When I was working in Smash Compact Disc on St. Mark's Place, Gary the owner would man the stereo system the entire time he was present. For six hours of your 12 hour shift, you were at the mercy of his musical taste. Sometimes this meant listening to the same CD over and over and over again because he was trying to sell it. That wasn't too bad, if you liked the CD. But the week he ordered 30 copies of a 2 CD Jonathan King compilation because he assumed everyone loved "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" and "Johnny Reggae" as much as he did, was absolute torture.
He also liked to play Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" record quite often, and every single time, would skip "Cecilia," because he hated it. "It ruins the album!" I happen to love "Cecilia" and think there are at least three others off that album worth skipping.
Which brings me to today's question?
What record do you love, save for one speed bump?
I thought about this after the comments about R.E.M. on yesterday's post.
"Automatic For The People" is my second favorite after "Life's Rich Pageant." But I think "Everybody Hurts" is god awful. As a matter of fact, it would rank very high on my list of worst songs by anybody. What others find powerful and emotional, to my ears sounds like the exact opposite. Michael Stipe is not a soul singer and he proves it in spades on this track. He's emoting and it hurts.
Aside from that speed bump, "Automatic For The People' is pretty damn great.
17 comments:
Although I do not listen to Synchronicity by The Police often, I almost always skip Mother.
The Velvet Underground - S/t plays as a superb folk-rock album with The Murder Mystery removed.
Roxy Music's Country Life is better as an EP, skipping Bitter-Sweet, Triptych, and Casanova.
XTC - English Settlement plays just fine without Leisure, but what I'd really like to do is what producer Hugh Padgham should have done: edit Melt The Guns, All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late), Senses Working Overtime, Jason And The Argonauts, and No Thugs In Our House which all drag on and on.
- Paul in DK
Mother is a terrible song and a poor fit with the rest of the album.
- Paul in DK
Purely subjective (and many will disagree): But I never found "Night" anywhere near as good as the other tracks on "Born to Run." A couple of the outtakes that later surfaced are more interesting.
For me it's every Ringo track on the Beatles albums. I bought those albums on the day they came out I'm 75. When I got home to find they had given space to a second rate singer when they could have given us another Lennon-McCartney song made me mad. When I got cds it was so nice to skip those tracks. He may be a fun guy but I felt it was wrong.
I d love "What Goes On."
There are the obvious ones: "Revolution 9", "The Day We Fall In Love" on More of the Monkees, etc, but I'll go with the last track on the Bangles' All Over the Place: "More Than Meets The Eye". Yes, it's supposed to be a showcase of their vocals, but after a stellar set of harmony-laden garage-influence power pop, this dirge closes the album in an awful way.
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle.
"Wild Billy's Circus Song"
A very good track but it just doesn't fit in with the feel of the rest of the album. Sounds more like a track meant for the first album.
Captain Al
What, no "Yellow Submarine"?
Captain Al
I always thought "Yellow Submarine" was a throwaway on a brilliant album. But John & Paul sound like they are having so much fun, it made me love the song.
David Bowie has two that really stick out for me. First up is "Fill Your Heart" on "Hunky Dory". And then on "Ziggy Stardust" he goes and includes "It Ain't Easy". What are those two doing there?
Am I the only one in the world who has always loved and been fascinated by "Revolution 9"?
I agree, re: "It Ain't Easy." But I am more baffled by how many people covered that song. It's not that good!
It's always amused me that Bowie and Tiny Tim have it in common!
Agreed about Leisure
Too many to list; but the first one to come to mind is.... Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, from Blonde on Blonde. It sounds like it was recorded at the wrong speed, like one of my old cassettes when it was time to throw them away. And it is, what, 2 hours long? Although it seems longer.
Haha. Good thing about "Sad Eyed Lady" is that it's not in the middle of a side. If you're playing the vinyl, you can just ignore that side.
Post a Comment