Recent reports that a Townsman scored a $2 used copy of Jellyfish’s Bellybutton album immediately brought to mind the image of the front desk of Rock Town Hall’s dream record store, where we would keep a bin of Polarizing Platters, records that cause Townspeople to immediately take sides, in even numbers, pro and con the music value of each album. We would keep this bin at the front counter because Rock Town Hall Records clerks and clientele are always up for a musical debate.
I think this Jellyfish album would qualify for the bin. People around here seem to either love it or hate it, and I sense the feelings for the album are split fairly evenly. An album like The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, on the other hand, has no business being in the bin. Although there are many advanced rock nerds to be found among us who might claim the album is “overrated,” who’s really going to make the argument that the album “sucks” or, more importantly, is somehow harmful to the rock landscape?
Am I being clear? Am I wrong in beginning the stocking of this important bin with this Jellyfish album? Are you really going to tell me that E. Pluribus Gergely and I are vastly outnumbered in our musical and moral objections to this album? More importantly, what Polarizing Platter would you add to the bin?
Boy, it’s sure hard not to throw out the names of bands or entire genres here, but I’m gonna have to whip out “Song Cycle” by Van Dyke Parks and lay it on the table. It’s a mystery how that guy has been able to maintain a reputation of quality (if not success), and his harm to the genre has followed directly from this condition.
The problem with Song Cycle though, if I read you correctly, is that among living, breathing Townspeople only Dr. John has stepped forward to defend that turd. I think all sterling reviews of that album were written by critics who passed away in their mothers’ basements shortly after publication. Maybe you know something I don’t: is there a fair share of prospective RTH Records clerks and customers ready to step up to the bin, pull out Song Cycle, and defend that album with all his or her heart?
No, you make a persuasive point: I think most of the people who champion that album probably have not heard it yet. Then again, the redoubtable All Music Guide gives it four and a half stars. Van Dyke shouts “Critics FTW!” from his rooftop?
I won’t defend Song Cycle specifically, but I would defend Van Dyke Parks for his arranging on other folks record, Ry Cooder, T-Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips and Rufus Wainwright for example, as well as some of his other records, esp. Discover America. Maybe Orange Crate Art would be one from his catalogue that would work in the bin, with the ever-polarizing late period Brian Wilson involvement?
In the “not-quite-cut-for-the-Polarizing Platters” bin, how about Raw Power? There are a lot of Stooges fans around here, but aren’t we evenly divided on that particular Stooges album? The reason it can’t go in the bin, however, is because even those of us who think it pales in comparison to the first two Stooges albums still love a few of the songs. Mmmm… [scratches his chin]
Geo, for reasons of humanity, we cannot stick entire artists in the bin. That’s not even debatable.
For reasons of space, we cannot stick an entire artist’s catalog in the bin, not even – say – the catalog of Steely Dan. A particular Dan album might do, however, although are there any that contain nothing that even Dan haters don’t love that Dan lovers would go to the mats over?
The problem with Orange Crate Art is that chances are anyone who tried Song Cycle, the one Parks album we learn about in rock nerd grad school, and didn’t like it wouldn’t have gotten near another Parks album. I actually tried that one from the early ’80s after dumping Song Cycle – the album based on Briar Rabbit or something like that. YUK! I never made it to Orange Crate Art. Would enough of us be able to stand around and disagree with Dr. John?
Any number of Costello albums would work here, like Punch the Clock or Spike or even the ever-controversial Mighty Like a Rose.
The trick with this thread is to come up with an album that’s controversial both in and out of RTH.
I gotcha. I would defend Orange Crate Art, and I think Al would back me up, but not with the unreserved fervor required for the Polarizing Platter Bin.
This one might do it. Patti Smith’s Horses. The preposterous ambition coupled with the relative modesty of the overall talent quotient makes for a Platter that could be called a classic or a turd.
Man, that Jellyfish stuff just sucks, in a totally bland way.
I’d say ZZ Top’s Deguello and/or Tres Hombres might sit on a divide around here. Hell, they sit on a divide in America.
Any late period Scott Walker. Tilt and The Drift are brutal listening experiences. The critical masturbation over The Drift was almost as painful as the disc itself. But some people say it is genius.
Oats’ Costello suggestions are good ones. If we were to choose one, do with go with a) one that even those who don’t like it a lot will cop to liking a few songs, just not liking the production (Punch the Clock), b) one that contains maybe the guy’s biggest pop hit yet is despised by most old-school fans (Spike), or c) one that I’m not sure anyone dislikes as much as my Dogg, Andyr, and I do? OR…do we go with the highly controversial and first post-Attractions album of original material, King of America? Or have old heads like myself long gotten over the shock of that album?
Horses might be a good one, Geo. What do you people think? Have the Great Unwashed-phobic among us even heard that album? I’m thinking of dudes like Andyr and Hrrundi. I find the album and Smith merely overrated.
Do enough people rail against Love’s critically acclaimed album the way Plurbs and I do?
I sense that we agree on this Jellyfish album being included in the bin, right? Is anyone lukewarm on that one?
Joeenglishband, you have cracked me up. Thank you! I tried some of those Scott Walker albums once and kept thinking they were like all the bad bits of Bowie deep tracks with none of the stuff I like about Bowie’s singles.
Mwall wrote:
Yes, that’s what we need, a balance of reactions like that to a particular album with people on the other side of the fence, willing to track the members of some long-deceased band through various solo careers. I’m confident that Jellyfish’s Bellybutton belongs in this bin. Let it be our benchmark.
Is Tres Hombres really that divisive?
I like pre-MTV ZZ Top (not as much as HBV, but well enough).
Do the haters really hate that so much that it belongs in the bin? I think it’s kind of like the Mod’s Steely Dan Theorem, if I understood that correctly.
Geo, you’re correct, I’ll back you up on Orange Crate Art. Although it’s been so long since I listened to it I’ll have to drag it out and give it a spin to see what the level of fervor will be.
For me, yes cdm, pre-completely lousy ZZ Top (ie, video age stuff) is more like Steely Dan. I’m not beyond enjoying the simple boogie delights of a couple of songs off Tres Hombres.
Does the second album by The Band apply? It’s one of my all-time faves, so maybe I’m overly sensitive to the slings and arrows that E. Pluribus Gergely and dbuskirk send its way. Are those two the only two who really dislike that album? Are they just assholes? 🙂
I thought about those Scott Walker albums as well, but I believe there may be a Song Cycle effect happening with those, to wit: everybody I’ve known who likes classic SW does not like the new stuff. That is, it’s only divisive within the fan. Cognitive dissonance and all that.
But in a similar vein that might have a bit more weight on both sides of the see-saw, how about Nico’s “Marble Index?” That’s getting a way’s past the RTH I try to focus on, but you know…it’s hard coming up with something both polarizing and accessible.
Maybe something like one of the later Blondie albums?
I would defend Mr. Parks, but not enough to die for him. He’s definitely out there, but I probably like him for all the wrong reasons, therefore, I cannot defend his tunes. I do own those record and enjoy from time to time.
Since I’m on a Clash kick, what about Combat Rock? That seems to be a bit of a blot on their catalogue. I like it.
Sunflower seems to hold a certain regard of love/hate. I do love that record.
TB
I am a huge fan of Costello’s Spike and Mighty Like a Rose…I was always surprised when people don’t like those records.
I only knew people who DROOLED over Jellyfish, can’t say I have every run into someone who does not like them (unless they hate pop music)
You’re making a good case for Spike and Mighty Like a Turd, jungleland2. Thanks.
There are those of us around here who love pop music but can’t stand Jellyfish. I can see how that may not seem right.
Oooh, Orange Crate Art is a real stinker.
I’m really into the 2nd Marshall Crenshaw record “Field Day”. Best album he ever did. I have met a few over the years who agree with me. However, many can’t stand that record, probably because of the Steve Lillywhite production. I dig the production on that record, so there you go. All his other records after that have one or two decent cuts, but otherwise the material just kind of sits there. Too careful or something. I’ll bet he’s the kind of artist who’s demos have the spark (case in point is his “You’re My Favorite Waste of Time”, the demo of which was released as the official version.
I’m a jellyfish about Jellyfish. I did a similar discount buy on that album that has a couple of good songs on it.
I like Marshall Crenshaw’s self titled one best despite the trebly bass.
Maybe Who By Numbers, a lot of you hate that but I like it quite a bit.
How about Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices? That seems to draw pretty strong reactions from both supporters and detractors.
And while we’re on the subject of low-fi, I don’t know that much Pavement, but I suspect that there has to be something in their catalog that pits brother against brother.
I believe that there must be some Smiths or Morrissey album that fits the bill here, but I can’t bear to listen to that stuff to distinguish one album from another, so I hope a fan speaks up.
Abbey Road should be in the bin. That may be the only Beatles album in there.
I’m with Tvox on Field Day. Love it. But I love most of his other records too.
Wouldn’t ELO be polarizing. I can’t stand them to the point that I can’t even pick which album would be the most polarizing.
Then there’s Beach Boys Love You.
has anybody mentioned the first Velvet’s album? Or is that just hvb vs. the rest of us?
Seems like Field Day is headed for the bin. I’m down with Bee Thousand. Anyone feel that album is simply “pretty good” or something nonpolarizing like that?
Beach Boys Love You lovers are just weird, like Positive Touch lovers, so don’t think I don’t have compassion. Not fit for the bin.
Not even ELO lovers care about their particular albums, do they? They’re too much of a singles band.
Abbey Road is a great suggestion, just because so few people even bother saying any Beatles album is subpar. You can say that about The White Album, but it has plenty of excuses for being that way. It’s not the same.
I agree with Mwall that there’s got to be a particularly polarizing Smiths album. I can’t take a minute of their music. Is there a Smiths album that not even all Smiths fans agree on?
How about David Bowie’s Low? I know it’s supposed to be historic and all, but do even Bowie fans all LOVE it?
I think the most common “half and half” divides around here aren’t of the love-it-versus-hate-it variety; rather, they’re divides between folks who think certain albums completely suck and those who think they’re not that bad.
The Traveling Wilburys, for example, probably sit on that fault line. Or “Cloud Nine” by George Harrison. Or “Night Moves” by Seger. Or the first Bad Company album. I’m betting if we took a poll on those albums, half of us would hate them, and half would find them decent enough. For the record:
Wilburys: suck
Cloud Nine: suck
Night Moves: decent enough
First Bad Company: suck
Does anybody really outright hate Abbey Road? I mean, some of us think it’s overrated and sort of so-so, but if I understand the way this thread has been developing, that’s not enough.
Yeah, I don’t think Abbey Road would cut it. Since there are four bands on that album there’s something for everyone. Plus they’re The Beatles, which means that they are genetically encoded into the entire western hemisphere. Hipsters never stood a chance.
How about something Gram Parsons related? Lee Hazlewood, perhaps? Does anybody view his Ann Margret album as a collection of deep cuts?
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot?
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is really boring.
Now, I love the Germs GI and a lot of people here really hate it. But I guess to be a polarizing album, there have to be people other than me who love it. Any takers?
mwall, i LOVE the germs.
what we do is secret, man.
mwall, we REACH. “Yankee Hotel Fostrot” is the most overrated LP in years. BO-RING.
POSITIVE TOUUCH is damaged goods? I’ve always loved that record. Some have even said “the new arrangements, when mixed with Feargal Sharkey’s tightly wound vocals, have the effect of actually increasing the tension.” I thought THE SIN OF PRIDE was their acknowledged stinker, sounds like sub-par late Jam to me.
I’ll take the slings for BEACH BOYS LOVE YOU but it is the only real Brian Wilson solo album, it is unfiltered Brian at his most Brian-ish. If you don’t like it you probably wouldn’t really like him either. All the other solo albums feel like an interpretation of Brian that he goes along with, in his easy-going way.
I love Marshall Crenshaw but FIELD DAY is exactly as bad as one would imagine a Marshall Crenshaw record produced by U2’s producer would be. I’m glad to have that twelve inch with a few of the songs rescued from the sludgy production.
Now I’m confused: Are we talking about albums that are generally polarizing and just polarizing here on RTH? Not all of our deep-thinking, inside-joke-laden, lab-coat analyses are immediately apparent in the outside world, even in discerning indie record stores. You put a Smiths album or Bowie’s Low or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in your window, and people are not going to assume you’re positioning yourself as the Vince McMahon of rock nerdery.
But to answer Mr. Mod’s question, Meat is Murder is the Smiths’ most polarizing album, I think. And even that has passionate defenders — like Joe Pernice.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I like to view it as a cautionary tale/set of instructions for how to screw up perfectly good songs with ‘avant-garde’ crap.
Being There is Wilco’s masterpeice, if there ever was one. Figures it got mediocre rewiews from Pitchfork.
Among my freinds at least, This is the Sea by the Waterboys has either been considered a corny peice of crap, or a corny peice of awesome. I, for one, liek it, even if it means sacraficing any hipster credibility i have.
And if i have any left, i’m gonna trash it and say that the VU’s debut album sucks, except for maybe Sunday Morning and Venus in Furs.
Other, more modern ‘polarizing’ albums. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel is either considered the indie rock bible, or stupid folk rock with a crappy singer. I think its the latter, but with fantastic melodies.
Kid A by Radiohead? I like it. My freinds say it’s “Everything’s in the Right Place, and then a bunch of rewrites.”
Oats asked:
The bin at the front counter of RTH Records is for customers of the store to fight over, not to make a point with the Pitchfork crowd or whatever. However, should anyone outside the circle step foot in the store, they are more than welcome to contribute an album to the bin. That Neutral Milk Hotel album that hissing fauna just suggested, for instance, is not one I would have thought of but one that does belong. I never hear anyone say, “Yeah, that album’s OK.”
Meat Is Murder is in the bin!
OK, the phrase, “the Vince McMahon of rock nerdery,” just broke my brain. Kudos!
The more I think about this, the more clarifying the notion of an RTH “bargain bin” of polarizing platters clarifies things. The deal to me is: the bin is filled with platters that some of us — preferably 50% of us — would think: “man, this is *totally* worth two bucks,” while the remaining 50% or so of us would say “not EVEN.” Again: I would pay $2 for “Night Moves.” But no WAY would I part with two hard-eraned recession dollars for Bad Company’s first album.
Having said that, I would never pay full price for that Seger LP — not even close.
So, to my mind, it’s a battle of “sucks” versus “come on, it ain’t *that* bad.”
I think it’s a fool’s errand to try and find albums that *half of us* view as “brilliant” while *the other half* thing suck eggs.
Though that Wilco album is a pretty good attempt.
I’m getting a very mixed impression of this very-obscure bin. I believe I have technically heard the band Jellyfish, possibly only on videos posted here. No opinion. As I gulp down my fifth decade with slight dyspepsia, I can safely say I do not understand liking the Beach Boys. I’ve tried. I almost enjoy the fact that people I really respect find them so engaging. Keeps the whole show honest, somehow.
Really like Horses, and I see where it gets its rep, even though I don’t like it *that* much.
Would I find Zappa’s “Uncle Meat” in there? (For which I went to the mat in RTH’s crank-start days.)
Back to sleep….
Everything by Zappa and the Grateful Dead should be DQ’ed or Hall-of-Famed. Plus, a guiding principle for me in this is that the squares have to like it.
Cheap Trick at Budokan
Introducing Lobo
The Gift (speaking of The Jam)
Well, not so much “like it,” as “be aware-ish of it.”
Abbey Road? No Way. You cant find enough people to hate it to outweigh my love alone.
David Bowie’s Low? I think this record qualifies more for the “side 1 is great, side 2 blows” type of threads.
I got one: Is This It? by The Strokes.
People love it, others hate it, few are wishy washy about it.
PERFECT!
“I got one: Is This It? by The Strokes.
People love it, others hate it, few are wishy washy about it. “
I should like this record..bought it, sold it two weeks later, bought it used again 6 months later, sold it again. Never made an mp3 copy even. Just left me cold.
My brother, who has almost the exact taste in music and likes even fewer bands post 1990 than I do LOVED it and went to see them (said live would convert me). So I saw them at a big festival and walked out after 4 songs.
No tunes, bad playing, bad singing, too cool for the room. If they had been playing “new faces nite” at the local bar I would have thought they were crap.
Saw them AGAIN, opening for Tom Petty, the crowd hated them (including the 4 people I was with who had never heard them before)
They do have the one song “Juicebox” that I thought was decent.
Boy, I was real surprised to find out that my $2 Jellyfish purchase became a subject of this thread. It was there in the CD section of this junk shop for months while I debated purchasing it. One one hand I heard a lot of praise about the band, but on the other hand I have mixed feelings about the “power pop” genre. Also their Look has something to be desired. I finally got it when they discounted it by 50%. I probably shouldn’t mention that there was also a copy of Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend there.
Anyway, I do like Field Day by Marshall Crenshaw, Positive Touch by the Undertones (the video for “It’s Going To Happen” was my entry to Undertones fandom), Forever Changes by Love (that’s the one you didn’t like, Mr. Mod?), as well as those late ’60s Beach Boys albums that you guys debated about a while ago.
As for Elvis Costello, what’s the opinion on Almost Blue?
As for the Jellyfish album, I listened to it last night & it sounded OK to me.
“The bin at the front counter of RTH Records is for customers of the store to fight over, not to make a point with the Pitchfork crowd or whatever.”
The problem is that John Q Public most likely hasn’t heard most of the albums in question so we really are just talking about the Pitchfork crowd and the Rock Nerd Mafia.
My brother is the only non-rock nerd whose opinion I’ve heard about Bee Thousand and he really really hated it. If we’re including the general public in the evaluation, then most of this is irrelevant and we should start talking about people like Hall and Oats again.
Generally I don’t really *hate* a record or an artist. My reaction to most of the questionable stuff mentioned in this thread is more like “I don’t get what’s supposed to be so great about that, so let me get back to ignoring its existence.” I was going to say that hate would be reserved for egotistical posers, but then I couldn’t really come up with anybody. Maybe it’s too early in the morning.
Fleetwood Mac, Tusk
Diskojoe wrote:
Wait a second – your purchase quickly fules my idea for this post and now your initial comments seem to contradict my premise! 🙂
Yes, Forever Changes is the album title I blanked on. About every other year I revisit it and realize I’m not a big fan of bullfighting music. Veterans of RTH are well aware of my hang ups with the album. I’d really love to love it, but I find almost nothing I can grab onto.
For me, Elvis’ Almost Blue is like his family vacation. I hope he had a good time. I don’t need to see all the pictures.
Tusk is a good one, Dr. John. Place it in the bin!
Shawnkilroy and Jungleland2, what you say about The Strokes’ debut makes sense. Place it in the bin! Also, Kilroy, the way you distinguish sides 1 vs 2 on Low really gets to the heart of the matter. I, for instance, like side 1 but get really annoyed by side 2. The bin cannot distinguish between album sides.
It must be too early, BigSteve. Morrissey and The Smiths deserve all the hatred I have for them and more. I think everyone should join me in hating them. I can think of some others, too.
I think cdm has a point. Rock nerds and Pichfork types are the only ones that still got to record stores and know what a bin is. John Q is ordering mp3’s online and thinks bands make six songs, three are good enough to steal and then the band breaks up to go back to their jobs as bartenders. It’s got to be rock nerds.
I’m with General Slocum on The Beach Boys and Jellyfish. I can’t see Jellyfish being polarizing. I’ve only heard them here, and they’re not that polarizing if you ask me. If their albums can be had for two bucks how could it possibly bug anyone if it sucks? Take it to another store and get stiff it for a buck. Anything’s worth trying at that low price.
I think I’d fill the bin with albums by Rock and Roll HOF Inductees and something like Blender’s Indie RockTop 100. Then you can argue about old standby’s like why Led Zeppelin sucks, toss in why Never Mind the Bollocks really was a s great as they said back then and get your hate on for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, too. Anyone qualified for the Foyer of Fame just isn’t going to get anyone to go to the mat for them.
I’d nominate Jellyfish for the Foyer any day.
Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers might be pretty polarizing, though. You never see it cheap and while I like it quite a bit, everyone I’ve ever played it for asks for me to take it off because it’s too depressing or they say they’re bored.
As mentioned by Shawnkilroy elsewhere, The Clash’s Sandinista has got to be a contender for the bin. I love it, warts and all. Many Clash fans do not share my enthusiasm. Not even the excuse of the “sprawling triple album” soothes their dislike of it the way a similar excuse might be used to brush off all the crap on The White Album.
Has the nomination of the Germs GI been rejected?
I’ve decided that Sandinista is truly first rate lounge music. Seriously. So maybe if some anti-Sandinistas will speak up…
People beside you, Mwall, really do love that Germs album, right? If that’s the case, by all means place it in the bin!
Trans?
I like: Jellyfish, Field Day & Abbey Road.
To clarify what I think Andyr was getting at re: Abbey Road: Among Beatles albums, which diehard Beatles fans usually love up and down, the one most likely album of contention is Abbey Road, where we most likely argue over the value of the medley. However, this may be similar to the side 1 v side 2 debate that goes on with Bowie’s Low, in which case Abbey Road is not permitted in the bin.
Actually, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel isn’t that bad. I’d rather listen to that than A Ghost Is Born or the latest one, which is extremely 70’s FM soft rock.
Does anyone think Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music is an ok listen? What about Berlin?
If I was going to choose a Beatles album, I’d probably choose “Let It Be”, or better yet, one of the bootleg versions called “Get Back”.
A band that might be entirely divisive might be Depeche Mode.
I’m completely down with the Germs,which has held up better for me than the Circle Jerks and Fear records of that era (though I’m always pleasantly surprised to hear any of that stuff still being played). The Germs music has a neatly submerged sense of melody to my ears.
I am pro-Metal Machine Music. I’m not anti-Berlin, but I think it’s ascendance to the top spot in the Reed solo canon is out of line.
If you missed it earlier, Cherguevarra, for humanitarian reasons we cannot stick entire bands in the bin, but yes, Depeche Mode would be tempting.
I love Berlin, but I agree with BigSteve re: the recent ascendance of that album. I think this is a clear example of the effectiveness of Lou’s longtime “…as it was meant to sound” campaign. He pumps up every new release – even reissue – with that nonsense. A year or two from now, when we get the Broadway play based on Street Hassle, we’ll be hearing that THAT was the album that inspired the Broadway musical that best captured his music – the way he first heard it in his head.
I don’t quite hate Berlin, but I hardly love it. Call it one of those albums I can grudgingly respect as long as I don’t have to hear it anymore.
Previous discussion on this topic might put Wire’s Pink Flag on the list. I and a lot of other folks think it’s great and if Mr. Mod can produce enough back-up for his strongly negative position, we might have something to get polarized about.
I didn’t miss it – but I was thinking that *if* there were a band you might be able to stick into the bin, DM might be it.
I’m aware that I alone can put together a team of bad feelings toward Pink Flag, but I’m not sure anyone else who wouldn’t like it has heard it. Seems like everyone else who’s heard that album thinks it’s the cat’s meow.
It’s funny I should see your comment now, Geo. I just considered buying a live performance by Wire in 1979, before 154 came out and featuring many of those as-yet-unreleased songs. Lacking the studio wizardry of the studio album, the tracks I sampled had that same work-out routine vibe I get from the Pink Flag cuts. I also sampled some new album that came out just last year. BORING!
Did the last debate here on the merits of Nonsuch qualify it for polarizing status?
I’m merely lukewarm about Pink Flag, but maybe I haven’t listened to it enough to develop strong emotions about it, be they positive or negative.
Oats, what are your feelings on purely exercising, without sports and the chance of winning or losing in the mix?
Alexmagic, if there are Nonsuch lovers then that album surely goes in the bin. Certainly I’m not alone in hating that album.
There are *parts* of Nonesuch I like quite a bit – and parts I skip every time I play it. I think it was the last gasp of XTC doing anything listenable.
The Wire album from last year, Object 47, was often compared to 154 by reviewers, especially in contrast to the pinkflagishness of 2003’s Send. I like all of it, but, if you’re bored by Object 47, you should also avoid Colin Newman’s other band, Githead.
Speaking of Lou Reed, New Sensations.
I’m a Nonsuch lover. There are a few turds on it, but in general it’s an album my life would be worse without. Come on, “My Bird Performs”?
Even the couple of decent songs on Nonsuch sound like they were pulled out of mothballs, like they were found in the closet of a home where the lonely owner had been dead for 2 weeks without anyone knowing it. Place that lp in the bin!
Is there some super-pop platter that would qualify? I don’t dislike ABBA, for example, but I’m not quite drinking the Kool-Aid either, other than respecting the degree to which they refined the craft/sound/production. The Carpenters, etc. You know, the guilty pleasure that gains cred in retrospect.
I like Nonsuch quite a lot. That’s the one after Oranges & Lemons, right? I think O&L is the worst of all XTC albums. I was very happy when Nonsuch came out and it showed O&L to be an aberration as opposed to the first step down.
Of course, there weren’t really any other steps any further up after that.
I know a way to get Depeche Mode into the bin: their first album, SPEAK AND SPELL. It’s the only one they recorded with Vince Clarke, who wrote most of the songs and promptly left the band afterwards to form Yaz.
Most of your diehard Depeche Mode fans hate this album, in large part because the remaining bandmembers go out of their way to disparage it every chance they get. Then there are those — myself among them — who quite like this album but really really dislike most of the rest of the band’s output. So it’s certainly a PP.
You have done RTH Records a great service, Great One. Thank you.
I would suggest the Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo into the bin.
You could pretty much suggest any Byrds record besides that one and the Mod would at least be against it.
Diskojoe, Sweetheart of the Rodeo is PERFECT for the bin. Nice work!
Mockcarr, I’m a bigger man than you think regarding the Bin of Polarizing Platters. This isn’t about ME and MY hangups. The Rock Rugs thread is more along those lines.
Mod, Sweetheart isn’t perfect for the bin until more than just you speaks up as hating it. I’m sure there are others here who do, but until then, isn’t it too quick to jump the gun.
Once this post has petered out, will there be a list compiled of the records in the bin? I can also see a poll question in which you’re allowed to respond to each of these albums only by saying you love or it you hate it.
OK, I’ll hold off on Sweetheart. I’ve got something planned that will summarize our findings. Thanks.
out of curiosity, why is Apple Venus never mentioned in discussions of XTC? It doesn’t really had much to their career, i guess, but i like a lot of the songs on it, especially Easter Theatre.
I like Apple Venus just fine (as well as it’s Wasp Star sequel). They aren’t as memorable as the early career stuff but they are better than Oranges & Lemons.
As to why they don’t get much attention here perhaps it’s because they came so long – 7 years – after Nonsuch. You could almost view them as the first in the Fuzzy Warbles series.
If you are like me, you don’t need any further sign that you are getting old but how’s this one – it’s ten years since Apple Venus came out?!?!
I’m a fan of both of the last two albums, as well, and would have been happy had they gone on and made a few more albums in the Wasp Star mold. I’d be interested if the folks who don’t like Nonsuch went back and gave both Apple Venus albums another listen, to get their takes on them now.
I much prefer Apple Venus to Oranges and Lemons and Nonsuch. It’s not a bad album, but by the time it was released and the way it was released, with Gregory one step out the door, it was hard to think of it as an XTC album. Wasp Star makes little impression on me, good or bad. It’s just there, and by that time I feel they had no business carrying on with the XTC name.