Albums that are so bad... yet you can't stop listening to them!

"Smiley Smile" by the Beach Boys. What were they thinking? (Still, I love singing "She's Goin' Bald" in the shower!) A fun album, but, let's face it, this sounds like a bunch of demos compared to any of their other discs.

And, having grown up in the 80's, I still have a soft spot in my heart for that music. Also, while I never did like "Achy Breaky Heart", I did enjoy the other songs I heard from that CD ("Where'm I Gonna Live (When I Get Home)?", "Some Gave All", "Could've Been Me", and "She's Not Crying Anymore").

 

In the 1970's the king of Australian tonight shows was Don Lane - also known as 'the Lanky Yank'. He had a cabaret singing style with lots of enthusiasm but lacking in finesse, and made several lp's and singles. It's got a tackiness that I can't resist.

In the '80's I used to have a huge house party every year, every detail planned in advance, with a hired pa for the dance room. Cassettes were made for the evening's music largely thanks to my flatmate (the arrival music moved to dance/classic r+b/soul music for the raging hours, and then more laid-back unwinding for the rising dawn); these compilation tapes were refined every year so that they kept getting better. In the peak dancing set we always included Lane's version of 'Bad BAd Leroy Brown' - one of his best numbers which rocked. Every party the dancing guests would love the the track and ask while dancing "this is great - who is it?". They were always either shocked that it was Lane (he was SO uncool) or thought that we were lying.

I was at a record collector's fair once looking for his records (they were so uncool that no one would stock them), when I would ask for them the vendors would think that I was taking the piss out of them. Once a girl overheard me and told the seller that she had a Lane single and thought the b-side was one of the greatest comedy tracks of all time (it was in Lane's "theatre show" style). The seller didn't know what to think!!

 

I can name quite a few that are unlistenably bad, but you'll have to find someone who admits to liking them.

The Giorgio Moroder 'Metropolis' soundtrack.

the Bee Gees 'Sgt. Pepper' lp

Lou Reed 'Metal Machine Music'

any lp's by Alien Sex Fiend.

any lp's by Frightwig

the Tom Jones version of "Polk Salad Annie" (on What's New Pussycat, an otherwise fine lp)

any lp by Deodato

any lp by Meco

any motown lp by Teena Marie

- - -

I am a huge fan of Yoko Ono's work, believe it or not. I think 'Season Of Glass' is one of the most amazing lp's of the 80's. 'Starpeace' was pretty uneven though.

 

Here'a treat: MUSIC TO EAT by the Hampton Grease Band. Totally off-the-wall, at first listen god-awful, but yet somehow you adapt and it becomes likeable. I dig out this double-LP set maybe once every five years and give it a spin. One song's lyrics are actually the instructions from a can of spray paint. Insane.

This LP set was bringing some big bucks a few years back, and it was finally released on CD.

 

Thems fightin' words I love Smiley Smile. Actually She's Going Bald is the one track that I can't get into. Generally I prefer the Smile versions of the Smiley songs but the whole 'homemade demo' feel to the tracks is part of their charm and those harmonies are to die for. Smiley Smile is the PERFECT album for summer

Chris

 

What did you do to get bonus/royalty checks from that album?

 

I worked for Polygram in the early to mid 90's in marketing and sales. Whenever our sales branch met or exceeded our sales quota we'd get a bonus check. I'd only been working there about a month when that album was released. That album of course sold like crazy and the first bonus check I got was almost a thousand dollars!!! So as corny as Billy Ray is, I can't totally dislike him.

 

We've gotten to page three and no mention of the "Pac-Man Fever" album?