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Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:34 am
by gregpolard
I was having this discussion w/ a friend and figured I'd spill over to here:

Do you have any albums you'd put on a list of "all time favorites" that aren't necessarily by favorite bands of yours?

Like, I can think of a few for me right off the bat:

The Cure "Disintegration", Radiohead "OK Computer". Weezer "Pinkerton" and/or "Blue". Love these records dearly, but wouldn't necessarily put the bands themselves in say, my top 20 favorites, but would probably put these albums on a top 20 list.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:54 am
by version sound
Love - I adore the first three LPs, but have no interest in the later records (with a new backing band).

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks is an all time top 10 record, but none of his other records even come close.

Beach Boys - I love Pet Sounds and SMiLe (and Smiley Smile to a lesser extent). I like the early stuff, but not on the same level. I could (and do) totally live without later Beach Boys.

Agnostic Front - Victim in Pain is one of my favorite hardcore records, but I have little to no interest in anything after that.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:10 pm
by scannest
MORNING GLORY is a great record, but nothing else Oasis ever did came close (DEFINITELY MAYBE and DON'T BELIEVE THE TRUTH are both good and the rest...)

I have a big soft spot for BAT OUT OF HELL, but that would be it for Mr. Loaf.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 4:55 pm
by drew
Cro-Mags “Age of Quarrel” I really like “Best Wishes”but AOQ was a peak they never even came close to again


Patti Smith “Horses” lots of great songs spread out over her catalogue but no album as a whole came anywhere near the transcendent heights she & her crack band achieved on the first lp

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:23 pm
by JGJR
drew wrote:Patti Smith “Horses” lots of great songs spread out over her catalogue but no album as a whole came anywhere near the transcendent heights she & her crack band achieved on the first lp


This is an unpopular opinion, but to me Radio Ethiopia and Wave might be even better.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 2:30 pm
by gregpolard
Nice replies!

It's funny cause re: the Cure - they probably have about 5 or so LP's I absolutely love....so maybe I like them more than I think I do?

Wish
Kiss Me
Head On the Door
Disintegration
Pornography

Hmmmmm

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 3:59 pm
by drew
The Pixies-"Doolittle" the first two records def have a bunch of great tunes but Doolittle is a complete masterpiece IMO The latter albums each have a good song or two but I felt they were overproduced alt-rock product by a band that absolutley hated each other.

U2- "War" after years of staying away from Saint Bono & the bunch I listened to this album........from when I was 12 yrs old is permanantly tattooed on my brain I can say again how much I love this record, a couple of songs from "Unforgettable fire" but that's it In HighSchool I actually pretended to like "Joshua Tree" just so I wouldn't get shit from EVERYONE I knew I really hate pretty much everything they have done since 1987 except for maybe 3 songs......maybe 2 songs.....

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:27 am
by JGJR
gregpolard wrote:Nice replies!

It's funny cause re: the Cure - they probably have about 5 or so LP's I absolutely love....so maybe I like them more than I think I do?

Wish
Kiss Me
Head On the Door
Disintegration
Pornography

Hmmmmm


Except for The Head on the Door, those aren't even my favorite Cure lps. I'd pick Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and The top over the rest of those judging on how much I've played them over the years, but we can agree that up to 1992, it's all fantastic.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:29 am
by JGJR
drew wrote:The Pixies-"Doolittle" the first two records def have a bunch of great tunes but Doolittle is a complete masterpiece IMO The latter albums each have a good song or two but I felt they were overproduced alt-rock product by a band that absolutley hated each other.

U2- "War" after years of staying away from Saint Bono & the bunch I listened to this album........from when I was 12 yrs old is permanantly tattooed on my brain I can say again how much I love this record, a couple of songs from "Unforgettable fire" but that's it In HighSchool I actually pretended to like "Joshua Tree" just so I wouldn't get shit from EVERYONE I knew I really hate pretty much everything they have done since 1987 except for maybe 3 songs......maybe 2 songs.....


Pixies - unpopular opinion time again; Doolittle is great, but took me years to really appreciate. Surfer Rosa and Trompe Le Monde hit me right away when I was 16 and are still my favorites by them today.

U2- agreed; I believe that War is their best record.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:29 am
by scannest
This morning I re-listened to BY YOUR SIDE by the Black Crowes. I think it is a fantastic record, leaps and bounds beyond anything else they ever did (although the first 2 are also good records).

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:32 am
by JGJR
scannest wrote:This morning I re-listened to BY YOUR SIDE by the Black Crowes. I think it is a fantastic record, leaps and bounds beyond anything else they ever did (although the first 2 are also good records).


I'll have to check it out. It's hard to imagine the songwriting being better than on Shake Your Moneymaker, but I do remember "Kickin' My Heart Around" (I think that's the title) getting some airplay circa '99 and I liked it then.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:46 am
by JGJR
Off the top of my head:

Non-hardcore/punk
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (celebrate the whole catalog but listen to this one the most still)
Saint Etienne - Good Humor (Finisterre is really good, too, but this is one of my all-time favorites)
The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (so much better than his sophomore album and most other hip-hop)
Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight & Shoot Out the Lights (their other records are good, but the bookends are unreal)
The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (other stuff is fine but this is on a whole 'nother level and a huge favorite)
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous (leaps and bounds beyond the other stuff by them)
The Doors - debut and L.A. Woman (I dig it all but those two are superior, I think)

Hardcore/Punk[/Emo/Post-Hardcore (in the first 3 cases it is the only good album by the band)
The Cro-Mags - The Age of Quarrel
AF - Victim in Pain
Suicidal Tendencies - s/t
Articles of Faith - Core (not really an album but I like this material much more than their albums)
The Promise Ring - Very Emergency (leaps and bounds above anything else they ever did)
Sunny Day Real Estate - The Rising Tide (see what I wrote for PR)

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 6:53 pm
by crus
drew wrote:
U2- "War" after years of staying away from Saint Bono & the bunch I listened to this album........from when I was 12 yrs old is permanantly tattooed on my brain I can say again how much I love this record, a couple of songs from "Unforgettable fire" but that's it In HighSchool I actually pretended to like "Joshua Tree" just so I wouldn't get shit from EVERYONE I knew I really hate pretty much everything they have done since 1987 except for maybe 3 songs......maybe 2 songs.....


Yeah, War doesn't have any obvious filler material. I never really understood the critical acclaim of The Joshua Tree as the final two songs on the album are weak and sound like filler.

Morphine - Cure for Pain is the obvious album for me. I bought the album in the nineties and didn't check any of their other material out until this year.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:13 am
by version sound
JGJR wrote:It's hard to imagine the songwriting being better than on Shake Your Moneymaker, but I do remember "Kickin' My Heart Around" (I think that's the title) getting some airplay circa '99 and I liked it then.


The hits on SYM were so overplayed that I was sick of that record before I even heard the whole thing. I'd rather listen to ANY of their other records.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 9:16 am
by JGJR
crus wrote:
Morphine - Cure for Pain is the obvious album for me. I bought the album in the nineties and didn't check any of their other material out until this year.


They're one of my favorite bands, but I truly think their other records (especially up to Like Swimming) are the equal of Cure for Pain (which is incredible; I got the vinyl reissues of that and Good recently and have been rediscovering them).

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 9:44 am
by gregpolard
JGJR wrote:
gregpolard wrote:Nice replies!

It's funny cause re: the Cure - they probably have about 5 or so LP's I absolutely love....so maybe I like them more than I think I do?

Wish
Kiss Me
Head On the Door
Disintegration
Pornography

Hmmmmm


Except for The Head on the Door, those aren't even my favorite Cure lps. I'd pick Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and The top over the rest of those judging on how much I've played them over the years, but we can agree that up to 1992, it's all fantastic.


You're fucking high.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:15 am
by JGJR
gregpolard wrote:You're fucking high.


I did have a few margaritas last night, but I'm straight as an arrow now. I will say (as I often have; I'm sure you've heard me pontificate on that) that Disintegration is THE album (aside from Eponymous) that got me into all of this stuff, but I just haven't played it as much as those others since the early '90s. I heard it so much in high school and I really have to be in the mood for it. It hits hard, though.

At the end of the day, picking favorites amongst the 1979-1992 material is semantics, though. It's all great.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:08 pm
by version sound
gregpolard wrote:
JGJR wrote:
gregpolard wrote:Nice replies!

It's funny cause re: the Cure - they probably have about 5 or so LP's I absolutely love....so maybe I like them more than I think I do?

Wish
Kiss Me
Head On the Door
Disintegration
Pornography

Hmmmmm


Except for The Head on the Door, those aren't even my favorite Cure lps. I'd pick Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and The top over the rest of those judging on how much I've played them over the years, but we can agree that up to 1992, it's all fantastic.


You're fucking high.


Yeah, Greg pretty much nailed it.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 8:42 am
by JGJR
version sound wrote:Yeah, Greg pretty much nailed it.


In that I prefer the 1979-1986 Cure? I have a lot of company then.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:50 pm
by version sound
JGJR wrote:
version sound wrote:Yeah, Greg pretty much nailed it.


In that I prefer the 1979-1986 Cure? I have a lot of company then.


I was referring to the fact that he named the best Cure records. Also, if you check your dates, you'll see that one came out in '82 and one in '85, soooooo...you prefer the '79-'86 Cure other than those records?

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 9:59 am
by JGJR
version sound wrote:
JGJR wrote:
version sound wrote:Yeah, Greg pretty much nailed it.


In that I prefer the 1979-1986 Cure? I have a lot of company then.


I was referring to the fact that he named the best Cure records. Also, if you check your dates, you'll see that one came out in '82 and one in '85, soooooo...you prefer the '79-'86 Cure other than those records?


I meant as opposed to the Kiss Me - Wish era, which I also love. I just don't play those as often.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 2:28 pm
by version sound
JGJR wrote:
version sound wrote:
JGJR wrote:
version sound wrote:Yeah, Greg pretty much nailed it.


In that I prefer the 1979-1986 Cure? I have a lot of company then.


I was referring to the fact that he named the best Cure records. Also, if you check your dates, you'll see that one came out in '82 and one in '85, soooooo...you prefer the '79-'86 Cure other than those records?


I meant as opposed to the Kiss Me - Wish era, which I also love. I just don't play those as often.


I'm not a huge Cure fan (though I am a fan), so I certainly wouldn't claim that my favorites are in any way definitive. I like all their stuff up to and including Wish, which was the last one I owned, but I do prefer the 5 piece band.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 5:44 am
by Nico
Alkaline Trio - Crimson.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 3:31 pm
by JGJR
version sound wrote:I'm not a huge Cure fan (though I am a fan), so I certainly wouldn't claim that my favorites are in any way definitive. I like all their stuff up to and including Wish, which was the last one I owned, but I do prefer the 5 piece band.


That's fair. I'll concede that it's the best BAND that Robert Smith has had in terms of musicianship, tightness, etc. and of course it was the version I first heard via Disintegration and Kiss Me. Boris Williams is a great drummer (often overlooked) and Porl (now Pearl's) guitar is out of this world on those records.

Re: Favorite album but not favorite band?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:51 am
by gregpolard
It's funny...I've been on a huge Cure bender lately and not just "Disintegration"

I'll place them in top 30, just not 20.


Merry Christmas.