Terrapin Ben

Moss - i think the consensus was that you just post a list of your favorite studio albums. i think. good luck.

i almost hit my 100 post milestone with this thread! Thanks everyone. I accomplished very little at work today.

I'm not sure there's too much to catch up on Jim. Sorry. It's kinda like a mindless wandering oxy-fueld 2.0 jam in that respect. But best of luck.

you are a character. I'm only vaguely familiar with the VU's stuff and not so much Lou. Good joke. On a side note, what's wrong with recording on a 4 - track? I think that's what Ween used for their first couple of records... granted i wouldn't put any of thier first couple of records on a list of this sort anyways. I guess i get your point. I also think the joke might be on me... but whatever, it always makes me happy to make people smile.

thanks for getting us back on track, Dude. Have a caucasian on me.

Edit: this is a semi sarcastic comment, fyi. while i appreciate the dude's commitment to my original post, i feel that this thread has become so derailed it will never be a fragmeent of its former self. especially in light of recent discussion concerning the proliferation of prolific art... prolific art garfunkel.

if art really is just a form of visual comminication... we have the sender, the message, the receiver, and feedback. so i would have to agree that art does not end at the artists intentions.

"I don't think a piece of art's definition/meaning/worthiness ends with the creator, though. If the illustrator finishes a project, and hates it, but someone looks at it, and forms some sort of connection to it, then it's a piece of art.

To me, at least."

This is pretty much Mr. Tweedy's view as well isn't?

sorry speed racer. it really is the cats. i'm confusing people. the cats and the blank pictures.

i guess i would agree with that. pretty much 100%. and that kinda brings up back to art being subjective. which does make a list of superior studio albums just a list of peoples favorite studio albums. verying interesting. i guess this was a pretty pointless thread. sorry to waste everyones time.

and i quote... "Do you think those illustrators might be disenchanted because they are artists doing things they don't consider to be art?"

and i repeat "Is it still art if the "artist" doesn't view it as art?"

seems to me that were going round in circles now.

a lot of you have orange cat pictures next to your name. it's kinda confusing me...

i mean i'm a cartographer by trade and am currently employed as a design drafter. i don't think anything i create now has any artistic merit.

i bet you could find a number of disenchanted illustrators who don't believe what they do is art. i'm sure all professional illustrators believe there is an artistic element in thier profession, but i doubt they consider every project tehy turn out ot be a work of art.

just sayin'.

probably could end the thread best by saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder. but yeah. i still have another two hours of work left so... we can keep discussing stuff and things.

Prolific thread from a bunch of opinion artists.

Art is created to communicate. That bug drawing is art. To a realist, the bug drawing is miles better than a Picasso. I don't like realism, so I view a textbook bug drawing as the same as any number of still life drawings or paintings that don't have much thought behind them except rendering the object as realistically as possible. I find them boring, but they're certainly art, and I respect them as such. Many people think differently, and would prefer it. Which is why Picasso is such a polarizing figure in art history.

 

I am studying art, by the way. Well...I'm studying design, which is entirely different. But that's a whole different argument.

what if the "artist" was a scientist? what if his only goal was document and communicate accurately what he found when he disected the bug? What if he was commisioned by a text book company and just needed to get paid. so he put no thought into the picture and just spits out whatever the text book company asks him to do?

Is it still art if the "artist" doesn't view it as art?

Some people DO think that Picasso works are on par with drawings of bugs in science textbooks.

this is true, but do you think any of these people studied art academically? where is the artistic integrity? where is the purpose? where is the desire to creat art and not just a learning tool?

i think arguing at the extremes is a way easier way to make a point. but yeah. this thread took a wrong turn quick. i think i'm just really bored at work today. happy friday everyone.

i am toungue tied. and typo ridden. the point was i trying to make in the above post is that while it is universally accepted that a picaso painting a far greater piece of art than a scientific drawing of an animal or a bug, it doesn't mean that you need to like the picaso painting more or that it's your favorite. Even though you might find nature drawings to be more aesethically pleaseing than abstract landscapes or still lifes or whatever, you're not going to claim that the naturalist illustrator is a better artist than picaso. IN MY OPINION, the same can be said of albums.

While i do enjoy many of the albums i originally posted and believe to be studio masterpieces by the bands, i don't like all of them. Outkast? No thanks. But it is still hard to argue that stankonia is not an amazing studio album.

that is all. //end rant.

okay okay okay. so music is subjective. people are going to like all sorts of things that other people don't like. this is not news. but what makes a picaso better than hand drawn picture of the anatomy of a bug in a science text book? certainly you aren't going to argue that the bug picture is better art even though it resembles more closely the subject.

while art is subjective, there is a a spectrum spanning from really bad to really good. that is hard to argue. all i wanted to do was talk about albums that people on this board feel are great albums from the first track to the last. that is all.

if you all think this is such a dumb thread, why are you even posting in it? is the fact that we are discussing a subjective matter bothering you? Ruining your day? Preventing you from enjoying what music you like? If you don't have anything nice to say (or contribute to the thread!) why say it at all?

well when i do offer up some sort of criteria for what makes an album good, and you choose to ignore that part and focus on the "it's undefinable man" part, it does seem like an attack. especially when other posters already brought up the same point and i try to respond to it. thansk for sharing your favorite albums with us! i'm glad you like to talk about music.

Which is why this thread is basically "list some good albums"

well then why don't you pop into the Bad Albums by Good Bands thread and ask them to define what makes an album bad. Take it easy. I thought this would be a fun idea for a thread. Sorry it upset you. If you don't want to participate, you don't need to post in the thread. No one's forcing you.

it can't be, like, defined.... maaaan.

but honestly, i don't really know how to say it. i know what you're getting at but am having trouble coming up with a good response. you just feel it? i don't know.

maybe the thread should be changed to "What makes a studio album great? What are some examples?"

if i can do lots of re-listens to an album without skipping a track, that's probably an indicator of it being an exceptional album.

if i can't listen to a song on its own, but am able to enjoy in the context of album (ie a track 6 comes up on shuffle and you're like wtf is this, but when track 6 comes up after track 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and is followed by track 7 and 8 - you enjoy it more)

i have lots of favorite albums that i don't consider to be studio master pieces. i listen to lost of live albums and bootlegs. Often these are my favorite albums. every studio album i own is not a perfect studio album. Would you put Sky Blue Sky on the same page as YHF? Would you put The Free Wheeling Bob on the same page as Time Out of Mind? While i love and listen to Sky Blue Sky and The Free Wheeling Bob often, there is something that seperates the latter from the former. Honestly, as a newer wilco fan i think i actaully listen to SBS more than YHF.

I guess i don't understand what's not to get about this thread.

EDIT for typos and wording.

i will also add...

Quebec - Ween

In this thread we will list and discuss really good, ney, AMAZING studio albums.

Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

Pet Sounds - Beach Boys

Sgt. Peppers - The Beatles

DSOTM - Pink Floyd

American Beauty - Grateful Dead

London Calling - The Clash

Astral Weeks - Van Morrison

Graceland - Paul Simon

Rain Dogs- Tom Waits

Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sea Change - Beck

Paul's Boutique- The Beastie Boys

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco

Pinkerton - Weezer

Z - My Morning Jacket

Stankonia- Outkast

3 Feet High and Rising - De la Soul