Synthesizer Patel

Are you confusing it with Dylan (A Fool Such As I)? Even if you are, that's got some fantastic songs on it too. As for Self Portrait, I play it more than every other Dylan album (apart from John Wesley Harding). On the whole, it has a brilliant sound to it, and the session musicians are about as good as it gets, too. Acutally, I'd rate Belle Isle and Copper Kettle as two of my favourite recordings from him across his entire career. I've said on here a number of times that this is the one period I'd love to see a bootleg series release from him. Anyway, I'd, therefore, say it's probably over

yeah, that's great too. i think that pisces, aquarius was their best album all round, and the fact that they did most of it themselves makes it even better.

that's always been my favourite of his http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQjA5rDFMjo he does look like a complete gimp in this video, but i like the fact he doesn't mind one bit that mike nesmith is taking the piss out of him throughtout the whole song

yeah, good point. i should have said "british" - which is what the original title was in the thread (and what i was trying to help define), rather than britain. british does refer to the people of northern ireland as well. where as the british isles, as you said, means mainland britain. so whereas you thought i was a whole country incorrect, i was in fact 3 letters incorrect in my statement. glad that's all sorted - these little errors do niggle somewhat.

this: http://smalltownpleasures.blogspot.com/ but, i don't read it - just get the music. the author must spend an absolute fortune on buying japanese pressings of all those albums

As a lot of you seem unsure - 'Britain' actually means England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland. Unless the topic-maker meant 'English Bands' and said that by a mistake. Anyway, assuming it's correct: The Beatles Fairport Convention (including Sandy Denny solo, and early Richard Thompson with his wife - cheating, i know) The Kinks The Super Furry Animals (including solo Gruff - cheating) The Incredible String Band Van Morrison Led Zeppelin Bert Jansch (including Pentangle - more cheating) Brian Eno (including early Roxy Music - and yet more cheating) John Cale

can i recommend this documentary series to people. it's 3 parts, all an hour long http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtis-AllWatchedOverByMachinesOfLovingGrace here's a little taster clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGHl5dKrnHk the third episode (the monkey in the machine and the machine in the monkey) is probably the most enteraining of them all (which is the clip above) it was made by adam curtis for the bbc, last year - probably the best thing the bbc has put out in a good few years. not that this has anything to do with obama

good. well, it's all on the up and up for gm then! they have done well having achieved record profits and paying off ALL of the $50 Billion they were given. the government must have made a right killing there too, as they own 60% of the company stock, and shares must be soaring, as the company has done so well. it's actually quite a good way for the government to invest your taxes, if that's the case. it would be wise to encourage them to do that sort of thing some more. as for the "system" collapsing and everyone being fine. no not everyone will be fine, but not everyone is fine now. some p

weren't General Motors bailled out by the American Government? (sorry, i'm english so I only have a hazy memory of these things). if so, how does that actually all calculate out: they are making record profits, but how much do they owe for the bailout? in the real world you wouldn't be discussing financial success until you actually got out of the red. in the uk, the news the other day was that unemployment figures recently went up to the same levels as you. now i don't think the news was making the comparison in a positive light there. i think you've got a long way to go before your employm

No, not really. That was just the still image - it's a link to a documentary program. Can we click on it? Yes We Can!

That was quite a good program. I'm surprised any of that stuff would be any great shock to people, though. Apart from the bit where the traumatised little girl says her mum cooked her a rat. If you were feeding your kid rat you'd make a point of hiding the fact to your kid, wouldn't you? That shocked me. Anyway . . . "Can We Eat Rats?" . . . "Yes We Can!"

also you can get the Nick Drake fans hooked by this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LodNb-8FzjE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XFDdOIDZnQ who can hate that?

I'd recommend checking out The Best Of The Wailers (which isn't really the best of the wailers - it's an album which the called "the best of the wailers" it's just coincidence that it is the best of the wailers), it's not really reggae - it's rocksteady, though. It's produced by Leslie Kong. That's an example of the sound, above. Also, there's Soul Revolution Part II and Soul Rebels (which were produced by Lee Perry and show the roots of reggae being made). Both of them are also good, but The Best Of The Wailers is really the most enjoyable album, from start to finish.

Do you mean Small Talk? That's the last album with the band, although Sly kept the name. Apart from Nirvana (who I don't like, but were definately getting better before Kurt Cobain died), everyone on that list have significantly gone, or went, downhill from their best work during their history. Quite a few of them went, or are, far worse than Sly and The Family Stone, even if you do include the stuff Sly did after the band broke up. Another one of my favourite American bands are The Turtles, although they weren't really very influential: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfKmKjykJXk

obivously, the beach boys from that list. but what about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHfU67ywL30

any chance of posting the rest of the lists? josh t pearson was the lead singer of lift to experience, who made one fantastic album about 10 years ago, and then split up - then for the next 10 years some of us waited for what pearson would do next. it's a really good album, but not as good as lift to experience. you decide which is better: that was lift to experience, this is josh's new album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njNo1UPXw3s

He says he was affraid of touching the old stuff - he thought people wouldn't like it. He says that before the 2004 album he started playing a few of the smile songs live and was surprised people loved them so much, which gave him the confidence to do the 2004 thing. Then, when he got the praise from the 2004 version, it gave him enough confidence to put out this. I think all that stuff shows how destroyed he was that Mike Love acted the way he did, and that the rest of the band didn't stick up for him - those views of the music couldn't be based on what he thought himself of it all. It's no

another late 60s band - Blossom Toes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPfQYb9DUNQ There are a million bands like this, that sold nothing back in the day, but people are reissuing them now to great acclaim. I think that's the opposite of some of the people LouieB mentioned like Peter Paul & Mary, Judy Collins etc etc... they were well known at the time, and so seem stuck in that time - whereas a lot of this other stuff that nobody bought is better liked now because it seems ahead of its time whilst still having a vintage feel. That's my take on why a lot of the bigger named people LouieB

yeah, it's a pretty good album. the super furry animals sample Wendy & Bonnie at the start of Hello Sunshine (from Phantom Power), well, I say sample - they just use the start of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT2TiE0GRgo Don't know how well known Long John Baldry is anywhere apart from the UK, but he gave both Rod Stewart & Elton John help in the very early stages of their careers - and they both repaid him by jointly producing 2 of his best albums from the early 1970s

Jan & Lorraine Made only one album - Gypsy People in 1969 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axFnWWMQeMo No point going on about this stuff, unless people want some advice, so I'll just post songs and if people like any of it I'll talk more.

The Savage Rose - This song is from their 3rd (and my favourite) album Your Daily Gift - 1970 They're also from Denmark, which is a bit weird concidering what they sound like

Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera - 1968 Couple of the band went on to start The Strawbs (another great band on their first few albums)

Just a little heads up here: Tom Ze's debut is being reissued later this month (well, here in the UK, anyway - so you might have to get it on import in the US), pretty good Tropicalia - not quite up there with the other big names from the scene, but still really really good.

Van Dyke Parks has, just now, got a compilation out called Arrangements Vol. 1 which is the best place to start - whilst most of the tracks are very rare (first time on cd etc...) in many ways they are his most accessible. tracks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzmxt-_QoDU The other thing is Van Dyke Parks produced Randy Newman's debut album - Randy Newman Creates Something New Under The Sun. He also arranged some of the tracks from the Beau Brummel's - Bradley's Barn. I'd recommend both of these, then I'd also recommend getting Song Cycle and Discover America (both sound quite d