Albums/artists on/for which you really only dig a handful of tunes.

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cobl04

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This is something I've been thinking about lately. Do you have an album, or an artist, where you really, really like a bunch of songs, but as a whole you just can't quite get into them?

Wilco is one such band for me. I have Being There and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. And I fucking ADORE the following songs - Misunderstood, Sunken Treasure, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Heavy Metal Drummer, Reservations. There's also a handful of other songs I like. But I can't remember when I last listened to either album all the way through. It's quite frustrating having such a high point for an album/artist, something you love so much, but the rest of their work you've heard just doesn't quite reach the same mark.

R.E.M. is another band. Arcade Fire and Okkervil River I would have put in the same category in the past but I've since come around to both (strangely due to their latest albums, which no one else would agree are their best). Even Pavement might fit in this category for me. I dearly love about 10 or so Pavement songs but whenever I'm listening to them I'm usually handpicking tracks rather than albums.
 
Vampire Weekend
Neutral Milk Hotel
Animal Collective sans MPP
Drake
Eminem

I can't think of any others right now.

Go buy Summerteeth, Cobbler. If you like Being There, it may be right up your alley.
 
To a degree, Okkervil River. I fucking love Down Down the Deep River and Our Life Is Not... Those two songs are so good. While they have other songs I do enjoy (entire albums really, since I do like the majority of everything on the silver gymnasium a hell of a lot, and black sheep boy is decent all the way through), there's such a ginormous gap between how much I like those two songs and whatever my 3rd favorite song of theirs might be. The War on Drugs probably fits the bill too, not that they really have a large enough catalog to compare, but it's shaping up to be Baby Missles vs everything else for me.


Radiohead too, maybe? I like Kid A, and have the unpopular opinion that Pablo Honey is good. Otherwise, the band does almost nothing for me.
 
I was just listening to Mew's new album earlier and they are definitely a great example for this thread. Their full albums I don't tend to find particularly interesting, but each seems to have a couple of really great songs.
 
Yeah, The Doors are a good one. Mostly spotty albums, but some real knockout tracks here and there. Same thing with Queen, only A Night at the Opera and Sheer Heart Attack are really good albums. I would include the Beach Boys in this, but they have two amazing albums under their belt in Pet Sounds and The Smile Sessions, plus a couple dozen great tracks on other albums. I really do like them, just a lot of their albums suck.

Thought of two more for this thread: Violent Femmes and The Feelies. Some great tracks from both but neither are favorite bands of mine.
 
I can't say I like LA Woman enough to warrant putting the Doors on that kind of a list. But it is the only song of theirs I like, aside from the first 15 or so seconds of light my fire.


The Menzingers' "in remission" is fantastic, but all their other songs are boring as hell.
 
Vampire Weekend
Good call. Whenever I put on an album of theirs, I seem to be skipping half the tracks.

I'm struggling to think of other artists. Justin Timberlake maybe. He has some fantastic singles but the only album I'd ever listen to from start to finish is 20/20 pt.1 and even that has some filler. Lana Del Rey as well. Basically every pop star I like.
 
I'd have to say that the much-ballyhooed My Morning Jacket falls squarely in this category for me. "Gideon", a decade or more old, is literally the only song of theirs that I have heard and liked. But I like it a lot.
 
Some good calls here. My Girls is pretty much the only Animal Collective song I like. And I only like three or four Vampire Weekend songs.

Can't agree with Neutral Milk Hotel though. One of our regulars will have an aneurysm I'm sure over this but In Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Even though it's been three, four years since I last tried it, that "JEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSUUUUUSSSSSS CHRIST" bit still haunts me. That is the worst $20 I have ever spent, an atrocious album.
 
I've always liked Holland and Two-Headed Boy a lot. I also really like the untitled track because I don't have to listen to Jeff Mangum sing. Otherwise, bleh. Depends on my mood how much I can get out of ITAOTS.
 
Re: The Doors - I will hold that the debut and Strange Days are excellent albums through and through.

The classic artist that falls into this category for me is Hendrix. I'd say I admire more than like him and rarely listen to an album of his all the way through. M83 is another such artist; his (their?) albums all strike me as incredibly patchy.
 
The classic artist that falls into this category for me is Hendrix. I'd say I admire more than like him and rarely listen to an album of his all the way through. M83 is another such artist; his (their?) albums all strike me as incredibly patchy.

The consistent quality of Are You Experienced (US) just bowls me over. It's excellent from front to back.
 
I've always liked Holland and Two-Headed Boy a lot. I also really like the untitled track because I don't have to listen to Jeff Mangum sing. Otherwise, bleh. Depends on my mood how much I can get out of ITAOTS.


Holland, two-headed boy and oh comely for me. Other than that, completely spot on, hence them being on this list.

Agree re the Clash too.


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And yet I find it's his weakest album.

I find the weak spots on Axis to be pretty conspicuous. That album has some incredible peaks, but there are a number of tracks that feel slapdash or unnecessary. In contrast, I can't think of a bad track on Experienced. Not everything on Electric Ladyland is amazing but it's all in service of an atmospheric psychedelic experience. That album is a wonderful example of the studio as an instrument.

Experienced > Ladyland >>> Axis
 
Not everything on Electric Ladyland is amazing but it's all in service of an atmospheric psychedelic experience. That album is a wonderful example of the studio as an instrument.

Experienced > Ladyland >>> Axis


Right, and I'm judging Axis as an album more than a collection of songs. I think it's a better experience (no pun intended) overall.

Electric Ladyland is a just a magnum opus, the greatest testament to the man's gifts.
 
The Decemberists fit this for me...a few tracks I really enjoy, but I have a hard time making it through any of their albums
 
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