Non-Prog Masterpieces

Has no-one else heard Matthew Sweet's `Altered Beast'?! One of my all-time favourites! :)

Noisy alt-pop/rock with occasional country elements, very sarcastic and pessimistic lyrics, superb Byrds-influenced harmonies?

Wish I knew how to post those Youtube samples/clips of the album on here!

My favourite albums by non prog bands might be contenders:

richardh wrote: My favourite albums by non prog bands might be contenders: Love - Forever Changes (great sixties album) The Tubes - Remote Control (arguably their best album ,themed around Television as many of their songs tend to be and pruduced by Todd Rundgren) Al Stewart - The Last Days Of The Century (Al's best album ,this is real quality)   all those are collections of songs so I'm not sure that they could be termed 'masterpeices' but they are easily 5 star albums in my book.

I love Forever Changes.
I used to be Tubes admirer too, indeed with Remote Control as favorite album of them, but haven't listened to them in quite some time.

Triceratopsoil wrote: Dean wrote: Triceratopsoil wrote: Insert Swans here I didn't know you liked Swans

I have to admit being a late-comer to the party - I didn't get into them until '88 following the release of their cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart (red and black, though it was the black version I heard first) - but yeah - everything Gira and Jarobe touch is pure gold as far as I'm concerned.

akamaisondufromage wrote: geogkrt wrote: Elvis Costello - My Aim is True The Band - The Band AKA The Brown Album Tom Waits - Rain Dogs Tom Waits - Bone Machine   The best Huey Louis and the News album!  Good choice it is a masterpiece great songs from start to end.  Bands often frontload their albums these days but EC didn't need or try to with this as it finishes as strongly as it starts.   I think its his best album but probabaly not progressive in any way

They were called 'Clover' then right?

Dean wrote: Paradise Lost - Draconian Times. Sweet - Give Us A Wink Stray - Suicide T.Rex - Electric Warrior The The - Mindbomb This Mortal Coil - everything Siouxsie and The Banshees - Juju, A Kiss In The Dreamhouse XTC - Drums & Wires, English Settlement, Big Express... etc. Cure - Seventeen Seconds Cocteau Twins - Treasure Comsat Angels - Waiting For A Miracle Icicleworks - The Small Price Of A Bicycle Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures KLF - White Room Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps Danielle Dax - Jesus Egg That Wept John Foxx - The Garden The Lover Speaks - s/t Ian McNabb - Truth and Beauty Modern English - Mesh and Lace Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium Gary Numan - Pure The Passage - Pindrop Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out Shellian Orphan - Helleborine Ultravox! - Systems Of Romance Michael Hedges - Ariel Boundaries The Pop Group - For How Much Longer are We Going to Tolerate This Mass Murder The Shamen - In Gorbachev We trust Pop Will Eat Itself - Everything they ever did except the last one. Sisters Of Mercy = Floodland The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus Emperor - Anthems For The Welkin At Dusk, IX Equilibrium Fear Factory - Demanufacture/Remanufacture Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty And The Beast Primordial - Imrama

I would agree with many on this list.

Good to see someone appreciating the Fields of the Nephilim. I saw them on the Elyzium tour, and they were mindblowing. I often think they should be taken a little more seriously. Well, their music if not their image..

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Has no-one else heard Matthew Sweet's `Altered Beast'?! One of my all-time favourites!

I have a friend who cites that as her favorite album of all time.

Masterpiece albums that are not on PA, with a quick description of each:

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today (2010) -- All those catchy little hooks that occur to you in the shower or just as you're getting out of bed, come together in a collision of kaleidoscopic lo-fi wonderment.  I discovered it about a year ago and I still listen to this album (and all his other things) obsessively.  An absolute knockout.

Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat (2004) -- Long, convoluted song/mazes with surreal lyrics, performed by a brother/sister duo.  This is their most "prog" album, but I'd be hard pressed to call them a prog band.  They certainly get "out there", though, more so than just about any indie rock band I've heard.  In fact, they're very hard to get into; I have yet to convert anybody.

Jack Bruce: Harmony Row (1971) -- 2nd solo album from the main singer/writer for Cream.  Talented on bass, guitar, piano, organ, and cello as well as vocals, Jack produces a dreamy batch of art pop melodies with ambitious, quirky arrangements.  Helped out on guitar and drums by Chris Spedding and John Marshall.  This is better than any Cream album, IMO.

The Kinks: Something Else (1967) -- The Kinks during this period wrote some of the most incredible songs I've ever heard, second only to the Beatles.  In fact, if we just looked at singles, the Kinks might actually win.  No concept/opera here, just a group of miniature portraits of English characters, both tragic and humorous.

Dead Kennedys: Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982) -- Speedy hardcore with lyrics that count.  The riffy songs go by in a murky roar, with singer Jello Biafra spitting out sarcastic indictments of society.  The first side barely gives you time to breathe; the second side concentrates on longer, more dramatic pieces.  And it ends with a super melodic anthem, a sad but resigned piece about beach pollution.

The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace (1985) -- The Fall could do no wrong in the years 1980-1986, and this is the most focused and powerful statement they'd released yet.  Major influence from the likes of Can, but with even more slashing guitar and nagging bass hooks.

Jo Jo Gunne: Jumpin' the Gunne (1973) -- Semi-obscure spin-off of Spirit, with former Spirit frontman Jay Ferguson leading the way.  This is intelligent and highly evolved boogie rock, like an amped-up Guess Who.  Just one of those albums where every song makes me jump with glee.

Subhumans: From the Cradle to the Grave (1983) -- My favorite punk album of all time.  This is punk with prog attitude -- side two is one lengthy suite (the 17 minute title track), which ties together a bunch of different sections and culminates in a glorious climax.

XTC: Skylarking (1986) -- XTC's peak.  Both Partridge and Moulding were at the top of their songwriting game, and producer Todd Rundgren gives it his all as well, tying the excellent songs together into a cohesive song cycle, beginning with sunny hope and ending with death and darkness.

Just a few faves of mine.

HolyMoly wrote: Masterpiece albums that are not on PA, with a quick description of each: Jack Bruce: Harmony Row (1971) -- 2nd solo album from the main singer/writer for Cream.  Talented on bass, guitar, piano, organ, and cello as well as vocals, Jack produces a dreamy batch of art pop melodies with ambitious, quirky arrangements.  Helped out on guitar and drums by Chris Spedding and John Marshall.  This is better than any Cream album, IMO.

Jack's here

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=24804

And I agree, damn fine album, wonderful!   He's released some superb ones and this is probably his best, or at least, my favourite. (Although I swing between this and 'Songs for a Tailor' as fav)