miss buenos aires wrote:Make It Big is a fabulous album, with the exception of "Like A Baby." Not only did I make sure to upload it onto my computer before heading out (I think all George Michael's solo stuff may have gotten sold at the merciless pre-move yard sale), but I just played it last week and my roommate and I sang along to *every word*. Favorite line: "And now you tell me that you're having my baby/ I'll tell you that I'm happy if you want me to."
Maybe I should've made it clear that it embarassed me at the time, being an 8 year old metal head and all. Now I'm glad I have it, it sure is a lot better (& more fun) than a lot of the stuff I liked back then. But I'm not ashamed of my shit records either. Not even this one:
two "interesting" things. 1. I read that he changed the spelling of his name from "Blount" to "Blunt" because Americans didn't know how to pronouce it...I live next door (and I believe OS owns property in) Blount County which is pronounced....well, you guessed it.
also I noticed that the You're Beautiful song was "explicit" on whatever I was listening to, so I gave it half and ear and HEARD NO OBSCENITIES. Fucking loser.
Goody2Shoes wrote:Not one of these is as embarrassing as some of the stuff I have in my collection. Y'all are lightweights in the world of embarrassing music.
OK then, show your hand!
I can't! I'm too embarrassed! Sorry, but you'll have to trust me on this. I will admit that Spandau Ballet and Big Country would be on the list, and that's not the worst of it. And there is an alarming number of items that include the word "Zombie", but to be fair, they are not mine, and I had nothing to do with them. Honest.
alexv - there is nothing wrong with James' "Laid" and Goody - there is definitely nothing wrong with Big Country!
I have to say the Royal "we" have some extremely dodgy CDs now that Mrs VG's CDs are in with mine. If I had to pick out a few random ones they would be
Keane (I have to walk out of the room if she puts them on)
Mariah Carey (she's never played that to my knowledge) and I think there's a George Benson one in there somewhere
However my taste in music is impeccable and there is nothing to be ashamed of in my own personal collection although Il Sogno has only been played once. There are no plans to play it again in the near or distant future.
Verbal, I never thought there was anything wrong with Big Country, either, but the album never fails to elicit a derisive and condescending snort from people whose taste I generally trust. You can imagine what they say in response to "Monster Surf Hits", which is not all terrible, by the way!
I think Say Something is on Laid, which is a masterpiece. I adored early James. Saw them live supporting New Order when they were unknown in June 1983, was taken by Tim Booth with shaved head and suit with nothing under it, and songs that started off gentle ('An earwig crawled into my head' and the like) and then went mental. I played the Village Fire 12" to death, they had a very original sound and some great songs (Hymn From A Village, If things Were Perfect, and the impossibly exciting What's The World). It was the record I always played before going out to get my spirits up. The first LP still had some great songs (Johnny Yen, er, a couple of others), and Gold Mother too (Come Home), and of course there was Sit Down. I'd kinda lost interest by Laid, even though there was some great stuff. But they never fulfilled the promise of Village Fire with their LPs, similar pattern to Orange Juice, as far as I was concerned.
I culled most of the shite from my vinyl when I was a teenager and it's all been brilliant since. James Blunt is to be found in the Westinghousehold, but that's the fault of the person who confessed to it above (my wife was going through an 'I adore "You're Beautiful" phase', as were most of the other women in the country, and even some of the men). I doubt I'll ever play those Wishbone Ash LPs again, and I struggled to like them as a teen (whatever possessed me to buy a second one, having found the first boring? I guess I thought I would grow into it), but a blue loving friend recently told me he rates them, so maybe I shouldn't feel guilty.
VG: you will have to play the 'bonus' CD with My Flame Turns Blue to convince yourself it is indeed the same recording, and also to see if you enjoy it more in abridged form. It's pretty good, I'd say, though I haven't played it much.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
verbal gymnastics wrote:I think there's a George Benson one in there somewhere
George Benson was a damn fine straightahead jazz guitarist before he went the smooth jazz route. I have one of his early albums and it's really very very good - shades of Wes Montgomery.
noiseradio wrote:I like that Crash Test Dummies album, and I thought they did a fabulous job opening for EC on the Brutal Youth tour. I also like their previous record, The Ghosts that Haunt Me. It contains "Superman's Song," which is one of my favorite 90's songs.
I will stand beside you defending that first Dummies album (featuring one of my favorite couplets ever: "I can't stand her goddam friends/but I will tolerate them even though I hate them").
Glenlivet was also, if his memory is accurate in the KOA notes, Elv's whisky of choice for the Jim Reeve falling off stool ('EC as JR', which I at first thought was going to be a Dallas ref!)) KOA demo session. Any other refs to it around? It's a fine brand.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
VG, I think it's albums, not album covers. If you are referring to my including James because of its Laid album cover, I must plead guilty to not having listened to it, ever. I've picked it up a couple of times over the years, and the cover invariably forces me to put it back down again, in a condition which could be defined as a mixture of embarrassment/puzzlement. It may be a great album, so why don't we just assume that I would include it in a list of albums with covers that cause me embarrassment , and folks can ignore it for purposes of this discussion.
Ok, Otis, I did it. I just played the damn thing (while my daughter was giving me grief about the...cover), and it's pretty good. Not sure if I would give it a rave, but the songs are damn good. My daughter liked it too. I told her not to judge a book by its cover.
I think we have that James album. I remember listening to it in the lodge when we were skiing at Killington years and years ago (pre-sprogs). Not a bad album.
two "interesting" things. 1. I read that he changed the spelling of his name from "Blount" to "Blunt" because Americans didn't know how to pronouce it...I live next door (and I believe OS owns property in) Blount County which is pronounced....well, you guessed it.
also I noticed that the You're Beautiful song was "explicit" on whatever I was listening to, so I gave it half and ear and HEARD NO OBSCENITIES. Fucking loser.
LOL...I live IN Blount county (am assuming TN), and when we moved here, wondered just HOW they pronounce "Count" Dracula... LOL
Oh yeah, on topic....I must admit, my worst admission shall be Angel's '75 release entitled simply Angel. Punky Meadow and the rest of 'em, wtf was I thinking/hearing ???!!!??? Thank God for the Ramones and EC and Talking Heads and Patti Smith and etc,, etc, etc to bring me to my senses shortly after. I still have it on vinyl somewhere in my basement. Maybe I should Ebay it.....
LOL