Classic Status re: All Good Things

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Classic Status re: All Good Things

Started 16 years ago by YoYoPo / toggle topic info

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YoYoPo

The Architect
Joined: Feb '05
Posts: 3,618

Posted 16 years ago #

I wanted to bring this up for a while re: All Good Things

Thes One said: "I ain't heard a classic record since this whole downloading sh!t started"

I guess if we're talking from around 2000, and we're talking about hip hop (although really this applies to all genres) - have there really been no 'classic' albums?

or is it just an indication of 'classic' status being -

1) primarily based on individual opinion and

2) often applied in hindsight, the last 5-10 years are still too recent?
JK93

EP
Joined: Aug '05
Posts: 262

Posted 16 years ago #

Classic albums of this century in my opinion are limited to;

PUTS - OST
I never, never get tired of this album. I'm tempted to include Or Stay Tuned and Carried Away, but I don't think anything will ever match OST for me.

Ugly Duckling - Journey to Anywhere
All of their albums are pretty dope, but Journey felt like a classic the first time I heard it and still does. Every track is pure gold, unlike any of their LPs since (in my opinion).

D'Angelo - Voodoo
Again, this LP felt like a classic from the first drop of the needle. I loved Brown Sugar so my expectations for this were huge. Those expectations were truly dwarfed by what this set delivered. I don't think there will ever be a better soul album recorded.

Radiohead - Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief
One of those rare bands who seem (or seemed) to just keep getting better. In Rainbows is awesome but not quite up there with these two.

Cinematic Orchestra - Everyday
The last three tracks alone would qualify this LP.

Bonobo - Dial M for Monkey
One of the best examples of this kind of music. Light Pattern is truly epic.

Four Tet - Pause / Rounds
I remember hearing Lifestyle Marketing for the first time and wondering to myself if Thes had been listening to Four Tet... Both these LPs are incredible.

That's pretty much it for me...
Psychedelicatessan

12
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 75

Posted 16 years ago #

i definitely consider these post-2000 albums CLASSIC-AS-ALL-GET-OUT:

-PUTS- Stepfather
-PUTS- OST
-PUTS- Carried Away
-Giant Panda- Fly School Reunion
-Blackalicious- Blazing Arrow
-Thes One- Lifestyle Marketing
-RJD2- Deadringer
-Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
-Ween- Quebec
-The Wood Brothers- Loaded

timeless, all of them.

not at all hip hop related, but there is an excellent documentary about that Wilco album that really lays bare the sad state of the record industry.

Contact us
Dwight

EP
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 112

Posted 16 years ago #

Maybe Thes was just trying to say that downloading is killing the integrity of hearing a new record? I don't know.

I think there's been quite a few classic albums from post 2000, it's really all subjective though.

Common - Like Water For Chocolate
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek - Reflection Eternal
Zion I - Mind Over Matter
Binary Star - Masters Of The Universe
Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
Masta Ace - Disposable Arts
Cormega - The True Meaning
PUTS - OST
De La Soul - The Grind Date
Madvillain - Madvillainy
DJ Muggs Vs. GZA - Grandmasters
One Be Lo - S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.
J Dilla - Donuts
Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
Hell Razah - Renaissance Child
PUTS - Fun DMC
EarthTraveler

P fan #1
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 654

Posted 16 years ago #

No need to name Thes & Double.
Possibly:
Binary Star - Masters Of The Universe, Y Society - Travel At Your Own Pace, Blu & Exile -Below The Heavens, Zion I - True & Livin', CYNE - Evolution Fight, Brother Ali - Shadows On The Sun, Opgezwolle - Eigen Wereld, Typhoon - Tussen Licht En Lucht, Reflection Eternal - Train Of Thought, The Foreign Exchange - Connected (Real dope album), One Be Lo - S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M., possibly some CunninLynguists.

Definitely:
Common Market - Common Market
Common Market - Tobacco Road
Blue Scholars - Bayani
Blue Scholars - The Long March
CYNE - Time Being
The Roots - Game Theory
The Roots - The Tipping Point
Common - BE

Not a classic, but I really like Emancipator - Soon It Will Be Cold Enough (Instrumental-wise) too.
I'm a fan of The Loyalists' albums too.
Maybe there's more to come, let me think.
trenchmc

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Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1,137

Posted 16 years ago #

Well y'all have covered all the hip-hop stuff, but indie rock wise

Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
The Strokes - Is This It
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (I know it ain't indie but still, dope)
Radiohead - Kid A
TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain. Also Dear Science was helllla dope too, Ima put that in there.
YoYoPo

The Architect
Joined: Feb '05
Posts: 3,618

Posted 16 years ago #

but are all those albums actually classic?

Can we agree on even one of those albums between us?

How many of those albums were influential within the genre?

Madvillain as case in point. It often gets raised up as a recent 'classic' - it's definitely different and the way the album and the tracks are structured is innovative. But - what makes it classic? It takes a while to get in to, Doom's verses are largely similar to his previous stuff and I don't see much actual impact from the album outside of stones throw's message board.

And I love that album, but I'm trying to be critical!

Kid A is probably the one album that is consistently at the top of best album lists. And that's because it's an amazing record, but it was also very innovative, Radiohead went in a very different direction than before, and it is massively influential.

Are there no 'classic' albums (according to Thes) because downloading hundreds of albums, often prior to release, dampens how much you appreciate them? Or is it because of downloading, and massive profit losses within the music industry, that record labels are no longer willing to risk investing in new or innovative music?
Sweetness61686

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Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 1,427

Posted 16 years ago #

yoyo,
i agree...i think "classic" is only a matter of opinion...there are people out there who would consider "50 cent-get rich or die tryin" classic...and many would say F-that!..lol

...but at the same time i would agree that some of those albums listed would be "classics" in my eyes
-common-like water for chocolate
-blazzing arrow
-ost
-fun dmc
-i could basically list any PUTS album from this decade.. (but again all opinion)
pinback -summer in abaddon
...could pry think of more...but again...that would all be music i personally like...and alot of that is stuff i still listen to now. I also think that "classics" do need to stand the test of time...i dunno if 10 years is enough time

--I think the downloading age definitely made it easier and harder at the same time to find good music. It was easier because it was quick ...and UMMM FREE!...but there is so much sh!t out there...i feel like music i really like..(like PUTS) i had to dig/get lucky to come across.
trenchmc

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Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1,137

Posted 16 years ago #

Well let me retract what I listed earlier. With the exception of Radiohead and a few other bands, the albums they made last decade won't be classics until their influence is felt, and that will take awhile. So to say that there aren't really any classics yet would be accurate, but for different reasons.
esomedina

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Joined: May '05
Posts: 1,528

Posted 16 years ago #

I think the whole listening experience died once music became readily available online. I remember going to buy a tape or a CD and then coming home and devoting a good two hours to just listening and reading the liner notes. After the initial listen, I'd rewind/skip to the standout tracks. I'd read the booklet front to back from the name of the publishing companies listed for each song to the shout outs to who designed the artwork.

But if I had to pick some classic albums since the download era began (roughly 2000), I'd say (largely hip-hop based):

50 Cent - "Get Rich Or Die Trying"
Mainly a classic for the simple fact of the impact it had. Regardless of how you feel about 50 Cent the artist/person, this album was chock full of dope ass songs.

Common - "Electric Circus"
This was such a departure from what Common fans were "used" to that it was instantly dismissed. But for those of us that listened and went "there" with Brother Com, it is arguably his best work save for Resurrection.

Blu & Exile - "Below The heavens"
Is there a wack song on this album (except for maybe Juice N Dranks)? "Cold Hearted" is one of my all time favorite songs because he used a particular poetry style (I forget what its called) that showed he's not just some rapper/emcee. His rhymes are put together with purpose.

Atmosphere - "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having"
One of the few albums I can listen to straight through. It's not too long, not too short. It's pretty much perfect.

Those are four that really stand out to me at the moment. I didn't mention any P albums because my bias would really show. I hold them in a whole other regard.
williamhmacy

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Joined: Feb '07
Posts: 594

Posted 16 years ago #

what it comes down to is it's been barely a decade and we wont really know or have a good judgment on whats actually classic until more time has passed. but with that said, i think pre-2000 records will always be "classic" on a whole other level than anything that comes out nowadays could ever be, partly because of the whole internet, downloading thing. hopefully it could happen but for now i'm looking for the old stuff
SactownConnection

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Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 3,255

Posted 16 years ago #

I agree with eso on the fact that the manner in which the music is "felt" by me is way different now because of things like handling the medium, reading the booklet, wearing out your record/CD listening to it so many times, getting an almost "blue balls for the ears" condition when your walkman ran out of batteries or headphones broke, showing it to your friends, and being the first kid on your block to be bumping it....

Now, your friends have already heard it, you can get it in two seconds from piratebay (if you can get Nujabes in the space of 15 minutes without going to Japan or shelling out $50, then sh*t is CRAZY), you have nothing to hold in your hand or read, and your iPod can play almost a full day straight without needing a recharge...

BUT

I'd say that DIMINISHES the chances of a classic, but doesn't kill it. Things can still have a lasting impression. But that means leaving behind the auto-tuning, the computer beeps and blips, the desire to create a diva/boy-band/dance-floor sensibilities, and all that old mess... coming original with something that captures the attention of a large audience and doesn't grow cold, that is pretty much what makes a classic, and almost everything that you've all said so far doesn't do that for me. Maybe "Blazing Arrow"...

For instance, when "Crazy" came out by Gnarls Barkeley, that song went through the roof and had about 100 different covers of it the very next day... even Paris Hilton wanted to get in on that action... that smacks of classic track to me (that album is held in high regard, too)... I confess to liking that song... a lot, actually, and I think if I play it for my kids (when I have them) in 15 years, they'll dig it too.

I can't think of anything else off the top of my head...
mambo7891

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Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 1,659

Posted 16 years ago #

no need to mention the P, we al know the score...

wikipedia says it was released november 1999 but Dr. Dre 2001 has to be a classic, it infulenced a good deal of the past 10 years of hip-hop and was a real good album.

i think that since music has become so easily accesable (not jus downloading, but radio stations, tv aswell) we may be a bit overwhelmed with it all, theres "the hottest band/group/artist in the world right now every week, how many new bands have come, released and disapeared off the face of the earth? its very easy to get a number 1 with a crap song, but the quality artists struggle to hit the top 100.

IMO i thought Kid A was a bit naff, not my thing at all. I hear you trench on the LCD soundsystem bit, really influenced electronic music, getting em using live instruments etc.

maybe DJ Shadow>Outsider? i still dont rate it as Shadows best, but the whole vibe of it was ahead of its time and its growing on me.

tricky question yoyopo. very triccky. coz does a classic have to be influential? does a classic even have to sell that many?

actually, i know whats a classic IMO...
Boards Of Canada, campfire headphase. released in 2005, it sounds brilliant, i play it at least once a week, the music is timeless, there, i said it, my opinion. no doubt ill have to re-edit this post a few times. lol.

peace
YoYoPo

The Architect
Joined: Feb '05
Posts: 3,618

Posted 16 years ago #

esomedina said: I think the whole listening experience died once music became readily available online.

SactownConnection said: I'd say that DIMINISHES the chances of a classic, but doesn't kill it. Things can still have a lasting impression.

Being able to download music and the relative ease of access does impact on how we listen to and appreciate albums - but that should be regardless of the actual musical quality of the album. A good album will still be a good album, no matter how you listen to it.

Has the actual quality of new music been lowered by the affect of downloading?

Even if there's still great quality in music, does the listening experience mean everything is more throwaway, therefore it does impact what the public would treat as 'classic'?
you smoke dodo?

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Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,874

Posted 16 years ago #

Man, you've got to take into account the effect of nostalgia here. I know this board covers all ages, but I reckon if you look at the people who are saying that a classic hasn't been released in a decade, it'll be all older cats (myself included at 26). There's always that factor involved... we all reminisce over good times in music that perhaps maybe didn't even exist, or just exist through our rose tinted nostalgia...

I tend to define a classic as something that is a pillar of my taste in music, the seminal album of an artist, their magnum opus. So for me, examples would be,

Atmosphere, Sevens Travels
UD, Journey to anywhere
J5, Quality Control
Wu-Tang Clan, 36 chambers
Beastie Boys, Ill Communication

etc...

Also I think if you get too bogged down in semantics, you end up obscuring the fact that most music is enjoyable to someone, and our personal definitions of classic are so ambiguous and intangible, that having an argument about what a classic album is is like having an argument about what the best colour is. (It's purple, motherf*cker).

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