Albums that still sound good today ... from way back when

When you say "featured", are you talking about having his name on the album? I know that Miles purposely left off all the musicians' names on "On the Corner" (some said that he did that to piss the establishment off even more) but McLaughlin did play on that album as well "In a Silent Way" and "b****es Brew". However, I think McLaughlin did not play on every track on "On the Corner".

BTW - do you have a "Tribute to Jack Johnson"? That is the next Miles album I need to get and I also need to get into some Weather Report.

 

On the corner IS great, super super funky, if you like this one and Jack Johnson, b****es Brew and Silent Way, You should check out Big Fun, Live Evil, and Get Up With It. Also there are some modern remixes of songs from these albums by Bill Laswell and others it is called Panthalassa and Panthalassa II. Very cool, it is interesting to hear how Miles music translates into modern electronic music, and how these remixes are pretty true to the originals.

Side Note: Miles many times gets credit for trailblazing the use of electric instruments in jazz. and b****es brew/silent way is credited as the starting point of that movement in 1969. However, Sun Ra was using electric instruments in his ensemble as far back as 1956. He was the first to feature electric bass. and one of the first in the world to use the Moog synth. If anyone is underrated and deserves more credit it is him.

 

I forgot to mention Johnny Cash in my first post. He isn't really my favorite artist, but I am fond of a few songs, especially The Man and Ring of Fire.

 

Crap. Best of OMD was a good one. One of my favorite albums of all time. You seem to be a child of 80's music, too.

 

John McLaughlin! God, was a guitarist! The Mahavishnu Orchestra, with McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman on violin, Jan Hammer on keyboards, Rick Laird on bass, and drummer Billy Cobham were amazing! eek: ) I saw them in the Music Hall and, at a different concert with Peter Frampton, at the tiny Santa Rosa Theatre, on Telephone Road in Houston. That literally blew me away. I'd been to that theatre a zillion times on Saturday mornings as a kid, and to see something like this at the place flipped me out, I can tell you! I swear, after the concert was over, there were cracks in the plaster.

Any of his early albums are great. The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, and Between Nothingness and Eternity can't be recommended enough if you like jazz fusion.

 

allan,

Thanks for the recommendations - I will have to get those albums. My jazz collection has primarily been late 50's to early '60s hard-bop stuff, especially Blue Note albums that have been remastered by Rudy Van Gelder. But I am trying to get as much Coltrane as possible (I have like 15 of his albums) and the same for Miles (which I think I have 9 or 10 of his albums). I am really liking his electric/fusion stuff with "In a Silent Way" as probably not only my favorite Miles album but favorite jazz album overall. I definitely need to pick up the Jack Johnson album but I was wondering if you or Deckard or across or anyone else can tell me some other good fusion albums to look into getting:

I already have "Headhunters" by Hancock and Jaco Pastorius' self-titled album but I would like to know what is the best album by Weather Report, other Hancock, etc (in addition to the McLaughlin stuff that Deckard mentioned). Also, what are the best albums by Sun Ra to get?

 

Dead Boys - Young Loud and Snotty - 1977

this album was so ahead of its time that if you listen to it today, it sounds like it was just released...

 

i definitely am. new wave all the way, baby. they don't make music like that anymore.

 

I am not really into much Fusion other than what Miles did and the Headhunters album. I tried a couple of weather report and Jaco albums but I could never really get into them. I recognize that the musicians are awesome but somehow the overall sound comes off as a bit cheesy to me. IMO 70s and 80s was not a good time for jazz, other than some of the Sun Ra recordings from this time.
I too like a lot of the Blue Note recordings and the stuff from the late 50s and early 60s. I also like alot of Impulse recordings especially the ones produced by Bob Thiele. Other stuff that I like is the free avant-garde jazz of the 50s and 60s. Albert Ayler , Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, etc. This music is not for everyone but I really like it. I also went through a big Coltrane phase and have many of his recordings, I love Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, Live at Birdland etc. but some of his later stuff like Ascension, Stellar Regions, Live in Japan is just unbelievable. My favorite Jazz musician however is Charles Mingus I highly recommend anything by Mingus his music is truly amazing.

As far as Sun Ra, he released over 200 official albums along with countless bootlegs , imports and one of a kind recordings. It is hard to say what is his "best". His work is all over the musical map. I would suggest starting with some of his earlier recordings like 'Supersonic Jazz" because they are the most accessible and just go from there. Also any live recording like Concert for the Comet Kohoutek, or Ann Arbor Jazz fest 1972,73,74 would be a good bet. Also there are a few films about him and his band the "Arkestra", "A Joyful Noise and Space is the Place. I highly recommend watching these films, they are pretty crazy, and it gives you an idea of what he was all about, and you will see and hear how he influenced everyone from Pink Floyd, to MC5 to George Clinton to Medeski Martin and Wood to Sonic Youth. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

 

Thanks for the suggestions - I will have to check them out. Do you have "Interstellar Space" by Coltrane? If you do, what did you think about it? I have listened to it like a handful of times but it is probably the hardest jazz CD that I own for me to like (and I own over 70 something jazz CDs).

 

Manny,

If you like Miles' electric stuff, you need to buy Get Up With It. He does a 30 minute cover of Ellington's "He Loved Him Madly" that is clearly the forerunner for ambient music. After having a downloaded version of this for years, I finally bought the real thing last week and am enjoying it immensely.

Funny thing - when I read the title of the thread, I was thinking of it in a purely technical sense. That is, which albums still sound good (from a production/engineering standpoint) today. But my ears simply aren't good enough to make that kind of judgment, so I will only say that there are numerious albums that still sound good from a musical standpoint.

 

It was a joke! Even though "Down on Me" and "She Loves My ****" are hilarious tunes, it's not in my regular rotation in my CD changer.

 

"Quadrophenia" by The Who.

 

I knew we had to have some music in common. Three of my favorite records ever.

For those who say Thriller, I say only Off the Wall. No comparison. Don't even try. Please.

For those who mention Who's Next (yes, of course it's great) or Quadrophenia (yes, of course it's greater), I say only Who By Numbers. The greatest studio record from The Who bar none. I say studio because The Who also put out the greatest live rock record of all time. I know I don't have to name it for Who fans. For the rest of you, if you love rock and roll and don't own Live at Leeds, what are you waiting for?

 

I know I'm still too young to remember the old school stuff first hand, but I've been listening to a lot of older music lately. My favorite stuff is some of the old Earth Wind and Fire songs (Boogie Nights, Shining Star, etc....)

 

U2 - The Joshua Tree
Counting Crows - August and Everything After
REM - Document
Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining
Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
Pet Shop Boys - Discography (sort of an old greatest hits collection)
REM - Automatic for the People

 

Batman,

Completely agree with you on "Off the Wall". That album is SOOOO much better than "Thriller". It is a shame that many people don't realize that, heh.

BTW - I currently have "Biograph" in my car as I got it for my birthday. Almost to the end of disc 1 - great stuff and thanks for recommending it to me.

 

Yeah, Manny. Off the Wall still gives me chills. Thriller was fine, but it's not even close.

Happy birthday. Glad you're enjoying Biograph. If you like Disk 1, you're gonna love Disk 2. Especially the live Isis, I think.

 

Cheap Trick - "S/T ('77)", "In Color", "Heaven Tonight"
Alice Cooper - "Billion Dollar Babies"
Ramones - "S/T", "Leave Home", "Rocket to Russia", "Road to Ruin"
Aerosmith - "Rocks", "Toys in the Attic", "Get Your Wings"
AC/DC - "High Voltage", "Powerage", "Let There Be Rock", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"

 

Real Bon Scott fan, huh Freak? I can dig it. If you live in Houston you should really check out a Bon tribute band that plays at Rudyards sometimes. They're called Bonfire or Bonsfire or something like that. They're amazing. And they nearly ripped my head off for requesting You Shook Me All Night Long.