The Unknown Classic Album Project - "Bad For Good", Jim Steinman

Up at some ungodly hour this morning to catch my flight to the Gold Coast for the PANPA conference. Listening to "Bad For Good" by Jim Steinman on the iPod and started thinking about what a truly terrific and classic album this was, despite the fact that Jim's voice isn't anywhere near good enough for his own material.

And started thinking - most people, even people who love "Bat Out Of Hell", probably haven't heard this album. Which is a shame. I love it. One of my darkest, deepest fantasies involves me performing a live set of this material.

So I started thinking about how to discover what other truly great, unknown albums exist out there. And I came up with something.

Here's how it is going to work.

1. Write the name, artist, year of the album. It should be something you think most people won't have heard of and truly a classic album.

2. Write one short paragraph on why you love it.

3. Link to it in AllOfMp3.com (if it ain't there, you can't use it - what's the point of telling me about it if I can go get it??)

4. Link to it in AllMusic.com (I'm sure you're opinion is golden, but still, I want someone else's as well)

5. Tag your post for Technorati "unknown_classic_album" so we can find you.

So, here's my entry to kick it off:

1.  "Bad For Good", Jim Steinman, 1981
2. I love the sweeping themes of love and redemption, the overblown orchestration, the angelic harmonies, the massive piano chords, and singing it at the top of my voice while I'm driving around.
3. AllofMP3 link
4. AllMusic.com link
5. Technorati tag Tags: unknown_classic_album

Comments

[Delicate Genius]

Another option would be to use last.fm. This way you're contributing to a greater (existing) community and perhaps not contributing to piracy even, if you're so inclined.

Here are some tags to get you started.

http://www.last.fm/explore/search.php?m=tags&q=unknown&x=0&y=0

-dg

[Miriam Parkinson]

1. Marvin, and Reasons to be Miserable - Polydor, 1981
2. Whilst not actually an album I figured it deserved an honorable mention because they're hilarious songs, disturbingly addictive and a fabulous tribute to Hitchhikers, voiced by the original Marvin the Paranoid Android Stephen Moore. Hooray!
3. They're impossible to buy because they were originally on vinyl and no one can be bothered to resell them, however you can download them all for free here:
http://www.thebigcdomain.com/media/marvin.html
4. Why bother with other peoples opinions when they're free anyway. Also they're kinda unknown so its a little hard to find peoples opinions... But you can see a tribute to Marvin using one of the tracks on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_sZD7ZnWvc

PS my personal favorite is Reasons to Be Miserable.