Joni Mitchell, Blue

Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas

Morrissey (any album)

The Smiths (any album)

Jason Mraz (can't remember the name, but he only has one record out)

White Stripes (either album)

George Michael (any)

Queen (any)

Thank you - I am looking to broaden my music collection and I trust y'all.

jillybean said:

A must have. Simply delicious.
Lyrics a little confusing,hard to understand but it doesn't matter at all.
They flow with the atmospheric sound.

A nice companion to the also must-have Blue Bell Knoll

Yes. I have all The Smiths albums and I think they;re f***ing some of the greateast music ever produced. I'm still trying to collect some Morrissey stuff though, which is just as good. George Michael is great too. I have Faith which was a great album, as well as all i stuff from Wham!

Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas: don't have but heard. good stuff

Morrissey (any album) Viva Hate

The Smiths (any album)

George Michael (any) Please get his latest "PATIENCE" BRILLIANT!!

Queen (any) I have Greatest Hits 1 & 2.

I'll speak about Queen, because I'm most familiar with their work (however, what I've heard of Joni Mitchell and, surprisingly, the White Stripes, I've quite liked. Matter of fact, I thought the Stripes' performance on the Grammies was one of the best of the night.

Queen's most essential album is called "A Night at the Opera". They released other great albums, "Sheer Heart Attack", "The Game", but for the most part their albums were spotty, containing weak and bizarre tracks that you just can't help but skip, as well as absolute classic gems that almost pull the albums out of the mud.

I would recommend you buy "A Night at the Opera", as well as the 3-disc Platinum collection released about 2 years ago. It contains all of their hits and many more classics on the first two discs, and the last disc delves into some of the solo work, live work, and remixes. One of my personal favorites on disc 3 is an absolutely stunning duet with Montserrat Caballe called Barcelona.

You'll know where to go from there. I was a bit of a fan of A Day at the Races too, though it is similar in tone and style to a Night at the Opera. Not surprising either, given the titles; I think they're both named after Marx Brothers movies (?? where did I get this from ??).
[This message was edited Fri May 14 11:29:27 2004 by savoirfaire]

Got 2 George Michael albums "Faith" and "Listen without prejudice"

"Faith" has some brill tracks, fav's being:-

1)"I want your sex"-(Very Prince minimalistic funky sounding, ala Kiss-Prince copied this back on "Alphabet street" i reckon)
2)"Father figure"
3)"Monkey" (very funky)

Some duds in my book on hear, generally the second half, but it's saved by funky "Monkey"


His second solo album, "listen...." is very sombre and quite depressing really! George gets depressed part 1! (never bothered with part 2 or 3) When I heard that "Older" was more of the same (in terms of exact replicas of depressing songs), I thought no way do i want more deprssing George stuff, not that it's all like that of course

Fav's being

1)"Praying 4 time" (good words, very atmospheric)
2)"Freedom"
3)"Heal the pain"


Queen well, I like "Kind of magic" best, but only 'cause I hear parts of it in the "Highlander" movie! I love "Princes of the universe" and "Give me the prize"

Queen changed tons over the years, the only good album is "Innuendo" really! Good all the way through!
[This message was edited Fri May 14 12:04:02 2004 by thesexofit]

Joni Mitchell, Blue ---***** A great album and a good introduction to Joni Mitchell --and if you want to hear more of her influence on Prince, check out Court and Spark or Hissing of the Summer Lawns

Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas ***** a beautiful album, like Blue Bell Knoll

The Smiths -- I loved the Meat is Murder album

George Michael -- Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 and if you want his take on standards, Songs From the Last Century

Queen -- Greatest Hits is good intro, if you want actual albums , A Night at the Opera or News of the World...

Joni Mitchell, Blue - this is a great album, probably a masterpiece

Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas - don't have it

Morrissey (any album) - don't have any

The Smiths (any album) - their albums can be patchy, so I invested in their greatest hits collection (Singles), which was very worthwhile

Jason Mraz (can't remember the name, but he only has one record out) - don't have it, but I've heard some tracks and didn't consider it worth buying; he's the John-Mayer-clone-of-the- moment, only less pretentious

White Stripes (either album) - hate them; don't understand the acclaim

George Michael (any) - all his albums are worthwhile

Queen (any) - pretty much ditto, but they can be patchy; start with Greatest Hits I, II & III and see if you'd like to progress from there
[This message was edited Fri May 14 12:10:36 2004 by VoicesCarry]

Joni Mitchell, Blue

Blue is one of the saddest, most beautiful records ever made IMO. It would be one of my desert island discs (if you could take albums). And don't believe for a moment that Prince improves A Case of U - the original is far prettier, honest and heartfelt. And River (my favourite Mitchell track), Casey, California - there isn't a track on here which won't wrench your soul. The songwriting is extraordinary.

Morrissey (any album)

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say Viva Hate is the only essential Morrisey record, if only for Everyday is like Sunday and Suedehead.

The Smiths (any album)

I think The Queen is Dead is the most essential disc, with some of the Smiths' greatest work: There is a light that never goes out (arguably their best song), Boy with a thorn in his side, Bigmouth strikes again, Frankly Mr Shankly - it's a fine record. The best Smiths song (I think) is Reel around the Fountain, which will be found on The Smiths - The Smiths.

I'd think about getting a Smiths album before a Morrisey album - they're nearly always better.

White Stripes
Elephant is an excellent record. Sometimes the material released as singles doesn't reflect the album, and while I think 7 nation army is one of the best singles of the last couple of years, there's a fair amount of melodic (yet still raw) work on here.

Queen
I'd agree with Voices Carry on this one.

i have all the queen albums & the white stripes elephant

Joni Mitchell, Blue
A classic album to be sure - I listened to it so much at one point that I can't really enjoy it anymore. If I listen to Joni these days I'll put on Hissing of Summer Lawns, For the Roses or Court and Spark.


Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas
An excellent album - there's a bit of filler here and there, but overall I think it's their best abum and the best album to buy if you're new to the band.

Morrissey (any album)
Viva Hate and Your Arsenal are pretty solid albums - I think he's pretty severely lost the plot since then. Personally I think you're better off buying any Smiths album before buying any solo Morrissey.

The Smiths (any album)
In my opinion, the best album by far is the Queen is Dead. The rest of their catalogue is worthwhile, but erratic.

Jason Mraz (can't remember the name, but he only has one record out)
Sorry, I don't have a clue who this is.

White Stripes (either album)
I think Elephant is the first White Stripes album that is really solid all the way through. The first three albums are all excellent, but again I thought there was a fair amount of filler on all of them.

George Michael (any)
I'm not a fan.


Queen (any)
Again, I'm not a fan - I really dislike bombastic rock.


Thank you - I am looking to broaden my music collection and I trust y'all.[/quote]

[b]

Queen (any)


That's all you need.Forget the others

"SHEER HEART ATTACK"

Blue is great. I like Court & Spark better, though. For the Roses is good too. Hissing of Summer Lawns is great, but weird.

There are actually four White Stripes records:
The White Stripes--sounds like it's recorded in a garage. Still good, more bluesy then the others
De Stijl--still rough, but the songs are more interesting
White Blood Cells--My favorite. A great record.
Elephant--Not as good IMO as White Blood Cells, but still very good. I think some of the songs are not as fleshed out, and has some annoying noises that take me out of the flow of the album.

Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas... Good stuff, but Treasure is still my fave Cocteau Twins album

Morrissey (any album)...The only one I have is Viva Hate, I think the whole album is great, not just Suedehead and Everyday is like Sunday (geez, I haven't listened to it in ages tho!)

The Smiths (any album)....I've got Louder Than Bombs and Strangeways, Here we Come, they're good but you might be better off with some of the albums others mentioned in their replies.

I don't own any of the others you mentioned...

I don't have Joni's Blue yet but I do have a few of her others. Good stuff.

jillybean said:

i have joni mitchell's blue & the cocteau twins cd. both are awesome cds to own & must haves in my opinion. i used to have singles by the smiths but someone stole it. it was pretty cool....

I have George Michael's 'Older'. I can't say I find it depressing. I actually love it. It's one of those albums , for me, that when I don't know what I fancy listenting to it will always fit the mood - one of my 'comfortable' albums.