On an "old music" kick...

[Egiam]

I am a relatively young member of the world's population, but this does not mean I can't appreciate the works of my forefathers. I am looking for some more 60's-80'sish material. Please recommend some new (to me) stuff!

Examples:
More than a feeling- Boston
Englishman in New York- The Police
For the Benefit of Mr. Kite- The Beatles
Mrs. Robinson- Simon & Garfunkel
Hotel California- Eagles

[chiasaur11]

Velvet Underground.

Anything but the album "Squeeze".

You're welcome.

[Cristo Meyers]

I am a relatively young member of the world's population, but this does not mean I can't appreciate the works of my forefathers. I am looking for some more 60's-80'sish material. Please recommend some new (to me) stuff!

Examples:
More than a feeling- Boston
Englishman in New York- The Police
For the Benefit of Mr. Kite- The Beatles
Mrs. Robinson- Simon & Garfunkel
Hotel California- Eagles

Bah...I should have a list right now, but all I can come up with is Wayward Son by Kansas...:smallfrown:

My age has failed me once again! Curse you time!

[Tirian]

I think you should cozy up with a bunch of "Best of" albums. Folks had long careers back then and so you really can fill a CD with music that's all at the same high quality.

Okay, here's a list of the edgier side of "adult contemporary" from that era, with the attention to the lyrics and the music and not so much dancable but nice to listen to.

Paul Simon's two solo careers (Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints are very different from his 70's solo career, but I think it's all awesome)
James Taylor
Billy Joel
Elton John
Jackson Browne
Peter Gabriel
The Talking Heads
Rod Stewart
Dire Straits
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

[Sneak]

In addition to the stuff that you've already been given (in particular, I like Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, and Velvet Underground)...

The Smiths
Os Mutantes
Nick Drake
Jefferson Airplane
Jimi Hendrix
Iggy Pop
George Harrison
Eric Clapton
Cream
The Clash
Bob Dylan
The Beach Boys

[Ashery]

And I'd suggest to avoid "Best of..." albums at all costs and start listening to entire albums.

Personal suggestions:

Nick Drake - Pink Moon. Note that his earlier albums, or at least Five Leaves Left, have a more orchestral sound. That doesn't mean that Five Leaves Left is a weak album by any means (Cello Song is absolutely brilliant), but it's weaker than Pink Moon. Glad to see Sneak mention'em.

Pink Floyd - Meddle. An excellent transitional album. While elements are present that display an evolution in Pink Floyd's sound that would eventually lead to DSotM, it still contains some elements of that wonderful psych-pop/rock they created earlier.

Jethro Tull - Stand Up. It's early Jethro Tull, what's left to say?

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks. Just to second another of Sneak's suggestions.

[Quincunx]

Come now, 'Best Of's do help when you can afford, say, two albums out of the artist's 20, and only three of the songs ever get airplay. It'll give you a sense of which era you'll love and which you might like to avoid. That being said, the 30-second clips available on Amazon.com may be even more of a help when sampling the feel of an album.

But you recommended Stand Up to dovetail with Egiam's affection for the quiet and intense, so all is forgiven.

[Serpentine]

And I'd suggest to avoid "Best of..." albums at all costs and start listening to entire albums.Bah humbug. A lot of great bands have produced a lot of crap, and "Best of"s are one of the best ways to avoid it. I know I base my entire love of Queen on one of their "Best of"s, and tend to be rather disappointed anytime I stray beyond it.
Obviously things like concept albums are best to listen to straight through, and listening to any album is a different sort of experience, but for just looking for stuff one might like Best ofs are totally fine.

Looking through my own collection... Apparently the earliest song with a listed release year is 1902. Is that too old? The Entertainer, if you're interested. Then there's what seems to be a Russian (or German, or something) marching-sounding song from 1920... Okay, the Big Bopper's pretty catch. Meh at that Buddy Holly song. Ray Charles is funky. Annnd now I'm in the '60s... Can't really go wrong with Elvis. Silly Bill Cosby, you're not music! Beatles are a no-brainer. Sinatra is smooooooth. Ooh, The Who. The Doors, Lez Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Van Morrison... That'll do for now.

[Athaniar]

I like Dschinghis Khan, myself. Boney M is also good.

[Moff Chumley]

Oingo Boingo-Dead Man's Party
Talking Heads-Stop Making Sense (Live)
Neil Young-Rust Never Sleeps
Yes-Close to the Edge, Fragile
Gentle Giant-Free Hand
King Crimson-In the Court of the Crimson King, Red, Discipline
Traffic-John Barlycorne Must Die
David Crosby-If Only I Could Remember My Name
Steely Dan-Countdown to Ecstacy, Aja
Roxy Music-Siren
The Clash-London Calling
Kraftwerk-Computer World
Joe Jackson-Night & Day
U2-The Joshua Tree


Start with that. :smallwink:

[Sleverin]

OK, here I go:

Delta Blues:

Blind Willie Mctell (however, he goes by like a bunch of recording and stage names, look them up on wikipedia)
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Big Bill Broonzy
Reverend Gary Davis
Robert Johnson (known as "king of the delta blues")

Post-WW2 blues:

T-Bone Walker
B.B. King (I'm not a fan of his music but he is considered a legend)
Albert King
Freddie King
Howlin' Wolf
Muddy Waters
Buddy Guy
Magic Sam
Otis Rush
Albert Collins (nicknamed "master of the telecaster")

1950's Rock (and its subtypes such as rockabilly):

Chuck Berry
Bo Diddley
Buddy Holly
Duane Eddy (rock instrumentalist)
Elvis Presley (the king of rock and roll)

1960's stuff (surf, early brit rock and such)

The Shadows (they started the four-piece band idea for "pop" groups)
**** Dale ("King of the Surf guitar")
The Pulp Fiction soundtrack has a great selection of surf hits
The Yardbirds
The Beatles
The Kinks
Cream
Pink Floyd (yes, they were around in the sixties and had a different singer/songwriter for their first album)
The Jeff Beck Group
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (while they only released three studio albums, Jimi has a TON of material and the live stuff is truly spectacular)
Chocolate Watchband (a band local to my area [the SF Bay Area] so it might be hard to find their stuff)
Led Zeppelin
Janis Joplin

1970's stuff:

Neil Young (singing voice is a little funny but his lyrics are very good)
The Allman Brothers (especially before Duane died)
Lynyrd Skynyrd (I'm sure you've heard Freebird)
Johnny Winter
Queen
Led Zeppelin (they're such a big influence I give them two decades)
Pink Floyd (see above)
Boston (they have about 5-6 good songs, but MAN they are really good)
Black Sabbath
Van Halen (first two albums are really something)
Funkadelic
Parliament
Parliament-Funkadelic (yes these are all different bands containg some core members, but they are all important to funk music)
The Meters ("Cissy Strut" was their hit)

1980's stuff:

One-hit hair metal wonders (there are a ton of these, they have commercials for these super compilations, see if you can get one)
Metallica
Steve Vai
Yngwie Malmsteen
Joe Satriani (the satch)
Stevie Ray Vaughan (a wizard on the guitar)
Mr. Bungle (a very experimental group, be open minded when listening)
Primus (I'm PRETTY sure they started in the late 80's, either way, Les Claypool is SUPER talented)
ZZ Top (pretty sure they were big in the 80's, they had a fair amount of MTV hits)

Hmm, that's about all I can conjure up off the top of my head, there may be more, I forget to how much stuff I listen to. If you need songs or albums as suggestions, I'd be happy to list some.

EDIT: The name of the surf guitar king is considered swearing :/. Hmm...that's kind of an issue. Ok, his first name is the nickname for someone naked "Richard" and one of his hit songs was "Misirlou", can't be that hard to look up.

[Sneak]

Oh, and also (on the later side):

Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth (might not be your thing, but I like 'em)

Television - Marquee Moon

[Blaine.Bush]

Don't forget The Band! :smallfrown:

[factotum]

Speaking of "Best Of" and compilation albums, you could do a lot worse than finding the first few "Now That's What I Call Music" albums. The first one was 1983 or thereabouts, IIRC, and it covers a lot of the stuff that would have been popular on radio playlists of the time, plus a few more unusual ones...for instance, did you know Tracey Ullman was actually a budding popstar before sidestepping into comedy?

[Jinura]

Oingo Boingo-Dead Man's Party
Talking Heads-Stop Making Sense (Live)
Neil Young-Rust Never Sleeps
Yes-Close to the Edge, Fragile
Gentle Giant-Free Hand
King Crimson-In the Court of the Crimson King, Red, Discipline
Traffic-John Barlycorne Must Die
David Crosby-If Only I Could Remember My Name
Steely Dan-Countdown to Ecstacy, Aja
Roxy Music-Siren
The Clash-London Calling
Kraftwerk-Computer World
Joe Jackson-Night & Day
U2-The Joshua Tree

Start with that. :smallwink:

Quite a bit of Prog rock there, dunno if that's what he wants but anyway :/ I'll put some in to.

So yeah pick up some Boston if you like that.

Led Zeppelin
Queen ( They did some very excellent hard rock albums, personally i enjoy the whole career, but seems like what you want is their 70s stuff )
Led Zeppelin
David Bowie ( Glam rock and folk rock periods )
Kansas
Genesis ( Depends on how poppy you want it, progressive, everything from Trespass to Wind and Wutherthing, pop-rock everything after. )
Yes ( again, depends on if you want prog or the more poppy sound they had in the 80s )
Eric Clapton ( Especially Layla with Derek and the Dominos, great hard rock album )
The Who
Beatles
Jefferson Airplane
Pink Floyd ( Dark Side of the moon is probably the best place to start )
Meat Loaf

And I could go on for years..

[Ashery]

Bah humbug. A lot of great bands have produced a lot of crap, and "Best of"s are one of the best ways to avoid it. I know I base my entire love of Queen on one of their "Best of"s, and tend to be rather disappointed anytime I stray beyond it.
Obviously things like concept albums are best to listen to straight through, and listening to any album is a different sort of experience, but for just looking for stuff one might like Best ofs are totally fine.

And a lot of great bands have a lot of criminally overlooked material. If you're just going to test the waters to determine if you like a particular era from a band, use youtube, the clips from Amazon, or something similar. Could also use a subscription based service and test out a bunch of tracks during the month or so it's active. I can't imagine owning Astral Weeks in anything but its entirety.

An example of some overlooked material from an older band: Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (The second half of the album is some excellent psych-pop).

[Moff Chumley]

Quite a bit of Prog rock there, dunno if that's what he wants but anyway :/ I'll put some in to.

I still think that Fragile is not only one of the best Prog Rock albums ever, but also an amazing classic rock album in its own right. Close to the Edge not so much, but hey. If you wanna get a feel for the 70s, no better place to start.

Gentle Giant are, in my opinion, the most criminally overlooked Prog Rock band of all time. The song Free Hand is breathtakingly epic, almost Queen-esque at points, and the rest of the album has a couple of high points easily up to the standard of Pink Floyd and Genesis.

In the Court of the Crimson King has one REALLY progressive song (Moonchild), one pretty progressive song (Epitaph) and a pair of just stunning rock tracks. (21st Century Schizoid Man, In the Court of the Crimson King). Red, on the other hand, was a metal album through and through. Likewise, Discipline was a New Wave record, not really a Prog album.

[Deth Muncher]

Quite a bit of Prog rock there, dunno if that's what he wants but anyway :/ I'll put some in to.


It's funny, every time I hear the term "prog rock" my mind instantly shifts it to "Prague rock" and then I spend an hour wondering if Prague actually has any rock'n'roll bands.

[Decoy Lockbox]

It's funny, every time I hear the term "prog rock" my mind instantly shifts it to "Prague rock" and then I spend an hour wondering if Prague actually has any rock'n'roll bands.

I wouldn't know about rock, but the Czechs do have some great metal bands (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3-vTbD5tqQ).

EDIT: I looked it up, and the band I linked (Arakain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZGDO1KXmg)) are indeed from Prague :smallbiggrin:

[SDF]

I don't like to listen to a lot of music recorded before 1980, but there are some things I love. Curtis Mayfield being paramount among them.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

It's funny, every time I hear the term "prog rock" my mind instantly shifts it to "Prague rock" and then I spend an hour wondering if Prague actually has any rock'n'roll bands.

Just hop on Google and czech it out for yourself. :smallbiggrin:

On topic, I'm more of a classical music fan myself, but I'll second Billy Joel and Elton John as two performers for a rock neophyte to listen to. We took my dad to a Billy Joel/Elton John concert for his birthday, and a few weeks before we went I grabbed all of both of their songs from a friend, reasoning that I should probably be able to sing along to at least one or two songs; by the date of the concert, about 20 Billy Joel and 16 Elton John songs made it into my favorites playlist and I'm listening to one of them as I type this.

Apart from those, I'm going to have to side with the "stick with the Best Of albums" side of the debate--if you're getting into older music just to get into old music as I did, find a bunch of bands and listen to their most popular material first, and then once you've listened to them all for a while and figured out what you like, then you should go find their more obscure songs. Just listening to poor-quality clips on Youtube or 30-second previews isn't going to help you figure out what you'll like.

[TSGames]

Really? No one bumps Blood, Sweat, and Tears? At least give the Box Tops a try.


Just hop on Google and czech it out for yourself. :smallbiggrin:
.... http://www.squidi.net/comic/junkyard/img/punhell.png
Layer 2.
That is all.

[leafman]

Aerosmith
Bachman-Turner Overdrive (Takin' Care of Business)
Creedence Clearwater Revival (you'll recognise them when you hear their music)
Billy Idol
Billy Joel
Blue Oyster Cult (Don't Fear the Reaper, Godzilla)
Bob Seger
Cheap Trick
The Doobie Brothers
Electric Light Orchestra (Don't Bring Me Down)
Guns N' Roses
Foreigner
Journey
Styx
The Rolling Stones
Rush
Triumph
Steve Miller Band

There's more but thats quite a list already

[Sleverin]

Oh man, how am I so stupid as to overlook CCR? I mean I used to hang out in their town all the time (despite the fact that its an empty city with little to do). And I love the Stones...to a point, but they do have some impressive stuff, and I actually need to listen to a few more of their albums I forget about.

[Jinura]

I still think that Fragile is not only one of the best Prog Rock albums ever, but also an amazing classic rock album in its own right. Close to the Edge not so much, but hey. If you wanna get a feel for the 70s, no better place to start.



Well I've only begun listening to prog a few months ago but... Fragile?.. It's a great album in all it's worth, but personally I like 'The Yes Album' or Close to the edge more or Tales from Topographic Oceans ( Though you shouldn't start there at all if you're getting into it ). I'd recommend starting with The Yes Album, that's what I did,

[Moff Chumley]

Ouch, how could I forget The Yes Album? :smallsigh:

However, between South Side of the Sky and Heart of the Sunrise, you have two of the definitive Prog Rock tracks, and between Roundabout and Long Distance Runaround/The Fish, you have two (or three, if you wanna be technical) amazing classic rock songs.

Don't get me wrong, I'd listen to Close to the Edge over Fragile any day of the week, but there's no denying that Fragile is a good deal more accessible.

[The Big Dice]

An example of some overlooked material from an older band: Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (The second half of the album is some excellent psych-pop).

Did you know that Roger Waters once said in an interview that if he was offered a million right now to perform Atom Heart Mother, he'd refuse. That's how much he hates it.

And I have to agree, that, The Final Cut and Ummagumma are Pink Floyd's worst albums by a long way.

But if you want overlooked artists, check out the band Free, and also Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac. And also the ultimate acid rock band, Hawkwind.

[DraPrime]

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJFBFovXI04) thread (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Snehl2bAk) doesnt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZJkywYHVQg) have (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sam5omG0v0) enough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvrupTBsGco) Iron (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwB9zg7Tbx8) Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY0RZriJ3gk).

[Ashery]

Did you know that Roger Waters once said in an interview that if he was offered a million right now to perform Atom Heart Mother, he'd refuse. That's how much he hates it.

And I have to agree, that, The Final Cut and Ummagumma are Pink Floyd's worst albums by a long way.

But if you want overlooked artists, check out the band Free, and also Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac. And also the ultimate acid rock band, Hawkwind.

Ummagumma is worth it for the live album, though, but the studio album? Oh god...

What's wrong with Final Cut? It's definitely a different album, but I'd certainly rate it higher than Momentary Lapse.

[Klose_the_Sith]

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJFBFovXI04) thread (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Snehl2bAk) doesnt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZJkywYHVQg) have (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sam5omG0v0) enough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvrupTBsGco) Iron (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwB9zg7Tbx8) Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY0RZriJ3gk).

Exactly my thought til I saw your post

Other classic metal bands I'd recommend:

Judas Priest
Saxon
Alice Cooper
Black Sabbath
Dio
Megadeth
Manowar
Motorhead

[Serpentine]

...80s is "old" now? :smallfrown:

[factotum]

...80s is "old" now? :smallfrown:

Hate to break it to you, but we are talking more than 20 years ago, and that's even if you talk about the end of the decade (where the music was mostly rubbish anyway). :smallsmile:

[Boo]

Huh... no mention of Elvis Costello. That's the only name I can add to the list in terms of 60's to 80's.

I would suggest listening to some older tunes, such as Billie Holiday, Henry Hall, Whispering Jack Smith, Frank Sinatra, Gene Austin, etc.

[Sleverin]

Sadly, the 80's is "old" now. But that's how our times work nowadays. Hell I have people tell me that a movie from three years ago is "really, really old", my response of course is the Spock eyebrow of "Did you just say something that stupid?" Now, I was only born in the late 80's but my mom was really big into the hair metal thing...her favorite song was "Pour Some Sugar on me" by Def Leppard. Kind of an odd song choice if you ask me.