Visionary Albums (a vague definition, yes i know)

[Rit]

trying to be as objective as possible,

20 Visionary Albums

Robert Johnson – Complete Robert Johnson recordings (1990)
Hank Williams – 40 Greatest Hits (1978)
Johnny Cash – Murder/Love/God boxset (2000)
Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
The Velvet Underground – The VU & Nico (1967)
The Doors – The Doors (s/t) (1967)
The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (1969)
Syd Barrett (& the Pink Floyd) – Barrett (1970)
The Stooges – Fun House (1970)
Captain Beefheart – The Spotlight Kid/ Clear Spot (1972)
Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic (1972)
David Bowie – Low (1977)
Television – Marquee Moon (1977)
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979)
The Talking Heads – Remain In Light (1980)
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Psychocandy (1985)
Sonic Youth - EVOL (1986)
The Pixies – Surfer Rosa (1988)
Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

[Thorngrub]

nice topic


i'll dwell on it . . .

[Thorngrub]

22 random visionary albums


Dark Side Of The Moon ... Pink Floyd
Blackwater Park ... Opeth
Lateralus .... TOOL
Blood On The Tracks .... Bob Dylan
The Power To Believe . . . King Crimson
The Rise And Fall Of
Ziggy Stardust And
The Spiders From Mars . . . .David Bowie
On Land .... Brian Eno
Space Ritual ....Hawkwind
The Eternal Conquest . . . The Obliterate Plague
Telepathic With The Deceased ...XasthuR
Lost Fragments ....Raison D'etre
Of Gospels Lost & Forsaken ....Archon Satani
Untouchables . . .korn
Amused To Death . . . . .roger waters
Deloused In The Comatorium . . . . .the Mars Volta
Frances The Mute ....the Mars Volta
13th Step .......A Perfect Circle
Panopticon .....Isis
Left Hand Path ...Entombed
Conan The Barbarian (soundtrack)...Basil Poledouris
The Fire In Our Throats
Will Beckon The Thaw ......Pelican
Lift Your Skinny Fists
Like Antennas To Heaven ..... . . Godspeed You!Black Emperor

[Thorngrub]

*slaps forehead*

HOw could I forget:


In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3

and

Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One:
From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness . . .. Coheed & Cambria

*duh*

While I'm at it, I'll throw in

2112 . . . RUSH
Operation Mindcrime ....Queensryche
A Farewell To Kings . ...RUSH
Hemispheres ......RUSH
Permanent Waves ..... RUSH
A Caress Of Steel ..... RUSH
etc. .....RUSH

[Rit]

cool

[Ayinger]

.......scattering few not mentioned yet,,,,I know it's not a full 20 but I haven't got the time now to ponder much:

The Band - "Music From Big Pink"
Pink Floyd - "Dark Side Of The Moon"
Jimi Hendrix - "Electric Ladyland"
Spirit - "The 12 Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus"
Miles Davis - "The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions"
The Who - "Tommy"
Funkadelic - "Funkadelic"
The Waterboys - "This Is The Sea"
Run-DMC - "Raising Hell"
Santana - "Abraxas"

[ScottsyII]

This looks like a great topic... some really good ones sprouting up all around the boards lately, it's a good thing!

As for my list, I will most certainly be giving it some thought over the next day or so, and I might even post it tonight... can't do these sorts of things quickly! Time and consideration is required!

[Kensterberg]

Visionary albums ... what makes an album "visionary?" Here's what I'm using as a working definition: one that presages later musical trends, despite the fact that it may seem out of place in its own time; an album that opens the door to a new sub-genre or musical cross-polination. So given that criteria, here are a few that seem like fitting choices to me:

1. The Velvet Underground and Nico; White Light/White Heat. Listen to these records today, and then try to guess when they were recorded. The very definition of "visionary" albums.
2. Bringing It All Back Home; Highway 61 Revisited; Blonde on Blonde. These records had no business being cut in 1965-66, much less being major hits and an indispensible part of sixties culture. As Dave Marsh once said, this was the sound of Dylan and band looking into the precipace, and seeing an even greater possibility than anyone had imagined. And the tour with The Band in '66 remains the standard by which rock and roll as provocative performance art must be judged.
3. The New York Dolls entire career. They were the right people in the right place, about three years too soon. Without the Dolls, punk would still have happened, but it definitely would have been different.
4. Rubber Soul/Revolver/Abbey Road. While every Beatles record was in some respect "groundbreaking" these are the three albums that seem most visionary to me. Rubber Soul married rock and folk, and opened up the whole idea of folk-rock, so succesfully exploited by so many subsequent bands. Revolver set the template for the rest of the sixties, and Abbey Road did the same for mainstream rock throughout the next decade.
5. Talking Heads live shows c. 1979-80. The records had moments that made the connection between punk and funk explicit, but it was in these shows, particularly the tour behind Remain in Light, that really opened this door wide open. The Heads themselves would charge through that door on Speaking in Tongues and the live Stop Making Sense, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and numerous others would follow them later in the eighties and nineties. But these shows rank right up there with Dylan's 1966 tour in terms of rock and roll future.

Those are the five that spring most immediately to my mind. There are others of course (Buddy Holly's work in the fifties, Elvis' sides with Sun), but these five seem like a good representation for me.

[Rit]

that, my man, was awesome. excatly the kind of visionary i had in mind.

[bowiglou]

for "visonary" I got to go with:

(1) Beatles "Rubber Soul"
(2) Bowie "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"
(3) Flaming Lips "Soft Bulletin"
(4) Anything by Iggy and the Stooges, especially "Raw Power"
(5) Clash "London Calling"

[Paul]

Good topic....

Well, since I've made my devotion for the Kinks klear....I'd have to say Face to Face is quite the visionary album. It's arguably the first koncept album, but to a greater degree really showed that it's possible to tell a story or be a social commentator and still make inventive kick ass pop/rock songs. True that Dylan was doing this, but lets not forget that the Kinks were doing this at the same time. I'm not sure who was first at writing like this, but you can trace the Kinks to their 1964 album Kinda Kinks.

While I'm on my Kinks rant, I'd go as far to say all their albums from 1964-1974 are quite visionary. Some of the later albums like the Preservation Act weren't as klassic as previous Kinks records, but they still were quite visionary.

The albums that most come to mind are:
Kinda Kinks -- 1964 (listen to "See My Friends" * "Well Respected Man")

Kink Kontroversy -- 1965 ("Dedicated Follower of Fashion" is the primary stand out on this one).

Face to Face -- 1966: This is *maybe* the first concept album, as many of the songs have common themes of class separation, and nostalgia.

Village Green Preservation Society -- 1968: this one was either 100 years ahead of it's time, or 100 years behind it's time, it could be either way really; which I suppose makes it visionary in a wierd way.

Arthur -- 1969: Recorded before Tommy, but released after and is often unfairly bashed as a Tommy rip off. Make no mistake, this album sounds nothing like Tommy and it quite frankly IMO, blows Tommy away; there I said it. (Notable songs: Victoria, Yes Sir No Sir, Brainwashed, Mr. Churchill Says)

Muswell Hillbillies -- 1971: After the mass success of Lola, the Kinks were ripe to carry on w/ that sound and join Lou Reed and Bowie on the RCA label to bring a 1-2-3 punch of glam to the masses. Instead they released a country album. Not just a traditional country album, but a country album w/ loads of British references, and pub sing alongs' (not like the annoying Irish pub guys). What's fascinating about this album is that instead of Ray putting the music over thumping rock like the early stuff and Arthur, or the Music Hall sound of Something Else he uses a jazz band and fuses gritty working class English life w/ American jazz/ragtime. It takes multiple listens, but this is truly a lost classic and one of the Kinks best albums. Most would agree that it's the last universally acclaimed masterpiece the Kinks would release.

[ClubberLang]

can somebody explain what would make an album "visionary"?

[riley]

Any album with "high beams" is considered to have vision so to speak.

For example.

[ClubberLang]

rileydog said:

Any album with "high beams" is considered to have vision so to speak.

For example.

so any Madonna or Go-Go's album is visionary. I get it now

[phil]

Didn't you read post no. 7 ... ??