New Fan Looking for Some Album Advice

[Travis]

All of this is really good info thank you. I definetely agree that it is fun to start at the beginning. I'm 28 but my friend who's in his early 40's has been sending me boxes of LPs that he's got duplicates to. All of a sudden I've been exposed to the intial efforts of DEVO, Talking Heads, R.E.M. just to name a few and it's really interesting to see how they started off and follow their progression. More often than you would think I've found many bands initial efforts to be their most accessible (and even most enjoyable).

As far as compilations...I just can't get there. I have trouble listening to greatest hits albums or anything like that. One of the things I enjoy most about albums is how you can really get a feel for the mood and stylistic creativity of a band at a given time period. That is all obviously lost on compilations. I understand why they work for many but it's not my thing.

So Oblivion With Bells is a good album? I heard somewhere that it wasn't as preferred as previous efforts but if it's a good listen I'm pretty sure I can get that on LP (which is what I would prefer).

Thanks again.