Just got done watching your show with Mike Portnoy from last night, great show as always and great guests you get- your show is one if the few programs i watch on any media. Thank you so much for all your shows, always informative and educational too. As a music collector myself, its hard to find music that i haven't heard before, but because of your love and knowledge of the same music i get to explore through your recommendations. Thank you Pete!
Popoff and Pardo do it again. Always enjoy the shows with you two because of your dynamic and each having such a wealth of knowledge. Thanks, gents, for another great episode.
London Calling, despite being 19 songs in length, is a perfect album and lacks any sense of filler. Super stoked to finally have Pete embrace its goodness.
Show idea. Other way around. Comeback albums that were huge after a stinker album or disappointing album. Edit update. Wow 28 likes and 3 comments didnt expect that lol
Another Five: *1)* Electric Light Orchestra: Out of the Blue ---> Discovery ---> Xanadu ---> Time *2)* Moody Blues: Long Distance Voyage ---> The Present ---> The Other Side of Life ---> Sur le Mer *3)* Roger Hodgson: In the Eye of The Storm ---> Hai Hai *4)* Traveling Wilburys: Vol 1 ---> Vol 3 *5)* Grateful Dead: In the Dark ---> Built to Last
Came home from work to watch the last nights video with Mike portnoy. Just got home from running errands to watch this. Love this channel Pete. Dont even watch much tv or other youtube I just follow all the content you put out. Keep it up. Love all these creative topics and great guests.
"Hot Space" truly broke my heart when it was released! I was as big of a (70s) Queen fan as possible back then. I have enjoyed some things that have followed (mostly Brian May songs), but never felt the same for me. Kind of like "being friends" with an ex who cheated on you! People keep saying the video from "I Want to Break Free" turned the US off to Queen, BUT you rightly point out "Hot Space" being the culprit.
Tunnel Of Love is a great Bruce album, and still went 3xPlatinum. He knew it was never gonna be possible to go bigger, so went more intimate. If you said that Human Touch and Lucky Town were comedowns from Tunnel - that'd be more apt.
One of his best. He knew what he was doing there. Released the archival Live box when the BIT-USA-train had passed and waited until late 1987 when everybody was ready for a new album and he just followed his muse. I can’t think of any better way, to be honest.
Pete... a weekly show idea would be "Pete Turns A New Leaf... Maybe." You take a suggestion from the group each week to listen to an album you have never really embraced/heard before, like London Calling, listen to it a week and do an opinion show on it the following week.
Martin is my favorite guest, even when I disagree, I laugh, because he's so entertaining, brings so much into the conversation, and on top of that..so stink'n cute😁
Here is my list. Steve Hackett - "Cured" following "Defector" Elton John - "Victim of Love" following "A Single Man" Bob Dylan - "Under the Red Sky" following "Oh Mercy" Pink Floyd - "Music from the film 'More'" following "A Saucerful of Secrets" Jethro Tull - "Under Wraps" following "the Broadsword and the Beast"
More? Really? The Nile Song? Cymbaline? Green is the Colour? Not trying to be insulting, just surprised. Most people don't even count soundtracks and I always thought Pink Floyd did a great job on them.
@@sex6cult9revolution I'm sure it is a fine album, but More is an album that just never worked for me. I do like Obscured by Clouds though. In my opinion, a much stronger album.
I don't think you understand the concept of the video. They're talking about blockbuster album follow ups, not just albums that you find disappointing.
Great show although I feel I need to disagree as far as Presence goes. My favourite Zep for it's sheer power and anger. What was even more amazing was they recorded it while having a fair amount of adversity and bad luck.I think Plant was singing in the studio with a broken ankle from a car crash etc etc. Page never raged like that before on the guitar for me...or since ! Tea for One is also a great blues track.
Page's best electric BUT Plant understandably barely has a voice on that album and the songs outside of "Achilles" & "NFBM" are not really there. Then have that album come off their pinnacle album "Physical Graffiti" and it deserves to be on this list. It's a letdown.
Thank God FM classic rock stations havent ruined this album by playing these songs to death!!! -Tea for One,Candy Store Rock and Achilles Last Stand are Great!!!
From what I've read, it seemed Bonham and Page talked about returning to the direction they were headed on Presence after In Through Outdoor, but sadly we lost John and never happened. Outdoor was about letting Jones have more control. I love Presence. Page did a cool rendition of Hots On live with the Black Crowes.
I never thought about it but rock radio doesn't play the songs on Presence. People crap on In Through The Out Door but, you can hear Fool In The Rain and All Of My Love up the yin-yang. I'm not a fan of Presence but, it has some good tunes. Nobody's Fault But Mine is my favorite Zeppelin songs. Achilles Last Stand is good, Run For Your Life and Tea For One is decent. Royal Orleans, don't like. Candy Store Rock okay. It's not a bad album but, in my opinion, not their best.
I wonder with Twisted Sister’s cover of “Leader of the Pack” if they were at all trying to get some of that Motley Crew retro/novelty success Crue had with “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room”.
I don't think I've ever been more personally disappointed and let down than going from The Game to Hot Space. I mean, especially since they got my money right out of the gate on the day of release on good faith from a major, major fan. It's difficult to even imagine that this is literally the same band without personnel changes that produced my all time favorite Queen album, Queen II
Yeah, it's like when I heard the opening track "Staying Power", I had a similar WTF reaction to "Mustapha" from the Jazz album a few years earlier, but at least that album got slightly better as it went along.
Perfect choice! I didn't get within 500 miles of that turd burger! At that time I remember constantly looking at the back of my milk cartons to see if BRIAN MAY had been found yet! Hot Space had me questioning my whole existence, and I seriously thought about chucking it all and becoming a Monk!
You probably refer to Pyramid, right? Agreed, it doesn't feel nearly as cohesive. One More River is my fav Parsons-Zakatek collaboration though, I remember my father playing the cassette as a kid, old times!
Considering I was already a Peter Frampton fan from his Humble Pie days and his four solo albums that preceded "Comes Alive", all the more reason to hold my nose at the turd that was "I'm In You".
Come Out and Play is underrated. I think it’s only gotten better over the years too. Apart from the two singles it’s a blistering hard rock album. Even Love Is For Suckers is really good too, these two albums are unfairly maligned
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I seem to recall "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Achilles' Last Stand" being played on my local classic rock station.
Me as well. I think Achilles Last Stand more just when it came out but I continued to hear Nobody's Fault But Mine on classic rock radio for years to follow after.
Its probably a good thing that FM Rock stations hardly play songs from this album, because they play to death Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love,Black Dog,All of my Love,Over the Hills and Far Away,Dyer Maker...
I’m a huge Gabriel fan and I like “US”, but there are some not so good songs on that album, “Kiss That Frog” and “Steam” for sure, but also some great songs like “Come Talk To Me”, “Love To Be Loved”, “Digging In The Dirt”, “Washing Of The Water” and “14 Black Paintings”. I saw him on that tour and the show was fantastic. I also collected the singles from that album and the version of “Blood Of Eden” from the Wim Wenders film “Until The End Of The World” is better to me than the album version and actually, “US” wasn’t the next album after “So”, Peter released “Passion” after “So” in 1989 which was culled from the soundtrack Peter did for Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation Of Christ”. That album is a masterpiece, though it has no lyrics and Peter only uses his voice in the technique he called “Gabrielese”, thst album is still amazing.
You beat me to it. I mentioned Passion also. It should always be mentioned. Birdy was great too but a lot of that is just reworked work from earlier in his career. Passion is totally original material and to great effect. Thanks for mentioning.
Yeah, Kiss That Frog and Steam aren't up to par with the rest of the album but I still like them (even if the latter was WAY overplayed back in the day). I still consider those 2 fairly good. (Cool vids too!).
I wanna say in the late 60s, Van Morrison had his famous "contractual obligation" album where he did like 30 songs that all sounded the same and were 90 seconds each. Maybe that qualifies?
@@meanmrmusician9469 DEFINITELY! With songs like Want A Danish? and Ringworm there's no doubt he wasn't taking things seriously (and was extending a big middle finger to his record label).
The Game to Hot Space- Queen Heartbeat City to Door to Door- The Cars Invasion of your Privacy to Dancing Undercover- Ratt The Last in Line to Sacred Heart- Dio Rocks to Draw the Line- Aerosmith
Boston's *Walk On* - I get that it was a let-down commercially. But I think it was still a fantastic album. It was released too late. If it had been released in 1988 or 1989, it would have been massive. Martin's absolutely right about the drumming, though.
Tales from Topographic Oceans. I love Tales, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Yes would have taken advantage of the immense popularity that they had achieved with Fragile, Close to the Edge, and Yessongs by putting out a more song based album. We may have lost out on the adventurousness of Tales but I wonder what heights they could have achieved if they'd gone another direction.
Not disagreeing that "Hot Space" is hot garbage, but to say that "The Game" is last great "Queen" album is harsh. "The Works" , "Innuendo" and even to an extent "A Kind Of Magic" are classics.
I'd agree, in fact The Works is an album that I can listen to from start to finish, but I think in terms of sales, Hot Space hampered Queen. I'd like to know what the guys opinion of Muse are. There last few albums have sounded quite electronic. Is the song Panic Station their Disco song?
@@anthonycampbell8420 I only really know Muse via thier hits but certainly for me at any rate, I prefer the material where where Matt's guitar takes the lead👍
Great show!! Pardo And Popoff RULE!! (When Martin plugs his Angel book, he says "Angel, which came out..." I thought he said "Angel Witch"!! I jumped out of my chair, saying "Martin wrote an Angel Witch book!!!" If only...
One of the biggest let downs of my entire music listening life. Their first album was magic. Perfect. Somewhat of a miracle. While I didn't mind Squires' Zeppelinish guitar excursions at times, this album had, what?, 2 good songs on it? It kind of depressed me for a while.
I agree totally. Way too much filler. Love Spreads is one of their all time classics, but nothing else on there is that good. The first album had both classic singles and equally classic album tracks.
@@mccarthyd6603 Perhaps my gargantuan expectations of it ruined it for me. I admire people who are able to hear things I don't. Maybe I'll give it another shot some day.
Loved this theme guys. Both shows were very cool! Someone commented about live shows. I agree that watching recorded shows more enjoyable, but with the demand for them Pete I think you are right to surprise all those viewers "in a blue moon". Great call IMO!
No Prayer for the Dying was a big let down for me since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is my favorite record of all time. I know that saleswise those albums are quite equal but Seventh Son is a lot more creative and better sounding. No Prayer for the Dying isn't a bad Maiden album but nowhere near as good as the few that came before it.
Niko Ala-Ukko.......good choice.......I was just thinking the same thing I myself absolutely loved Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and No Prayer for the Dying really for me never lived up to its predecessor and yet I know people that loved that album but not me
Hey Pete that's pretty cool that you listened to London Calling after all. In case you didn't already think of it that would be a cool topic for a show, bands you are willing to give another chance (or a first listen) too. Good stuff!
In fact, right now I’m playing it again after having seen this. So, Topper Headon is out and in comes Bernie Rhodes and a drum machine... oh my... 😣 Hard to find a melody on it, lots of pointless shouting by the band, a couple of passable tunes and most of the time Strummer’s voice is the only redeeming feature. He sounds terribly lost.
Not sure in the Usa, or canada you heard of John martyn. Classic Solid air album in 1973, followed by sundays child 1975 which is under whelming for me. Great guitarist, sure your Scottish co host, on show several days ago, will have heard of him.
The follow up to Solid Air was actually Inside Out which is a stone classic that takes the feel of Solid Air a step farther, you should give it a try. Sundays Child did seem a little tame after those two though.
I never quite got why Monolith is looked down upon, maybe production or the fact that it came out at the height of the Punk craze. I keep coming back to that one quite often love almost every song on it, though I'm kind of apathetic at best to "Stay Out Of Trouble". I'd say Audio Visions was a bigger let down going from Monolith to that.
Not really true Freddie was influenced far too much by Paul Prenter and that directed the sound of the album & that'a why Roger hated it (and Paul Prenter) for good reason. There are some good tunes on it and its better than The Works & A Kind of Magic at least it took risks the last time Queen did on an album
Pete, "London Calling" AWAYS is compared to "Exile On Main Street" and for good reason. Those 2 albums are in my top 3 favorite albums of all time, which both come slightly behind "Physical Graffiti".
I always wished that after Stay Hungry, Twisted Sister would have taken a couple years off to "regroup", so to speak, and then came back as a Thrash/Speed Metal band. Sort of like the way Pantera began as kind of a pretty cool glam/hard rock band then became a really great Metal band and never looked back. If Twisted Sister would have gone that route, they would have given bands like Slayer, Exodus, Metal Church and even Metallica a serious run for their money.
Good call on Kansas' Monolith, Pete. To me as a hardcore Kansas fanatic in the '70s, that album seemed like a huge letdown after its two immediate predecessors, Leftoverture and especially Point of Know Return. I did not love that record at all at the time. Now, it has grown on me over the years, and I appreciate it more today than I did as a teenager. But still, it's well down the list if I'm ranking Kansas albums.
I like a fair amount of Undercover and I think that's the last time they lived up to their dangerous reputation and I like some tracks on Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge but I would agree that Tattoo You is the last Stones album that's great beginning to end. I like most of Emotional Rescue and unlike Martin I love Down in The Hole.
Four singles were released from Dead Ringer: "Dead Ringer for Love" (featuring Cher), "I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us", "Read 'Em and Weep" and "Peel Out". The album reached number 1 in the UK
An interesting discussion , as always . Pete : keep on listening to London Calling . Martin : I think that even the worst song would be elevated by the presence of Tina Turner . Great picks by both of you ! A final thought : What about a show where you discuss your favourite songs with great openings ? ( A song like Baba O'Riley with the wonderful keyboard intro , for example )
Just wanna say I really enjoyed The Evil Dead chat last night, great stuff:) Let's get onto this. Chinese Democracy, Green Days Warning, Therapys? Infernal love, Smashing Pumpkins Adore and Red Hot Chilli peppers One Hot minute and Celebrity skin by Hole immediately spring to mind. I'm more of an alternative rock guy than a hard rock guy.
How about the opposite of this show. Albums that the press and casual fans insist are an artist's best album that all their long term fans generally don't like?
@@ronaldsmith1484 Time Fades Away/On the Beach/Tonight's the Night/Zuma is one of the greatest album runs ever by any artist - to paraphrase his "drove in the ditch" period full of angst/heartbreak/loss. For Neil's guitar work alone on these albums I would think Pete would be a fan.
@@shaynewest8757 thanks for that information been listening to Sea of Tranquility less than a year.... really value Petes perspective on music... love me some Neil Young how about you?
" Down in the Hole " from "Emotional Rescue " ? Always look on this album like summer jam . Relaxed , funny , without high artistic tendencies ...love it . 🙂 It's like intermezzo - in between album placed in middle spot after and before great albums " Some Girls " and " Tattoo You " .
I'll defend 'Hot Space' to an extent. It's impossible to use statistics to change deep-rooted public opinion, but when you eliminate 'Under Pressure' you have an album that's 40% Disco, 20% New Wave, 20% Pop Ballads, 10% Hard Rock and 10% Funk. When you cram all your Disco tracks into the opening chunk of the album, it does nothing but give the album a 'Disco' album tag. I'd wager that Queen's problem here was in the production. 'Staying Power' is decent and funky, but compared to the raw live version from their Milton Keynes Bowl gig that year it sounds lifeless. When played live, Roger plays the drums like it's 'Immigrant song'. Queen should have stripped the songs back rather than doing the grandiose work they did on every other album
The bigger let down from the ABB came in the 15 year span between Win, Lose or Draw and Seven Turns. I don't mind WLorD although you're right it is a step down from Bros And Sisters. I do like Chuck Leavell (I believe it's pronounced "La Val") on most albums, he often sits in with Warren Haynes on live shows. Fun topic... thanks!
Kraftwerk 'Computer World' followed by 'Electric Cafe'.'Parliament 'Gloryhallastoopid' followed by 'Trombipulation.' Traffic 'Low Spark of High Heeled Boys' followed by 'Shootout At The Fantasy Factory'. (The opening title track is the only song on that album that I like) . Mos Def 'Black On Both Sides' followed by 'The New Danger'.
Queen "Hot Space" following the success of "The Game" & "Greatest Hits" . I've said before how Queen had diverse musical genres on their albums. But this album was TOO much diversity for their staunch rock fanbase.
Listened to "Queen II" yesterday. It was certainly better than I anticipated. My amp is busted so I had to listen to it via blu ray to TV speakers. Still sounded great. I started losing interest in Queen in 1980-81 after they released "The Game." I thought it wasn't worthy of their talents and I've never been a fan of "Another One Bites The Dust." Am I the only person who loves "Jazz"? I found a cassette of "Jazz" on the city bus in the fall of 1979 and played it constantly for a couple of months. I had a top end cassette deck in those days and "Jazz" was the first prerecorded cassette that impressed me with excellent sound quality. "More Of That Jazz" is my favorite Queen song.
@@ldchappell1 Queen II is a very underrated album. But it was where they started to develop their sound with harmonies. I still listen it start to finish.
@@armandovenditti4523 I'm going to listen to Queen II again today during lunch. It's one of those albums that doesn't immediately grab your attention but you appreciate it the more you listen to it. Did you ever see Queen perform live? I had the opportunity to see them perform in 1978 but I came down with meningitis and gave my ticket away.
Totally dig this tandem! Agree with all selections. Pete, you decided not to include Boston’s sophomore for a reason I believe could be another awesome theme for your show! Follow-up albums for huge albums that were under estimated at the time but public opinion, sales & both have determined otherwise over time, just a thought
I hear ya Pete on your #1 pick! The Game was great, love that album. And then the follow-up and slow decline. You have pegged also my #1 letdown. Great show and great picks by both you and Martin. Keep up the good work. Love your show. Btw, contact Classic Album Review and do a show with him. He's also good.
Jim Steinman's album " Bad For Good" was actually suppose to be "Bat 2" but Meatloaf blew out his voice. So Steinman did the vocals himself. Two of the songs ends up on "Bat 2"
some other examples: Cheap Trick: dream police followed by all shook up Finley Quaye: Maverick a stricke followed by Vanguard Lou Reed: Transformer followed by Berlin Oasis: (What's the story) morning glory followed by Be here now John Lennon: Imagine followed by Some time in New York city Genesis: we can't dance followed by calling all stations George Harrison: all thing must pass followed by living in the material world The Beach Boys: pet sounds followed by smiley smile Free: fire and water followed by highway
You were let down by "Signals?" I always thought it was one of their best albums. 1991s "Roll The Bones" was a let down after "Presto." Rush trying to do rap was not a good direction for the band. When I saw them perform in Oakland in 1992 they were booed for a few minutes when they did that rapping bit.
Then riddle me this - why weren't they a double album? And more to the point, a further five Some Girls outtakes ended up on Tattoo You. This would give a double album of 97 minutes all told - Tattoo You would have been a better follow up in this scenario.
Riddle what? They came out as they did because that's what they chose to do. Those 3 albums were also the last one's released on Atlantic before signing to Columbia with "Undercover" which was strictly new material. The Stones already had to give up certain rights of "new" material to ABKCO as they signed to Atlantic, so maybe "Emotional Rescue" and "Tattoo You" was a cleaning of the vaults before their contract expired.
"Tattoo You" was a hodgepodge of their sessions for Atlantic dating back to 1972 with "Waiting On A Friend". I mean Mick Taylor is on that song and "Tops" and he had been out of the Stones for 7 years by the time album was released.
Major let-downs: I always refer to the follow-up to REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity -- Good Trouble. The band went from scoring Diamond status in sales with Hi Infidelity to Double Platinum with Good Trouble. I realize most bands would kill for Double Platinum sales on a release; however, falling 8 million copies in sales from one album to another had to be a let down for both the band and record label. REO Speedwagon would get a bump in sales with the release of Wheels are Turnin', but the wheels would fall off the wagon soon after.
Another for me is the massive drop in song quality from Maiden's debut to Killers. I know some love the thrashy Killers, but that debut has GREAT songs.
Kansas is my favorite band, and I saw them on the Monolith tour. The first 5 Kansas album are so stellar and original, hardly a single clunker of a song to be found. Even the off beat boogie rockers are great. Monolith not only has Reason to Be, a total clunker, but it just sounds tired. Gone are the melodies and grandeur in songs like Lamplight Symphony and The Wall, now all the serious songs sound disjointed. It's not a bad album, it just isn't close to its predecessors.
Queens ‘Hot Space’ isn’t actually that bad an album. It was just different, totally different from anything they’d done before. There’s some cracking tracks on there, that sound even better on the live album ‘Live at the Bowl’.
I really like Back Chat, Calling All Girls & Put Out The Fire. I detest Body Language. Under Pressure is a masterpiece & the rest of the album is merely average. Average for Queen is pretty bad.
Breakfast in America to Famos Last Words is an even better example. A drop from 4mil copies to 500k. Neither of the albums you mentioned even went gold.
I'm a moderate Queen fan but I had never heard "Hot Space", but after hearing you guys talk about it I checked it out. Wow, I would literally rather listen to my dog puke. That thing should come with a disclaimer!
It seemed like Mark Knopfler really wanted to call it a day after Brothers in Arms but Dire Straits owed their label one more album. Never a good reason to go back into the studio. Incidentally, I saw Mark in concert a few years back and with the exception of one song, the entire set list consisted of his solo material.
Nice to hear a mention for Meat Loaf! The follow up to `Bat..` was supposed to be `Bad For Good`(a better album than `Dead Ringer`) but due to Meat Loaf`s vocal issues was sung by Jim Steinman and Rory Dodd. Anyway, `Dead Ringer` only came out a few months after `Bad For Good` so all thing`s considered it wasn`t a bad effort from Steinman I`d say! I actually think `Dead Ringer` was a decent album, however, Meat`s voice was weaker than on `Bat..` due to prolonged touring. You really notice this when you listen to a compilation when the tracks from `Dead..` and `Bat..` are side by side. From the Meat Loaf fans I know they would probably say that the follow up to `Dead Ringer`, `Midnight at the Lost and Found` was a bigger disappointment. Whilst saying that `Midnight..` wasn`t written by Jim Steinman so was always on a hiding to nothing I guess! Incidentally Barry Manilow covered a track from `Dead Ringer` called `Read `Em and Weep` which was also produced by Steinman
Really dig the selections and agree with with y'all on everything except I'm a bigger fan of Emotional Rescue's Dance (Pt.1) and rate In Utero damn near as high as Nevermind- which is up there. Thanks for another great show Martin & Pete!
Atta Boy Pete .... Dontcha feel better now that you've listened to The Clash's London Calling.... Its a must have in your collection.... Now we gotta get you on board with The Ramones!! Martin's a good influence on you... Take his advice lol. Another great segment thanx !
I bought ‘Hot Space’ when it came out (I was 13) and was sorely disappointed by it. But I have to say it sounds way better to me now than it did then. I think Freddie Mercury was influenced by the dance music he was hearing in gay clubs at the time and wanted to take Queen in that direction. From a 2021 perspective I think that was an incredibly brave thing to do. Queen were always the true heirs to The Beatles in terms of the variety in the styles of music they performed, but the Fabs arguably never made a left turn like this. The production is minimalist and inventive and I really like ‘Body Language’, ‘Dancer’ and ‘Back Chat’. Also some of Freddie’s strongest singing is on this album. I really do think it is worthy of reinvestigation.
Enjoyed reading this. I think the ones who generally have the biggest problem with this album are the hard rock/metal junkies (and, admittedly, I am not one of those), but, in saying that, I can understand where they are coming from. This is a generalization, I know, but of the four members of Queen, Freddie and John were the ones far more interested in things outside of rock, so I think they were into this project. Brian and Roger I think were more typical rockers, so they weren't as much into it. If there's any criticism I have of the album, it isn't over the fact that it has a more funk, post-disco aesthetic, but over that push-and-pull between those two 'camps' within the band, and as such, it comes off as frustratingly schizophrenic, particularly when going from Side One into Side Two. Perhaps there was always that element of 'schizophrenia' in Queen's music, but for me personally, it worked on all those '70s albums. Here, not quite as much. I would have preferred the whole album to be like Side One (love everything on it), in terms of my own tastes, whereas Side Two becomes a bit more patchy. But remember, I'm in the minority here--I don't quite see things the way a rocker sees them. Also, I didn't discover Queen until just after Freddie passed. In retrospect, I'm glad it happened this way. In fact, many of my favorite artists are those who ended before I discovered them. Sometimes I think growing up with an artist, and following everything they do in real time engenders far more biases and prejudices than it does when approached from a more distant angle. Edit: Interestingly enough, an album that seems almost universally hated, had a pretty big influence on Michael Jackson around the time he was creating Thriller--the biggest selling album around the globe. Strange.
@@knightvisioniixv Excellent reply, thanks for taking the trouble to write it. I am in complete agreement, I would love to have seen the band do a whole album of more dance-oriented songs like on the first side of the record. Like you I am not a hard rock or metal purist and could quite happily have had 10 songs in that vein. But back in 1982 I wasn’t ready for such a change in musical direction. Really good point about coming to a band’s catalogue after the fact - a lot of the time it’s a lot easier to appreciate it in its entirety without making snap judgements.
For many, many years I have said that my favorite song of all time is Peter Gabriel’s “Washing of the Water.” The song transports me every time I hear it. And the album it is on, “Us,” is, from my perspective, tremendous. (Okay, “Steam” isn’t really a high point, but I love love love the rest). Fun video. Thanks!
Boston's "Third Stage" is unbelievably awful. Bought it on vinyl. Listened to it once and it's been on the shelf ever since. If Hell has a radio station, then "Third Stage" plays 24/7.
Hot Space I agree is a polarizing album from Queen. You either love it or you hate it. I personally love it! Another album that’s just as polarizing it seems is the Flash Gordon soundtrack album they did as well. You either love it (& hate HS), or hate it (& love HS). I’m not sure where I stand with Flash Gordon. I will be listening to it in full at the end of this video to see how I feel about it.
I have to go with return to forever here. Not only is Romantic Warrior one of my favorite jazz fusion albums, it is probably 1 of my favorite albums of all time . Just brilliant from beginning to end
I had send on that before I was done. Then they come out with Music Magic with no Al Dimeola, no Lenny White and female vocals. I can't tell you how hard I tried to like that album but it just wasn't going to happen. Sure it's pretty in spots but when I listen to Return to Forever I'm not looking for pretty
Pete and Martin videos are honestly the best thing on TV, bar none!!
Can't argue that
Speaking facts there sir
Agreed
Agreed there
Rolling Stones “Dirty Work”
Styx “ Kilroy Was Here”
Aerosmith “ Rock in a Hard Place”,
Jeff Beck “Crazy Legs”
Peter Frampton “The Art of Control”
Just got done watching your show with Mike Portnoy from last night, great show as always and great guests you get- your show is one if the few programs i watch on any media. Thank you so much for all your shows, always informative and educational too. As a music collector myself, its hard to find music that i haven't heard before, but because of your love and knowledge of the same music i get to explore through your recommendations. Thank you Pete!
Well said. Completely agree with your feelings. Such a great informative show. Many thanks, Pete!!!
Thanks Keith!
Me to best show on the Internet
Popoff and Pardo do it again. Always enjoy the shows with you two because of your dynamic and each having such a wealth of knowledge. Thanks, gents, for another great episode.
London Calling, despite being 19 songs in length, is a perfect album and lacks any sense of filler. Super stoked to finally have Pete embrace its goodness.
Show idea. Other way around. Comeback albums that were huge after a stinker album or disappointing album.
Edit update. Wow 28 likes and 3 comments didnt expect that lol
Good Idea!
Yes!
There's a good idea for damn sure. Ironically since they discussed Presence I'd say In Through The Outdoor was a huge comback for LZ.
I suppose Rush’s “2112” coming after “Caress of Steel” fits this category.
Another Five:
*1)* Electric Light Orchestra: Out of the Blue ---> Discovery ---> Xanadu ---> Time
*2)* Moody Blues: Long Distance Voyage ---> The Present ---> The Other Side of Life ---> Sur le Mer
*3)* Roger Hodgson: In the Eye of The Storm ---> Hai Hai
*4)* Traveling Wilburys: Vol 1 ---> Vol 3
*5)* Grateful Dead: In the Dark ---> Built to Last
The Other Side Of Life is an awesome album. Title track may be my fav Moodies song.
Loving the content Pete and Martin, always great to wake up on the weekend, brew a pot of Joe and sit down to enjoy an SOT show.
Bowie and Gabriel and The Tubes?!
Damn,you had quite a night!
Came home from work to watch the last nights video with Mike portnoy. Just got home from running errands to watch this. Love this channel Pete. Dont even watch much tv or other youtube I just follow all the content you put out. Keep it up. Love all these creative topics and great guests.
"Hot Space" truly broke my heart when it was released! I was as big of a (70s) Queen fan as possible back then.
I have enjoyed some things that have followed (mostly Brian May songs), but never felt the same for me. Kind of like "being friends" with an ex who cheated on you!
People keep saying the video from "I Want to Break Free" turned the US off to Queen, BUT you rightly point out "Hot Space" being the culprit.
Martin is such a nice guy wearing his sea of tranquility t-shirt.
Love the friendship and kindness.
Can't wait for Barry Goudreau interview.
Orion's Hunter still a classic
Tunnel Of Love is a great Bruce album, and still went 3xPlatinum. He knew it was never gonna be possible to go bigger, so went more intimate. If you said that Human Touch and Lucky Town were comedowns from Tunnel - that'd be more apt.
Agreed.
One of his best.
He knew what he was doing there.
Released the archival Live box when the BIT-USA-train had passed and waited until late 1987 when everybody was ready for a new album and he just followed his muse. I can’t think of any better way, to be honest.
Really enjoying the channel; straight to the point and always discussing things in an interesting way 🤘🏼
Pete... a weekly show idea would be "Pete Turns A New Leaf... Maybe." You take a suggestion from the group each week to listen to an album you have never really embraced/heard before, like London Calling, listen to it a week and do an opinion show on it the following week.
Martin is my favorite guest, even when I disagree, I laugh, because he's so entertaining, brings so much into the conversation, and on top of that..so stink'n cute😁
Agree...but EVERYTIME I listen to a segment(or 2....) that I just go what!?!?!?!? 🙉🙉🙉🙉
Frampton - I'm in you. Even though it did reach platnum, it was a huge let down. He went from a stadium filling rock star to girly pop idol.
The Boston debut album was so good that every subsequent album was successful just based on that album.
Here is my list.
Steve Hackett - "Cured" following "Defector"
Elton John - "Victim of Love" following "A Single Man"
Bob Dylan - "Under the Red Sky" following "Oh Mercy"
Pink Floyd - "Music from the film 'More'" following "A Saucerful of Secrets"
Jethro Tull - "Under Wraps" following "the Broadsword and the Beast"
More? Really? The Nile Song? Cymbaline? Green is the Colour?
Not trying to be insulting, just surprised. Most people don't even count soundtracks and I always thought Pink Floyd did a great job on them.
@@sex6cult9revolution I'm sure it is a fine album, but More is an album that just never worked for me. I do like Obscured by Clouds though. In my opinion, a much stronger album.
I don't think you understand the concept of the video. They're talking about blockbuster album follow ups, not just albums that you find disappointing.
@@mck7646 Yes I did understand the concept of the video.
Guys, I love the way you nerd about music. Thanks for sharing it, greetings from Germany.
I also fully agree with this. Pardo's knowledge of even the most obscure bands is amazing.
Great show although I feel I need to disagree as far as Presence goes.
My favourite Zep for it's sheer power and anger.
What was even more amazing was they recorded it while having a fair amount of adversity and bad luck.I think Plant was singing in the studio with a broken ankle from a car crash etc etc.
Page never raged like that before on the guitar for me...or since ! Tea for One is also a great blues track.
Page's best electric BUT Plant understandably barely has a voice on that album and the songs outside of "Achilles" & "NFBM" are not really there. Then have that album come off their pinnacle album "Physical Graffiti" and it deserves to be on this list. It's a letdown.
Thank God FM classic rock stations havent ruined this album by playing these songs to death!!! -Tea for One,Candy Store Rock and Achilles Last Stand are Great!!!
From what I've read, it seemed Bonham and Page talked about returning to the direction they were headed on Presence after In Through Outdoor, but sadly we lost John and never happened. Outdoor was about letting Jones have more control. I love Presence. Page did a cool rendition of Hots On live with the Black Crowes.
@@danielvysocky2716 Yeah, Tea for One is a weaker, more boring version of Since I've Been Loving You. But Achilles will always kick ass.
I never thought about it but rock radio doesn't play the songs on Presence. People crap on In Through The Out Door but, you can hear Fool In The Rain and All Of My Love up the yin-yang. I'm not a fan of Presence but, it has some good tunes. Nobody's Fault But Mine is my favorite Zeppelin songs. Achilles Last Stand is good, Run For Your Life and Tea For One is decent. Royal Orleans, don't like. Candy Store Rock okay. It's not a bad album but, in my opinion, not their best.
I'd include Mardis Gras by CCR. Even though I love it, I know it's definitely a huge let down for most
I wonder with Twisted Sister’s cover of “Leader of the Pack” if they were at all trying to get some of that Motley Crew retro/novelty success Crue had with “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room”.
Probably.....although the song was already in their repertoire long before that.
I don't think I've ever been more personally disappointed and let down than going from The Game to Hot Space. I mean, especially since they got my money right out of the gate on the day of release on good faith from a major, major fan. It's difficult to even imagine that this is literally the same band without personnel changes that produced my all time favorite Queen album, Queen II
Yeah, it's like when I heard the opening track "Staying Power", I had a similar WTF reaction to "Mustapha" from the Jazz album a few years earlier, but at least that album got slightly better as it went along.
Perfect choice! I didn't get within 500 miles of that turd burger! At that time I remember constantly looking at the back of my milk cartons to see if BRIAN MAY had been found yet! Hot Space had me questioning my whole existence, and I seriously thought about chucking it all and becoming a Monk!
@@treff9226 Still,Hot Space is head and shoulders above A Kind Of Magic.
@@adamsmashups4839 Agree - A Kind Of Magic is anything but......make it disappear.
@@iansmith1965 ? Mustapha is genius Queen !
Ammonia Avenue by Alan Parsons Project sold a lot but personally didn't enjoy it quite as much as its predecessor.
I thought Voyager (1978) was not quite impressive after the classic I Robot(1977). It's a great album but not the same as I Robot
You probably refer to Pyramid, right? Agreed, it doesn't feel nearly as cohesive. One More River is my fav Parsons-Zakatek collaboration though, I remember my father playing the cassette as a kid, old times!
@@previngIt was actually Pyramid.
Considering I was already a Peter Frampton fan from his Humble Pie days and his four solo albums that preceded "Comes Alive", all the more reason to hold my nose at the turd that was "I'm In You".
Come Out and Play is underrated. I think it’s only gotten better over the years too. Apart from the two singles it’s a blistering hard rock album. Even Love Is For Suckers is really good too, these two albums are unfairly maligned
Snider brought the lyrics. No doubt about it.
I agree love is for suckers is really good .the album that killed them was stay hungry biggest seller worst songs
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I seem to recall "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Achilles' Last Stand" being played on my local classic rock station.
Me as well. I think Achilles Last Stand more just when it came out but I continued to hear Nobody's Fault But Mine on classic rock radio for years to follow after.
When I lived in Ottawa I remember sometimes hearing Nobody's Fault But Mine on the classic rock station there but only that track.
Its probably a good thing that FM Rock stations hardly play songs from this album, because they play to death Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love,Black Dog,All of my Love,Over the Hills and Far Away,Dyer Maker...
I’m a huge Gabriel fan and I like “US”, but there are some not so good songs on that album, “Kiss That Frog” and “Steam” for sure, but also some great songs like “Come Talk To Me”, “Love To Be Loved”, “Digging In The Dirt”, “Washing Of The Water” and “14 Black Paintings”. I saw him on that tour and the show was fantastic. I also collected the singles from that album and the version of “Blood Of Eden” from the Wim Wenders film “Until The End Of The World” is better to me than the album version and actually, “US” wasn’t the next album after “So”, Peter released “Passion” after “So” in 1989 which was culled from the soundtrack Peter did for Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation Of Christ”. That album is a masterpiece, though it has no lyrics and Peter only uses his voice in the technique he called “Gabrielese”, thst album is still amazing.
You said it better than I did.
You beat me to it. I mentioned Passion also. It should always be mentioned. Birdy was great too but a lot of that is just reworked work from earlier in his career. Passion is totally original material and to great effect. Thanks for mentioning.
Yeah, Kiss That Frog and Steam aren't up to par with the rest of the album but I still like them (even if the latter was WAY overplayed back in the day). I still consider those 2 fairly good. (Cool vids too!).
Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music may be the first time someone trolled the music industry.
I wanna say in the late 60s, Van Morrison had his famous "contractual obligation" album where he did like 30 songs that all sounded the same and were 90 seconds each. Maybe that qualifies?
Lou had a contract with RCA that said he could put out anything. .And he did! And was dropped from the label after his contact expired.
@@meanmrmusician9469 DEFINITELY! With songs like Want A Danish? and Ringworm there's no doubt he wasn't taking things seriously (and was extending a big middle finger to his record label).
The Game to Hot Space- Queen
Heartbeat City to Door to Door- The Cars
Invasion of your Privacy to Dancing Undercover- Ratt
The Last in Line to Sacred Heart- Dio
Rocks to Draw the Line- Aerosmith
Definitely agree on the Ratt comment. totally!
Sacred Heart is the bees knees to me because it was my first Dio album I owned. Plus it has Just Another Day. A simple song but very addictive
Boston's *Walk On* - I get that it was a let-down commercially. But I think it was still a fantastic album. It was released too late. If it had been released in 1988 or 1989, it would have been massive. Martin's absolutely right about the drumming, though.
Tales from Topographic Oceans. I love Tales, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Yes would have taken advantage of the immense popularity that they had achieved with Fragile, Close to the Edge, and Yessongs by putting out a more song based album. We may have lost out on the adventurousness of Tales but I wonder what heights they could have achieved if they'd gone another direction.
The band members themselves actually don't like the album. They did originally but came to hate it.
Not disagreeing that "Hot Space" is hot garbage, but to say that "The Game" is last great "Queen" album is harsh. "The Works" , "Innuendo" and even to an extent "A Kind Of Magic" are classics.
I'd agree, in fact The Works is an album that I can listen to from start to finish, but I think in terms of sales, Hot Space hampered Queen.
I'd like to know what the guys opinion of Muse are. There last few albums have sounded quite electronic. Is the song Panic Station their Disco song?
@@anthonycampbell8420 I only really know Muse via thier hits but certainly for me at any rate, I prefer the material where where Matt's guitar takes the lead👍
Nah...he was right.
Difference between good and great. Innuendo is good not great.
Great show!! Pardo And Popoff RULE!!
(When Martin plugs his Angel book, he says "Angel, which came out..." I thought he said "Angel Witch"!! I jumped out of my chair, saying "Martin wrote an Angel Witch book!!!" If only...
The second Stone Roses Album would be prime example
One of the biggest let downs of my entire music listening life. Their first album was magic. Perfect. Somewhat of a miracle. While I didn't mind Squires' Zeppelinish guitar excursions at times, this album had, what?, 2 good songs on it? It kind of depressed me for a while.
I agree totally. Way too much filler. Love Spreads is one of their all time classics, but nothing else on there is that good. The first album had both classic singles and equally classic album tracks.
I am definitely in the minority.... I LOVE that album....just listened to last week....brilliant and very underrated👍
@@mccarthyd6603 Perhaps my gargantuan expectations of it ruined it for me. I admire people who are able to hear things I don't. Maybe I'll give it another shot some day.
The Roses 2nd album wasn't terrible, just so-so. Where they really blew it was by going five years between albums.
Loved this theme guys. Both shows were very cool!
Someone commented about live shows. I agree that watching recorded shows more enjoyable, but with the demand for them Pete I think you are right to surprise all those viewers "in a blue moon". Great call IMO!
No Prayer for the Dying was a big let down for me since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is my favorite record of all time. I know that saleswise those albums are quite equal but Seventh Son is a lot more creative and better sounding. No Prayer for the Dying isn't a bad Maiden album but nowhere near as good as the few that came before it.
Niko Ala-Ukko.......good choice.......I was just thinking the same thing I myself absolutely loved Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and No Prayer for the Dying really for me never lived up to its predecessor and yet I know people that loved that album but not me
Everything after Powerslave was a bit of a let down and less than what came before it.
@@twikirobot6897 Naaah...
Hey Pete that's pretty cool that you listened to London Calling after all. In case you didn't already think of it that would be a cool topic for a show, bands you are willing to give another chance (or a first listen) too. Good stuff!
Before I watch, I’ll go ahead and put The Clash with Cut the Crap following Combat Rock
And sure enough it’s on Martin’s list!
In fact, right now I’m playing it again after having seen this.
So, Topper Headon is out and in comes Bernie Rhodes and a drum machine... oh my... 😣
Hard to find a melody on it, lots of pointless shouting by the band, a couple of passable tunes and most of the time Strummer’s voice is the only redeeming feature.
He sounds terribly lost.
Great call by Martin, on the Stones. Yes Meat loaf another example, and Queen.
So much great content. Loving it guys.
Not sure in the Usa, or canada you heard of John martyn. Classic Solid air album in 1973, followed by sundays child 1975 which is under whelming for me. Great guitarist, sure your Scottish co host, on show several days ago, will have heard of him.
The follow up to Solid Air was actually Inside Out which is a stone classic that takes the feel of Solid Air a step farther, you should give it a try. Sundays Child did seem a little tame after those two though.
I never quite got why Monolith is looked down upon, maybe production or the fact that it came out at the height of the Punk craze. I keep coming back to that one quite often love almost every song on it, though I'm kind of apathetic at best to "Stay Out Of Trouble". I'd say Audio Visions was a bigger let down going from Monolith to that.
Monolith is actually my favorite Kansas album maybe challenged by Masque. There are way too many good, powerful songs on it.
Monolith is my fav Kansas album too! Dunno why it's not more loved.
Only album that I disagree is David Bowie's "Tonight". It's a great album!
Hot Space was basically a Freddie Mercury solo album. Roger Taylor hates it too!
Not really true Freddie was influenced far too much by Paul Prenter and that directed the sound of the album & that'a why Roger hated it (and Paul Prenter) for good reason. There are some good tunes on it and its better than The Works & A Kind of Magic at least it took risks the last time Queen did on an album
Pete, "London Calling" AWAYS is compared to "Exile On Main Street" and for good reason. Those 2 albums are in my top 3 favorite albums of all time, which both come slightly behind "Physical Graffiti".
I always wished that after Stay Hungry, Twisted Sister would have taken a couple years off to "regroup", so to speak, and then came back as a Thrash/Speed Metal band. Sort of like the way Pantera began as kind of a pretty cool glam/hard rock band then became a really great Metal band and never looked back. If Twisted Sister would have gone that route, they would have given bands like Slayer, Exodus, Metal Church and even Metallica a serious run for their money.
Wohoooooo! Friday evening kick off with P&P 🍻🤠🍻
21:07 I think these moments ("book out of Martin's page") would make a good blooper reel... Far better than the obvious flubs
We need some kind of show on Clutch. Great band with a pretty big discography
"Sonic Temple" is Amazing
This one is marginal to the sort of things you cover, but: Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, followed by Liverpool
I love Welcome To The Pleasure Dome it’s a terrible shame that was the only good album they made.
With Beethoven....
his Symphony no. 4 is fantastic; however, it's always the third or fifth symphony that gets the attention from his middle period.
Someone called it a slender Greek maiden in between two Norse giants. Led Zeppelin 3 between the 2nd and 4th.
His 7th to me is his finest, but I do love 5, 6, and 7. I think a true music fan needs to appreciate a good classical symphony.
Good call on Kansas' Monolith, Pete. To me as a hardcore Kansas fanatic in the '70s, that album seemed like a huge letdown after its two immediate predecessors, Leftoverture and especially Point of Know Return. I did not love that record at all at the time. Now, it has grown on me over the years, and I appreciate it more today than I did as a teenager. But still, it's well down the list if I'm ranking Kansas albums.
Those first 5...simply amazing
I reckon Tattoo You is the last Stones album worth owning but I've always been fond of Emotional Rescue. The Stones being different was fun.
I like a fair amount of Undercover and I think that's the last time they lived up to their dangerous reputation and I like some tracks on Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge but I would agree that Tattoo You is the last Stones album that's great beginning to end. I like most of Emotional Rescue and unlike Martin I love Down in The Hole.
Four singles were released from Dead Ringer: "Dead Ringer for Love" (featuring Cher), "I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us", "Read 'Em and Weep" and "Peel Out". The album reached number 1 in the UK
Here's the suggestion best singer-songwriter guitarist one of my votes would go for Matthew Sweet
An interesting discussion , as always . Pete : keep on listening to London Calling . Martin : I think that even the worst song would be elevated by the presence of Tina Turner . Great picks by both of you ! A final thought : What about a show where you discuss your favourite songs with great openings ? ( A song like Baba O'Riley with the wonderful keyboard intro , for example )
Just wanna say I really enjoyed The Evil Dead chat last night, great stuff:) Let's get onto this. Chinese Democracy, Green Days Warning, Therapys? Infernal love, Smashing Pumpkins Adore and Red Hot Chilli peppers One Hot minute and Celebrity skin by Hole immediately spring to mind. I'm more of an alternative rock guy than a hard rock guy.
Monolith superb album, may not have sold, 'reason to be' magnificent!
How about the opposite of this show. Albums that the press and casual fans insist are an artist's best album that all their long term fans generally don't like?
I know you guys aren’t into Neil Young much, but I always thought of Hawks and Doves which came after Rust Never Sleeps fits this category very well.
I sure don't understand why they don't like Neil Young..... Neil Young a superb..... top 10 greatest hits of Neil Young come on
@@ronaldsmith1484 Time Fades Away/On the Beach/Tonight's the Night/Zuma is one of the greatest album runs ever by any artist - to paraphrase his "drove in the ditch" period full of angst/heartbreak/loss. For Neil's guitar work alone on these albums I would think Pete would be a fan.
@@shaynewest8757 thanks for that information been listening to Sea of Tranquility less than a year.... really value Petes perspective on music... love me some Neil Young how about you?
Pretty much anything Pete does is awesome. He lays it all out there
" Down in the Hole " from "Emotional Rescue " ? Always look on this album like summer jam . Relaxed , funny , without high artistic tendencies ...love it . 🙂 It's like intermezzo - in between album placed in middle spot after and before great albums " Some Girls " and " Tattoo You " .
I'll defend 'Hot Space' to an extent. It's impossible to use statistics to change deep-rooted public opinion, but when you eliminate 'Under Pressure' you have an album that's 40% Disco, 20% New Wave, 20% Pop Ballads, 10% Hard Rock and 10% Funk. When you cram all your Disco tracks into the opening chunk of the album, it does nothing but give the album a 'Disco' album tag.
I'd wager that Queen's problem here was in the production. 'Staying Power' is decent and funky, but compared to the raw live version from their Milton Keynes Bowl gig that year it sounds lifeless. When played live, Roger plays the drums like it's 'Immigrant song'. Queen should have stripped the songs back rather than doing the grandiose work they did on every other album
The bigger let down from the ABB came in the 15 year span between Win, Lose or Draw and Seven Turns. I don't mind WLorD although you're right it is a step down from Bros And Sisters. I do like Chuck Leavell (I believe it's pronounced "La Val") on most albums, he often sits in with Warren Haynes on live shows. Fun topic... thanks!
Kraftwerk 'Computer World' followed by 'Electric Cafe'.'Parliament 'Gloryhallastoopid' followed by 'Trombipulation.' Traffic 'Low Spark of High Heeled Boys' followed by 'Shootout At The Fantasy Factory'. (The opening title track is the only song on that album that I like) . Mos Def 'Black On Both Sides' followed by 'The New Danger'.
Queen "Hot Space" following the success of "The Game" & "Greatest Hits" . I've said before how Queen had diverse musical genres on their albums. But this album was TOO much diversity for their staunch rock fanbase.
Listened to "Queen II" yesterday. It was certainly better than I anticipated. My amp is busted so I had to listen to it via blu ray to TV speakers. Still sounded great.
I started losing interest in Queen in 1980-81 after they released "The Game." I thought it wasn't worthy of their talents and I've never been a fan of "Another One Bites The Dust." Am I the only person who loves "Jazz"? I found a cassette of "Jazz" on the city bus in the fall of 1979 and played it constantly for a couple of months. I had a top end cassette deck in those days and "Jazz" was the first prerecorded cassette that impressed me with excellent sound quality. "More Of That Jazz" is my favorite Queen song.
@@ldchappell1 Queen II is a very underrated album. But it was where they started to develop their sound with harmonies. I still listen it start to finish.
@@armandovenditti4523 I'm going to listen to Queen II again today during lunch. It's one of those albums that doesn't immediately grab your attention but you appreciate it the more you listen to it. Did you ever see Queen perform live? I had the opportunity to see them perform in 1978 but I came down with meningitis and gave my ticket away.
Totally dig this tandem! Agree with all selections. Pete, you decided not to include Boston’s sophomore for a reason I believe could be another awesome theme for your show! Follow-up albums for huge albums that were under estimated at the time but public opinion, sales & both have determined otherwise over time, just a thought
I hear ya Pete on your #1 pick! The Game was great, love that album. And then the follow-up and slow decline. You have pegged also my #1 letdown. Great show and great picks by both you and Martin. Keep up the good work. Love your show. Btw, contact Classic Album Review and do a show with him. He's also good.
"Did Dead Ringer even have a single?" - umm, yeah - the title track with Cher was, and is, a huge classic rock radio hit.
Hmmm...not sure where you live, but I can't say I've heard that on any classic rock radio station in the Northeast of the USA in 35 or more years.
Jim Steinman's album " Bad For Good" was actually suppose to be "Bat 2" but Meatloaf blew out his voice. So Steinman did the vocals himself. Two of the songs ends up on "Bat 2"
@@seaoftranquilityprog spent most of my life in new york and heard deadringer for love constantly on radio and mtv.....
Can we get some love for Meat Loaf on the channel ?
Dead ringer is a great lp..if bat was a double lp this could have easily been sides 3 & 4
I guess "London Calling" is the only Album that I own that Pete doesn't own.
So London Calling is your only Punk rock album?
Pink Floyd The Wall to the Final Cut
some other examples:
Cheap Trick: dream police followed by all shook up
Finley Quaye: Maverick a stricke followed by Vanguard
Lou Reed: Transformer followed by Berlin
Oasis: (What's the story) morning glory followed by Be here now
John Lennon: Imagine followed by Some time in New York city
Genesis: we can't dance followed by calling all stations
George Harrison: all thing must pass followed by living in the material world
The Beach Boys: pet sounds followed by smiley smile
Free: fire and water followed by highway
One let down I can think of is Rush’s Signals after Moving Pictures. However, the rest of their mid to late 80’s albums were even worse!
You were let down by "Signals?" I always thought it was one of their best albums. 1991s "Roll The Bones" was a let down after "Presto." Rush trying to do rap was not a good direction for the band. When I saw them perform in Oakland in 1992 they were booed for a few minutes when they did that rapping bit.
@@ldchappell1 RUSH GOT BOOED?? That's unheard of! Would think the audience would be familiar with that song and know there's a rap part to it! Sheesh.
@@davidl570 I didn't participate in the booing but I can understand it. I don't like rap either.
The album "Emotional Rescue" is mostly comprised of outtakes from "Some Girls".
And "Start Me Up" was an outtake from "Some Girls" also.
Then riddle me this - why weren't they a double album? And more to the point, a further five Some Girls outtakes ended up on Tattoo You.
This would give a double album of 97 minutes all told - Tattoo You would have been a better follow up in this scenario.
Riddle what?
They came out as they did because that's what they chose to do. Those 3 albums were also the last one's released on Atlantic before signing to Columbia with "Undercover" which was strictly new material. The Stones already had to give up certain rights of "new" material to ABKCO as they signed to Atlantic, so maybe "Emotional Rescue" and "Tattoo You" was a cleaning of the vaults before their contract expired.
@@danielvysocky2716 Contractual obligation explains everything.
"Tattoo You" was a hodgepodge of their sessions for Atlantic dating back to 1972 with "Waiting On A Friend". I mean Mick Taylor is on that song and "Tops" and he had been out of the Stones for 7 years by the time album was released.
Major let-downs: I always refer to the follow-up to REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity -- Good Trouble. The band went from scoring Diamond status in sales with Hi Infidelity to Double Platinum with Good Trouble. I realize most bands would kill for Double Platinum sales on a release; however, falling 8 million copies in sales from one album to another had to be a let down for both the band and record label. REO Speedwagon would get a bump in sales with the release of Wheels are Turnin', but the wheels would fall off the wagon soon after.
Even Kevin doesn't like Good Trouble.................he described it as "half-baked."
Another for me is the massive drop in song quality from Maiden's debut to Killers. I know some love the thrashy Killers, but that debut has GREAT songs.
Kansas is my favorite band, and I saw them on the Monolith tour. The first 5 Kansas album are so stellar and original, hardly a single clunker of a song to be found. Even the off beat boogie rockers are great. Monolith not only has Reason to Be, a total clunker, but it just sounds tired. Gone are the melodies and grandeur in songs like Lamplight Symphony and The Wall, now all the serious songs sound disjointed. It's not a bad album, it just isn't close to its predecessors.
The guys were getting married and they were starting to head in different directions. It was a transition period for sure.
Where was the Cheap Trick album at?
It's on the thumbnail
Queens ‘Hot Space’ isn’t actually that bad an album. It was just different, totally different from anything they’d done before. There’s some cracking tracks on there, that sound even better on the live album ‘Live at the Bowl’.
I beg to differ...I know I'm not alone...
It does have some redeeming songs, but the album did fail in America
Good disco album alright, little hard rock on it
I really like Back Chat, Calling All Girls & Put Out The Fire. I detest Body Language. Under Pressure is a masterpiece & the rest of the album is merely average. Average for Queen is pretty bad.
I remember Freddie having to tell the crowd at Milton Keynes Bowl in '82 that Queen were still a rock band despite Hot Space.
Yeah, Pete finally is getting into The Clash! : ) Looking forward to a Hudson Valley Squares episode about punk records very soon! 😄
'Dead Ringer for Love' was the single from Dead Ringer - big hit in the UK (duet with Cher).
Supertramp : Brother Where You Bound to Free As A Bird was quite a drop!
Breakfast in America to Famos Last Words is an even better example. A drop from 4mil copies to 500k. Neither of the albums you mentioned even went gold.
I'm a moderate Queen fan but I had never heard "Hot Space", but after hearing you guys talk about it I checked it out. Wow, I would literally rather listen to my dog puke. That thing should come with a disclaimer!
Glaring example of this is Dire Straits... On Every Street from Brothers in Arms
It seemed like Mark Knopfler really wanted to call it a day after Brothers in Arms but Dire Straits owed their label one more album. Never a good reason to go back into the studio.
Incidentally, I saw Mark in concert a few years back and with the exception of one song, the entire set list consisted of his solo material.
The truth is Planet of New Orleans is better than almost any track on Brothers in Arms.
Just picked up 2 of Martin's books recently..ac/dc album by album and the motorhead book...great stuff
Nice to hear a mention for Meat Loaf!
The follow up to `Bat..` was supposed to be `Bad For Good`(a better album than `Dead Ringer`) but due to Meat Loaf`s vocal issues was sung by Jim Steinman and Rory Dodd. Anyway, `Dead Ringer` only came out a few months after `Bad For Good` so all thing`s considered it wasn`t a bad effort from Steinman I`d say! I actually think `Dead Ringer` was a decent album, however, Meat`s voice was weaker than on `Bat..` due to prolonged touring. You really notice this when you listen to a compilation when the tracks from `Dead..` and `Bat..` are side by side. From the Meat Loaf fans I know they would probably say that the follow up to `Dead Ringer`, `Midnight at the Lost and Found` was a bigger disappointment. Whilst saying that `Midnight..` wasn`t written by Jim Steinman so was always on a hiding to nothing I guess! Incidentally Barry Manilow covered a track from `Dead Ringer` called `Read `Em and Weep` which was also produced by Steinman
Well said yes Midnight at the Lost and Found is disappointing
Really dig the selections and agree with with y'all on everything except I'm a bigger fan of Emotional Rescue's Dance (Pt.1) and rate In Utero damn near as high as Nevermind- which is up there. Thanks for another great show Martin & Pete!
Atta Boy Pete .... Dontcha feel better now that you've listened to The Clash's London Calling.... Its a must have in your collection.... Now we gotta get you on board with The Ramones!! Martin's a good influence on you... Take his advice lol. Another great segment thanx !
... Also a awesome album cover..
I bought ‘Hot Space’ when it came out (I was 13) and was sorely disappointed by it. But I have to say it sounds way better to me now than it did then. I think Freddie Mercury was influenced by the dance music he was hearing in gay clubs at the time and wanted to take Queen in that direction. From a 2021 perspective I think that was an incredibly brave thing to do. Queen were always the true heirs to The Beatles in terms of the variety in the styles of music they performed, but the Fabs arguably never made a left turn like this. The production is minimalist and inventive and I really like ‘Body Language’, ‘Dancer’ and ‘Back Chat’. Also some of Freddie’s strongest singing is on this album. I really do think it is worthy of reinvestigation.
Enjoyed reading this. I think the ones who generally have the biggest problem with this album are the hard rock/metal junkies (and, admittedly, I am not one of those), but, in saying that, I can understand where they are coming from.
This is a generalization, I know, but of the four members of Queen, Freddie and John were the ones far more interested in things outside of rock, so I think they were into this project. Brian and Roger I think were more typical rockers, so they weren't as much into it. If there's any criticism I have of the album, it isn't over the fact that it has a more funk, post-disco aesthetic, but over that push-and-pull between those two 'camps' within the band, and as such, it comes off as frustratingly schizophrenic, particularly when going from Side One into Side Two. Perhaps there was always that element of 'schizophrenia' in Queen's music, but for me personally, it worked on all those '70s albums. Here, not quite as much. I would have preferred the whole album to be like Side One (love everything on it), in terms of my own tastes, whereas Side Two becomes a bit more patchy. But remember, I'm in the minority here--I don't quite see things the way a rocker sees them.
Also, I didn't discover Queen until just after Freddie passed. In retrospect, I'm glad it happened this way. In fact, many of my favorite artists are those who ended before I discovered them. Sometimes I think growing up with an artist, and following everything they do in real time engenders far more biases and prejudices than it does when approached from a more distant angle.
Edit: Interestingly enough, an album that seems almost universally hated, had a pretty big influence on Michael Jackson around the time he was creating Thriller--the biggest selling album around the globe. Strange.
@@knightvisioniixv Excellent reply, thanks for taking the trouble to write it. I am in complete agreement, I would love to have seen the band do a whole album of more dance-oriented songs like on the first side of the record. Like you I am not a hard rock or metal purist and could quite happily have had 10 songs in that vein. But back in 1982 I wasn’t ready for such a change in musical direction. Really good point about coming to a band’s catalogue after the fact - a lot of the time it’s a lot easier to appreciate it in its entirety without making snap judgements.
For many, many years I have said that my favorite song of all time is Peter Gabriel’s “Washing of the Water.” The song transports me every time I hear it. And the album it is on, “Us,” is, from my perspective, tremendous. (Okay, “Steam” isn’t really a high point, but I love love love the rest).
Fun video. Thanks!
Loving these shows. Suck amazing content from SoT as always
Another gem of a show!
Wow! Another great show after the one with Mike Portnoy and all within less than 24 hours. Thank you Pete!
Totally agree with you on LZ Presence.
Boston's "Third Stage" is unbelievably awful. Bought it on vinyl. Listened to it once and it's been on the shelf ever since. If Hell has a radio station, then "Third Stage" plays 24/7.
Hot Space I agree is a polarizing album from Queen. You either love it or you hate it. I personally love it! Another album that’s just as polarizing it seems is the Flash Gordon soundtrack album they did as well. You either love it (& hate HS), or hate it (& love HS). I’m not sure where I stand with Flash Gordon. I will be listening to it in full at the end of this video to see how I feel about it.
I have to go with return to forever here. Not only is Romantic Warrior one of my favorite jazz fusion albums, it is probably 1 of my favorite albums of all time . Just brilliant from beginning to end
I had send on that before I was done. Then they come out with Music Magic with no Al Dimeola, no Lenny White and female vocals. I can't tell you how hard I tried to like that album but it just wasn't going to happen. Sure it's pretty in spots but when I listen to Return to Forever I'm not looking for pretty
Nice shirts boys!
Thank YOU, Mr. Shirt Guru!