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HarleyQuinn

Desert Island Draft Thread

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Can - Tago Mago

 

Trippy hypnotic droning dripping fantastic tunes. This fills a void in the collection as my ultimate "time to let my brain get ripped apart and/or zone out" album. It's my favorite Can album by a pretty good margin these days. The opening trio of Paperhouse/Mushroomhead/Oh Yeah is a great swirly psych-rock nightmare. That gurgling sound followed by the first note of "Paperhouse" is one of my favorite beginnings in all of music. Then, the album really opens up into the loooong, propulsive pieces like "Halleluwah" and "Peking O" that are so easy to just get lost in (or explore at your leisure). The album feels like it's 3 hours long by the end, but in a good way. There's a whole lot of content and room for rumination. That's good stuff.

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A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular - Hooverphonic 1996

 

What would be their only album recorded with original vocalist Liesje Sadonius, the Belgian band's debut would be exactly as it is titled. Songs like "Inhaler", "2 Wicky", and "Plus Profound" have a decadent feeling to them. One of the things with Hooverphonic is that while they lost Sadonius before the release of the album, they did find a great replacement in Geike Arnaert. Overall, the biggest compliment I can extend to this album is that it exudes pure sex.

 

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The Black Crowes- The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion 1992

 

This, the Crowes second effort, I think, is better than the debut. Their first #1 album and a great listen all the way through. It's a mix of uptempo rockers like "Remedy", "Hotel Illness", "Sting Me", and "No Speak No Slave" and slower bluesy numbers like "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye", "Sometimes Salvation" and a Bob Marley cover "Time Will Tell". There is a ton of feeling put into the music from Chris Robinson's pleading vocals and the dual guitars of Rich Robinson and Mark Ford(who played some mean slide) and the great rhythm section of Johnny Colt and Steve Gorman(who, IMO, is an underrated drummer). This is one album that I always have with me and one I couldn't ignore any longer, so it gets my pick.

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Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords

 

While Aquemini seemed content to sidestep hip-hop's obsession with thuggery, Liquid Swords willingly contemplates the violent obligations of the culture, offering a sinister refinement of the Wu-Tang aesthetic that (thankfully) presents itself without requiring eight minutes per track so that everybody in the Clan can take a turn. Of course, that's not to say that there aren't highlights for other members here; RZA leaves the console to carve up "4th Chamber" with Ghostface, while Method Man steps in with a timely dose of irreverence for "Shadowboxin'." But it's GZA's mature lyricism that stands at the forefront, even beyond RZA's dystopian street dirge, casually dispensing verse after memorable verse on every single track to create (for once) a rap album that's strong from start to finish. "I'm on a mission that niggaz say is impossible / but when I swing my sword, they all choppable", indeed.

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[acronym=(exception: the peerless "Gold", replete with ominous, tonality-bending strings and horns)]even beyond RZA's dystopian street dirge[/acronym]

 

You can pick it up off of the BB Code Help button on the post form; it's in the lower right corner, above the "Manage Current Attachments" drop-down.

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Hover over "beyond RZA's dystopian street dirge" and you'll get it.

 

And good pick. That album would be pretty scary to be alone with all the time. Very claustrophobic, and quite the air of casual menace. I think I might listen to that tonight.

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Black Flag - Damaged

 

 

This album is a kick in the nuts. (In the nicest possible way). Now this is the alienation, boredom and isolation of punk with the difference being: it sounds fucking awesome. Really, I hold Rollins vocals on here (along with Ozzy's on the BS s/t) as one of the best example of the vocals just conveying the way a record feels. He's barely containable. And all this sound and fury is wrapped around some pretty great god damn songs. I find no tracks skippable. And how often can a genuinely raucous, corrupt and violent album be so fucking funny at the same time? That's "TV Party" for you. For the idealistic side of punk, gimme the Clash, but for the nihilistic side, never mind the Sex Pistols, I'll take Damaged.

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Man, it seems sometimes like most of the best music ever produced, in pretty much every genre, was made in the seventies...

 

 

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James Brown - The Payback

 

Honestly? I would have picked this album just for the title track, but since I've had a chance to listen to the whole album, I was very impressed with the songs here. Interestingly enough, the wiki page on this album said that it was originally intended to be used as the sound track for the Blaxploitation film Hell Up in Harlem, but the director rejected it for not being "James Brown enough."

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With my next pick, I select....

 

 

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Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

 

 

 

I was worrying this whole round bout it being picked. I love this CD. It's so damn good. I didn't like their first CD, but I absolutely love this one. Every song is amazing except for Open Book, which I don't like at all. I like the mix of Soul, hip hop beats, and sort of a surfer sound. It all combines to make a great CD.

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Not derail this thread, but I seriously doubt you had to worry about an album that was released less than a month ago getting snapped up in a thread like this.

 

Speaking of Gnarls Barkley, I was skimming a "best rappers" thread on another board and someone listed Gnarls Barkley. HA!

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Yeah and that doesn't seem likely, since:

 

A) A lot of Gnarls Barkley's "fans" don't seem to realize it's a duo and not a single performer

B) Even those who realize that are likely unfamiliar with Cee-Lo's solo work, much less his involvement with the Dungeon Family.

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The Birthday Party - Junkyard

 

I like Fun House as much as the next guy, but for my money, nothing the Stooges ever did comes close to scaling the heights of insanity that Junkyard does. Every single track on here is a scream from hell, expressionism at its most raw and unfiltered. A few months alone on an island with Junkyard, and I will somehow have turned into an entire howling, primitive Lord Of The Flies type society made of one person.

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Frank Zappa - Waka/Jawaka (1972)

 

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Sure, "Your Mouth" and "It Might Just Be a One Shot Deal" are both perfectly good songs, but the title track and "Big Swifty" - the album's two expansive instrumentals - are where its real meat and potatos are to be found. I'm a complete and total novice when it comes to jazz, but the common theme amongst that which I have enjoyed, is that guitars play a prominent role throughout. That's especially true here, with Zappa's electric taking main stage alongside a wonderfully complimentary supporting cast of electric piano, baritone horn, tenor sax, trumpet, bass clarinet, flugelhorn and chimes. Not wanting to allow one of my write ups to descend into a mere semantic field, I shall also note that The Grand Wazoo, which Agent selected earlier, is a companion piece to this record.

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Man, it seems sometimes like most of the best music ever produced, in pretty much every genre, was made in the seventies...

 

 

Jb-the-payback.jpg

 

 

James Brown - The Payback

 

Honestly? I would have picked this album just for the title track, but since I've had a chance to listen to the whole album, I was very impressed with the songs here. Interestingly enough, the wiki page on this album said that it was originally intended to be used as the sound track for the Blaxploitation film Hell Up in Harlem, but the director rejected it for not being "James Brown enough."

Oh my God, that is such a great choice.

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Not wanting to allow one of my write ups to descend into a mere semantic field, I shall also note that The Grand Wazoo, which Agent selected earlier, is a companion piece to this record.

 

Maybe so but it's a similar case to Load and Re-Load then. Either way, both were released as completely separate records with Waka/Jawaka coming out on July 5th, 1972 and The Grand Wazoo in May 1973. Even if they were 'companion' pieces... that's a difference of 11 months.

 

Not sure where the "semantics" would be?

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A lot of Zappa's records are companion pieces to each other. That doesn't mean that they were released as part of the same package, just that they share many musical elements. He was so prolific that this was bound to happen from time to time.

 

I was refering to the semantic field of instruments that appear on Waka/Jawaka.

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