Considered A Classic Album ( But You Don't Call It That )

Oh, that's totally me. I'll own up to it! Purely anecdotal... I didn't conduct a poll.

 

Because the Dan is so much more than "light weight disco funk jazz " and Dylan can't sing!

 

Forget Steely Dan. My friend Ron used to think that the two bands that were alien to the XX chromosome were Captain Beefheart and Stump.

 

You know nowadays anything older than nine years seems to be referred to as "classic" or worthy of a full live rendition ("Performing their classic album in full") or a boxset ("The classic album collection") so hell yeah, there are a lot of "classic albums" around where I can't help but see it as a marketing gimmick.

"In The Court Of The Crimson King" on the other hand.... I mean the artwork alone is iconic, isn't it? I'm thinking this probably because it's been one of those albums in my dad's collection that looked interesting long before they actually started to sound interesting. Hello "Bitches Brew"....

One event where I noticed this trend drastically was when a Paul Young concert was billed as "Performing his classic album 'No Parlez' in full!" Sounds like a threat, doesn't it?

 

I also was unaware of any King Crimson albums that are considered classics

I think similarly there might be some classic Yes albums, but I’m not sure which one(s), The Yes Album? 90125?

 

Hell, I don’t particularly like Steely Dan, but my wife kind of does.

 

I used to think all prog rock was basically a no-girl zone and then some 19 year old girl online starts recommending me Van Der Graaf Generator and my mind was blown. Now I take nothing for granted in music and gender.

 

I suppose classic albums are in the ear of the behearer. I have to say no to Yes. Not for me.

 

Must it be cohesive?
I think so.

Should it separate itself from the pack?
It helps.

 

absolutely adore “loveless” but haven’t been able to get into “isn’t anything” yet. give “loveless” some listens after taking a shot of NyQuil and try again

 

Two of mine are The Band’s Music from Big Pink and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. Yet in both cases—Van and The Band—I love the album that followed.

 

it’s not. a fine debut but cmon.

 

Yes tend to be quite divisive as a band, anyway. I think Close to the Edge is genuinely regarded as a classic though - probably not 90125.

 

TROUT MASK REPLICA (Captain Beefheart)-weird and virtually unlistenable. I'll take SAFE AS MILK any day.
KICK OUT THE JAMS (MC 5)-some of the worst vocals I've ever heard. Sloppy, but not in a good way.
OAR (Skip Spence)-this is like Syd Barrett solo work, but lacking any musical talent.

 

There are no classic albums in Classic Rock radio, because Classic Rock radio doesn't play albums. They talk about them, they revere them...and then they go about playing the one or two songs from an artists' catalog that everybody can agree the majority won't tune out while they're playing.

Don't saddle Classic Rock radio with the responsibility for "classic albums"...they're a guilty as anybody else is.

 

it was and still remains a high point of shoegaze, which artists still revisit and remain inspired by, see Beautiful Noise (film) - Wikipedia as well as the continued success of the cure, the return of ride, as well as others inspired by shoegaze and the drowsy/woozy beauty of “loveless.”

 

For me, a "classic album" is no more than the poster on the wall everybody recognizes, from the time in your life when everybody had that poster on the wall. It has nothing to do with stature, everything to do with nostalgia.

 

Transformer is actually one of the truest albums Reed ever made. Far from being lightweight, it buries itself in artifice and camp so Lou can revel in and examine his homosexuality (yes, I know he's essentially bi) without it getting heavy. The fact that he was being so open and so campy about it all in 1972, the fact that it was one of his biggest sellers, is testament to how smart he was about it's presentation. Yeah, there was a lot of glam about at the time, but Lou, as usual, walked it like he talked it, which a lot of the eye makeup and glitter crowd were much too afraid to do.
For further reference, please read Ezra Furman's remarkable 33 1/3 book on the album.

 

Apparently many would agree with you. Started a thread about ' Transformer ' last week and it sank like a stone.[/QUOTE]
Just posted my above comment to your thread Wildcat.

 

I’ve never been able to get on with Astral Weeks or anything by The Band. I’ve tried!

 

Yeah, Transformer is clearly a classic. I don’t think that’s even remotely debatable.

 

Who's Next
Quadrophenia
Wildflowers
Aja
Kind Of Blue
A Whiter Shade of Pale
Exile on Main Street
Breakfast In America
Close To The Edge
Fragile
Transformer
Astral Weeks
Moondance
Trout Mask Replica
L.A. Woman

All of these have enjoyable moments for me, perhaps 1 or 2 tracks that I really like, but the rest just doesn't pull me in. I don't think one person can just say they aren't classics though, and several of these are in my collection. That being said, They're mainly there for completion's sake. I rarely listen to them, but when an album is seen as a "classic" I do want to own a copy of it, because as a music lover, and someone who really likes to explore every nook and cranny of an artist I'm interested in, I like to own all their available works. Usually, these "classics" that don't do much for me, I'll pull out and play a time or two per year just to give it another chance, otherwise I might as well sell them.

There are some albums that are classics that I used to just not understand, but after trying multiple times, I finally understood why they're so highly regarded. some of them are:
Pet Sounds
The Velvet Underground - s/t
Forever Changes
The Stooges - s/t
Tommy

 

Oh, it's debatable.