Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Dumped! Stalled! & other issues....

Now this might B Nlightening: I, "Mr. Music," the man who's either heard or read everything, have probly spent more $$$ on books & music than the Gross Annual Product of most 3rd-world countries -- & a large amount of it has gone right back 2 the used book & record stores over the yrs since at least 1975.
4 some1 with a supposedly wide range of intrests, there's a LOT of stuff I've given up on musically & literarily -- couldn't get it thru my thick head, got bogged down 1/2way thru, it didn't grab me, I couldn't focus, it was all noise 2 me.
Tho mosta this list is offa the top of my head, I thot it might B revealing 2 look at some of the stuff I've given up on over the yrs. Some of this is supposedly great stuff, & I'll bet it IS -- there R lots of fans of summa these works out there, all the critical refrences say much of it really is great stuff. Some of it I'd liketa have back. I might just have bn 2 stupid back then 2 pick it up.
I'm not gonna do NE vast research or memory-racking trying 2 come up with a definitive list, but here's a few of the things I've bn unable 2 read or listen 2 over the past 35 yrs.... & if some of these R treasures 2 U, drop me a note & clue me in on why. & on some of these, mayB we can work out a deal....

DUMPED! (Music I couldn't hear.)
Jon Anderson -- Olias of Sunhillow.
Kevin Ayers -- Odd Ditties best-of.
Barclay James Harvest -- Best-of's 1&2, Octoberon, Time Honored Ghosts, & Other Short Stories.
Be-Bop Deluxe -- The Best and the Rest of.
Brand X -- Masques.
Bruford -- One of a Kind.
Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks -- Buckingham/Nicks (a lost gem, 1st side's pretty great).
Buffalo Springfield -- 1st.
Camel -- Mirage, Chameleon best-of, Stationary Traveler.
Caravan -- 1st, If I Could Do it All Over Again...., Live with the New Symphonia, Better By Far, The Album.
Cheap Trick -- Their Greatest Hits, Authorized Greatest Hits (neither 1's perfect, or even complete).
Bruce Cockburn -- Resume best-of.
John Coltrane -- Giant Steps (pleasant but not earthshaking), A Love Supreme, Expression.
Miles Davis -- Live Evil, Aura (still haven't quite given up on IN A SILENT WAY).
Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- Tarkus (worst prog album ever?), Works Volume 2, The Atlantic Years best-of.
Fairport Convention -- 2nd/What We Did On Our Holiday.
Firesign Theater -- Forward Into the Past best-of.
Five Man Electrical Band -- Coming of Age.
Fleetwood Mac -- Behind the Mask.
Robert Fripp -- Exposure, The League of Gentlemen.
Genesis -- Foxtrot, Duke, Invisible Touch.
Gentle Giant -- Giant Steps best-of, The Power and the Glory, Giant for a Day.
Dave Gilmour -- 1st.
Gong -- Expresso, Expresso II (haven't quite given up on YOU yet).
Grobschnitt -- Rockpommel's Land (nice Krautrock I'd liketa hear again, 1 great song "Anywhere.")
Gryphon -- 1st.
Daryl Hall -- Sacred Songs.
Albert Hammond -- (2nd?) (with "I'm a Train" & "Names Tags Numbers and Labels," pretty great songwriter.)
Happy the Man -- 1st.
Hatfield and the North -- 1st, The Rotters' Club, Afters best-of.
Hawkwind -- Roadhawks best-of.
The Headboys -- 1st (Silly New Wave, a few Xcellent songs: "The Shape of Things to Come," "Changing With the Times," "Silver Lining").
Henry Cow/Slapp Happy -- Desperate Straights.
Steve Hillage -- Green.
Incredible String Band -- Relics best-of, Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.
Mark Isham -- Vapor Drawings. ("On the Threshold of Liberty" is pretty good, but this ain't no Group 87 album....)
Jade Warrior -- Best of (worth it all 4 1 amazing song, "A Winter's Tale").
Keith Jarrett -- In the Light.
Jethro Tull -- A Passion Play.
Elton John -- Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock of the Westies.
Keane -- Under the Iron Sea.
King Crimson -- Islands, Beat.
Mahavishnu Orchestra -- Birds of Fire, The Inner Mounting Flame.
Matching Mole -- Little Red Record.
McDonald & Giles -- 1st.
John McLaughlin -- Extrapolation.
Don McLean -- 3rd (S/T, w/ "Driedel").
Pat Metheny -- Rejoicing (& I LIKE him).
Thelonious Monk -- Underground (pleasant, nice dischords, but not stunning).
Moody Blues -- A Dream (German best-of from their beat-band days), The Other Side of Life, Sur La Mer, Keys of the Kingdom, Strange Times.
The Move -- Split Ends.
The Nice -- Ars Longa Vita Brevis.
Nilsson -- Son of Schmilsson.
Mike Oldfield -- Hergest Ridge, Platinum, Airborne, QE2 (tho he does a GREAT version of Abba's "Arrival"!).
Van Dyke Parks -- Song Cycle.
Alan Parsons Project -- The Turn of a Friendly Card, Eye in the Sky, Vulture Culture.
Pink Floyd -- Ummagumma, The Wall, A Nice Pair (1st 2 albums).
Poco -- The Forgotten Trail best-of.
Prince -- 1999.
Renaissance -- Novella, Azure d'Or.
Return to Forever -- 1st.
Roxy Music -- Flesh and Blood, The Atlantic Years best-of.
Todd Rundgren -- A Wizard/A True Star, Todd, Initiation.
David Sancious and Tone -- True Stories.
Paul Simon -- Graceland.
Soft Machine -- Third, Triple Echo best-of.
Chris Squire -- Fish Out of Water.
Steely Dan -- Katy Lied.
Synergy -- Cords.
Tangerine Dream -- Alpha Centauri/Atem, '70-'80 (4-album best-of box set), Thief soundtrack (boring Xcept 4 the meltdown "Igneous").
Three Dog Night -- Harmony, Golden Bisquits best-of.
Steve Tibbetts -- Safe Journey.
Traffic -- John Barleycorn Must Die.
T. Rex -- 20th Century Boy best-of.
Judie Tzuke -- Sports Car.
U.K. -- Night After Night/Live.
U2 -- October, War.
Various Artists -- V (Virgin Records 2-album sampler), Charisma Festival (Charisma Records 2-album sampler), Harvest Heritage 20 Golden Greats.
Velvet Underground -- Best of ("All Tomorrow's Parties" is GREAT, but I COULDN'T HEAR the rest....).
Jennifer Warnes -- Shot Through the Heart.
George Winston -- December, Winter Into Spring. (1nce yr hooked by 1 George Winston album -- AUTUMN -- how many others do U need?)
Stevie Wonder -- Original Musiquarium best-of.
Yes -- The Yes Album, Fragile, Relayer, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Tormato, Drama, Yesshows, Classic Yes best-of.
Frank Zappa -- Weasels Ripped My Flesh ("Directly From My Heart to You" & "Oh No" R both pretty great... but the rest is just NOISE!).

STALLED! (Books I couldn't finish.)
J.G. Ballard -- Crash, High-Rise.
Clive Barker -- The Damnation Game, Weaveworld.
Peter S. Beagle -- The Folk of the Air.
Alfred Bester -- The Stars My Destination.
James Blish -- The Day After Judgement.
Michael Bishop -- Catacomb Years, Transfigurations.
John Brunner -- The Shockwave Rider. (I don't remember much of THE JAGGED ORBIT either.)
Samuel R. Delany -- Dhalgren (Of course. I don't remember much of BABEL-17 or NOVA either).
Philip K. Dick -- Martian Time-Slip, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Confessions of a Crap Artist. (& I can barely remember THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE. But THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH is pretty amazing, & A MAZE OF DEATH only slightly less-so.)
Bret Easton Ellis -- American Psycho.
Harlan Ellison -- Spider Kiss.
K.W. Jeter -- Dr. Adder, The Glass Hammer, Noir.
Jack Ketchum -- Ladies' Night.
Caitlin R. Kiernan -- Silk.
Stephen King -- Gerald's Game, Insomnia, The Green Mile (great movie tho).
Dean R. Koontz -- Midnight.
Barry N. Malzberg -- The Men Inside, Guernica Night, Cross of Fire (but the short version "Le Croix" is great!).
Rex Miller -- Frenzy.
Frederik Pohl -- Chernobyl.
Frederik Pohl & Cyril M. Kornbluth -- The Space Merchants.
Richard Rhodes -- Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb.
Kim Stanley Robinson -- Red Mars, The Wild Shore, The Martians (some great short stories but I bogged down near the Nd.)
David J. Schow -- The Kill Riff.
Lucius Shepard -- Green Eyes (& THE GOLDEN is 1 of the boringest vampire novels ever, but I finished it).
William L. Shirer -- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (got 1/2way thru then met my future wife, so much 4 the book....)
Robert Silverberg -- Son of Man. (But usually he's pretty amazing.)
Bruce Sterling -- Islands in the Net, Holy Fire.
Neal Stephenson -- Cryptonomicon.
Peter Straub -- Ghost Story (But IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW, KOKO & THE THROAT R all pretty amazing).
Donna Tartt -- The Secret History.
Paul Theroux -- The Old Patagonian Express, The Family Arsenal, My Other Life (good 4 skimming), Fresh Air Fiend (parts of which R GREAT!).
Irvine Welsh -- Trainspotting.
Gene Wolfe -- The Claw of the Conciliator, Soldier of the Mist, most of his short stories.
Rafi Zabor -- The Bear.

2 B continued...?

No comments: