What are some of the hailed "great" albums you have yet to hear. Albums that make the top of critics and writers lists. Albums that are considered "great albums".


For me:

Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Stooges - Fun House
King Crimson - Red
Gram Parsons - Grievious Angel
Radiohead - Kid A
Can - Tago Mago
David Bowie - Low
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Wire - Pink Flag
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
Elliot Smith - Either/Or
Arcade Fire - Funeral


Some Albums I've heard songs or parts of the album but I've never heard the whole of any of these albums.

I've been checking out my missing "classics" via Rhapsody at work lately.
Most times I end up wishing I'd listened to Rocket From the Crypt or Public Enemy instead.

Save yourself the trouble on that Beefheart. Out and out trash, no matter what anyone says.

There's no time to waste go get Blonde on Blonde now. Hurry up.

I actually own a copy on vinyl but my turntable doesn't work.

many supposedly great albums are by classic rock artists like the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, etc....but of the songs that ive heard from these bands, they just dont do anything for me, so im not interested in exploring further.

i have like what ive heard from Yes, the Kinks, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, and many late 60s bands (Canned Heat, Quiksilver Messenger, 13th floor elevators, Zombies, Love) and would like to buy more of their stuff

id be interested in exploring more recent classics from bands like New Order, XTC, Built to Spill, 5440, the Cure, legendary pink dots, beck, mercury rev, flaming lips, etc...i have some stuff from these bands, but definitely need more

Can't really think of anything glaring that i've ignored without good reason.

I fessed up in caputo's listmania thread to never having heard that George Harrison album. I'll eventually get to it.

I've never heard some of the earliest Beatles albums although I've probably heard all the hits from those. I think i can live without hearing the albums themselves.

There's lots of things that get on lists (for example, any prog or metal albums) that I feel pretty comfortable in ignoring and assuming that I wouldn't like them. Anything I see repeatedly get the classic label that's the sort of thing i'd like, I generally get around to hearing pretty quickly.

Also Arcade Fire is a really low bar for a "great" album. Does anyone other than NME (and I'm just guessing there) think its one of the all time greats? I've never heard a whole album but what i've heard is pretty meh.

I'm sure that there's some great albums out there that I've never heard. i spend most of my time in search of the lost classics though rather than newly recorded albums, so I've pretty much exhausted all the low hanging fruit.

I've never heard many of the Who's albums

I've been obsessed with The Who Sell Out lately so that needs to change...

that's actually not so far away from my kitchenrockcollectionidea. and I can definately recommend king crimson's red.

m.

Records I would probably love that I've never heard (in their entirety):

The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
The Posies - Frosting On the Beater
Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso (Tropicalia - 1968)
Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking

And many, many more, I'm sure.

Based on what I recall (not going back to look right now) of what you like, I'm thinking these are your best bets to start off with.

I'd suggest some different albums to start with Beefheart and Wire:

Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk or Clear Spot
Wire - 154 (a little more on the pop/new wave/catchy side)



I love the fact that there seem to always be albums like this that can somehow slip through the cracks, and then all of sudden it hits you that you've never heard it and probably should. This one isn't life-changing or mind-blowing, but it's a thoroughly high-quality, classic album. His songs here are, for the most part, as good or better than his songs with The Beatles. I just got it last year, and I couldn't believe it had just been there all along, completely obvious as something I would like, but I'd never bothered to pick it up.



Definitely get on those first two. Fairport Convention is on my list as well, having just discovered that I really like Richard Thompson.

I'll have to think about my list a little bit.

Metallica: Death Magnet

I've heard almost everything. Remembering it is another story.

I'm just now listening to the first Lynyrd Skynyrd album for the first time.

And prior to this past weekend, I'd never heard Blondie's Parallel Lines.

I just bought Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town not too long ago. Prior to that, I only had his greatest hits.

A few other artists I've been meaning to further explore...

Mott the Hoople (I only have one Ian Hunter solo record)
Buzzcocks
Can
Wire

And yeah, Blondie's Parallel Lines. I only have some hit comp.

I just got Maggot Brain off of emusic. I also want to get some Parliament and Sly and the Family Stone. I'm plenty familiar with those artists and a lot of their songs, but don't own any records.

Yeah its not really like that though. No aha moment. Its been on my shopping list for years.

I've had it in my hands many times, only to put it back. I even bought it online once and had the seller cancel the transaction on me. I want it but its not been a huge priority for me. One, I'm not a big beatles fan. Two, its a double album which makes it a more expensive impulse purchase and also less likely for me to listen to it a lot. I've got this somewhat irrational need to listen to albums from start to finish. I even have a hard time just pulling out one disc of a box set. Thus i listen to them less. Caputo ranking it that high does move it up the priority list though.

I should probably add Allman Brothers. I've recently gotten much more interested in them. I've never heard that Lynyrd Skynrd album either, but I have heard enough to know that however much I'm supposed to like them, I just don't. Don't dislike 'em but I'll never be a fan. I've associated Allman Brothers with the same scene and steered clear of them from years but I've heard enough session work of Duane And Gregg that I love to become interested. Plus that tenner is top notch.

I really want to hear the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Do they count? Do they ever make these lists?

I recently got the expanded version of that At Fillmore East album, and I'm not really into it. I like some of the shorter songs that I'd already heard, mainly just "Midnight Rider", but the longer jams are pretty tiresome to me, especially the 30-minute "Mountain Jam". Maybe I should have gotten a studio album instead, but I don't know which one. It looks like Eat a Peach contains some of the songs from that live album, namely the aforementioned "Mountain Jam", and I could do without that.

I was actually already familiar with half the songs from that Skynyrd album, but on the whole I think I like it. Even though I was never big on those songs played alone on classic rock radio, they work together well, and there's a certain meanness to the album that I like.

The Zombies - Oddessey & Oracle
Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
Richard Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
The Allman Brothers - Eat a Peach
Prince - Purple Rain
Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
Pink Floyd - Piper at the gates of Dawn
The Damned - Damned Damned Damned
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel

And many many more

Yeah that first Skynyrd album is excellent. It's hard to hear in context after all these years of rawk radio, but if you squint and imagine "holy fuck, this was a band's opening statement to the world" you can still sorta hear it.

Yeah, the albums I haven't listened to in a while or all the way through recently is a better list for me.

Those include:
Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street
Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska

Totally agree. Also, good call on the "meanness".

Right on. Seriously, if it hadn't been for Rawk Radio, this would probably still be in my top albums of all-time. It's hard to hear past the now-corniness of Free Bird, Gimme Three Steps and Simple Man but Radcliffe is right, when you think about this as the bands first statement, it's a frickin' great debut.

...and Tuesday's Gone is still one of my favorite songs ever.

sticky fingers

Your collective gasps after learning that I've never heard "Exile on Main Street" can barely equal mine that Ex Lion Tamer has never heard "Purple Rain".

I think that I will now stop, drop, and roll for a few days.

The Three Guitar Sonic Assault, as it were.