The N&G Listening Club V1 - Archive only

Sonicpharmacist said:
Looks like @Bohnjaggs drew my name out of a hat, so I'm the lucky one who gets to choose this week! I had a very difficult time deciding on which record to select. After much deliberation, I decided upon an often overlooked album by one of my favorite bands ever, Roxy Music. The album is Stranded.

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Stranded was released in 1973, and was the first by the band to have musical input by band members not named Bryan Ferry, and also was the first not include Brian Eno (which he later claimed to be the best Roxy Music album).

The album garnered much critical acclaim at the time of its release, but the US public didn't agree, reaching only 186 on the US charts (Roxy Music was still quite popular in the UK, with the album reaching #1). While they only released one single from the record, Street Life, many of the other numbers are fan favorites (like Amazona and what I consider to be the best Roxy Music song, Mother of Pearl).

So please, take my favorite Roxy Music album out for a spin!

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Wow, this album is a trip! I am not hugely familiar with Roxy Music, except for Avalon and Siren. I'm going to dig in further though. I liked the first half better than the second. Psalm was good, until around the middle when there is a weird effect on his voice. A Song for Europe started out and I immediately heard While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I can see why Mother of Pearl is your favorite. It has a Zappa/Rocky Horror Picture Show feel to it. And I love how Sunset ends. Perfect ending to the album.
 
Teeeee said:
Wow, this album is a trip! I am not hugely familiar with Roxy Music, except for Avalon and Siren. I'm going to dig in further though. I liked the first half better than the second. Psalm was good, until around the middle when there is a weird effect on his voice. A Song for Europe started out and I immediately heard While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I can see why Mother of Pearl is your favorite. It has a Zappa/Rocky Horror Picture Show feel to it. And I love how Sunset ends. Perfect ending to the album.
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Glad you enjoyed it! Most people seem to consider Country Life and For Your Pleasure as their best, so perhaps check out one of those two. Country Life, IMO, isn’t nearly as adventurous, more straightforward. For Your Pleasure has Eno, so there’s that. 🤣
 
I've been given the responsibility of picking the next Listening Club album.
This is my second chance (Girls vs. Boys/Cruise Yourself was the first selection) and I am going in a new direction this time.

This is probably my favorite record ever, and a true milestone in music history.
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
It was released in 1996 by Mo' Wax and immediately received general acclaim in Europe, while it took a bit longer for it to be digested and understoon in the US.
It influenced and inspired a great number of musicians, and its impact can be heard still now.

I expect the majority of the people here to be at least aware of this record existence, nonetheless I hope this to be the opportunity to retake this masterpiece and gave it another listen, with new ears.
I personally discover new samples, nuggets at every new listen and that what makes this record fresh and modern.

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Good Listen to all, and let me know what you think of it now, in 2019!

P.S.
I've no Spotify, so if anybody can add the link to the album in there, it would be great.
 
panino said:
I've been given the responsibility of picking the next Listening Club album.
This is my second chance (Girls vs. Boys/Cruise Yourself was the first selection) and I am going in a new direction this time.

This is probably my favorite record ever, and a true milestone in music history.
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
It was released in 1996 by Mo' Wax and immediately received general acclaim in Europe, while it took a bit longer for it to be digested and understoon in the US.
It influenced and inspired a great number of musicians, and its impact can be heard still now.

I expect the majority of the people here to be at least aware of this record existence, nonetheless I hope this to be the opportunity to retake this masterpiece and gave it another listen, with new ears.
I personally discover new samples, nuggets at every new listen and that what makes this record fresh and modern.

View attachment 20339

Good Listen to all, and let me know what you think of it now, in 2019!

P.S.
I've no Spotify, so if anybody can add the link to the album in there, it would be great.
Click to expand...
 
Love this record too. I remember first hearing it at a university party around 2002 or so and just having to find out who it was and where I could get it too. It’s one of those albums that still, 23 years after release, sounds like it could have been made yesterday.
 
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that's my Endtroducing story.
Summer of 1997
Turin, Italy, (the European Detroit), industrial landscape, abandoned factories and empty warehouses.
A friend hands me a copied tape of Endtroducing, with titles scribbled in pen and with photocopied album cover, the night before I travel to the UK to visit my girlfriend (now my wife).
The bus leaves around midnight for a 14 hours journey to London, no idea about the expected number of stops and an old battered walkman as company for an extremely long night of travel.
These are the settings for my first listening experience with Endtroducing and I believe this is what cemented the album in my memory.
It's a perfect "slow travel" kind of album, that must be listened to in silence and multiple time.
Whe I finally arrived in London, in the mid afternoon of the following day, my back was done, my eyes were red and I needed sleep... but I had just experienced music that I never heard before and to the day, hasn't yet been surpassed.

The movie samples, intertwined with scratches, the orchestral interludes and the looped riffs expand and absorb you into the songs.
I cannot listen to the songs individually and I always try to play it when I can be sure that I have the time to play it all.
Obviously there's picks and valleys (Building Steam, Transmission 2, Midnight in a perfect world, Napalm Brain, etc...) but there's a cohesion in the album that's difficult to replicate.
The entire career of DJ Shadow has been measured against Endtroducing, making it look like he underachieved with each and every release, forgetting that albums of such a magnitude come out once every 10 or more years. I believe he has been a true revolutionary with this work.
 
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This was one of my first purchases when I got back into vinyl. It's such a fun album. I haven't listened to it in far too long. So thank you for giving me the opportunity and reason to revisit. The sheer amount of obscure samples in this album is stunning. I wouldn't even know where to begin to uncover such obscure stuff to start sampling it.
 
Teeeee said:
This was one of my first purchases when I got back into vinyl. It's such a fun album. I haven't listened to it in far too long. So thank you for giving me the opportunity and reason to revisit. The sheer amount of obscure samples in this album is stunning. I wouldn't even know where to begin to uncover such obscure stuff to start sampling it.
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Dj Shadow dedication to cratedigging is almost unparelled



his collection run over 65000 records....

there's even a movie about the cratedigging movement
 
panino said:
Dj Shadow dedication to cratedigging is almost unparelled



his collection run over 65000 records....

there's even a movie about the cratedigging movement
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And I think I'm getting out of control with 1500+ albums. 65000 puts that into perspective. Holy crap.

Also - that video gives me a lot of anxiety. The sheer number of albums. IN PILES! How does one even dig through piles that are as tall as you? And the warp/album wear! ACK!!!!

I need a hug now. Lol
 
Endtroducing Story:

I was pretty disenchanted with the state of hip-hop in the mid 90's. The mainstream stuff was going full on jiggy, jay, puffy and no limit were not my thing. I wasn't really aware of what was happening at Wash Sq. Park or the Good Life, and I wasn't exposed to many of the more "underground" artists of the time that I would be way into a year or two later. The thrill of the Wu, the De La and Tribe albums of a few years prior, and the few W. Coast artists I was into like the Pharcyde hadn't put out albums in awhile. I was into the Roots but not much else hip hop wise. I was finishing up my first semester of college and getting exposed to more and music from more and more people. A bunch of stuff I would've never thought of to try. I was feeling pretty crazy at the time. This was like peak drug ingestion for me, trying to do anything to change-up how I felt, not acknowledging my anxiety or depression, and just trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be (still am I suppose).

So I go home for Christmas break. Home was always a tough place for me to be and I spent much of the time riding around in my car and smoking as much weed as I could. My good friend was hanging with me and we were lamenting the state of hip hop and he broke out the DJ Shadow cd. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. An instrumental hip hop album, downbeat, dark, the drums, so many samples, it was mind blowing and it hit me right away. I would spend the next week listening to it on repeat. Sitting in my childhood bedroom at night, blowing cigarette smoke out the window into the winter air. I felt comfortable with myself for the first time in a long time.

Endtroducing restored my faith in hip-hop and reminded me of who I was and the peace I was seeking.
 
Fuck guys. I've heard the album probably a 100 times and I gueas I'll hear it one more time for the thread. I have an OG press of it bought when it released. I have a relationship with the album but it's never deeply moved me. It's an easy listen for sure and a easy one to throw on for a crowd and know it will jive. I always hear these super enlightened stories around it and just wonder what part of me must be dead inside.
 
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