Records you loved by artists that never broke big

[Stu 25]

Bob Schneider - Lonelyland.  Huge in Austin but never caught on anywhere else.  There were some players on that record too..

[Bojack 2081]

Vic Chesnutt is one of my very favorite artists.  Little is his debut and could've picked several of his records for this thread since he never seemed to hit it big.  Y'all might know him best from his part in Slingblade.  He's the guy that Doyle Hargraves rolls into the door.

 

[baboso 6056]

Beware of Dog by The Hangdogs.  Full of good tunes, this is maybe my favorite:

 

[Bigpoppapump 532]

 

 

[BrickHorn 18251]

[dcbc 14492]

[Mole 4333]

 

 

 

[HenryJames 66133]

[4th&Five 41565]

Love this album and think it would have been huge if it came out in the 70s 80s or 90s. 

 

[veritas aequitas 443]

[TexasHooch 5122]

I love the album.  They did have one hit from it ("I Met a Girl"), but the whole record it full of great songs.  

My favorite song from the album:

 

[Dolemite 143]

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by Dolemite

[DeathTongue 88]

On 9/21/2018 at 1:55 PM, baboso said:

Beware of Dog by The Hangdogs.  Full of good tunes, this is maybe my favorite:

 

I prefer their "East of Yesterday" album, but that's good too.

[Underdog 28745]

 

[Bevo 13584]

If we are talking Austin bands, I liked the Lotions. And while I don't remember their music as a whole, the Dishes had a fun song of TV intros.

[CHIEF 5094]

One of my favorite Dallas bands from the late 80's early 90's before I moved to Austin. I would see them at Trees in Deep Ellum anytime they played there, was going through an industrial, punk, metal phase:

 

 

CHIEF

[tbone_ 14132]

Fuck yes on course of empire

[zlavydra 2123]

Course of Empire - good call. I'll add the Buck Pets.

[Chad Fuck 17691]

On 10/1/2018 at 5:10 PM, zlavydra said:

Course of Empire - good call. I'll add the Buck Pets.

Then add them?

[jimmyjazz 45992]

It's weird how memory takes on a life of it's own.  Whenever I see a reference to Course Of Empire I always think "yeah, and Three On A Hill, too".

And then I listen to a little Course of Empire and a little Three On A Hill, and they couldn't be more different.  Somehow, my mind always maps Three On A Hill into a classic Dallas harder grunge band, but they're probably closer to Barenaked Ladies.  And Course Of Empire was a little closer to that Ministry/NIN metal beat music.

Weird.  

Carry on.

[Steamboat1874 4072]

Sorry for the ad but this is one of the best debut albums I have ever heard.

[Tylerocks 2553]

One of the better song-writer's you've probably never heard of.

 

[CooterBrown 18015]

Earthling got lost in the mix due to all the big bands coming out of the Bristol trip hop scene in the mid 90s but they're fantastic...Radar was their first album.

 

 

 

[FigurelliPwC 115]

E.R. Shorts.  “Texas Sunset” album. RIP.

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by FigurelliPwC

[DougO 5252]

On 10/8/2018 at 4:39 PM, Steamboat1874 said:

Sorry for the ad but this is one of the best debut albums I have ever heard.

Awesome band, awesome albums, great live band.

[ernest_t_bass 1196]

[yoladu 4094]

On 9/18/2018 at 7:57 PM, Foggy Notion said:

I dig Secret Machines a whole lot. If you're into big-hitting Bonham-style drummers, Josh Garza is one of the best out there. 

Garza was previously in a band from DFW called Comet that put out a really good album "Chandelier Musings" that was produced by David Baker from Mercury Rev. Like Secret Machines, Comet had some buzz but never broke it big. 

 

always loved "day at the races".. part of that whole Denton scene that was hot for about a year and half.

[yoladu 4094]

On 9/19/2018 at 11:08 AM, Bottlecap said:

The NEXT SMITHS!, as it was sold to me at Tower records in 95/96-ish

i was told Another Sunny Day was the next SMITHS.. and i believed it when i heard this single. Never really reached these heights again though.

 

[yoladu 4094]

i had/have a very unhealthy obsession with all things the Kadane Brothers. (never had an illusion that they would make it big. i doubt they wanted to be big anyway)

 

[Steamboat1874 4072]

13 hours ago, DougO said:

Awesome band, awesome albums, great live band.

This !

[Chad Fuck 17691]

Bedhead was great. 

[Carl Spackler 3487]

 

Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall by the Sidewinders.  Melodic desert rock with an edge. 

[Carl Spackler 3487]

On 9/18/2018 at 7:58 AM, hullabelew said:

Marti Jones, aka Mrs. Don Dixon

 

 

That Marti Jones album is terrific.

[jimmyjazz 45992]

21 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

 

Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall by the Sidewinders.  Melodic desert rock with an edge. 

I was a big fan.  They were an Arizona cross between Soul Asylum and The Smithereens.  Saw them many times.  They broke up too soon.

[DougO 5252]

One of the top 10 albums of the millennium that hardly anyone has heard of. I think they're from the Dallas area, so probably some folks here have. Can't really pick a favorite song on it, because they are all awesome.

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by DougO

[DalTxHornFan 3108]

[Chad Fuck 17691]

I thought this guy was great.  I saw him play on his own, and then with the Roots, who picked up this song and reworked it.  The Headphone Masterpiece is a great testament to DIY record making.  If you ever wanted to hear the difference between homemade muddling through, and real record production, this is it.

 

[pepper brooks 580]

there was a group out of LA in the mid 90's called The Borrowers (not the same group that is now called the Borrowers).  They were sort of alt/folk.  They had one or maybe two albums, and toured throughout Texas and the southwest.  The settled in Austin, and I think maybe broke up after the one album.  Anyway, I saw them in Houston a few times.  Once at Velvet Elvis and a time or two at the old Rockefellers.  Thought they were great and surprised they never made it bigger/longer.  They have a song or two on iTunes.  Mercy Bound is pretty solid if you want to look that one up.  

[DougO 5252]

I really dig this band. Been around a long time, not much national buzz. They seem like the kind of thing a lot of people here would enjoy across different segments, or at least would find something in their catalog they really like. A great blend of soulful, funky, punk, bluesy and hard rockin',

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2018 by DougO

[DougO 5252]

A cover for good measure (not gonna say better than the original).