As I work on rounding out my charts, especially for years before my music obsession began (~1992), I have been trying to think of interesting ways to dig into older records. Simply listening to the top 20 albums for a given year has proven largely fruitless. Instead, I thought it would be fun to listen to artist discographies in order. And I might as well write about them, because otherwise I'd have to work. And so: Discography Dives! _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
1. Grant Lee Buffalo (Los Angeles, California, 1991-1998)
I am starting on easy mode, as this is a band I already love and that I think is underrated. They also have a short discography of just four studio albums:
Fuzzy (1993)
Mighty Joe Moon (1994)
Copperopolis (1996)
Jubilee (1998)
Their debut is their highest ranked album, coming in at 47 for the year. None of their albums are in the top 1,000 overall. _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
I love Grant Lee Buffalo's first 2 albums and that is all I have heard of the discog thus far. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on those albums. _________________ -Ryan
I got into this band with their second album and never really gave this one much of a chance. It is often the case that my favorite album by a band is whichever one I hear first. If that happens to be something other then their debut, it creates this weird thing where I struggle to get into the earlier albums because they basically don't yet sound like the band I like.
I think that's definitely the case here. This is a good album, but I still prefer the follow-up, for reasons I probably cannot fully articulate. This definitely sounds like them, just not enough like them. Maybe it's the lyrics, which are a huge factor in how I judge music. My favorite albums have turns of phrase that just stick with me. I'll wake up and some little fragment of word and melody will be in my head. To me, that's peak song craft. And there just aren't many moments like that on this record. In fact, the best example of that is the song "I Will Take Him," which was a B-side from a single and doesn't appear on the album.
Link _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
Grant-Lee Phillips is the vocalist and primary songwriter for this band. He's had a strong solo career (and regularly appeared as one of the buskers on Gilmore Girls) and I've always been impressed with his songwriting. In a 1998 interview with Charlie Rose, Michael Stipe listed Phillips as one of the songwriters with a “direct connection to the source” and “a conduit to something much, much greater.”
I don't think he's ever been better across the length of an album that he was here. This is one of my all-time favorites; I currently have it at #1 for the year and #2 overall. Listening to it now, after having listened to Fuzzy yesterday, I think I have a better sense of why I prefer it to the debut. There is just more happening in the songs on this one. There are more interesting guitar bits in the background and more vocal harmonies. The overall effect is that the songs just have more depth to them.
Link _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
I definitely have to revisit this band: I have all their CD's but have neither of them in my top charts currently.
Anyway: good idea Zdwyatt and I'll certainly follow your posts here with interest.
I got into this band with their second album and never really gave this one much of a chance. It is often the case that my favorite album by a band is whichever one I hear first. If that happens to be something other then their debut, it creates this weird thing where I struggle to get into the earlier albums because they basically don't yet sound like the band I like.
I think that's definitely the case here. This is a good album, but I still prefer the follow-up, for reasons I probably cannot fully articulate. This definitely sounds like them, just not enough like them. Maybe it's the lyrics, which are a huge factor in how I judge music. My favorite albums have turns of phrase that just stick with me. I'll wake up and some little fragment of word and melody will be in my head. To me, that's peak song craft. And there just aren't many moments like that on this record. In fact, the best example of that is the song "I Will Take Him," which was a B-side from a single and doesn't appear on the album.
I didn't think this was someone I would like, but then I heard that song on that Carpenters tribute album If I Were a Carpenter. And I really liked it. So I bought Mighty Joe Moon and I liked that too. I still do.
The opening 10 seconds of this album are so great. It's this great blend of acoustic and electric and it just gets me excited for the album every time I hear it. The first half of the record is every bit as good as Mighty Joe Moon and includes what is probably my favorite Grant Lee Buffalo song, "Bethlehem Steel." The album does lose steam in the second half, though there are still a couple of really strong tracks. In fact, if the album ended on the dreamy "Hyperion and Sunset," it would be just about perfect. Still, this is definitely my second favorite album in their catalog.
Link _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
This was the beginning of the end for this band. Prior to entering the studio, Paul Kimble (bass) left the band. Grant-Lee Phillips and Joey Peters (drums) continued on to record this final album. Phillips had this to say about the record:
"The celebrational spirit of Jubilee actually brought a renewed optimism to me personally. The album was well received and understandably the expectations at the label were high, probably too high. Although the highly refined Jubilee had brought the band considerable success at radio with 'Truly, Truly,' a shift within the industry was well underway. The label's constant nagging about 'Call-out Response' was both a new term and a bewildering concept to our ears. The basic strategy: a radio station arranges to call up a listener who is asked to consume about 30 songs over the phone, perhaps 20 seconds of each. From this remote encounter, the listener will then proceed to judge the material. Insufficient call-out response was a big reason that Jubilee hardly got a shot at Warners."
Despite "Truly, Truly" being their biggest single to date (#11 on the modern rock chart), the album didn't take off. Personally, I think the album runs too long. And the approach from Copperopolis (according to Phillips, "new arrangements were becoming more ambitious and the lyrics often more meticulous") ends up going too far for my taste. The band doesn't really have the sound they did on their first three albums, which may also be because Kimble produced those. And the lyrics feel a little overworked at times, a little too clever. The album is solid and definitely has a handful of really great tracks. But I do think it's their weakest offering.
Link _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
They're all good albums but I think they really hit their mark on their second and third albums. As I mentioned previously, I rank Mighty Joe Moon as one of the best albums ever. If you've never listened to these guys, start there. Or, you can check out this handy Spotify playlist I made!
Up next: The Everybodyfields. _________________ Currently enjoying Tenkiller by Marie/Lepanto and Songs of Praise by Shame.
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