Scooby Doo Albums: Your Nominations

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As outlined on I Hate Music, these are the records people pick as their favourites by a band which also just happen to be the most unpredictable picks. Not that I'm implying a link, of course! Any other examples?

― Tanya, Thursday, 14 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

At one point the White Album (my favourite Beatles record for as long as I've had an opinion on the matter) was perceived as such, back when all critical appreciation of the Beatles was centred around a sentimental, rose-tinted idea of the "community" and "togetherness" around 1966-67. Now we're thankfully moving to a recognition that the uncertainty and confusion of 1968 is a more intriguing backdrop, hence the White Album has deservedly lost its "wilful, unpredictable critical wild card" status. Ian MacDonald still hates most of it, of course. Let him, deluded "sun came out over a liberated Britain" swinging London idealist that he is (now *there*'s a bit of devil's advocatery...).

Ah, the tangent-checker on my PC has reigned me in once again. A few not-very-expected choices I've been known to raise above the other works of their creators:

The Style Council, "Confessions of a Pop Group" Momus, "The Ultraconformist" (only to an extent, but production- obsessed fans hate it, or regard it as unrepresentative, pastiche, one-dimentional, etc.) XTC, "Wasp Star" (IMHO superior to the first volume of Apple Venus) Spiritualized (Electric Mainline), "Pure Phase" (ignored on release - January 95 - as the NME and MM went through their Britpop chancers' phase) Saint Etienne, "Tiger Bay" Wu-Tang Clan, "Wu-Tang Forever" (at least if you cut away the filler and reduce it to a great single CD of the mind) Method Man, "Tical 2000: Judgement Day" Redman, "Doc's Da Name: 2000"

I get profoundly irritated when people say that these are the best works of those who recorded them:

Van Dyke Parks, "Song Cycle" The Kinks, "Village Green Preservation Society" Nick Drake, "Bryter Layter" The Beatles, "Sgt Pepper's..." or "Revolver"

That's enough for now ...

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 14 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ah, my list format has been mangled again. Hopefully it's still readable ...

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 14 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The best example I can think of is Royal Trux Twin Infinitives. Everyone hails this as their, difficult, challenging, avant-garde masterpiece, but it's really an amateurish piece of shit that fails as both noise and music. The records where they play around with (and exploit) rock clichis are far superior, & they got better as they went along.

Also people who claim to like Flaming Lips' early work like Telepathic Surgery more than their 90s output. Rubbish.

― Mark Richardson, Thursday, 14 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Scooby Doo album is often the fault of harbouring the bands best single, whilst being surrounded by substandard, difficult rubbish. Not that this explains the ridiculous phenomenon of anyone prefering Low to other Bowie outpourings. If the reason to dislike a thing is its pretentious art-wankery there will always be a number of pretentious arty wankers who will prefer it - to confirm their status.

Britpop Scooby Doo albums include Pulp's This Is Hardcore, and Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish. Modern Life is two third Parklife, one third Leisure - and its that last third that really drags it down. Anyone who professes that Leisure is therefore Blur's best deserve a good seeing to by a head doctor. And I don't mean a chief surgeon.

Oh - and Kid A.

― Pete, Friday, 15 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, yes, Kid A indeed - I'm a master of the SD album as many will confirm. Leonard Cohen's Death Of A Ladies Man is a favourite of mine in this category. Dylan obviously has too many to count - it can't be one of the really obviously awful ones, though, I think the true Scooby Doo album has got to be just believable enough to be annoying. Nick Cave claimed the first Christian record was his favourite Bob Dylan LP, thus showing himself to be a master of Scoobism.

― Tom, Friday, 15 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nah, that just reaffirms how big a hangup for Christianity Cave has. :) To show any talent for picking SD albums we'd need something less biased. ;)

― Josh, Friday, 15 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Lou Reed, Take No Prisoners. (Lou Reed's own website is delicious in that it praises ALL of his decidedly uneven output, even hailing "Disco Mystic" as a sharp bite of satire)

In general though, I think this is just a variant of the "I liked the earlier stuff better" syndrome -- or maybe the other way 'round.

There are also those, like me, who claim that Costello's Trust is better than This Year's Model, which is fairly scooby, I think.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 19 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Surely Tom, the classic SD album choice from you is "Trompe Le Monde": although admittedly fighting it out with those fuckers who think "Come On Pilgrim" is the best Pixies material--I mean come on, it was the fucking demo-tape. Don't you think they would have got better production if they could have afforded it? (Well, no, they then went on to get Albini to do "Surfer Rosa." (NB the other flaw in this argument is that "Trompe" is actually good, therefore making it not SD material, I suppose.)

And the rash of Go-Betweens features to accompany their so-so new LP has revealed many journos who claim that the franly poor "Before Hollywood" tops "16 Lovers Lane." SD or twat? The choice is yours.

― alex, Tuesday, 19 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mr Richarson is right on when he mentioned RTX's TI, which was recommended to me by the owner of a record shop ("I drove Montreal-- NYC at night with that playing over and over again", he said dreamily, reminiscing his late 80s nowhere trips with evident fondness, "and I just let myself be swallowed whole by this record, which definitely is their best work") whom I know well enough to rely on his advice. I thus purchased the bloody record (I already owned "Thank You", "Accelerator" and "VoD") and... AAAAAAAAARGH!

Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against *noise*, and TI is an "interesting" record, certainly worth owning, but come on, it certainly isnt the mighty Trux's best release...

― rekkit, Thursday, 28 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nine months pass...

Hi Omar! Here's your thread!

― Tom, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It indeed is! :) Yes, Twin Infinitives may be the best choice for Scooby Doo album of the last 15 years (however great and interesting the album is), although re. Trux one could overbid in the Scooby stakes and claim your favourite is the 1st album ;)

No-one has mentioned "Exile on Main Street"...seems a classic case. Let's see other examples: 'Neu 2', 'Radio Ethiopia' (although IMHO still her best album), 'Ege Bamyasi', 'Autodidakter' maybe 'Snivilisation'. Can't think of more at the moment, but in general The Wire has a nice line in Scooby Dooism ;)

― Omar, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Scoobies i genuinely luv - 'Black and Blue', 'Flowers of Romance', 'Presence','Real People','Self Portrait'

― tarden, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

EXILE ON MAIN STREET??? But that's simply a 12-carat classic, innit?

― the pinefox, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pinefox, I don't think it's as simple as that. "Exile.." if I remember correctly good bad reviews when it came out. Then it became fashionable to proclaim it a classic (and I agree with you, I love it too, just not as much as 'Let it Bleed') and then in the 90s it became fashionable again in certain circles (Simon Price, T.Parkes in MM anyone?) to do an anti-Scooby Doo on "Exile..."

I'n trying to think about some examples in dancemusic. "Bug in the Bassbin", "Richard D. James" anyone?

― Omar, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

XTC - "Go 2". Buzzcocks - " A Different Kind of Tension". Beach Boys - "Carl and The Passions" (much better than Holland). Byrds - " Untitled". Bowie - "Lodger". Echo and The Bunnymen - S/T. The Only Ones - "Baby's Got a Gun". The Kinks - "Kinda Kinks" or "Kinks Kontroversy". Small Faces - S/T on Immediate (overshadowed by "Ogdens..")

― Dr. C, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

...got bad reviews, fr'christsakes..where's me head at? Writing and trying to think about examples = dud.

― Omar, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

richard d james albums great for sure, although i don't really think of it as a scooby doo album

― gareth, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

'Twin Infinitives' is not the Scooby. The Scooby is 'Radio Video' and it's fuckin' CLASSIC

― dave q, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Revive! This was a great concept!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 7 March 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

I think about this every time I am asked to name something as a favorite/

― Loud music stressed out sad Shadow (Abbbottt), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 03:14 (thirteen years ago)

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