Happy New Year! For our fourteenth poll, Jameth's chart won by one vote. Here are the ten albums up for discussion during the month of January:
1. In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson
2. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3. Les Dragons - Ninki-Nanka
4. Ege Bamyasi - Can
5. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
6. Gris-Gris - Dr. John
7. The River - Ali Farka Touré
8. Drums Of Passion - Olatunji
9. Machine Gun - Peter Brötzmann
10. In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic - Kasai Allstars
As always, you can listen to as many of these as you have time and energy for - no pressure to get to know all ten well. This discussion also doesn't have to take place in order, because different people will be listening to them at different times.
Drop your musings, analysis, etc. here as the inspiration hits you. And where possible, interact with what other people have been saying for a more interesting discussion.
If you do get a chance to listen to all ten, you can then vote for your favorite in the attached poll.
Last but not least, here are the past threads if you want to go back and listen to stuff you missed.
Happy New Year! For our fourteenth poll, Jameth's chart won by one vote. Here are the ten albums up for discussion during the month of January:
1. In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson
3. Les Dragons - Ninki-Nanka
4. Ege Bamyasi - Can
5. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
6. Gris-Gris - Dr. John
7. The River - Ali Farka Touré
8. Drums Of Passion - Olatunji
9. Machine Gun - Peter Brötzmann
10. In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic - Kasai Allstars
All thumbs up from me (albeit I never quite connected with the Kasai Allstars record, but it's still good). It's a great assortment. Little bit of everything from all over. I have to vote for Mingus obviously, but Brotzmann and Toure are up there too. Hoping people give Les Dragons a shot.
I haven't heard the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album yet. I'll get on it 😄 (I've heard 3-4 records by the dude, but apparently I've skipped his major works). _________________ Doubles & Conch
1. In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson
2. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3. Les Dragons - Ninki-Nanka
4. Ege Bamyasi - Can
5. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
6. Gris-Gris - Dr. John
7. The River - Ali Farka Touré
8. Drums Of Passion - Olatunji
9. Machine Gun - Peter Brötzmann
10. In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic - Kasai Allstars
Good stuff for me to check here. Lemme comment on the few albums I’ve already heard.
In the Court of the Crimson King - It’s a classic for a reason. Still sounds fresh even after all these decades. The jazzy progressions are so wonderfully crafted. Essential album.
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - I’ll be honest, it’s been a few years since I’ve heard this album, but I remember seriously enjoying it. Looking forward to revisiting it.
Ege Bamyasi - prime, funky krautrock. While I do prefer the psychedelic experimentations on Tago Mago, Vitamin C is such a damn good song. I’ve always loved the production on Can albums, as well.
Machine Gun - this album is nuts. It’s so chaotic but wonderfully produced. I love the crispness of the instruments amongst the storm. Also it’s the perfect length for a free jazz album. You don’t get fatigued by the end of it.
That’s about it from me for now. Looking forward to the rest of the list. _________________ ...and for dessert!
That's another super cool chart, nicely done. Last time I failed to participate in any meaningful way, the fact that the new list includes a few albums I don’t know should spur me to greater effort this time. The ones I know range from good to great, though I can’t imagine anything here competing with Mingus, Black Saint And The Sinner Lady should be my favourite of the bunch by some distance. More to follow soon. _________________ Bob Dylan Charles Mingus
3 I've not heard at all (or even heard of in some cases) - Ali Khan (it was about the time for me to listen to one of his albums properly), Ninki-Nanka nd Dr. John
2 I've heard exactly once some time ago and barely remember a thing about - Brötzmann, Olatunji
3 I'm a bit more familiar with, but still totally need to relisten - Can, Touré, Kasai Allstars
2 most popular ones are my all time favourites, literally in contention for the best album ever - Mingus and King Crimson
Great chart, lots of interesting picks. Seriously doubt anything will dethrone my 1-2 of Mingus and Crimson, but we shall see. _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
It is well known that I'm a big prog guy. As to be expected, I love King Crimson. However, I actually like a handful of later albums more than this debut, their most famous/iconic album. Also, I like most of the album better than the most famous/iconic opening track.
This is definitely an essential album, and one worthy of all its accolades and status as the forbear of the genre, and I will no doubt rate it highly as things go along, but it'll take fresh listens to a few of the other nine before I can decide if it will hold the top spot as there are a couple others I hold in very high regard. And who knows, one of those as yet unknown to me might just surprise me.
1. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Going in, I've heard three of these albums multiple times. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is phenomenal and on my overall. It will be very hard for anything else here to surpass it. In The Court Of The Crimson King and Ege Bamyasi are both great, but not all-time favorites. I need to revisit Gris-Gris and Drums Of Passion, but I remember them being really great and very good, respectively.
I haven't listened to all of them yet, but I've heard 6.5 of these already and so I'll rank them prematurely now. My plan is to listen to all 10 of these and I'll return to rank them again afterwards.
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus - this is also in my top 10, fantastic album, couldn't speak higher of it
Drums of Passion by Olatunji - been a while since I listened to this but I really enjoyed it when I did
*Shahen-Shah by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - haven't heard this one in full, but I've loved what I heard
The River by Ali Farka Touré - ditto what I said for Olatunji, I definitely liked this but have a hard time recalling specifics
In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson - prog at its best. I'm not typically a fan of King Crimson but their debut is something special
Ege Bamyasi by Can - not my favorite Can album, I recall being underwhelmed
Gris-Gris by Dr. John - I did not like this when I listened
All of these could use a re-listen, and the remaining 3 albums are all by artists I've never even heard of, so I'm excited. _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Well, I listened or re-listened to everything and I think my ranking hasn't changed much:
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Drums of Passion
Shahen-Shah
The River
In the Court of the Crimson King
Les Dragons
Ege Bamyasi
In the 7th Moon...
Machine Gun
Gris-Gris
I have to say that this is an incredibly interesting list. Every album has insane depth that opens to more interesting experiences on each listen. While albums like Machine Gun and Gris-Gris are maybe still a little too abstract for me, everything is really cool.
On another note, could anyone provide me with ANY information about the album Les Dragons or the artist Ninki-Nanka? The album's on streaming services so I was able to listen, but I absolutely cannot find any information about the album or artist whatsoever. All online searches either lead me to spotify/apple music/etc. or... here. Any background info about the music is much appreciated! _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
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