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Classic Album Discussion Thread: The Kinks-Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1 (3 Viewers)

My blood was boiling the other day reading posts of @Ilov80s ####ting on the Black Sabbath album.  Then I calmed down, looked at the albums closer, and decided he's not fully wrong.  I love Hand of Doom and Electric Funeral, but as far as albums go I much prefer the one before and the couple after.  They are a bad ### band, and helped start a genre of music I lived on for decades, but amazing lyrics aren't the selling point on the album.  

 
A new Bowie live album "Welcome to the Blackout" dropped on the streaming services today.  It's collected from a set of London shows in 1978 with the same band that performed on "Stage".  Berlin-era Bowie was his artistic peak IMO and it's cool to hear another show from that tour. 

As on "Stage", Bowie includes a six song mini-set of songs from Ziggy Stardust so it is connected to this thread.

 
I live on Haight Street and the Dead is the home team.  I've tried to listen to them many times but never quite got 'em.  Much respect to those that do. 

American Beauty is about as accessible as they got excluding the the thankfully brief In the Dark pop turn.  I like the Dead's rhythm section and Robert Hunter's words but won't go into what I don't like about my homies.  I'll leave my scoffing to the Eagles.

 
Chaos Commish said:
even though those knuckleheads thing less of you
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I’m my experience with “Dead Heads” they weren’t pretentious and didn’t demand or care for others to like the band. They obviously did and would love for others to “get it” but never seemed condescending or hung up about it.

 
shuke said:
I rarely listen to studio Dead, like maybe once every 7 years, but when I do it’s AB or Terrapin Station.  
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Terrapin is another great studio record but not as accessible to non-fans like AB or WMD. They Terrapin side is the closest a studio recording ever came to matching their live playing.

 
Found it: 

1.18 Grateful Dead – American Beauty – (1970)

Social consciousness is difficult to escape these days. Given today's climate, escape seems a desirable alternative to engagement. But figuring out the root cause of how we got here might mean merely chasing the original cause down the rabbit hole, naked and bare-assed for the world, struggling to fit in something not made for humans. That’s unsatisfactory. So how do we address the religiosity and rigidity of our sociopolitical state of mind, or much more importantly, how do we find the way around it -- down and off the beaten paths to La Honda, a little bit further, if you will? Holding hands with Garcia, Mountain Girl simply intones, and the rest follow her lead.

The Warner Brothers promo for this album states: “I’d like to tell you that [so-and-so left to follow the Dead and can be found skinny dipping at your local motel]. But you’re no fool. You’d complain. We'd get in trouble. And Jerry Garcia probably would get busted again.” Oh yes, you would. You’d complain. Or you’d shut the shades and smoke your smoke, secretly hoping she’d Phoebe Cates up in your door and lecture you for wanting her.

Or something.   

So it’s a bit sexist and heteronormative for today's times, sure. It’s also paradoxically a bit communal in spirit – if only you saw the world as the Dead, then hell, we’d all be individualist democrats. And at heart, it really is one of the most mellow drink, ####, fight, throw your fists at God and former lovers album that ever could be recorded, guerilla-style but with an alluring gentility, as Americans always have been. Brash, gentle, individualist, contemplative about all three things. Ripple. Box of Rain. Truckin’. Candyman. Brokedown Palace. It tunes in, turns on, attempts to thoughtfully drop out.

So what happens when American Beauty and freedom meet the inevitable realities of politics and of life in general? Well, we deal with it in the way Americans have dealt with it since our original crossing. Water. What? Yes, water, that baptismal rite (this album is full of passages and travel; echoes of the frontiersman and settlers abound on it). There is also perspective and empiricism, and pantheism, of course, but for which we would not have hippie and transcendental movements. For better or worse, this album brims with Americanisms and high Americana, seeing religion through the lens of nature; seeking to address eternal questions through individual perspective and the brief understandings of the tangible and present; and the plain old good fun and heartbreak through the outlaw’s mind when the majority doesn’t suit him.  It’s radical individualism, presented with a panache and flair that answers to nobody, and it is a singular achievement of the holdover ‘60s into the ‘70s. They may have made the acid illegal, but the flashbacks of what once could have been are here to stay. There isn’t a song on this album that isn’t memorable, doesn’t have a quote worthy of a passage of rite in life. It was made for yearbooks, if only it hadn't been done so often before. But if you're unafraid to be a bit redundant sometimes, you can leave others a pearl of wisdom of what your uncool self always wanted to be.

And did I mention it has the best album cover possibly ever put forth on a rock album, beautiful rosewood and a powder blue ambigram that also reads "American Reality?" Look closer, you'll see it. Don't dig deeper, just go beyond. Anyway, enough of that, here's the important stuff. 

For natural wit and yearbook quotes everywhere (one from each song):

“It’s just a box of rain…wind and water. Believe it if you need it. If you don’t just pass it on…sun and shower, wind and rain, in and out the window like a moth before a flame…it’s just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair, such a long, long time to be gone, and short time to be there.” - Box Of Rain 

“I ran down to the levee but the devil caught me there, He took my twenty dollar bill and he vanished in the air.” - Friend Of The Devil

“Sweet blossom come on, under the willow, we can have high times if you’ll abide. We can discover the wonders of nature, rolling in the rushes down by the riverside.” - Sugar Magnolia

“It’s floodin’ down in Texas, poles are out in Utah. Gotta find a private line.” - Operator

“Come on all your pretty women, with your hair a hanging down, open up your windows cuz the candyman’s in town…if you got a dollar boys, lay it on the line, hand me my old guitar, pass the whiskey round” - Candyman

“Ripple in still water, when there is no pebble tossed, nor wind to blow.” - Ripple 

“In a bed, in a bed, by the waterside I will lay my head. Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul...sing a lullaby beside the water, lovers come and go, the river roll, roll, roll” - Brokedown Palace

“The shape it takes could be yours to choose…what you may win, what you may lose.” - Till The Morning Comes

“When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me.” - Attics Of My Life 

“Busted, down on on Bourbon Street, set up, like a bowlin’ pin…what a long, strange trip it’s been!” - Truckin' 

"Fare you well my honey/fare you well my only true one/all the birds that were singing have flown except for you alone" - Brokedown Palace

 
Ripple and Brokedown Palace are of the most beautiful songs ever written. And despite hearing them my entire life, it wasn't until I was an adult when I acknowledged that fact.

 
So I gave American Beauty a full listen. Went in totally open minded and actually wanted to like it, always open to finding a new band to get into.

Box of Rain wasn't bad so I was encouraged but nearly bailed during Candyman. I powered through that and kept going, not listening really attentively but while doing work. But oh boy was Attics of my Life a challenge. That was rough. I saw that only Truckin was left so I finished it off. I can't say I hated it, outside of those 2 songs mentioned, but I won't be listening to that or probably any other Dead albums again.

Back to Hendrix now...whew. 

 
zamboni said:
Speaking of drafts, your headphone thread could morph into a headphone song draft (although may have been done before after all these years of drafts). 
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Thanks for the response. That would be great, but hard to set parameters. I'm not sure I could even participate. I buy vinyl for the exact purpose of audiophile excellence and don't think I could participate in that sort of draft. What songs would you draft, given 1.1 and then onward?  

 
rockaction said:
Thanks for the response. That would be great, but hard to set parameters. I'm not sure I could even participate. I buy vinyl for the exact purpose of audiophile excellence and don't think I could participate in that sort of draft. What songs would you draft, given 1.1 and then onward?  
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Don’t know - just spitballing here. I’m sure sound heavy groups like Floyd would be well represented. Agreed that it would be hard to set parameters - it would probably merely turn into a “what’s your favorite song” draft.

 
timschochet said:
Do you have access to ITunes or Amazon music? Put this album on. I promise it’s a life changing experience. 
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Not familiar with this album as a whole, and really only know the most "popular" of dead songs (Friend of the Devil, Truckin, Touch of Grey, maybe one or two more).  

I put this on, and will listen to the whole thing straight through. I will say that a few songs in, I'd concur this is perfect for chillin with on the deck with a cold drink and a hot grill going.

 
I was listening to Europe 72 last night. There’s some brilliant music on this album, especially Jackstraw, China Cat Sunflower, and Brown Eyed Women.  

 
KarmaPolice said:
My blood was boiling the other day reading posts of @Ilov80s ####ting on the Black Sabbath album.  Then I calmed down, looked at the albums closer, and decided he's not fully wrong.  I love Hand of Doom and Electric Funeral, but as far as albums go I much prefer the one before and the couple after.  They are a bad ### band, and helped start a genre of music I lived on for decades, but amazing lyrics aren't the selling point on the album.  
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Metal and horror music are just not my thing. 

 
Stuart Ullman said:
I never "got" the Grateful Dead.
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DocHolliday said:
I don't get the Dead.   Their music does nothing for me.   It didn't when I was smoking either.   But, it is not terrible.  Tull is terrible.  
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Ditkaless Wonders said:
I have attended 200 shows.  
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shuke said:
It is disappointing that some people don’t appreciate or “get” the greatest American rock and roll band of all time.  If feel sorry for them. 
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Curious if those who 'don't get' the Dead ever had the good fortune to see a show. I only caught their final few years, and wow, just never experienced anything so... wonderful.

I like their music, though appreciate it more than I enjoy just listening to it for any extended period. Had friends who did the 100+ cassette collection of shows.

@Ditkaless Wonders - while I only saw about 8-10 shows, I was fortunate enough to be at the Tempe natural amphitheater in 1992 (Think it was 92) when the skies opened up cooling everyone off just before the show, and IIRC the band came out while it was still raining (maybe just after) and played Here Comes Sunshine for the first time in like 17 years or something. I didn't at first get the magnitude of what was happening, but you quickly could tell from the crowd something special was afoot, even for a Dead show.

 
AC/DC- Back in Black (1980)

Side One

Hells Bells

Shoot to Thrill

What You Do For Money Honey

Givin’ The Dog a Bone

Let Me Put My Love Into You

Side Two

Back In Black

You Shook Me All Night Long

Have a Drink On Me

Break a Leg

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

I attended Huntington Beach high school between 1980-83, and the popular music of the time was dominated by bands made popular by MTV, like Duran Duran and Culture Club. But there was a small but noticeable faction who scorned the new music and loved hard rock. They wore motorcycle jackets, smoked cigarettes (among other things) and hung out in the back parking lot and at Del Taco across the street. I was never part of them but I knew them  pretty well. Sometimes it seemed like the only class they took was shop. And their number #1 obsession was AC/DC. In fact the name was written, in spiky letters, on their jackets, all over their books and notebooks. Their attitude was worshipful. 

It seems funny now to me that a pub rock band from Australia could capture so much attention among a certain sector of Southern California teenagers, but this album does rock pretty hard. As overplayed as the first two songs on side two are, they’re still fun to listen to. 

 
I will never forget buying this cassette..  all black cover with the white AC/DC..  It looked mean..

This hasn't aged well (for me at least) but if your heart doesn't start pounding at the beginning of Hells Bells...    :headbang:

 
timschochet said:
AC/DC- Back in Black (1980)

Side One

Hells Bells

Shoot to Thrill

What You Do For Money Honey

Givin’ The Dog a Bone

Let Me Put My Love Into You

Side Two

Back In Black

You Shook Me All Night Long

Have a Drink On Me

Break a Leg

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

I attended Huntington Beach high school between 1980-83, and the popular music of the time was dominated by bands made popular by MTV, like Duran Duran and Culture Club. But there was a small but noticeable faction who scorned the new music and loved hard rock. They wore motorcycle jackets, smoked cigarettes (among other things) and hung out in the back parking lot and at Del Taco across the street. I was never part of them but I knew them  pretty well. Sometimes it seemed like the only class they took was shop. And their number #1 obsession was AC/DC. In fact the name was written, in spiky letters, on their jackets, all over their books and notebooks. Their attitude was worshipful. 

It seems funny now to me that a pub rock band from Australia could capture so much attention among a certain sector of Southern California teenagers, but this album does rock pretty hard. As overplayed as the first two songs on side two are, they’re still fun to listen to. 
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Are you telling me there were reeferheads in Huntington Beach, California in 1980? I find that very hard to believe. 

 
I loved Back in Black when it first came out. As a middle school kid, the opening gong and slow intro into Hells Bells was it. However, as the metal phase kicked into high gear in the early '80s, I listened to more of AC/DC's older Bon Scott stuff - which I liked a lot more - and came to realize that the "new" AC/DC was a one-trick pony with a god-awful singer in Brian Johnson. That meh feeling has only escalated over time - that said, I recognize their influence on the metal scene and perhaps no other band in history has milked more out of three chords than they have.

 
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I like Back in Black - although it's way too played out for me to ever really need to listen to it again. I can appreciate the fact that AC/DC never really strayed from their "formula" and gave their fans what they wanted/expected - but for that reason I can't say that I ever really need to seek out their music (although it's good to throw a few songs into a workout mix).

God bless them and all, but once you've listed to one post-Bon Scott AD/DC record you've basically listened to them all. 

 
timschochet said:
AC/DC- Back in Black (1980)

Side One

Hells Bells

Shoot to Thrill

What You Do For Money Honey

Givin’ The Dog a Bone

Let Me Put My Love Into You

Side Two

Back In Black

You Shook Me All Night Long

Have a Drink On Me

Break a Leg

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

I attended Huntington Beach high school between 1980-83, and the popular music of the time was dominated by bands made popular by MTV, like Duran Duran and Culture Club. But there was a small but noticeable faction who scorned the new music and loved hard rock. They wore motorcycle jackets, smoked cigarettes (among other things) and hung out in the back parking lot and at Del Taco across the street. I was never part of them but I knew them  pretty well. Sometimes it seemed like the only class they took was shop. And their number #1 obsession was AC/DC. In fact the name was written, in spiky letters, on their jackets, all over their books and notebooks. Their attitude was worshipful. 

It seems funny now to me that a pub rock band from Australia could capture so much attention among a certain sector of Southern California teenagers, but this album does rock pretty hard. As overplayed as the first two songs on side two are, they’re still fun to listen to. 
Click to expand...
we're prettymuch the same age (I graduated high school in 84), and yea, this album was my introduction to "Hard Rock" music that wasn't made seemingly a decade earlier. I loved this album when it came out, and still do, although I now find it a little overplayed (especially "you shook me" - still, it's an all time classic song). 

But any fascination with AC/DC was very short lived. I wasn't a huge fan of the next album (in fact, after Back in Black introduced me to them, I explored the older Bon Scott stuff, and found I liked it more.) Also, by then, the beginnings of what would become hair metal / thrash caught my ear (solo Ozzy, early Crue, Def Leppard, Metallica, Maiden, etc). That stuff all made AC/DC sound simplistic and, dare I say, "old". 

 
It would take a lot to overcome the sadness of losing Bon Scott but damned if Back in Black didn't rise to the challenge. Everyone accepted Brian Johnson pretty quickly and moved past Bon's death with the album. Start to finish, a classic. Admittedly not in my regular rotation, I still prefer Bon Scott era AC/DC, but still turn up any song from it a few notches when it comes on the radio. The last album I really liked was Fly on the Wall but bought a few albums after that.

We hung out with a pretty large crowd in the mid-80's, in a rare wooded area of Queens, near a cemetery. Weekdays would be like 10-15 people each night, weekends around 20-30 and big keg parties would draw in like 50+ We rented a bus for the Fly on the Wall tour in New Jersey and had probably close to 50 people on board. Plenty of drugs and alcohol, just an insane night. Even the bus driver was enjoying himself. I don't remember much about the ride home but we did get the bus driver to stop at White Castle. Must have been an interesting sight seeing us all pile out. Good times!

 
I'm a little younger, so I wasn't listening to music when this came out.  Started getting into hard rock and metal in high school (87ish?) when a buddy gave me a Who Made Who tape.  Loved that and started building my AC/DC back catalogue collection.  I did like Black in Black at the time, but it was never my favorite.  I didn't know at the time there was a different singer, but as I got older and a little more information, I came to realize I just preferred the Bon Scott stuff.

I can still appreciate most of the songs on the album, but only if I hear them no more than once a year.  I don't have any of these on my Spotify playlists, they just come up too often on the radio, etc.

 
timschochet said:
AC/DC- Back in Black (1980)

Side One

Hells Bells

Shoot to Thrill

What You Do For Money Honey

Givin’ The Dog a Bone

Let Me Put My Love Into You

Side Two

Back In Black

You Shook Me All Night Long

Have a Drink On Me

Break a Leg

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

I attended Huntington Beach high school between 1980-83, and the popular music of the time was dominated by bands made popular by MTV, like Duran Duran and Culture Club. But there was a small but noticeable faction who scorned the new music and loved hard rock. They wore motorcycle jackets, smoked cigarettes (among other things) and hung out in the back parking lot and at Del Taco across the street. I was never part of them but I knew them  pretty well. Sometimes it seemed like the only class they took was shop. And their number #1 obsession was AC/DC. In fact the name was written, in spiky letters, on their jackets, all over their books and notebooks. Their attitude was worshipful. 

It seems funny now to me that a pub rock band from Australia could capture so much attention among a certain sector of Southern California teenagers, but this album does rock pretty hard. As overplayed as the first two songs on side two are, they’re still fun to listen to. 
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How could anyone not love this album, especially Givin the dog a bone.

 
Ilov80s said:
Metal and horror music are just not my thing. 
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These were my two main loves from M.S. -> college.   It stunted my tastes quite a bit in both areas as it took me a lot longer than a lot around here to branch out.  I didn't start branching out and watching a lot of "good" movies a lot until about 2000-2001 or so, and music wasn't much sooner than that.  Even if I did branch out a little for music, it was usually on the metal side of things like Soundgarden or NIN/Ministry for alternative - stuff like that.    

 
I still prefer the Scott albums, but really love Back in Black.  Like somebody mentioned up top, Shoot to Thrill is one helluva song, and probably my favorite on the album.  That will get blasted in the car when it comes on.   Have a Drink on Me, Hells Bells, and the title track are also killer songs.  It does get a bit silly in the middle with stuff like Givin' the Dog a Bone and Let Me Put My Love into You, but still good.  

All that said, and it came up before in the overplayed tracks discussing, due to overplaying I can't stand You Shook Me All Night Long anymore, and that is an instant skip or channel change if I have control of the music.  

 
A very memorable album for me. Back in Black came out when I was in high school, and every day you could hear it blaring out of someones car in the school parking lot. AC/DC had to be very happy to have such a successful album with a new lead singer. Favorite song on the album is Hells Bells.

 
KarmaPolice said:
I still prefer the Scott albums, but really love Back in Black.  Like somebody mentioned up top, Shoot to Thrill is one helluva song, and probably my favorite on the album.  That will get blasted in the car when it comes on.   Have a Drink on Me, Hells Bells, and the title track are also killer songs.  It does get a bit silly in the middle with stuff like Givin' the Dog a Bone and Let Me Put My Love into You, but still good.  

All that said, and it came up before in the overplayed tracks discussing, due to overplaying I can't stand You Shook Me All Night Long anymore, and that is an instant skip or channel change if I have control of the music.  
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I can still remember the first time I saw this video on Headbangers Ball.  It was life changing (apparently, like the first time Tim listened to a Grateful Dead album).  Now when I hear this song, I listen to it wondering why it was so amazing to me.

 
timschochet said:
AC/DC- Back in Black (1980)

Side One

Hells Bells

Shoot to Thrill

What You Do For Money Honey

Givin’ The Dog a Bone

Let Me Put My Love Into You

Side Two

Back In Black

You Shook Me All Night Long

Have a Drink On Me

Break a Leg

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution
Click to expand...
Can easily recite every single word for each song.

Top 3 all time IMO - my introduction to being a life long heavy metal fan.

 
KarmaPolice said:
These were my two main loves from M.S. -> college.   It stunted my tastes quite a bit in both areas as it took me a lot longer than a lot around here to branch out.  I didn't start branching out and watching a lot of "good" movies a lot until about 2000-2001 or so, and music wasn't much sooner than that.  Even if I did branch out a little for music, it was usually on the metal side of things like Soundgarden or NIN/Ministry for alternative - stuff like that.    
Click to expand...
It's a good point about stunted growth. Between the crowd I hung with and the band I sang with, I was so engulfed in the metal scene that I never broadened my horizons from my teens through my 20's. There was a time, for a few years, where I barely listened to any music at all. I was always into finding new music and didn't find much to like around when numetal was big. I started getting into classical and jazz and it wasn't until finally finding David Bowie that I finally started looking back at things I missed along the way. While I will still check out some new metal on Sirius, I listen mostly to 60's (our yard hangout music) and 70's hard rock now.

 
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