The catalog outcast

Relayer and Tales are often seen as the acid test for hard core Yes fans. A lot of people were turned off by those albums while some found them to be near religious experiences. I am of the later of the two but I understand why some folks don't get into those albums. They are not casual listening albums at all.

 

Actually, I think the NEW songs on "Broad Street" were all very good. Unfortunately, the album only included three of them. Of course, some of the other SONGS were excellent, but the RENDITIONS stunk. I never saw the movie itself, but the photos of Paul and the others done up in makeup to look like robots - or whatever - still makes me weep uncontrollably every time I see them. What the hell WAS he thinking?

And here's another vote for "Press" as a terrific album - his best of the Eighties, IMO. "Egg" also has a lot of good work on it. I've long thought that "Tug of War" is HUGELY overrated, as is "Flowers in the Dirt"...

 

Some Prince thoughts:

I liked a lot of "0+>" and thought that "The Gold Experience" had some EXCELLENT songs: "319", "Endorphin Machine", "P. Control", the title track and ESPECIALLY "Dolphin". I feel the latter's easily one of the best songs he EVER did.

Since then, though...

"Three hours without a letdown"? To each his own, I suppose. I think there's maybe 45 minutes worth of DECENT - not great, but average - material on that sucker. I regarded the album as a MAJOR letdown. This was supposed to be his masterwork. Instead, all it did was signal his impending collapse as an artist...

No. "Crystal Ball" included "The Truth"...

I must respectfully disagree. IMO, "Rainbow" is the worst thing he's done EVER. I barely made it through one listen of that miserable clunker and don't know if I can ever suffer through it again. Actually, I DID hear it a second time when I went to the terrible live show last March.

10 years ago, I was a HUGE Prince fan. Bought everything in sight and went to multiple shows. If I'd remained at that level of interest, I'd probably see him 10-15 times a tour now. (My multiple-show possibilities have increased greatly since 1992 due to more money and a friend who works for an airline - nothing like free travel!)

Prince has so radically fallen for me that I can barely muster the enthusiasm to go to ONE show per tour. Even when I do, I inevitably leave disappointed. The man put on the single best concert I ever saw in 1988, and I watched "Sign O the Times" so much I nearly wore out the tape. Now I can hardly stand to endure his weak performances.

What the hell happened to him? Prince was once in my personal top three favorite artists, but now he'd have a hard time cracking the top 10, and even to make it that high, I'd have to ignore almost everything he's done over the last decade...

 

Those albums are kinda self indulgent don't ya think? Lots of exhausting repeats and endless noodling. Not so much song writing as jam session. No sir, don't like it.

Close to the Edge, And You and I, Heart of the Sunrise, South Side of the Sky... Those are religious experiences.

It's the difference between the beauty of Beethoven and the abstractness Stravinsky.

 

Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade
John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Sometime In New York City
Beck - Midnite Vultures (though it does have some good songs)

 

Yesman
Yesman


Tales and Relayer self indulgent? Perhaps but I like Jazz jams. I think Tales has a few spots were they experimented and it didn't work but I also think there are spots that are magical. I think your Stravinski analogy is very on the money. When I first started listening to Stravinski I thought it sounded like the orchestra was still warming up. Stravinski is now one of my favorite composers. Tales and Relayer remind me of Richard Dreufuss talking about Coltrane in Mr. Holland's Opus.

 

I went for many years with only prog. rock in my CD players. I never did warm up to the complete Tales record though. Some Crimson and ELP ventured into redundant areas a little too much for me too. However, there are some brilliant sections of classic Yes-isms on the Tales record. I really enjoy the majority of it and eagerly await for them to come back to the song after the extended sections. I once tried to edit Tales down to exclude some of the more questionable sections. It didn't work too well. The segues didn't match where I wanted them to. Just a ton of trouble. It was frustrating because I do this sort of stuff for a living.

 

I lost a lot of interest in Yes after "Close To The Edge", and only picked it back long enough for 90125, and could only stand "Big Generator" for a couple of songs. "The Yes Album" is my favorite.

 

Hey, me too! It probably wouldn't be in my Top 10, but it'd make a list of my 20 favorite albums easily. (It's laughably better than The Who's It's Hard, released roughly around the same time.) I used to listen to it so much when I was in high school ... "Slit Skirts" is such a powerful song.

I think Townshend's next two albums (White City and The Iron Man) were major disappointments, but I dug PsychoDerelict. Got both versions (with and without the dialogue).

 

I love "White City". That is such a good collection of songs. I need to get the "Music-Only Psychoderelict", as that whole story/dialogue is silly on that album. Pete shouldn't be so hard pressed to try to make it a "concept" album every time. You'd never know "White City"'s story without reading the liner notes- and that's for the best. Without a premise, the songs really stand out.

James

 

Interesting. Usually the Who album that is trashed the most is "By the Numbers". I t is the only one I've never heard.

Usually UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEED & MOONBEAMS AND BLUE JEANS by Captain Beefheart are reviled by most of his fans. I kinda like 'em.

 

Amen to that!

In all fairness, it has been years since I've even listened to White City. Maybe it deserves a new listen ... It's certainly happened to me before: I'll be disappointed in an album, then I'll go back to it years later and end up liking it a lot.

 

If you don't like RAM you're missing something or not a solo McCartney fan. Definitely one of his best.

Joe

 

Joe,

I love just about everything by McCartney! Ram just doesn't cut the mustard for me. Even his S/T McCartney which is 80% instrumental is way better. Gotta remember Joe it's JMHO.

 

1)The Doors-L.A. Woman (classic rock radio just killed it for me)

2)David Bowie-Scary Monsters: songs are grating and Adrian Belews guitar gets on my nerves after the first 2

3)Paul Weller-Heliocentric songwriting not up to par with his other albums

4)Chris Isaak-Speak of The Devil:a dud,songwriting not up to par with the others

 

Dave - You are not alone. I never much cared for RAM, I thought Side 1 lagged in the middle, and side 2 pretty much lagged all the way through (I always liked "Monkberry", but I think it goes on a bit too long).

On the other hand - I actually felt Paulie's first cohesive album after The Beatles was Red Rose Speedway, an effort that doesn't seem to excite anyone besides me anymore (despite the fact that it sold millions...)

 

For me, the more dated, the better. I like the feeling of going back in time.

"Controversy" and "The Black Album" sound dated to me. "Ronnie Talk To Russia"?

 

Ken,

Perhaps it's the sparseness of the instrumentation I like. After all, it was originally the demo.

 

Unfortunately, Speak of The Devil is no longer a 'catalog outcast', because his new album just joined it. Isaak needs a creative shot-in-the-arm - he is in a rut.

 

Wow! I reallylove his new album and thought of it as one of his best-if not his best.The new producer he used gave his songs some much needed punch while keeping his Roy Orbison/Americana style his fans love.The only song I didn't like was the title track -to techno sounding for him.Well to each his own-

 

R.E.M.

Liked "Monster" right from the beginning.

"Automatic For The People": Bought it upon first release, sold it almost immediately... then got into it again a couple of years later. One of the few titles I've ever purchased twice on CD (not counting so-called upgrades).

P.S. yesman you have a great avatar!

 

[shrug] Huge mileage variance. I love that it's got psychedelic guitars, some serious funk bass, monster drumming, bits of jazz, a typically goofy Prince 'concept' and lyrics -- and no lame attempts at rap.

I thought he wasn't playing much of it live -- i read that his last tour was mainly a 'greatest hits' sort of run-through.

 

"Bob George" is brilliant.