POLL: Best depressing album by a male singer-songwriter

[CharlieBarley]

Wot? No Morrissey?!?

[cestuneblague]

That title is an oxy moron


I guess you could go with Yip! Jump Music by Daniel Johnston, Trials and Errors by Magnolia Electric Co, The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers and North Star Deserter by Vic Chesnutt

[9999]

[RoundTheBend]

So many different depths of depression listed.

I went with Beck because musically I like it the most, but Best depressing album... I've never felt the real feeling of depression... like the deep down darkest depths of it from anything but Mount Eerie's A crow looked at me (as already mentioned). Perhaps I'm associating the deep depression I went through as dealing with death, but some might see it as "just" grief and not depression. For me it was inseparable.

Beck's album has it's moments of true despair.

Elliot's and Drake's performances seem more melancholy than true depression.

Downward Spiral seems more dark than depressive if that makes any sense. Hurt I suppose has some serious depression to it though.

I forget what else was on the list now that I'm writing this... that's good for now.

[RoundTheBend]

Electro-Shock Blues by Eels

There's also this.

[bobbyb5]

A good album could never be depressing. What IS depressing is bad music. No matter how depressing the subject matter might be, a good album is thrilling. Not depressing. A bad album is depressing.

Of all the ones in the poll, I would say that I like Sea Change the best. Although I kind of like his album Muations better. But they're both very excellent.

I kind of agree with several of the people here who went old school in their choices. This type of music actually peaked in the seventies. There were tons of great male singer songwriters whose lyrics could be described as depressing but their music was so tuneful and skillfully performed that their albums have the opposite effect and are just plain enjoyable and even fun. Here's my personal favorite ones. Some people already mentioned them.


Sweet Baby James by James Taylor


Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon by James Taylor


You Don't Mess Around With Jim by Jim Croce


Cold On The Shoulder by Gordon Lightfoot


Paul Simon by Paul Simon


Catch Bull At Four by Cat Stevens

[RoundTheBend]

If we are going broad, I never really understood how depressing/honest this music was until I got older:

This is filled with emptiness:

Stardust by Willie Nelson

There's some lively music on this, but some incredibly depressing songs on here too:

Negotiations And Love Songs 1971-1986 by Paul Simon

[bobbyb5]

[RoundTheBend]

I just listened to these albums this week and thought the same thing about Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson would likely be a nobody if he was getting his start today.

Kinda sad to think there is a 24 year old Willie Nelson type out there somewhere, from whom we'll never know.

I suppose Father John Misty really sounds much like these 70s artists though... and he's pretty famous.

[AfterHours]

Some of these might technically be incorrect as "singer-songwriter" (because there is a little too much of a "band" around them or some other nuances/reasons), however they all fit the general gist of what the genre entails and should satisfy one looking for similar experiences -- if we're not being too strict and "mostly minimal accompaniment" is okay too. Here are my selections for the most amazing depressing/very sad/heartbreaking such works...

1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel (1998)
2. Lorca - Tim Buckley (1970)
3. Desertshore - Nico (1970)
4. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968)
5. Winterreise - Franz Schubert (1828)
6. Geek the Girl - Lisa Germano (1994)
7. Down Colorful Hill - Red House Painters (1992)
8. Songs of Leonard Cohen - Leonard Cohen (1968)
9. On the Way Down From Moon Palace - Lisa Germano (1991)
10. Happy Sad - Tim Buckley (1968)
11. Tonight's the Night - Neil Young (1975)
12. Red House Painters (Rollercoaster) - Red House Painters (1993)
13. Hex - Bark Psychosis (1994)
14. The Marble Index - Nico (1968)
15. 2 - Black Heart Procession (1999)
16. Miss America - Mary Margaret O'Hara (1988)
17. Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones (1979)
18. Laughing Stock - Talk Talk (1991)
19. Spirit of Eden - Talk Talk (1988)
20. I Could Live in Hope - Low (1994)
21. Excerpts From A Love Circus - Lisa Germano (1996)
22. Blue - Joni Mitchell (1971)
23. If I Could Only Remember My Name - David Crosby (1971)
24. Trust - Low (2002)
25. You Are Free - Cat Power (2003)

A small number may be borderline depressing "not quite sad enough?". And, a few, I may have taken a little too far in regards to instrumentation/accompaniment... Down Colorful Hill above is probably the most thoroughly accurate and potent example of the true depths of depression some can sink to -- if you're looking for the most "perfect" selection among these.
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