Optical Promise

[cardero]

This is a thread for all those people who have followed a specific band or artist and then you come across that album that sounds well….different from every thing previously produced. What is that album that you remember that sounded peculiar. It could be better album, worst, commercial, experimental, odd, off, out of place, interesting. An artist’s album that made you ponder for awhile.



One album that I had mixed doubts about was The Doors Soft Parade I haven’t quite recovered from that album.

 

[Circle_One]

I'd have to go with Aerosmith's Honkin' on Bobo for this one. Definitely. I know a lot of Aerosmith fans enjoyed it, but I was not impressed in the least.

 

[cardero]

Genesis' DUKE was the album that I started calling the group The Phil Collins Band.

Cirlce_One correct me if I am wrong but wasn't that bizarre album Lou Reed did called The Machinist?

 

[Circle_One]

If you're talking about that album which pretty much only consists of tons of feedback, electric screeching (and some that even sounds human) and a tiny bit of bass thrown in for good measure, then the album you're thinking of is called Metal Machine Music. If that's not the album you're thinking of, then forgive me. It's the only one that's coming to mind at the moment.

 

[cardero]

In the "They can tell you where they were and what they were doing" department we have those memorable sound recordings:
Beatles-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beach Boys-Pet Sounds (I do not own any Beach Boy albums, I have Close Lobsters, Stump, Screamin' Blue Messiahs but no Beach Boys, I apologize).
Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon

 

[Feathers in Hair]

There's one called "PandemoniumfromAmerica" (or at least I think that's the title). Apparently, quite a few cast members of LOTR got together in order to make it... I've only heard three songs from it (guess who did the vocal for all three, hehee!) and my favorite has to be "Halffling", which basically sounds like Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan having consumed large amounts of helium and possibly other substances that shall go unnamed.

 

[Circle_One]

Alright, I've got two to add here (oddly enough, by the same band).

So first, in the "So bad it hurts and yet too good not to own" category, we've got to have The Shaggs' Philosophy of the World. Wow. Powerful album. Horribly inept band, but yet that's what makes them great.

And in the "Why'd They do That?" category, we've got The Shagg's Own Thing. By the time they made this album, it seems they actually grew into their instruments and learned how to play them, though I think it's this exact fact that makes this album lack the impact and power of their first.

 

[cardero]

If you're talking about that album which pretty much only consists of tons of feedback, electric screeching (and some that even sounds human) and a tiny bit of bass thrown in for good measure, then the album you're thinking of is called Metal Machine Music. If that's not the album you're thinking of, then forgive me. It's the only one that's coming to mind at the moment.

Yes, that is the album! Totally experimental and a break from everything Lou. I have a friend who had to hunt that album dowm just to complete his Lou Reed collection. He played me a few tracks and it is like watching a train wreck, in other words it was so tragic but you could not turn away from listening. When you think of the albums before that and the albums after it is seems sort of displaced.

 

[cardero]

There's one called "PandemoniumfromAmerica" (or at least I think that's the title). Apparently, quite a few cast members of LOTR got together in order to make it... I've only heard three songs from it (guess who did the vocal for all three, hehee!) and my favorite has to be "Halffling", which basically sounds like Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan having consumed large amounts of helium and possibly other substances that shall go unnamed.

I heard this was coming out but I never found out if it was released.

 

[cardero]

Miles Davis’ B!+( #’s Brew was a complete departure from his past style. One of those albums that make you go “whoa, where did that come from”?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'd have to go with Aerosmith's Honkin' on Bobo for this one. Definitely. I know a lot of Aerosmith fans enjoyed it, but I was not impressed in the least.

I agree. The songs sounded good live, but blues is just not the Aerosmith way. And whats up with them singing Jesus is on the Main Line? Aerosmith is supposed to be sex, lots of drugs, and rock 'n roll. Not a church hymn.
Another album that I didn't care for all that much is Metallica's Load. I really don't even consider it a metal album. I do like Metallica's St. Anger. I know alot of people would call it a piece of ****, but I don't think its that bad.
Limp Bizkit was a group I didn't care for that much, and then Choclate Starfish was produced. That is one of my favorite CDs. My Way is a great song.

 

[cardero]

Were there any albums that RF members have had to warm up to? What I mean is that were there albums that the more you listened to it the more you appreciated it?

 

[Circle_One]

Yes, that is the album! Totally experimental and a break from everything Lou. I have a friend who had to hunt that album dowm just to complete his Lou Reed collection. He played me a few tracks and it is like watching a train wreck, in other words it was so tragic but you could not turn away from listening. When you think of the albums before that and the albums after it is seems sort of displaced.

It really is completely unlike anything Lou had done before or has done since! But I wholly agree on the train wreck that it is. I can't HELP but listen to it when someone comes along, sees that I have it and comments on never having heard it before. It's also really hard to find. I had to order mine off Ebay to get it a few years ago, haha. (I love Ebay)

Miles Davis’ B!+( #’s Brew was a complete departure from his past style. One of those albums that make you go “whoa, where did that come from”?

YES!! Great addition.

 

[Circle_One]

Were there any albums that RF members have had to warm up to? What I mean is that were there albums that the more you listened to it the more you appreciated it?

I can think of one, at the moment, for me, and oddly enough it ended up being my favorite album and the band being my all time favorite band (as well as being the the meaning behind my Namesake, Circle One)

The Germs' GI (or MIA if you have the extended version of the album). I heard S*x Boy and was not really impressed (much like the first time I heard a Shaggs' song), then I heard What We Do is Secret and thought, alright, they have some potential. But after listening to the full album and really grasping the power and intensity behind Darby's lyrical magic, I fell in love.

 

[Fluffy]

Opeth's Damnation. Not exactly a change in style but for a Death band (okay a heavily progressive death band but still) to produce an album with no growls is unusual enough for me. Or any heavy guitars. Everybody should own this album it is absolutely excellent both in terms of technical ability and emotive songwriting.

 

[michel]

Ah, well, for memorable stuff, I'd have to go back to the Beatles!:biglaugh:

 

[Unedited]

Were there any albums that RF members have had to warm up to? What I mean is that were there albums that the more you listened to it the more you appreciated it?

This is true for my absolute favorite group - Bright Eyes. I've never liked a single one of his songs the first time I listened to it. But it seems, the longer it takes me to warm up to it, the more I'll love it when I do.

That said, I usually have to 'warm up' to any album I get. I like songs more when I know them, so I'll rarely like a song the first time I hear. I want to know the lyrics, the music, and the meaning behind them before I commit myself to liking them.

 

[Fluffy]

This is true for my absolute favorite group - Bright Eyes. I've never liked a single one of his songs the first time I listened to it. But it seems, the longer it takes me to warm up to it, the more I'll love it when I do.

Same here . Bright Eyes are wonderful and nobody has heard of them in England lol.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Were there any albums that RF members have had to warm up to? What I mean is that were there albums that the more you listened to it the more you appreciated it?

Any of Children of Bodom's songs. At first, I could not understand a single word the lead singer was saying, but the more I listened, the more I understood it lyrically, and I started to love the instrument playing. There now my favorite group.

 

[Unedited]

Same here . Bright Eyes are wonderful and nobody has heard of them in England lol.

You like Bright Eyes? Well, that settles it. You rock. :jam: