Battle of the disappointing post-punk albums

Dude, The Top is The Cure's second-best album. Albeit IMO. But, uh.

Yeah The Cure's should've been Wild Mood Swings. Are we voting for the best out of this list? If so The Top hands down.

The Top is great, yeah. Never heard "Manscape." "Superstition" is wretched. "Oh No! It's Devo" has at least two kick-ass Devo songs, one of which ("That's Good") is totally great. "Happy?" is really not bad - one great song - but really who can get excited about it. "Oranges & Lemons" I am not qualified to speak on because I always hated that band. "Hard" struck me as v. interesting at one point but I'll be damned if I can remember much about it now. I gave up on Killing Joke after "Revelations." KROQ flogged Echo so hard that it doesn't count as music for me, it's more like wind in the trees or the sound of traffic. Voting for Megadeth.

megadeth isnt one of the options john

The Top is one of the Cure's best?

not XTC's career low by a longshot

politely disagree, but then I haven't heard Mummer or the first two yet

Very nice poll! I'll give this one to Gang of Four's "Hard" in a heartbeat, but of all these, I must say Siouxsie's "Superstition" was not disappointing for me at all. In fact, I found it a great improvement over what had been. The Top, too, has a few really goth tracks that redeem it in the end.

On the other hand, Manscape can suck it. Are we supposed to vote for best or worst of these?

Oh sorry, which one is the best, you said that. Sigh. Oh alright, Siouxsie then. I thought we were going for worst, sorry.

Okay. Everyone who thinks Siouxsie's Superstition is a disappointing album must listen to the last track "Ghost In You" and then form an opinion. That is all.

"Oranges And Lemons" is a fantastic album, and by no means a career low. XTC were at their best long after they had ceased being postpunk, and instead started making wonderful Beatles-influenced melodic pop!

And The Cure's career low was "The Cure".

XTC weren't pop--they were totally hardcore scum punks

you could really save yourself some time by posting "Geir likes x" or "Geir does not like x", pretty sure we don't need to see the same reasons 28,500 times.

x-post

then again i lolled

i thought we were voting on "most disappointing" so i went with xtc. for "best" of the lot i'd give it to devo in a heartbeat.

I wouldn't all Oranges & Lemons disappointing. It was a helluva lot better than the yawnsome piffle that came after it.

call

I actually quite like Oh No! It's Devo as well. Shout! was when the rot set in.

Fuck it, I liked several tracks on Superstition as well. This is a lame poll.

thats entirely moot dude...nonsuch + apple venus are awesome xxp

lol opinions

Oranges shits all over Nonesuch. Apple Venus was a snore.

I actually quite like Oh No! It's Devo as well.

yeah, this is not a bad record by any stretch.

you might as well add Joy Division - Closer to this list, geez.

"The Caterpillar" vs "Is this Love" vs "Heartbreak Beat" vs "Lips Like Sugar"

Okay just for the record, I don't have a prob with Oranges & Lemons being a nadir of XTC at all. That was damn on the money, for my money. "King For A Day" excepted.

you might as well add Joy Division - Closer to this list, geez.

― uncannydan, Sunday, April 19, 2009 6:00 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookma

That's why they call it challenging opinions, lowlife. Go back to your boring sappy boppy simple-lyrics chart pop hip hop bullshit and kindly get off this thread. Thanks.

I mean, really I bet you haven't even heard half the albums here.

politely disagree, but then I haven't heard Mummer or the first two yet

"not sure whether 'Let It Be' is the best Beatles album, but then again, I haven't heard 'Rubber Soul,' 'Sergeant Pepper' or 'The White Album' yet"

also, pretty surprised to hear the XTC love from Alex - I always despised them because of their inability to kick ass

I was just listening to Go 2! "Battery Brides" is totally A+ with honours

Go and wash your ears out with "Travels In Nihilon", J0hn

That's why they call it challenging opinions, lowlife. Go back to your boring sappy boppy simple-lyrics chart pop hip hop bullshit and kindly get off this thread. Thanks.

― Earl of Gothington Manor (Bimble), Sunday, April 19, 2009 2:09 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

Hook, line, and sinker.

thanks Louis if I want Beatles worship I'll just read some more Geir posts

i was so sad when that echo album came out. and i actually thought it was gonna be good cuz the dancing horses 12 inch that came out beforehand contained two of my fave echo tracks/b-sides EVER. (and i could never understand why they took one of these songs, bedbugs & ballyhoo, and made a totally shitty version for the album when they had a genius version already made.) (granted, it was from an old single, but they used the old dancing horses on the album, didn't they?) (then again, i remember that the band hated how that album sounded, so i wasn't alone. these things happen.)

bimble, i bought a rose of avalanche album yesterday and i thought of you for some reason. i figured you might have been a fan. i just really wanted to hear "velveteen" again for the first time since 1985. the rest of the album wasn't sounding so hot, but i only played the one side. velveteen still sounded kinda cool.

i can imagine people buying that rose of avalanche album for velveteen and being really turned off by the mirror sunglasses rocker goth that makes up most of it.

kinda like the people who bought the blind melon album for the bee song and who had to listen to all the sub-guns & roses stuff that was actually on there.

Thread needs gangsta andy partridge to come and assert how they do it in Swindon, blud

you can sing the verses of "sweet child o' mine" along with "velveteen"

I was just listening to Go 2! "Battery Brides" is totally A+ with honours

Oh fuck YES IT IS DUDE BUT NOT UNTIL YOU HAVE HEARD THE LIVE VERSION ON THE BBC TRANSISTOR BLAST THINGAMAJIG BOX SET CD #4 HAMMERSMITH PALAIS. LIKE NOW. PLAY IT NOW.

Also, really feeling deep sympathy for Scott re: Echo & Bunnymen. Why the fuck did Dancing Horses & Never Stop end up not on their proper albums anyway? It's a fucked up world, man. I don't know.

I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on Rose of Avalanche right now. I used to have one of their 12"es, didn't make an impression. I will try the You Tube clip in a sec, here, thanks.

Also was Dancing Horses on the E&B self-titled? Ah fuck me if I would know. I never bought it. Actually I remember what happened was I WON the damn CD off a radio station call-in thing, and I didn't have a CD player!

I'll have to search out those b-side versions, thanks Scott.

yeah, the original "bedbugs & ballyhoo" and "over your shoulder" were the b-sides to the 1985 dancing horses single. and they both rule. according to wiki, i can blame ray manzarek of the doors for ruining bedbugs. he added keyboards to the album version. the album version is just sooooooo limp and the original is just fiery and brilliant.

oh my! This is great news. I know I'm kindof an asshole for not paying billions of dollars for the box set, but box sets annoy me and E&B isn't a band I would have really done that for, anyway.

i think a really good 2-disc b-sides and singles comp would be worth the money. i didn't buy the boxed set. i still have the good stuff on vinyl.

Well I've just put on Angels & Devils and I'm happy as can be. I understand the need, though, I really do. I found out about some other single that wasn't on any of their albums and I was shocked, because I still remembered it. Can't remember what the name of it was, now, though.

Listening to Rose of Avalanche Velveteen, now. This is really weird, because I remember my friend when I was a teenager had a dream about us that involved the name Velveeta or something. I don't think this was actually the 12" I had at all. Shit, I'll have to look it up. Might be fun to have a whole album of this, I mean it's better than the Mission for god's sake.

Let's keep all the Mission' bashin' (Mission bassion?) to a dull roar, shall we?

I wouldn't all Oranges & Lemons disappointing. It was a helluva lot better than the yawnsome piffle that came after it.

No, it wasn't "Nonsuch" was even better, I would rank it as their second best only behind "Skylarking".

Every single XTC album from "Skylarking" onwards completely pisses on their early late 70s/early 80s output though. The only early XTC album that holds up somewhat in comparision is "Mummer", because they are doing much of the same they'd always do later.

These new Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs everyone is excited about, "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" remind me of "Kiss them For Me"

Agreed, but maybe I have a lower tolerance for Devo than you do.

re: go 2 – I can never forgive them for 'My Weapon,' which sours the entire album for me, tho there are like five great songs on it. Moral of this story: I am a woman.

"Oranges and Lemons" is not the best XTC album by a longshot -- the constant proselytizing really wears on the nerves -- but it does have "Chalkhills and Children", which is one of my very favorite songs. So.

Moral of this story: I am a woman.

This should be the moral of all stories.

Sadly not possible.

Well, Blame Barry Andrews (who left immediately afterwards) for that one.

Meanwhile -- staying with the priapic theme -- how d'ya feel about "Pink Thing" on Oranges & Lemons?

Dude Alex it is about a baby.

No srsly it's over clever-clever and a B- tune but it's just silly & not misogynist at all.

how d'ya feel about "Pink Thing"

It's cute. I'm not crazy for it. ;)

I like "My Weapon". Is the moral of this "story" that I am a dude?!

I dunno. Check your pants.

Get away from me, you yucky dude.

the "b." is for barry

xp Me or Roxy?

Dude Alex it is about a baby.

Try reading the lyrics.

And I like "My Weapon" as well.

on review, could be about 1. a dick or 2. a baby, except for the cr00sh line "don't you think it's time you met some female pink thing", cause in the case of a baby, no, i don't think it is time

Try reading the lyrics.

Or hell, just the title.

Not sure what a cr00sh line is (crucial?), but I'd go with ....

So why is it I'm happy when there's tears down in your eye?

yes kenan, dicks are the only pink things on earth

xpost that too!!

I was going to write a provocative post in defense of "My Weapon," pointing out that he "takes it out on her" only after she's "put her finger on the thing she knows will hurt," thereby establishing a self-defense line-of-argument, but under closer scrutiny, it seemed like a silly thing to do. I still like the song, though.

Andy Partridge: I think, that when I write a song called 'Pink Thing', which is about both my penis (a pink thing) and the product thereof (a pink baby), I'm being pretty clever. But an American farmer reasons: "Is this about your dick, Partridge? Then say DICK, for fuck's sake!"

I know it is about a weenis, you big silly!

xopst to roxy: I'm not saying it's obviously a dick by the title alone, but it's something pink and dirty. Alls I'm sayin'.

Babby was joek.

http://www.mywii.com.au/img/gallery/full/DXJNK7KJ.jpg

"Go 2" is my least favourite XTC album. The cover may be one of the greatest ever though.

Yeah, the cover is inarguably brilliant.

For the last time..."My Weapon" is about farting in bed.

BAHahahahahahahaha

the only two on this list that are completely unlistenable are the Gang of Four and Killing Joke records. the others all have at least a few good songs, while the top is overall quite good.

Guys I am going to offer a mind-blowing synthetic possibility here, which is that "Pink Thing" is a song about a "baby" that is (wink wink) about a penis, and that -- crazy as this might sound -- its author is totally aware of both possible interpretations and is IN FACT -- wait for it -- deliberately constructing the song so that both apply, both for the purpose of being clever and possibly also to make a metaphorical point about the neediness of and possible devotion to both items

Also yeah, "Chalkhills and Children" is amazing, and I'm actually super-fond of "Miniature Sun," too, and between these three songs I always feel like Oranges & Lemons is really good, but obviously that's just because I'm limiting my thought to the end bit I ever actually listen to

Oh, sorry, Abbott already covered the baby/penis thing

I wouldn't call Outside the Gate unlistenable, but it is indeed hazardous material. I do like a couple of tracks on Hard. Hard is certainly a better record than Mall and/or Shrinkwrapped, I'll say that.

I think "Woman Town" on Hard is foookin' greeeet, actually. Sorry, just became inexplicably Scottish for a second.

Even beyond just being good listening, there is stuff happening with the arrangement of "Miniature Sun" that is maybe a bit of ambition even for XTC -- I lack the musical theory to describe it, but there's the out-of-control bit where not only does the odd tempo suddenly start sliding against itself, but the chords that have been there thus far also go dissonant and skewed in this very precise way. (Possibly the effect is based on something that those who know a lot of theory would instantly identify and call simple, but even compared to usual XTC it seems like they're flexing the compositional muscles there.)

I always adored "Across this Antheap." Still do.

Really I love that album except 'One of the Millions' and (*cries*) 'Here Comes President Kill Again.' I read some review of it from back in the day that said maybe it was concept album of what you can do w/CDs (make gloppy double albums w/easily skippable tracks).

"Cynical Days" is crap.

I like it. God, though, the horns and the lyrics are crap.

I got 'Scarecrow People' in my head, the other day, on a public toilet seat. the I got vertigo.

Then.

I don't mind "Scarecrow People." "President Kill" is mighty weak, yeah.

Some of these are kinda forgettable but the album I really want to vote for is Wire's Manscape

Magazine's Magic, Murder and the Weather should probably be on the list too.

(voting for most disappointing that is)

Oh No It's Devo rules and wins this by a landslide. Sure it's a glossy pop album, but the hooks are there, even if the de-evolution had brought them full circle by that time. It's their last stand as a great band on album...

even though i've already voted (for killing joke [yay, alex!]), i've rethought this in light of the thread's stated purpose and i agree w/ Scott upthread about echo & the bunnymen. not that it's a BAD record (i'll always have a soft spot for "lips like sugar" and "bedbugs and ballyhoo,") but it WAS extremely disappointing when it came out -- it was as if almost everything that made them interesting had been airbrushed out (e.g., the WTF lyrics, the off-kilter melodic and rhythmic touches, and the ambitious soundscapes) and in its place was left a band going through the motions of just mimicking someone's idea of what a generic late-80s "indie" band should sound like (i'm thinking of stuff like the Silencers or Crowded House here). it was just so fucking BORING, which is the one thing that the Bunnymen were NOT before this record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I've played Oranges & Lemons enough times and aside from the singles, none of it ever STICKS. I couldn't hum a single tune from that, which is pretty damning considering we're talking about one of the most hummable bands around.