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Dismissed Upon Release But Standing Strong Today

HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
edited September 2011 in Strut Central


In 1991, basically after the band had already broken up, Spacemen 3 released their final studio album titled Recurring. At that time, it wasn't considered much more than a dud. But listen to Recurring today and damned if it hasn't aged well.





What else falls into this category?

  Comments

  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    "here, my dear"

    "kamakiriad"
  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
    That Spaceman 3 clips was cool. Reminds me a bit of Brian Jonestown Massacre
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:
    "here, my dear"

    "kamakiriad"

    Definitely on Here My Dear. And I had never listened to any of that Fagen album until you mentioned it. Now that I have skimmed it, I will say that at the very least the opening song is really, really good. So thanks for the heads-up.
  • erewhonerewhon 1,123 Posts
  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    crabmongerfunk said:
    "here, my dear"

    "kamakiriad"

    Definitely on Here My Dear. And I had never listened to any of that Fagen album until you mentioned it. Now that I have skimmed it, I will say that at the very least the opening song is really, really good. So thanks for the heads-up.

    i sort of got into that album one song at a time over several years but it really works as a sci-fi concept. check out "snowbound" which has walt becker on bass, guitar and production.
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    How about most of Led Zep's catalog. Check out the Rolling Stone review of LZ II:
    http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/led-zeppelin-ii-19691213

    And Houses Of The Holy (which is probably my favorite of theirs):
    http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/houses-of-the-holy-19730607
  • TheKindCromangTheKindCromang 1,463 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:
    HarveyCanal said:
    crabmongerfunk said:
    "here, my dear"

    "kamakiriad"

    Definitely on Here My Dear. And I had never listened to any of that Fagen album until you mentioned it. Now that I have skimmed it, I will say that at the very least the opening song is really, really good. So thanks for the heads-up.

    i sort of got into that album one song at a time over several years but it really works as a sci-fi concept. check out "snowbound" which has walt becker on bass, guitar and production.

    This song rules! Just peeped the video too. Thanks for the recommend!

    Donald Fagen - Snowbound (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: Donald Fagen
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    The entire David Axelrod solo catalog?

    Speaking of which, the entire David McCallum catalog. But man did we love Napoleon Solo.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    asstro said:
    And Houses Of The Holy (which is probably my favorite of theirs):
    http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/houses-of-the-holy-19730607

    Yeah it is overly harsh, but if I had heard "The Crunge" and "D'Yer Maker" on that album when it had just dropped I would've been mad too (probably the most embarrassing moments in their catalog, alongside "Stairway").
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    I think a distinction needs to be made here - some are posting records that were panned by critics but were hugely successful (i.e. Zep) while others are posting records that just didn't sell (critics liked "Here, My Dear" and I believe "Paul's Boutique" as well)... the OP was a record that I think was dissed by buyers and critics, so I'm not sure what the criteria is.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    glad you guys dug those kamakiriad tracks. like i said, it drew me over the peiod of about 2 years so make sure you give those other songs a listen once in a while...

    "trans-island expressway" - that first track you were talking about harv - (bass, drums, vocals)
    http://www.divshare.com/download/1943659-1a6

    "snowbound" (bass, drums, vocals)
    http://www.divshare.com/download/2057172-17e
  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts




    no one was feeling these when they came out.
    Critics OR fans.

    Nowadays they definelty have some legs.
  • big earbig ear 67 Posts
    Exile on Main Street got crap reviews and is now considered a 'classic'
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    mrmatthew said:




    no one was feeling these when they came out.
    Critics OR fans.

    Nowadays they definelty have some legs.

    I listened to my copies.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    mrmatthew said:


    no one was feeling these when they came out.
    Critics OR fans.

    Nowadays they definelty have some legs.

    Actually the response kinda yo-yo'ed on this one, as the faddish sounds 1st caught on, then repelled the moment they started getting stale, according to what I've read - here's what wikipedia says:

    Electric Mud sold 150,000 copies within the first six weeks of release.[1] Peaking at #127 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart,[7] it was Muddy Waters' first album to hit on the Billboard and Cash Box charts.[8] Although American critics panned the album, it was better received in England.[8] According to Marshall Chess, "It was the biggest Muddy Waters record we ever had at Chess, and it dropped instantly. The English accepted it; they are more eccentric."[8]

    Muddy Waters recorded After the Rain the following year, incorporating elements of the sound of Electric Mud. According to Cosey, "I'll never forget, as soon as I walked into the studio for the follow-up and Muddy saw me, he threw his arms around me, said 'Hey, how you doing, boy, play some of that stuff you played on that last album.'"[8] Following strong criticism of the album, Muddy Waters claimed that he disliked the album and its sound, and that he did not consider the album to be blues.[4] He stated, "Every time I go into Chess, [they] put some un-blues players with me [...] If you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man."[8] In the biography The Mojo Man, Muddy Waters stated "That Electric Mud record was dogshit. But when it came out, it started selling like wild, but then they started sending them back. They said, 'This can't be Muddy Waters with all this shit going on, all this wha-wha and fuzztone.'"[9]

    According to Robert Gordon in Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters, the valet of Jimi Hendrix later told Pete Cosey that Hendrix would listen to "Herbert Harper's Free Press News" for inspiration before performing.[8] Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones cited Electric Mud as the inspiration for the riff of "Black Dog".[1]
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Muddy also complained [this has more to do with after the rain and his cover of a Stones song] that people would request stuff from those lps that his band couldn't play.

    I think his next, and last lp for Chess was the Woodstock Album. It is great and has members of the Band and other RSO Allstar type folks.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    bull_ox said:
    I think a distinction needs to be made here - some are posting records that were panned by critics but were hugely successful (i.e. Zep) while others are posting records that just didn't sell (critics liked "Here, My Dear" and I believe "Paul's Boutique" as well)... the OP was a record that I think was dissed by buyers and critics, so I'm not sure what the criteria is.


    Critics liked Here My Dear?

    I dont recall hearing one song on the radio even if that isnt a reflection of positive criticism.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    batmon said:
    bull_ox said:
    I think a distinction needs to be made here - some are posting records that were panned by critics but were hugely successful (i.e. Zep) while others are posting records that just didn't sell (critics liked "Here, My Dear" and I believe "Paul's Boutique" as well)... the OP was a record that I think was dissed by buyers and critics, so I'm not sure what the criteria is.


    Critics liked Here My Dear?

    I dont recall hearing one song on the radio even if that isnt a reflection of positive criticism.

    I would say that those two factors are separate matters entirely. Critics have never had a problem loving an album w/no hit singles.

    I don't know now whether what I said is true or not though - I had just read the snopes article on the album a couple weeks ago so that's what my response was based on:

    http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/heredear.asp

    Looking back on that now, as well as the wikipedia page on it, it looks as if the critics' opinion was "divided" on it, so I may have overstated by saying it was reviewed positively. I do think that the idea that most people hated it and that it was recently reevaluated as great is revisionist, however.
  • big earbig ear 67 Posts
    any of the Nick Drake albums, especially Pink Moon.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    bull_ox said:
    Looking back on that now, as well as the wikipedia page on it, it looks as if the critics' opinion was "divided" on it, so I may have overstated by saying it was reviewed positively. I do think that the idea that most people hated it and that it was recently reevaluated as great is revisionist, however.

    i find it little suspect that this album was liked by many critics yet smothered by the public for twenty years.
    #4 R&B #26 POP isnt that bad overall.
    I would really like to know how many critics liked it in 78. Four Rock magazines and thats it?
    Everybody and thats it?
    How does that positive critique translate into an album that the public aint fuckin with?
    There just seems to be this missing connection that i dont see.
    U can figure Motown didnt push it due to personal and artistic reasons.
    It seems just as revisionist that HMD was well liked by "the critics", yet album was getting rediscovered and or revitalized decades later. It could be true, i just would like to know some loose figure of what many is. Wiki smells funny.
    Gaye has been on the radio since forever and ive never heard ONE song from that album get played.
    I would also like to hear from older dudes who recall whe it came out....like "yeah they played it a little bit and then moved on".

    I checked Divided Soul and Ritz says the reviews were hostile. page 250 breaks shit down.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    IMO the word "critic" is being used too much in this thread.

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts


    although the few people who reviewed this LP loved it, it was a flop, no one bought it, very few heard it. Mainly due to the fact that the label, Ardent, was distributed by Stax. Stax had no idea how to market a white pop/rock band. Most promos were sent to the usual radio stations and folks who got other Stax releases...so I'm guessing this was included in promo packs along with Rufus Thomas, Jean Knight, etc...obviously none of the stations that would play R&B/Soul was going to throw this on in rotation, so it died on the vine and went unnoticed for over a decade....then in the 80s a cult following emerged for this band/record and its member, Alex Chilton...nowadays it is rightly regarded as a masterpiece and has influenced dozens if not hundreds of other bands.
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    IMO the word "critic" is being used too much in this thread.

    I think it's because you used the word 'dismissed' in the title.

    Critics dismiss things, the public just ignores (or doesn't buy) them.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    batmon said:

    I would really like to know how many critics liked it in 78. Four Rock magazines and thats it?
    Everybody and thats it?

    One thing to remember is that in the 70s, even as late as 78, there were not a lot of publications doing rock/R&B reviews.

    The lp [Here My Dear] sold fairly well.
    So did Fleetwood Mac Tusk and Springsteen Live box other dismissed and ignored lps.

    It was neither a radio, or in my experience, a turntable hit.
    I think the analysis that fans found it too dense and too dark is fairly accurate.

    As a listener I did, but I also felt that there was something hiding in there if I could just breakthrough and find it. I never tried that hard.

    I remember Songs In The Key Of Life getting a brutal review in Rolling Stone*, but like those Zeppelin discs fans and radio paid no attention to the reviews.

    *http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/songs-in-the-key-of-life-19761216 My memory is not that good, more of a stupid review, which really almost all reviews are. I like that he doesn't mention Sir Duke, most likely because he doesn't know who Duke Ellington is.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    This.

    Speaking as someone who ignored it at the time, I have no problem admitting I was wrong. It's absolutely right that it's since been recognised as one of the landmark records of the last twenty years.
  • leonleon 883 Posts
    asstro said:
    How about most of Led Zep's catalog. Check out the Rolling Stone review of LZ II:
    http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/led-zeppelin-ii-19691213

    And Houses Of The Holy (which is probably my favorite of theirs):
    http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/houses-of-the-holy-19730607

    Wow! Rolling Stone 'dismisses' The Stones and Led Zep in one go (review from june 1973):
    In the same way that the Rolling Stones evolved into a senior, "safe" bizarro-perversion band, Led Zeppelin has become a senior, "safe" heavy-metal band.

    I thought we started calling The Stones 'senior' rock only about a decade ago...

    also

    "bizarro-perversion band"...


    now that's my kind of music!
  • leonleon 883 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    This.

    Speaking as someone who ignored it at the time, I have no problem admitting I was wrong. It's absolutely right that it's since been recognised as one of the landmark records of the last twenty years.

    Will cop when i see it - thanks for sharing!
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