[markl]

I just cleaned out my rather massive CD collection, trimming the fat quite a bit and taking the rejects to the used CD store. With the credit I got, I bought the following used CDs/DVD-As/SACDs:

1. Randy Newman-- Little Criminals DVD-Audio. God I love Randy Newman!!! "Short People" is on this one. I hope they re-release all his albums on DVD-Audio!

2. Al Green-- Greatest Hits DVD-Audio. You know, for the lay-deez!

3. R.E.M.-- New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I had skipped this one initially but hear its REM's "sleeper" album.

4. London Suede-- Coming Up

5. Crooked Fingers-- Bring On The Snakes. Indie-rock survivor makes solo album.

6. Johnny Cash-- American Recordings. Cash and Rick Rubin producing. Cash is a genius and richly enjoyable even if you *think* you don't like "country". A classic artist.

7. J. Cash-- American 3 Solitary Man. Another R. Rubin jobbie.

8. Faith No More-- Greatest Hits.

9. Silver Jews-- Bright Flight. Snarky indie-rock troubador goes to Nashville to be recorded by Lambchop producer. If nothing else, it should sound good.

10. Bob Marley-- One Love remastered greatest hits mon!

11. Edwyn Collins-- I'm Not Following You. Follow up to "Gorgeous George" which had "A Girl Like You" on it. I love this guy! Way under-rated!

12. Graham Parker-- Squeezing Out Sparks. Seminal "angry young man" music. The tri-fecta of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Graham Parker-- some of the best singer/songwriters of the 70's. This is one of Parker's classic albums.

13. Stereophonics-- J.E.E.P.

14. Jim O'Rourke-- Insignificance. An Uncut magazine Album of the Month. He is best known as a producer and helmed Wilco's already classic "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot".

15. Gomez-- In Our Gun. Follow up to the excellent Liquid Skin. Can't wait!

16. Bonnie Raitt-- Silver Lining. Brand new Bonnie!

17. The Waterboys-- Rock in the Weary Land. I love early WB. This is supposed to be a return to form.

18. Indigo Girls-- Become You SACD. Love the Indigo Girls. Still to this day! This is their new one.

19. And You will Know Us By the Trail of Dead-- Source Tags and Codes. Supposed to be the new At the Drive-In.

20. Eels--Souljacker. I LOVE Eels. This is the new one.

21. Counting Crows-- This Desert Life. Produced by Cracker/Camper Van beethoven main-man David Lowrey.

22. Morrissey-- Best Of Morrissey. Re-mastered mope-rock! Joy!!!!!

23. Outkast-- Stankonia. I feel obliged to have SOME hip-hop in my musical diet.

Yes, I have ecclectic taste in music! If you have any of these, I'd love your thoughts! BTW: all these CDs only cost me $40 after trade-in! Sheesh-- where to start? It's quite a pile of new music! I'm jazzed!

Cheers.

markl

 

[carlo]

mark,
man, some killer stuff. certainly an eclectic mix... nice haul man.

best,
carlo.

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

Al Green-- Greatest Hits DVD-Audio. You know, for the lay-deez! 18. Indigo Girls-- Become You SACD. Love the Indigo Girls. Still to this day! This is their new one

I have the DCC release of Al Green--most excellent!

Can you recommend an Indigo Girls title?

 

[carlo]

pigmode,

swamp ophelia was their big one, but i'd say 1200 curfews (a live compilation) simply because they sound better live

btw, if you're into the chicks with guitars thang and sonics the newest anidifranco albums (to the teeth and revelling/reckoning) are killer.

best,
carlo

 

[royboy2k]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl 19. And You will Know Us By the Trail of Dead-- Source Tags and Codes. Supposed to be the new At the Drive-In.

Great rock album. For the record I like these guys (or at least their new CD) better than At the Drive-In. Maybe you will too.

 

[jms007bnd007]

I love Stankonia. Outkast is definitely one of the more talented rap groups out there right now. I like the fact that the track that they rap over is not neglected, as so many rappers tend to do.

 

[KR...]

Quote:

6. Johnny Cash-- American Recordings. Cash and Rick Rubin producing. Cash is a genius and richly enjoyable even if you *think* you don't like "country". A classic artist.

nice, this is the one with the Danzig written song on it

 

[markl]

pigmode
I agree with carlo about the sonic quality of recent Ani DiFranco releases, but musically speaking, I like the Indigo Girls better.

All their albums are being re-issued and re-mastered as we speak. I'd check out "Nomads, Indians, Saints" in the re-mastered form. Sound is amazing and the material is some of the best they've done.

If you have an SACD player, though you can't go wrong with "Become You". I'm listening to it right now. very enjoyable, but Nomads... is probably better album.

royboy2K
I really really really like ATDI Relationship of Command. It's one of my all-time favorites and is the best-sounding punk album I've ever heard. Trail of Dead has big shoes to fill. Why oh whu did ATDI break up?

markl

 

[slindeman]

Quote:

3. R.E.M.-- New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I had skipped this one initially but hear its REM's "sleeper" album.

This album is too disjointed for me. I cannot listen to it straight through, instead I have to skip half or more of the tracks. They fell into the "everything we do is great" syndrome, throwing in reject tracks from Monster, and not trimming it down to 8-9 tracks like it should have been. It has some great moments, but unfortunately any album where I have to skip that many tracks doesn't get played that often.

Quote:

22. Morrissey-- Best Of Morrissey. Re-mastered mope-rock! Joy!!!!!

Morrissey must be the king of releasing bajillions of compilation albums. Doesn't he have more compilation albums than normal releases? Looks like a great set, with not a weak track that I can see. Its missing a few tracks I like a lot, but this would be an excellent introduction to Morrissey. I wonder if the remastering makes a big difference in sound quality. I'd really prefer a remastered box set though, rather than a 1-disc compilation. After further thought, make that a remastered box set of the Smiths instead.

 

[pigmode]

Thanks Mark, carlo, I'll add a couple of your suggestions to my next order--it's a big one and its all chicks. Oh, and Edwin Collins/ A girl Like You rocks. ("my hands are shaking and my knees are raw...")

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl 4. London Suede-- Coming Up

ohhh...i love this album, whiny, screechy vocals and twangy guitar driven brit pop rock, really great stuff on here from beginning to end. I think my favorite tune is "starcrazy."

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Nice mix there, Mark. I only have a few of them myself:

London Suede -- a favourite, try to pick up that two-disc B-sides compilation, Sci-Fi Lullabies

Eels -- I found it surprisingly rock-y, I'd be curious if you had anything else by the "Man called E", and how this compared to them. I liked Curious Freak and Electro-something Blues better. His lyrics still kill me, though.

And You Will Know Us... -- please review. I have heard _way_ too much about these guys, would be curious as to your reaction.

Faith No More -- way underrated group.

Johnny Cash -- yeah, everyone keeps telling me I need to check him out. I'll get around to it...eventually...

 

[dave-the-rave]

Mark,

I'm a big fan of this under-appreciated album. R.E.M. was hot, and everybody went out and bought 'Monster.' 'Monster' sucked, so when 'New Adventures' came out, the public was wary. The first (video) single was 'E-bow the Letter,' which i think is an absolutely wonderful song, but easy listening it is not, thereby scaring off tens of thousands of additional potential purchasers. 'Electrolyte,' would have been the perfect first single.

Anyway, some great music here, especially track 7 (+ or - 1), with that minute-long quiet intro that then breaks into a siren-like wail (I think you'll know it when you hear it).

Happy listening, and thanks for the 'Elbow' reco; I like it a lot.

 

[grinch]

on the outkast: stankonia is a pretty good album, but my favorite (by far) by them is atliens. keep an eye out for "gasoline dreams" on that new album of your's, it's certainly my favorite cut on the album.

eels: souljacker can't get my soul. i saw him on this tour last summer and it was heaps and loads of fun, even for the two friends i brought with me who had never heard a single eels song. i think daisies of the galaxy rides as my favorite album by him, but all of his stuff is damn tasty.

faith no more: though i don't have that album, i have the rest of them. they were quite an incredible band in their day, if you like mike patton. either love them or hate them, it seems. the stuff he's done has gone all over the place, though last time i saw him he was heading up a stack of synthesizers and electronics for tomahawk. i hope "just a man" is on that album, for your sake.

johnny cash: whoever would sell that "the man comes around" album should be dragged out to the corner and slapped. his cover of "hurt" alone is worthy of ownership. some really soulful stuff on that album, and i can't believe it's coming from a man who's over seventy years old. i mean who else covers a 90's band at that age?


anyway, probably a good crop and i hope your weekend is filled with lots of new tunes.

 

[brent_mr2]

And Epic had better be on your FNM CD as well. I used to play that track constantly. I kept trying to figure out the hidden meanings in that song. Things like "it's in your face, but you can't feel it". It's just so profound. I also liked "Omnicient", I think that's the name of it.

Speaking of REM, I have Automatic for the People. It has Man on the Moon and Drive on it. I got it because I heard Drive on the Sony MZ-R1 display stand and really liked it. I can't believe how long it's been since the R1 was introduced.

Outkast is pretty good, but I'd have to say my favorite hip-hop recording is Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001, there's so many good tracks on it.