Good British classic rock bands/singers and albums? (1 Viewer)

[StephenA]

Here are some British classic rock bands/singers that I like:

Moody Blues(don't have to mention their albums)
Beatles
Kinks
Who
Pink Floyd
Rolling Stones
Jethro Tull
David Bowie
Elton John
Led Zeppelin
Eric Clapton and his bands
Black Sabbath(not sure if you can consider them classic rock)

What are the best albums to get for these bands? What are some other classic rock bands from England should I listen to? You can also name some other British bands not considered classic rock, but are in a similar vein.

Is it wrong to the consider the Jimi Hendrix Experience a British band? I do, only because Jimi Hendrix started the band over in the UK, his bandmates and manager were British, he became popular there first, etc. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't consider the Experience a British band. The Band of Gypsies is a different story, because he started it over here in the US.

 

[Rachael B]

I'm particularly fond of Savoy Brown and it's singers. Chris Youlden is on the early albums and Lonsome Dave on 2 albums before he departed for Foghat.

Savoy Brown's to get RAW SIENA, BLUE MATTER (has Chris Youlden on side 1 and Lonesome Dave on side 2 < vinyl talk ), GETTING TO THE POINT, LOOKING IN, STREET CORNER TALKING, and A STEP FURTHER are all muy excellente! I'd call RAW SIENA the best in show. Chris Youlden's NOWHERE ROAD is a great album, his CITY CHILD is not due to weak sidemen. His albums are vinyl only as far as I know.

Faces' A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK...TO A BLIND HORSE is arguably their best album.

The Move with Roy Wood is prime 60's stuff. His solo albums and his group Wizzard that dabbled in 50's throwback stuff are good too. He had big British hits like FIRE BRIGADE and I CAN HEAR THE GRASS GROW with The Move. He started E.L.O. but quit before they put out their first album.

Spooky Tooth with dual singers Mike Harrison and Gary Wright was good. Their take on the Beatles I AM THE WALRUS is a cover classic. I like WITNESS the most of their latter albums.

Blodwyn Pig's GETTING TO THIS is very good. They were an off-shoot of Jethro Tull as was Wild Turkey. Tull's BENEFIT is my fav.

Free had Paul Rogers, later of Bad Company, as the singer. TONS OF SOBS and FIRE AND WATER are 2 of my fav rock albums.

If you do vinyl get Automatic Man's S/T album. Their 2nd album with a different bass and drums is poor. The first is great. Pat Thrall's guitar reminds one of Hendrix at times and Bayete's vocals are Hendrix sounding a bit.

I like Bowie's first album THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD as much or more than anything he's done since.

My portal to the past just shut down... end of transmission.

 

[PhilBoy]

This is all subjective...

Beatles - Abbey Road

Who - Who's Next

Pink Floyd - DSOTM or Animals

Stones - Exile On Main St.

Bowie - Diamond Dogs

Sir Elton - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Zeppelin - lll


Rachael B - u sure know your stuff...

 

[Mike Broadman]

I listen to a lot more British than American rock music, mostly due to the progressive rock style which is essentially British.

It's also interesting how some bands are British although they "sound" American (ie, mimicking the blues)- older Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, while some sound very English like old-school Genesis and Pink Floyd.

 

[francisco-a]

Beatles - Let IT Be

Stones - Sticky Fingers

Who - Who´s next

Elton John - Here & There (Live, the "there" cd, great)

Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

Pink Floyd - DSOTM or Wish you where here

Queen - Live Wembley 87

Led Zep - IV

Sorry but I have to, The Doors - The Doors

 

[Grant B]

A few more to check out

The Troggs - A lot more than just Wild Thing!
The Action - Mod in the Early Who Mold
The Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band - Neil Innes went on to write songs with Monty Python and 'started' the Rutles. Keith Moon's Favorite Band!
Harry Nilsson - There was strong rumors after McCartney leaving; the revamped Beatles would include Nillson and Klaus Vorman. Early stuff is very Beatlesque
T Rex - Like Bowie in the 70s? Then this should be up your alley

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Oh my you forgot Cream. They only made a handful of albums but they are all very good.

Fresh Cream
Disraeli Gears
and what was the name of their farewell album?

Eric Clapton/Jack Bruce/Ginger Baker. Who else do you need?

 

[Rachael B]

I'll add a few more: Peter Frampton FRAMPTON'S CAMEL ...one of his better studio albums. He's also on Humble Pie's S/T ...there's some red hot stuff on this one like: RED LIGHT MAMA RED HOT & ONE-EYED TROUSER SNAKE RHUMBA. These are two of Steve Marriots best songs and show clearly which way he was trying to push the group. < as opposed to Frampton's influence. H.P.'s ROCKIN' THE FILMORE is a winner and demonstrates the group after Frampton's departure. It's a total boogie, R & B flavoured fest.

Traffic, with and without Dave Mason was an intresting group. Dave came and went. I like his first solo album ALONE TOGETHER immensely. I'd take it over most of Traffic's albums. The early Traffic albums with Winwood and Dave are my fav's. Well, JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE, sans Dave shows their jazzier side... They just made an album without a guitarist. I always figured they had a deadline and got tired of waiting for Dave!?! Dave, reportedly, at times had personal problems...know what I mean vern? Drummer Jim Capaldi made solo albums too. I liked his OH HOW WE DANCED.

Grant, T-Rex was a good suggestion! ELECTRIC WARRIOR is square one for Marc Bolan.

A word about Clapton, he played around. Look for him on Delaney & Bonnie's AND FRIENDS ON TOUR. D & B helped him make his first solo album, I recommend it. His collaboration with Duane Allman and Bobby Witlock in Derek & the Dominoes is a must have, LAYLAH! Blind Faith is an intresting, if not electrifying album.

The Apple Jam portion of George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS is a, like 5, long live jams with the likes of Dave Mason, Clapton, Gary Wright < Mr. Transplant...I think he became English Klaus Voorman, Billy Preston, and more! It's my favourite part of the album.

That about it!

P.S.- Merci beaucoup Philboy!

 

[Marvin]

What are the best albums to get for these bands?

I'll give it a shot (for the groups I like):

Beatles - hard to choose between their early, middle and later albums. If you go with one from each period, how about "With the Beatles", "Rubber Soul" and the white album? They also have a couple of nice CDs - "Past Masters" vol 1 and 2 - that consist of non-album songs, which I'd recommend.

Kinks - Village Green, or Lola, or Arthur, or Muswell Hillbillies (all excellent)

Who - Tommy or Who's Next

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed, or Beggar's Banquet. They have 2 greatest hits double CDs - Hot Rocks - that might also be worth your while

Jethro Tull - Benefit or Stand Up

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (Lodger and Low are also very good)

I'll second the recommendation for Traffic, either John Barleycorn or a greatest hits CD.

Other recommendations: King Crimson "Red", Eno "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy", Strawbs "Hero and Heroine",
Peter Gabriel - 1st self titled album.

And I would be remiss if I didn't recommend Procol Harum (someone's got to): either their self titled first album, "Shine on Brightly", "A Salty Dog", "Home", "Grand Hotel" or "The Well's on Fire". Classic rock just doesn't get any more classic than that.

And Cream's last album was appropriately titled "Goodbye Cream"

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I like Bowie's first album THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD as much or more than anything he's done since.

Actually, it's Bowie's third album. It's not one toward which I'd steer a semi-neophyte. I think it's a fine album, but someone new to Bowie should probably get something a little easier to digest. Ziggy's not my fave by a stretch, but it's still a good starting place.

For the Kinks, I'd choose Arthur. Excellent album, and more accessible than equally good Village Green. Something Else is fairly accessible as well, but it's not as good as Arthur.

Best Beatles album? I'd pick A Hard Day's Night. Hard to go wrong with much of anything in their catalog, though I'm not wild about For Sale. I like Let It Be, but it IS relatively weak compared to much of their other stuff, and it has many detractors - it's probably generally regarded as their worst album, though I disagree.

The Who's an easy one: Who's Next all the way. Tommy's badly overrated. Sell Out is another good choice, though it's not as accessible as Next by a long shot.

For the Stones I'd recommend Let It Bleed. Consistently excellent as well as accessible. I prefer Exile, but it's more of an acquired taste.

Elton's Goodbye YBR is probably the best choice there. Strong album and very accessible.

No real opinions on the others mentioned...

 

[StephenA]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. More are definitely welcome.

 

[PhilBoy]

Stones - Some Girls...

Good (my apologies to the fairer sex I am quoting a review from 25 yrs ago) "Coq Rock"

Love the original vinyl sleeve.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Well, if we're listing favorite albums for these bands, OK:

Moody Blues(don't have to mention their albums)

Days of Future Passed (don't like the band at all, but this one is the most tolerable for me)

Beatles

Revolver. A tired choice, maybe, but IMO it's their best- after they started truly expanding their musical vocabulary, before they dissolved into the even-ness that plagued their last couple of albums, all while maintaining those classic Beatles melodies. I just adore this album.

Kinks

Never really listened to them. Should probably change that.


Who

Who's Next. Granted, haven't heard much after that, but this is just a great freakin' record.

Pink Floyd

Animals. A "perfect" album (where every second is brilliant).

Rolling Stones

Sticky Fingers (Can't You Hear Me Knockin' alone gives it that distinction in my book.

Jethro Tull

Minstrel in the Gallery (those this changes every time I listen to them).

David Bowie

Can Low and Heroes count as one album? Oh well, I'll just pick Low then. No, wait, Heroes...

Elton John

The only album of his I've heard in its entirety is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. So, that one.

Led Zeppelin

Physical Graffiti- a rarity in rock: a double album where every song is good. Real good.

Eric Clapton and his bands

Cream- very best of
Can't dig most of Clapton's solo work and while Cream was of course awesome, I can live without the long drum and harmonica breaks in the live album and the weird psychedilic nonsense on their other albums (what's that song about at wharthog or something?)

Black Sabbath(not sure if you can consider them classic rock)

You bet they're classic, if you're at all into metal. Masters of Reality is my personal favorite, just so many classic riffs.

 

[Carl Miller]

I gotta give a little extra plug to the Kinks as they're one of my favorite bands...and because I think time is leaving them a bit overlooked.

The Kink Kontroversy and Face to Face are amazing albums, and I'd add those to the list of what Colin and others recommended.

If you like these, then it's a fairly safe bet you'll like everything they did from 1965 all the way up until 1971's Muswell Hillbillies. I think Muswell is a great album, but some Kinks fans are a little divided on that album.

 

[Dick]

I'd sure love to encourage classic British rock music lovers to sample Barclay James Harvest and Strawbs. Unfortunately, for us in the States, their many albums are available almost exclusively as imports from England, Germany and Japan at inflated prices. I'd suggest damn near any BJH album, and the Strawbs albums which were produced for the A&M label and which feature lead singer David Cousins. Extraordinary stuff, and very addictive.

 

[Ken Stuart]

Black Sabbath - the classic album is "Paranoid", which has their two or three biggest hits. IMHO, their best is "Black Sabbath IV".

As far as the others, you can't go wrong with the expanded, deluxe CD version of The Who - Live at Leeds.

And an absolute must-have top-of-the-pile is the new DVD of Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii (to be released 10/21). This was filmed professionally with cameras on tracks, but is also one of the best rock performances ever. (It also includes studio footage of the recording of Dark Side of the Moon, since both were in 1973).

 

[Tim Markley]

Paul Rodgers was mentioned for Free but you also have to include Bad Company. Pick up 10 From 6 which is basically a greatest hits CD.

 

[Cagri]

Thin Lizzy, all of their albums are strongly recommended. Jailbreak is a good start.

 

[Doug_WSmith]

Lots of good suggestions. I also really love Traffic, with Steve Winwood. Amazingly soulful voice, and a great keyboard and bass player. My personal favorite albums of theirs are Traffic and Last Exit.