The One Album That Best Defines Your Musical Taste

[robertff]

So I was just thinking about this yesterday, what would be the one album that best defines my musical taste? Needless to say in my head loads of album covers kept suddenly floating in and out of my mind and I still found it hard to come up with one - it takes some thinking about, I think so anyway.

So here's the challenge - it might not be a challenge for you, it might be really easy:-

What do you think is the one album that best defines your music taste? No compilations of any kind, including live albums if they are compilations. Double albums are acceptable.

I still haven't arrived at mine yet.


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[C]

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When I have asked people in the past what music they like - my eyes glaze over and I lose interest when they reply "I like all sorts of music" or "I like most things"

That's a nonsense.

Most serious music listeners have specific genres and in my view serious music collectors are even tighter within genres - ie it's like collecting stamps you can't collect everything and philatelists tend to focus on say a country or a continent or a period in time or a theme like sport etc.

So, I have genres that I have collected since I was 12 - there are some genres I love and others that are not my cup of Darjeeling.

Sorry Googs (RIP), but my most disliked genre is the Crooners - Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and all that stuff

So, to the question in hand: I can't select just one record that defines my musical taste because my taste consists of a number of genres.

I can select an album from each of the genres but not just one umbrella album - it is impossible.

For what it's worth my favourite genres are (and in no particular order):

- Hard Rock
- Prog
- Folk
- Jazz
- Ambient
- 'Krautrock'

So, then it becomes possible:

Hard Rock: Thank Christ for the Bomb - Groundhogs
Prog: In the Land of Grey & Pink - Caravan
Folk: Sandy - Sandy Denny
Jazz: ESP - Miles Davis
Ambient: White Arcades - Harold Budd
'Krautrock': Phaedra - Tangerine Dream

An alternative:

Hard Rock: Squawk - Budgie
Prog: Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
Folk: Planxty - Planxty
Jazz: Giant Steps - John Coltrane
Ambient: Thursday Afternoon - Brian Eno
'Krautrock': Autobahn - Kraftwerk


Frank Zappa, of course, it too complex to categorise


Sorry Rob, I am unable to compute




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[copehead]

I think everything I like about music is summed up by Psychocandy, but it isn't my favourite album, although easily Top 10

[robertff]

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When I have asked people in the past what music they like - my eyes glaze over and I lose interest when they reply "I like all sorts of music" or "I like most things"

That's a nonsense.

Most serious music listeners have specific genres and in my view serious music collectors are even tighter within genres - ie it's like collecting stamps you can't collect everything and philatelists tend to focus on say a country or a continent or a period in time or a theme like sport etc.

So, I have genres that I have collected since I was 12 - there are some genres I love and others that are not my cup of Darjeeling.

Sorry Googs (RIP), but my most disliked genre is the Crooners - Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and all that stuff

So, to the question in hand: I can't select just one record that defines my musical taste because my taste consists of a number of genres.

I can select an album from each of the genres but not just one umbrella album - it is impossible.

For what it's worth my favourite genres are (and in no particular order):

- Hard Rock
- Prog
- Folk
- Jazz
- Ambient
- 'Krautrock'

So, then it becomes possible:

Hard Rock: Thank Christ for the Bomb - Groundhogs
Prog: In the Land of Grey & Pink - Caravan
Folk: Sandy - Sandy Denny
Jazz: ESP - Miles Davis
Ambient: White Arcades - Harold Budd
'Krautrock': Phaedra - Tangerine Dream

An alternative:

Hard Rock: Squawk - Budgie
Prog: Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
Folk: Planxty - Planxty
Jazz: Giant Steps - John Coltrane
Ambient: Thursday Afternoon - Brian Eno
'Krautrock': Autobahn - Kraftwerk


Frank Zappa, of course, it too complex to categorise


Sorry Rob, I am unable to compute


.

Yes, I understand all that and like you I have preferred genres and favourite albums from each of those genres, although I'm pretty sure among all of those genres I could levy my favourite genre as psychedelic rock - or perhaps not.

It's a quandry!

More thinking required.


.

[C]

.
When I have asked people in the past what music they like - my eyes glaze over and I lose interest when they reply "I like all sorts of music" or "I like most things"

That's a nonsense.

Most serious music listeners have specific genres and in my view serious music collectors are even tighter within genres - ie it's like collecting stamps you can't collect everything and philatelists tend to focus on say a country or a continent or a period in time or a theme like sport etc.

So, I have genres that I have collected since I was 12 - there are some genres I love and others that are not my cup of Darjeeling.

Sorry Googs (RIP), but my most disliked genre is the Crooners - Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and all that stuff

So, to the question in hand: I can't select just one record that defines my musical taste because my taste consists of a number of genres.

I can select an album from each of the genres but not just one umbrella album - it is impossible.

For what it's worth my favourite genres are (and in no particular order):

- Hard Rock
- Prog
- Folk
- Jazz
- Ambient
- 'Krautrock'

So, then it becomes possible:

Hard Rock: Thank Christ for the Bomb - Groundhogs
Prog: In the Land of Grey & Pink - Caravan
Folk: Sandy - Sandy Denny
Jazz: ESP - Miles Davis
Ambient: White Arcades - Harold Budd
'Krautrock': Phaedra - Tangerine Dream

An alternative:

Hard Rock: Squawk - Budgie
Prog: Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
Folk: Planxty - Planxty
Jazz: Giant Steps - John Coltrane
Ambient: Thursday Afternoon - Brian Eno
'Krautrock': Autobahn - Kraftwerk


Frank Zappa, of course, it too complex to categorise


Sorry Rob, I am unable to compute


.

Yes, I understand all that and like you I have preferred genres and favourite albums from each of those genres, although I'm pretty sure among all of those genres I could levy my favourite genre as psychedelic rock - or perhaps not.

It's a quandry!

More thinking required.


.

Interesting

For me, me favourite genres have equal weighting

I couldn’t elevate one above the others




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[Rorschach]

Well, I guess it depends on how you define 'genres'. I like songs with a catchy tune and literate lyrics and which don't stick around for too long. I'm not suggesting I don't like anything that doesn't fit into that straitjacket but, if you add a bit of dressing the part and rebellious attitude, that's my favourite type of music. Pop, basically.
So, although I'm not a big reggae fan, I do like Bob Marley. I quite like punk but mostly Matlock's Sex Pistols and the Ramones because they had tunes and interesting/amusing lyrics. So, in one sense, my tastes cut accross genres. I even like the occasional prog track when they stick to my rules.

Perhaps the nearest to defining my tastes would be:

[C]

When I have asked people in the past what music they like - my eyes glaze over and I lose interest when they reply "I like all sorts of music" or "I like most things"

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[Andrews Sisters Conundrum]

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When I have asked people in the past what music they like - my eyes glaze over and I lose interest when they reply "I like all sorts of music" or "I like most things"

That's a nonsense.


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Agree completely, my festive friend.

[Hightea]

There isn't one but the closest would be

Gong - You

[ChrisB]

[robertff]

I can understand that.


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[C]

There isn't one but the closest would be

Gong - You

Nice

Very nice



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[ChrisB]

I can understand that.


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Fortunately, even at my age, my hands are in better condition

[The Slider]

If you can define your taste in one album, no matter how hard you think about it, you've got to be some sort of cunt.

You might have a favourite but Jesus fucking Christ

[mudshark]

You can call me anything you want, but the One album that has just about everything I like about "Music":
The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

When I have asked people in the past what music they like - my eyes glaze over and I lose interest when they reply "I like all sorts of music" or "I like most things"

That's a nonsense.

Then I don't suppose there's any point in me commenting further!

Most serious music listeners have specific genres and in my view serious music collectors are even tighter within genres - ie it's like collecting stamps you can't collect everything and philatelists tend to focus on say a country or a continent or a period in time or a theme like sport etc.

Except to say that "serious music listeners" sound like very boring people who are likely to demonstrate no taste whatsoever and cause my eyes to glaze over lose interest when they start talking about their fucking stamps/records.

[C]

If you can define your taste in one album, no matter how hard you think about it, you've got to be some sort of cunt.

You might have a favourite but Jesus fucking Christ

Don't hold back Johnny lad - say it as it is

[BARON CORNY DOG]

But if I must participate in this ludicrous and pointless exercise, I suppose I would choose "Like Flies on Sherbet"

[ChrisB]

Except to say that "serious music listeners" sound like very boring people who are likely to demonstrate no taste whatsoever and cause my eyes to glaze over lose interest when they start talking about their fucking records.

The eyes of my wife are so glazed over, people think she's got cataracts

[Darkness_Fish]

Most serious music listeners have specific genres and in my view serious music collectors are even tighter within genres - ie it's like collecting stamps you can't collect everything and philatelists tend to focus on say a country or a continent or a period in time or a theme like sport etc.

Except to say that "serious music listeners" sound like very boring people who are likely to demonstrate no taste whatsoever and cause my eyes to glaze over lose interest when they start talking about their fucking stamps/records.

That's the problem with collectors, the record itself might as well be a stamp, the interest isn't really in the music. Everyone has their favourite genres, and no, you can't collect everything, but it's good to open the window and look outside every so often.