Top 5 obscure albums

List 5 albums you're really into from bands that most people probably haven't heard of.

Rules:
Bands have to be generally accessible, so don't list ultra-local bands.
Album must be top-to-bottom awesome.
It has to be generally accepted by those in the know as an awesome album.
Has to be an album or band that's not very popular. Pink Floyd, Peter Frampton, Smashing Pumpkins, Frank Zappa and others are pretty well known.

I'll go first:

1. Flaming Lips - "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"
2. The Go! Team - "Thunder, Lightning, Strike"
3. Manu Chao - "Proximo Estacion: Esperanza"
4. ohGr - "Welt"
5. Ween - "The Mollusk"

Hmmmm...


I like this line of thinking Cheese... and since I'm 3/4 drunk while on vacation I'm going to think on it and get back to you... I have ideas already however.

EXCELLENT thread...

Ize

I'll start off with a disclaimer that I'm really not sure how obscure these bands are regionally, but I will stand by the fact that these albums are all "Press play and forget'rs".

1. Velvet Revolver - Contraband
2. System of a Down - Mesmerize
3. A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms
4. Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On
5. Lit - A Place In The Sun


Go out and buy all of these albums sound unheard (sight unseen?). You won't be sorry!

:rockin:

Built to Spill - "Keep It Like a Secret"
The Judybats - "Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow"
Jellyfish - "Bellybutton"
Darling Buds - "Erotica"
Shadowy Men on A Shadowy Planet - "Dim the Lights, Chill the Ham"

Of all of these I'd say try the First one.... I love this album and I don't know anyone who ever heard of them besides my brother. Shadowy Men are from Canada and may be known there, they did the theme from the TV show "Kids in the Hall'.

Wow, Jellyfish! That one brings back memories circa 1991. Reminded me of another way old one:

5.5 The Chills - Submarine Bells

and another play and forget all star:

5.75 Toad The Wet Sprocket - Any and ALL




I'm liking this thread!

Spyk'd said:

Wow, Jellyfish! That one brings back memories circa 1991.

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I can't believe someone else ever heard of them. I like a lot of different kinds of music..... short of country and rap/hip hop. That album is really one of my favorite all-time albums. I tend to listen to a lot of fairly 'hard' stuff but most of these are not.

I still have the Jellyfish CD. That's the one with the girl on the front with toothpaste on her...uh, belly of course (nice belly!). Luckily all my CD's were upstairs.

I like all kinds of music as well, but have been rocking it lately using it as work music when my friend and I work nights on getting his house fixed back up (after Katrina) and it helps having upbeat music whilst constructing
:rockin: .

The Flaming Lips - "Soft Bulletin" (although I think the 'lips' are pretty popular)
Sufjan Stevens - "Illinois"
Tom Waits - "Bone Machine"
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah"
Gomez - "Bring It On"


Okay, so it turns out I don't have that much really obscure music. These are all great albums though.

Shambolic said:

The Flaming Lips - "Soft Bulletin" (although I think the 'lips' are pretty popular)
Sufjan Stevens - "Illinois"
Tom Waits - "Bone Machine"
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah"
Gomez - "Bring It On"


Okay, so it turns out I don't have that much really obscure music. These are all great albums though.

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Any Tom Waits. I listen to everything, pretty much. I'll rock out to some metal on occassion, but when I'm working in the shop, I'll often be listening to the bluegrass show on our local NPR station, or I'll even listen to opera if it's on and I'm in kind of a relaxed mood. But Tom Waits is the single most underappreciated singer/songwriter of the past one hundred years.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is very cool as well.

Other stuff populating the MPS player (I've purchased maybe two CDs in the past three years) - and since I'm an isolated tool I have no idea if this stuff is obscure or not - includes:

Pavement, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Say Hi To Your Mom, Stellastarr*, Belle & Sebastian, Cat Power, Dinosaur Jr, Dropkick Murphys, F*uck (yes, and actual band name), Interpol, Spoon, Stephen Malkmus, Yo La Tengo, Preston School of Industry... plus a ton of more random stuff that I've found and downloaded.

MrSaLTy said:

I can't believe someone else ever heard of them. I like a lot of different kinds of music..... short of country and rap/hip hop. That album is really one of my favorite all-time albums. I tend to listen to a lot of fairly 'hard' stuff but most of these are not.

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I remember them from a Beavis and Butthead episode. As expected, hey had some fun with the video.

Shambolic said:

The Flaming Lips - "Soft Bulletin" (although I think the 'lips' are pretty popular)

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Yes, but they're a 90's one-hit-wonder. I have all their albums and think they're almost all top-to-bottom.

Another performer who's becoming more mainstream but I'll put him up anyways: Danger Mouse. If you haven't heard "The Grey Album", so find it and download it now. He took Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and mixed it with The Beatles' "White Album". His other albums, Ghetto Pop Life, The Mouse and the Mask (based on Toon Network's "Adult Swim" shows) and more recently, Gnarls Barkley's St Elsewhere (a collaboration with Mouse and Cee-lo) all ROCK!

Another Top-To-Bottom great album: Negativland's Escape From Noise. If you're ever up for some fun, download for their album "The Letter U and the Number 2", which is a single covering U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" spliced together with the infamous Casey Kasem "Snuggles the Dog" rant. They were sued almost to bankruptcy for this song.

OMFG I'm so old - what about:

Nektar - Remember the Future
Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Center of the Earth
Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother, or any other vinyl not getting airplay today

OK, so it's late 70's progrock - go ahead and start the old guy stuff.....

Skol!

SBN said:

OMFG I'm so old - what about:

Nektar - Remember the Future
Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Center of the Earth
Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother, or any other vinyl not getting airplay today

OK, so it's late 70's progrock - go ahead and start the old guy stuff.....

Skol!

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Pink Floyd is now too mainstream to mention(and yes they're really not Pink Floyd without Roger Waters).


You left one out....

Tangerine Dream anyone? (They're all good, but the Risky Business soundtrack can be listened to at any given time)
:cross:

Spyk'd said:

Pink Floyd is now too mainstream to mention(and yes they're really not Pink Floyd without Roger Waters).

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And I specifically called them out as being too mainstram. In your defence, it's a good album. (Had you mentioned "The Wall"...) There are some of us who think that they're really not Floyd without Sid Barrett.

Cheesefood said:

And I specifically called them out as being too mainstram. In your defence, it's a good album. (Had you mentioned "The Wall"...) There are some of us who think that they're really not Floyd without Sid Barrett.

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Ah, touche! (ya bastid)

It's odd that I didn't make the jump back to Barrett seeing how SBN referenced Atom Heart Mother...must be slipping in my old age!


However, I'm a huge Syd Barrett fan. I love his seemingly stream of consciousness lyrics. One of my favorite rambles:

Isn't it good to be lost in the wood
isn't it bad so quiet there, in the wood
meant even less to me than I thought
with a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds
clover honey pots and mystic shining feed...




And to the defense of The Wall it still stands as one of the technically best recordings ever as far as recording technique and sound quality.(all before digital) I mean with the right system (my old system R.I.P.) it WILL blow out your windows and the drums sound like drums. Go figure...

...of course I'm biased being a drummer, but the album should not be bagged on, please.

OK, speaking of stream of consciousness, how about Shawn Phillips, specifically Furthermore, Contribution, and Second Contribution. And not just because he's a buddy of mine......

Spyk'd said:

And to the defense of The Wall it still stands as one of the technically best recordings ever as far as recording technique and sound quality.(all before digital) I mean with the right system (my old system R.I.P.) it WILL blow out your windows and the drums sound like drums. Go figure...

...of course I'm biased being a drummer, but the album should not be bagged on, please.

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If you like musical SoC, listen to Squarepusher.

Cheesefood said:

And I specifically called them out as being too mainstram. In your defence, it's a good album. (Had you mentioned "The Wall"...) There are some of us who think that they're really not Floyd without Sid Barrett.

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You mean like The piper at the gates of dawn obscure?

this is kind of hard...

Television self titled (late 70's early 80's post punk)
Man or Astroman? sounds of man in space with sounds (surf rock)
Wes Montgomery Full house (not obscure among jazz fans, but ever since i first heard this back in high schoool its been my fav jazz album-Miles Davis' rythem section and Wes recorded live in Berkley in '69)
Garbage bleed like me (chick rock at its finest)
ac/dc powerage (ok totally mainstream band but this is my fav all time rock album featuring Bon Scott the best rock singer-every song is awesome and every song youll never hear on the radio)

Okay, I had a chance to think about my obscure favortites, and here they are:

Legion of Mary- Anything live by this band in 1974-1975
Miles Davis- Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud (soundtrack to the movie)
Camper Van Beethoven- Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
Hindu Love Gods- Hindu Love Gods
Cornershop- When I Was Born for the 7th time

BTW Borg- Wes Montgomery's Full house is still one of my favorites to this day

Spyk'd said:

You left one out....

Tangerine Dream anyone? (They're all good, but the Risky Business soundtrack can be listened to at any given time)
:cross:

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I was actually going to put Tangerine Dream on my list but I couldn't decide on an album. I have been a HUGE fan of theirs since high school. I think I got into them around 1982. Glad someone else knows them too.

The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (BC Alternarock)
Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today (NYC sXe)
GG Allin - EMF (the true scu.....)
The Residents - Meet the Residents (La avante stuff)
Blonde Redhead - Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (NYC art rock)



I left Floyd's More and Waters' Amused to Death off...

Garbage is truly great chick rock, but I prefer the album Version 2.0. From start to finish, not a song to throw away! (har har)


<Nods to Camper Van>
Add: Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual. You'll be glad you did!



This is a great thread. Thanks CheesyPoos!@!@!

Great topic! Mine are, in no particular order:

The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show
Shoes - Stolen Wishes
Scott Wilk + The Walls - (debut LP; good luck finding it)
Material Issue - International Pop Overthrow
Webb Wilder - Hybrid Vigor

FWIW, I like Sufjan Stevens' Illinois and Garbage's Version 2.0 a lot, too!

More...

6. Les Claypool's Frog Brigade - "Purple Onion"
7. Ministry "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste"
8. My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult "Confessions Of A Knife"
9. Widespread Panic - "Widespread Panic"
10. Buju Banton - Every album he's put out.

Cheesefood said:

More...

6. Les Claypool's Frog Brigade - "Purple Onion"
7. Ministry "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste"
8. My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult "Confessions Of A Knife"
9. Widespread Panic - "Widespread Panic"
10. Buju Banton - Every album he's put out.

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We did this air band thing (basically a lip-synching contest) in high school to Minstry's "Psalm 69". Got my friend, who was and is completely bad-sh*t insane, dressed up like Jesus coming down off the cross. Very insane. They hated us, started throwing **** at us, started chanting for us to go home (the hated our second "song" even worse, "Endless Nameless" from the very end of Nirvana's Nevermind).

The only time in my life I have been screamed at by hundred and hundreds of people, had that many people building into an absolute mob frenzy against us. GOOD TIMES. Loved it, ef' 'em all.

OK..you asked for it....

1) Poison Idea: Feel the Darkness
2) Peter & the Test Tube Babies: The Loud, Blaring Punk Rock LP
3) Random Killing :Welcome
4) Fear: The Record
5) The Misfits: American Psycho

1.) Mermaid Avenue by Bragg, Billy and Wilco

2) Mermaid Avenue Vol. II by Bragg, Billy and Wilco

3) Dub Side of the Moon by Easy Star All Stars


4) True Love Waits: O'Riley Plays Radiohead


5) Singles Going Steady by Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks...one of the top 10 live bands I've seen !

Axegod said:

Buzzcocks...one of the top 10 live bands I've seen !

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Oh yeah, Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Cure...oh yeah, The Cure, one of the most influential bands of our time....



We'll debate all that later....



Cheers!

Wow. Buzzcocks. I was going to mention them too.

1. Sebadoh - III
2. Sonic Youth - Sister
3. Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers
4. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
5. XTC - Drums and Wires

jerly said:

5. XTC - Drums and Wires

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Wow! Another great one. I can't decide which album of theirs I like better! They're all so good.

Axe--All I want is more beer!

American Psycho? Haven't heard much of the misfits without Glenn. Their 50s cover album was fitting. I was gonna mention some Samhain.

Jerly--excellent Sonic inclusion there. Great unfriendly record.

gaelone said:

American Psycho? Haven't heard much of the misfits without Glenn. Their 50s cover album was fitting. I was gonna mention some Samhain.

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I haven't heard it either. "Famous Monsters" was pretty horrible - much like the way the Ramone's "new sound" was horrible compared to their old stuff. It's amazing how the Misfits are still an obscure band, despite having one of the most famous logos (visibly speaking) in all of music. Has anyone ever seen the "Crimson Ghost" serial movies from the 40's?

As for Samhain, I can't think of an album of their's that's Top-to-Bottom good. Samhain 2 was decent.

Danzig I and II are close to top-to-bottom great. Too bad he went to crap during and after 3.

Span-Mass Distraction
Sam Phillips-A boot and a shoe
Talking Heads-True Stories
Stereophonics-You Gotta Go There to Come Back
Marc Cohn-Marc Cohn

Those are just a few. Maybe they're not as obscure as I think.

Honorable mention for a single song...

Q Lazzarus - Good Bye Horses (best known as the song in "Silence of the Lambs" where Ted Levine does his little naked dance in front of the mirror.) Creeeeeepppy!

I like doing these. So hears my part 2.

6. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Strangers of the Universe
7. Okkervil River - Down the River of Golden Dreams (Actually. all of their albums have blown me away)
8. Drive Like Jehu - Drive Like Jehu
9. Flaming Lips - In a Priest Driven Ambulance (I definitly don't consider these guys a one hit wonder band. I don't really like the newer stuff, but this album is one of the best psychedelic punk albums ever. My opinion of course.)
10. Violent Femmes - Hollowed Ground (More Well known band, but this album is very underappreciated)

I used to buy a lot of completely random CDs from a local shop that sold them 8 for $10. Lots of trash, but also lots and lots and lots of really good stuff that I never would have found otherwise. One that jumps to mind that I really like was this band/person "Atto," the album being "14 Rounds With The Killer Blondes". "Atto" is Atto Attie, bass player for Darling Violetta, this was a little side project that he did. Very strange album, but very cool; the sticker on the front described it as Tom Waits meets Frank Zappa, which is kind of accurate but doesn't really capture the essense of it. Lots of weird instrumentations, lots of cello, I think some xylephone (sp?), some found sounds. Strangely hypnotic. Kind of gothy, which I don't really like, but very catchy.

I guess what I like about it so much is the really dark lyrics layered on top of this odd, but kind of happy, evil-clownish music. Twisted.

Given that a Google search results in perhaps three references to the album, I think that qualifies as obscure.

Cheesefood said:

9. Widespread Panic - "Widespread Panic"

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my favorite band of the last twnety years, hands down.

Some others, although probably not truly obscure:

Big Head Todd and the Monsters--Midnight Radio

Mad Season--Mad Season

Galactic--Coolin' Off

Brute--Cobalt

Little Sister--Free Love and Nickel beer

Honerable mention: Leftover Salmon--any, Funkadelic--Maggot Brain

jeffg said:

Honerable mention: Leftover Salmon--any, Funkadelic--Maggot Brain

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I was going to through some of that good old polyethnic cajun slamgrass up there, but as is with most jam-bands, I hate the studio albums. LoS used to be my fave band, but they suffered a big loss when Mark Vann died. I actually had an opportunity to break in a new piece of glass with him on my 22nd birthday in Memphis. Great band, fun guys but like Phish, terrible studio albums.

Cheesefood said:

I actually had an opportunity to break in a new piece of glass with him on my 22nd birthday in Memphis.

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LOL!
dirty hippy