Music Tastes

Torm · Jan 31, 2005

Davelozzi said:
For bluegrass, I heartily recommend to anyone the Rhino records compilation Appalachian Stomp: Bluegrass Classics. The second volume, Appalachian Stomp: More Bluegrass Classics it not nearly as solid as the first, though it's still pretty good. Another good one that we have here is The Three Pickers (Earl Scruggs/Doc Watson/Ricky Skaggs.

I like a lot of Ricky Skaggs older stuff - "Country Boy At Heart", and his cover of "That's My Gal" - stuff like that. Haven't heard much recently that did anything for me. Allison Krauss, OTOH, kicks much butt.

Davelozzi said:
For classic country, I like Willy enough, and some Kenny Rogers, but Johnny Cash is the king. The wife and I have been crankin' him a lot lately, both his older stuff from the two disc retrospective The Essential Johnny Cash and his last album, The Man Comes Around, which is an excellent album, though hauntingly sad.

I tend to put Kenny Rogers more in the "Easy Listening Crossover" category - he migrated over from Christian Rock, and his stuff, while I like a lot of it, has always mostly sounded like Easy Listening looking for a home to me. "Lady", "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "We've Got Tonight"....

Yep. Johnny Cash was the man, and I particularly liked the way he wasn't a snob about genre if he liked something. He covered "One" by U2 pretty well, and his cover of "Hurt" - originally by Nine Inch Nails, for crying out loud

- is so emotive, I can't listen to it very often. Even Trent Reznor - NIN's lead singer and the song's author - has said that Cash owned that song.

Davelozzi said:
I also dig Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, and have newly acquired and have been enjoying her album Blue Kentucky Girl.

Ever heard the stuff Emmylou Harris did with Trio (Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt)? "Those Memories" and "Telling Me Lies" still make it onto CDs for my car, from time to time. Awesome.

Davelozzi said:
I also dig it when other artists dip into country for an album here and there, like the Byrds did with Sweethearts of the Rodeo, and Elvis Costello did with Almost Blue, and to a lesser extent, on his recent album The Delivery Man. Some of Neil Young's best stuff leans towards country a little too, though I'd still classify most of it as folk or rock.

I enjoy cross-genre stuff, whichever way you go - even if the product isn't the best (Reba McEntire's cover of "You Keep Me Hanging On" comes to mind

), it seems like a cool way to introduce artists of different genres to the sounds of instruments they might not traditionally consider using. Not to mention they are frequently a good way to freak out my friends, when they're big fans of say, Prince, and I hit 'em with a little "Purple Rain" - by Leann Rimes!

mhacdebhandia · Jan 31, 2005

I grew up listening to my parents' favourite music from the Sixties - the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, the Brill Building-backed girl groups, and so on. My father's obsession with Neil Diamond's Hot August Night originally annoyed me no end, but I have more appreciation for it now.

My tastes, even in Sixties music, are wider than theirs. I would include the Doors and Jefferson Airplane among my favourite groups of the period.

Broadly, I like rock and roll and dislike commercial pop, including modern "R'n'B". That said, pop which attempts to experiment with what can be included within itself, including some of Britney Spears' tracks like "Slave For You" are at least interesting if nothing I would purchase.

Recent enthusiasms of mine include Steve Earle, Living Colour, Powderfinger, Sublime, Grinspoon, the White Stripes, Gary Moore . . . I tend to really appreciate blues-influenced guitar on the one hand and rhythmic percussion and horns on the other. I also like melody and harmony when it's not overproduced - for the current purpose, Phil Spector doesn't count as "overproduced" but Beyonce Knowles does.

Desdichado · Jan 31, 2005

Torm said:
I dunno. A lot of them say they don't like Country, but it never fails to amaze me how many of them will pick right up singing along with "Ruby" by Kenny Rogers if you start it up.

The only country I like is the stuff that seems to be making fun of itself. You start playing "I Ain't First Class but I Ain't White Trash" by Sawyer Brown, and I might sing along...

Rel · Jan 31, 2005

Joshua Dyal said:
The only country I like is the stuff that seems to be making fun of itself. You start playing "I Ain't First Class but I Ain't White Trash" by Sawyer Brown, and I might sing along...

You might like the song my .sig is based on then. Replace the words "At ENWorld" with "In Country Music" and you'll have the original lyrics.

Edit - Just remembered that .sigs only show up once per page now. Look at post 53 above.

Desdichado · Jan 31, 2005

Rel said:
Edit - Just remembered that .sigs only show up once per page now. Look at post 53 above.

Actually, I can see it just fine. They only show up once per page as the default view but that's customizable in your user profile. Tip of the day.

VorpalBunny · Jan 31, 2005

I run pretty ecletic too, but tend to be most comfortable with Rock, Blues, Classical, and Heavy Metal.

Disks on my desk now:

Rush: Hemispheres
Rush: Moving Pictures
Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime
Yes: The Yes Album
The Essential Bob Dylan
Eric Clapton: From the Cradle
Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe
Shrek 2 Soundtrack
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack

Rel · Jan 31, 2005

Joshua Dyal said:
Actually, I can see it just fine. They only show up once per page as the default view but that's customizable in your user profile. Tip of the day.

Well you DO learn something new every day after all! Thanks, JD!

der_kluge · Jan 31, 2005

My tastes are fairly ecclectic, but within a fairly small genre of music - classical. I started listening to Classical when I was about 16, and I really haven't listened to much of anything else since (I'm 32 now).

I have nearly 500 CDs of almost exclusively classical music, and I'm fairly certain given the range of music composed within this period, I could acquire another 1000 more CDs and still have a lot to learn about classical music in general.

That said, my tastes tend to run towards modern-day classical music. Yes Virginia, people still do compose classical music. Finding good composers is a bit of a game of chance, since there are very few outlets that I have found (save for some internet radio stations) where I can hear new artists before buying their stuff.

So, in this list I include Joan Tower (whom I'm listening to at this very moment), Philip Glass, Dmitri Shostakovich, Kamren Ince, or Alan Hovhaness.

I do enjoy movie soundtracks, too, including the Star Wars soundtracks, LoTR soundtracks, and a lot of John Williams stuff. Dances with Wolves is an awesome soundtrack as well.

And then there is some other weird stuff that I like. ABBA for example, which I can't explain. And we have this 3-CD set of "Greatest DISCO music" which my wife and I just love.

And my wife thinks I'm a closet fan of techno music since I love Samurai Jack so much, which plays a lot of it, but I haven't found much in the way in that genre that I really care for so much.

I like other oddball things here and there. The Cranberries, Venus Hum, and a few others.

nakia · Jan 31, 2005

The one CD on my desk at work today (where it does me no good, because Real Player crashes every time I try to play anything) is one of the two new Bright Eyes' albums: Digital Ash In a Digital Urn. No, it's not electronic. It's indie rock/pop from, IMHO, a great songwriter -- Conor Oberst. Another Bright Eyes album, which is much more folky, also just came out.

What draws me to music is honesty -- evocative depictions of emotions, settings, or people.

I like fun stuff, stuff you can dance to -- I like The Killers album very much, just because it's fun. But to really get me, there has to be some sincerity in the music.

I love Johnny Cash. I dig Willie Nelson. Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen are also good stuff.

I own every REM album. There are not a whole lot of artists whose entire catalog makes it onto my shelves.

I like the new Franz Ferdinand album a lot.

I am desperately searching for some good rap/hip-hop. In high school, I listenend to a lot of it -- De la Soul, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Public Enemy. But I have not really explored rap/hip-hop in a long time. I like Jay-Z's stuff, but don't own an album. Any suggestions? I think I would like Nas, or maybe even Kanye West

I'm also exploring jazz. I'm starting with the Icons -- Amrstrong, Coultrane, Davis -- and working my way into it. I know there's a lot I am missing because I know NOTHING about music structure, theory, etc.

I also used to listen to a lot of hardcore and punk stuff, everything from Minor Threat to Snapcase to The Clash. Not so much anymore (except for The Clash). I'm just not that angry anymore.

Altamont Ravenard · Jan 31, 2005

Above all else: Led Zeppelin.

Other than that, I really like music with a good groove and improvisation. I listen to some jazz, but not all of it appeals to me. My favorite bands/artists would be Phish, MMW, Zappa.

Other than that, I can listen to pretty much anything. Beastie Boys, Jimmy Smith, Neil Young, DJ Shadow, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Cream, Beck, Herbie Hancock, etc.

AR