Recommend good "sprawling" pop records

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like "sign o the times," "giant steps," "tusk," "exile on guyville" etc. you know, they're a bit messy, but they give you a lot to chew on. give me some ideas.

― jason?, Saturday, 22 January 2005 04:31 (twenty-one years ago)

hellooooo "speakerboxx/the love below"

― donut christ (donut), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

destroyer - 'your blues'

― cws (cws), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:19 (twenty-one years ago)

how about "being there"?

"new adventures in hi-fi"?

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Mellon Collie...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

any of Todd Rundgren's albums (the good ones)

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:27 (twenty-one years ago)

blur, '13'? some big misses, some hits, but definitely chewy...

― Simon Vozick-Levinson (vozick), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:29 (twenty-one years ago)

sandinista!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)

the thread asked for GOOD pop sprawl...

― donut christ (donut), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a fantastic mini-LP somewhere in Sandanista! though...

― donut christ (donut), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:49 (twenty-one years ago)

sandinista's one of my all-time fave albums. as is zen arcade, which i'd also throw in here (but not warehouse: songs and stories, which fails to either sprawl OR be good). the weirdo, fucking-around, slack moments in both are part of the point, part of the ebb and flow that makes the sprawl actually sprawl. and over time i've come to appreciate, even love, almost every allegedly subpar moment on both albums.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:12 (twenty-one years ago)

oh geez... 69 love songs!!!

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Mayo Thompson - Corky's Debt to His Father

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Decemberists -- "Castaways & Cutouts" and/or "Her Majesty." I
am likley a minority of one on this.

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, Donna Summer, "Bad Girls"

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait for these nominees to be seconded before proceeding:

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Loud Family - Interbabe Concern / Plants & Birds & Rocks & Things
Pavement - Wowie Zowie
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville
Long Fin Killie - any diddly damn thing
This Kind of Punishment - A Beard of Bees

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Loud Family - Interbabe Concern / Plants & Birds & Rocks & Things

can't second those 'cause i don't know 'em, but they remind me of the most obvious one of all, duh:

game theory, lolita nation

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

david, that spoon record's about as small and tight and short and disciplined as indie pop gets, no? and "teenager of the year", while encyclopaedic, is very very controlled, like 22 genre-exercise haikus or something.

i'm not sure that "daydream nation" and "di go pop" count as "pop", but there you go. and "since i left you", duh.

― m. (mitchlnw), Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

xtc - "english settlement"

yes

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

The two Loud Family suggestions are hereby seconded.

― dlp9001, Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd also add the Loud Family's Days for Days

― john'n'chicago, Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

and i would also strongly second new adventures in hi-fi

― john'n'chicago, Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

seconding Double Nickels On The Dime

Also: The Olivia Tremor Control Black Foliage.

― Ian John50n (orion), Saturday, 22 January 2005 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

able tasmans 'somebody ate my planet'

― keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 22 January 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Nilsson Schmilsson!

― mcd (mcd), Saturday, 22 January 2005 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, you're right (of course!), but I was envisioning these records more as "contained" sprawl, in terms of these pert & spunky 2-minute tracks getting stuffed w/ ideas & sound FX & what-have-you & then getting shoved out of the way to make room for the next contraption. I see Double Nickels in the same light, though it also qualifies as sprawl in terms of # of songs, too!

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 22 January 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

bobby conn - the golden age
tolchock trio - ghosts don't have bones
deerhoof - reveille

― rssgnl, Saturday, 22 January 2005 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Pavement - Wowie Zowie
Spoon - A Series of Sneaks

― rssgnl, Saturday, 22 January 2005 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

rssgnl, are you from slc?

yo la tengo -- i can feel the heart...

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Saturday, 22 January 2005 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Here's some suggestions. I think I understand what you're looking for, but wait for someone to second them:

Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
Wire - 154
Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You
Yo la Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

And if "Teenager of the Year" is acceptable, I'd recommend "Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes" too.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Saturday, 22 January 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

"exile on main street"
"the beatles"
the "use your illusion"s

― donut christ (donut), Saturday, 22 January 2005 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

-fauxhemian, yes i am. who are you?

meat puppets - up on the sun

― rssgnl, Saturday, 22 January 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

decendents "milo goes to college"

― chaki in charge (chaki), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

odessy & oracle
s f sorrow

― autovac (autovac), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

frank zappa "one size fits all"

― chaki in charge (chaki), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

"odessey & oracle" i think is about as solid as "pet sounds".. pretty much all tracks are indispensible.

I'm thinking mainly double albums that were mainstream sellers here.

Oh wait.. oh dear god!

Pink Floyd "The Wall"

What do I win?

― donut christ (donut), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

How about a kidney punch!

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.galleryc.net/images/a403.jpg

― donut christ (donut), Sunday, 23 January 2005 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Badly Drawn Boy 'Hour of Bewilderbeast', Cornershop 'When I was born for the 7th time', Beastie Boys 'Ill communication'

― bham, Monday, 24 January 2005 10:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm thinking mainly double albums that were mainstream sellers here.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome!

― OleM (OleM), Monday, 24 January 2005 11:46 (twenty-one years ago)

matthew sweet's girlfriend
and, better to me than a Series of Sneaks is Spoon- Girls Can Tell- it's also tight and quick, but seems more cohesive.

― mclaugh (mclaugh), Monday, 24 January 2005 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

it's also tight and quick, but seems more cohesive

Someone want to start an anti-sprawl thread?

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 24 January 2005 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"Wowee Zowee," "Sandanista!" "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" and "Sign O'The Times" are all good choices. I'd also nominate "Zen Arcade" and Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 24 January 2005 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Kate Bush comes to mind ...

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 24 January 2005 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Depends upon your definition of "pop", of course, but anyway:

Hampton Grease Band, Music To Eat
Stevie Wonder, Songs In The Key Of Life
Amon Düül II, Yeti or Tanz Der Lemminge
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti
Funkadelic, America Eats Its Young or One Nation Under A Groove

(hmmm...can't seem to think of any NON-double LPs that meet my personal definition of "sprawling" at present, tho there surely are several.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 24 January 2005 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Kaleidoscope White Faced Lady
Shimmer Kids UnderPop Association Bury My Heart at Makeout Point
Soundtracks of Our Lives Welcome to the Infant Freebase
The Notwist 12
Outrageous Cherry The Book of Spectral Projections

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Monday, 24 January 2005 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

dungen, ta det lugnt

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

gary numan, i, assassin
david bowie, alladin sane and diamond dogs
the 1st 4 echo and the bunnymen rekkids
wu-tang clan, wu-tang forever
ween, the mollusk

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 06:34 (twenty-one years ago)

i'll second the aforementioned loud family records ("interbabe concern", "plants and birds and rocks and things"), add "days for days", and second the game theory's epic "lolita nation".

the thinking fellers' "mother of all saints" sprawls maybe a bit too much, but the highs make up for it.

― dan (dan), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 07:21 (twenty-one years ago)

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