Re: Albums you can't stand from favorite artists

What are some albums you can't stand from artists you adore?

I was thinking about this listening to Fleisherei, guitarist Gary Lucas' collection of covers of tunes from Max Fleischer cartoons, in particular the Betty Boop cartoons. Normally I'll follow Lucas down any path, just to see what he'll come up with, but this one is a bridge too far for me. Sarah Stiles imitates Betty Boop quite well, but a tiny bit of that style of singing goes a loooooong way for me. It doesn't help that Lucas just plays acoustic rhythm guitar, so it might as well be an album by someone else. The horn players are quite good, but that's not enough. I'm about halfway through and it's already driving me crazy. I've always been sort of a Lucas collector, giving even albums he's just a guest on at least a listen, but I can tell I'll never, ever listen to this again after this first spin. So into the discard pile it goes. Guess I'm not as much of a collector after all.

*Update: the final song on Fleisherei is the complete soundtrack from a Popeye cartoon called Beware of Barnacle Bill, complete with very poorly imitated voice acting. I couldn't even get through the whole thing, it's only six and a half minutes long. This is the kind of thing that shakes my faith in an artist, kind of like the Waterboys' Dream Harder, which I eagerly bought on the day of release and stopped my fandom in its tracks.

And that made me think of being a fanatic about an artist, and then coming across a record I just don't like, no matter how hard I try. I can be something of an apologist for some artists, but it seems like all of my totems have at least one record I can't abide.

What are yours?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2021 02:17PM by Michael Toland.

Prince – The Rainbow Children.

I gotta say, that "Fleisherei" sounds AMAZING. I'm fan of the Betty Boop stuff (have a big ol' CD of many of those tunes Lucas is doing), and love the idea of a Beefheart sideman covering 'em. I doubt that i would listen to the entire Popeye cartoon recreation more than once or twice, but just the fact that it exists tickles me. So thanks for the tip!

But to your topic:

-Kate Bush "The Red Shoes"
-Devo "Shout," "Smooth Noodle Maps," and that other one they did from that period. But "P'Taaang" and "Something For
Everyone" got me back into 'em.
-And speaking of the Cap'n, his mid-period "Tragic Band" era.

If Lucas had put more of his personal stamp on the songs, it would have been one thing. But this is just recreating the original sound and arrangements. If you like that style of music, you'll be happy - they do it well, and are clearly enjoying themselves. It's just too much for me.

I remember watching that episode as a kid, I'm Barnacle Bill the Sailor! Not exactly on topic but I simply could not watch Popeye episodes with Sea Hag or Eugene the Jeep in them. To this day, I don't understand what Eugene was. Someone must have got hold of some military grade acid for some of the later years Popeye episodes, strange indeed.

But I gotta go with Lou Reed and several of his albums unfortunately. Lulu is nonsense and I am a guy who likes weird musical experiments from stores like [www.soleilmoon.com]. And then there is Metal Machine Music, I guess I admire the chance he took but it just does not feel like art to me, it sucks. And there is one other one, I can't recall the name exactly, my sister had it. Had just Lou on the front, Grown Up or something like that. It was awful as I was comparing it to the Lou I knew from Rock n Roll Animal and Transformer. However nearly all of the rest of his music and all of VU I adore.

MrFab Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > -Kate Bush "The Red Shoes"
> -Devo "Shout," "Smooth Noodle Maps," and that
> other one they did from that period. But
> "P'Taaang" and "Something For
> Everyone" got me back into 'em.

Good choices, but I'd say one earlier as well for Kate. I hated "The Sensual World" as well as "The Red Shoes." "Shout" and " Smooth Noodle Maps" are DEVO's worst, but I really enjoyed "Total DEVO." The one you forgot?

Ultravox - It used to be "U-VOX" but then they went and made "Brilliant" and I anguish over which one is worst. I actually think "Brilliant" is worse, which is hard to cope with.

Roxy Music - "Siren" is just largely dead to me. Even though "Love is the Drug" was my first exposure to Roxy Music and I loved it.

I get the anguish of having a favorite artist recreating Popeye and Betty Boop cartoon soundtracks. Yikes! Not for me.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2021 11:25PM by That One Guy.

I don't think anything's out of scope here.

Strange Kicks - ATV