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Albums that Don't Hold Up for You


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I've been revisiting some old albums that I thought were classics to me and I find they just don't hold up.  Probably just because I'm sick of them, but who knows.  For example, I've always thought of myself as a Neil Young completist, but I really don't care for half of his catalog.  After the Gold Rush and Everybody Knows just don't do it for me any more.  I still like a few songs, but that's about it.  Same with Wilco.  I really can't stand to listen to BT or ST ever again, though I love AGIB on out.  I know tastes change, but it seems that the digital age may have something to do with this too.  I can just take the tunes I like and leave the rest.  I kind of feel guilty about it though…for some reason.

 

Anyway...

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Sad to say, but 

Bob Mould - Workbook

just does NOT hold up so well for me. And it is easy to pinpoint why: the production. So very much of its time… it sounds just like the early 90s AOR that it is. And, unfortunately, it's just dated. Not as timeless as I thought that it was at the time.

Breaks my heart because I loved this album at the time. And, to be fair, the songs are still great. It's just that SOUND.

:(

 

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My favorite LP.  Still listen to it all the time. I think the production holds up.  The anti-Husker album.  Lush, layered, delicate. I'm sure there are albums that I used to love, but don't anymore.  I can't think of any right now.

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Good topic.

 

The Talking Heads were one of my main bands throughout their entire span, but I recently listened to the first 2 albums and they didn't hold up for me. I think there's probably a lot of that in my catalogue from those years. Much more recently, first listen through Arcade Fire's Reflektor was great. Each time I've gone back to it, not so much.

 

I'm the complete opposite from Vacant Horizon about Being There and Summerteeth, especially BT. Love that album as much today as I did when it was released.

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There are plenty of LPs I don't ever NEED to hear again (LZ IV, etc), but I'm at a loss to have one come to mind that 'doesn't hold up'. 

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There are plenty of LPs I don't ever NEED to hear again (LZ IV, etc), but I'm at a loss to have one come to mind that 'doesn't hold up'. 

 

Well, that's a good point.  Some albums are killer that I really never ever have to hear again…Zep IV is a great example.  However, if Stairway or Black Dog comes on the radio, I'll rock out.  Worldrecord makes a good point about the difference between sick of and not holding up.  I thought I loved Neil Young's Prairie Wind album from 05.  Listened to it last night and it just does not hold up at all.  I'm not sick of it, I just don't like it any more.  It's got really bad songs on it, aside from the lead off track.

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The song Prairie Wind is pretty bad, but I love "When God Made Me" and some of the others.

 

There's some real throwaways on that one.  Prairie Wind, Far From Home, He Was The King.

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OH! 

There was this St. Louis band, when I was in college at Mizzou in the late 80s/early 90s, called The Unconscious. I thought they were just awesome and I went to see them on multiple occasions at local club The Blue Note.

It was the kind of white boy punk/funk that all the frat guys thought was pretty edgy back then. Listening now, it's just crap.

 

This was their most-popular tune:

http://www.reverbnation.com/theunconscious/song/15562535-bop-apocalypse

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There's some real throwaways on that one.  Prairie Wind, Far From Home, He Was The King.

 

The production of that album makes it unlistenable to me. And I'm a huge NY fan.

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Nirvana is probably the big one for me.  I used to be an obsessed Nirvana fan in the 90's.  I'm talking shirts, posters, bootlegs (full-on Wilco Me style obsession), and now I can barely stand to listen to a single song...

 

Although their unplugged, especially the tunes with the Meat Puppets, is still awesome (just listened the other day).

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i wonder what the extent of financial largesse those particular covers afforded Meat Puppets. they certainly sold a lot of copies....way more  than any Meat Puppets record.

Definitely true.  I'll bet at least 3/4 of the copies of Meat Puppets 2 were sold as a result of Unplugged.  I heard they got screwed by SST, so maybe that didn't turn out as well financially as it should have.

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Definitely true.  I'll bet at least 3/4 of the copies of Meat Puppets 2 were sold as a result of Unplugged.  I heard they got screwed by SST, so maybe that didn't turn out as well financially as it should have.

But they should be getting residuals from the sales of Nirvana Unplugged -- 3 songs on there should grab them a pretty chunk.

I know that Nick Lowe having "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" covered on The Bodyguard soundtrack made him a millionaire. And, while the Nirvana record didn't sell quite as much as said soundtrack, that was only 1 song compared to 3 tunes on the Nirvana record for the Pups.

I'm sure that it's helped them get a little more comfortable.

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The production of that album makes it unlistenable to me. And I'm a huge NY fan.

 

That's interesting because I think the production (besides the strings, choir and horns) is pretty good.  If the entire album was on par with the Painter, then it'd been good album.  However, I can see that the production is kind of that dead studio thing neil's been doing for almost two decades.  

another one of his albums that has great songs but horrible production is Ragged Glory.  That gated drum sound is just so bad.

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The only things I can think of are things I probably never should have fooled with in the first place.  Chili Peppers, Primus.  That sort of thing.

That's hilarious.  Sounds like another topic…Bands You Shouldn't Have Messed with in the First Place.  Alas, I never tried the Chili Peppers or Primus but I did like the Spin Doctors for moment.

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But they should be getting residuals from the sales of Nirvana Unplugged -- 3 songs on there should grab them a pretty chunk.

I know that Nick Lowe having "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" covered on The Bodyguard soundtrack made him a millionaire. And, while the Nirvana record didn't sell quite as much as said soundtrack, that was only 1 song compared to 3 tunes on the Nirvana record for the Pups.

I'm sure that it's helped them get a little more comfortable.

Oh sure, I agree.  I was just using the Meat Puppets 2 record in addition to that, since that's the record the songs they played on Unplugged originally appeared on.

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That's hilarious.  Sounds like another topic…Bands You Shouldn't Have Messed with in the First Place.  Alas, I never tried the Chili Peppers or Primus but I did like the Spin Doctors for moment.

I had a Spin Doctors cd at one time.  I was into that whole HORDE thing for a year or two.

 

Chili Peppers and Primus both have songs that are good, but I don't think I could make it through a whole album.

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Chili Peppers and Primus both have songs that are good, but I don't think I could make it through a whole album.

 

Tommy the Cat is my name!!

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In college I saw the Spin Doctors open up for Paulie Shore.  Of course, shows were free in colelge.

 

I saw the Spin Doctors with Cracker and Gin Blossoms.  It was an early 90's pop rock wet dream.  

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I saw the Spin Doctors with Cracker and Gin Blossoms.  It was an early 90's pop rock wet dream.  

I saw that show.  Back then I used to wear short sleeve shirts on top of long sleeve shirts, and I started getting a little too warm so I took off the short sleeve shirt and draped it over my shoulder.  Some douchebag ran by and snatched it and ran off, surely thinking it was a Spin Doctors shirt I had just bought.  It was a Polvo shirt, like this one except white.  I was boiling mad, but I took a little solace in the fact that the thief would have no idea what the shirt he stole was advertising: 

 

Polvo_-_faucet.jpg

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In college I saw the Spin Doctors open up for Paulie Shore.  Of course, shows were free in colelge.

Free shows I saw were:

Living Colour with Drivin' n' Cryin' (89)

and

Pixies with some opening act that I can't remember (91 or 92)

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