Most depressing record ever
Posted by: Kevin-W on 09 April 2003
Last night I was listening to Scott Walker's 1995 album "Tilt" (hadn't heard it in about 6 years).
Is it me, or is it not the most depressing record ever made? God knows what the execs at Fontana thought when he presented it to them.
There's just something about it which depresses me utterly - it's not anything to do with quality (in the way that, say, Bowie's "Never Let Me down" is depressing, because it's just so terrible), it's just so... well, depressing.
It's much more of a downer than other depressing records, like the Floyd's "Animals".
But I "like"listening to it because it's not boring. Just, er, "challenging".
Anyone think of anything more depressing?
Is it me, or is it not the most depressing record ever made? God knows what the execs at Fontana thought when he presented it to them.
There's just something about it which depresses me utterly - it's not anything to do with quality (in the way that, say, Bowie's "Never Let Me down" is depressing, because it's just so terrible), it's just so... well, depressing.
It's much more of a downer than other depressing records, like the Floyd's "Animals".
But I "like"listening to it because it's not boring. Just, er, "challenging".
Anyone think of anything more depressing?
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Mekon
I haven't heard it for a while, but I used to find Pornography by The Cure (there's a nasty thought) pretty hard going.
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by keithy
i thought it was "officially" gloomy sunday
http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/
http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by seagull
I'd say "Faith" by The Cure. Robert Smith at his most dirgy, the songs include "Drowning Man", "Funeral Party". Grey songs, murky grey cover, "all cats are grey". Far more gloomy than "Pornography", there is something very dark but icily beautiful about that album, not easy listening but very uplifting in a Joy Division kind of way.
Another contender ...
"Over" by Peter Hammill. Intensely personal songs written after the end of a long term relationship, "On Tuesdays, She Used To Do Yoga".
I'm sure I can dig out many more from my collection, but I'm a cheerful bloke really...
Another contender ...
"Over" by Peter Hammill. Intensely personal songs written after the end of a long term relationship, "On Tuesdays, She Used To Do Yoga".
I'm sure I can dig out many more from my collection, but I'm a cheerful bloke really...
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Brian OReilly
quote:
Originally posted by Kevin-W:
Last night I was listening to Scott Walker's 1995 album "Tilt" (hadn't heard it in about 6 years).
Is it me, or is it not the most depressing record ever made?
Anyone think of anything more depressing?
Hallo Kevin,
I had to reply to this as I'm listening to Tilt quite often at the moment (I have it in my jacket right now !). I acquired it about 4weeks ago and I find it stunning. The opening track "Farmer in the City" is incredibly haunting, it's like looking into the guy's soul. I can see where you're coming from but I, personally, wouldn't label it as depressing - it hits us all in different ways I suppose.
Regards,
Brian OReilly
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by blueoyster
Tim Harding is really depressing- I`ve got 'the Best of'-should be re-titled 'The most depressing of'. `How can we hang on to a dream' is depressing but a the same time it is truly a great song. Also try 'Harvest' Neil Young, 'Disintegration' The Cure, both Joy Division albums, 'Songs of Love & hate' Leonard Cohen, most of Nick Drake`s material (Bryter Later is more upbeat), 'Spirit of Eden' Talk Talk just sounds depressing but it is a lovely album. I agree that Scott Walker can be fairly depressing, what a great singer though.
A recent poll on the most depressing 10 albums of all time had Big Star ('Radio City' I think) at Number 1 with Neil Young's 'Tonights the Night', Leonard Cohen Songs of etc, Nike Drake 'Five leaves left' (I can vouch for that) and surprisingly REM's 'Automatic for the people' all included in the top 10.
Anyway I suggest that we all meet in the local to drown our sorrows.
Cheers
Colin
A recent poll on the most depressing 10 albums of all time had Big Star ('Radio City' I think) at Number 1 with Neil Young's 'Tonights the Night', Leonard Cohen Songs of etc, Nike Drake 'Five leaves left' (I can vouch for that) and surprisingly REM's 'Automatic for the people' all included in the top 10.
Anyway I suggest that we all meet in the local to drown our sorrows.
Cheers
Colin
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly
Muchachos
From "Berlin" by Lou Reed: track " The Kids". Story of a mother who died of an overdose, sound track with kids crying - they where bought into the studio, and to ensure that the crying sounded real, where told that their mother had died.
No contest.
Being a father I can't play this. Makes me feel emotional just thinking about it, and I have not heard it for at least 10 years.
Regards
Mike
From "Berlin" by Lou Reed: track " The Kids". Story of a mother who died of an overdose, sound track with kids crying - they where bought into the studio, and to ensure that the crying sounded real, where told that their mother had died.
No contest.
Being a father I can't play this. Makes me feel emotional just thinking about it, and I have not heard it for at least 10 years.
Regards
Mike
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by ejl
Schostakovich's last three quartets (13-15) are very depressing and should never be mixed with wine, barbituates, etc.
I guess I think of Nirvana's In Utero as very depressing ("underneath the bridge, ..."), although not really for reasons having anything to do with Cobain's suicide (which actually prevented this over-the-top album from becoming laughably gloomy).
I'm surprised some find "Animals" depressing; although not exactly upbeat, I never found it very dark (apart from its vague political message).
Eric
I guess I think of Nirvana's In Utero as very depressing ("underneath the bridge, ..."), although not really for reasons having anything to do with Cobain's suicide (which actually prevented this over-the-top album from becoming laughably gloomy).
I'm surprised some find "Animals" depressing; although not exactly upbeat, I never found it very dark (apart from its vague political message).
Eric
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by ejl
Thinking about it a bit more, Krystof Penderecki has to win my gloomeister award. His titles include:
Auschwitz Oratorio
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Polish Requiem
Dies Irae
Penderecki is gloomy in a kind of scary way; Auschwitz Oratorio, for instance, invovles a lot of shrieking and air-raid sirens. Threnody for the Victims of Hisroshima is nearly unlistenably dark.
All of these works are very good, incidentally; just dark as hell.
Auschwitz Oratorio
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Polish Requiem
Dies Irae
Penderecki is gloomy in a kind of scary way; Auschwitz Oratorio, for instance, invovles a lot of shrieking and air-raid sirens. Threnody for the Victims of Hisroshima is nearly unlistenably dark.
All of these works are very good, incidentally; just dark as hell.
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Not For Me
Surely, it must be the Will Young CD ?
Everything about it depresses me.
The Wife likes it. And she fancies him.
Now, that's depressing too.
DS
ITTP - Various Artists - vs Kitty-Yo
Everything about it depresses me.
The Wife likes it. And she fancies him.
Now, that's depressing too.
DS
ITTP - Various Artists - vs Kitty-Yo
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by JeremyD
Some very idiosyncratic answers:
The most depressing song I've heard is: The Beatles - Fool on the Hill [or whatever it's called - I guessed the title from the words]. It makes me feel as if it's about me - I have no idea why...
The most depressing record I've heard is: Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage (part ?) Don't ask me to explain it - I listened to it once, and once was enough...
--J
The most depressing song I've heard is: The Beatles - Fool on the Hill [or whatever it's called - I guessed the title from the words]. It makes me feel as if it's about me - I have no idea why...
The most depressing record I've heard is: Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage (part ?) Don't ask me to explain it - I listened to it once, and once was enough...
--J
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by garyi
Esh.. Jeremy its a good album.
I think they mean depressing like gets you down as apposed to something you don't like.
To be honest I can't think of anything right now. I would say Final Cut, but that dosn't depress me at all, some of the songs are nice and don't bring me down.
i only listened to Bowies Low once, I thought that was a little down.
I think they mean depressing like gets you down as apposed to something you don't like.
To be honest I can't think of anything right now. I would say Final Cut, but that dosn't depress me at all, some of the songs are nice and don't bring me down.
i only listened to Bowies Low once, I thought that was a little down.
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by glenda
Tindersticks - My sister
Do you remember my sister? How many mistakes did she make with those never
blinking eyes? I couldn't work it out. I swear she could read your mind, your
life, the depths of your soul at one glance. Maybe she was stripping herself
away, saying
Here I am, this is me
I am yours and everything about me, everything you see...
If only you look hard enough
I never could.
Our life was a pillow-fight. We'd stand there on the quilt, our hands clenched
ready. Her with her milky teeth, so late for her age, and a Stanley knife in
her hand. She sliced the tyres on my bike and I couldn't forgive her.
She went blind at the age of five. We'd stand at the bedroom window and she'd
get me to tell her what I saw. I'd describe the houses opposite, the little
patch of grass next to the path, the gate with its rotten hinges forever wedged
open that Dad was always going to fix. She'd stand there quiet for a moment. I
thought she was trying to develop the images in her own head. Then she'd say:
I can see little twinkly stars,
like Christmas tree lights in faraway windows.
Rings of brightly coloured rocks
floating around orange and mustard planets.
I can see huge tiger striped fishes
chasing tiny blue and yellow dashes,
all tails and fins and bubbles.
I'd look at the grey house opposite, and close the curtains.
She burned down the house when she was ten. I was away camping with the scouts.
The fireman said she'd been smoking in bed - the old story, I thought. The cat
and our mum died in the flames, so Dad took us to stay with our Aunt in the
country. He went back to London to find us a new house. We never saw him again.
On her thirteenth birthday she fell down the well in our Aunt's garden and
broke her head. She'd been drinking heavily. On her recovery her sight
returned, a fluke of nature everyone said. That's when she said she'd never
blink again. I would tell her when she started at me, with her eyes wide and
watery, that they reminded me of the well she fell into. She liked this, it
made her laugh.
She moved in with a gym teacher when she was fifteen, all muscles he was. He
lost his job when it all came out, and couldn't get another one. Not in that
kind of small town. Everybody knew everyone else's business. My sister would
hold her head high, though. She said she was in love. They were together for
five years until one day he lost his temper. He hit over the back of the neck
with his bullworker. She lost the use of the right side of her body. He got
three years and was out in fifteen months. We saw him a while later, he was
coaching a non-league football team in a Cornwall seaside town. I don't think
he recognized her. My sister had put on a lot of weight from being in a chair
all the time. She'd get me to stick pins and stub out cigarettes in her right
hand. She'd laugh like mad because it didn't hurt. Her left hand was pretty
good though. We'd have arm wrestling matches, I'd have to use both arms and
she'd still beat me.
We buried her when she was 32. Me and my Aunt, the vicar, and the man who dug
the hole. She said she didn't want to be cremated and wanted a cheap coffin so
the worms could get to her quickly. She said she liked the idea of it, though I
thought it was because of what happened to the cat, and our mum.
It was a toss up between this song or Travelling Light from the same album
Glenda
Do you remember my sister? How many mistakes did she make with those never
blinking eyes? I couldn't work it out. I swear she could read your mind, your
life, the depths of your soul at one glance. Maybe she was stripping herself
away, saying
Here I am, this is me
I am yours and everything about me, everything you see...
If only you look hard enough
I never could.
Our life was a pillow-fight. We'd stand there on the quilt, our hands clenched
ready. Her with her milky teeth, so late for her age, and a Stanley knife in
her hand. She sliced the tyres on my bike and I couldn't forgive her.
She went blind at the age of five. We'd stand at the bedroom window and she'd
get me to tell her what I saw. I'd describe the houses opposite, the little
patch of grass next to the path, the gate with its rotten hinges forever wedged
open that Dad was always going to fix. She'd stand there quiet for a moment. I
thought she was trying to develop the images in her own head. Then she'd say:
I can see little twinkly stars,
like Christmas tree lights in faraway windows.
Rings of brightly coloured rocks
floating around orange and mustard planets.
I can see huge tiger striped fishes
chasing tiny blue and yellow dashes,
all tails and fins and bubbles.
I'd look at the grey house opposite, and close the curtains.
She burned down the house when she was ten. I was away camping with the scouts.
The fireman said she'd been smoking in bed - the old story, I thought. The cat
and our mum died in the flames, so Dad took us to stay with our Aunt in the
country. He went back to London to find us a new house. We never saw him again.
On her thirteenth birthday she fell down the well in our Aunt's garden and
broke her head. She'd been drinking heavily. On her recovery her sight
returned, a fluke of nature everyone said. That's when she said she'd never
blink again. I would tell her when she started at me, with her eyes wide and
watery, that they reminded me of the well she fell into. She liked this, it
made her laugh.
She moved in with a gym teacher when she was fifteen, all muscles he was. He
lost his job when it all came out, and couldn't get another one. Not in that
kind of small town. Everybody knew everyone else's business. My sister would
hold her head high, though. She said she was in love. They were together for
five years until one day he lost his temper. He hit over the back of the neck
with his bullworker. She lost the use of the right side of her body. He got
three years and was out in fifteen months. We saw him a while later, he was
coaching a non-league football team in a Cornwall seaside town. I don't think
he recognized her. My sister had put on a lot of weight from being in a chair
all the time. She'd get me to stick pins and stub out cigarettes in her right
hand. She'd laugh like mad because it didn't hurt. Her left hand was pretty
good though. We'd have arm wrestling matches, I'd have to use both arms and
she'd still beat me.
We buried her when she was 32. Me and my Aunt, the vicar, and the man who dug
the hole. She said she didn't want to be cremated and wanted a cheap coffin so
the worms could get to her quickly. She said she liked the idea of it, though I
thought it was because of what happened to the cat, and our mum.
It was a toss up between this song or Travelling Light from the same album
Glenda
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Tim Jones
Blimey, I think it's time to put the Monkees on...
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by glenda
"She sliced the tyres on my bike and I couldn't forgive her".
Tim , apparently , it was a Colnago C40 with a Campag Record groupset so I'm sure you can understand the anger .
Glenda
Tim , apparently , it was a Colnago C40 with a Campag Record groupset so I'm sure you can understand the anger .
Glenda
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by JeremyD
quote:That's what I mean too! I said my choice was idiosyncratic...
Originally posted by garyi:
I think they mean depressing like gets you down as apposed to something you don't like.
--J
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by John K R
The kids from the Berlin album is a contender (as mentioned by Mike Lacey above) but play the full side for maximum effect “Caroline says” deals with a depressed and abused woman who commits suicide, and yet another suicide in “The Bed”…
This is the place where she lay her head
When she went to bed at night
And this is the place our children were conceived
Candles lit the room brightly at night
And this is the place where she cut her wrists
That odd and fateful night
This is the place where we used to live
I paid for it with love and blood
And these are the boxes that she kept on the shelf
Filled with her poetry and stuff
And this is the room where she took the razor
And cut her wrists that strange and fateful night
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling
…..and so on.
and the last track is called “Sad Song”
John.
This is the place where she lay her head
When she went to bed at night
And this is the place our children were conceived
Candles lit the room brightly at night
And this is the place where she cut her wrists
That odd and fateful night
This is the place where we used to live
I paid for it with love and blood
And these are the boxes that she kept on the shelf
Filled with her poetry and stuff
And this is the room where she took the razor
And cut her wrists that strange and fateful night
And I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what a feeling
…..and so on.
and the last track is called “Sad Song”
John.
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Not For Me
A serious offering :
Nico - Janitor of lunacy - That voice & Harmonium
Doll By Boll - Remember - Jackie Levine's tortured soul ans passion.
DS
OTT - The News
Nico - Janitor of lunacy - That voice & Harmonium
Doll By Boll - Remember - Jackie Levine's tortured soul ans passion.
DS
OTT - The News
Posted on: 09 April 2003 by Tim Jones
Whoooah - I remember 'Janitor of Lunacy'. It was on posibly the most depressing album of all time; 'Nico live in the Eastern Bloc' or something. God it was awful. I used to think it was about Michel Foucault.
I think the Bach Cello Suites can be a bit of a downer. The second movement of his violin concerto in E major always reminds me of catching sight of an ex-girlfriend in the rain at Leatherhead station. Happy days!
Other than that, "After Hours" by the Velvet Underground makes me feel sad. I think it's about quietly lonely people who always go to bed last at parties. But for serious self pity, during a bottle-of-whiskey-twenty-marlboro-just-been-dumped evening you just can't beat "Please, please, let me get what I want" by the Smiths.
Glenda - I ride Shimano so cannot give give two hoots about your tyres.
Tim
I think the Bach Cello Suites can be a bit of a downer. The second movement of his violin concerto in E major always reminds me of catching sight of an ex-girlfriend in the rain at Leatherhead station. Happy days!
Other than that, "After Hours" by the Velvet Underground makes me feel sad. I think it's about quietly lonely people who always go to bed last at parties. But for serious self pity, during a bottle-of-whiskey-twenty-marlboro-just-been-dumped evening you just can't beat "Please, please, let me get what I want" by the Smiths.
Glenda - I ride Shimano so cannot give give two hoots about your tyres.
Tim
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by seagull
I happen to own a lot of the aforementioned albums, hmmm...
Another one...
Side 1 of "Sulk" by The Associates which includes a cover of ... Gloomy Sunday.
Gary, Bowie period Low is depressing, Heroes a bit less so.
Most depressing single? A close call between "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Atmosphere".
The Cure seem to be the most consistently depressing, three separate mentions so far, I guess I ought to throw "Bloodflowers" into the mix as well. I've got all of their albums and loved them ever since hearing "Killing An Arab" and "Boys Don't Cry", both strangely topical...
"If laughter is infectious, is that why they're called The Cure?"
Another one...
Side 1 of "Sulk" by The Associates which includes a cover of ... Gloomy Sunday.
Gary, Bowie period Low is depressing, Heroes a bit less so.
Most depressing single? A close call between "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Atmosphere".
The Cure seem to be the most consistently depressing, three separate mentions so far, I guess I ought to throw "Bloodflowers" into the mix as well. I've got all of their albums and loved them ever since hearing "Killing An Arab" and "Boys Don't Cry", both strangely topical...
"If laughter is infectious, is that why they're called The Cure?"
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by Pete
There's "The Overload" from Talking Heads' "Remain in Light", and of course various entries from the Smiths: "How Soon Is Now?", if that's just happened to you, is pretty hard going...
Not exactly depressing, but in terms of despair and overall spook factor you'd be very hard pushed to top Robert Fripp's "Threnody for souls in torment" from "The Bridge Between" album. On Halloween last year I had it blaring out the windows overlooking the candle-lit garden path as the local sprogs came guising, and sensing chocolate it didn't bother them, but it really freaked out some of their minders! One of my neighbour's friends asked "why do you even have music like this?" accompnaied by a look of total incomprehension...
Pete.
Not exactly depressing, but in terms of despair and overall spook factor you'd be very hard pushed to top Robert Fripp's "Threnody for souls in torment" from "The Bridge Between" album. On Halloween last year I had it blaring out the windows overlooking the candle-lit garden path as the local sprogs came guising, and sensing chocolate it didn't bother them, but it really freaked out some of their minders! One of my neighbour's friends asked "why do you even have music like this?" accompnaied by a look of total incomprehension...
Pete.
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by Manni
My recommendation:
Midnight choir ( a Norwegian group ):
Waiting for the bricks to fall
Manfred Müllers
Midnight choir ( a Norwegian group ):
Waiting for the bricks to fall
Manfred Müllers
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by seagull
Eeek, that's three more I've got lurking at home (not got the Fripp, got a lot of his stuff - KC and solo, League of Gentlement etc. but this one sounds interesting).
I even prefer the darker side of Madness - the album 'Keep Moving'.
Do I have a problem?
Should I feed myself a diet of undiluted chart material?
Or was I exposed to too much Van Der Graaf Generator when I was a minor?
I even prefer the darker side of Madness - the album 'Keep Moving'.
Do I have a problem?
Should I feed myself a diet of undiluted chart material?
Or was I exposed to too much Van Der Graaf Generator when I was a minor?
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by BLT
The Fragile - by Nine Inch Nails
Good, but very bleak.
Good, but very bleak.
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by Robbie
Fath from The Cure is depressing but quite beautiful also.So are the instrumental sides of Low and Heroes from bowie.Leonard cohen's most depressing song for me is 'Master song'.Joy Division is a bit depressing but I like to listen to it and even enjoy it.In my music-collection there's a lot of moody music but I like being touched by that.In real life I'm an easy going guy,who likes good food and drinks accompanied by female company.
Rob.
Rob.
Posted on: 10 April 2003 by Pete
quote:
Originally posted by seagull:
Eeek, that's three more I've got lurking at home (not got the Fripp, got a lot of his stuff - KC and solo, League of Gentlement etc. but this one sounds interesting).
The album is from "The Robert Fripp String Quintet", which is RF and Trey Gunn (playing Stick) and the California Guitar Trio. It's on Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label.
It's a record of instrumentals mainly in the Crafty Guitar mould, with elaborate picking in interconnected parts with a broad mix of material from originals to reworked Bach. "Threnody for Souls in Torment" is unlike the rest of the album (which is generally uplifting stuff) as it's a 12.5 minute Frippertronic piece (i.e., just RF, his axe and two Revox tape decks set up to provide delayed echo loops). Practically guaranteed to give susceptible people migraines, and a great one to play for folk labouring under the misapprehension that "heavy" is necessarily the same thing as "fast and loud". A real brain burner that I'd say I appreciate far more than I actually enjoy.
Pete.