Anyone have that CD in your collection you're embarassed to admit to? Maybe you got caught up in the "Macarena" craze and made an impulsive buy. Or have a secret stash of polka music you like blasting on weekends.
Now's the time to admit to that CD or album you own that you put on when nobody's in the house. The album you have that if your friends saw they would laugh at you. That kind of album. The one that's a bit incongruous with the rest of your collection.
I'll have to say I'm a big fan of the Monkees. It's just a bit of pure pop goodness. Never fails to cheer me up. I don't have just one album, I have four. And I like every one of 'em. So there. It doesn't matter to me that nobody ever really took them seriously as a true band--I mean, c'mon, who would have thought two actors and two musicians could have amounted to much in the music world? Granted, they didn't write their own stuff early on, but my favorite album is "Headquarters" where they took the reins. I think there is an earnestness and playfullness that is hard to beat with them.
That is my guilty pleasure.
The Best of The Partridge Family brings me right back to my youth.
And as sickly sweet as the music is (and I really don't like any pop music) I think Karen Carpenter's voice is amazing enough to warrant just re-ordering the Best of the Carpenters on SACD. Besides, I've read that it's reference quality!
I had a similar thread just about a year ago, just before you joined here, Sean:
Guilty Pleasures '05
Oops. Didn't remember that thread.
I agree, Karen Carpenter's voice is amazing. I have a friend who has a Carpenters CD she plays in the car all the time.
Okay I admit it Jennifer Holiday in Dream Girls, after seeing the play, I could never get out of my head the way she sang-And I am telling you
Ok,....(shhhh...)
After watching "Little Shop of Horrors", had to get the tape cuz the way Rick Moranis and the "Leading Lady" sang "Suddenly Seymore" really did it for me!
...I DID find "The Dentist" to be an embarrasment, however.
....oh, speaking of Polka music: True story:
The wife and I had gotten a couple of polka albums back in the early 70s; they were actually fun, but for some unexplanable reason(and this is TRUE)I had the urge to run over to the bowling alley and just drink beer!! Not bowl, just drink beer!! And I don't even like "regular" beers!
..go figure
Rich.
Another Carpenters listener here. I have the Best if the Carpenters SACD and LOVE it. Hope you will as well, Mark.
Indeed, she had an INCREDIBLE voice. I vacillate between utter despair that we will never hear any new material performed by that lush, warm voice, and uncontrolled anger with her for doing what she did to herself thereby depriving us of that voice. It drives me crazy.
Also, after examining their material, I think Richard doesn't get his due as a pianist, and arranger. He really played some (but not all) tasty piano parts, and came up with some inventive, tasteful arrangements. It is not necessary to like the songs or arrangements in order to appreciate the talent involved in creating them.
Granny and I will certainly toss our hats in the ring as additional Carpenters fans. They were, and are, as an act, sorely missed.
With all due regards to Freddie Mercury and Co., I enjoy Anne Hathaways version of "Somebody to Love" from Ella Enchanted. (I didn't say that out loud did I?) Also, it's the stupidest movie I've ever enjoyed! Guy...2 1/2 weeks and counting.
Well, Air Supply. Damn, I feel so...dirty.
Jeeesh, Ray. I need a shower to feel clean again.
Aren't you the one who likes ABBA?
My guiltiest pleasure is probably Cat Stevens or a couple Dixie Chicks songs I've somehow allowed myself to enjoy.
Actually, nothing wrong with either one of those. I have been going over and over my stuff and I can't come up with anything I'm really em bare assed about. I guess the closest thing I could come up with was Dave Clark 5. I relistened to their double greatest hits that was released a few years ago and I feel redeemed. They were really very good for their time. The Beatles were huge back then but I liked the DC5 and the Stones. I only apppreciate the Beatles when Rubber Soul came out. I have since gone back and love the Beatles early stuff. I'm more of a John Lennon fan than anything. But it is hard to listen to the Beatles and not appreciate how amazing they were.
oz
oz
The Dave Clark 5 had some really good stuff. Most people could probably recognize the songs but not the band.
It's been a little over a year -- I guess we're due to rehash
this topic again.
Cyndi Lauper's first album still stands for me. You want a breathtaking performance? Spend the money and pick up Cyndi's "Live - At Last" DVD.
Thanks for the heads up on the Cyndi Lauper 'Live' DVD, I remember reading a while back that this was indeed a very good concert.
Would having owned a Leif Garrett album back in the day be considered an embarrassing moment? *Not* that I've ever actually owned one or anything. Just curious.
In reply to:
Well, Air Supply. Damn, I feel so...dirty
yeaaahhhh.... my wife's got that one. it's been banished to her car. those foul sounds shall not emanate from
my Axioms!
Instead, I play this:
... Lounge versions of Star Wars music!
In reply to:
It's been a little over a year -- I guess we're due to rehash this topic again.
I know, I know. Mark already called me out on that one. Geez, I wasn't even a member then. . .just one of those innocent lurkers.
Well, my most embarrassing album used to be "Extreme II : Pornograffiti" (wow... Nono Butterball and Gary Cherone - that's pure rock!!) until I gave it away.
Now? Chantal Kreviazuk? Golden Earring? Meat Loaf (BOOH, Dead Ringer, BOOH2BIH)? Alanis Morrisette?
Probably one of those.
Bren R.
Okay, I'll play(sort of, with no guilt), although it'll have to be in a different genre. Some classical snobs view with disdain things like Orff's Carmina Burana, Ravel's Bolero, Gliere's Ilya Murometz, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony and others, all of which I have multiple copies and enjoy greatly. It seems that some have the view that if it's popular with the general classical audience that it must be trash.
Ok, I'll admit it then.
I have a copy of "The three Tenors"
Rich.
...yeah, and even Disneys' "Fantasia"
Not so much a guiltry pleasure - but still a terrible CD...
In college, I bought a CD that was titled something like "Music of the adult film industry." It had pictures of naked ladies inside plying their trade, if you get my meaning. I bougth it thinking that it would be a fun disc to spin when having parties or fooling around late night with some lucky lass. I thought that the disc woudl be loaded with great, funky hooks and lots of waa-waa peddle.
Imagine my disappointment when I got the cd home and checked it out, only to discover that it was that bad music that plays on skin-a-max late at night. Terrible stuff really. I still have that cd though.. Haven't listened to it in years and years (or ever, really).
For me, it's definitely Boy George. I've been following his career since I was 13, and I'm now 36! So that's 13 years of putting up with people's sh*t whenever I mention it. Simply put, I find his voice quite pleasing to my ears, and he's a good songwriter. Culture Club's, "Colour By Numbers", never sounds dated except for the cheesy "Karma Chameleon". Oh...and I also like, *ahem*, Clay Aiken.
Nothing I'm embarassed about, but quite a bit that my wife and friends razz me about. Top three
Abba - Abba Gold
Gordon Lightfoot - Gord's Gold
Duran Duran - Greatest (I'm listening to it now since my wife's out of town
)
Sonic,
I don't like any of Clay's studio efforts, but when he lets go on his live covers of "To Love Somebody" & "Unchained Melody", it gives me chills.
If it's a rainy Saturday and the kids are restless, I'll throw on Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves, or Gloria by Laura Branigan. We jump around all over the place, screaming the lyrics & acting crazy. Takes the blah's right out of the day!
In reply to:
Some classical snobs view with disdain things like Orff's Carmina Burana, Ravel's Bolero, Gliere's Ilya Murometz, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony and others, all of which I have multiple copies and enjoy greatly. It seems that some have the view that if it's popular with the general classical audience that it must be trash.
That's interesting, JohnK. Why are those works looked down upon? I've heard Bolero (and seen the movie, but that's another topic. . .) and liked it. Is it considered simplistic?
OK...I'll admit it. I own this...and LOVE it!
Like you, I do find Boy George's voice pleasing, but if my friends ever caught me with one of his CDs I would have a LOT of explaining to do.
Sean, the view isn't all that widespread, but some academic music types appear to get upset with the fact that they or their students can't compose anything the classical audience finds appealing. Works that are melodious and/or thrillingly dramatic and are loved by the public can indeed sometimes be dismissed as simplistic(e.g. Bolero and the others that I mentioned).
One example involves Rachmaninoff(probably my favorite composer)and the Oxford music dictionary edition shortly following his death in which a "modern" composer commented that his music was of no real distinction and wouldn't likely be of lasting interest. Of course 60 years later Rachmaninoff's music is highly popular and it'll live forever with listeners who appreciate beauty and emotion. The music of the composer who wrote the criticism is just as dead as he is.
Nobody ever wants to be a critic when they grow up.
Speaking of Rachmaninoff!
Ok,...I feel guilty of enjoying a "chick flick"
"Somewhere in time" with Steve Reeves.
About a dude from the present who hypnotizes himself to go back in time to 1912 to meet his "True Love"
He is tripped up by having some modern coins in the antique suit he purchased for his time voyage.
One fun part of the flick is the Rachmaninoff rhapsody which is promenent throughout the entire movie and is played by our hero to his true love via a music box he has brought from the present.
He was tripped up by the coins, but NOT by....
The "Rhapsody on a theme from Paganini"!! Of course in the movie it sounds like a piece of music firmly from the 1800s, but in fact was written......heh heh heh
I suspect that the producers inserted this tune intentionally; I wonder what percentage of the viewers of the movie understood the significance!
I think this fits into the view that anything "simplistic" is not highbrow enough. I used to have a roommate in college who facied himself as a music critic. His favorite saying was, "That is soo simple, anybody could play that." I always told him, "Who cares, it sounds good."
Complex pieces can be technically astounding and impressive, but simple emotional pieces can be just as rewarding, or more so.
Why is it that when the general public likes something, critics dismiss it?
In reply to:
"Somewhere in time" with Steve Reeves.
LOL! I think you mean the late Christopher Reeve.
Not Steve Reeves.
That would have been a MUCH different movie!
Yeah Jack, but I understand that Steve Reeves also greatly enjoyed the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
ROTFLMAO! It sure WOULD have been a different movie.
By the way, I too, enjoy Somewhere in time. A good love story (which is the nice way of saying "chick flick")
Thanks John. I was gonna say that the movie's musical theme was gorgeous (which it is) in the hopes you'd be able to tell me what it is. However, I was not aware that Steve Reeves appreciated it.
"Or if you want something visual that's not too abismal, we can take in an old Steve Reeves movie." - Frank N. Furter "Sweet Tranvestite" (Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Bren R.
Well, I suppose it depends on what parts of
Barry's score attract the most. Some of it he composed with less direct reference to past masters.
Oops,...If yer gonna make a goof; make it a "Herculean" goof!!
Yeah, I believe Steve Reeves starred in "Hercules" and I think I know how I made this monumental oopsie!
It goes from George Reeves, to Steve Reeves to Christopher Reeves along the "Super Heroic" movie progression, and I simply forgot to leave out the "Middle Man"
I wonder if "Hercules" had a knock-out sound track!?
Never even saw the flick
A side note to "Somewhere in time"
I really enjoyed the soundtrack, but the location of the movie was at Macinac Island which is a resort destination at the straits between the Southern and Northern peninsulas of Michigan. There are no vehicles allowed on the island less two emergency vehicles. The primary forms of traffic are bicycles and horses. A primary sales item is locally produced and sold fudge where they quite often pump the odors from the fudge shops out onto the streets to get the passersbys' attention. The streets are kept fairly clean but you can note that horses have in fact reciently been in the area.
On a sunny day the smells of fudge and horses mingle into a lasting impression!
Now,...what's for breakfast?
It is definitely the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini that is so beautiful. I knew it was based on a classical theme, I just didn't know the name of the piece or who composed it.
After seeing this video, I bought the song. It is in French. I don't care.
http://www.ryoni.com/news/136/ARTICLE/1473/2005-11-01.html
Greg
Speaking of French music, Plastic Bertrand's punk/pop song from 1977, "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (translates roughly to "It's going well for me"), is pretty cool. Here's an iTunes
link.
HA! I just re-read my post...I meant
23 years of putting up with sh*t, not 13! Sorry...I've always had bad math skills!
I'm TOTALLY missing the guilty gene. I had a superhero dress-up party this weekend . . . 20 adults dressed as comic book heroes - just a blast! And when I cranked out the Footloose soundtrack, you couldn't get a spot on the dance floor. Fun is as fun does - Macarena, Electric Slide, or even a little Mambo Number 5 . . .
JohnK, I'd read somewhere that
this disc was better. If anyone would know, it's you. I'd like to pick up one of them. Which one is better?
Reading both your latest posts gave me goosebumps.
In reply to:
20 adults dressed as comic book heroes - just a blast!
The obvious question is - who did you go dressed as?
Bren R.
(murmering under my breath) ....... please let it be Wonder Woman..... please let it be Wonder Woman..... please let it be Wonder Woman.....
LOL!
Sure Craig, I agree; the re-recording has much better sound and includes more of the music. If someone wants the original soundtrack with Barry himself conducting, for reasons of nostalgia or whatever, that's another matter, but I think Debney is fine, and there's no lack of emotion in his conducting(and of course music in general, and certainly this, should be emotional), so the re-recording is generally the way to go.
Thanks for the confirmation.
I was totally Wonder Woman! Ian's mom made my costume - it was hysterical! I'd post pics, but the risk of blackmail would be too great (blue eyeshadow?!?!)
I would pay a LOT of money to see that photo. (well....................... a lot of money to me, anyway)
In reply to:
the risk of blackmail would be too great
You know it!
Can't be blackmailed if everybody sees the pics!
Touche!
Sometimes I listen to some of my wife's CD's, one of her mix CD's has Diana Ross singing "Memories" from Barbara Streisand, gives me goosebumps everytime. Simply amazing voice.
In reply to:
I was totally Wonder Woman!
And now... the second question that begs to be asked... who did our esteemed Ian go as?
Bren R.
Didn't Wonder Woman have an invisible airplane?
Doesn't Ian yearn for a jet?
Hmmmm.
Maybe Ian was the invisible jet?
One worth observing!
One with reduced observables technology!
Cool!
I like to think that the invisible jet was a by-product of the show's low budget.
Is Linda Carter wearing a cup?
Least she's not wearing
this.
Bren R.
Oh my God, that is too funny!!
I love the built-in bottle opener.
