Fuck the Super Bowl, name 6 Albums.

[NeilT]

I had lunch today with a guy who had his masters from Julliard, in voice.  It was interesting, because the guy described it as the most hellish thing I’ve ever heard, with the first year beginning 7 days a week beginning at 7 in the morning and ending at 11 at night.  One of the things he said was that Julliard would encourage him to take performance jobs—he was a baritone—but they had to be Julliard approved performance jobs.  He could only sing opera, not Broadway. He could sing new performances by adventurous composers, but not Delta country blues.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about music ever since, and I started thinking about Albums I Listen To That I’m Certain Nobody Else Listens To.  So here’s the criteria.

One alternative, one classical, one blues, one old rock, one jazz, one country.

Alternative.  Sarah Jarosz, Build Me Up From Bones.  This woman is such a brilliant instrumentalist, and such a brilliant musician. And she’s cute in an elegant way.

Classical.  Victoria de los Angeles, Songs of Spain.  It’s a 3 or 4 CD set of the vocal music of Spain, that I randomly bought because it included guitar and soprano music.  If I kick on my IPhone, this is the first thing that shows up, otherwise I would never listen to it. Every time I hear it, it’s thrilling.  Really, really thrilling.

Blues.  Mississippi John Hurt.  Avalon Blues.  People getting cut and Stagger Lee.  Women.  Jesus.  Candy Man. And he’s a brilliant guitarist.  This is just the best. 

Not Alternative Rock.  This is the hardest, because we all know the same stuff.  I don’t know.

Jazz.  Bennie Goodman, Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.  This is the popular music before rock, at its peak.  If I had to live with one record for a long, long time, this might be it.

Country.  Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Spining Around the Sun.  His version of I’m so Lonesome I Could Die is definitive.

[chuck]

Nobody listens to or nobody else around here listens to?

[NeilT]

Nobody listens to or nobody else around here listens to?

That you listen to that you think nobody else around here ever hears.  This is purely subjective.

[austro]

I don't know, I'll have to think about these other categories for a while. My classical repertoire is pretty limited, and this isn't an album (it's the B-side to a recording of New World Symphony, which is also one of my favorites), but I really enjoy it: Dvorak's Carnival Overture.

[NeilT]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1jNQgTVYrY

If that don't make you happy, nothing will.

[Ebby Calvin]

This is tough.

Alternative: Spencer Krug (Moonface/Wolf Parade)  I think he's brilliant.  And he's grating enough that I know of only one person who can stand him (although I think hostros7 may like him, too).

Classical: De Victoria - O Magnum Mysterium I was a big choir nerd in HS, so there's probably several obscure choral composers that don't immediately come to mind, but this is what I turn to the most.  Runner-up: Biebl's Ave Maria.

Blues: Delbert McClinton  I don't listen to blues much, so I have no idea if he's popular in that community or not.  But my parents loved him while I was growing up, so there you go.  Nostalgia pick.

Old Rock: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream I know this isn't old and it's still alternative and everybody's heard it, but I still listen to it weekly.  It's one of the few albums I don't get sick of.  Plus, this is a tough category, so shut up.

Jazz: Les McCann/Eddie Harris - Swiss Movement Easiest pick of all of these.  I don't follow jazz as much as I'd like (or much at all), but I don't understand how anything from that genre could top this.  My crazy stoner uncle suggested it to me, so it has street cred, too.  Runner-up: Grant Green - Live at the Lighthouse.

Country: Lyle Lovett  - Step Inside This House Another genre I don't know much about.  I know Lyle is popular-ish but this album (covers of Texas songwriters - TVZ, etc) is incredible.  If I go on a road trip, this is the first album I play.

Now I'm off to check out Neil's top 6.

[subnuclear]

Siamese Dreams is 22 years old.

[subnuclear]

Not sure I can name anything you guys haven't heard of.

Classical - A long time ago I learned that any album with Andres Schiff and Bach in the title is good.

Blues - Back when there was about 3 used CD stores on the drag I collected most of the Blues Masters Series.  Probably should spend the $5 to finish it up.

Old Rock - I've been doing a lot of coding at work and that means Obscured by Clouds.

Jazz - I was recently talking to a guy who paid a ton of money to see Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock live in Paris and said it was the worst concert he had ever been to. That's too bad, because I've always liked Footprints.

Country + Alternative -  I'm interesting in what you guys have to say.

[GreatBagwellsBeard]

Love this question.  Made me think quite a bit.

Classical - my wife worked for Houston Grand Opera when we first got married, and so I got dragged to a lot of performances.  After a while, I really "got" it, and now I'd go see an opera long before I'd see a musical.  Also, one of our neighbors is one of the feature baritones for HGO. Verdi's Rigoletto is my current fave.

Blues - Buddy Guy "Baby Please Don't Leave Me"  An absolute apocalypse. I also love R.L. Burnside. 

Old Rock - I'm sure others here are fans too, but I really like The MC5.

Jazz - Sorry, I'm uncultured.  So this is my metal/hardcore placeholder.  Listen to Coalesce.  It's a lot more than just screaming.  Crazy time signatures and tonal shifts.  Wait, that's jazz, isn't it?

Alternative - Raury. A lot of his stuff could be classified as hip-hop, but he jumps genres like crazy.   Not bad for a kid who can't drink legally yet.

Country -  As an Aggie, I'm legally obligated to pick Lyle or REK, but I'm going with Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors here.  Even if his latest stuff feels a little too polished, we'd all be better off if all Nashville country sounded like this.

Neil, did you get to see Sarah Jarosz open for Nickel Creek?  That was my first exposure to her, and was blown away.

[HudsonHawk]

Country: Lyle Lovett  - Step Inside This House Another genre I don't know much about.  I know Lyle is popular-ish but this album (covers of Texas songwriters - TVZ, etc) is incredible.  If I go on a road trip, this is the first album I play.

I LOVE this album. 

[HudsonHawk]

Ok, here goes...

Alternative:  I don't even know what that means.

Classical:  I love listening to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", and on my iPod I have a version by Itzhak Perlman and the Isreal Philharmonic. (Perlman is going to be playing with the Houston Symphony in February, BTW)

Blues: John Lee Hooker's "House of the Blues".  Another blues record I love is "Blues" by Jimi Hendrix.  Phenomenal.

Old Rock:  Lots of this, but stuff that probably few others listen too?  Grinderswitch "Redwing".  I grew up on Southern Rock, and this was a great band that never got its due.  Another Southern Rock band (though much later) I like listening to that no one else I know does is Drivin' N Cryin'

Jazz:  Anything by Stanley Jordan.

Country:  Hmmm...lots of stuff here too.  One I really like on those long rides through nowhere is the self-titled effort by Hickman-Dalton Gang, which is Johnny Hickman from Cracker and Jim Dalton from The Railbenders.

[Bench]

My musical tastes are wide but not deep, but here goes.

Alternative: I listen to BOAT- Songs That You Might Not Like at least once every two weeks.  I love the loose, clappy whimsical sound. I think I read the style is called "sloppy pop" or something like that. For years it was the only CD in my car and I would throw it on if KPFT was boring and I wasn't in the mood for Tejano radio.  I'm not sure what "Alternative" encompasses but Los Texas Tornados gets plenty of airtime as well. Chocolate and Cheese by Ween is one of my all time favorite albums too.

Classical:  James Ehnes is a family friend who happened to grow up into one of the preeminent concert violinists in the world.  He is the grandson of my mother's girl scout troop leader when she was a child, which is actually a much closer connection that it sounds.  He'll be performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto here in Houston two nights in May which I heartily recommend to any violin enthusiast.  I'm having dinner with him one of those nights, and since he's a Julliard grad I'll have to ask him about his experiences there to compare notes with Neil's comments.  Anyway, the rare times I do throw on some classical music I like a recording he did of Prokofiev's Two Violin Sonatas.

Blues:  Big Chief by Professor Longhair.  Not really obscure but it's my favorite Stagger Lee of all time and a quintessential Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I also listen to a lot of Kermit Ruffins, but he's hardly obscure enough for this list.

Old Rock: Ogden's Nut Brown Flake by Small Faces.  This album didn't really come up in the recent Faces thread, but I listen to at least once a month.  Song of a Baker is one of my favorite 60's brit-psychedelic songs.  

Jazz: As a San Antonio native my first exposure to good jazz was the Jim Cullum Jazz Band.  Their instrumental album version of Porgy & Bess is dixieland perfection that is great Sunday afternoon, futzing around the house listening music.  

Country: Guy Clark's Dublin Blues.

[Dark Star]

Alternative – Such a broad category … let’s see … One band I like a lot, who I don’t think I’ve seen mentioned here before, is King Kahn & The Shrines. They are just wildly energetic, and very fun. The 2013 release, Idle No More, gets played regularly around my house, in my vehicle, down on the beach, etc.

Classical – I just have never really listened to it. I respect it and all, and occasionally I will hear something I really like, but I have no idea what it is. If I said there was something I liked and listened to regularly, I’d be lying.

Blues – I listen to a lot of blues; and because it is so timeless, I have no idea what of it is popular with people nowadays, and what isn’t.  I’ll indulge myself and mention two here: Older – Wizards of the Southside (1990), a comp LP I picked up years ago. It has Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, and the like, belting out the essentials. I finally decided to try and preserve the vinyl, so I ripped it to my hard drive and listen to it that way, now. Not as full-sounding, but … Less old – Li’l Ed & the Blues Imperials, Get Wild (1999). Raw, hard-driving Chicago blues, from the nephew of J.B. Hutto. A party on plastic.

Old Rock – Trapeze, Medusa (1970). A mostly forgotten band now. Several of the members went on to greater fame in some of the bigger hard rock/metal/corporate rock bands of the late 1970s, but this band was more tight and bluesy than excessive. They are probably forgotten for a reason, but I find them enjoyable, here and there. “Black Cloud”, “Your Love Is Alright”, and the title song are the highlights. Their other early 1970s LPs (Trapeze (1970), and You Are The Music (1972)) are worth checking out, as well.

Jazz – I am by no means a jazzbo, and I don’t really have a broad overview of the genre; but there some things I really like. One is Bill Evans’ (the pianist) Everybody Digs Bill Evans (1958), recorded in the year of my birth. Beautiful and distinctive playing – Evans’ entirely improvised “Peace Piece” is probably my single favorite piece of music, of any kind. Also, Herbie Mann, Memphis Underground (1969).

Country – Charlie Rich, The Fabulous Charlie Rich (1969). “Life Has It’s Little Ups And Downs” is way up there on my list of Greatest Songs Ever – Any Genre. Just a terrific singer.  Also, the guy who wrote “Ain’t Living Long Like This” - Waylon Jennings’ version of which is also in the Top Ten of my personal Greatest Songs Ever, etc.  Namely, Rodney Crowell, But What Will The Neighbors Think (1980) and Fate’s Right Hand (2003).

[subnuclear]

Bill Evans is the best.

[Ebby Calvin]

Siamese Dreams is 22 years old.

Well, shit.  Now I feel old.

[Limey]

I am probably going to fail quite miserably at this, but here goes:

Alternative:  I was thinking maybe Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds here, but really I think my best shot in this category is Brian Jonestown Massacre's "Give It Back!".  Not only does it have the awesome, Dandy Warhols-baiting "Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth" but it also features heavily on the incredible Jonestown-Dandies documentary "DiG!" (if you haven't watched it, then yoo foo).  Jonestown was once described thusly:  "They will kick the shit out of your favorite band...and then write a song about it."

Classical:  Right now I have nothing in this category.  As a kid, I wore out my copy of the Star Wars soundtrack, which doesn't really count.  I also listened a lot to Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Variations", which was a classical/rock fusion that was a minor fad that, quite rightly, ran its course.  But it's all I've got.  Link

Blues:  Another shallow pond here, as only the Black Crowes and Amy Winehouse (and maybe Nick Cave...?) come close to fitting into this category.  I quite like the blues, I just have never invested much time in gathering it and listening to it.

Old Rock:  I don't know how old is "old", and again I am probably going to be inside the venn with most of you here.  Epic fail?

Jazz:  Never really been a fan of jazz.  However, I do own some really old school jazz, in the form of Ambrose and His Orchestra.  The reason being that my grandfather played in this band - double bass - for many years.  Here's a clip of them in action (this song was played at his funeral), the only problem being that's not my grandad on the big bass!  However, here's a photo with him on duty.

Country:  Got one!  Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue".  Widely panned as being dreadful, and a terrible idea, this album sort of wormed its way into my skull and stayed there.  Elvis, himself, said he was looking to do an album of the most melancholy songs he could find, and they all turned out to be country, so that's what he did (I think he's wrong in that assessment though, because...The Cure).  Anyway, his velvety, pained vocals made for great emotion on "Sweet Dreams", "I'm Your Toy" and "Too Far Gone".  Plus, one of the eleventy-million bonus tracks is "Psycho", which is scary with a nice twist at the end.

[HudsonHawk]

Blues:  Another shallow pond here, as only the Black Crowes and Amy Winehouse (and maybe Nick Cave...?) come close to fitting into this category.  I quite like the blues, I just have never invested much time in gathering it and listening to it.

You could have least mentioned Cream or Led Zeppelin.  You *have* heard those guys, right?

[Limey]

You could have least mentioned Cream or Led Zeppelin.  You *have* heard those guys, right?

Yep.  Don't own any Cream and LZ was in the old rock flameout.

PS  My grandfather, as I may have mentioned here before, was Richard Ball.  he went by "Dick"...

[HudsonHawk]

Yep.  Don't own any Cream...

Def Leppard?

[Limey]

Def Leppard?

I thought that the task was to list stuff that nobody else had heard, not stuff that everybody wishes they hadn't!

[toddthebod]

Awesome.  I love music games.

Alternative:  Scissor Sisters -- Night Work.  A little slutty dance music never hurt anyone.

Classical:  I really hate classical music.  How about Gilbert & Sullivan -- The Mikado.

Blues:  Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills -- Super Session.

Old Rock:  Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers -- L.A.M.F.  

Jazz:   I hate Jazz almost as much as I hate classical music.  So I'm going to give you Richard Cheese -- Any CD of his.

Country:  How bout some Alt-Country.  Whiskeytown -- Stranger's Almanac.

[toddthebod]

Another Southern Rock band (though much later) I like listening to that no one else I know does is Drivin' N Cryin'

I've been a big fan of Drivin n Cryin since my college days.  I just saw them for the first time this past summer.  They were playing a free concert here in New York.  Their relatively new lead guitarist is Aaron Lee Tasjan, whose solo work is totally worth checking out.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I will throw these out there:

Classical - Karlheinz Stockhausen - I didn't want to pick someone who has been dead for a hundred years and I couldn't decide between Americans Charles Ives or Aaron Copland, so I went with the innovative German composer. Stockhausen was one of the most influential modern classical composers, John Cage, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Zappa, Miles Davis, Brian Eno, and anyone who attempted to extract unique sounds from common or uncommon instruments owe's a nod to him.
 
Alternative - Julian Cope - Album - Floored Genius. I like his first band Teardrop Explodes well enough but he really hit his stride on his solo material. Julian is a good writer who has written several books, most notably as a respected antiquarian authority.

Jazz - Ornette Coleman - I really like free jazz and I think Pulitzer Prize winniing Ornette Coleman is a genius, you are free to think otherwise. Album choice, Science Fiction.

Blues - Mance Lipscomb - An often overlooked Delta Blues-man who was pitifully under-recorded, I got his album Trouble in Mind from a radio station in 1971 and have been hooked ever since.

Rock - Zombies - Album, Odessey and Oracle, Everyone has heard The Time of the Season but the whole album is filled with great songs, especially the sublime This Will Be Our Year.

Country - Don Williams - I can't think of any particular album, I have a greatest hits. Don Williams is never mentioned among the great country stars but he should be. He never disappoints.

[NeilT]

Neil, did you get to see Sarah Jarosz open for Nickel Creek?  That was my first exposure to her, and was blown away.

I've only seen her on Austin City Limits, not live.  I think I cheated a bit calling her alternative, but since no one knows what that means I figured I could get away with it.

[HudsonHawk]

I thought that the task was to list stuff that nobody else had heard, not stuff that everybody wishes they hadn't!

I thought you'd thrown that requirement out with Black Crowes and Amy Winehouse.

[HudsonHawk]

Country - Don Williams - I can't think of any particular album, I have a greatest hits. Don Williams is never mentioned among the great country stars but he should be. He never disappoints.

Don Williams is my favorite country singer.  He's sort of the last of the real country crooners, with songs about the real Southern life, thoughtful and intelligent that don't involve guns, getting drunk and sex with you wife's sister.  It'll be a sad, sad day when he's gone. 

[Limey]

I thought you'd thrown that requirement out with Black Crowes and Amy Winehouse.

I listed them as the only bluesy stuff I had, but not as my actual selection.

[Dark Star]

Alternative:  Scissor Sisters -- Night Work.  A little slutty dance music never hurt anyone.

This made me think of Glass Candy.

Blues:  Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills -- Super Session.

Was it this one, or the one with Shuggie Otis, where the do the extended, bluesy version of "Season of the Witch"?  Either way, a great choice, TTB.

Old Rock:  Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers -- L.A.M.F.

Awesome!

[Dark Star]

I listed them as the only bluesy stuff I had, but not as my actual selection.

I meant to tell you, I really liked your choice of BJM.

They are to me like the Stones were in the 1970s, and anyone who knows me knows that is saying something.

I didn't even try to list them - I still cannot really elucidate what they mean to me, how powerful they are in my imagination, and how many different levels I (think I) see in thier collected work.

Thank you very much for mentioning them.

By the way, my brother and I (and some of our older kids) went to see the Dandy Warhols last year, at Fitzgerald's. After the show we were all standing around the bar talking, and here comes Courtney Taylor (Taylor). Really nice guy, we talked for a bit, then he went backstage and got his wife and young child, and brought them out to meet us. One of the things I asked him about was his band's relationship with BJM over the years, and particularly his with Anton Newcombe. He told us he and Newcombe were cool now, and had been for awhile. He loved Dig!, and feels it is a pretty accurate depiction of where both bands were at the time.  He did say some things in there, like the rivalries between the two bands and their members, were somewhat exaggerated.

[geezerdonk]

I don't know if they fit into any of the categories, but Del Castillo is pretty good.

[Limey]

Alternative:  Scissor Sisters -- Night Work.  A little slutty dance music never hurt anyone.

There was an act in London, available for gentlemen's smoking evening and the like, called the "Scissor Sisters".  They, too, could be described as alternative, but in a whole different manner.

[Dark Star]

There was an act in London, available for gentlemen's smoking evening and the like, called the "Scissor Sisters".  They, too, could be described as alternative, but in a whole different manner.

This reminds me of South Park.

[NeilT]

Classical:  I really hate classical music.  How about Gilbert & Sullivan -- The Mikado.

No.  Just no.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

Jazz: Les McCann/Eddie Harris - Swiss Movement Easiest pick of all of these.  I don't follow jazz as much as I'd like (or much at all), but I don't understand how anything from that genre could top this.  My crazy stoner uncle suggested it to me, so it has street cred, too.  Runner-up: Grant Green - Live at the Lighthouse.

This is a highly listenable and great album. I understand how someone could listen to Sun Ra or Ornette Coleman and not like it but anyone who says they hate jazz after listening to Swiss Movement is lying.

[austro]

Ok, work week is over, and I've had a little time to think about things. Trying to hew to the directive to post about things that probably aren't in popular rotation, here are my contributions.

Alternative: Everybody seems to be having trouble defining what "alternative" is, so I'll go far afield and provide my own definition. I'm not very well-versed in the current indie/alt scene, so I'll go for an old-time "alternative" take: Toots in Memphis. That's right, Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytalls heads to Memphis and records a wide variety of things, including I've Got Dreams To Remember, Love and Happiness (highly recommended), Hard To Handle, and others. I love this album.

Classical: Already weighed in with my affection for Dvorak's Carnival. Thanks to Neil for that video; I don't think I've ever been to a concert that colorful.

Blues: He's far from an obscure artist, but I think he's underappreciated: Albert Collins. He was one of my first exposures to southern blues, and he's still one of my favorites. Try out Iceman, Frostbite, and Ice Pickin'.

Old Rock: Again, not unfamiliar, but probably not in current rotations: Allman Brothers' Brothers and Sisters. I'm particularly fond of Southbound and Pony Boy. For something really old, go check out The Dave Clark Five. I have no idea why they didn't hit it bigger than they did; a lot of their stuff is simply fantastic.

Jazz: My jazz exposure is very limited: Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, etc, etc, so I don't have anything to offer here. But I will definitely search out the Les McCann work recommended by Ebby and Sphinx.

Country: When I listen to country, it tends to be the familiar sort: Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakum (Dee-Wight, as he's known to my daughters and me), and others in that vein. But for something refreshing that others may have missed, try out Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins - Neck and Neck. It's the kind of smooth Atkins picking that you would expect, augmented by Knopfler's fluid style. Very enjoyable.

[NeilT]

This has been great.  I've got stuff to listen to for a long time.  I did think of my Old Rock entry:

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Vasos Vacios.  I gather it's a best of album, from 1993.  It's exactly what the Clash would sound like if they sang everything in Spanish and had horns.

[NeilT]

I don't know if they fit into any of the categories, but Del Castillo is pretty good.

Clearly an alternative band.

[Ron Brand]

There's been a lot of great stuff mentioned, music that I listen to often - Mississippi John Hurt, Benny Goodman, Swiss Movement, Ogden's Nut Brown Flake, Li’l Ed, Medusa, L.A.M.F., Mance Lipscomb, etc. Medusa and Mance Lipscomb were especially meaningful to me because I listen to them a lot, certainly every month. Good stuff!

And yeah, I'd like to play. Can I?

Classical - I've listened to classical, I've got a lot more LPs than I do CDs of that, and it ranges from those old Great Performances records of stuff like the Goldberg Variations to the Three Tenors. I have a nice cd of Caruso that I listen to from time to time, and I enjoy Callas and Te Kanawa. It's not like I know what the hell I'm doing though - I don't have much of a grounding in classical music. I can say though, that what really made it work for me, made me start to appreciate it, was the two albums by Walter/Wendy Carlos, Switched-On Bach and the Soundtrack to Clockwork Orange. I still love both of those, and they take me right back to when I was eleven or twelve.

Blues - I was a blues freak. No, a blues FREAK. Like some people are jazz freaks, searching out rare sides, I was that way with the blues. Fortunately, we had Antone's and some great record stores, so I could stoke the hell out of that fire. One set I keep coming back to is a 4-CD compilation of late '40s and early '50s John Lee Hooker, Classic Early Years. Almost all of it is the man, his guitar, and his foot. Great stuff like Goin' Mad Blues, House Rent Boogie, Low Down Midnite Boogie, I'm Gonna Kill That Woman, No Friend Around, Decoration Day, Streets Is Filled With Women...man, that's a great set.

Old Rock - C'mon. I feel like that's all I listen to. I know it isn't, but it feels like it. I was just enjoying Made In Japan, and that's on the heels of the fantastic Fire Records reissues of Wreckless Eric's '80s and '90s efforts that just about everyone missed the first time around. But hey, this is about what I'm listening to and you aren't, so how about this - McLemore Avenue by Booker T and the MGs.

Jazz - It's my fault, it's my error, it's my shortcoming, but I have a hard time with jazz. I enjoy Kind of Blue and I see its place in history. I like that Les McCann set and the history behind it. I love the prowess of the great players and their collectives. I know what they're doing. I get it, I understand it, but it just doesn't grab me unless it's Louis Armstrong. That grabs me, I can listen to that man play that horn all day long. I love the Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens.

Country - I was raised on Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Ray Price. Well, them and rock music and the blues, but as far as country goes, it was them. Later on I figured out an appreciation for a lot more of the genre, but what I've been listening to a lot lately is...Shotgun Willie. What a monster of an album.

Alternative - What the hell is alternative? What kind of bullshit category is that? I'm not picking on NeilT, I'm picking on the nitwits who came up with it in the first place, and then the mindless public who parroted it back as though it meant something. Dolts.

I listen to a lot of stuff I'd consider to be alternative to whatever the hell else other people are listening to. I happen to love the two live Throbbing Gristle boxes. I'm a big Foetus/JG Thirlwell fan and I'm pretty confident no one I know is listening to any of that right now. Hell, try Noveller on for size. She's amazing.

What I've really been digging lately though, is something I KNOW none of you have been listening to and that's got to make it alternative, right? I recently picked up an album I was unfamiliar with, and it's incredible. The Concert Sinatra, from 1963. There's a great backstory to the disc and it's recording, but the shorthand is that it's Sinatra backed by Nelson Riddle and a 70-piece orchestra, using the most advanced recording techniques of the day, recorded onto 35mm film stock. Not only that, but it's a collection of songs that mostly came from film scores, reinterpreted by The Chairman, and he lets his voice really fly on these. None of that swingin', jazzy Frank; this is a musician taking his instrument as far as he can. Seek this one out, you won't regret it.

Thanks, NeilT.