records you're permanently undecided about

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you own the record, you've listened to it plenty. it has both appaling and unpleasant characteristics, yet they are present at the same time. you can't figure out whether you find listening to the record an enjoyable experience or not, so you keep going back to find out.

what is this record? what are the characteristics you find unpleasant/appealing? why can't you make up your mind?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Confield to thread.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Fucking Ricardo Villalobos to thread.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i used to have a bunch of records like that but I tend to get rid of them in exchange for records I like.

― joseph pot (STINKOR™), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

every tiem i listen to "10,000 hz legend" one or two songs suck whiel all the others are briliant. thing is its diferent songs each time. rihgt now the choekd vocals on "how does this maek you feel" grate to no end yet i clearly remebmer that i used to love that song a year ago. "wonder milky bitch" was once a nail in the albums cofin, now im hapily singing "you dont wear cosmeTIC / you dont liek artihmeTIC" to myself. i have no explanation for this.

― :| (....), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

true. i once even remember quite liking the beck song!

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

OTM on 10,000 HZ Legend.

― derrick (derrick), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm even more undecided about Draft 7:30. Confield isn't meant to be tuneful, it's meant to be an endurance contest (their live shows from the time attest to this even more). Whereas with Draft 7:30 ... is it supposed to be tuneful? In the ditzier melodic style of LP5? Atonal clanging? That album really felt like a cautionary step to me, the first release that made me think that just maybe, Autechre were starting to run out of ideas. And yet, it's Autechre, so obviously it can't be *all* bad.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"easy lee" I thought wtf is this when i heard Fabric 13... then I read how good it's supposed to be :/

I try and enjoy it but it still spoils that mix for me for flow if nothing else.

― technocaffeine (grumpy_bastard), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The collected works of Buffalo Springfield.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 12 September 2004 23:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Barry - I find Draft7.30 a lot more easy on the ears than Confield. Draft has a groove and a poise to it and it makes at least a little sense. I managed to mix tracks like VProc over Funkadelic tracks and it works whereas "tunes" like Pen Expers just sound like a constant unpleasant and inconclusive rattling sound. Still, Confield is like beetroot for me in that every so often I go back to it to see if I "get it" now.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 12 September 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

John English's 'It's All A Game'.

I mean, I like the *idea* of owning a John English record.

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 13 September 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
The Black Vial - Noise Frequency PWH
The entire Go-Betweens catalog

Am never sure if I'm walking away a changed man or not...

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 13 September 2004 04:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Radiohead. Just doesn't impact for some reason.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 13 September 2004 05:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Speakerboxxx/Love Below

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Monday, 13 September 2004 05:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Trout Mask Replica

― mentalist (mentalist), Monday, 13 September 2004 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Sgt. Pepper's

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 13 September 2004 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I kept Ege Bamyasi long enough to suddenly discover one day about 2 years after I bought it that it was incredible and so were Can. When I'd originally bought it, it did nothing for me.

Overall, I'd say things I keep going back to trying to understand usually end up being favorites. Right now I'm rather conflicted about this Simon Finn CD, though. I find if I can pretend I'm way back in time when I used to listen to Death In June (David Tibet, member of DOJ was responsible for releasing Simon Finn) then I can just about tolerate it. Certainly there's something very bewitching about it, and yet it's difficult. This is the sound of a man just going completely mad, right before your eyes. He has been driven completely mad by the whole world. It's like Nick Drake, only with the sound of nails down a blackboard the whole time. Sandpaper feeling. The guitar wincingly out of tune with his voice as if to say "we were such stoned hippies we couldn't bother to be in tune" or "he was so completely driven out of his mind by the whole world that out-of-tune guitars are just what you get with these bizarre lyrics and remember folky Death In June is our reference point"

Man, I tell ya. I can *definitely* think of better things to listen to, but all the same it just....has something. Not much, but something. Maybe I should listen to it one more time just to be sure...

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 13 September 2004 06:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Then again, this thread does say "permanently". Off the top of my head, the first Siouxsie album? I like most everything else the Banshees ever did but that first album perplexes me.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 13 September 2004 06:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The Go-Betweens - all albums (good call, Roger)
Prefab Sprout - 2CD best-of thing (do 'best-of's count?)

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 13 September 2004 08:29 (twenty-one years ago)

my all-time candidate is Astral Weeks, which I've owned since I was 16. I'm not a VM fan particularly (with the exception of a few singles, his later stuff bores me to death), but I do recognize that there's something special and different about this album. it's just not something I'm sure I want to HEAR. I do love "Cyprus Avenue" and "Madame George" and maybe "Slim Slow Slider," but even then I'm not sure I'm hearing what the album's fans are.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 13 September 2004 09:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
OTM

― supercub, Monday, 13 September 2004 10:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I love "Song Cycle", strangely - but I Only listen to it on special occasions. You have to imagine a music hall that somehow got flooded sunk in the mid 1930s but carried on opening and doing shows. It's an incredible album that, in the way Troutmask or Animal Collective sounds random and unstructured, one later realises it's actually all thought through.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 13 September 2004 10:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Stereolab's Mars Audiac Quintet. Never got into it, unlike the records on either side (which I got into massive). I keep putting it on before i go to bed hoping that some sort of taste osmosis thing will occur, and instead I fall asleep - as a result I've listened to it more than any other Stereolab album in the past five years.

The same thing sort of happened with Norma Jean Bell's Come Into My Room.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 13 September 2004 12:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Björk - Medúlla

― ruffle bar (grumpy_bastard), Monday, 13 September 2004 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

def jux' el-p does a NERD-style track (link provided)

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 13 September 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Another vote for Astral Weeks. This thread totally captures the way I feel about Astral Weeks, Exile On Main St. & Loveless, among other critical acclaimed meisterwerks. What they have in common is this: I put them on, enjoy 15 minutes or so, then completely lose interest and barely hear the rest. If they weren't all such critical darlings, or if they were darlings that I hated in their entirety, I'd sell 'em without a thought and live happily ever after. In other words, I'd PREFER to hate 'em rather than be ambivalent. It's no surprise that I've bought & sold many of these more than once, essentially paying double for a record I don't even LIKE all that much! Only an ILMer would do something so ridiculous.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 13 September 2004 13:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, it happens the most with canonical records for me too, and the one I feel the most undecided about is Daydream Nation. It can be a chore but something always draws me back (something besides just its canonical status, because unlike other records of that stature I get the feeling I may really like it one day).

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 13 September 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Joni Mitchell, the Hissing of Summer Lawns. There are a couple songs that I can enjoy without reservation, but something about it just makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable and doesn't connect. The uncomfortable part might be due to the night I was driving back from a gig by myself just trying to keep my eyes open and not die. I put this on for the first time, and it was absolutely the wrong choice to help me stay awake.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 13 September 2004 13:52 (twenty-one years ago)

(but, I feel that I *should* like it based on ILM's love and other friends who are Joni-lovers, and the couple songs I like prevent me from dismissing it entirely)

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 13 September 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

ENON, Hocus Pocus

A friend made me a copy, then asked me a few months later what I thought of it, and I couldn't say, really. It's not BAD...but at the same time I can't get into it in any sort of enthusiastic way. It's as though they wanted to appeal to two different demos by doing a song for the indie boys with crushes on japanese girls and the indie girls with crushes on SM-esque boys, a lil electronic indie then some regular indie rock. One or the other, please!

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 13 September 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I was totally gonna say Loveless. I've played it to bits...never ever remember more than the first & last tracks and one--somewhere--in the middle. Maybe that's what Eno meant when he said "the vaguest music ever," but it's curious. The record leaves me more queasy than ecstatic (waits for someone like Ned to say "that's EXACTLY the point,") but this bafflement leaves me never fully wanting to hear it and at the same time needing to go back and figure it out...or hoping it will come into (fuzzy) focus so I can enjoy it more next time through.

― Dark Horse, Monday, 13 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I felt that way about Loveless for ages. The fact that I put it on now because I enjoy it, not just to understand it, is very inspiring to me.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 13 September 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Agree with Barry about Draft 7.30. I find Confield very beautiful, and listen to it all the time (unlike LP5 and EP7, which I seem to have burned out on). But Draft just doesn't work for me. I put it on and within five minutes I've got my head cocked to the side like a dog watching its master do a card-trick. Five minutes after that, I'm listening to something else. But I keep it in my iPod, and I keep the CD because the little cards you get in lieu of a booklet are really cool-looking.

A month or so ago, I finally sold my 10-years-old-or-maybe-older CD of Trout Mask Replica. Just gave up on it, finally, decided that it was a record I didn't actually need to own. The Rockcrit Cred Police were never gonna come to my house and inspect the shelves, so fuck it.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Monday, 13 September 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, and Gish, for some reason. But that one's been due for a personal reassessment for years

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 13 September 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I like most of Daydream Nation, it's just pretty exhausting to listen to at one sitting - I feel this way about most double albums, with a couple of exceptions (Blonde on Blonde). I do like Loveless, but I think I prefer Isn't Anything - it just feels less "monumental"!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 13 September 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

For some reason, I've never found Confield unpleasant. The abstraction works for me, I like the sounds. Draft 7.30, I never listened to more than a couple times the week it came out. A couple of the more 'in-time' beat tracks are cool, but for me this one is the headache-inducer.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 13 September 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

this is a great thread. but i have the feeling people are not answering the question. it is not a thread about canonical albums you didn't get into. not a thread about albums authorities like and you want to like but don't. even after many relistens. it is about albums you are not sure if they are genius or plain dumb. albums you may love in one setting but hate in another one. albums you feel ambivalent about. my #1 choice would be harvest, i guess. i love it so much in its over-produced sincerity but i also hate its kitschness. it works well when i am sad. it recharges the sentimental battery. i don't like to listen to it when i am in a good mood. it feels stupid. i can't relate.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 13 September 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

OTM for Medulla

Saint Etienne - So Tough :(

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

scott walker - Tilt
.... i know i am supposed to like it,i mean i listen to lots of other strange stuff....but yet i can't warm to this.

np:: antony and the johnsons

― william (william), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Right now I feel that way about Blueberry Boat...too early to tell if this is permanent.

― nameom (nameom), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

jeff buckley - grace

all my metal friends back home tell me to "SAVE IT DUE TILL SHE BREAKS YOUR HEART"

― brock (brock), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 02:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll second "Tilt".
When I hear it, I think "this is something unlike I've ever heard" which intrigues me and makes me want to keep listening. OTOH, I can't get into whatever pass as "tunes" on the album, I become exceedingly bored for long stretches of time, and often I can't stand his voice (OK, you like reverb, I GET IT).

Then there'll be some spooky moment that gives me the chills and the whole cycle starts again.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 02:05 (twenty-one years ago)

The Beme Seed (can't remember the name of the album) and AC Temple's Belinda Backwards. I'm still working on both, after about six years or so.

― dlp9001, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Curious to see this reaction to 'Loveless'; I love it, it makes me swoon, it feels buffeting, like it's billowing against me. People I've played it for hate it; it's instant and almost as visceral as my like for it. I'd never thought that people would be unable to make up their mind.. hm.

But then, the Brian Eno albums are like that for me. 'Warm Jets' and 'Tiger Mountain' do very little, if anything for me, but I keep trying, and hear glimmers of brilliance on occasion, based on the raves that they get from everyone.

― derrick (derrick), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 06:28 (twenty-one years ago)

The White Album

― danh (danh), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Mars Volta - Deloused at the Comatorium or whatever the fuck it was called....sometimes I love it, other times it (understandably) bugs the fuck outta me.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i am extremely decided about scott walker. i hate his pretentious schtick. it's not my cuppa tea. there are people who like it, i don't. why should their judgement influence my appreciation?

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Am I the only person confused by this: it has both appaling and unpleasant characteristics, yet they are present at the same time?

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

probably meant appealing

― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

yep. sorry about that.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i think i end up being one of those canonizing bastards, as i don't really change my mind much, and basically only want to be hearing intense extremes of what's possible to be hearing. something like Exile on Main Street or Astral Weeks i can appreciate for precisely the intensity of its quality, whereas what gets to me more is willingness to obfuscate quality (i just always find it badass, with the caveat that there has to indeed be some quality in there to be detected).
now getting me started on the This Heat/ Liars dichotomy...
this heat are therefore, to me, supreme artists of all time, while Liars or something are just the usual Diet Art Brut schtick. bluff like your capable and people will fall for it etc.

― duke brut, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

the white album is a mixed bag. ob-la-di-ob-la-da is one of the most embarrassing songs ever. julia is one of the most touching. the white album as a whole is hard to take. it is not an album with a flow. it is a collection of songs. some of them being mediocre, some of them being the best pop music has offered.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

folks who said 10000 hz legend and Speakerboxx are correct. Stereolab's Margerine Eclipse is on the list, though I'm closer to not liking it, and it's certainly a lazy step backward from their apex(Cobra/Sound Dust, and no amount of conventional indie wisdom will make me think otherwise). It can be salvaged w/ some ramshackle analysis but I haven't the energy because neither do they.

― tremendoid, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Ditto on the Mars Volta record. I like a select track or two, but the rest of it seems only to irritate me.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I have, via CD-sharing over the years, acquired all of Tool's albums.
I have to say this is a band that I like in theory more than in practice. I respect their musicianship, but I can never get more than 4 songs deep into one of their records without feeling bogged down by the overwroughtness of it all: the gratuitous time & tempo changes, the over-intricate drumming, and the stoner conspiracy theorizing. I keep wanting to like them and I never quite get there.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Doglatin, great description (sunken music hall) of 'Song Cycle.'

For me, I'd say 'Wowee Zowee.' I love those guys; this one's just always been a puzzler to me.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 05:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I honestly never quite get it when people who like pop music also say they have problems with an artist being pretentious.

I mean, pretense and arching artiface are the whole deal. Or rather, I should just say, I love Scott Walker. He's like a dour boy Cher.

― ian g, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Or, um, something.

I just mistrust authenticity.

― ian g, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Prince, Parade

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 06:29 (twenty-one years ago)

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