Bands with large discographies
 

Namely

The Residents
Sun City Girls
Pere Ubu
The Fall

Albums to start with??? I have acquired discographies, but am running out of room on my hard drive. Need to keep the essentials and store everything else on my external...I've neglected these bands in my library for too long.

And about bands with huge discographies...sometimes it is weird to think that a band could call it quits after a few albums, and that others can go on for so long. And worse, that some bands have long dignified careers, and others just won't seem to die. What do you think?

Sun City Girls - Horse Cock Phepnor, Torch of the Mystics, Box of Chameleons, Kaliflower, Grotto of Miracles... no doubt atsonicpark will disagree though.

The Residents-Third Reich N'roll or Eskimo for me
Pere Ubu-Modern Dance definitely
The Fall-ummmm. Probably either Live At The Witch Trials or Hex Enduction Hour.
Sun City Girls-Torch Of The Mystics

those are all good starting points

Get the Peel Sessions 6CD comp for The Fall. A bit long, that's for sure, but you get a pretty good vision of their whole discography - plus some of those tracks are actually better in their Peel Session version than in their album version - Pat Trip Dispenser for instance

The Residents - GOD IN 3 PERSONS is my favorite, actually. But the best stuff is the early stuff -- especially DUCKSTAB/BUSTER AND GLEN, THIRD REICH N ROLL, COMMERCIAL ALBUM, FINGERPRINCE, NOT AVAILABLE, MEET THE RESIDENTS. I'd suggest getting some Renaldo and the Loaf, specifically ARABIC YODELING, first.

Sun City Girls - BOX OF CHAMELEONS is my favorite. TORCH OF THE MYSTICS, HORSE COCK PHEPNER are good to get. I'd say.. start with YOU'RE ONLY ALONE WITH A CIGARETTE: SINGLES VOLUME 1 actually. Either you'll be hooked after a few albums and want the other 100 or you won't.

Pere Ubu - MODERN DANCE is probably all you need.

The Fall - Just get them all. But, okay, start with HEX ENDUCTION HOUR, SLATES, and GROTESQUE (AFTER THE GRAMME) [my fav].

With The Fall, go for Hex Enduction Hour. It is the best.

maybe you should just listen to what you already have - instead acquiring entire discographies you might listen to once while playing video games or driving, actually listen in depth to a single release.

the residents - duck stab/buster & glen is probably the easiest to get into, but you can't go wrong with most of their 70s material (not implying their 80s - 00s material isn't worth yr time, 'cos it is.)

sun city girls - not too well-versed in them (i've probably heard fifteen releases), but horse cock phepner and torch of the mystics are good starting points.

pere ubu - i'd avoid anything they've done after new picnic time. this band went to shit so fast. the modern dance is a necessity, though.

the fall - my brain tells me to go with the wonderful frightening world of the fall or this nation's saving grace, but my gut tells me grotesque (after the gramme.) i listened to a few fall albums before grotesque, but that was the one that got me hooked.

pere ubu..agreed with super but do get what women want....thats a cracker

the fall..get them all...no question..stat off with the peel session box set and then get them all!

Make sure you hear the pre-Modern Dance Ubu singles as well mind. The Datapanik In The Year Zero box has everything you'll sensibly need.

why is it that whenever someone says "Im looking for somewhere to start with The Fall" everybody goes "Get them all! Including the 6cd set that costs about £35!"

The Residents-Eskimo Baby
Sun CIty Girls-Horse Cock Phepner
the Fall-This Nation's Saving Grace
Pere Ubu-Modern Dance

all of these bands definitely fall under my favorites.

I tend to agree with this. Partly because I come from this old-world idea of preferring to own CDs/ LPs and support the band in question. I still have a few gaps in my Fall collection and they're my favourite band by a substantial margin. I tend to find that the CDs that immediately make me go 'I really like this album' aren't necessarily the ones I like forever (no bad thing). Like, I was really impressed with the first two Liars LPs, but I've not listened to them for years now. On the other hand, I have this CD of Bagaku Dance Suites by Matsuidaira that's taken years for me to actually enjoy. VU I listened to loads years ago, I have loads of their CDs, but I sort of killed them by listening to too much, for too long.

So I suppose the thing to do is to get a selection - with the Fall I'd say one album per decade, so probably Hex from the 80s, Levitate from the 90s and Country on the Click from the 00s. I've listened to a fair bit of SCG, but I still haven't really enjoyed anything I've heard. It's clearly good but... well, it might just be that I'm not a quick-fix sort of listener.

If you want a ridiculous discography though, JS Bach is probably the one to go for.

On this point, I think it's a question of the fans a lot of the time. u2, the Rolling Stones - people keep buying it, so as long as they can be bothered they'll probably keep churning it out. You could argue the same for SY and the Fall. Certainly none of those 4 mentioned have the urgency they used to. In fact, with the Fall you could say that, given they can't make that much money, why bother?

Obviously, I'd disagree because I'm a rabid Fall fan. But... well, like Billy Childish or Julian Cope. I've never met a fan of either, but they keep churning out project after project. Who the hell sustains their careers?

That is exactly what I am trying to do, you Negative Nancy! I wanna listen in depth. Apologies if my desire to have nice filled out and complete library, an endless endeavor, offends you. Of course I prefer to buy the albums.

Just pick any fall album released before 1983 or 84 and listen to that.

because its a fact.....

also you will pick up that box set a lot cheaper than that. i got it for €20 euro brand new when it came out.... worth it for 4 times that price....

The 5 ESSENTIAL Sun City Girls albums:

Sun City Girls
Grotto of Miracles
Horse Cock Phepner
Dante's Disneyland Inferno
330,003 Crossdressers from Beyond the Rig Veda

Basically the 3 Placebo LP's and 2 3LP's.

Also, the 6 VHSs are also must-see viewing.

Alas - they're all out of print.

Torch of the Mystics is probably their most well known and popular album. But for that style of the band the first two albums are way way better. Despite the awesomeness of Space Prophet Dogon.

bj has about 35 albums, but many of the later ones are just repetitive porno grind.

Yeh, and hey, you can watch all their videos at youtube.com/user/mradamcooley and youtube.com/user/sinkholed

!!