Do you have a secret "guilty pleasure" recording?
ABBA is the best pop music ever produced, Agnetha & Frida has one of the best singing harmonies in pop history, if not the best. ABBA is tasteful, very melodic & fun music, and very professional in everything really. I honestly can´t imagine better (simple) and honest pop music. Their approach and attitude is the most positive in the business. They surpassed Beatles IMHO. Musically I mean. The happiest pop act, and a huge influence to so many. The best thing is they come from non-English speaking country but their English is perfect. They are perfect. Karen Carpenter´s voice is incredibly strong and very beautiful, I really love dark female voices, Cher´s too. I never was embarrassed about ABBA. And all loved them here, boys and girls, young and old. They were hugely popular, much more than Beatles ever were. In 1976 I loved both ABBA and BÖC. And early URIAH HEEP, of course. Still do. I may mention another very positive and happy pop band lead by a lovely blonde girl... What that band might be ? Hint: they came from one English speaking country and from the 70´s... |
The 'Little Miss America' theme from Palisades Amusement Park http://www.palisadespark.com/sounds_LMA.html If you lived in the NY metro area during the '60's, it will bring back memories. Now if only I could find the Raceway Park, and Lincoln Savings Bank commercials.... Bob |
I was a top 40 radio DJ in the seventies, which meant I developed a tolerance for bubblegum and breeze pop music. Also classic 'tear in your beer' country. I learned to appreciate those songs as three minute soap operas. I won't bore you with details of my Norman Luboff choir records...or Anita Kerr library, and certainly not 'the rain the park and other things'. Happy listening, Everybody PS...don't forget Jo Stafford and Noel Coward |
Jnovak, Have you ever hear Tommy Emmanuel's solo guitar arrangement of Classical Gas? If not, I say "head straight to YouTube". Pretty incredible take on the tune and you may never think of that song in the same way again. On another note......For some reason, your mention of Mason Williams brought Jimmy Webb to mind. I don't know how guilty that pleasure should be, but I'm gonna cue some up now. |
Breakaway (album) by Art Garfunkel. Scmaltzy pop tunes and predictable arrangement but very enjoyable. More nostalgiac tunes in my guilty pleasure bucket: Ambrosia--Biggest part of Me Cyndi Lauper--When You Were Mime Black Eyed Peas--Where is the Love Earth, Wind & Fire--September Belinda Carlisle--Mad About You (great beat) Alison Moyet--Invisible (strong vocal) Asia--Only Time Will Tell Carol King--So Far Away Elton John--Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me Freddie Mercury--The Great Pretender Hall & Oates--Rich Girl Jim Croce--I Got a Name |
I was the OP of this thread almost 8 years ago. I like how Audiogon has reconfigured its discussion forum to include recent posts to dead threads - neat to see the flame still burning. Huh, I’m still listening to "The Carpenters Greatest Hits" to this day and it has become one of my references. Whodathunk! Oh, be sure to download the hi-rez version from HD Tracks; really good. Now, to hear what dance music sounds like on my Wilson MAXX speakers, I sometimes play Lady Gaga "Just Dance". Sounds freakin’ incredible! shhhhh...secret |
The "white suit" era---that's what they are pictured in on the original U.K. pressing (there was no U.S. release at the time) of the "Live In London" LP (1968). After they signed to Reprise in 1970 they put out a few good albums (Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland, So Tough), then came the horrid "Brian is Back" fiasco with the poor "15 Big Ones" album, an exercise in nostalgia, right up Mike Love's alley. Their final good album was "Love You" (1977), after which Brian again dropped out. That was the end of The Beach Boys for me. I saw Brian on his first solo tour, and it was the most heartbreaking, sad, depressing, and pathetic spectacles I've ever witnessed. He obviously has brain damage from, I assume, his years of self-medication. I vowed to never again put myself through that, so avoided seeing a live performance of the "Smile" album, much as I would have loved to. I have so far avoided seeing the Love and Mercy movie, though I guess I eventually will. Rock n' Roll's most tragic figure, and it's most genius. |
bdp24, I saw them three times--best version was the BBs in white suits with a half-dozen sidemen in black. Strawberry Alarm Clock and Buffalo Springfield opened the show. It was real good. I followed them through "Holland" and some of the early 70's stuff. Then I got distracted by Zappa, British progressive rock and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was hard for me to listen to the Beach Boys for a while after that. |
tostadosunidos---It was precisely because of their surfing/cars/girls lyrics that The Beach Boys were considered so uncool to like in the late 60's-early 70's (though not by my friends and I, and perhaps you, if you're old enough!). They were viewed as an "Oldies" act by the hippies/counter-culture, about as relevant as any other pre-Beatles "entertainers" (as apposed to "artists", though Brian Wilson was the greatest artist of the time, unbeknownst to them), and Capitol Records was still promoting them as "America's No.1 Surf Group" as late as 1968. Even after their lyrics had caught up with the times (starting with Smiley Smile in '67), I could not get new musician acquaintances to give their new albums a serious listen. Their loss! To their credit, The Grateful Dead respected The Beach Boys enough to invite them to share the stage with them in the early 70's. By that time, TBB were actually a damn good live band. I saw them with Chicago, whom they thoroughly embarrassed. Bob Dylan saw them around that time, and said "Hey, these guys are really good". |
Man, there's a lot of my favorite tracks or albums listed--I had no idea I should be red-faced for listening to them! Who knew? I consider the early Beach Boys tracks a guilty pleasure because the lyrics--whether about surfing, cars, or young love--are so very simplistic and "old school." More Ozzie and Harriet than Simpsons, alas. I'll never give them up. |
