Most difficult album to listen to

Some Can stuff are pretty hard to listen to.

Comus

Man With Hat wrote: Captian Beefheart- Trout Mask Repilca O boy

not a very accesible album, but i personaly thought it was brillant.

Meshuggah minus "future breed machine" and a few other tracks from DEI are pretty hard to listen to.  At least for me.  Whie they have alot of time changes, I think they could be a sh*tload more creative with their writing and their riffs.  Everyone in that band pretty much is the drummer's bitch.  They need some serious diversity and variation, not some some serious repetition in the songwriting and riffs.

Incoherence: Peter Hammill

There are several aspects to this topic (as to anything in this world, by the way).

If talking about complexity, I find Art Zoyd and many other RIO bands to be very complex and difficult listening. However Art Zoyd are one of my favorite bands (except for their latest works, especially "Metropolis", which is just noise lasting 2 and a half hours). Same goes to Russian composer Alfred Schnitke - brilliant, but so so difficult. 

If talking about bizzare music - I find some of Zappa's works very difficult, also many of Kraut rock bands etc

If talking about other difficulties - I can mention highly estimable and loveable double albums by Flower Kings. Same goes to Neal Morse's "Testimony", which I consider one of the best albums of last year, however I find it difficult to listen from start to end in one go.

And on the last degree of difficulty to listen is music which I just do not like - hunreds of bands and albums, and I would not waste your time to name any of them here.

OOF. Yah, many of mine have been mentioned.

• Any electronic music where the music just doesn't go anywhere or takes 20 minutes to change patterns...
• Kroutrock like Can - Not totally bad (and they have a few good songs) but I usually can't listen to it for more than 5 or 10 minutes before I need something with a normal melody to it.
• Radiohead - Bleh. Just noise to me from OK Computer on...
• Mr. Bungle - YIKES!!

richardh wrote: Dark Side Of The Moon,I generally fall asleep half way through.

i seriously hope you are kidding.

richardh wrote: boo boo wrote: richardh wrote: Dark Side Of The Moon,I generally fall asleep half way through. i seriously hope you are kidding. Nope,although I like some of the songs, 'Time' in particular ,the overall effect of the album is soporific to me. BTW Love the avatar..The Office is one of my all time favourite programmes

thanks, well to each his own.

If you have the fortune to visit the Freeman brothers Ultima Thule specialist record shop in Leicester (literally next to the railway station in Conduit Street), you'll discover all the CDs in stock are represented in the display rack as their insert Scotch-taped in a clear plastic envelope. Alan Freeman, almosts always includes a terse one or two liner on a card about what the band sounds like  (but you have to know the sound of most leading bands in most of progs sub-categories, to make sense of make a more obscure band sounds like, and what the album is about - and then many of these descriptions have lead to vigourous debate.

The Repertoise issue of Spooky Tooth/Pierre Henry's Ceremony  was tagged with "probably the most difficult prog album to listen to". However, it is clear from the range of music heard loudly from the shop excellent hifi system, that 'difficult music' is a matter of taste/opinion. 'Challenging' is a slightly better term - one I would use most recently with God Speed You Black Emperor and amongst my earliest  albums, Tony Williams' Lifetime's Turn It Over. (BTW the use of the word 'hate' in context of bands or their albums, has me turning off and ignoring  those threads).

I can understand Machine's Third  being a challenge, but I supposed I had the advantage of hearing Machine on Peel's radio show in the 60's , discovering the Probe Records imports, and getting into Machine with their first and Volume 2 albums. So I was fairly well prepared for the step change from Volume 2 to Third - a couple of listens had me bedded in and then hooked.

TP I suggest you take a decco at  Machine's Backwards
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000065UKG/qid=11 20300794/sr=1-11/ref=sr_1_2_11/026-0346423-6095648
which finishes with the demo Robert Wyatt put together in NYC of Moon In June - it is beautiful piece of remastering and disc clean up from an acetate "found in a cupboard". Wyatt for at least the first 9 minutes plays everything, and Hopper and Ratledge are only found at the end.