After the rise of punk in 1977 and the subsequent New Wave explosion, I think that a lot of bands (especially in Britain) suffered from being labelled as Dad-Rock because of their production and image. A lot of it is really good stuff though!

I'm thinking primarily of:

E.L.O.
Queen
Wings
ABBA
Fleetwood Mac
Carpenters

I fucking love Queen. Their Greatest Hits sounds like a 'Now That's What I Call Music' compilation. Every single sounded different from the last. 'Save Me' is one of the saddest songs ever recorded.

E.L.O.'s 'Out Of The Blue' album is as good as any album you're ever likely to hear. There's only one duff song, called 'Jungle' and even that doesn't last too long. There's a tune on there called 'The Whale' and it sounds like it could have been on Daft Punk's 'Discovery' album. It's a huge swelling synthy instrumental and it soars and bubbles away like a pan-full of analog moogs boiling over.

If you've never heard 'Coming Up' by Wings, go and get it. It's the song which inspired John Lennon to collaborate on 'Fame' with David Bowie. It's funky, poppy and sounds like a blueprint for Talking Heads' more tuneful moments.

'The Day Before You Came' by ABBA virtually invented electronica. Moody swirling atonal synths and blibby-bleepy noises. A flat half-spoken vocal about loneliness. It reminds me a lot of Electribe 101 - remember them? Bille Ray Martin and some blokes. I love that Electribal Memories album...

Fleetwood Mac in the 70s fused Gram Parsons' country sensibilities with pop vocals and hooks. 'Dreams' still sounds fresh and original today. It's a perfect pop ballad. The ballads on this album remind me a lot of k.d.'s 'Ingenue' album.

Carpenters... I'm sorry, but Karen's voice is one of the greatest ever recorded. It's just a pity that a lot of the singles were la-la-la sugary sweet sing-a-longs. Their roots were in jazz. Listen to 'Another Song' from the 'Close To You' album. It's dense. It starts off as a nursery rhyme, mutates into a histrionic power ballad and then inexplicably becomes a murky swamp of orchestral funk. I can't explain it - it really is that good.

5*

BinaryJustin said:

ELO is dad rock? i like "the jungle", it's cheese-a-licious.

Anxiety said:

I think I don't like it because it conjures up images of Jeff Lynne in a loin-cloth dancing around with scantily-clad laydeez dressed up as tigers.

BinaryJustin said:

well, if you put it that way, i'd hate it too.

I love The Carpenters. Yes, they were prone to cheesey pop tunes for a good portion of their album career, but when they were great, they were amazing! Superstar, For All We Know, Rainy Days and Mondays, Close to You and several of their other tracks are classic. Karen had one of the most rick and distinct voices in pop music, and few other people arranged songs as well as Richard Carpenter did during the high point of their career.

I know there was a thread ranting about how lame Toto was a few months back, but I like them a lot as well. Yes, they had more than their share of bad albums, but I think Toto IV by itself makes up for that. Supertramp also get a lot of laughs, but I dig them a lot, especially Breakfast in America, classic album that one.

ABBA is a big beautiful slice of heaven.

Creed!

BinaryJustin said:

actually I like all of those bands to some point, and have albums by everyone of them.. but then again I'm also a dad so "Dad-Rock" is OK for me, no?

Nobody's really doing that MOR thing anymore though, are they?

I love that sound...

Toto, Chicago, 10cc, Supertramp...

I think the nearest equivalent these days is pop-country but a lot of the time, the production is a bit too saccharine.