what was the last 'classic album' you got and were knocked out by?

also Nick Drake - Bryter Later - but I already knew most of the songs on that, so it wasn't quite such a revelation.

:-) :-) I'm most happy to hear that!

pre-1990: Poison, Open Up And Say Ahh....

Also that Joe Cuba Sextette Diggin' the Most I just got is pretty great, except for the English language tunes. But the tracks that Cheo Feliciano sings on are uniformly very good.

i more or less have all of his records and i have the feeling otb is his best studio album. it's the most intense of his folky/soft songwriter albums. there are no real standouts except the first song which i knew from decade. it's all pretty much made of one stone. by the way neil did many shit and average albums. most of his 90s (except ragged glory, dead man was ok) and a lot of his 80s releases (trans, reactor, landing on water etc., hawks + doves was ace) should be mentioned here.

Technodelic by YMO. Never heard this for some reason. Amazing

Yesssss. Welcome to the world behind the mirror glass

Not exactly a "classic" — it's kind of ignored by most people, who stopped paying attention after they left Island — but Burning Spear's The Fittest of the Fittest from 1983 is a really good album. (Includes the 1980 single "Bad to Worst," the search for which is what got me to download this record in the first place. Rodney's voice is as Old Testament as ever, the horns are great, and the Prophet synth that pops up here and there is pleasingly weird.

Compilations of various Reggae artists on Doctor Bird. Which has left me wondering if there are distinctive qualities to Niney The Observer that would make me recognise a track was produced by him without already knowing. & what the difference between roots from 73-76 and 77-79 would be in terms of trends in sound etc. Great to be discovering this stuf anyway. Niney, Joe Gibbs, Dennis Bovell etc etc.

Those Doctor Bird comps are nice! but yeah i see what you mean, i find it hard to tell the difference in sounds between roots producers too (at least most of the time, some producers have their own unique style that really stands out)

speaking of unique styles of reggae, my contribution to the thread is 'Playing It Cool and Playing It Right' by Keith Hudson. I've had it for a couple of months now tbh but it's only lately it's really started to make sense to me! His voice isn't so bad when you get used to it...

Went for some food and cocktails at the local vinyl lounge, where they tend to play a lot of 70s rootsy music. Tonight they were playing Terry Allen - Lubbock (on everything), good stuff.

And now I see it's not the first time mentioned on here!

"that trunk's full of Pearl and Lone Star" is one of my favorite lyrics ever

Somehow I had missed Eno/Fripp’s “(No Pussyfooting)” until an Eno piece reminded me yesterday. Blissful.

Linda Ronstadt - Simple Dreams, i've had multiple dollar copies forever but a full listen, gosh dang

people try to rape me, always think i'm crazy

Bob Dylan Greatest Hits
picked it up on cd yesterday. Have pretty much all of it elsewhere but this was in a charity shop for a Euro. Haven't been listening to him much recently and this sounded superfine.
Can hear what got me into him in the first place. Decent choice of tracks I think but may need to listen to the source lps.

Stack Waddy Bugger Off
have had the Repertoire cd of this since the mid 90s. But again not listened to it massively recently. This is the version from the So Who The Hell Is Stack Waddy? Cherry Red box.
Sounds pretty great, nice, brutal duffing up of r'n'b based music with gnarly guitar.
Been thinking of getting a new copy for an age. Then this was in the label 20% off sale.
I think the lp is pretty necessary. Now thinking s/t lp is pretty good too.

Fanny s/t, Charity Ball
really enjoying these 1st 2 cds from the Cherry Red box set.
Female rockers who you can hear rocking out possibly despite the production. Producer would have liked them to be a pop group apparently. They do have large influence from soul too.
Anyway, think this is pretty amazing stuff.

more of a "could have been a classic album" - picked up a bootleg LP of the Black Flag 1982 demos for cheap and my god what an incredible album we got cheated out of, just a killer lineup & setlist. the version of My War sounds immense even without "proper" production

it's so amazing, their best

David Crosby "If I could only remember my name"

Not much into Neil Young, or the CSN thing, but I do really like this.

The Ballad of the Fallen - Charlie Haden / Carla Bley. Stumbling across this on streaming while trying to crack Bley, it cracked her arranging wide open for me. I thought it might be obscure, but it was Downbeat's critic album of the year in 1984. A mix of melodies from leftist anthems, Haden's bass-forward sound, old world marching dirges and free jazz icons doing their thing -- exactly what I need to push against the doom these days. Mournful and empowering. Don Cherry sure has a way of showing up in the most interesting intersections. At times reminiscent of the Waits-Brennan sound taking shape at the same time, must have been in the air.

Filth of Mankind - The Final Chapter (2000) - I'm amazed how I didn't know about this (apparently highly regarded) record for the past 25 years, probably because it's labeled as "grindcore/crust/stenchcore", which it really isn't - just filthy filthy bass-heavy hardcore-influenced thrash metal (no double bass drumming anywhere) with the kind of roaring seriously pissed-off vocals that so many Polish bands do well. Riffs are all A+ gold, the slow doomy ones as much as the fast d-beat sections. Within a month or so, it has catapulted itself into my top 5 favourite post-2000 metal albums.

Stack Waddy Bugger Off
have had the Repertoire cd of this since the mid 90s. But again not listened to it massively recently. This is the version from the So Who The Hell Is Stack Waddy? Cherry Red box.
Sounds pretty great, nice, brutal duffing up of r'n'b based music with gnarly guitar.
Been thinking of getting a new copy for an age. Then this was in the label 20% off sale.
I think the lp is pretty necessary. Now thinking s/t lp is pretty good too.

I picked up that Cherry Red box during the pandemic, really loved it.

Listening to that Filth Of Mankind album now and yeah, it rules. That kind of "D-beat with ambition" stuff will always have a place in my heart — I was listening to Stormcrow's Enslaved In Darkness just the other day (another old album that got remastered in 2024). Anyway, The Final Chapter is on Bandcamp for name-your-price:

https://filthofmankind.bandcamp.com/album/the-final-chapter-remastered

I've never heard a note of Suede before, but Coming Up seems pretty classic to me, especially Saturday Night. Bowie vibes for sure.

If you like that one wait til you hear the two previous ones.

Here's a good doc about Coming Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqvBGWv6WP0

Link Wray - El Toro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rm5eO8zNFM

David Crosby "If I could only remember my name"

Dunno if it is canonically classic but somehow it has taken me THIS long to finally listen to Full Circle by Wobble/Czukay/Liebezeit - despite my whole musical taste being 80% based around loving Metal Box as a teenager, and having a proper appreciation for Can - this totally delivers on the promise of the collaborators - it is a fantastic album and I regret not getting around to it sooner!

Propaganda - A Secret Wish. The first time I didn’t feel a thing, second time made me wonder, third time absolutely brought me to my knees, There’s a great ilx thread on it, the op described Propoganda as “ABBA from hell” and that’s exactly what “dr mabuse” is!

“Wow!” - me out loud several times listening to this album.

For instance, like intense flurries of fairlight violence followed by a damn smooth jazz guitar solo (I think on track 2 or “jewel”?) !?!? and it works somehow!

i seem to remember watching one of those "mix breakdown" type of documentary pieces (with some members of the band?) about a propaganda album but i can't find it? god maybe i'm tripping and it was some other european synth pop band.

yeah propaganda is a common answer in this thread (including an answer by me a couple years ago)

David Crosby "If I could only remember my name"

― Mark G, Wednesday, August 27, 2025 5:37 AM (seventeen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

To this day the track credits for “What Are Their Names?” are completely bonkers

Dunno if it is canonically classic but somehow it has taken me THIS long to finally listen to Full Circle by Wobble/Czukay/Liebezeit - despite my whole musical taste being 80% based around loving Metal Box as a teenager, and having a proper appreciation for Can - this totally delivers on the promise of the collaborators - it is a fantastic album and I regret not getting around to it sooner!

― Cod:Shellfish (emsworth), Wednesday, August 27, 2025 5:27 AM (sixteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i just found out about this album a week ago, record store dude said it's awesome and he has no idea who any of those guys are. he just listened to it because of "Jah Wobble"

I really have come to dig "Leon Live" by Leon Russell. I had heard a bit of him growing up and I remember seeing his LPs in stacks as a kid. Part of the reason I like this record is that it sounds like some old AM radio station.

Not really an album, but I came across an old German TV Blasters gig that was high quality and they just smoked it. The Blasters were a killer live band and just tight as hades.

check out his "stranger in a strange land" album if you haven't.

The Youtube algorithm served up Towa Tei's Future Listening! Tons of fun.

I've got the 12 inch with Son of Bambi on it, that track always goes down amazing

fun fact:

Dee-Lite (via Towa Tei) was the first music artist to sample The Silver Apples ("A Pox On You") on their debut record in 1990:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX7D6bsojcY

i just found out about this album a week ago, record store dude said it's awesome

Yeah, this was actually the first time I've ever seen it in the wild (Full Circle) - it was a pricey Japanese press but I had a gift voucher so could be a bit indulgent.

Conversely, I used to see the Snakecharmer EP absolutely everywhere, total bargain bin staple - think it is a bit more sought-after now tho.

Yeah, I saw one for sale on-line, it took ages to get here but I then discovered it was a "new issue".

As you say, I had "How much are they?" back when it first came out, but never knew about "Full Circle"

This is possibly the thing you mean, map?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KltdSn_X1zU

it was something more contemporary, "looking back". i remember checking out the music and it was lush synth pop with inventive arrangements and iirc there was a smooth jazzy guitar solo.

Coltrane Ascension. ive tried before before but maybe never had the patience or something. Sometimes the sound is so dense.
This is a thousand eddying surging currents moving in and out of focus.

Miles davis. Dark Magus. Same as above re patience.
This is wild beautiful stuff

A lot of free jazz albums click for me when I'm driving (Ascension, Nation Time, Babi, Brotzmann). Something about the forward momentum, chaos, etc.

"Out of my way! I'm Listening to John Coltranes 1966 Meteoric Sensation 'Ascension.'"

Please Don't Skronk At Me, I'm a Student Driver

I only listen to the jukebox 7" version ;)

"It only seems like a series of accidents Officer..."

lol

Picked up an old John Lee Hooker cd comp called 'Graveyard Blues'. It was a pretty nondescript looking release but it is an interesting comp of singles that he did in 48-52 many other other names.

Hooker has these many different takes of tunes, it is fun to hear which way he took it. And one would figure, it was always that way when played in the clubs.

I liked the one line about how he had money but then they ended the war.

@brimstead The smooth jazz guitar solo is in The Murder Of Love.

yes, that's it!

I was a witness of your crime
Now I'm the judge

so cool

John Martyn, Live at Leeds. I'd only heard a few random live tracks from him before, this is absolutely sublime. Danny Thompson on double bass and John Stevens (from Spontaneous Music Ensemble) on drums and a near-20 minute version of Outside In.

Have not heard this though:

A 2CD Deluxe Edition compiled and researched by John Hillarby was released in 2010 by Universal Music. It contains the 1975 concert in its entirety, complete with hold ups, chatter and profane drunken insults between Martyn and Thompson, with Disc 2 including 35 minutes of the afternoon rehearsal as bonus material.

yeah, that opening "outside in" is incredible! it sounds like a huge tidal wave when everything is swelling up.