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The Songfactors' Choice: Groundbreakers


Lucky

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I think I'll go with Marley. Mainly because I really think he should be included in the list and I did Lightfoof last time :D I have also been a Bob Marly fan for years and love his music.

I don't think the others on the list will have any problems getting nominated by someone. Their all very popular by anyone's standards.

I hope more people will participate it doesn't seem like we have very many nominations yet :(

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Thick As A Brick works better than many of the pretentious concept albums released at the time because it has more than a little humour thrown in, making it a lot easier to accept than an album by a band that seems to take itself too seriously...

I've never really been sure why, but this may be the main reason I prefer Tull, Pink Floyd and Genesis to Yes and King Crimson. :)

...(not that I have anything against Yes).

Oh, believe me, I've noticed. :wink:

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I would like to use the Legends album for my Marley nomination but I'm not sure if I can because it's a complialation album.

My reasoning is based strictly on my being in the US. Bob Marley made reggae very popular here after it's release.

Can I use Legends or do I need to choose one of the other albums?

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Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home(1965)

Dylan leaves the folk scene behind on this album with one side electric and the other acoustic.

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Dylan.

Side one

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" – 2:21

" She Belongs To Me " – 2:47

"Maggie's Farm" – 3:54

" Love Minus Zero / No Limit " – 2:51

"Outlaw Blues" – 3:05

"On the Road Again"– 2:35

" Bob Dylan's 115th Dream "– 6:30

Side two

" Mr. Tambourine Man " – 5:30

"Gates Of Eden" – 5:40

" It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) " – 7:29

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" – 4:12

He began to mix his folk songs with a rock beat and created a whole new kind of music dubbed folk-rock.

:cool:

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I would like to use the Legends album for my Marley nomination but I'm not sure if I can because it's a complialation album.

My reasoning is based strictly on my being in the US. Bob Marley made reggae very popular here after it's release.

Can I use Legends or do I need to choose one of the other albums?

principally you can nominate any album you want, compilation or normal studio ones, as long as you think it's really groundbreaking :)

btw, "Groundbreaking" doesn't necessarily mean "huge commercial success" ;)

just as an example, "The Velvet Underground & Nico" was more or less a flop when it came out

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Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings (1990)

There's only 29 songs + 12 alternate takes that were recorded at 2 sessions in 1936 and 1937, but most bands from the British Invasion and the American bands of the 1960's began their careers covering blues songs. Some of the rock icons that were inspired by Robert Johnson were Jimmy Page, Elvis Presley, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton.

Some of his songs that others did were...

Cream - Crossroads

Rolling Stones - Love In Vain

John P. Hammond - Come On In My Kitchen

Red Hot Chili Peppers - They're Red Hot

Here's some originals

Sweet Home Chicago

Hellhound On My Trail

Rambling On My Mind

They're Red Hot

He remains to this day one of the most influential progenitors of rock and blues music.

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Clearly we need more albums released since the 70s. Admittedly I haven't heard many groundbreaking albums released since then, but this is one of them. Sorry for nominating another album with ridiculously long tracks. :grin: :

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F♯A♯∞ - GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR (1997)

1. "The Dead Flag Blues" – 16:27

2. "East Hastings" – 17:58

3. "Providence" – 29:02

This is arguably the most influential album of the post-rock genre.

From Wikipedia:

F♯A♯∞ is the debut album of the Montreal-based band Godspeed You Black Emperor! (later punctuated Godspeed You! Black Emperor). It was released twice, first in 1997 as a vinyl LP by Constellation Records and then again on CD in 1998 by Kranky. The tracks are split into various named movements. The CD version was remastered and edited, and includes some extra material, including an extra track and a hidden track. The album focuses on the end of the world and thoughts of a coming apocalypse.

The Dead Flag Blues

East Hastings

1 minute clip from Providence

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cj, I seem to be following you around tonight, but .... Shawna has already nominated Beauty & The Beat! :P

I'm sorry, but I know you've got another in you!! ;) (I guess that means Shawna has a for sure vote, huh??)

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Surfer Rosa ~ Pixies (1988)

All tracks written by Black Francis, except where noted.

1. "Bone Machine" – 3:02

2. "Break My Body" – 2:05

3. "Something Against You" – 1:47

4. "Broken Face" – 1:30

5. "Gigantic" – 3:45

6. "River Euphrates" – 2:33

7. "Where Is My Mind?" – 3:53

8. "Cactus" – 2:16

9. "Tony's Theme" – 1:52

10. "Oh My Golly!" – 2:32

11. "Vamos" – 4:18

12. "I'm Amazed" – 1:42

13. "Brick Is Red" – 2:00

Why was this Groundbreaking?

Both Surfer Rosa and Steve Albini's production of the album have been influential on alternative rock, and on grunge in particular. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain cited Surfer Rosa as the basis for Nevermind's songwriting. When he first heard the album, Cobain discovered a template for the mix of heavy noise and pop he was aiming to achieve. He remarked in 1993 that he "heard songs off of Surfer Rosa that I'd written but threw out because I was too afraid to play them for anybody." Cobain hired Albini to produce Nirvana's 1993 album In Utero, primarily due to his contribution to Surfer Rosa.

The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan described Surfer Rosa as "the one that made me go, 'holy s**t'. It was so fresh. It rocked without being lame." Corgan was impressed by the album's drum sound, and acknowledged that The Smashing Pumpkins used to study the record for its technical elements.

Indie musician PJ Harvey said that Surfer Rosa "blew my mind," and that she "immediately went to track down Steve Albini."

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Martin, I can't see your picture. :P

I made a post for my second nomination last night, clicked add post, and got a weird error, then "there was a problem ...." and then my post was gone. I'll redo it tonight. :P

Edit: never mind Martin, I see it now. ;)

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I'm going to nominate Sonic Youth and Pavement, but fear not my Belgian friend, I'm not stealing your nom.

As I've got to argue that there are more 'groundbreaking' works by SY than Daydream Nation

Is DN excellent? Surely

Is it different than the pop-mold of 1989? Most definitely

-but-

was it the most 'groundbreaking' thing SY ever wrote?

No.

Now, before I do this, I'm not connecting 'groundbreaking' with 'quality' or 'appealing' I am simply interpreting it to mean 'something that doesn't sound like everything before it"

And that SY honor would go to their first album, Sonic Youth.

It was in this first effort that the band was just forming, and their purpose was not to write straight forward rock'n'roll, but to write something free of western tonal theory, and Rhythm and Blues roots rock,

so they crafted an entire album of atonal modulations, and noise, with outta tune vocals and guitars.

And, if you open your ears to what will be a 'harsh' sound at first, it can be quite rewarding to listen to.

I can't find any clips of it, but it just got re-issued with some bonus tracks, I recommend buying it if you've got the cash lying around.

If not... you know...torrents and whatnot.

Second Nomination.

Pavement- Crooked Rain Crooked Rain

So, in the early 90s there were a vast array of influences floating around the scene,

Punk

Post-punk

experimental atonal music (ala sonic youth)

Post-hardcore emo

grungy metal

progressive jazz based rock

and your basic pop-music madonna standard.

Then one band came along and took all those (minus the grunge, but + roots rock)

and made something of their own.

Especially important and prevalent in Crooked Rain Crooked Rain is the mixture of Stephen Malkmus' post-hardcore emo/shoegazey vocals with his sonic youth styled guitar playing, SY guitar playing with jazz chords and theory.

Pavement could arguably go down as one of the last great bands to use the typical Guitar/Guitar/Vocal/Bass/Drums rock'n'roll instrumentation without sounding tired and old.

The opening track opens with what sounds like an outro of a jam session gone mad, SM crunching out chords with his non-standard tuned guitar, fingers moving up and down, hitting minor thirds left and right,

and then in all it's pop glory outta nowhere, totally unexpected from this mess of sound, come in the vocals, a chorus of 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaahs' that are both beautiful and badass,

cue the drums, a driving beat, then the guitars start playing some 'real' chords, and SM starts to sing in his whispery strained lispy voice

'This is the city life aaaaaaaaaaaah'

Awesomeness.

Second track

a little chord vamp, a progression over and over

Elevate me Later, a song that perfectly exemplifies SM's vocal and lyrical skill

with lines like

"And there's forty different shades of black!

So many fortresses and ways to attack

And the court is double pressed

I'd like to check out your violent protest

....So why you complain' ta!"

His writing style was much in the school of Lennon, words assembled to sound good, music with words.

Track three

Stop Breathin' a slow jazzy barely together, light as a feather, a slight breeze could blow this arrangement apart song.

And it's awesome, it ends with the perfect musical anti-climax, a minute of build with alternating intervals, we're waiting for a guitar solo, but it never comes.

Track four

The greatest pop song ever written

"Ooo oo oo oo ooo ooo oo ooo ooo ooo ooo OO ooo oo

Darlin' don't you go away and cut your hair,

do you think it's gonna make him change?

I'm just a boy with a new haircut... and that's a pretty nice haircut!"

It's fun, it's catchy as hell

and it's a scathing song about 'selling out'

this song scored the band a minor hit, and a pretty well played video on MTV

irony abounds.

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Oh phew... I was planning on nominating Pavement meself if you didn't show up :thumbsup: :rockon:

So now we have two SY noms? they were extremely groundbreaking, 'tis true. I was contemplating a My Bloody Valentine nomination, but they were influenced by Sonic Youth, so that's gone.

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Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Soundtrack

During the middle 70's a change began to occur on the music scene. Some may have argued the value of that change at the time (myself for one) but a change it was nonetheless. Disco was the new sound. A steady driving beat, one that got under your skin, and made you feel like either jumping up and dancing, or leaping to your feet and running from the room. Some embraced it, some despised it. With the release of Saturday Night Fever (both the film and the soundtrack) however, no one could ignore it any longer. Saturday Night Fever brought disco into the mainstream. The cultural and historical impact of that one album is unparalelled. The best selling soundtrack of all time, It's been said that this one album is responsible both for the success, and the commercial decline of Disco. Composed and performed primarily by the Bee Gees, the album features 9 other artists also. As well as some of the Bee Gees biggest hits, the songson this album (including A Fifth of Beethoven, Calypso Breakdown, If I Can't Have You, Boogie Shoes, and Disco Inferno) are a few of the most popular of the genre, and remain so today.

1. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees

2. How Deep Is Your Love - The Bee Gees

3. Night Fever - The Bee Gees

4. More Than a Woman - The Bee Gees

5. If I Can't Have You - Yvonne Elliman

6. A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy

7. More Than a Woman - Tavares

8. Manhattan Skyline - David Shire

9. Calypso Breakdown performed by Ralph MacDonald

10. Night on Disco Mountain - David Shire

11. Open Sesame - Kool & the Gang

12. Jive Talkin' - The Bee Gees

13. You Should Be Dancin' The Bee Gees

14. Boogie Shoes - KC & the Sunshine Band

15. Salsation - David Shire

16. K-Jee - MFSB

17. Disco Inferno The Trammps

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