one does not simply listen to Solid Air and not feel the groove down deep in your soul.
i may not always listen to Solid Air but when I do, i bust.
this music is sex
just like there are fast and graceful Wide receivers and then there is Tyreek Hill, Just like there are all around great baseball players and then there is Mike Trout, just like there are immersive open world RPGs and then there is Witcher 3, or just like there are brilliant, whimsical and inspiring fantasy epics and then there is The Lord of the Rings, - this album proves there are great folk/folk-rock/jazz folk albums and then there is Solid Fuckin Air!
there's cool, and then there's this other form called Solid Air.
if you ever meet god one way to make him laugh in your face is to say your dream is to make a more brilliant and cool album than Solid Air.
etc etc, there are many other stupid jokes/meme things i could say which will further reveal my general uncoolness (unlike John Martyn) and will further date my conceptions of hip.
the real point is this album is a miracle. Its a jazz album that happens to be also the most detailed and masterful prog folk album i've ever heard. it is not of this world fully 50% of the time. when you listen to the amlagamated sound of that otherworldly double bass, the slick almost aerial boundaries level detailed guitar, the airy, downright sexy vocals of john martyn, the keyboards which seem designed to make you leave your body etc - when you hear all these things its almost impossible to not phase into a slightly different dimension. its almost like you live in 2 space-times at once. its like kissing god
i knew that i liked this album before this listen but how the fuck did i not remember that this was the most dope ass statement to come out of folk music in this era (an era lets say from 1972-1980 that included somewhat similar albums from Joni Mitchell... and i was gonna list others but there is nothing like this - this brilliant mix of sensual jazz and intricate folk). I am pushing play again as it just ended. and my phone is 1% so i am sure i should plug it in but i just can't do it. i'm entranced.
I really really liked Stormcock. But this was an almost out-of-body experience. so point to Martyn over Harper. Not that they should be competing but in my mind that is what was happening when I decided to play these 2 back to back. i'm a dork i know.
I feel like a pushover handing out 5s, but I'm sorry this is AT LEAST a 4.5 and probably a 5. And another addition to my chart?!? what is happening to me?! How is music so endlessly inspiring!!!!?
fudge it i'm gonna say it... 5/5, pantheon album right here. can someone recommend a bad album so I can stop smiling? this is starting to ache. :)) _________________ -Ryan
Of course you're not speaking to the air. I definitely liked your comments on Built To Spill, also one of my favorite bands. And so much to say on your 84 entries but I'll wait until you actually come to the 50 albums you still want to listen to.
lol okay good! thanks for reading my ramblings and ruminations.
I'm glad to find another fan of BtS. incredible stuff.
Well, now I'm curious what some of your comments are on my massive data dump on those 84 artists...? If you wanted to make fun of me and Morgan's and Beach House's break up in the winter of 2013, please don't. lololol i'm not crying. 😄 jk. But seriously what are some of your thoughts?
Now that i've listened to all the albums I posted as a to-listen list a few days ago, I can start formulating the order of what of those 50 albums i will listen to first or highest priority. _________________ -Ryan
somewhat accurate list and order of albums I decided to listen to based on looking at the other notable blindspots or vaguespots in the discographies of artists in my chart:
1. Pour Down Like Silver by Richard and Linda Thompson 2. Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus 3. Hell Awaits by Slayer
4. Show No Mercy by Slayer
5. Sister by Sonic Youth 6. Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch 7. The Sensual World by Kate Bush
8. Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis
9. For The Roses by Joni Mitchell 10. Blood Mountain by Mastodon
11. A Hard Road by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
12. Something Else by The Kinks
13. Ptah, the El Daoud by Alice Coltrane
14. Bless The Weather by John Martyn
15. Miles Smiles by Miles Davis
16. Ole Coltrane by John Coltrane
17. Damaged by Black Flag
18. Love Me Papa by Luther Allison
19. Defenders of the Faith by Judas Priest
20. Sin After Sin by Judas Priest
21. Essence by Lucinda Williams
22. Alien Lanes by Guided By Voices
23. Red Roses for Me by The Pogues
24. If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues
25. Good Old Boys by Randy Newman
26. On The Beach by Neil Young
27. Larks' Tongues in Aspic by King Crimson
28. Under the Big Black Sun by X
29. Discipline by King Crimson
30. Bloom by Beach House
30a. 7 by Beach House
32. Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express by The Go-Betweens
33. Aerial by Kate Bush
34. Ironman by Ghostface Killah
35. Shotgun Willie by Willie Nelson
36. My War by Black Flag
37. 'Frisco Mabel Joy by Mickey Newbury
38. Never For Ever by Kate Bush
39. Relayer by Yes
40. Before and After Science by Brian Eno
41. Fulfillingness' First Finale by Stevie Wonder
42. Viva Last Blues by Palace Music
43. Master And Everything by Bonnie Prince Billy
44. The New Abnormal by The Strokes
45. The Colour of Spring by Talk Talk
46. Tallulah by The Go-Betweens
47. Universal Consciousness by Alice Coltrane
48. Live: Decade of Aggression by Slayer
49. Lucinda Williams by Lucinda Williams
50. 154 by Wire
50a. Chairs Missing by Wire
52. Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison
There ya go. That list will be referred to often by me and I'll probably jump around a lot based off my interests at the moment. I'll also be leaving the list a lot for random shit and I will maybe add to it. Also with the You Must Listen to The Album... game I am sure I will be listening to other album as that demands (although a lot of those albums are here as well #synergy.) _________________ -Ryan
My first general question is why do you generally only include one album per artist (ex Kinks, GBV); is that because you already know all the other albums of that band/artist or because you want to pick the one that seems to be the most interesting?
In any case you won’t be disappointed with your choices where I personally have two main exceptions:
- however much I like most Kate Bush albums, I think Aerial is just wallpaper music
- I originally included The New Abnormal in my 2020 year chart but at a very low level but it dropped out because I have now more than 100 albums in my year chart; I just think it’s nothing like their great first albums.
So,I’m curious about your comments here.
I think this is an excellent list chock-full of great albums, you'll have a lot of fun in the next few weeks. Like dihansse said, not all of those are my favourites, but it's fair to assume that you'll like the majority, especially if these are favourite artists. _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
My first general question is why do you generally only include one album per artist (ex Kinks, GBV); is that because you already know all the other albums of that band/artist or because you want to pick the one that seems to be the most interesting?
In any case you won’t be disappointed with your choices where I personally have two main exceptions:
- however much I like most Kate Bush albums, I think Aerial is just wallpaper music
- I originally included The New Abnormal in my 2020 year chart but at a very low level but it dropped out because I have now more than 100 albums in my year chart; I just think it’s nothing like their great first albums.
So,I’m curious about your comments here.
On my chart i am not one album per artist, i think there are 12 artists that have 2 or more albums.
if you mean in this project why am i generally picking one per artist, its arbitrary but the idea is if i focus on one other classic or highly rated album that i never listened to or really focused on maybe some of the artists' discogs will open up like a flower. for example if i listen to Mingus Ah Um and really love it to a similar degree as i love black saint and the sinner later, what may happen is i will go and gobble up the other half a dozen classic mingus album. same with sonic youth, i've only ever really loved daydream nation, but if sister blows me away on relisten then i think i may go and listen to 3 or 4 more sonic youth albums in a hunger for more of their stuff etc. If i included the multitude of classic or highly rated albums on here that i missed for these artists, then i would have closer to 110-150 albums and i would slump over and die. lol.
I feel you on kate bush. I got so overwhelmingly obsessed with hounds of love that everything else i would listen to once then feel that hounds of love itch and wax poetic about it. i had a fling with the sensual world and the dreaming and her debut. but i feel like i need to experience her whole discog and aerial and never for ever are the highest rated that i've never given time to. i think i listened to both years ago but then i was disinterested and sucked back into the vortex of hounds of love.
and yeah i am not expecting the new abnormal to be is this it of room on fire. but the fact that it got a little hype has me curious and its the only album of theirs that i am not familiar with. also haven't listened to their 2013 release but i have no interest at this time.
sorry no caps. i just dont want to constently hold down shift. _________________ -Ryan
I think this is an excellent list chock-full of great albums, you'll have a lot of fun in the next few weeks. Like dihansse said, not all of those are my favourites, but it's fair to assume that you'll like the majority, especially if these are favourite artists.
yeah, I can be convinced that another album should be the "representative" for the blindspot/vaguespot for the artist. some of your picks may already be very familiar to me. for example for miles davis you may say why not dig into get up with it. to which i'll say i love get up with it and it doesn't qualify for my maniacal game mwahahahah (sorry i'm acting strange this early afternoon.) _________________ -Ryan
that richard and linda thompson ain't on apple music. i will look at youtube later. for now what i did last night was listen to this classic at long last
and it was good, don't get it confused. Buuuuut, it was so much less intense and perfectly insane than Reign in Blood and so much less nightmarish and atmospheric than South of Heaven or Seasons in the Abyss. Those 3 albums are my main experience with slayer. I've heard a lot of their 90s and early 2000s albums but when i think of peak slayer and in many ways peak metal i think of those 3 albums - all classics of great magnitude in my mind.
Hell awaits is crazy, insane and evil and some of the riffs are towering satanic blasts that made me feel all warm inside. some of the production was good but a lot of the time the sound was so much less immense and epic than later works.
I don't know, how do I really express how much i like this album in a vacuum? I consider Reign in Blood (the album that changed the world and came a year later than hell awaits) to be one of the greatest albums ever made. i consider essesntially perfect. if you were to ask me to pick one album in metal history or extreme music history to hold up as the great one, it would be reign in blood. so the fact that I am consistently comparing the intensity and the production and the speed and heaviness of hell awaits to It is unfair. In a vacuum its really great and consistently fucking rocks. I need to listen again sometime to get a better feel for it. but as of now its just a really good album and a nice history lesson as to where the band was before teaming up with rick rubin and distilling everything that made them great into a pure sound that is not bettered 34 years later.
3.5/5 out of respect (maybe closer to 3/5 - this seems wrong so you know i'll revisit and try to ignore the lower production quality and listen to the sounds and songs and musicianship and ignore the rick rubin sized hole in the sound. _________________ -Ryan
I listened to this once last night and liked it a lot. I listened again this morning skipping the skits, and i liked it even more and now i'm listening a third time. skipping the skits only shaves the length of the of the album by about 6-7 minutes. But for some reason I'm really annoyed by skits and shit.
Anyway, anti-skit rant suppressed into my belly, I will say the collection of songs here is marvelous. The production is so cool, detailed yet elegant. The low key yet gorgeous music on songs like Return of the G and Aquemini and Da Art of Storytellin' part 1 just make those songs timeless and just as cool today as 22 years (!!) ago. This album is incredibly undated. These songs generally sound just as great today, maybe even more so.
The rapping is always detailed and intricate. I can't say I have done a deep dive into the substance of the words, but the flow and rhythm and sounds of the 2 main rappers are just cool and expertly ride over the beats.
None of the songs outside of "West Savannah" are less than great. Personally not a fan of that one, but its alright i guess.
Rosa Parks is a all time great song. as is the 2 part Da Art of Storytellin' as is Mamacita and Liberation and Synthesizer. Rosa Parks though is my favorite, and that fact alone may indicate my level of discernment on this album - it's the biggest hit and there is something about hearing a song you heard as a kid and getting all squeally and excited. IDK.
Overall, I am not really in a hip hop mood right now. But its clear as day that this is an all time classic, with pristine beats, raps, hooks, and an album flow which is awesome (outside of the skits. fuck).
Okay sorry for how meh this "review" is lol. 3.5/5. thanks for forcing me out of my groove, or set ways of listening these days. _________________ -Ryan
well this was great. my experience was not ideal as I had to listen to it as a playlist on youtube. and all the attendent ads interspersed kinda dampened the intended immersion.
obviously after one listen nothing hard and fast comes to mind. I can say Linda has a voice which is special. Something so powerful and matter-of-fact about it. I feel like I can hear her true and simple emotions and thoughts when she sings. Its not a technical marvel of a voice in terms of range or whatever, she's not Joni or Karen carpenter in that way. She just instantly connects to me cuz she comes through in all her special individuality. idk. I love her voice.
Richard's voice is good too, but not the same level as linda. But his guitar playing is excellent, Never showy, never overly ornamented but always dripping with subtle technique and well placed ... everything. The songs are bare bones, elegant, sad in a stately kinda way. This album gives off a similar vibe to their brilliant 1974 album "I wanna see the bright lights tonight" - i guess that feel or vibe is a bone-deep world-weariness. no histrionics, no melodrama, just the cold straight feeling of somberness. That could be just projection. But that is the vibe i get here.
I will look online for some way to listen to the whole album no interruptions. But for now this is almost designed to be deeply appreciated by me. 3.5/5 on first listen. _________________ -Ryan
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