Who's your favorite artist/band?

Harmonium

Very short-lived Prog band from Quebec with 3 studio albums and 1 live double LP.
All 3 studio albums are very solid and over the years I would say I have enjoyed them equally.

 

The Byrds
1. Mr.Tambourine Man on the radio
2.The Bells of Rhymney and Notorious Byrd Brothers
3.8
4.Byrdmaniax
5.Gary Usher wasn't fired by Columbia and continued to produce them

 

C U R V E

1. When was the first time you heard their music? Watching 120 minutes on MTV...It was like NIN with an angel singing.

2. What's your favorite song & album? Geez...I'll go with a double; the song Gift and the album of the same name.

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10) 10!

4. What is their weakest effort overall? The New Adventures of Curve...their final full album...I think they lost some steam there...still, there are some killer tracks ('Till The Cows Come Home, Nice and Easy)

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be? Oh boy...that they didn't decide to take a "break" between 1994-1996 which allowed the (terrible) band Garbage to reap the commercial rewards that should have been theirs. Also, releasing a song called Hell Above Water the week of 9/11 didn't help their chances...

 

This could change from day to day as I don't really "play favourites" anymore, but to play today I'll say it's My Bloody Valentine.

1. When was the first time you heard their music?
Early 1989, heard the song "I Believe" from the Feed Me With Your Kiss EP on the CBC radio show Brave New Waves

2. What's your favorite song & album?
"To Here Knows When" (Tremolo version); Loveless

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)
8.3

4. What is their weakest effort overall?
This Is Your Bloody Valentine (1984), their debut mini-LP from when they were young and directionless

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?
Take the bong away from Kevin Shields, so maybe he could've got the followup to Loveless finished in less than 21 years

 

Understandable. But unless you never listened to the radio, I'm sure you've heard 'The One I Love", "Losing My Religion" or "It's the end of the world as we know it"

 

I agree...they never got the exposure they deserved. I need to check out some of their later music. I have (and love) everything up through Indoor Living. Speaking of Indoor Living---there are some great tracks on that album, "New Bruises" "The Popular Music" that Marion Brown song.

 

a lot of great bands,but there is two that stand above the rest in my opinion,jimi Hendrix and the beatles.after that yes,rush,pink Floyd...the list goes on.

 

Dinosaur Jr.



1. When was the first time you heard their music?
Around the release of Green Mind - saw "The Wagon" video on MTV's 120 minutes.

2. What's your favorite song & album?
I have a sentimental attachment to Where You Been as an album. It came at a perfect time in my life. Though I love them all.
My favorite track is a probably the deep cut "Hot Burrito #2"

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)
Solid 8.5

4. What is their weakest effort overall?
Probably self-titled debut. For a while, they improved exponentially with each release.

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?
Undo the post-Bug break-up of the original band. Though the reunion has been entirely worth it, it would have been nice to see the original band firing on all cylinders during the 90s - I feel like they would have been huge.

 

The Wailers

1. When was the first time you heard their music?
First I distinctly remember was in college, probably around 18 y/o at the time.

2. What's your favorite song & album?
Song - Keep on Moving, reason being it's the one time Bob, Peter and Bunny take turns soloing in the same song. Album - Soul Revolution

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)
Solid 10. Lee Perry productions are some of the greatest tracks ever laid down.

4. What is their weakest effort overall?
None I can think of. They didn't waste time in the studio. While their Studio One output is not my taste as I'm not much of a ska fan, in terms of that genre they were excellent (RIP Junior Braithwaite).

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?
That Bob, Peter, and Carlton had lived. That Junior Braithwaite had not left the group. I can't help but think, even after successful solo output, had they all lived they would have eventually reunited at some point.

 

I have every album, and I have to say, their two recent albums, Majesty Shredding and I Hate Music are as good or better than anything they made in their heyday.

 

For a newbie, I'd suggest bypassing any particular "proper" album - the comp And I Feel Fine, which collects the singles and a few album tracks from their IRS years, would do the trick.

 

Wow! good to know. I will have to check them out. Better than Foolish? IMO that is their masterpiece.

 

Grateful Dead.

1. An early recollection is hearing the "driving that train" chorus from Casey Jones coming from a car with the doors open while drinking in public behind a strip mall in 10th grade or so.

2. Chinacat Sunflower/I Know You Rider or Ripple; American Beauty.

3. 7.5 ("We make sh*tty albums, man." - Garcia)

4. The Grateful Dead (debut)

5. Bring back Jerry; a proper studio album in 1971-2.

 

CHICAGO

1. When was the first time you heard their music?

1972 after hearing "Saturday in the Park" on the radio but not aware of them.
1974 after hearing the album "Chicago VII" and the first time I became aware of them.

2. What's your favorite song & album?

Song: "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" - from 1970 album Chicago II
Albums: Chicago Transit Authority - 1969, Chicago (II) - 1970, Chicago X - 1976

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)

Classic Terry Kath-era Chicago (original lineup) 1969-1977 - Catalog Rating: 10

4. What is their weakest effort overall?

All albums (by them with non original members) after 1985.

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?

If they have called it quits after "Chicago XI" - 1977 and after Terry died in February, 1978, they would be looked upon differently.

 

The BEATLES

1. When was the first time you heard their music?

1964 after hearing "I Should Have Known Better" and "And I Love Her".

2. What's your favorite song & album?

Song: "Day Tripper" - 1965
Album: "Rubber Soul" (Original UK version) - 1965

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)

Catalog Rating: 10

4. What is their weakest effort overall?

"Yellow Submarine" soundtrack - 1969

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?

They should have included "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" in the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" replacing "Lovely Rita" and "When I'm Sixty-Four" on Side Two.

They should have let "Hurricane" Smith engineered "Revolver" with "Geoff Emerick" as an assistant enginer so that we can hear a less dry sounding "Revolver".

 

thats one way of looking at it....but the sales and longevity are in my favor.

 

The Clash

1. When was the first time you heard their music?

When I was about 10 years old

2. What's your favorite song & album?

Stay Free (song) Give em Enough Rope (album)

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)

9

4. What is their weakest effort overall?

Their last album - Cut the Crap

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?

For Joe Strummer to be immortal!

 

I have to disagree, Piper is 100% pink floyd. I like the later stuff with waters too though.

 

but it sounds so different....
it could have been another band and i wouldnt have known.

although saucerful has a striking resemblance to it...but after that its a complete 180.

 

Because I love this band about equally with Black Sabbath I will add them (kind of a 1a and 1b, thing)

KILLING JOKE

1. First time you heard their music?

The first time I heard their music was in 1988 when my then manager at the record store I worked at with played their self titled record for me. He said, "they're very heavy". Well, they weren't for me and they didn't really resonate much for me until awhile later. Of course, Metallica covering "The Wait" on their Garage Days Re-revisited helped me gain enthusiasm for them. The first album I ever purchased was Dirt, Extremities, and Other Repressed Emotions (and it took me awhile to warm to that one!)

2. Favorite song and album?

Favorite song is the last song on Hosannahs which is called "Gratitude". It's a massive sludge fest and just totally dig it. That said, like all of the bands I love, there are a ton of songs I like and it's difficult to pinpoint just one, but "Gratitude" is probably it. My favorite Killing Joke album is Brighter Than a Thousand Suns which is a supremely beautiful, nuanced record that has guitarist, Kevin "Geordie" Walker playing at the top of his game.


3. Rate their catalog

A solid 9 and the only reason I don't give them a 10 is Outside the Gates which flat sucks. I'm not crazy about Revelations, either, but's not a terrible album; it just sounds uninspired.


4. Weakest effort overall?

See above. Outside the Gates was just terrible. Really terrible.

5. One thing you could change about their career?

Boy, I don't know. A great career, overall, and a band that has put out few bad albums and, unlike most, continues to release strong material even late in their career. I guess I wish the band could have been a tad more popular. I mean not super popular where the hipsters and doofuses are falling all over them, but maybe popular enough that the band wouldn't have had to struggle as much as they have. They deserved more financial success for having such great output for so many years.

 

The Kinks

1. When was the first time you heard their music?

When I was a child

2. What's your favorite song & album?

Album : Something Else By The Kinks
Song: Autumn Almanac

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)

6.5 they put out a few horrible albums

4. What is their weakest effort overall?

Toss up between Phobia, UK Jive & Think Visual

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?

That they would have released the album Four More Respected Gentleman back in 68

 

Elton John
1. Benny and the Jets on the radio when it came out
2. Tumbleweed Connection..........too many to list. Sacrifice, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, etc....
3. 8 easily
4. Victim of Love
5. Not to lose Bernie Taupin on some of the late 70's early 80's albums. Though, I still like most of them.

 

You know, had this question been asked about 10 years ago, I would have immediately responded U2, but nowadays, I really enjoy many bands for different reasons on different days, so I'd have to say that I do not have a single, 5, or even 10 favorites...it changes every day

 

the bones
let it bleed baby!!
10
steel wheelz
bring back bill and MT full time!!!

 

1. When was the first time you heard their music?
Summer of '72 (Machine Head)

2. What's your favorite song & album?
Catalog is too vast, at this point.

3. What would you rate their catalog? (1-10)

Tough question with various lineups.
Breaking it down...

• mkI - 8
• mkII (1969-73, 1984-88, 1992-93) - 10
• mkIII/IV (Coverdale/Hughes) - 9
• mk Morse - 9

4. What is their weakest effort overall?
Nothing weak.
As drummer Ian Paice said, "We always traded quality for quality." It served them well.

5. If there was one thing you could change about their career, what would it be?
Another album or two between Rapture of the Deep (2005) and NOW What?! (2013).