4 Obscure Albums You Should Know About

Post by **BlueChair** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 10:29 pm

This is where you should share 10 obscure albums that you think everyone should have a listen to:

1. Golden Smog - Weird Tales

Golden Smog is a supergroup comprised of Jeff Tweedy (singer/guitarist from Wilco), Gary Louris (singer/guitarist from The Jayhawks), Kraig Johnson (guitarist from The Jayhawks), Dan Murphy (guitarist from Soul Asylum), Marc Perlman (bassist from The Jayhawks), and Jody Stephens (drummer from Big Star). Tweedy, Louris, Johnson, and Murphy all take turns on lead vocal, delivering some great power-pop, which sounds like The Byrds and The Stones mixed in a blender, with echoes of Neil Young thrown in.

2. Blue Stingrays - Surf-N-Burn

This instrumental surf guitar combo pretends it is a lost relic from the 60's, when in fact it is a recently recorded album by members of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, most prominently, long-time Heartbreaker Mike Campbell on guitar. Contains a cover of "Goldfinger."

3. Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking

This one may not seem so obscure to some, as Fairport Convention were one of the originators of British Folk/Rock. Still, a great album, with some excellent Dylan covers.

4. Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks - Beatin' The Heat

I've mentioned this album a few times on the board. Dan Hicks is one of those singer/songwriters who writes songs that could just as easily be from 1933 or 2003. This particular album is Hicks' most recent, recorded in 2000 and released on the Surfdog label. It's showered with guest appearances by Brian Setzer, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and Rickie Lee Jones, among others.

Someone innerduce us to some more!

SoLikeCandy · Post by **SoLikeCandy** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 11:18 pm

Blackberry Belle by the Twilight Singers blew me away. Greg Dulli (formerly an Afghan Whig, one of the best bands of the '90's) possibly has the worst voice in the world, but he sings like he knows it and doesn't give a damn. That's sexy. Soul, old school rock, weird trip-hop, and a banjo. Damn good stuff.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:27 am

Good call on Golden Smog. The others were...well, obscure. But I'll check them out. And I'll post my list tomorrow.

Smallfaces1 · Post by **Smallfaces1** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 7:28 am

harvey Danger - the king james version. college type heavy/not so heavy power popish influenced by the smiths/costello (i reakon)/adam ant

The jayhawks - hollywood town hall. american alt country. this is just my fav album EVER!

Sandy Denny - listen listen an introduction to sandy denny.Bloody great I LOVE HER

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 8:14 am

Love that Jayhawks record, SF1!

I'm afraid I'm not cool enough to know any obscure bands that date from the past twenty years (or from any time, really)-- I can't even keep up with the mainstream ones! But I love getting recs from folks here...

Oh, wait, I do know one obscure track that everyone should hear, though I've no idea what the rest of the record is like: BRIGHT AS YELLOW by The Innocence Mission. Gorgeous song, they can play it at my funeral. They have a new record out that's gotten some buzz, but I haven't heard it.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:16 am

Good call on Fairport Convention Blue... have you heard any Richard Thompson's stuff (solo or with Linda)?

Hmm, OK, I've thought about it, and these three albums are the ones I'd reccomend to everyone here, with regards to the fact we all like EC for his lyrics and musical quality.

The Housemartins - Now that's what I call quite good

Not really that obscure, but it's a brilliant album which compromises the best of the 2 albums they did before Paul started up the The Beautiful South and Norman became Fatboy Slim. A good way of describing this record is The Smiths meets northern soul music, with some really gritty lyrics. The content of the album is quite diverse, from a tribute to the missionary baptist choir of chicago to slagging off the agricultural system and the monarchy in the UK. The big singles on it were Caravan of Love and Happy Hour, but the rest of it is cracking too...there's also good covers of 'You've got a friend', and 'He ain't heavy'. This is the album I could most see someone who likes EC appreciating, and I would 100% advise people to seek it out (cos it aint that expensive anymore).

Dick Gaughan - Handful of Earth

This is a celtic folk record from the early 80s, and I'd reccomend it to anyone into folk. As folk songs are, it's a fairly traditional sound, just the guitar, Dick's amazingly rich voice, and a fiddle/keyboard on a few songs. The songs themselves are a mix of traditional, like Erin go bragh and Now Westlin winds (a Burns poem), and songs about Scotland's ancient politics written by DG. If you like Woody Guthrie, then Im sure you'll like this.

The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee

I only found out about this guy (yes it's just one man) when I was on holiday in the States this summer, but having bought this, the first produced album he's done, then a couple of older ones which he recorded on a tape player, I love the raw quality to the music. It's not really like anything I've heard before, so it's hard to say what the influences are. It's basically an acoustic album, with traditional influence and some nice arrangements, but lyrically it's very dark and very clever (Tallahass is a story of the breakdown of a marriage, where the couple despise each other). You can listen to soundbites on Amazon, and you'll see what I mean.

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 3:05 pm

I dont know a whole lot of obscure stuff, but here's a few that are pretty obscure/pretty good:

Here Come the Mummies: Terrifying Funk From Beyond the Grave

They arent kidding, this is total full-on funk and its great. I saw them in concert once supporting Al Green and they blew me away. The most energetic live show Ive ever seen. So obscure they cant be found on Amazon. Go here instead: http://herecomethemummies.com/main/index.asp

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Hearts of Oak

Kind of EC/The Clash/Springsteen/Television influence. Catchy songs and amazing vocal range.

Clem Snide: Your Favorite Music

Low-key, kind of Wilco/Pavement-esque. Nice, laid-back music.

The Incredible Moses Leroy: Electric Pocket Radio

Quirky songs, good pop hooks.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 3:50 pm

The Jayhawks are great- check out their latest, Rainy Day Music. Here's a couple for your consideration:

The Young Fresh Fellows: the Men Who Loved Music. Great power pop from the Pacific Northwest. Scott Machugey is now the 'auxiliary' member of REM. Hilarious songs, poignant songs, catchy songs.

Denzil: Pub. Oh-so-British singer songwriter who put out one BRILLIANT album and then disappeared (at least on this side of the pond).

The Makers: Rock Star God. Genius rock concept album that's hooky, glammy and grungy all at the same time. Great vocals, lyrics, guitars. Cooler than the Strokes by a long, long way. Plus they got there first.

Poppet · Post by **Poppet** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 4:39 pm

ooooh LC, i've got that cd by the Housemartins!

good stuff. reminds me of carefree college days, which really shouldn't be the case if i'd paid any attention to the LYRICS back then.

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 7:15 pm

gene clark & carla olson- silhoutted in light (live in concert)
grant lee buffalo- mighty joe moon
at the drive in- raltionship of command
interpol- turn on the bright lights

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 7:16 pm

sorry,........at the drive in- relationship of command

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 7:17 pm

I'll try my hand -

The Kaisers - Wishing Street - a neo Merseybeat band from Scotland. If you like the early Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers or the Merseybeats these guys are for you. This is their third record and they record in mono with dead on harmonies. On the Get Hip label. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... myxdkb1olj

Gun Club - Fire of Love - Bobster will remember these guys from the early 80's LA scene. Out of the shockabilly genre - but with some truely disturbing lyrics from the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce. One of those records that didn't come off my turntable for a month.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... dsyl7jxppb

Roky Erickson - You're Going To Miss Me - Best of - Now this is the real Buddy Holly on acid.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... kcu3i5an2k

Bill Pritchard - Three Months, Three Weeks & Two Days - What happened to this guy? AMG compares him to Lloyd Cole - this one is from the late late 80's and has the killer lyric - "and Reagan and Thatcher are the biggest terrorists of all." - from "Kenneth Baker" (is a sick man) - Can any of the English folks tell me who Kenneth Baker is?
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... f1zffhehok

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:39 am

Bedroom Classics by Josh Rouse.
An excellent mini-album briefly only available at his gigs, copies now going for a fortune on ebay. I was lucky enough to get a burn of it yesterday, have'nt stopped playing it since. Incredibly catchy like all his work, this collection flows so well, not a wasted moment.

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:19 am

girl out of time, you know you can go back and edit your posts, right?

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:23 am

I don't know how obscure these are, but I love them all dearly, and I wish more people would listen to them:

1. De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State. Their third album, and in my opinion, their best. People bought 3 Feet High and Rising (for good reason), but many were turned off by their (underrated) followup and never gave Buhloone Mind State a chance. Too bad, as it's one of the best hip hop records ever. One group I know listened to this one is Outkast. You can hear De La's influence all over their stuff.

2. Chasing Furies - With Abandon This group made one record and then vanished. And it's a crying shame, as it was one of my favorite albums when it arrived in 1999, and remains so. The group is made opf two sisters and a brother, all of whom sing gorgeously and hauntingly. Largely piano and guitar driven, the group also uses strings and other similar instrumentation to achieve a lush, and darkly romantic atmosphere. If Sarah McLaughlin sang for Radiohead, you'd be on the right track for describing this band. But this sounds better than that would. NB: The members of Chasing Furies are Christians, but they are in not by any stretch a "contemporary Christian" band. Their songs have lyrics which are beautiful poetry and which are subtle enough that anyone from any background could enjoy them. If you can enjoy early U2 or the Buddhist stylings of MCA from the Beatie Boys, you'll have no problem here. If I hadn't just told you they were believers, you'd have probably never figured it out.

3. Cafe Tacuba - Re Honestly, I'd recommend anything and everything by this Mexican rock group. I don't speak Spanish, but I understand that their lyrics are also wonderful. They SOUND fantastic, and the instrumentation is phenomenal. They are named for a restaraunt in Mexico City that uses Native American ingredients to make European dishes that a Mexican public will like. And that's kind of their music, too. Re, their 2nd release, has the most ecclectic mix of songs, from tejano to punk, and they do all of them really well. The average song by Cafe Tacuba, though, sounds like the Talking Heads if they were form south of the border. David Byrne produced their third (excellent) record, Avalancha des Exitos (Avalanche of Hits).

4. The Stairs - Mexican R'n'B On the same label as the La's and from the same era, but criminally unknown. The Stairs only album is a fdantastic sendup of great British Invasion rock. The first song, "Weed Bus," wears its WHo influences on its sleeve. But this is a good thing. The Stairs were unapologetically retro, and combined the best elements of the Who, the Kinks, and the Stones. But they don't really sound like any of those bands. They still sound like they were recording in the 1990's. It was a great record, and I have never understood why it never caught on. I don't think it's in print any more, so if you can find it, snatch it up.

Smallfaces1 · Post by **Smallfaces1** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:20 pm

OH i forgot! anything by the rutles!

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:38 pm

I have always thought in the back of my mind cheese and onions

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:41 pm

"c-h-e-e-s-e-a-n-d-o-n-i-o-n-s, oh no..."

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:43 pm

Speaking of The Rutles, did you guys know that Eric Idle actually recently made a Rutles 2? Apparently there's no distribution. I hope they at least put it on DVD at some point.

HungupStrungup · Post by **HungupStrungup** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 1:18 am

Some of you may have noticed that I have a fondness for cover versions, for reasons unknown. Yes, there's some validity to the view that many classic recordings simply can't be improved upon, so why try? But on the other hand, if a recording artist has a real fondness for a great song and the vision to create a new and revelatory (or just fun) reading of it, I'm all for the attempt. With that in mind, I'm going to recommend four albums of such recordings.

Crossing Jordan - TV soundtrack. This is a truly unusual item. I never watched this now-cancelled show, so I'm not aware of how these songs were used in it; however, if the producers commissioned the recordings, they did a very fine thing. The material includes songs of Dylan, Lennon & McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Ray Davies and Donovan among others. Series star Jill Hennessy performs two of them, doing a credible job with Dylan and Waits material; and the rest are by such notables as Joe Henry, who does a fine version of the Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes"; Alison Krauss (Traffic's "Can't Find My Way Home"); Vic Chesnutt (Dylan's "Buskets of Rain") and Lucinda Williams (Waits' "Hang Down Your Head"). The real revelations are Sam Phillips' sexy, slow take on "I Wanna Be Your Man," which was a rocker when the Stones and Beatles did it; Richard Thompson's wonderful, incandescent "Season of the Witch" and Cassandra Wilson's moody reworking of "The Wind Cries Mary." If you always thought Hendrix was quite a poet, this recording will confirm it.

Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His 60th Birthday. Minnesota's Red House label put this album of Dylan songs together, and it largely features the label's artists and friends, many of whom were unknown to me when I bought it. I knew of Suzzy & Maggie Roche, Rosalie Sorrels and Ramblin' Jack Elliot, but it isn't their contributions I have found to be most impressive. The album is worth having for Eliza Gilkyson's excellent version of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit," Martin Simpson's reinvention of the melody of "Boots of Spanish Leather," Lucy Kaplansky's lovely "It Ain't Me Babe," a smoky, evocative reading given "Sweetheart Like You" by Guy Davis, and especially the treatment of "All Along the Watchtower" as an Irish reel by Tom Landa & The Paperboys. I know it sounds odd, but it works, wonderfully.

Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint, Lo and Behold. Another album of Dylan covers, this one more on the famous side than obscure, or at least it was at one time in the distant past. Manfred Mann were wont to do Dylan songs anyway (e.g., "The Mighty Quinn," "If You Gotta Go, Go Now"), and these veterans of the group put together this album in 1972, produced by Mr. Mann, of songs written by Dylan but not at the time officially released by him. Songs like the title track, "Don't You Tell Henry" and "Get Your Rocks Off" were known mostly from bootlegs, others were known from pseudonymous releases and concert performances, while "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" had been recorded by the Byrds. Remember, this was long before Dylan began to mine his own catalogue for Bootleg Series releases or even The Basement Tapes. In fact, if you're a fan of the Band and the Bob heard on The Basement Tapes, you should really appreciate this record. I only have it on vinyl, although I understand there was a CD release in Australia with a couple of bonus tracks.

Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney. These weren't "lost" in a strict sense, as they were recorded and released, just not by the Beatles. They were given to bands like the Fourmost or the Strangers, or to singers such as Cilla Black. Some of them were actually substantial hits, such as Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas' "Bad to Me" and Badfinger's "Come and Get It." Aside from the latter and Mary Hopkin's "Goodbye," these were generally written and released in '63 and '64 and largely forgotten since. The songwriting is consistent with, although generally a notch below, the tunes John and Paul wrote for the Beatles in this period. Most of the tracks on this disc are recorded by the same basic band, with lead vocals by Graham Parker, Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom or Kate Pierson of the B-52s. Graham does some excellent work with some of the best songs on the album, such as the aforementioned "Bad to Me" and "Come and Get It." This disc is a curiosity for Beatles fans, but more than that, it's a modest gem.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 1:17 pm

Dionysos - Haiku.

Ms. BA introduced me to this very cool french noise-pop group when my wife and I were in Paris last spring. I just recently aquired this album by them, and I highly recommend it, both to Ms. BA (who I don't thik had it at the time) and to everyone who likes their noise-pop equal parts Sonic Youth and Beck. Ms. BA, if you haven't heard it yet, it's not as poppy as Western Sous La Neige, but it's much more catchy than some of their earlier albums. You can hear how they got to the most recent one from their beginnings.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 3:58 pm

Terry Hall & Mushtaq - The Hour Of Two Lights
Mentioned this before but I love this album from last year. A fusion of haunting african instruments some beautiful drumbeats and TH's sneering vocals.

Jackson Doofster · Post by **Jackson Doofster** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:20 pm

Strange by Ether

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 7:37 am

I've been listening to Terror and Magnificence all week...it doesn't get talked about much here as an EC release, but it is such a brilliant piece of work. I'm a massive fan of traditional olde british songs, and Sarah Leonard's singing of The Three Ravens is breathtaking!

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 10:29 am

laughingcrow wrote:I've been listening to Terror and Magnificence all week...it doesn't get talked about much here as an EC release, but it is such a brilliant piece of work. I'm a massive fan of traditional olde british songs, and Sarah Leonard's singing of The Three Ravens is breathtaking!

I've probably played my copy of T&M only once or twice. I find the EC tracks make for better listening as part of this boot set, http://www.geocities.com/l_elvis_cool_j/sas34.txt . Whoever put it together did a great job on the sequencing.

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4 Obscure Albums You Should Know About

4 Obscure Albums You Should Know About

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