"I celebrate about half the catalog"
pickwick33
8,946 Posts
Which artists do you feel could do no wrong, until they, say, found religion, changed labels, got a different producer, etc.?Here we go with some of mine:- Horace Silver[/b] (okay as long as he doesn't have singers)- Stevie Wonder[/b] (last good album: 1980's Hotter Than July)- Bill Withers[/b] (was untouchable when he was on Sussex, but once he switched to Columbia got just a li'l too "quiet storm" for me)- The Byrds[/b] (after '68, they started gradually sucking)- Laura Lee[/b] (not too hot on her Invictus/Hot Wax recordings, but the Chess and Cotillion 45's are excellent)- The Who[/b] (for some reason, their catalog after '68 doesn't resonate with me as much, although I still kinda like 'em...as long as Keith Moon is around)- Buck Owens[/b] (started getting lame around '72, probably from being so busy hosting Hee-Haw; got good again when he made his comeback in the late '80s)- Isaac Hayes[/b] (haven't liked much of what he's done since he left Stax, although those two albums he did in '95 - one vocal, one instrumental - were actually pretty good)- Jimmy McGriff[/b] (I usually celebrate his entire catalog, but what I've heard of his Groove Merchant sides: zzzzzz...)SPECIAL SECTION: "1976" (that's when disco took over and soul was never the same...the following artists' records took a dive right about then):- War- Ohio Players- Earth, Wind & Fire- Jackson 5 (solo and together)- Whispers- Kool & the Gang
Comments
Rolling Stones
Bee Gees
Aretha Franklin
Black Flag
Sonic Youth
Look again.
We've got to discuss your Disco-Phobia.
Ill even say Mike's voice was argueably at its sharpest from '77 to '80.
I said gradually[/b] sucking.
In '69, they were just sliding by, but by '70 they were layin' some serious turds.
Once Greg Ginn re-discovered how much he loved smoking weed, it was over.
They were one of the greatest of the era...hard to say what happened really. I guess they just tapped that mine dry.
kool and the gang before disco.
i have a lot more, just forget the,.
Earth, Wind & Fire (Philip Bailey's Chinese Wall[/b] is better than everything EW&F have done since 1983, and no amount of Kirk Franklin ad-libs is going to change that)
Yes (I gave up after Big Generator[/b])
The 80's killed a lot of great bands, many of them broke up and key members went solo (some of the stuff the members of Fleetwood Mac did when they went on their hiatus was a lot better than what they would do from that point on).
Yet even as I write that, I think one needs time away from the music to re-consider listening to something they once thought was not-so-good. Every now and then I think of an artist I didn't like after a point, think about why I lost interest, and then listen again. Sometimes I immediately find out why, other times I change my mind.
I think with disco, it has less to do with disco as a genre and more about artists feeling a need to stay relevant. I know that's a word that gets kicked around too much these days, but now, every artist from the 90's who used to hate rap are now wanting production from Timbaland, or welcoming will.i.am with open arms, it's a need to stay modern when they reason people liked them before was because their music was good. We can blame MTV, we can blame Prince for his keyboards, we can blame Axl Rose, we can blame a lot of things.
Forreal? I celebrate her entire catalog, the Hot Wax stuff included. You need to go listen to "Crumbs on the Table" pronto.
Never heard "Crumbs," but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just Laura singing over the backing track to the Glass House's version (which was pretty good).
As far as Lee's output on that label, it kinda sounds like everybody involved was trying too hard to be shocking, singing about divorce, pregnancy, feminism, etc.. Millie Jackson did that number way better. Although, in Lee's case, I always did have a weakness for "It's Not Who You Fall For (It's What You Stand For)."
You mean'71?
They put out their best and second best albums in '69 and '70, respectively.
I'm a major fan of Gene Clark and David Crosby, but those albums are pretty uneven. I think they finally gelled as a band on Ballad of an Easy Rider and (Untitled). Byrdmaniax was ruined by Terry Melcher. I'd love to hear an unMelched version. Is there one? Never heard Farther Along.
The Meters (don't really go far past their Josei catalogue)
KRS-One (after Boom Bap it was pretty down-hill)
The Pharcyde (c'mon - Labcabin was OK at best)
Bernard Wright
Mary Lou Williams
Nina Simone
Idris Mahummad
Roy Ayers
Charles Wright
Jimmy McGriff
Jack McDuff
New Birth
Melvin Sparks
Titanic
Ray Barretto
Dennis Coffee
Billy Cobham
DJ Shadow (with the release of his next album it should be about half)
Keith Mansfield (he did alot of wack KPMs as well as good ones!)
John Sangster
Sven Libaek
Cameo
Jackie Orszaczky
Booker T and the MGs
Creative Source
Gil Scott-Heron (maybe a bit more than half of his is good!)
No, I mean 1970. Ever hear that There Is A Season box set? The final disc starts at that fabled year, and sure enough, what follows is PURE-D GARBAGE!!!!
And while I'm at it...
- when it comes to the Kinks[/b], I'm not buyin' nothin' that doesn't have the Reprise logo on it! (or maybe I should just say "nothing after early '71," since that material has been issued and reissued on other labels)
Gamble & Huff/ Philly Soul can stand up to any era in music.
EPMD
Wu-Tang
Kane
Kool G.
The Doors
Luther Ingram
Beach Boys
NAS
Donald Byrd
Chico Hamilton
Johnny Hammond
Eddie Harris
Groove Holmes/Jimmy McGriff (not together, just sayin', they're about the same in terms of output and quality vs. terdity)
Bobby Hutcherson
Milt Jackson
Elvin Jones (even though one of my favorite drummers, he had terds)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Yusef Lateef
Jack McDuff
Wes Montgomery
Buddy Rich
Horace Silver (later stuff isn't too good, and while the singing stuff isn't great, I don't mind it so much)
Jimmy Smith
Lonnie Liston Smith
Cal Tjader
a few of these are some of my favorite jazz artists, but they've all released their fair share of crap.
You are SO not lying.
Now I'm not sayin' that Philadelphia Int'l was faultless, but even after '76 they had their moments.
And the O'Jays' The Year 2000 is from the year 1980 and is actually a left-field surprise! It's as good as any of the prime-era LP's like Back Stabbers or Survival.
Buck became very depressed and disinterested in music when his best friend and right hand man, Don Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1974. A great guitarist and writer who helped develop the "Bakersfield Sound"
Yeah, they were hit or miss before the metal god joined.