i know i have probably said this same crap a hundred times over but some of its new and some of it is reworded just enough to seem new. what i mean is deal with it.
several times i have made music recommendations to people that they may or may not have any luck finding. i also worry that what they find may not be the song or album that i think they will truly like. for instance if i recommended pretty hate machine to someone and they went to get something but by nin and instead picked up fixed it would not be the same thing at all. all albums and songs are not created equal.
in many cases i have the belief that most artists can exist because they created certain song(s) or album. even if everything outside of that is pure crap. this one thing they did forgives all of the crap. for instance i am not a pussycat dolls* fan 'dont cha makes them forgivable. sure its sounds like a stupid song on the surface. true it does have a very simple bubble gum feel that i always enjoy. but. but. if you sit down and and listen to it or better yet
read the lyrics it makes for an out of the norm piece. no. i am not high. yes it takes a hell of a lot to get around the gloss and hype on this one but that makes it worth it. i am almost certain that they didnt write it but they made it know so again it is worth it. i am not saying that it is the best song ever written but it still makes it worth their existence. if they crash and burn from here i doubt it matters.
see things like that make a lot of people ignore a lot of the recommendations i have but most of them are geared towards the specific person. the above is not so much a recommendation as an explanation of how screwy it can get when it come from this direction. for instance an ex and i were at a music store and i handed her an andi sex gang cd to listen to because i thought she would like it. and she did. personally i have yet to find anything they did worth any of my time. it just fit with in the realms of her taste and such so it was a serious recommendation. in the end i bought her two of the three albums they had for her. the third had too much damage.
when i find people who can pull off recommendations of this quality i like to keep them handy (right here in my pocket) if only for that. no thats not the only thing worth being friends for but its a big plus. a lot of the time when i get into a discussions about music i am taking notes. some time mentally sometimes on paper. all depends on the source.
i could make a hundred recommendations on excellent albums and songs and i might but it kills me when these magazines do these collections of top 50 or a hundred albums that should be popping up right about now. true they are frequently catering to the market they serve but unless they cover a large variety of styles or a list of the top selling albums and are based stricktly on numbers then they are bunk. a lot of them will have the beatles on the somewhere. usually sgt peppers is on there somewhere but it you take the time you will find that let it be is really a much better album with more signal to noise.
another thing this list and a lot of people dont consider is greatest hits albums. this can be a good and a bad thing. sure it gives you either there top selling or most request songs but there is a flaw with so many. the more recent beatles products are a perfect example where the songs you know and love are remastered or even worse for the concept is when new songs are added because they think it will or should be a hit. the red and blue set are a better package but they too are defective.
the problems with greatest hits albums are many. the main one being that it is frequently the band or more often than not a producer selecting the songs they like best.(cracker garage d'Or) if the band does it fine (cracker -redux). if anyone else does it that too is bunk. the worse problem if that they pull songs out of context. sometimes it doesnt matter. sometimes it does. it really doesnt work when you have a brand new song surrounded by songs off the bands first album. another issue is where it is decided not to include certian songs because they are covers. (just imagine a marilyn manson greatest hits album without covers. or me first and the gimme gimmes for that matter). sometimes the best thing a band or artist did belongs to someone else and in some cases they did it better (johnny cashs cover of hurt or soft cells cover of tainted love are good examples of doing it better than the original).
i realize that these are good for exposing people unfamiliar with the band. in a lot of cases it cut the crap down to a minimum but it might not be the best thing for long term listening (eagles greatest hits vol 2 is a proven exception to this). in a lot of cases they feel like nothing more than contractual obligations or grasps for more money (they might be giants - then and now). live albums are even worse. they always feel like greatest hits albums with much lower production values. this is primarily true for rock bands. the vocals are almost always too quite. jazz and blues live albums tend to be an odd sort of exception to this as they generally sound better when recorded live (holly cole - it happened one night).
what a tangled web it is to find good music. this is part of the reason that you should listen to your friends. if their tastes are close to yours there is a better chance that you will find some you like. by that same token dont be afraid of these automated things that sites like amazon use. the automated systems generally use sales of albums and artists where the same people have made like purchases or searches or ratings. not everything will be worth it but if you find one or a few then it is worth looking into. the part i like about the amazon one is that it seems that there is very little to no sponsered results. true it has you taking broad recommendations from computers but welcome to the modern age.
the automated systems have a fuction but well thought out recommendations of good music can not be beat. i cant even count the number of time i have heard a good song and then found that everything else by the band or artist is complete crap. in those cases its best just to get the one song and walk away happy. but if you find a really good album or song please share it with those you know and love. just keep in mind that because you love it doesnt mean its actually good music. the things like that should be saved for the choir. or torchering people via karaoke.
man i really went off track here. thats what i get for writing it in parts. if you are not used to that by now you never will be. and if you want to make recommendation please do so. even if you think i already know it i am interested to know what you consider to be really good songs or albums. the ones you love as well as the ones you think are just really good. the ones that never got the attention they truly deserve are even better.
o_O
*i have a theory that the redhead is hard of hearing if not completely deaf. if anyone can verify this fact please let me know. i mean yeah we all know she is dumb (unfortunately i dont mean mute) as are the rest of them but if this is true it really explains a lot. i am sure i am completely wrong though![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
