2006/12/15
Unsung Musical Treasures
 | ZZ Top - Antenna High production values and gobs of money marked ZZ Top's descent from edgy blues-rock combo to irrelevance, but 1994's Antenna broke that slide because it was so reminiscent of Tres Hombres. "Fuzzbox Voodoo" is, quite frankly, one of the ZZ Top's best. |
 | Cocteau Twins - Milk & Kisses The swan-song for an eclectic band that specialized in using the human voice as an instrument. If you were into ambient, you couldn't get away from Cocteau Twins for the better part of a decade, but in 1993 everybody thought that this band had nothing left. They were wrong. |
 | Poi Dog Pondering - Pomegranate The best of a series of unloved albums from a band that almost never charted. This CD is packed with great material, but track 9, "God's Gallipoli" is probably the catchiest, most poignant song about the end of life ever recorded. |
 | The Silencers - A Letter From St. Paul No finer band has toiled in obscurity longer than The Silencers. I first heard them in 1986 when their debut album was released. It was a time. I was fresh out of school, at my first job, had a lot of arty friends, and thought... What the hell does a quartet from Scotland know about the Twin Cities? I've followed 'em ever since. |
9 Comments:
Impressive. Really.
For tonight's "Friday Nite Retro" feature on Left in Aboite, I went with some more obscure artists that more people might enjoy if they got to experience them.
I always liked Deguello with El Loco coming in second.
I've never heard of the last two, either.
John, Graeme, these days my iPod does the digging for me. Just randomize and suddenly you're hearing all sorts of stuff that you'd forgotten about.
Julien, of the early ZZ material it's Tres Hombres and Rio Grande Mud for me, but that doesn't mean that I don't own Deguello and El Loco. :-)
There were a few others, notably hard core gospel - Odetta and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Now I just need to find a turntable that won't destroy them. A great find though.
