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Post Info TOPIC: When were you last excited about buying a new album?


Back To Boomtown

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When were you last excited about buying a new album?
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Having picked up The Fine Art of Surfacing at the weekend, for £3 at the local Oxfam, I remembered how excited I was to get the album back in 1979.  Got it in advance along with Eat to the Beat and Hersham Boys, all three coming out more or less at the same time. Our local record store somehow always had them a week or two ahead.  Not sure they were meant to put them out, but they did.

Last album I was excited about getting was Tonight by Franz Ferdinand.  It was delivered the day before it was released to my house, I opened it up and found a dud pressing with the label splattered all over side 4!  Anyway, I returned it and got a new copy, but I haven't quite felt the same anticipation about any record since.

Still it will be great to hear The Fine Art of Surfacing properly on vinyl again.  My old copy is a bit worn and scratched, and there is a skidding sound at the start of Someone's Looking that shouldn't be there.  I would have played it, but the house is in the midst of renovation, and I can't even get to my turntable.



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In the Long Grass

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At a personal level, honestly can't remember. I do get a strange buzz out of the Now CDs coming out as it's usually a good half hour or more of potential DJ earning in one box, and I do check track listing pre-release, but certainly don't rush home to play them back to back.

I've stumbled across albums (having heard tracks I liked on radio or at pub etc) and been pleased, in some cases, to secure a copy for myself, but only really with hindsight, good examples being MGMT and Courteeners in relatively recent times. Don't think I've pre-ordered or deliberately pounced first day on anything this century though. Generally I've always been pretty 'cautious' of wading in on bands. Usually takes me at least a couple of singles or albums to truly appreciate, even with Rats. 

Pretty sure I got everything Rats did in UK very first day from and including Mondays. Never been matched by any other artist in that respect.

Closest in answer to this question was probably Carter or Pogues, which I'd snap up swiftly, from 30 Something onwards for Carter and from If I Should Fall From Grace for Pogues, having got 'into' both from their earlier offerings.

Before that, probably only Jam and Madness that I actively sought pretty much on release. 

Think/hope it just my priorities that have changed down the years rather than my appreciation of what's coming out. 



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Mondo Bongo

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Can't remember rushing out to get any records when released - tended to compile a birthday/Xmas wish list But was chuffed when a friend of my older brother queued up for an hour in Aldershot to get Bowie's Lets Dance album for me when it was released! Obviously a lot of fans in Aldershot - or maybe not much else to do

I do remember after having TFTT and FAOS, "discovering" the 1st album, and being excited about it, and getting a real buzz when I heard how good it was! And in many ways this is still my fave one - permanently in the CD drive in my car

Also liked Madness - they were frequently on my Xmas list! And my first impulse buy when I received a birthday record token was Reality Effect by the Tourists and being so relieved that I loved it as I'd only heard the first single!

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Loudmouth

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I have been asking myself for the last number of years do I still have the same passion for music. Listening to music is something I have always done, and I have always been fascinated about how music effects ones emotions eg both reflects and sometimes creates feelings etc. I suspect that like a lot of things in life our earlier exposure is going to be a lot more affecting than more recent samplings. A law of deminishing emotional returns? That's my theory anyway.

I have been meaning to get Clinic's album Bubblegum for the last number of years. I have all their other albums. I'm not willing to pay Eu 16 in HMV Dublin for it. I could order it online for a lot cheaper but I'm l just too lazy. I know that a few years ago I would have done just that or paid the full whack to HMV. Clinic rate in my all time top ten bands- a  totally original sound.

Most of the cd's I get are second hand either from record shops or charity shops. I can get cd's from Dublin city library (currently listening to Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain(f from library!) and a lot of my listening comes via  library borrowing.

Maybe your question ArrGee should have been about just hearing a new album, rather than deliberately paying for one. I like being surprised by how good something is, especially when it penetrates through ones jaded cynicism. Overall I am less impressed by modern music. I get to hear a lot of so called trendy new NME type bands and most of them sound pretty dull, especially compared to the punk era. Most of this new music is third or fourth generation duluted punk type rubbish, you know 'the sound of now, 2012.' Jesus wept,and with good reason.

One band I would like to hear more of is a band called Broadcast. Maybe wild, unbridled enthusiasm is for the young. I keep meaning to write a list of all the new good music I've heard in the last say, ten years, but I never seem to get 'round to it. A basic test is would I like to hear another album by x band or is the one I just hear enough. Sadly very few acts pass a second album test for me. Probably The Libertines were the last great British band of the last ten years.



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In the Long Grass

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noelindublin wrote:

currently listening to Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain


 Great album - bit of a punt for me (based on Lovely Head alone) but not disappointed at all. Then got more excited about buying Supernature than I ought, and was duly disappointed.

Remember getting Avalanches album around the same period I got Felt Mountain, on basis of really liking the track Frontier Psychiatrist (helped by one of the best videos ever - watch and smile http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLrnkK2YEcE ). Sadly the excitement over that album wasn't warranted either, for me at least. 



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Back To Boomtown

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noelindublin wrote:

Maybe your question ArrGee should have been about just hearing a new album, rather than deliberately paying for one. 


 No, not really.  The question was about looking forward to an album that was due to be released without having too much idea of what it would be like.

With Tonight by Franz, the first single was a let down, but I caught a snatch of Bite Hard in HMV, so I really wanted to get the album.  And after I got a proper copy it was great to get it out an play it.  I had similar feeings about Surfacing, Mondo Bongo and V Deep.  I had pretty much heard Tonic for the Troops before buying it,and  In The Long Grass didn't seem to get properly released, it just happened to be in the shop one day with no fanfare at all.

Down the years I have always looked forward to new albums, but lately I find I don't really care.  I just wanted to know if it was just me.



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Back To Boomtown

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I am really excited about this album...

http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=355995

Pulp Live from 1991!!!!  Only Boomtown Rats live in 1976 could surpass this.

355995L.jpg



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Loudmouth

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Earlier this summer, Dexys and One day i'm going to soar.

First album in 27 years and not a letdown at all. Good songwriting from Kevin Rowland and nice brasswork from Jim Paterson. Most impressive.

Rats-wise, was very very excited about any release but particularly Surfacing and then Mondo Bongo, after appetite whetted by Banana & Guilty. Troops was already out by time I got into the Rats. Less but still excited about V Deep, but I knew it would not be up there with the first 4 albums.



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Loudmouth

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Mark L wrote:

Earlier this summer, Dexys and One day i'm going to soar.

First album in 27 years and not a letdown at all. Good songwriting from Kevin Rowland and nice brasswork from Jim Paterson. Most impressive.

Rats-wise, was very very excited about any release but particularly Surfacing and then Mondo Bongo, after appetite whetted by Banana & Guilty. Troops was already out by time I got into the Rats. Less but still excited about V Deep, but I knew it would not be up there with the first 4 albums.


 I've always liked Dexy's and think their debut album is brilliant. I hope to catch up with their new release soon. I'm not a big fan of any kind of 'celtic' music, but Kevin Rowland and Dexys always had that special something. Rowland was always interesting and passionate, sometimes just totally baffling. One of the songs on Don't Stand Me Down had a great line that went something like ' I don't speak Italian myself but I knew a man who once did', Rowland just rambling on for about ten minutes on one of the songs with no hook or melody to speak of, but still it seemed to mean something.

Even Ultravox are back on the road. Midge Ure was the guest on Danny Baker's show on BBC radio 5 live last  Saturday morning.Lots of good singles but I never really bough any of Ultravox's albums to rate them higher.



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noelindublin wrote:
Even Ultravox are back on the road.

These days, it's more of question of who isn't on the road.  In one form or another pretty much every band I have ever heard of are touring.  Even bands where most of them are dead and there are no original members.  Some even have multiple incarnations.

I can't think of any band who have absolutely given up.  McCartney still plays The Beatles and Morrissey still plays The Smiths. David Bowie seems to be the only one who can't be bothered.



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Loudmouth

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suss wrote:
noelindublin wrote:

currently listening to Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain


 Great album - bit of a punt for me (based on Lovely Head alone) but not disappointed at all. Then got more excited about buying Supernature than I ought, and was duly disappointed.

Remember getting Avalanches album around the same period I got Felt Mountain, on basis of really liking the track Frontier Psychiatrist (helped by one of the best videos ever - watch and smile http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLrnkK2YEcE ). Sadly the excitement over that album wasn't warranted either, for me at least. 


 I was 'revisiting' Felt Mountain, so to speak, having heard it when it came out originally. Must say it can try ones patience, all the 'songs' are really slow and it's more about spooky athmospheres  and etheral sketching of mood rather than upfront numbers than make instant impact. I think Seventh Tree is their best album, it is sort of English folky (not a bad thing in my opinion) with some really good tracks and one sort of German disco number called Cologne Cerronne Houdini which is wonderfully athmospheric and a lot more immediate than anything on Felt Mountain.

My new musical darlings are Sparks, the seventies keyboard outfit. Currently listening to a double compilation of their hits-wonderful tracks any dj should check  them out if stuck for good music to play. This band was in the vanguard of the synth 'revolution', paving the  way for lesser luminaries like Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, but in my opinion were way better. Great lyricists too. Morrissey is a big fan of Sparks. Another 'oddball' band on TOTP in the seventies, who never really fitted in, now are a bit of a cult.



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Mondo Bongo

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ArrGee wrote:
noelindublin wrote:
Even Ultravox are back on the road.

These days, it's more of question of who isn't on the road.  In one form or another pretty much every band I have ever heard of are touring.  Even bands where most of them are dead and there are no original members.  Some even have multiple incarnations.

I can't think of any band who have absolutely given up.  McCartney still plays The Beatles and Morrissey still plays The Smiths. David Bowie seems to be the only one who can't be bothered.


 Have seen Midge Ure a couple of times, but would be interesting to see him with the full sound rather than just acoustic set.  He was good though ...

Re: Bowie, thought he had health problems? 



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Loudmouth

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Impeccable taste Noel - Sparks are simply brilliant - several albums in the collection going right back to Kimono My House. Always slightly peturbed by Ron on TOTP with his fixed glum staring routine and that moustache!

 



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Loudmouth

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Morrissey included a song by Sparks called Barbecutie on a free cd he did for the NME  a few years ago, and this got me interested in hearing more. I had totally forgotten about them, being too young to remember their output in the early seventies, but I can just about  remember articles about them in various music magazines from the late seventies- and their unforgettable image.

I just about remember When I'm Near You being played on Radio Luxembourg in 1979 and this sounds brilliant now. Beat The Clock, Number One Song In Heaven, Amateur Hour, la Dolce Vita, Angst In My Pants- just so many good catchy songs with great lyrics. Sometimes good music is just lost on the masses, hence Sparks are little known, while so much dross gets to the top.

Interesting that the Mael brothers had to come to Britain from America in the early seventies because the could not get a deal in their home country.



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Loudmouth

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Beat the clock is too clever by half (entered school when I was 2, phd that afternoon) - now you've rekindled interest, their CD is coming out in the car for a long drive to Peterborough tomorrow!



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Loudmouth

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Mark L wrote:

Beat the clock is too clever by half (entered school when I was 2, phd that afternoon) - now you've rekindled interest, their CD is coming out in the car for a long drive to Peterborough tomorrow!


 Hope you get to Peterborough on time - you gotta beat the clock. Was listening to Tips For Teens last night by Sparks-sounds really great, and I think When I'm With You is my current favourite song. On good speakers the songs sound really well produced for songs largely from the mid to late seventies. Great band.



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The Fine Art of Surfacing

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i've never been excited about buying a new album

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The Fine Art of Surfacing

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takes more than an album to excite me

i guess i'm a hard woman to excite

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Mondo Bongo

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Looking back, just seemed more exciting buying singles/albums than CDs. Don't know if that's an age thing looking back with rose-tinted specs or whether the whole package just seemed more attractive.

Mind you, not averse to the modern CD or anything CD really - in fact the seedier the better, ha ha!!


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Loudmouth

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Vinyl records tended to get scratched and could only be listened to in a sitting room/bedroom situation. Cassette tapes, despite their portability were very prone to getting stuck in the mechanisml and who can forget having to get a bic biro or something to unravel the cassette. Many's a tape was eaten up. Maybe this was a music business conspiracy to make us keep buying tapes? And I hated more than anything no being able to access a track quickly, but having to guess when it starts by fast forwarding, and in the process missing the start,  or hearing the end of the previous song more than once as I 'fine tuned'.

With cd's you could access the tracks almost instantaneously, and the sound quality was way better. With any sort of care the tended to last. The only real problem was/ still is the flimsy cd cases which always seem to break off the hinges. Singles on cd tended to look a bit sad.The artwork could never match that of the vinyl single, a case of size mattering.

 



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noelindublin wrote:

With cd's you could access the tracks almost instantaneously, and the sound quality was way better. 


 If you could find it!  I had a bad habit of putting the wrong CD in the wrong case.  I got folders for all my CDs and then mp3s and spotify came along, so I didn't need CDs at all.   Now I buy vinyl...



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Loudmouth

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I periodically match the right discs to the right cases. I was fed up of selecting what I wanted to hear by case and then halfway down the road finding out it wasn't Blondie but NOW 23 etc by disc! 



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V Deep

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Last one I bought was omd architecture & morality live and rats japanese lp from 1985 which came last week or so greatly and loving itb

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