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I have to disagree with people recommending Apostrophe (') as a starting point for Zappa, mainly because I think that Over-Nite Sensation is a better album. It's still pretty accessible and, in my opinion at least, it has better songs overall than Apostrophe (') does. Another decent starting point would be either Freak Out! or We're Only in It for the Money, just for a good look at 60s Zappa. And for more of his instrumental stuff, Hot Rats is a great album.
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Nov 24, 2008 05:04
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trans fat posted:Where do I start with The Monkees? The band's best albums are probably Headquarters, Pisces Aquarius Capricorn and Jones Ltd., and Head. From there, a compilation would probably work best.
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Nov 30, 2008 20:52
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For Fela, I honestly don't think I've heard anything of his I haven't liked yet. I guess I'd probably start with Expensive poo poo, though there might be others who know more about his discography than I do.
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Dec 4, 2008 21:47
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RaoulDuke posted:Neil Young never really got answered a few pages back. If you're interested in his countryish material, Harvest is really the de-facto starting point.
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Dec 11, 2008 06:29
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p-hop posted:Where should I start with Daniel Johnston? So many albums, and all of them scare me a little. Given the nature of his work, you're probably best off starting with the recent compilation Welcome to My World, seeing which songs you like best from it, then finding the albums those songs came from. Otherwise, it's probably best to start with either Yip/Jump Music or Hi, How Are You (which is sold as a twofer with Continuing Story). Those are his two most popular albums, have a lot of his most well-known work on them, and are pretty consistent in terms of quality.
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Jan 17, 2009 00:57
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HP Hovercraft posted:Where do I start with XTC? XTC's career can kind of be split up into a few different eras, making any one specific album difficult to choose. Their earlier days were a bit on the noisy, post-punkier side of things, and they became increasingly enamored with 60s pop song stylings as they went on. I'd say, overall, the best place to start would probably be English Settlemnt, since it seems to be somewhere in the middle of those two styles. Then just choose which aspect of their sound you like better and either go forward or backwards chronologically.
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Jan 18, 2009 04:41
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Yeah, I was going to say that The Commercial Album is probably the best bet, as it's what helped me get interested in the group. It's 40 songs, all around a minute long, and they're all pretty straightforward as far as the Residents go. Duck Stab/Buster and Glen probably wouldn't be a bad starting point either.
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Apr 21, 2009 23:09
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Ellen Page Reactor posted:So I've been listening to Dark Was the Night lately, and there are a few artists on it that I'd really like to hear more of. Any pointers for Iron & Wine or Andrew Bird? For Iron and Wine, it'd be best to start with either the Woman King EP or The Shepherd's Dog, since starting around Woman King he started introducing more instrumentation into his sound. His early stuff tends to be really lo-fi and solo acoustic, which, while I enjoy it, can get kind of dull. I'm not really a big Andrew Bird fan, but going by my friend who really likes him, start with either Armchair Apocrypha or The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Ikari Worrier fucked around with this message at 23:53 on May 20, 2009 |
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May 20, 2009 23:51
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Frog Strips posted:There seem to be a number of their albums out and I was wondering what good places to start are with Guitar Wolf, The Boredoms, The Pillows and Acid Mothers Temple. Thanks a lot. Personally, for Boredoms, I'd recommend starting with Super ae (sometimes erroneously written as Super Are). It's more focused on the band's psychedelic/motorik sound, but it still has a fair amount of callbacks to their earlier, more chaotic and noisy stuff (such as in the beginning part of "Super Are You")
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May 26, 2009 18:58
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Rubber Biscuit posted:Wondering where to begin with Deerhoof. I saw them opening for Blur in Hyde Park this friday and was impressed, but their back catalogue is, uh, bigger than I expected. I'd start with either Apple O' or The Runners Four. Both are pretty accessible and among the best albums they ever released (if not the best). Apple O' is a lot shorter and snappier, while The Runners Four has a much broader range of styles, so it's really up to you which one to go with.
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Jul 4, 2009 10:48
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Rubber Biscuit posted:Wilco, anyone? Well, the place I personally started in their discography was Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but honestly I think you can't go wrong starting with Summerteeth either. Stuff before Summerteeth tends to be a lot more alt-country (which I like) and stuff after, say, A Ghost is Born starts getting progressively more boring (which I obviously don't like). edit: except for Kicking Television, which is great. Ikari Worrier fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Aug 18, 2009 |
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Aug 18, 2009 23:39
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® posted:Where do I start with Pavement? I'd personally go with either Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or Brighten the Corners. Both of them showcase more of the pop side of the group and are excellent. Though, for my money, their best album is Wowee Zowee.
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Nov 29, 2009 02:17
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screaden posted:I've always been interested in checking out The Residents but their catalogue is just huge. I just want to to check out the studio albums at the moment I'd say that The Commercial Album is a great place to start. It covers a lot of ground (given that it's 40 songs approximately 1 minute long each) and is fairly straightforward compared to a lot of their other work. Duck Stab/Buster & Glen might be another good place to start too.
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Dec 1, 2009 22:31
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Iraff posted:Skip the self-titled Springsteen doesn't have a self-titled. (I know what you mean, though; Greetings from Asbury Park is kind of rough going since Springsteen hadn't quite found his voice yet.)
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Mar 14, 2010 02:13
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OrganicRobot posted:Like many other bands mentioned on this thread, Ween happens to be very consistent, but your best bet would be Chocolate and Cheese coupled with The Mollusk. Both albums show off almost as many genres as tracks and are catchy to boot, but if you can only have one, go with The Mollusk (which might be my favorite album of all time). From their go either direction, though you might want to come back to 12 Country Greats after White Pepper and Quebec. Everything from Pure Guava back is excellent but extremely weird and less accessible than their middle couple albums. The only album you should watch out for is their second: The Pod. It is weird as gently caress but not horrible, just so sooo murky and hazy. Yeah, while The Pod is by far my favorite Ween album, it's probably their weirdest album by a long shot, and definitely not a good place to start. Otherwise, yeah, I'd agree that either Chocolate and Cheese or The Mollusk is the best place to start things off (though maybe quebec wouldn't make a bad starting point either, now that I think about it).
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Mar 17, 2010 01:41
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the Bunt posted:Deerhoof? Either Apple O' or The Runners Four, I'd say.
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Mar 17, 2010 02:14
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Sprat Sandwich posted:Where do I start with The Beach Boys? Where do I stop? Where to start depends largely on how much you're into the early rock sound the band did on their first albums. Honestly, to me, their early albums are full of filler, so a one-two combo of Sounds of Summer and The Warmth of the Sun should cover basically everything worthwhile from those first albums. Otherwise, the first Beach Boys album that's front-to-back brilliant is Today!. If you start from Today!, basically every album the band released from there to Holland is worth listening to. The dividing line is 15 Big Ones, which is a huge pile of poo poo. After that album, basically the only things worth listening to are Love You (though that opinion is contested since it's a rather bizarre album) and any song written by Dennis Wilson (which is not contested since Dennis Wilson rules).
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Mar 21, 2010 23:10
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Rubber Biscuit posted:Quoting for truth. Start with Pet Sounds, don't get anything chronologically after Surf's Up. You really can't go far wrong with anything made before then. See I completely disagree with this. If nothing else, I think Holland is a fantastic album and I consider it to be their last truly classic album (well okay, I like Love You too, but I realize that one's contentious).
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Mar 24, 2010 09:52
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SMP posted:What albums from The Kinks are worth listening to? I haven't given a fair number of their albums a listen myself, but at the very least I'd say to listen to the albums they produced from Something Else by The Kinks up to Muswell Hillbillies. As stated, Village Green Preservation Society would be the best starting point, though I think my favorites from that period would be either Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) or Muswell Hillbillies. - Anyway, I figure I might as well ask this thread for advice on a couple artists. Neither of these is a case of "where do I start?" as much as "where do I go from here?", though. First, I've been meaning to ask for quite a while, but where do I go with Kate Bush? I have Hounds of Love and absolutely love that album to death, but I have no idea where to go from there. Second, since I've listened to almost every Elvis Costello album up to Blood and Chocolate (the exceptions being Almost Blue, Punch the Clock, and Goodbye Cruel World), I wanted to know which Costello albums (if any) are worthwhile starting with Spike onward. Anything interesting to say about the Costello albums I skipped would be interesting to read as well.
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Apr 11, 2010 12:33
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Way Past Cool! posted:Besides the Village Green Preservation Society I would get a greatest hits compilation covering their 60s singles (there's plenty to choose from). Combined with Village Green it should give you a pretty good idea of their range. To amend what TheNintenGenius said, anything from Face to Face to Muswell Hillbillies is good, Lola vs. Powerman is my favorite. Yeah I've heard that Face to Face is good but I haven't given it a listen myself, and I didn't really want to recommend something I hadn't actually heard yet.
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Apr 12, 2010 00:39
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hatelull posted:The first couple of Face to Face albums are pretty ok if you want that so-cal punk vibe very much along the lines of NOFX or Bad Religion (but without the humor of the former or the Chomsky-lite of the latter). Check out Big Choice for their big major label (Victory) release, and Don't Turn Away for the original raw fan favorite. Big Choice sounds more polished and includes their minor hit "Disconnected" and a cover of "Bikeage." Don't Turn Away in my opinion, has better songs and the original version of "Disconnected." What the hell are you going on about? Also, thanks for the advice FitFortDanga. I think I might still end up getting Spike anyway if only because I like the song "Veronica" just that much, but at least I know what else might be worth it (and not).
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Apr 12, 2010 20:48
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Ramms+ein posted:Have you listened to the songs Negativland from NEU! and perhaps E-musik from NEU 75? Those are the most rocky type songs from them. There's also "Super" from Neu! 2.
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Jun 10, 2010 09:53
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Popcorn posted:I will check out those albums, thanks! I will say that you should probably check Neu! 2 the last of their output. The band ran out of money about halfway through recording the album and had to resort to desperation tactics to pad out the second half, like putting three versions of "Super" on the album, with the other two literally being the exact same recording sped up ("Super 78") and slowed down ("Super 16").
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Jun 10, 2010 21:10
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SMP posted:Been hearing great things about The Flaming Lips and King Crimson. Where do I start? The Flaming Lips have a few distinct phases to their career. Their earliest material (from their self-titled EP to Telepathic Surgery) is basically psychedelic punk. I like a lot of the stuff from this period, but it's pretty amateurish and tends to be noisy, so it's probably not the best place to start. The second phase (from In a Priest Driven Ambulance to Clouds Taste Metallic) keeps the noisy, psychedelic qualities to the music but combines it with more sophisticated songwriting, mostly due to Wayne Coyne working with more accomplished collaborators (first with Jon Donahue, then the tag team of Steve Drozd and Ron Jones). This is my personal favorite period of the Lips' history, and any of the four albums from that period would make for decent entry points if you're into noisy pop, though my personal faves are probably Clouds Taste Metallic and Hit to Death in the Future Head. Skipping over Zaireeka (which is great but definitely not a good starting point), the third phase of the band's career found the Lips going increasingly toward, as hatelull said, airy, complex pop, starting with Soft Bulletin up to At War with the Mystics. This is probably their most accessible period, and The Soft Bulletin is both a great album and a critics' darling, so you might as well go for that one. Lately, it looks like the band's started up a fourth phase by taking the complexity of their third phase and going noisier than they ever have before, with the totally awesome Embryonic. Don't know if that'd be an appropriate starting point, but I definitely love it. tl;dr - Go for Clouds Taste Metallic if you're into noisy rock/pop, Soft Bulletin if you're into more straightforward pop, then just explore the periods of the band's sound that you find the most interesting.
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Jun 10, 2010 23:42
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Tony Jowns posted:Where do I start with Cheap Trick and Creedence Clearwater Revival? With Cheap Trick, yeah At Budokan is going to be the stock answer since it's essentially a greatest hits live (and also really great). For their studio albums, though, all of their first four albums are varying degrees of awesome (though In Color suffers from horrible production). I'd say Heaven Tonight is probably the best of that lot to go with. As far as CCR's output, I'd say to start with Green River.
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Jun 29, 2010 22:44
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Falls Down Stairs posted:I know next to nothing about The Beach Boys. Having listened to Pet Sounds, what else in their catalogue ought I to check out? Is there anything that should be avoided? In general, the breakdown of the band's work is as follows: Pre-Pet Sounds: Tons of great singles and some good album tracks weighed down by a lot of filler. The Beach Boys Today! is the only truly consistent album from this period; otherwise, you can get a majority of the highlights from a combination of the compilations Sounds of Summer and The Warmth of the Sun. Post-Pet Sounds to the early 70s: Possibly the band's most creatively fertile period. Everything the band released during this period is worth listening to in some way or another, with clear highlights (for me) being Friends, Sunflower, Surf's Up, and Holland, with the latter serving as a sort of cut-off point. Mid-70s onward: Absolute garbage. Mike Love took over the band completely and turned them into a rinky-dink nostalgia act. Almost everything from this period should be avoided, with the possible exception of The Beach Boys Love You, though fans argue about the quality of that one (I like it). Any songs written by Dennis Wilson during this period also tend to be pretty great, but they also happen to be stuck on pretty awful albums, so you might just want to get his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue and not bother with the material he released with the Beach Boys at that time. Of course, one thing I've learned about the Beach Boys fandom is that few people seem to agree on much of anything (well, other than the stuff starting from the mid-70s being trash), so your mileage may vary. At any rate, skipping the wall of words, I'd personally say that the best places to go after Pet Sounds would be either The Beach Boys Today! or Sunflower. Ikari Worrier fucked around with this message at 09:58 on Jul 28, 2010 |
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Jul 28, 2010 09:51
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cloudchamber posted:What's the best Bjork album to start with? All I've really heard so far are a few of her singles and random songs used in various movie soundtracks. I'd say that Post is probably the best bet. Stylistically, it's more pop-oriented than a lot of her other releases, and it has a large chunk of her most well-known songs. (My personal favorite is probably Medulla, though.)
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Aug 19, 2010 01:08
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Dr. Magnificent posted:After being blown away by Pet Sounds, where do I go with the Beach Boys? They have such a huge catalog. If you loved Pet Sounds, the next logical place to go would be The Beach Boys Today!, since it served as kind of a warm-up to Pet Sounds and has similar production. Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (available as part of a twofer disc with Today!) also has its share of great songs (especially "California Girls" and "Let Him Run Wild"), but it's a lot more scattershot. As for their other work, the pre-Pet Sounds stuff tends to be a bit of a crapshoot. Their early singles are mostly fantastic, and there's also a fair number of great album tracks (e.g. "Farmer's Daughter," "The Warmth of the Sun," "The Surfer Moon"), but it's all smothered in filler tracks that range from being mediocre to just plain godawful (e.g. "Ten Little Indians," "County Fair," "'Cassius' Love vs. 'Sonny' Wilson"). I personally think that just picking up the two compilations Sounds of Summer and The Warmth of the Sun nets you almost all of the essential early stuff you'll ever need. The post-Pet Sounds albums starting from Smiley Smile up through Holland all tend to be quite different from each other stylistically, and I consider this to be their most artistically fertile period, as every single album from that stretch is well worth listening to. The best to start with would probably be Sunflower, since it's consistently good and shows increased songwriting contributions from the non-Brian Wilson members of the band. A couple other possibilities for starting points would be Wild Honey (rough and rootsy, a couple years before The Beatles' Let It Be) and Friends (intimate and introspective, a personal fave of mine). The stuff after Holland, meanwhile, is almost universally garbage. By that point, Mike Love had his way with the band and turned the group into a pointless parody of their earliest fun in the sun stuff. The only things potentially worth looking for from this period are The Beach Boys Love You (originally slated to be a Brian Wilson solo album, and probably the weirdest thing ever released under the Beach Boys name), and any songs written by Dennis Wilson (who was a loving spectacular songwriter. his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue is well worth picking up too).
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Nov 18, 2010 22:31
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Wyatt posted:In no particular order: Hot Rats, Apostrophe, Overnight Sensation, Sheik Yerbouti, and, my personal favorite, Joe's Garage. For his earlier stuff, I'd also recommend We're Only in It for the Money, then Uncle Meat and Weasels Ripped My Flesh. The overall best album to start with would probably be Over-Nite Sensation, though, at least in my opinion.
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Dec 6, 2010 22:24
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spe posted:Wheres the best place to start with Of Montreal? Last.fm told me I should listen to them if I like Islands and their discography is pretty gigantic. I'll agree with dailydares that Satanic Panic is as good a starting point as you'll likely get, since it straddles the line between the their early, 60s worshipping material and later Prince-esque electrofunk the best. As far as the early stuff goes, I'd recommend The Gay Parade as a litmus to see whether you like that side of their sound, while for the latter material Hissing Fauna is probably their masterwork. vinylgroover posted:Where do you ya'll reckon I should start with Electric Light Orchestra or Sufjan Stevens?
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Dec 22, 2010 23:58
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Boneitis posted:I don't see if they're here or not, but where should I start with Donovan, Billy Idol, and Talking Heads? For Talking Heads, I'd probably start with their second album, More Songs about Buildings and Food, then keep going forward until you lose interest. (Their first album's okay too, but the second album is a lot more consistently good.) Either of their live albums would be a good starting point as well, though Stop Making Sense would probably be preferable due to their other one (The Name of This Band Is Talking HeadS) being a 2 CD set.
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Jan 17, 2011 23:22
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ultrafilter posted:You're probably thinking of the version of "Psycho Killer" off of Stop Making Sense anyway, so that's the one I'd recommend. Talking Heads 77 is definitely a good album, but I agree with TheNintenGenius's recommendation to hold off on that one and start with the next album, or even their third, Remain in Light. Looks like someone forgot that there was an album between More Songs about Buildings and Food and Remain in Light!!! (Fear of Music rules.) But yeah, it's not like I'm saying that Talking Heads: 77 is a bad album, it's just that there's not much else on there that's at "Psycho Killer"'s level of quality (though I definitely like "The Book I Read" and "Pulled Up" bunches). Ikari Worrier fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Jan 18, 2011 |
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Jan 17, 2011 23:59
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AboveAndBeyond posted:Where does someone start with Primus and Iron & Wine As Voodoofly said, Iron & Wine only has four albums, and they definitely progress from more or less solo acoustic folk to an ever wider sonic palette, with the latest album even featuring straight-up electronic flourishes. His EPs are just as essential as his albums, in my opinion, especially since they play into his continuing progression as an artist (The Sea and the Rhythm kind of serving as a bridge between his first and second albums, and Woman King and his Calexico collab In the Reins as a bridge between his second and third). Honestly, though, I'd say the best overall place to start would probably be the compilation Around the Well. For being a b-sides and other rarities complilation, it's really uniformly good in terms of quality, and it splits the difference perfectly between his early sound and his later (one era showcased on the first disc, his latter-day sound on the second). Basically, just get that compilation, and whichever disc you prefer will give you a good idea as to which albums to look into (for the first disc, go Our Endless Numbered Days and earlier, for the second go Woman King and beyond).
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Feb 17, 2011 00:53
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screaden posted:Where do I start with The Pogues? Rum Sodomy and the Lash is the best bet for a starting point since it tells you basically everything you need to know about the band and is awesome to boot. Their first three albums are all excellent, honestly. Haven't had a chance to listen to anything beyond those.
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Apr 14, 2011 10:50
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The Schwa posted:Where should I start with... The albums up to Brothers and Sisters are all worth a listen, with the best starting point probably being either At Fillmore East or Eat a Peach. After B&S, they started going downhill really fast.
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May 3, 2011 01:50
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Anime_Otaku posted:Where do I start with Bjork, The greatest hits or just work my way through the proper albums from "Debut" onwards? While Debut is pretty good, Post is about the best introduction to her you're likely to get.
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Aug 12, 2011 03:24
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Sandwolf posted:Where do I start with Elvis Costello and jazz (similar to the TV show Louie-style jazz). With Elvis Costello, your best starting points by far are going to be either My Aim Is True or This Year's Model. Actually, you really can't go wrong with most of the material that Costello released up to Blood and Chocolate (emphasis on most: for the love of god, please don't try out Goodbye Cruel World), but his first two albums are definitely among his best (if not his absolute best) and really introduce you to his general songwriting style. Unless you're asking for suggestions for jazzy Elvis Costello, in which case I don't really have a clue.
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Sep 27, 2011 00:46
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big business sloth posted:For some reason you've excluded Small Change and Rain Dogs, which is odd. Do those, then maybe get into his later stuff, with either Bone Machine (really weird!) or maybe The Black Rider, Real Gone, or try Orphans, though it's a lot of tracks. Dunno about his new one but I've heard good stuff. I find it funny that you qualify your suggestion for Bone Machine with it being a really weird album, when The Black Rider is, in my opinion at least, the absolute strangest album Waits has ever done. I mean, at bare minimum none of his other albums feature him singing like a wizened old crone or spoken word bits from William S. Burroughs. But anyway, to respond to the person asking about Waits, I'd definitely go with Small Change, Rain Dogs, and Bone Machine as all being possible places to go next. Maybe Orphans if you don't mind getting a 3xCD set (since that one displays an absolutely huge range of styles). edit: now that I've thought about it for a while, Franks Wild Years would be a pretty good one to get too. It's a really solid album and honestly gets kind of underrated compared to most of his Island records output. Ikari Worrier fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Oct 25, 2011 |
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Oct 24, 2011 21:18
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screaden posted:How about Kraftwerk? Trans-Europe Express seems like the go to by all accounts but what are the other essentials? Trans-Europe Express is definitely their best album and probably the best starting point. Otherwise, everything they released up to Computer World is certainly worth a listen, with that album and Autobahn in particular being probably the next albums of theirs to look into. Post-Computer World, Tour de France is nice and worth a listen, while The Mix is decent but inessential (though somewhat interesting) and Electric Cafe/Techno Pop is just loving terrible and should be skipped outright (apart from "Telephone Line" and "House Phone," with the latter only appearing on the recent reissue of the album).
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Nov 19, 2011 12:00
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Where do I start with Django Reinhardt?
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Dec 11, 2011 14:03
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