Which of these albums should I buy first

"Easter Everywhere"
"Blues and Roots,"
"Double Nickels..." (I was just listening to this yesterday...shits all over Fugazi, and for my money The Fall,)
"The Perfect Prescription" (I myself might buy this first.)
"Flip Your Wig"
"This Nation's..." (Since the Minutemen comment means no disrespect to the Fall, really.)

You should be verrrry happy with the above, really...any and all.

The two Fall records are good, but not their best.

"Blues and Roots" is one of Mingus' better records, but I'd still go with The Minutemen.

You won't go wrong with any in that list except the Spacemen 3, but I am not a big fan of that one and there are plenty of people around here that would disagree. "Black Letter Days" is OK, but probably below S3 one to my way of thinking.

'This Nation's Saving Grace' is up there in my fave Fall albums too, so i'd consider that an essential purchase for the near future.

as far as the Supersuckers goes, i'd go for 'La Mano Cornuda' first from the albums 'proper', but the comp 'How The Supersuckers Became The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In History' is pretty damn essential cos it rounds up most of the album highlights plus a load of stuff from 7"s and shit (including their awesome version of 'Dead Homiez')

But change your choices to Mingus Ah Um, Zen Arcade or New Day Rising and Perverted By Language or Grotesque and then I'd be totally stumped. You've got some revelatory listening ahead of you BTW!

Also, Flip You Whig is okay but if you don't own New Day Rising or Zen Arcade you should get those first. I think I even like Warehouses better that FYW.

...pretty green eyes...

Doesn't Coldplay have a song called "Green Eyes" too?

This Nations Saving Grace comes 3rd.

Matthew's absolutely right about the Frank Black albums (the s/t one would nudge This Nations Saving Grace into 4th)

First you should buy Ah Um, The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus.

Then, when you're hooked, buy the Passions Of A Man boxset, which includes everything he recorded for Atlantic!

James

Uh....Who has said anything against Blues & Roots, other than suggesting that it's folly to buy the album when you need the entire boxset?

a list of mingus albums that aren't interesting would be useful

like many people i know, i can't relate to New Day Rising, but that same everybody agrees about Zen Arcade and Flip Your Wig (the latter is my favourite HD, for its concise pop and what seems like a last gasp before the split with SST and the new duller Warner Brothers sound of Candy Apple Grey and JesusMaryChain alignment)

i agree that any of the original 13th floor sessions are very worthy, even if they sound a little quaint these days -- i was underwhelmed by some of Easter Everywhere, but then i don't like one side of Bull of the Woods as much as i love the other, either

and i think s/t and Teenager of the Year are the best efforts from Frank immediately following the pixies, if that's what you like about frank black

for my money live at the witch trials is too early (tentative, dull formulaic songs, weirdly tame) and nations saving grace too late (formulaic songs, attempted pop music, predictably tame) for that whole fall era, as though those albums are bookends

(i have no idea whether you have those other albums anyway, and the melvins, spaceman3 and fugazi mean nothing to me -- i'm saving getting Double Nickels for later, for the ultimate Minutemen bathe-in, as so many have promised it is)

Pluramon sounds magnificent from MC's discussion of it on his blog... i shall get it soon, though a shame it's not in HMV or Fopp or seemingly any Cambridge record shop... HMV Online maybe seems the way to go.

The "Thirteen Pictures" comp. is a bit of a dog and anyone interested in starting to explore Mingus' work and thinking this might be a good place to start will be well advised to give it a wide berth.

I can't quite put my finger on why but it just fails to do him any sort of justice whatsoever. This is particularly odd because Rhino are ususally so good at that sort of thing - and it's not as if there wasn't a wealth of wonderful material for them to choose from - but they certainly seem to have made a pigs breakfast of it.

Incidentally, I saw the Charles Mingus Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall last week and they were amazing; please go and see them if they're playing anywhere near you.