The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project (aka Preachin’ about the Preachers if today’s selection sucks)

Well this is nice.

In all fairness before they started writing whalesong to soundtrack planet earth they released 2/3 really solid albums. They’re also one of the best live bands I’ve seen, albeit in a pretty damn awesome venue, it was a theatre designed for classical music with the band playing in a pit in the middle of a circle of extremely steep seating!
 
Last edited:
This is fantastic by the way. I have the Analogue Spark pressing one of a handful of records that I paid a hefty-ish price for.

It’s bananas to me that he basically had two shows, a safe show for the white folks (see At the Copa!) and then this!
 
11/24/23
View attachment 188332
Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun



LOVE this one. My first exposure to Sigur Ros was back when this album came out they were on an episode of HBO's Reverb and it didn't sound or look like anything else at the time. They had traditional rock instruments on stage but the lead singer was playing the guitar with a bow instead of strumming, he was singing into his guitar pickups. I had to find out more about this band and have been a fan ever since.

If you want to appreciate them more check out their live film "Heima". It's them playing songs at random locations around Iceland.

( ) is one of my all time favorite albums but this one is a 4/5 for me.
 
So first impressions of this are not great.

I primarily know Steve Winwood from the Roll With It cycle which I am not Embarrassed to say I enjoy. Spencer Davis Group is some nostalgia music from being a kid getting comps from a great uncle and the oldies stations that my parents kept on the car radios. Traffic is something I have dug what I have heard but never deep dived on yet.

So Steve Winwood is a name that elicits interest from me.

But as I scroll down on my phone to see the album, I see that cover which looks like some mid eighties smooth jazz trash. Then I start listening to it and it is some adult contemporary nightmare where Phil Collins and Billy Joel are the same person who happens to think he is Stevie Wonder.

It was less offensive by the time I got to Spanish Dancer as I got home from work but what in the actual fuck is this shit? Me and book dude really need to talk.
 
Last edited:
So first impressions of this are not great.

I primarily know Steve Winwood from the Roll With It cycle which I am not Embarrassed to say I enjoy. Spencer Davis Group is some nostalgia music from being a kid getting comps from a great uncle and the oldies stations that my parents kept on the car radios. Traffic is something I have dug what I have heard but never deep dived on yet.

So Steve Winwood is a name that elicits interest from me.

But as I scroll down on my phone to see the album, I see that cover which looks like some mid eighties smooth jazz trash. Then I start listening to it and it is some adult contemporary nightmare where Phil Collins and Billy Joel are the same person who happens to think he is Stevie Wonder.

It was less offensive by the time I got to Spanish Dancer as I got home from work but what in the actual fuck is this shit? Me and book dude really need to talk.
Between The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith, Winwood had a pretty big career by the mid 70s. And then he became a sought after session musician for about 5 years.

This album is not terrible, it just has no significance and made no impact beyond the charts back in 1980. The best thing you can say about this album is that it was impeccably recorded and produced.
 
Back
Top