What unknown musical artist would you like to share with your fellow audiophiles?
When it comes to music, about half of my friends are "collectors" and the other half are true audiophiles. It seems the collectors are so obsessed with the size of their collections, that they leave no room in their budget for quality audio equipment. I think the audiophiles, with their focus on quality over quantity, are the ones with their priorities straight. So, unless you are on an unlimited budget, I'm guessing that audiophiles are more selective in their musical purchases. That being the case, I'm curious about what "buried treasures" have you been able to find? Thanks for responding and I look forward to discovering some good music, based on your suggestions.
I'll lead off with the band Crack The Sky, most notably their first two albums: "Crack The Sky" (1975) and "Animal Notes" (1976). I would describe them as a cross between Be Bop Deluxe and Frank Zappa. Their music is unique and totally unmistakable with anyone else. Choice cuts from the debut album are: "Ice;" She's a Dancer;" "Mind Baby" & "Sleep." Choice cuts from Animal Notes are: "Animal Skins;" "Wet Teenager;" Virgin....No" & "Maybe I Can Fool Everybody."
That old Marti Jones album, "Used Guitars" is great, but the recording, at least on the vinyl issued at the time of release, is a tad bright. Good to see the less mainstream stuff all of you are into--once I learned that old heavy rock had been recategorized into 'metal' I found a lot of stuff that wasn't just cookie monster vocals and shredding. Some good bands out there. Orne- "Tree of Life" --'doom prog' an offshoot of the doom metal band Reverend Bizarre. The Scandinavians (well, Finns are not Scandinavian, but) seem to revel in this stuff. All sludgy, heavy, like Sabbath's first album, the slow grind with the flatted 5th.
mitchagain....i couldnt agree more. the best band to never make it big. i love the first 6 albums. ive seen them well over 100x. Crack the Sky (Rolling Stone declared debut album of the year) Animal Notes Safety in Numbers White Music Photoflamingo World in Motion1
beyond that i have 2 favs...
Tony C & the Truth. DEMONOPHONIC BLUES delicious album...start to finish
Karl Werne one of the greatest guitarists ive ever heard. lives and plays in Virginia Beach, VA.
@maxnewid,thanks for the tips on The Guadalcanal Diary live album and The Eyelids. I like The Eyelids name in general and now I like it even more because I think it's a sly reference to REM. I enjoyed most of the bands that came out of that 80's - 90's Athens scene, such as: Dreams So Real, Love Tractor, Pylon and the Vigilantes of Love. I've known about The Connells from the get go, because a guy I used to work with was a frat brother of his.
I know about Big Big Train, because a good friend told me about their Youtube videos. So far, I've only picked up one of their live CD's ("A Stones Throw From The Sun"). The Steve Wynn CD of Dylan covers sounds intriguing. I always liked the duets that he did with Jonette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde.
First, thanks to three_easy_payments for re-kindling my affection for Crack The Sky. The Youtube videos are off the hook! Just ordered 2 copies of For Catherine. If you are from the Chicago area, Mr. Blotto is no stranger to you. They usually headline every street festival in town, and play at least 3 nights a week at different venues around the area. If you get a chance, go see them. This is one of my favorite videos by them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiTXQlQRS70 .
@mitchagain, great stuff! The 1st and 2nd Graham Parker albums feature the playing of a couple members of Brinsley Schwartz (the band), including Brinsley himself. Speaking of that band, Nick Lowe, himself a member, said they were trying to sound as much like The Band as they were capable of. Another member was Ian Gomm, who is also a relatively-unknown real good artist.
Dwight Twilley (the group) is a particular favorite of mine, especially when drummer/singer Phil Seymour was a member (the first two albums). Their Sincerely debut album is in my all-time Top 10 list. It's really, really good.
John Hiatt is very well known, and his Bring The Family breakthrough album is unbelievably great. Not just great songs and singing, but also the playing of Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner. I saw that line-up live, and it was a high point of my musical life.
Loudon Wainwright III is known, but not as well as he deserves. A great, great songwriter, his Last Man On Earth album is particularly good. By the way, early in his career he wrote a song memorializing the birth of his son Rufus, "Rufus Is A T*t Man" ;-) .
I hope everyone knows all about Marshall Crenshaw, who has made a lot of great albums. He plays almost all the instruments on his #447 album, which is packed with great songs.
Another relatively unknown working in the singer/songwriter style is Michael Kelsh, whose Bill Halverson (Clapton, Hendrix, Albert King, Neil Young, Beach Boys, Cream, C, S & N, hundreds of others) produced Well Of Mercy is fantastic. The album was executive-produced by Rodney Crowell, who I hope everyone knows of.
Great topic! I wish some posters would avoid every possible opportunity to argue, but I guess that is the state of AGon today. Let's keep it focused on the topic - good music.
So, I just placed orders for Crack the Sky and moe. Both, thanks to the recommendations here.
I'll contribute two of my recent favorite current bands - Tedeschi Trucks. Kind of a mix between Allman Bros, with a Bonnie Raitt lead vocalist. Really good rock/blues - Widespread Panic. Great jam band, and their recordings are excellent. Check out the Wood box set.
I found Tedeschi Trucks earlier this year and really love their first album. Their second album gets stelar reviews but leaves me cold. The same thing happened, for me, with Alabama Shakes. I don't dislike either of these band's second albums but they just don't do it for me.
Gary Clark, Jr.'s second album is not the tour de force his first album was but it is still great.
I have high hopes for third albums from all these bands.
The Struts, that I mentioned earlier (glam pop), just released their second album and it is every bit as fun as their first. It will be a long while before a third comes out.
soundermn, +1 for the Widespread Panic's wood box set. You may also like some of moe.'s live albums as well. Warts & all, volumes 3 & 4 are great.
mhart, You reminded me of Mickey Harts albums. If anybody is into percussion music, I would highly recommend "Planet Drum, His album with Bill Kreutzmann "Rhyming Devils", & his Diga Rhythm band release from 1976.
A couple other great percussion bands are "High Places" & "Six Drumsets", & if you're feeling really adventurous... check out the band "Drums & Tuba".
+1 for Redd Volkaert. As far as I know he just does covers (I've heard him many times, so I presume that's the case) but he manhandles a telecaster like nobody else. And it's rarely mentioned but he has a great baritone voice. I'm hoping to see him paired with Bill Kirchen (original Lost Planet Airman with Commander Cody) sometime. Redd and Bill do appearances out of town so it seems logical they'd play together in Austin as well...
Didn’t our boy Albert Collins play a strat? Saw him live in the King Street train station in Seattle many years ago. Wasn’t a club, it was the train station next to Safeco Field, old brick building, tile floors and bathrooms. Amazing show. Beer garden, dancin’ in the streets, ah! The good old days!
@fmpnd : Did you see that one of the mods removed my John Cleese quote? Someone flagged it as an insult and the moderator removed it. I think that's hysterical.
Monty Python literacy is at an all time low. Who will be lost of and forgotten next, Moe, Larry and Curly?
Clarence Spady .. an incredible talent whose career, unfortunately, was hampered by drug use in his early days. "Nature of the Beast" (his 1st album) is my favorite. IIRC you can find him on Spotify.
@n80: it is simply amazing to me that the moderator would delete that clear reference to a John Cleese/Monty Python quote yet leave both of mine.
Don’t even get me started on what the social media cupcakes think is offensive these days - the same people who then post the most vile hateful responses/posts to any article. So much hypocrisy and double standards abound today.
I agree, so much of the classic and innovative comedy of the 60s and 70s is being lost in this uptight world we live in.
Fela Kuti is famous all over the world but I had never heard of him. I discovered him on some "best music of all-time list". The song they had on the list, Zombie, was listed as from a video game. I was surprised and had to investigate. It was like finding a pot of gold when I heard the catalog of Fela Kuti albums. The Bob Marley of Africa. I ended up buying about 6 or 7 albums from him. Just a giant in terms of talent.
Another guy whose back catalog I discovered yesterday was Todd Rundgren. Growing up I knew the 2 or 3 songs played on rock radio. But with TIDAL I was able to see this dude is supremely talented. The albums from 1970 - 1973 are awesome.
@fmpnd In the moderator's defense, I did not put it in quotes _and_ the post was flagged by another member who found it offensive. So it was probably a member who did not realize it was Monty Python. I am flattered that some member thought that I had thought up that insult!
Well I'm now offended that anyone could fail to recognize iconic Monty Python quotes but I'm not sure deleting any posts will repair this offensive act. I will have to listen to music and try to repress yet another tragic life incident.
Stan Rogers even if his Between the Breaks Live Album was recommended in Stereophile many years ago. Arguably the greatest folk singer ever and most Canadians have never heard of him. Also give his brother Garnet Rogers a listen has possibly the most emotional song ever written "Frankie and Johnny"
Touché three_easy_payments. Nice comeback. One thing though - my statements about not recognizing Monty Python was in two parts. The first was my own lamenting that as we (I) get older, it’s a bit sad to keep experiencing more and more people who, understandably as time passes, have no clue about things that may have been popular in my generation. That hits me regularly at work when I’ll say something while a song is playing like “Oh, that’s the Average White Band” - to which a more and more common reply will be: “Who?”
The second reference was more specific. One would think that my two Monty Python quotes, if not taken in context, would also have been deleted as offensive. So that made me wonder if the moderator Googled them or not. N80’s deleted response was a quote by John Cleese from Monty Python. So I was addressing what I saw as a possible inconsistency.
Yeah, those repressive Audiogon life incidents are a b#@tch aren’t they?
Vuyo Sotashe. Saw him in concert with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis last week. Incredible vocalist. http://www.vuyosotashe.com
Lots of good suggestions here, I've probably heard of or have about fifty percent of musicians listed. I've been a music lover and audiophile for over forty years so I'm aware of the older stuff. Most of my listening is now via computer based audio, Tidal, and soon Qobuz, makes everything so much more accessible. Tidal has brought countless new excellent performers to my attention, some have been mentioned. I will add a few. Olivia Cheney, wonderful British folk.Morcheeba, kind of like Massive AttackHooverphonic, european modern pop/rock Lee ann Womack, Laura Cantrell, real countrySparks, very different rock, 70'sJonathan Richman & Modern LoversBlack Mountain, Rival Sons, hard rock in Led Zeppelin vein
Anat Cohen - The Israeli-born clarinetist is truly one of the greatest of all time! Have you ever regretted not seeing Jimi Hendrix or John Coltrane and now it's too late? Seeing her in concert should be on every music-lover's list of things to do in 2019!
While not completely obscure, there’s no question that Robyn Hitchcock never "made it", certainly not to the extent his buddies Johnny Marr and Peter Buck did. It seems completely undeserved that he never attained equal levels of success despite having just as much talent and songwriting skills. Shows just how lucky you need to be in the music biz...being at the right place at the right time. Well into his 60s now I saw him tour solo acoustic about a year ago at a tiny venue with perhaps 60 people in attendance as he hustled for a buck and kept his overhead low. He still has much joy when he plays and tells his wonderful stories. There is no good reason that he isn't a household name...sigh.
Iko-Iko, out of Miami. An excellent band, better live than on record, but still with some releases available on Amazon. Blues based swamp rock with a touch of folky psychedelia.
The album "Shine" is excellent, as is "Protected by Voodoo". Highly recommended.
It maybe the "wrong" repertoire, BUT
surely
...good music is GOOD music and good musicians are GOOD musicians . My suggestion is the pianist Olga Scheps. VERY worthwhile at least "checking out". Viva la musica !
If you like full technical recordings of modern jazz and neo-punk jazz fusaion then you will want to hear all the QUI music you can find. This duo has featured David Yow (Scratch Acid & Jesus Lizard and Trevor Dunn (Bangles) playing bass. The Melvins members have produced and played on several albums. Matt Cronk on guitar and Paul Christiansen on drums & kep boards fill up a track! Toshi Kasai (Foo Fighters last 3 albums) did the mastering and Pete Beaman personally did the vinyl pressings. New release: Snuh
4 great Australian Blues exponents 8 Ball Aitken - Funky Swamp Blues. All original material. Spends a lot of time in the US Steve Edmunds - The best damn rock and blues guitarist I have ever heard live!
The Bondi Cigars - A great blues band with a lot of original material. The Mighty Reapers - Another great blues band who only put out 2 albums of covers and original material.
I'd also add the soundtrack from the otherwise mediocre film "Kansas City" by Robert Altman. It's out-of-print. Performed by The Kansas City Band. The other album from that film "After Dark" is on Tidal.
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