southern Rock Opera bt The Drive By Truckers I put forward in my first few picks.
Lucinda still in the top 20.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Has a separate thread been discussed.
Not wanting to clog this thread up.

Most folk (including myself) wanted this on a separate thread but having thought about it more carefully I would like it to be part of this thread at the end of a cycle (replacing the usual guessing game as a one off). This would make sure there was no time contention as this will take time and I don't think it would succeed if launched parallel to the album thread. Also launching as a separate thread runs the risk of it dying a death or attracting large numbers and making the thing unmanageable. Most importantly, if its done as part of this thread it maximises the chances of you all participating and given the high quality evident weekly on here, I just think keeping it on here would make for a far richer outcome.

It's part of the wider discussion on the best way to take this forward. See also Robs suggestion a page or so back.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

I was thinking all along this would be a separate thread and 5 sounded good for me. I think having this here would clutter up and take away from the singular album which we cover and focus on, and I don't want to be meddling or distracting from the current album at hand either (beyond which a Rolling Stone article on a particular instrument and the like will occasionally do).

Has a separate thread been discussed.
Not wanting to clog this thread up.

Someone might have mentioned it...?

 

[mrbelfry]

It's part of the wider discussion on the best way to take this forward. See also Robs suggestion a page or so back.

Weirdly today's 9320 podcast is about the best musical year. Their picks are 1971, 84 or 91

 

[BlueHammer85]

Has a separate thread been discussed.
Not wanting to clog this thread up.

If it's any consolation, my last nomination had about 30 page debate of best guitarist ever.

 

[RobMCFC]

It is very similar Rob. Maybe possible to use elements of both? The one drawback off the top of my head is if you do it in chronological order divided between the usual suspects, invariably we will get a year/s that we have little knowledge or love for. My sweet spot would be mid 60s to mid 70s. Pretty clueless after 2000 though. Whilst it’s nit a showstopper it is a consideration. If you can recruit 50+ who take a year they like and give complete coverage then problem solved but is that realistic? Anyway, you are the man on this thread and I’m happy to go with whatever you decide. Whatever we do, I like the focus on a year, what happened? What was released? Who emerged to become significant, who toured? What impact did the music that year have on the wider world.
It’s a fascinating subject.

Yeah, the whole idea of evolution from the basic rock n roll to where we are now, year by year, was what first sparked my interest in creating something new. I know we'd get some fantastic contributions from the regulars and undoubtedly elsewhere.

Whilst my initial idea was singles or songs that are significant, there's no reason why the current week's "showrunner" (for want of a better title) couldn't list 5 albums and 5 songs - in many cases there would be overlaps - and others do the same.

I just think that the idea of running chronologically will really pay off. How many times have people said stuff like "well, I've heard this all before - it's nothing new". This way, we'd see the new styles being slowly (or in some cases spectacularly) introduced as we move forward.

I wouldn't run it as a fixed order - like you said, it would make far more sense for somebody who has a desire to take a certain year to run that.But those of us how enjoy research could do any year, then put forward the best of what's been found (plus the odd personal favourite) and all other contributors will quickly correct them if they've made a glaring omission!

Has a separate thread been discussed.
Not wanting to clog this thread up.

This will run in a separate thread - I think Saddleworth2 is right in that this is the best place to get peoples attention and ideas, although I don't want it to clog up the thread. Apologies to @Mancitydoogle, but as you can see, there is a fair bit of Steve Earle discussion going on anyway,

Heartbreaker, by Adams, had the same affect on me the first Van Halen album did, in 1978, when I was 13. Lol. It's a classic. Is he still cancelled lol? Saw him on that tour at the Academy 2 and it remains a highlight of my 50 years of gigs. Everyone on this thread should give it a listen.

Great thread, Rob, and all other contributors.

Thanks, glad you are getting involved.

Yes, I know Heartrbreaker - a good album, though there are a few Ryan Adams albums I like better.