Now that I am aware how fast the Mac can consume CD’s, I brought a bunch more in to work with me. Into the Mac today:
1.) Peter Gabriel- Shaking the Tree
2.) Yes- Relayer
3.) Primus- Pork Soda
4.) Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel- Highball with the Devil
5.) Little feat- Waiting For Columbus
6.) Stan Ridgway- Songs That Made This Country Great
7.) Grateful Dead- Fallout From The Phil Zone
8.) JGB- Jerry Garcia Band
9.) The Allman Brothers Band- Live at Ludlow Garage 1970
10.) The Velvet Underground- Live 1969 Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
11.) Elastica- Elastica
12.) NWA- Straight Outta Compton
13.) Dire Straits- Money for Nothing
14.) Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention- Fillmore East: June 1971
15.) JGB- Welcome to Our World
16.) Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique
17.) Bryan Setzer Orchestra- Guitar Slinger
18.) Grateful Dead: Without a Net
19.) Grateful Dead- Dozin’ at the Knick
20.) Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty
Only about 700 to go!
zzyzx
Hey! I was at the Dozin’ at the Knick shows.
cleek
that list makes me want to grab a bong!
Billy K
That list makes me hate music.
LITBMueller
So, this means, if you put iTunes on shuffle, you could hear “In Your Eyes” followed by “Fuck tha Police.”
Awesome…
John Cole
What is there to hate?
Cain
I don’t see any conservative music here like from Ted Nugent or any gospel music. tsch. tsch.
That said, you have excellent taste sir. (although I don’t know any deadhead music… )
cain
ps my cat concurs
Jimmmmm
I see you disabled the “crap” filter.
(Nyuk-nyuk.)
Gus
Now that you’re using iTunes, you really need to get your ass to the iTunes store and browse their live Dead offerings. You might even be able to find some shows you attended available for download.
Shabbazz
Careful John — I started ripping my CDs a few years ago and I just filled up my half-terrabyte external hard drive this past weekend. It is a sickness that will plague your soul!
There was a short window of time when Archive.org had the entire GD catalog of live shows available for download. Once the GD vault was sold to Rhino, they put a stop to that pretty quickly (although you can still stream the soundboards and download the audience shows). It was a Deadhead’s dream come true! “Lemme see — I’ll take all the soundboards from 1972 through 1974, please!”
I had my own personal WALL OF SOUND reverberating in my living room on a regular basis!
Punchy
Beastie’s Paul’s Boutique hands-down best album. Evah. Of any genre. Period. I’ve had to replace it 3X due to theft and general overuse trauma.
Mr. Cole, I must say…I largely hate(d?) your politics, but with the NWA, Les Claypool, White Zombie…you’ve zoomed past the “not really a tool” category and dangerously close to the “pretty decent” area…
Punchy
Wow, my last post sounds gay. Cole, you suck.
Fixed.
zzyzx
I didn’t take nearly enough advantage of the free archive.org period :/
Stupid Bobby.
Gus
Me neither. I listed to a lot, but I didn’t save anything. Oh well, I’m sure all the surviving members of the Dead could use the money I’m spending on iTunes.
John Cole
I have a cd called Here Comes Sunshine, made in Italy, that is a crystal clear recording ofthem at Chapel Hill in March 93 with a rocking version of Wang Dang Doodle.
Beat that.
5-Piece Chicken Dinner MUTHAFUCKA.
Punchy
Trivia–what’s the background music sample? I’ll give you 3 minutes.
zzyzx
I can’t. I’ll just have to settle for my 11 gigs of Grateful Dead mp3s. Only 7 days worth of music :/
cleek
i can’t listen to any of the PB/CYH-era Beasties anymore without thinking of Lazy Sunday.
Mr Pibb And Red Vines!
Crazy Delicious!
i still listen to it, but i can’t help but marvel at how well those two guys totally nailed that early BBs sound.
Larv
Y’know, there’s just enough suck there to convince me that JC was ever actually a republican, and not a pot-smoking hippie democrat in disguise. The Dead, Les Claypool, Zappa; stoner stalwarts all. Was Cole one of those guys who go libertarian for the pot, then slowly pull a Glenn Reynolds and slide into Republicanism?
John S.
Man, if I knew it was going to be this kind of party, I would have stuck my dick in the mashed potatos!
Gus
Deadheads have certainly come a long way from the old tape-swapping days.
John S.
Oh, and for all you BB enthusiasts, be sure to check out he “New York State of Mind” underground remix album (I think it was produced by Dangermouse).
That is some wicked shit.
Jimmmmm
Punchy:
Concurred. I’ve mounted the soapbox in defense of Paul’s Boutique as the greatest-ever rock-and-roll album.
Eric Weissberg’s Shuckin’ the Corn is the background sample. Dinnit need no Intarnets to tell me that.
Punchy
I never knew this until I picked up a bluegrass “oldies” CD and heard the song. I knew I’d heard that riff before and it literally drove me crazy for a week. I finally figged it out, but only after pissing off about 40 friends/family with the “where have I heard this before?” dumbass question that only gets you blank stares.
Billy K
Don’t take this personally, John. I know from reading your blog you’re kind of a delicate guy. But I didn’t think it was possible to make a list of 20 records without one title I didn’t hate.
I’m exaggerating a little for effect, I guess. I don’t hate Beastie Boys (though I’ve never owned any of their records), and I suppose Velvet Underground has some value.
Yes…I’m a music snob/elitist/prick/etc. Combined with my Mac zealotry, it makes me very charming IRL. I’m shocked I have a single friend. And by single friend, I mean literally one single friend.
Tony Alva
“You say f**k that, yo homes f**k this, I’m the King Ad Wammy you’re Dick Butkus…”
It is the best album ever.
Let be clear though, the Grateful Dead blow.
Q. What did the Deadhead say when he ran out of weed?
A. Turn that shit off.
Walker
If you want really hardcore ripping on the Mac…
I have a lot of books on tape that never made it to CD for some reason or another. I digitize those with Audio Hijack Pro and then join the sides together with GarageBand to get seamless tracks.
JPRICE
stan ridgway?!?! That’s a blast from the past. What a great singer/songwriter. Wrong album/song, sorry to report. Like the Pixies, the early stuff is better than the later stuff….
ninerdave
Wow, NWA?
Great record, but I would have never picked you for an NWA type of guy.
mxh
“Music snob” is just another (two) word(s) for “unrepentant asshat.”
This is not a top-20 list, fergawdsake. The only item on there that’s completely mockable is Yes’s Relayer, and that’s because they are the secret shame of so many people.
Pork Soda is pretty good, but get Suck On This, Primus’s first album, which was recorded live.
The Other Steve
Grateful Dead?
I’ll bet you’ve got Dylan CDs as well. Fess up.
This completes my theory that modern Republicans have an oddly 60’s liberal taste in music.
gogiggs
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten a lot less judgemental about music. Generally, the worst I’m inclined to say about something anymore is “I don’t enjoy it”. I figure if there is music playing and you enjoy it and I hate it, that’s my loss and your gain.
But there are exceptions and Les Claypool/Primus is one of the biggest. There is almost nothing about him/them that I don’t despise. Hearing LC/Primus actually, literally enrages me and makes me want to punch someone.
To quote Dr. David Thorpe:”Classic “big brother music.” The only people who are halfway forgiven for giving a shit about Primus are guys who are like fifteen years old and still haven’t come into their own, and they idolize their retarded stoner big brother because he’s got a car and he brags about having sex with girls (without truth) and he’s got a rockin’ dustache and he listens to Primus. Luckily, by the time these guys are seventeen or so, their brother is driving a forklift at the dump and they’re like “what the fuck was I thinking, my brother is a huge piece of shit and Primus has always sucked.” ”
I will happily join in on the love for Paul’s Boutique. It’s a great, great, great record (I love things that are great) that just keeps on giving. That said, The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses has been objectively proven to be the greatest album ever. Don’t blame me if you disagree, blame science.
Face
Ann Coulter is a HUGE Dead fan. Has admitted to it in numerous interviews. Leads further credence to a growing opinion that she’s all act, no substance, and simply markets herself to make as much money as possible.
mxh
gogiggs’ near-psychotic hatred of his brother aside, Primus rocks.
Dan Broughton
BIG fan of The Stone Roses’ first album, and Paul’s Boutique is one of my all time favorite Sunday Morning albums. Eff the Beasties nowadays though. Stop going on TV shows and just make music. As for the Claypool thing, may I recommend Oysterhead? It’s Claypool with Trey Anastacio (of Phish fame) and Stewart Copeland of the Police. Only one album, but it’s great stuff.
SDM
I was unemployed when I first got my Mac laptop, and it was a great joy to me to spend most of my afternoons loading CDs into iTunes.
The transfer from iTunes to an iPod (which I got about a week ago) is seamless and idiotproof.
GeoX
The fact that you listen to Stan Ridgway makes you cool, although I’d listen to the individual albums rather than a best-of. His output with Wall of Voodoo is also a trip and a half.
zzyzx
The one album I’d mock is 15.) JGB- Welcome to Our World . Jerry Band without Jerry. I had no clue this even existed.
John Cole
I probably should have been clearer about this list- this was about half a disorganized shelf that I shoveled in a bag. There is no rhyme or reason as to why these went in first. Well, other than that they were the first ones into the bag because they were right there on the top shelf.
And if you ask me, the top pick from this list is, without question, Zappa at the Fillmore East.
C.R.
John,
Don’t forget Big Head Todd and the Monsters CD/s. My Favs…
Strategem
Sister Sweetly
Rivera
Beautiful World
Crimes of Passion
Live at the Fillmore
C.R.
diakron
Relayer? My goodness.
Bob In Pacifica
The Big Heat by Stan Ridgway was my favorite album by him. Best cut is the one about the strippers.
MarkT
You might want to back up your music to an external hard drive (if you don’t do this already).
Cain
I lost my music collection once. It sucked. Doing it again takes a long.. long.. long.. time.
cain
Ridge
cleek Says:
that list makes me want to grab a bong!
———
Ha!
Ain’t that the truth.
Aside from all that GD endless noodling on their instruments, there is at least one bright light in that list.
VU Live- 1969
Now THERE was a live band and an incredible recording. The original double album cover had good liner notes and a fantastic photo of the band on a “stage”. Later saw the origin of that photo, had Nico front and center but she had been airburshed out for the Live LP release.
Anyway, learned to play my Gretch by listing to Lou and the guys.
As he said before he hammered his guitar, “”Now watch this.”
R
Jess
I hear you. I was at their second or third gig–we had mutual friends–at a totally empty Berkeley Square. My reaction was “Who are these geeks? They’re NEVER going to make it!” I guess they got the last laugh.
I was also friends with a college buddy of the Beastie Boys, a chick who was in a band call the Yeastie Girls. I’m sorry they didn’t make it.
Punchy
I have their (only popular?) song on a compilation CD. Great song. They go into graphic detail, if ya know what I mean. Not so great band name.
Rex
Give me the enchilada stuffed with pickle sauce shoved up and down a donkey’s ass until he can’t come anymore!
Bless you, Cole.
r€nato
Every time you take advantage of your ‘fair use’ rights by ripping a CD from your personal collection, a record company exec kills a kitten.
Krista
Yep. Definitely time to get a copy of Paul’s Boutique, methinks. But, just for shits and giggles, I’m going to wait until next week so that I can buy it in Brooklyn.
Why? Why the hell not?
R. Stanton Scott
Yikes! The Dead, Zappa, and the Beastie Boys on the same hard drive!
Make the bad man stop!
orogeny
I have to agree with you about the Live at the Fillmore album…I saw the same show (with the addition of the Mothers “Anti-Smut Oath of Allegiance”)in Orlando in ’71 and it was incredible. The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie, Aynsley Dunbar, George Duke, Jim Pons made for one of the best iterations of the Mothers for live performances. Pork Soda is great, but for my money, Sailing the Seas of Cheese is Primus’ best album.
Fats Durston
Pssst!
There’s been music released in the last decade…
Just teasin’. I’m pleased to see anyone who listens to hip-hop, art rock, noodling, and neo-new wave (the first go round). Just as long as I don’t have to listen to the noodly bits: I had a pot-smoking roommate for two years and that set me for life.
danelectro
yea, stanard’s wall of voodoo stuff was really great, and i must have listened to the rumble fish soundtrack (don’t box me in has his vocals) a thousand times.
Jake
Never mind Terri Schiavo. I blame Frank Zappa and Primus and (really?) NWA, for John’s conversion to the dark side. I bet he listens to GWAR while swilling Hola Fruta.
Bucket Of Truth
Zappa in New York is the BEST. Laughing your ass off while being simultaneously dazzled by the virtuousity. Frank is the man.
“It was a singles bar, a Tuesday night
The moon was dim, the band was tight
They did the bump together
What a splendid sight,(Ren-nen-nen-nen) her teeth were white
The drinks were cheap (it was Ladies Nite)
He was glad that he met her
She was an office girl (“My name is Betty”)
Her fav’rite group was HELEN REDDY
(They discussed the weather)
Honey honey, hey
Baby don’t you want a man like me
Honey honey, hey
Baby don’t you want a man like me
She was the lonely sort, just a little too short
Her jokes were dumb and her fav’rite sport
Was hockey (in the winter)
He was duly impressed and was quick to suggest
Any sport with a PUCK had to be ’bout the best
As he jabbed his elbow in her (“Get it honey? Get it?”)
Later on they went off to where the music was soft,
The candles were drippy, they saw a REAL HIPPY
Who delivered their dinner”
Don Pardo’s narration is also fun.
Seth
If you do happen to like Primus or Les Claypoool, don’t miss Purple Onion. It is probably Claypool’s best non-Primus album.
montysano
The only item on there that’s completely mockable is Yes’s Relayer, and that’s because they are the secret shame of so many people.
Shit, and here I sit listening to “Topographic Oceans”, totally without shame. Careful mxh, you don’t wanna sound like an “unrepentant asshat”.
Mr. Furious
5.) Little feat- Waiting For Columbus
11.) Elastica- Elastica
16.) Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique
Three great albums, the rest not so much. Though plenty of artits I like, just not my first choice from their respective catalogues…
–I know of your love for “Columbus” and am surprised a concerted effort wasn’t made already on that one.
–“Shake Your Rump” is the greatest BB track ever and firmly in my all-time top ten songs, period.
–Gimme the (Melted Face) eponymous Gabriel album, then “Security”, then the rest…
–For live Lou, I prefer “Rock and Roll Animal”
Mr. Furious
Krista-
If you’re going to be in Park Slope when you’re in Brooklyn drop into the little “Music Matters” shop on 7th Ave between 13th and 14th. Jason’s a good guy and it took him a while to get that shop up and running…
(I’m assuming it’s still there.)