Littlebear

Lou Reed. For his voice (of unique, leather tone) and his fascinating rock attitude. John Cale could do the best he wanted, he could never beat that, which he knew himself since the Velvet days already. Reed and Cale share a common point that I like from them: they can be crazy on record. None of them have been up to the Velvet, though. Who knows, the secret weapon might have been Sterling Morrison.

Madonna IS in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and certainly deserves to be in, since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a big joke as well. I hope Wilco will never get in.

Sorry, but all I understand is that she opened doors to women who can now sell themselves as toys instead of being sold as toys - which kind of progress that is, when other women decided to not be toys long time ago? I mean, I'm a fan of the Shangri-Las, of Jackie De Shannon, of Bobbie Gentry, all female stars who were quite independent in the mainstream. I don't know what you're talking about - you probably repeat what you read about Madonna, but to me, it's simply a joke. Doors were opened already to female artists before Madonna. They talk of her marketing genius or something. I'll call

And what are your valid arguments? There's only one objectivity to your side: she had success, and every success has an influencial power. But how has Madonna opened the doors to female artists? In which kind of way? Can you name me some female artists influenced by Madonna? And explain me the good thing of it? Sorry, I know my questions bother you. But admit the fact that your tentative to legitimate her "value" is cheap at best - so far.

Well, I'd like to hear what was reinvented and relevant in the 80's and 90's from her, and to which women she opened doors, except for a lot of shit I can't stand on radios? There were a lot of female artists more interesting than her in the eighties already. They were independent, and still are. They didn't market them as sort of pop bitches to make it big (for instance). Cyndi Lauper had more class than her in the showbiz. Sam Phillips, Jill Sobule never made it big but are still more interesting today. Lucinda Williams, Michelle Shocked obviously didn't wait for Madonna to open their door

How that?

Come on. You said "for me, etc" and another person said "I agree". Nevermind.

And for you?

Pedal steel must be one of the sound that annoys me the most in music, I'm afraid, except for a few good ones. Like "A Song For You" by Gram Parsons. But I can tell I hate it on Neil Young's Harvest and many other country records. On the other hand, I'm totally fond of the steel guitar sound, such as those on Hank Williams or Kitty Wells records. As well as the slide guitar, which is something else again.

This album is, finally, the only one album by this band I consider as a keeper. The previous two ended to be quite boring to me. Now they have found something. They master their thing. One thing that is almost shocking is how "Hang On" sounds like a pastiche of Wilco. I'm actually wondering if these bands sound similar for sharing similar influences, or if Dr Dog really aknowledges the influence of Wilco? By the way: do you know of other bands who sound influenced by Wilco? I can't seem to recall any other one.

Two things surprise me: I'm not alone in loving "Afternoon Tea", and only one person mentionned "Shangri-La" (so far)

There was no reason for me to not count your cuts in, since you posted them before your post about how MH hadn't much love for you. As for me, my feelings are the same as jff about it. I love it, but on repeated listens, not as much as I would like, since it's quite morose. In my opinion, the Kinks lost a little something after 1968. But Ray Davies had still some kind of class after, nonetheless.

Does anyone have aspirin?

"Misfits" is a very fine late 70s song, too.

Well, it seems to me that a good bunch of its songs have been mentionned above.

Two Sisters Death of a Clown Autumn Almanac David Watts Afternoon Tea Dead End Street Sunny Afternoon Alcohol Sitting By the Riverside Don't Ever Change Stop Your Sobbin' Rosy Won't You Please Come Home Mr Pleasant Animal Farm Starstruck You Really Got Me All Day and All of the Night Tired of Waiting For You Wonderboy and Dar Williams's cover of "Better Things"

Mary Gauthier, Fred Eaglesmith, Kelly Willis, Laura Cantrell, Joy Lynn White, The Creekdippers, Freakwater, Slim Cessna's Auto Club...

I have all of B.J. Shaver's CDs. Hard to pick a fave, but I'd mention Victory as a great start. There's a line in the next Dylan album that goes like this: "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver / I'm reading James Joyce / Some people they tell me / I've got the blood of the land in my voice." As for Waylon Jennings, my favorite album is Dreaming My Dreams (I only have a few, but I have Honky Tonk Heroes too).

Among my big faves: Tompall Glaser, Billy Joe Shaver, Steve Young...

The title of this thread is provocating. I love lots of styles of musics and the country one is clearly one of my favorites. And there's not Hank Williams only. And there is good *country pop*. I think my fave country singer is Skeeter Davis. And she's quite country-pop. And of course quite old-fashioned. But she had the finest voice ever, great tunes, nice production... She was totally enchanting. Can't say if "bad country music" is the worst music in this world, but it's clearly awful.

Here's McTell's magic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIqAKvrzzCo listen to that voice and that guitar... And here's Elmore James' fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsELdS1tQBU Yep, several ones: Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill...

I'd say Dylan could only dream of sounding like Elmore James. Or Blind Willie McTell (since he sang about it).

Everyone has mentionned my favorites (looks like anyone mentionned his favorites instead of answering the initial request, too, apart from LouieB ): Blind Willie McTell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Otis Rush, Elmore James, Mississippi John Hurt (though you could say he's folk, this one), Sonny Boy Williamson (II), Howlin' Wolf (tell me about dirty, he's been the first garage one, no?)... But one of my faves hasn't been mentionned yet. (big suspense...) Furry Lewis.

Yankee Hotel Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Wilko Case

To boot, if Jeff sounds like a frog with her (as he said himself), she would be happy.