Five favorite "obscure" bands (or CDs)?

[JohnA]

my list...ok so it's not five, but...

Squirrel nut zippers
Carbon leaf
Catch 22
The Celtic Pirates
The Big Sky
Lucid
The Crossing
Beastie Boys (Polywog Stew EP)
Kraftwerk
Sixpence None the Richer
leon redbone
Brobdingnagian Bards

just to name a few....

 

[Francious70]

Pillar

Not exactly an obscure band, but not popular outside the Christian Music world would better describle them. Have you heard their first album "Alive"? Completely different than either "Fireproof" or "Where Do We Go From Here".

Paul

 

[Rex]

"Gamma" showed that Ronny Montrose still had some licks left in him.
"Axe" had a couple of decent songs (Rock N Roll Party in the Streets and You May Not Remember My Name) and some really wicked album covers
"Giuffria" the Silk and Steel album was excellent
"Elefante" (John Elefante's pre-Kansas group) contributed a really great song to the St Elmo's Fire soundtrack
"Vandenburg" (prior to his days of working with WhiteSnake)

Wow, I havent thought of Vandenburg is so many years. I totally forgot about them. I first heard them from my cousin in like 1981 or 82.

 

[Red]

I'm not sure to what level of obsureness these are but I know most of the people I know don't have anything by them -

The Meters
Brian Auger
Jerry Harrison
Captain Beyond
Government Mule
Sea Level
Little Village
The Rising Sons
Roomful of Blues

oops...more than 5

 

[tdawg]

Agree with Love/Hate & Vandenburg. Would like to add Black & Blue and RIOT (not to be confused with Quiet). Fire Down Under is one of the best hard rock/metal albums ever released.

 

[zipper]

Still have a Vandenberg album.............

Anyone remember Shooting Star?.............1 great album & then......poof!...gone.

How about 707?

 

[Leprkon]

How about 707?

707- too bad the movie was so bad it killed the song... Mega force

 

[Hawkeye]

Anyone remember Shooting Star?.............1 great album & then......poof!...gone.

I think I saw Shooting Star open for some headline band years ago. I thought enough of them to pick up an album. I think I still have it, I'll check later today when I get home.

 

[MDS]

I totally forgot about Shooting Star which is odd because I searched for the original Touch Me Tonight: Greatest Hits CD for awhile. I finally found a brand new original CD , still sealed, on Ebay.

Alot of their CDs have been remastered on Cow Town records, but I felt that the newly remastered cd sounded terrible - hence my search for the original release.

 

[Hawkeye]

I think I saw Shooting Star open for some headline band years ago. I thought enough of them to pick up an album. I think I still have it, I'll check later today when I get home.

Yep. Looks like I have their first album, its on Virgin Records, 1979.

http://www.mp3.com/albums/40870/summary.html

 

[tdawg]

Shooting Star still gets some airplay here in KC. Being a local band doesn't hurt.

 

[twheeloc]

Newbie Post...Thought I'd start with the music:

Peter Mulvey- Rapture
David Wilcox- How Did You Find Me Here
Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom
Animal Bag - Debut
Moxy Fruvous - Bargainville

 

[whilst]

obscurity

Godley & Creme -The L album -"Sandwiches of You.

 

[Rik]

anything by King's X, but Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is my favorite.

 

[hillbill]

anything by King's X, but Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is my favorite.

SWEET!! A fellow King's X FAN!! They are awesome. I have all of their cds
(excluding their latest live cd). And have actually seen them live.


Some of my favorite "obscure" bands.

The Royal Court of China
XYZ
Y & T
The Scream
Voodooland

 

[eatdrums]

Well, my favorite bands are probably on my favorite obscure bands list, too. They were fairly obscure (not pop) at the time (70s) but I think with time passing they've become even moreso.

Captain Beyond
Gentle Giant
Hawkwind
Stray Dog
Armageddon

Gentle Giant, Armageddon, Hawkwind......what great bands. A person of exquisite taste.

Like the list above, with the passing of many years, these bands will be more obscure than in the 70's.

Eloy: A hint of Jethro Tull.
Brand X: Phil Collins jazz band.
Starcastle: A yes sound-a-like band....pretty good though.
Triumvarat: ELP sound-a-like band, but excellent stuff!
Warlord
Warrior
Montrose: Sammy Hagar sang with these guys....they did "Rock Candy."
Elf: Ronnie Dio's first band.
The Nice: Keith Emerson.
Camel
Carmen: John Glasscock was the Bassist....later played with Jethro Tull. Passed away from a tooth infection which went to his heart. Great bass player, nice guy....GRHS.

There are several others, but as time fades, so does my memory.

Cheers!

 

[j_garcia]

Floater - Glyph

 

[Realalefan]

The Chills: "Submarine Bells"
Cocteau Twins: "Victorialand"
Meat Puppets: "Meat Puppets II"
Richard and Linda Thompson: "Pour Down Like Silver"
Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble: "Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission"

Anything by:

The Mekons (or the Waco Brothers offshoot)
The Go-Betweens
John Fahey

 

[Hicks]

Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble: "Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission"

Nice, I'm a big Laswell fan and love his ambient dub stuff, especially the stuff he did under the Divination heading, and the Zillatron album with Bootsy is always good for a laugh. I really thought he did a good job on the Miles Davis remixes too.

Anyway my five favorite bands/albums that you've never heard of are:

Pond, a Sup Pop grunge band that never quite broke through to the mainstream, their self titled debut is outstanding.

Hint- Portakabin Fever. Just beautiful folk infused downtempo electronica

Talkdemonic, a duo comprised of a cellist and drummer with no shortage of electronics

Eluvium, beautiful minimalist piano and electronic music.

Grandaddy, by far the best known group on my list, but their last album What Happened to the Fambly Cat is a classic that gets on love, even from hipsters.

Honorable Mention: Kruder and Dorfmeister- K&D Sessions. The best remix compilation ever produced.

Honorable Honorable Mention: Fila Brazilia- Powerclown. More downtempo, but with a nice jazz/live instrumentation feel.

 

[MidnightSensi]

I'm gunna name one, because its essential you own it:

Burial "Untrue"

If your not used to that type of music, it may take some getting into, but give it a shot, you might really find something!