[analogika]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Aw, well... at the risk of sounding completely retarded, I think sometimes the filler helps highlight the strong stuff. This coming from someone who can't truly think of a single CD I can always listen to front to back.

Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is the first one that comes to mind, here, and there's *plenty* of others.

It used to be expected that an artist can hold your attention for 45 minutes.

How do you get through concerts?

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is the first one that comes to mind, here, and there's *plenty* of others.

Not for me. I was repondering this the other day and came to the conclusion Dig Your Own Hole is the closest thing I own. Anyway, analogika, I'm not sure this discussion is worth your time, as we come from such disparate styles. You are a musician (giving you a different insight), and a purist, from what I recall (You only listen to albums, straight through and completely).

Originally Posted by analogika 

It used to be expected that an artist can hold your attention for 45 minutes.

For what, a decade and half, two decades? Everything I've read indicates that before the Beatles and Beach Boys albums were mostly singles and filler.

Originally Posted by analogika 

How do you get through concerts?

Interesting assumption there.

[sek929]

The only album I can listen to all the way through, no matter the circumstance, is probably Ænima.

[Dakar V]

What a Tool.
I am teh clevar

[- - e r i k - -]

Good grief. I could hardly get through a Tool song, let alone a whole album.

[Oisín]

I’m pretty sure I could always, no matter the circumstances, listen to Eivør Pálsdóttir’s Krákan from start to finish. Possibly Faye Wong’s 将爱, too. I can’t really think of anything else either, though. Everything else seems to have at least one song that’s not ‘universal’, so to speak. There are plenty of albums that I can (and do) listen to from a to z at times, but in certain moods, I’d probably end up skipping some songs on them.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

I’m pretty sure I could always, no matter the circumstances, listen to Eivør Pálsdóttir’s Krákan from start to finish. Possibly Faye Wong’s 将爱, too. I can’t really think of anything else either, though. Everything else seems to have at least one song that’s not ‘universal’, so to speak. There are plenty of albums that I can (and do) listen to from a to z at times, but in certain moods, I’d probably end up skipping some songs on them.

Here's an idea, everyone. Name one album that doesn't have one below-average song on it.

If you can name more than three, I'll give you one million MacNN user points.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Here's an idea, everyone. Name one album that doesn't have one below-average song on it.

If you can name more than three, I'll give you one million MacNN user points.

That all depends on personal taste (obviously). I can definitely name more than 3 that qualify IMO.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Here's an idea, everyone. Name one album that doesn't have one below-average song on it.

If you can name more than three, I'll give you one million MacNN user points.

Good luck getting consensus. Which is twice as fun giving the differing musical tastes in here.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

That all depends on personal taste (obviously). I can definitely name more than 3 that qualify IMO.

If one of them is Viva la Vida, you die.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Not for me. I was repondering this the other day and came to the conclusion Dig Your Own Hole is the closest thing I own. Anyway, analogika, I'm not sure this discussion is worth your time, as we come from such disparate styles. You are a musician (giving you a different insight), and a purist, from what I recall (You only listen to albums, straight through and completely).

Not exclusively, but yes - I enjoy the trip, if the artist (or the producer) is capable of providing one.

(And actually, quite often, it's twenty minutes - vinyl is extremely gracious in offering the choice every half-side.)

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

For what, a decade and half, two decades? Everything I've read indicates that before the Beatles and Beach Boys albums were mostly singles and filler.

Apart from the fact that long-players didn't *exist* until just fifteen years before the Beatles, and didn't become the dominant format until the early/mid '50s...

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Here's an idea, everyone. Name one album that doesn't have one below-average song on it.

If you can name more than three, I'll give you one million MacNN user points.

That's an utterly silly request.

What's "below average"? Below average of the album? Below the artist's? Below that of the industry (that would instantly qualify thousands of albums)? Below yours?

I'll take the definition as an album that contains no tracks that make you want to reach for the "skip" button:

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon.
Pink Floyd - Animals
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Moloko - Statues
Kevin Gilbert - Thud
Bob Marley - Live at the Lycaeum
Bob Marly - Exodus
Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Plaid - not for threes

first off the top of my head.

Probably a couple dozen jazz albums I could follow up with, and plenty of funk. Not to mention Classical/modern classical. There's probably a couple hundred albums in my collection that qualify.

Another thing that makes this discussion patently useless is the fact that some songs only work in context.

An unbearably cheesy ballad might be a song you'd *never* hear on its own or in a shuffled stream, but it's set up perfectly for the slot between the high-intensity pathos of the number before and the pure energetic fire of the track that comes after it.

Or Pink Floyd's "On the Run", off the Dark Side - it doesn't make sense as an individual song, but it's the perfect transition between "Breathe" and "Time"

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

That all depends on personal taste (obviously). I can definitely name more than 3 that qualify IMO.

Do so and you'll receive your 1,000,000 MacNN user points in your account by tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Good luck getting consensus. Which is twice as fun giving the differing musical tastes in here.

You're a prophet.

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

If one of them is Viva la Vida, you die.

Nope. "42" and "Yes." Not bad, but definitely not great. And if anyone here is a Viva la Vida spaz, it's me.

Originally Posted by analogika 

That's an utterly silly request.

...

Yeah, probably.

What I meant was something closer to this: albums which don't have one song in which the quality is a half-step below the songs surrounding it. You really think all of those albums are 100% completely perfect?

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

What I meant was something closer to this: albums which don't have one song in which the quality is a half-step below the songs surrounding it. You really think all of those albums are 100% completely perfect?

Those 9 I listed? Pretty much, yeah. Insofar as there is any such thing as a "perfect" album.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Those 9 I listed? Pretty much, yeah. Insofar as there is any such thing as a "perfect" album.

That's pretty much what I was asking.

[analogika]

I don't think you're getting me.

There are imperfections in the singing, there's the odd effect panning left slightly too fast, there's the line that could have been phrased slightly differently, or the kick drum that could've used an extra 2dB at 80 Hz. There's decisions made in recording and mixing, the question of taste and the context of the time - the "Dark Side" was remastered in the mid-'90s to the hearing taste of that time, which completely changed (and ruined IMO) the character of the sound.

That kind of stuff.

If I understand you correctly, you're asking if there is any material on those albums that's sub-par.

There isn't.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by analogika 

I don't think you're getting me.

There are imperfections in the singing, there's the odd effect panning left slightly too fast, there's the line that could have been phrased slightly differently, or the kick drum that could've used an extra 2dB at 80 Hz. There's decisions made in recording and mixing, the question of taste and the context of the time - the "Dark Side" was remastered in the mid-'90s to the hearing taste of that time, which completely changed (and ruined IMO) the character of the sound.

Nahhh, nah, nah...

Not perfection in skill or technical application...perfection in art.

If I understand you correctly, you're asking if there is any material on those albums that's sub-par.

There isn't.

There we go.

[Oisín]

I don’t think I can think of a single album where there aren’t some songs before which I get that, “Oh, goodie, Song X is up next!”, and other songs before which I don’t. Not that the songs are in any way sub-par; there will just always be some songs that are more super-par than others.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

I don’t think I can think of a single album where there aren’t some songs before which I get that, “Oh, goodie, Song X is up next!”, and other songs before which I don’t. Not that the songs are in any way sub-par; there will just always be some songs that are more super-par than others.

See, I don't think that I've ever found an album in which there wasn't at least one song that felt just a slight notch below the rest of them.

Of course, these songs are more tolerable in context with the rest of the album (if the artist really knew how to structure things), but on every album that I own, there's always at least one song that I don't enjoy quite as much as the others.

I'll listen to an entire album all the way through (and enjoy it), but that doesn't mean I think the quality level remains 100% consistent throughout.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Not exclusively, but yes - I enjoy the trip, if the artist (or the producer) is capable of providing one.

I do so occasionally.

Originally Posted by analogika 

(And actually, quite often, it's twenty minutes - vinyl is extremely gracious in offering the choice every half-side.)

I'm not sure that really applies to what we're talking about here -- one side is only half an album (though it's obvious the Beatles payed a lot of attention to this concept)

Interesting side not, my father got me a record player for my first stereo, and it came equipped with technology that would scan the record before putting the needle on, determining where the tracks were based on the grooves, allowing you to skip and song you wanted. I abused the hell out of it.

Originally Posted by analogika 

Apart from the fact that long-players didn't *exist* until just fifteen years before the Beatles, and didn't become the dominant format until the early/mid '50s...

I think you're trying to make a point of some way I'm wrong here, but its not very clear.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon.
Pink Floyd - Animals
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Moloko - Statues
Kevin Gilbert - Thud
Bob Marley - Live at the Lycaeum
Bob Marly - Exodus
Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Plaid - not for threes

I absolutely struggled to get though Electric Ladyland the first time I listened to it. That would be the only one on your list I've listened to.

I think Magical Mystery Tour is as close as I can get, though I'm not particularly fond of Flying and Blue Jay Way a lot of days.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

See, I don't think that I've ever found an album in which there wasn't at least one song that felt just a slight notch below the rest of them.

Careful what you're asking for here... I don't think any album exists with song parity, and if it did, the very act would probably degrade the album beyond belief.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

If one of them is Viva la Vida, you die.

Well, I'm going to die anyway at some point, but no.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Nope. "42" and "Yes." Not bad, but definitely not great. And if anyone here is a Viva la Vida spaz, it's me.

Those are two of my favorites, especially "Yes." "Cemeteries in London" is the weakest link for me.

Do so and you'll receive your 1,000,000 MacNN user points in your account by tomorrow.

I could do that using only Stevie Wonder albums. Here's a quick list in chronological order:

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book
The Beatles - Rubber Soul*
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness' First Finale
Marvin Gaye - I Want You
The Isley Brothers - Harvest for the World
Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
Split Enz - True Colours
Duran Duran - Rio
a-ha - Hunting High and Low
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
The Cure - Disintegration
George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1
D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
Radiohead - The Bends

There aren't any tracks on those records that I feel the need to skip. "What Goes On" is easily my least-favorite track on Rubber Soul, but I enjoy it quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I absolutely struggled to get though Electric Ladyland the first time I listened to it. That would be the only one on your list I've listened to.

You've never heard Dark Side of the Moon or Exodus?

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

Those are two of my favorites, especially "Yes." "Cemeteries in London" is the weakest link for me.

I'm not crazy about the intro/verses to Cemeteries of London, but I do like the clappy "Singin' la la la la la..." parts. Simple but infectious.

Don't get me wrong; I don't dislike any song on the album. I just don't think those two I listed are quite as good as the others. The album is one of my favorites of the past 5 years, easily.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

You've never heard Dark Side of the Moon or Exodus?

Nope. I didn't and still don't know and big Floyd people growing up. I've tried some of the earlier stuff which was marked as more psychedelic, but it didn't move to try their later stuff. The 70s aren't my favorite era in music.

[analogika]

Dark side is 1973.

Exodus is Bob Marley.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Dark side is 1973.

...which falls under the 70s.
?

Originally Posted by analogika 

Exodus is Bob Marley.

Whoops.

You know, I think I'll get on that. I got introduced to Marley in college (Music to drink to in your room), but I've never had a definitive starting point to sample him from. I'll see if I can try him out next week. Superficially, it does seem like the kinda of music I'd need to be in the right kind of mood for.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

...which falls under the 70s.
?

That was in response to "their earlier stuff". "Earlier" in terms of their entire career, or "earlier" than DSotM?

DSotM marked the end of their "psychedelic" phase, as it were, so their early phase was over at this point, but for a band that still exists (technically) and has since the mid-sixties, it's still an "earlier" piece.

Just nit-picking, don't mind me.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by analogika 

That was in response to "their earlier stuff". "Earlier" in terms of their entire career, or "earlier" than DSotM?

DSotM marked the end of their "psychedelic" phase, as it were, so their early phase was over at this point, but for a band that still exists (technically) and has since the mid-sixties, it's still an "earlier" piece.

Just nit-picking, don't mind me.

I'll nitpick the nitpick by saying, you probably should have provided that info the first time, as I had already stated I was not that well versed in Floyd.

[Dakar V]

The only drawback to Hide & Seek is that after listening I have no idea what to follow it up with.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

The only drawback to Hide & Seek is that after listening I have no idea what to follow it up with.

John Cage - 4:33

[- - e r i k - -]

[Dakar V]

Think I owe this thread an update...

New song stuck in my head this week.

[- - e r i k - -]

Somebody discovered MGMT.

Check out the Justice remix of Electric Feel. I prefer it to the original.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Somebody discovered MGMT.

I have it rolling around for a month or two. Then I heard Electric Feel at the bar, and no one knew what it was. When I finally figured it out, it got it stuck in my head.

But I was referring to Beautiful Mine, anyway.

[Oisín]

Free cookie for anyone who guesses what I’ve been listening to like a madman this past month or so:


P.S.: I finally caved in.

[Dakar V]

How in God's name does it have 15k plays for a new account? Do they import your iTunes xml file or something now?

Edit : 525 plays for Madonna and only 1 Material Girl play. Unacceptable.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

How in God's name does it have 15k plays for a new account? Do they import your iTunes xml file or something now?

I guess so. I just downloaded the app, ran it, and it said I’ve played fifteen thousand songs today.

Edit : 525 plays for Madonna and only 1 Material Girl play. Unacceptable.

I had a feeling that might come back to bite me in the arse. “Material Girl” just happens to not be a favourite. I far prefer pretty much anything she did in the ’90s. Erotica, Bedtime Stories, and (especially) Ray of Light are good albums.

(Don’t ask me how Mariah Carey and Céline Dion got quite that many plays, though; I simply don’t know. I find it very odd that those two get so many plays when I only occasionally bother to listen to a song or two by them, while Eivør Pálsdóttir, who is one of my all-time favourite artists by whom I’d never skip a track, gets far less.)

[Dakar V]

Bedtime Stories is one of those albums I always mean to pick-up, but since I don't want to pay ****ing money, never do.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

I had a feeling that might come back to bite me in the arse. “Material Girl” just happens to not be a favourite. I far prefer pretty much anything she did in the ’90s. Erotica, Bedtime Stories, and (especially) Ray of Light are good albums.

For my money, her 3 best albums are definitely (in order) Ray of Light, Confessions on a Dance Floor, and Madonna.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Bedtime Stories is one of those albums I always mean to pick-up, but since I don't want to pay ****ing money, never do.

The singles are fantastic ("Take a Bow" and especially "Secret" are two of her very best), but I'm not that big on the album otherwise.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

The singles are fantastic ("Take a Bow" and especially "Secret" are two of her very best), but I'm not that big on the album otherwise.

Interesting. I like “Love Tried to Welcome Me”, “Bedtime Story” (best track on the album), and “Secret”, but I’ve never been crazy about “Take a Bow”—an utterly lifeless track to me.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

How in God's name does it have 15k plays for a new account? Do they import your iTunes xml file or something now?

Yeah. The official client seems to import your iTunes play on the first import. My girlfriend clocked in 50 000+ plays straight away and went straight past my three year old account

PS. Oisin, now that you've done that I recommend switching to iScrobbler. Much more stable, supports the iPhone and less obtrusive.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Interesting. I like “Love Tried to Welcome Me”, “Bedtime Story” (best track on the album), and “Secret”, but I’ve never been crazy about “Take a Bow”—an utterly lifeless track to me.

Yeah, I think I recall you being a Bjork fan. Unsurprisingly, "Love Tried to Welcome Me" and "Bedtime Story" are probably the worst tracks on the album IMO. I find the latter rather boring for all the tricks they tried to pull with it.

At least we'll always have "Secret."

Another vote for iScrobbler. I've been using it for years.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Yeah. The official client seems to import your iTunes play on the first import. My girlfriend clocked in 50 000+ plays straight away and went straight past my three year old account

PS. Oisin, now that you've done that I recommend switching to iScrobbler. Much more stable, supports the iPhone and less obtrusive.

Less obtrusive? The official client is an icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen, nothing else—what’s obtrusive about that?

Interestingly, though, I have fewer plays today than I did yesterday. Yesterday I had fifteen thousand five hundred something. Right now, I have 15,192 plays.

Would that perhaps be the instability of the official client?

[- - e r i k - -]

That's what iScrobbler is too. Just an icon. Takes up less memory and I prefer a musical note to a logo.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

The singles are fantastic ("Take a Bow" and especially "Secret" are two of her very best), but I'm not that big on the album otherwise.

I don't recall the entire album, which is why I'm unwilling to gamble on it.

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Yeah. The official client seems to import your iTunes play on the first import. My girlfriend clocked in 50 000+ plays straight away and went straight past my three year old account

Damn. It's tempting to start a new account, because even this late in the game, I'd still double my plays. Just don't know how I feel about wiping my top tracks. Probably worth it at this point, as my [recent] MUSE obsession has corrupted the top of the list.

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

That's what iScrobbler is too. Just an icon. Takes up less memory and I prefer a musical note to a logo.

It's what we like to call classy.

[Dakar V]

http://www.last.fm/user/NilsZero

[- - e r i k - -]

New account huh? Unfortunately me doing it wouldn't be the same, as I had a meltdown of my iTunes database almost a year ago

[analogika]

Originally Posted by lavar78 

Yeah, I think I recall you being a Bjork fan. Unsurprisingly, "Love Tried to Welcome Me" and "Bedtime Story" are probably the worst tracks on the album IMO. I find the latter rather boring for all the tricks they tried to pull with it.

The bigger problem is that she just isn't Björk. The song probably wouldn't be boring if björk had sung it - whether you like her or not.


The biggest problem I have with the album, though, is that MADONNA JUST COULDN'T ****ING SING at that point.

She didn't start taking serious lessons until "Evita", and that's one of the reasons why "Ray of Light" and "Music" are so good, IMO.