During our years of youth, we listened to plenty of music. But in an era where you had to have money to invest in your favorites, you were curtailed in experimenting. There was no internet to provide a sampling of any band you were even remotely interested in. you either had to be lucky to hear a full play via FM Radio, or to have a friend brave enough to spend the cash. I know, I had to leave many bands behind as a result. I heard a track somewhere (most likely radio, or an in-store play), and that piqued my interest. But, do I get the new Foghat? Or gamble on this unknown album? Fortunately for me, I was a wild gambler. But I couldn’t buy everything.
This brings me to this poll question: Are there any bands from the past that you had a small interest in, yet were unable to spend the cash to investigate a whole album? If so (and I’m sure there were), have you revisited them in the here and now?
But let’s ask the question like this:
What band or list of bands should you revisit from your past having been unable to fully investigate then?
I look forward to your answers as you may provide one I should investigate.
With catalog CD titles being so cheap these days, and those “Complete Album Collection” boxed sets being so reasonably priced, it’s never been a better time to rediscover great artists!
Oh, I don’t know that there are any bands I feel I NEED to investigate because really, my collection is so large that I really don’t need any more music. I should be fine with what I have.
I will say that since I am a surround music enthusiast that I have been picking up most of the 5.1 releases. It’s a no brainer when it’s a band like Yes or Rush, but it’s really easy to justify picking up new 5.1 releases when it’s an album that I’ve never bought in the past. I recently picked up the Blood, Sweat and Tears sacds and the America sacd released by Audio Fidelity and was very happy with both ( I could say the opposite about Tears For Fears, Bread and Gentle Giant).
I just don’t have the time to really listen and explore new (old or new) music. For instance I had a couple of ZZ top cds from Deguello on but had never really explored their earlier albums. I picked up one of those “5 album”, low price sets of their first five albums, but I still haven’t listened to them. Just don’t have time and besides, I have so many albums that I love and rarely get to listen to that when I do get a chance I pick one of those.
The Who. I know and like the songs that were rock radio staples, and I have a greatest hits disc. But I’ve always felt that I need to go back and explore the full records.
No doubt, for me it’s Geordie, the first band of Brian Johnson before he joined AC/DC
I’m a big fan of Prog Rock. I wish I would have paid more attention to The Strawbs and Procol Harum. I love Whiter Shade Of Pale, but Procol Harum was a lot more than that Ground Breaking Song, and Hero & Heroine was a first class album from Dave Cousins & The Strawbs. I wish I would have invested in more music from each of those bands, which by the way are both still around.
For me it’s the Electric Prunes. I’ve had a couple of their albums for years but never really listened to them (except for the hits) so I’ve gone back to check them out and found The Electric Prunes – Live in Stockholm 1967. And Man I’m glad I did. Fantastic live album.
Also need to go back and listen to some Man albums too.
Early on in my teens there wasn’t much money to invest in a lot of unheard music so I pretty much purchased greatest hits albums by the Lovin’ Spoonful, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, and The Who to mention a few. It wasn’t until many years later when I finally began searching for and investing in their early lps and began the archeological research to see where the roots of their music sprang forth from. That is the best part of revisiting the music I cut my listening teeth on.
Love this, Ed!
Definitely Zz top should reissue and Aerosmith also.
I briefly got into Jethro Tull in high school: Era of “Crest of a Knave” (which I liked). Knew about their history, but didn’t follow through on it. However, a good friend of mine became a huge “Tull” fan, but could never quite pull me in. I heard the entire catalogue, which was tough to track down around here, but also had other musical interests at the time and didn’t delve very deeply into “Tull.”
Recently, I have regained the interest in “Tull” and Ian Anderson, primarily due to the nice 5.1 box sets that are emerging. I remember all of the tunes, but they are so new and fresh now, it has been like re-discovering something that I should not have neglected years ago. So, thanks Steven Wilson (again!).
I did about 2 years immersed in discovering Frank Zappa a while back: that was very interesting, to say the least!
Next up might be Gentle Giant – primarily due to the multi-channel mixes currently available. But, they have also always been on my radar, along with Curved Air for some reason. Go figure.
LJ, I mostly agree with Tull. I’ve listened to a lot of Tull, but they seem to be all over the place. Great one moment, not so the next (imho, of course). The Steven Wilson Thick as a Brick is probably the best remix he ever did, but I just cannot like Passion Play, just too bizarre for me!
Unfortunately the Aqualung set is so expensive and redundant when all I really want is the blu-ray.
Here’s another exercise, for those of you with too much time…
Find a classic band, preferably one that has had some line-up changes over the years or band members that were quite active outside of the proper band. Then start to expand out from the band itself through solo or other efforts of the members. Find some interesting musicians in those bands and see where it leads… The best example would be the “Yes” universe – although one often runs into really bad, and I mean horrible, recordings along the way.
I mentioned Zappa in the earlier post and his “universe” is jaw dropping for musicians who were involved along the way. During my “Zappa phase” I got to see musicians like Dwezil, Terry Bozzio and Steve Vai play (both individually and with the Zappa reunion show). Just wild to see these guys and the musicians that they have in turn worked with.
It’s a good exercise, if you can devote quite a bit of time to it. Studies like these take years to complete, if ever as many of the musicians are still working. There are more modern examples, but I just picked two of the most widely known “artist universe” studies that are quite rewarding. Sometimes we don’t even realize that we have been doing this for years with some artists that we love.
Or, maybe I just spend too much time listening to music and doing historical analysis on it.
I have always had a sneaky liking for Little Feat and Ry Cooder. Although I have a LF greates hits, and the Ry Cooder Crossroads soundtrack (phenomenal) I really would like to get more into them. Problem is, I have acres of music I love, but never get around to listening. I have a Listening and Classical Listening on my iPad, with all the latest stuff I’ve got, which I mainly listen to, but every now and then I do an immersion set into my main men, The Band, Steely Dan, and old Neil Young. Unfortunately NY is going down the Stones route, and hasn’t really done anything outstanding in years. Went to an awesome concert in London a few years ago, where he played an accoustic first half and electric second, but even he mainly played the old stuff!
Lately I’ve been enjoying re-visiting the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I found a used copy of the 5CD “Original Album Classics” (their first five albums) for a song at my favorite store a while back, and have worked it into my listening rotation the last few weeks. Really great stuff that I never paid enough attention to when I was younger.