Soft Machine 4. Soft Machine 1, 2 & 3 were all brilliant if very, very different albums as The Softs moved from prog rock to experimental music and then to gentle melodic jazz. 4 seemed a shift into a boring mish-mash of jazz fusion. Very disappointing.
Who would buy an album before listening to any of the songs?
Done it many times. If you're a particular collector for a band or artist, you just do it... sometimes it backfires, often not.
I Give you ....... Depeche Mode , ive brought every Album they have put out , the last 4 not so good , but i buy each new release just hoping they are going to be back to their best , it looks like this new one ,Momento Mori might just be the one .
Same here. Mike Oldfield, Rush, Nanci Griffiths, Natalie Merchant, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Tangerine Dream, Ulrich Shnauss, Leftfield, I could go on and on.....
Who would buy an album before listening to any of the songs?
Done it many times. If you're a particular collector for a band or artist, you just do it... sometimes it backfires, often not.
I Give you ....... Depeche Mode , ive brought every Album they have put out , the last 4 not so good , but i buy each new release just hoping they are going to be back to their best , it looks like this new one ,Momento Mori might just be the one .
I was going to say the same band when I saw Tel's post. I have Sounds of the Universe and Spirit on CD but have played them less than 3 times altogether. I didn't know they had a new album out recently up until just now😂
Who would buy an album before listening to any of the songs?
Done it many times. If you're a particular collector for a band or artist, you just do it... sometimes it backfires, often not.
In my yoof I bought many an album/tape/CD (delete depending on era) on spec because I liked the artist. More often than not I liked the majority of the songs although there was of the an element of “learning to like” going on. That was back in the day though and the wonders of Spotify (other streaming mediums are available)is that you now get to listen to a whole load of stuff for a tenner a month. I’ve saved a fortune. I’m not entering into debates about sound quality or the collectibility of CDs/vinyl or the importance of album covers etc etc. But for accessibility and the ability to put together playlists, I’m a streaming convert these days.
Who would buy an album before listening to any of the songs?
Done it many times. If you're a particular collector for a band or artist, you just do it... sometimes it backfires, often not.
I Give you ....... Depeche Mode , ive brought every Album they have put out , the last 4 not so good , but i buy each new release just hoping they are going to be back to their best , it looks like this new one ,Momento Mori might just be the one .
I was going to say the same band when I saw Tel's post. I have Sounds of the Universe and Spirit on CD but have played them less than 3 times altogether. I didn't know they had a new album out recently up until just now😂
Out of those three, I prefer Spirit.
I can't say I'm disappointed because I wasn't expecting anything - a bit like Charlton these days. I'm struggling to find the will to listen to this new album again. I wish that they'd stop now because they are tarnishing their legacy.
Apols, may have posted this before…. Bought a Bjork album once. Took it back to the record shop the same day. Don’t why I bought it in the first place. Also, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions second album was dross compared to the first one. Apparently they wanted to make it sound different from the first, so used a brass section or something. Also bought Trout Mask Replica (Captain Beefheart) because the critics loved it. Didn’t do it for me. Thought it was a bit emperor’s new clothes.
Who would buy an album before listening to any of the songs?
Done it many times. If you're a particular collector for a band or artist, you just do it... sometimes it backfires, often not.
I Give you ....... Depeche Mode , ive brought every Album they have put out , the last 4 not so good , but i buy each new release just hoping they are going to be back to their best , it looks like this new one ,Momento Mori might just be the one .
I was going to say the same band when I saw Tel's post. I have Sounds of the Universe and Spirit on CD but have played them less than 3 times altogether. I didn't know they had a new album out recently up until just now😂
Out of those three, I prefer Spirit.
I can't say I'm disappointed because I wasn't expecting anything - a bit like Charlton these days. I'm struggling to find the will to listen to this new album again. I wish that they'd stop now because they are tarnishing their legacy.
I don't know if it's just me or do their last 3 or 4 albums all sound the same? I still play the old classics like Violator, Music for the Masses, Black Celebration now and again. It's slightly weird that I pay little attention to their latest works as if they had already retired😅
Who would buy an album before listening to any of the songs?
Done it many times. If you're a particular collector for a band or artist, you just do it... sometimes it backfires, often not.
I Give you ....... Depeche Mode , ive brought every Album they have put out , the last 4 not so good , but i buy each new release just hoping they are going to be back to their best , it looks like this new one ,Momento Mori might just be the one .
Agreed. Think this album is their best work since Ultra which is my joint Favourite with Violator. Great opener in My Cosmos Is Mine and a perfect closer in Speak To Me which is beautiful. Wagging Tongue, My Favourite Stranger, People Are Good, Before We Drown and Never Let Me Go are all my current favourites.
I vote for Def Leppard's Adrenalize. Think it was released '92 ish.
From memory, it was their first studio album since the epic Hysteria which was released '87 (I think!) Now IMHO, Hysteria was one of the greatest rock albums ever. It STILL gets played on Spotify in the car now and the songs are still absolutely brilliant.
Apart from Let's Get Rocked, the rest is a bit naff in comparison but I think they peaked massively with Hysteria and most bands would have struggled to follow up with a better album.
In terms of long waits for a 2nd album after an epic debut, then abject disappointment:
Stone Roses - Second Coming Donald Fagan - Kamakiriad
Must cautiously agree with a bit of pain about Fagen, though Trans Island skyway use to come with me to every party during the nineties, Snowbound is a beautiful dream, and (personal favourite )'On the dunes' will stay with me forever.
The first two Wire albums (Pink Flag, Chairs Missing) were classics, the third pretty decent. Then they dropped off a cliff. I didn't actually buy one of those though. But their last two albums are a real return to form.: Sliver/Lead is good, but Mind Hive is great, almost up there with the first two. I had tickets to see them live, until Covid intervened.
Agreed about Wake Up and also C’mon Kids by The Boo Radleys, although both had some decent tracks (not Wake Up Boo!).
Their output definitely dropped after Giant Steps and previous (stuff like Lazy Day, Spaniard, Finest Kiss, Kaleidoscope etc.)
I did quite like their ‘last’ album Kingsize though, but they broke up about the same time I met Martin Carr on the train when we both on the way to Liverpool v Charlton.
I was really looking forward to the 2022 Midlake album 'For the sake of Bethel Woods' at the time, pre ordered, gave it a good few listens and its very meh...
The first two Wire albums (Pink Flag, Chairs Missing) were classics, the third pretty decent. Then they dropped off a cliff. I didn't actually buy one of those though. But their last two albums are a real return to form.: Sliver/Lead is good, but Mind Hive is great, almost up there with the first two. I had tickets to see them live, until Covid intervened.
The period between the Vien EP in 1997 and the Read & Burn/Send stuff up to 2003 is up there with anything they ever did imo, which considering how much I love 154 ('pretty decent', pfah) is high praise indeed
My answer is probably Mogwai's Mr Beast, btw. So bad it made me entirely reevaluate their standing amongst my favourite bands, and they've sort of drifted away into the 'occasionally fondly remembered dalliance of youth' category now, which isn't fair on their prior music. That one though, sheesh.
Dishonourable mentions to the third Cooper Temple Clause album (although, what did I expect lol) and the fact I bought a Biffy Clyro album at all, on the recommendation of an HMV staff member. That one got mercilessly returned a day later.
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i bought it because of 3am Eternal but the rest of the album was sooooooo weird. So crap I took it back to ASDA a week later
then they got into all the slow jazzy ‘elevator music’ type shit and you’d be hard pressed to find a song you’d wanna listen to again!
Soft Machine 1, 2 & 3 were all brilliant if very, very different albums as The Softs moved from prog rock to experimental music and then to gentle melodic jazz. 4 seemed a shift into a boring mish-mash of jazz fusion. Very disappointing.
I can't say I'm disappointed because I wasn't expecting anything - a bit like Charlton these days. I'm struggling to find the will to listen to this new album again. I wish that they'd stop now because they are tarnishing their legacy.
Their previous album Giant Steps is a masterpiece. Going to see
them play it at the Forum in T Wells in June, can’t wait.
Bought a Bjork album once. Took it back to the record shop the same day. Don’t why I bought it in the first place.
Also, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions second album was dross compared to the first one. Apparently they wanted to make it sound different from the first, so used a brass section or something.
Also bought Trout Mask Replica (Captain Beefheart) because the critics loved it. Didn’t do it for me. Thought it was a bit emperor’s new clothes.
Also of interest to you all may be that one of the songs from this fantastic album was used on MOTD goal of the month for at least one season:
You have to go to 3:05 to hear the bit they looped for MOTD
From memory, it was their first studio album since the epic Hysteria which was released '87 (I think!) Now IMHO, Hysteria was one of the greatest rock albums ever. It STILL gets played on Spotify in the car now and the songs are still absolutely brilliant.
Apart from Let's Get Rocked, the rest is a bit naff in comparison but I think they peaked massively with Hysteria and most bands would have struggled to follow up with a better album.
"I wanna be a hulkamaniac" was a banger though.
But what chance did he have after Nightfly....
But their last two albums are a real return to form.:
Sliver/Lead is good, but Mind Hive is great, almost up there with the first two. I had tickets to see them live, until Covid intervened.
Their output definitely dropped after Giant Steps and previous (stuff like Lazy Day, Spaniard, Finest Kiss, Kaleidoscope etc.)
I did quite like their ‘last’ album Kingsize though, but they broke up about the same time I met Martin Carr on the train when we both on the way to Liverpool v Charlton.
Dishonourable mentions to the third Cooper Temple Clause album (although, what did I expect lol) and the fact I bought a Biffy Clyro album at all, on the recommendation of an HMV staff member. That one got mercilessly returned a day later.