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Post by jk on Aug 28, 2021 17:57:04 GMT
V, anyone? Okay, so you're all preoccupied. Well, I'll do the honours for you and go for Ritchie Valens and his sublime ode to Donna, which just happens to be the first name of my late pen pal. This is doo wop without the full vocal group stuff:
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Post by kds on Aug 28, 2021 21:11:56 GMT
V
Van Halen. Instead of the obvious choice, I'll pick the 5150 album. Its the first VH album I ever owned, got it for Xmas 1995. When I got into the band, Hagar was in the group, and that was actually the version of the band I gravitated to first. Its still my favorite album from the Hagar era.
Second up, Vanilla Fudge, and their self titled debut with their heavy / psych versions of You Keep Me Hangin On and Eleanor Rigby among others.
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Post by kds on Aug 30, 2021 12:28:31 GMT
W
The Who is my pick, and I'm going with Quadrophenia, one of my all time favorite albums.
Runner up is Roger Waters. I don't love his solo catalog like I did when I first got into Floyd in the late 1990s, but I still think Amused to Death is a great album.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 30, 2021 12:54:22 GMT
...falling behind here...
Artist: Ronnie Van Sant - the late lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Yeah, Skynyrd continued on and maintained a large fan base after Ronnie's death, but I still don't think he gets enough credit as a great singer.
Songs: "Free Bird" of course. "Gimme Three Steps" and "Workin' For MCA". " I like "Simple Man", too, but my favorite might be "The Breeze".
Artist: Charlie Watts...one more shout out to this great musician.
Songs: "Paint It Black", "Respectable", "Shattered", "Let's Spend The Night Together", "Under My Thumb", "Miss You", and many more.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 30, 2021 13:02:45 GMT
I'm way behind!
For V, last time I went Velvet Underground. Frankly I don't know how many other Vs I really like. I'm saying Van Halen now, though I know they were mentioned already. A nod to the very talented Zelig of the 60s and 70s, Van Dyke Parks, too.
For W ... I did Tom Waits last time (whom I think I also just did as T the second time around. Whoops); for the second round I'll say Wilco. They're one of those bands that, while never my favorite, just keep working, plugging away, putting out solid material. Roots rock/Americana, vaguely Beatlesque pop rock, electronic noodling, dad rock, whatever. But in hindsight, there is a lot of good music.
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Post by kds on Aug 31, 2021 17:42:29 GMT
X
I don't think I actually own, or have heard, an album from any band or artist that begins with X, so I'm going to cheat a little.
Ronnie James Dio - He played Dr. X on Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime II. Unfortunately, the much anticipated duet with Dio and Geoff Tate was actually pretty underwhelming.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 31, 2021 17:47:13 GMT
I see in looking back that I skipped X the first time around, not having anything in mind that I particularly liked as far as an artist, album, or song goes. Well, it's not any better a few weeks later, so I guess I'm skipping it again. So apologies to XTC or Xenia Rubinos et al, but I haven't got a pick.
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Post by jk on Aug 31, 2021 19:59:36 GMT
W is David Wiffen, a Canadian singer-songwriter. I was introduced to him by a Canadian lady at the charity organization I worked at (using the word worked in its loosest sense) in the early '70s. She knew him personally and described him as depressed. His self-titled second album is pretty good. Standout tracks are a stunning cover of Lenny Welch's "Since I Fell For You" and this one, "Driving Wheel", which he wrote (and which may be familiar to you). I love the instrumentation, and the ambience in general: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wiffen
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Post by jk on Aug 31, 2021 20:13:38 GMT
And now I'm going to cheat. I recall being pointed (possibly by the indefatigable undercover_m at Smiley) at a 2003 album called The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place by the Texan outfit Explosions in the Sky and thinking this is rather cool. Well, here's the closing track, "Your Hand In Mine": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosions_in_the_Sky
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Post by jk on Sept 1, 2021 9:38:20 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 1, 2021 12:00:21 GMT
Y not a shout-out to Angus and Malcolm Young of AC/DC? I've never been a big fan, but credit where credit is due. They built an amazing career by doing one thing and doing it well.
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Post by kds on Sept 1, 2021 12:41:50 GMT
Boy howdy. AC/DC also stubbornly (and in hindsight brilliantly) avoided trends in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. No disco beats. No poofed up hair and power ballads. No darker, grungier songs. No over compressed productions.
Y
The Yardbirds - I'm going to highlight an under the radar album - 2003's Birdland. I'm not sure how many fans are aware that The Yardbirds even still exist. Sure, this album probably has one too many self covers and guest stars, but the originals on the album are really solid.
Second choice is Neil Young, as the 51st anniversary of his brilliant After the Gold Rush was the other day.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 1, 2021 12:50:10 GMT
Boy howdy. AC/DC also stubbornly (and in hindsight brilliantly) avoided trends in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. No disco beats. No poofed up hair and power ballads. No darker, grungier songs. No over compressed productions. Absolutely. One of the great object lessons in semi-recent popular music history. I suspect history will always look back more kindly on acts that did what they wanted--whether stay the course or change when they wanted, how they wanted--rather than followed trends. Not to say that guarantees success, not by a long shot. But at least they can retain their dignity.
(It's funny using the word "dignity" to describe a double entendre-loving rock band whose most identifiable member runs around in a schoolboy's outfit, but I stand behind it!)
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Post by jk on Sept 1, 2021 13:37:25 GMT
Absolutely. One of the great object lessons in semi-recent popular music history. I suspect history will always look back more kindly on acts that did what they wanted--whether stay the course or change when they wanted, how they wanted--rather than followed trends. Not to say that guarantees success, not by a long shot. But at least they can retain their dignity.
There have been Dutch/Belgian bands who first recorded their stuff in Dutch/Flemish. So far so good. Much of it was actually pretty neat. Then they or their team were enticed by the thought of an international audience (and the rewards that came with it) into translating their songs into English. The results vary between passable (and forgettable) to downright hilarious. (One fairly cool song about Belgium became a ridiculous song about Luxembourg.) One top Dutch band who were very big in the '80s stuck to their guns, to their eternal credit. Doe Maar ("Just do it") may be the finest pop band this country has produced: But I digress...
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Post by kds on Sept 1, 2021 13:58:11 GMT
Boy howdy. AC/DC also stubbornly (and in hindsight brilliantly) avoided trends in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. No disco beats. No poofed up hair and power ballads. No darker, grungier songs. No over compressed productions. Absolutely. One of the great object lessons in semi-recent popular music history. I suspect history will always look back more kindly on acts that did what they wanted--whether stay the course or change when they wanted, how they wanted--rather than followed trends. Not to say that guarantees success, not by a long shot. But at least they can retain their dignity.
(It's funny using the word "dignity" to describe a double entendre-loving rock band whose most identifiable member runs around in a schoolboy's outfit, but I stand behind it!)
I'd agree with that, and I think that's one of the reasons that Iron Maiden actually seem to be gaining in reverence late in their career. They've been around over 40 years, pretty much with a "we're doing things our way" attitude.
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