Elton John's in the Ether? Again?
For those of you (Marathon Packs) who mentioned Gay Dad as proof of Great Britain's very uneven taste in music, I've got your smoking gun. A really solidly premised silly article in the Guardian (on average, people own 89 albums, listing the essential 89, etc):
So here, if you really are going to have only 89 albums, are the 89 you should have. With such a tiny collection, you are in no position to be snooty about compilations, so there are plenty of those. You need to be firm with singers who never really go away, such as Elton John: if they are always in the ether, there's no need to have them in the house. And you will have no truck with albums that appear more often on lists such as this than on anybody's hi-fi. Let's face it, Astral Weeks has had a good run.Nice. Except that the list names Johnny Cash as one of the core studio albums. Except? Yeah: what if I told you they picked Johnny Cash's American IV? Do they even know who he is? Or are they still passing around that cover of "Hurt"?
Ok, San Quentin doesn't count, because it's not a studio album. But then why not just put him in the "individual compilations" box instead of [pause for effect] Randy...Newman...?
Posted at 4:03 PM
dude, i hear he totally covered Rusty Cage too!
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That's odd. Astral Weeks is on my hi-fi (well, okay, Discman) veru often. What will music lovers ever do without ignorant, condescending UK music press jerkitude?
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What would bloggers do without it?
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Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man? Even I'm not dumb enough to fall for that one! Now...where's that Kula Shaker CD?
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As if we needed further proof that the UK was home to odd musical predilictions. Those people WORSHIP Queen... and Cher. Hold on a minute...
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Also, I misspelled "predilections."
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brian ferry? wtf? plus TWO roxy music?
stupidest article ever.
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WHOOPS! The British HATE RAP! Why the fuck do they have no urban music. Hell, I'd even take some grime, but fucking leave off Scissor Sisters and throw on It Takes A Nation of Millions. Please.
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arghhh ! why are you people so anal about everything !!! you created COUNTRY music !!! EVIL!!!!!
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Oh wait there's the Fugees. Yeah that's OK, but certainly the safest for crackers and nowhere near as good as PE or Biggie or Dizzee Rascal. If they wanted white people rap they could have just gone with Paul's Boutique.
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this article is garbage, man.
seriously, gorillaz?
only one U2 album?
i would have thought the beatles and beach boys crap would all be "in the ether" too...
silly.
arcade fire is good, you know, but one of the 89 best? sorry...
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no one said we didn't like rap. and you're all taking the article from a Guardian a bit too seriously...The UK actually has a massive hip hop/garage/drum n' bass/ urban scene and have a huge following. You need to get out here to see it and i'm sure that will shut you up.
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Zee, I'm well aware of the UK urban scene. In fact, I fucking love it. I had Boy In Da Corner on import man. I'm just pissed off that it's not in the list, most likely because Brits hate black people.
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And what the hell's wrong with Randy Newman?
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Hey what? I wrote a song call'd you have found me about a year ago & it's about the ether... And the Queen Mother is in it! She's abstracted as a verb, but in there solid quite definitely.
How random...
wait...what are we talking about? sorry...
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I saw the link and thought, "I'm not going to read that list. Lists like this are ONLY good for starting unwinnable arguments," and then I read it anyway.
So 2 cents-
The Arcade Fire, I simply can't get myself engorged about no matter how I try. Astral Weeks is amazing and deserving. I would take Get Happy or This Year's Model over Armed Forces any day. Same for Songs Of Love And Hate over I'm Your Man. Shouldn't there be a clause for omitting records that, if you've grown up since the 70's and spent anytime around FM radio, you know the whole thing anyway, and don't need it? Like Rumours? Dark Side Of The Moon? The Joshua Tree? And I've never found any Who comp as satisfying as Sell Out or A Quick One...
There's also not much on the list from the last 10 years is there? White Stripes (eh), Magnetic Fields (yes), Blur (sure), Scissor Sisters (No thanks)...How about the New Pornographers first?
I don't think many agree, but the cd from the 90's that never seems to lose its luster for me is Copper Blue.
Also, I'm patiently awaiting the Steely Dan renaissance...
yeah-
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't get into Arcade Fire. Just can't do it.
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Agreed on Copper Blue, Matt. That puppy holds up a lot better than almost all its contemporaries.
As for Randy Newman. . . "Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. . ."
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what an awful list. a lot of poor choices. a lot of perplexing choices. do you really need never mind the bollocks? I mean really, are you thirteen?
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As for the piffly article by one little-known journalist struggling to meet deadline, I wouldn't want to know the person whose record collection consisted of these releases.
But what do expect from a Brit, eh wot?
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BTW -- did you see Elton on the CMA Awards last night? That was just pitiful. Elton & Dolly Parton: 3 big boobs on one stage.
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these types of lists are useless & boring.....
and so antiquated....
because we all know....
you ain't taking a bunch of vinyl records anywhere....
give me my i-pod and i'm hooked up.....
8900 songs.
thank you very much.....
damn redcoats!
love ya,
maya
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Okay the inclusion of Prince and Stevie and Marvin are justified and necessary no doubt, but you get the feeling this guy thought that must have covered him for having like zero rap. Nation of Millions is obvious -- but Fear of a Black Planet still sounds like it's from the year 2150. Brits don't hate rap -- they just don't know how to understand it.
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Why is everyone hating on scissor sisters so much? I actually think they aren't that half bad.
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I'm with x. on this one... does everybody hate randy newman now because family guy made fun of him? He is probably the most consistently underrated songwriter of his generation.
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I fear Randy Newman suffers because of his sometimes-cloying soundtrack work. But 'Sail Away' would easily blow away a good 85(1/2)% of that list.
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Yeah, it's not family guy. It's the soundtracks.
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Yep. If he cared what people thought of his legacy, he never would have written a song for "The Care Bears Movie".
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So...wow. Someone likes something, and someone else likes something else. Isn't that what music is all about? And seriously why pick on the British when American journalists a while back were praising the Backstreet Boys album as one of the best. And thier loooove for Zep. And thier loooove for like shit like Usher that is going to be forgotten as much as Boys II Men are forgotten now. And come on am I the only one who thinks Bruce fucking Springsteen is intolareble? Fuck that!
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here we go again...whats music got to do with whether we like people of a certain colour or not (say no to racism !) ! its got nothing to do with it. it all depends on who's buying what! so enough of the rubbish like: ''urban scene is not recognised cos the British don't like black people'' YOU ARE WRONG. Mr. Wolf you're onto something there..
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The problem with this list for me:
"... hardly any prog-rock, no comedy records, and not a whiff of heavy metal."
My list would probably contain plenty of all three.
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