Booth #1: Music

[JACkory]

stratman19 said:

JAC, sorry I'm here, I imagine this won't be a regular stop, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to visit some boards I don't normally check out.

Gee, stratman...there's no reason to apologize. I'm glad you dropped in and even more happy that you enjoyed the essay about 8-Tracks. I appreciated your comments.

I didn't know you were a fireman (saw your photos on the Friends & Family board). I have immense respect for firemen and police officers and I tip my hat to you.
Sorry for anything I might have said on the old RS boards that might have pissed you off.
Good luck, and watch out for the backdrafts!

[stratman19]

Gee, stratman...there's no reason to apologize.

Well, I appreciate that JAC, but given our past history, I thought I should, especially since I was posting on your board.

Your 8-track essay was indeed a fond trip down memory lane...I enjoyed it very much. Thank you too, for your comments on my chosen profession, and I hope you enjoyed the pics. It helps to put a face with all that bile, doesn't it? .

[JACkory]

For what it's worth, here are the last 5 albums I've listened to in their entirety...


The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour

Hadn't listened to this one in a long time (or ANY Beatles music, for that matter) and so I gave it a spin. What can one say about this classic? It's essential. Favorite tracks: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Blue Jay Way", "Baby You're a Rich Man"
Least Favorite track(s): "The Fool On The Hill"


Lynyrd Skynyrd Gimme Back My Bullets

Lynyrd Skynyrd Street Survivors

Believe it or not, there was a time when I really didn't like Skynyrd. I was just sick of hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" and playing "Gimme Three Steps" in dive-bar bands. Maybe it also had something to do with the obnoxious requests for "Free Bird" our audiences would unfailingly shout out between songs (as if a three-piece band could ever do justice to that song). And I confess, some of the most belligerant people I've ever known were huge Skynyrd fans, so there's that "guilty-by-association" aspect at work...
But lately I've been really enjoying the old classic rock stuff I grew up with, and decided to give these guys another shot. After all, I like the Allman Brothers, and Skynyrd is basically a harder edge, less jazz-infected version of the Allmans, right? So I'm actually appreciating the incredible guitar skills this band had in abundance for the first time. And the riffage is always solid.
I have to say, though, that I hear "That Smell" on the radio enough that it gives me the creeps. There's something disturbing about driving down the highway singing along to a line like "Oak tree, you're in my way"... ;D
Favorite Tracks: "Gimme Back My Bullets", "Cry For the Badman" (Gimme Back My Bullets) "I Know A Little", "That Smell" (creepy or not, the "oak tree" line is a classic!), "You Got That Right" (Street Survivors)
Least Favorite Track(s): "What's Your Name?" (It's one of those songs that used to make me loathe this band, and I still can't stand it) (Street Survivors)


Paul McCartney and Wings Band On The Run

It's not my personal favourite post-Beatles Macca album, but it's probably the best. I don't think Paul ever put out as strong a collection of songs after this one, and it is strong evidence that the man is one of the last centuries most brilliant songwriters.
Favorite tracks: "Let Me Roll It", "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five", "Band on the Run"
Least Favorite track (s): "Mamunia"


Peter Murphy Deep

Though I have not heard nearly as much of Bauhaus' music as I would like, I am very fond of all the Peter Murphy solo material I've heard (much moreso than Love and Rockets). This one is not my favourite (that would be Cascade), but it is nevertheless a powerful album with that trademark ghoulish baritone of Murphy's setting the dark tone for the proceedings.
Favorite Tracks: "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem", "Cuts You Up", "Crystal Wrists", "Seven Veils"
Least Favorite Track: none, really...they're all pretty solid.

Currently listening to:

Steve Miller Band Abracadabra

[Thorngrub]

Deep is a really good album. My favorite of Murphy's was always LOVE HYSTERIA (and probably always will be, in that nostalgic way so difficult to kill), but I've found that his most recent outing into the ethereal, "DUST", is perhaps his most accomplished recording to date. If you haven't checked it out yet, JACkory -- I urge you to do so. It is a significant departure from where he was headed when last in the studio -- and a refreshing one, in that he delves deeply into Turkish instrumentation, providing a unique atmosphere of mystic dimensions. An album to listen to by candle light and the proper incense: intensely romantic.

[JACkory]

Thorny...good to see you around...
I think I listened to Dust a few times when I worked at the CD store, but I have yet to pick it up. I recall it was a very good album.

Currently listening to Randy Stonehill's The Lazarus Heart, which I won on eBay for a cool $5.00, postage included. I've loved Stonehill since I first heard The Sky Is Falling back in 1980, and though he's put out a couple of stinkers in the intervening years, I gotta say this one (recorded in 94) is darn good.

[rockysigman]

Good idea, JAC. I'll follow suit.


Wilco--A Ghost is Born

Even though I did listen to this a couple times when they started streaming the album, I didn't give it a real close listen until it came out last week, so I'm still letting it sink in. Pretty solid album really, and I think it's going to grow on me quite a bit over time. Runs a little long though.
Favorite songs: "Hummingbird" and "Theologians"
Least favorites: "Company in My Back" and "I'm a Wheel"


Guided by Voices--Bee Thousand

Easily one of the best albums of the '90s. Perfect all the way through. Nothing else to say about it.
Favorite songs: "Echoes Myron" and "Smothered in Hugs"
Least favorites: "Mincer Ray" and "Demons Are Real"


The Pixies--Come On Pilgrim

I've been listening to the Pixies more than I have any other band over the past 3 months or so. I just can't stop listening to them ever since I got the double CD of the first show of their reunion tour. This album is a little rougher than what came later, and not as brilliantly quirky, but the basics for what was to come were already there, and this EP is pretty solid. Took me longer to get into than any of their proper albums, but I love it now.
Favorite songs: "I've Been Tired" and "The Holiday Song"
Least favorites: "Isla de Encanta" and "Levitate Me"


Billy Bragg & Wilco--Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2

This album is pretty damn weak compared to Volume 1, but there's still some really good stuff in here. It suffers from a terrible lack of cohesion, and a couple songs that are just plain bad ideas, but the good stuff is really good. Unfortunately there's so much filler that I really don't spin this one much.
Favorite songs: "Remember the Mountain Bed" and "All You Fascists"
Least favorites: "I Was Born" and "Feed of Man"


Television--Marquee Moon

Broke this one out for the first time in a while earlier this week. Holy shit! I really don't know why I go so long without listening to this sometimes, because it really never loses it's magic. Probably the best guitar album ever made, IMO. Although I like some more than others, of course, every song on this album is pretty damn near perfect.
Favorite songs: "Venus" and "Torn Curtain"
Least favorites: "Guiding Light" and "Prove It"

NP:

Red Hot Chili Peppers--Californication (song: "Emit Remmus")
I really haven't listened to RHCP very much over the past year or so, but no matter how far from this band I drift, I always occassionally make my way back to them, and this album is sounding as good as ever right now.
Favorite songs: "Around the World" and "Purple Stain"
Least favorites: "Get On Top" and "Porcelain"

[JACkory]

Here are the last few CDs I've listened to...


Autechre ep7

I'd been listening to a lot of Autechre's earlier, less "challenging" material, and decided to give some of the more "out there" stuff a spin. I hadn't listened to this one in a while, and the last time I did I was driving along the highway and got pulled over for speeding.
Can't say I have a favourite track on this (or any Autechre) album...


Tangerine Dream Tyranny of Beauty

Another case of a desire to hear later-era music of a band whose early works I very much enjoy. In this case, Tangerine Dream's earlier material is much more challenging (though in a different way than AE's) than their later work, and this one just doesn't quite do the trick like, say, Phaedra or Atem would.
Once again, I hesitate to say I have a favorite track on this album...to be honest, I never even checked the track listing...


Bruckner The Complete 9 Symphonies ^{Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Eugene Jochum}

Okay, I admit I haven't listened to this massive 9 CD set in it's entirety (at least not in one sitting), but I have made a concerted effort to take in these 9 symphonies (and have gotten through 1-4 and 9). Bruckner has been difficult for me to appreciate in the past, but I'm finally beginning to get a grip on his genius.


Randy Stonehill The Lazuras Heart

And I also confess I didn't get all the way through this one before I had to pack it in last night. But it sounded really good.


Supertramp Breakfast In America

Heard "The Logical Song" on the radio yesterday and it reminded me of how much I loved that song, even though I never bought the album when it was fresh (though I did have Crime of the Century, which I loved). I have a love/hate relationship with Supertramp...I generally love the music but usually I hate the singer's voice. Pretentious? Maybe a little. That works in it's favour.
As for Breakfast In America...the whole thing is generally pretty good, but I have always LOATHED that album cover.
Favorite tracks: "The Logical Song", "Gone Hollywood"
Least favorite track(s): "Goodbye Stranger"

Currently listening to:

Sugar Copper Blue

It's not Husker Du. Which is neither a good thing or a bad thing. I like Sugar better than most of Bob Mould's solo stuff, though.
Favorite tracks: "Changes", "If I Can't Change Your Mind", "A Good Idea"
Least favorite track(s): "Fortune Teller"

btw, cool stuff you're spinning, Rocky. I was just thinking that Sugar reminds me of the Pixies sometimes. Have you noticed that?

[rockysigman]

Actually, JAC, I think I've only heard one Sugar song in my entire life, and I don't really remember it, but I'll take your word for it. Maybe I'll check them out, seeing as I like Hüsker Dü, and love the Pixies so much.

Here's what I listened to on my way down to Detroit and back (and driving around the city in between) today.


Guided by Voices--Alien Lanes

This album perfectly sums up why I love GBV. Great, catchy melodies and rocking riffs, and every song ends before you get tired of it.
Favorite songs: "Game of Pricks" and "A Salty Salute"
Least favorites: "King and Caroline" and "Ex-Supermodel"


X--Under the Big Black Sun

This album is pretty good, but I still maintain that Wild Gift is at least 10 million times better.
Favorite songs: "The Hungry Wolf" and "Blue Spark"
Least favorites: "Because I Do" and "How I (Learned My Lesson)"


The Go--Whatcha Doin'

I really wonder where this band might have gone if Jack White had stayed with them. The album they released last year is actually way better than this White-era release, but shit, this album rocks so hard. Not a whole lot of originality, but it is such a perfect replication of that Nuggets-era sound and feel that it's really hard not to get sucked into it.
Favorite songs: "Meet Me at the Movies" and "You Can Get High"
Least favorites: "Tired of the Night" and "On the Corner"


The Pixies--Trompe Le Monde

The title track is such a perfect opener. In fact, I'd say that more than any other band, the Pixies always had fantastic opening songs on their albums. I listen to this one far less than any of their other releases, but it's still a rewarding listen whenever I do pop it in.
Favorite songs: "Head On" and "Trompe le Monde"
Least favorites: "The Navajo Know" and "Lovely Day"

[JACkory]

The last albums I listened to:


Arvo Pärt Te Deum

Arvo Pärt is fast becoming my favourite 20th century composer, right up there with Gustav Mahler.


Bruckner The Masses

After listening to Arvo Pärt's work, even Bruckner sounds somewhat conventional. Powerful sacred music.

Today I'll probably go back into classic rock mode...
Or maybe not...
We shall see.

By the way, I did listen to Randy Stonehill's Lazarus Heart in it's entirety yesterday, and it was really quite good. Definately the best thing I've heard from him since Equator, though I have to say I haven't heard nearly as much from him as I'd like. His albums are not easy to find...
Favorite tracks: "A Promise Made is a Promise Kept", "In Jesus' Name", "That's Why We Don't Love God", "Remember My Name"
Least favorite track(s): "Under The Rug", "Shadow Man"

[Thorngrub]

Got this on Vinyl recently, and have been enjoying dipping into its mercurial undertones and general trippy ambience. A real nice mood enhancer, it enlivens a room in the same manner as a subtle incense, only without the smell.



Found this in the used bins on Vinyl the other day. Am really excited about starting up a Tangerine Dream collection on vinyl. I don't know how this album holds out against their other stuff -- but I like it.



KITARO's album Ki is the very first Kitaro I ever heard -- oh, 19 years ago it was. Back then one of my very close friends turned me onto this synth-artist who absolutely deserves no association with the "New Age" label-mentality he's been lumped into. I've seen Kitaro live, and believe me -- there is enough power & glory in one of his shows to rival the mighty Floyd, even. "KI" is a softer, more introspective journey through the microcosmos of the human soul. Kind of a star-chart journey through the various nodes into your astral core. Hugely relaxing and liberating -- the kind of album you can lay back on the couch and trip on with your eyes closed. Highly recommended (as is almost all of Kitaro's output).



My favorite Harold Budd album -- I found it on vinyl, in mint condition -- for $3. Talk about a deal. This album sounds like the ice floes slowly melting about your glacial heart. Side 2 features the 20-minute long ambient piece "Gypsy Violin" = entrancing & hypnotic, another beautiful piece of ambience with which to perfectly enliven your home on a still and reflective day.



Jarre's Oxygene I"ve heard is his best. All I know is it's my first of his on vinyl, and I am quite eager to test out these claims as to which of his records truly warrants the blue ribbon. If Oxygene is any indication -- I"ll be in for a treat trying to track down the best of this electronic minimalists ouvre.

[JACkory]

Thorny, I don't have that particular Tangerine Dream album but I do have 11 of their CDs and I have to say the band has their ups and downs. Lots of the earlier material has a very raw experimental feel that I just love. VERY spacey, trippy, ambient. Phaedra is a standout of the early period that is reperesented in my collection. Atem is another one that will blow your mind.
Then, at a certain point (around Cyclone) they began to morph into what sounded like a fairly typical prog-rock band (albeit much spacier). Then they got really popular on the "film soundtrack" scene and a lot of their studio releases began to sound like run-of-the-mill new age drapery. There's some decent material hidden amidst that period, but I still think their peak was hit during their first 7-10 years together.

You may also enjoy some of Vangelis' work, though he is also an artist who has put out both great and so-so albums. Oceanic is worth relaxing to, and The City is interesting as well.

Looks like you're on a serious space music jag...I can dig it. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Miles Davis' fusion work, especially digging On The Corner and never tiring of Bitches Brew.

I heard John Meyer's Room For Squares a couple of times over the weekend, and maybe it's not the hippest thing to like Meyer, but I stopped worrying about 'hip' a long time ago. For some reason I was under the impression that he was a Dave Matthews knock-off, and I'm just not gonna be in the mood for anyhthing like that...but no, I really enjoyed what Meyer has laid down. Certainly no more similar to Mr. Matthews than, say, David Grey is...

I've also procured 3 CDs from the over-looked tenor sax monster, John Klemmer, who I admired in the late 70's when I was the sax player in the high school band. Back in the day I used to have an album of his called Brazillia that I would play along with on my tenor sax. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate that title on CD, so I settled for another one I used to have, Arabesque, and it is almost as good. Also got Barefoot Ballet and Waterfalls, and am hearing those two for the first time.
Enlessly inventive, tasteful and tight, Klemmer's imagination and inspiration displayed on these albums is stunning and never a dull moment.

Let's see, what else have I picked up lately?
I got Patti Smith's retrospective Land (1975-2002), even though I've got all of her studio albums (which is what the first of this 2 disc set is made up of). The second disc is loaded with live tracks and rarities, so it will make a nice addition to the collection.
Also got the String Cheese Incident's On The Road: Tulsa, OK 4.9.02, which was recorded at the Brady Theater, where I've never been but have heard of all my life (ever since it used to be called "The Old Lady On Brady"). I've got the Birmingham AL edition, which was recorded 10 days later, and I liked it enough to want to hear what they sounded like in Tulsa.
Picked up Maynard Ferguson's Conquistador, which may not have ever been my favourite Ferguson outing (that would be Chameleon), but it's pumped up version of "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)" is a strong case for the overall quality of this album, even if the "Theme From Star Trek" cover is only inches away from sliding into the classification of KITSCH.
Warren Zevon's live album Learning to Flinch is another I've recently procured, and it is spotty, but the epic treatment of "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner" pulls the whole thing up by it's bootstraps.
And finally, a long overdue addition to my Who collection with the arrival of The Who Sing My Generation...Nope, it's not the re-mastered with bonus tracks edition, so I'm still looking to upgrade, but for that matter, there are some key Who titles missing from my collection (most notably, The Who Sell Out, which I think of as their masterwork and the greatest concept album ever made)...

Others in the player recently:
Steve Reich Violin Phase
Karlheinz Stockhausen Kontakte
Randy Stonehill Thirst
Paul McCartney Standing Stone

[maarts]

Thorn, you are my hero

Tangram is the first one in a series of albums featuring, next to Edgar Froese and Chris Franke, Johannes Schmoelling. I still believe that it's the last great line-up of the band (the years with Peter Baumann are excellent, the ones with Paul Haslinger (1985-1989) brought a few interesting albums but it was a hit and miss-affair). A lot of people saw in the development of TD the development of the synthesizer in general and that's not untrue. There was still the lengthy pieces and the sequencerloops driving the tracks forward but it was less cosmic and a bit more 'poppy' (with that I don't men in the New Romantic-kind of sense, but more songs with a head and a tail). Tangram has only got two tracks but there's clearly several themes at play that follow each other up. The next album, White Eagle was more open and shut.

Tangram was my first TD-album and I still rank it amongst the finest. Side one is indestructible TD- great sequencer-work throughout with good little interludes. The 'hammerpit'-intermezzo, leading into the last part of side one with some of the most brilliant sequencerloops is, in my view the best piece of music they have ever recorded!
Side two lacks a bit of that directness sadly and lets the album a bit down. It's the only chronic problem that TD has ever had in my view- having one great side of an album immediately followed by a less impressive 'other' side- like side 1 of Tangram, side 2 of Ricochet, side 1 of Logos, side 2 of White Eagle, side 2 of Underwater Sunlight and side 1 of Hyperborea are fantastic, but the opposite side just is far less! The only album that has strength throughout is Exit.
If you like Tangram, don't hesitate to pick up Hyperborea, Logos and Exit! The compilation Dream Sequence is just about perfect!

And Ki! Indeed one of the finest Kitaro-albums and my favourite- together with Oasis and the first few Silk Road-albums! The first side of Ki is amazing- four strong tracks, three great riffs and great melodies- Kaleidoscope and Oasis are brilliant tracks and Revelation is one hell of a sunday morning Japanese wake-up call.

If your like Lovely Thunder- you can also pick up it's companion-album The Moon And The Melodies from Budd/Fraser/Guthrie/Raymonde or Cocteau Twins with Harold Budd. Flowered Knife Shadows was a track Budd did with Guthrie and there's four more ambient tracks on that album- the other four are Cocteau-songs with Budd adding piano to the mix.

And if you look for any other great cosmic albums, check out Ashra's New Age Of Earth...another one of my all time favourites.

[maarts]

As for Jean Michel Jarre- I think that his first four albums (Oxygene, Equinoxe, Magnetic Fields and Zoolook), together with The Concerts In China are the best- Oxygene leads the field as far as these four go!

Yesterday morning I picked this one up and played in instore whilst doing some merchandising- Talk Talk with The Colour Of Spring.
You know how some albums seem to lose their lustre after several years and sound dated? From the opening, dry little syncopatic drumintro of Happiness Is Easy you realise that this is not one of those albums. The last great popalbum this band ever made is like a glorious fade-out into the post-rockworld they always seemed destined to head for. Even in the most pompous songs like Life's What You Make It and Living In Another World there's an inexorable pull towards a more soulful and honest clear sound, away from the amnesiastic popworld where so many songs are here today, gone tomorrow....here's an album so clear in its intent to not only endear you with its softly sung, slightly out-of-tune children's choir and an army of recorders but also to envelope you, from the slightly dramatic art-jazz of Chameleon's Day (an invitation to their next album, Spirit Of Eden) to the beautifully watercoloured trumpets in April 5th, not as much a song but an incantation for impending spring.
With a rich palette of piano, keyboards and strings on top of less usual rock-instruments this impressionist painting gains its texture but it's the at times measured, at times impassioned vocals of Mark Hollis that gives this album the vivid colouring and lively figures that make it the classic it is.
Truly a masterpiece.

[Thorngrub]

Sweet, maarts~! I have "The Moon & The Melodies" on cassette (though I haven't listened to it in a few years). Used to be a big Cocteau Twins fan. My favorite Kitaro's would be Ki, Tunghuang, the Silk Roads, Silver Cloud, Kojiki, and I know I'm forgetting some other ones, oh yeah, Asia (with that Gilmouresque guitar soloing)... Man he puts on one helluva show. I'll be sure to look out for that Ashra's "New Age Of Earth", never heard that artist I'm afraid. Another of my favorite Harold Budd's would be Pavilion Of Dreams (also with Eno)....and of course, "The Pearl".

I've been listening to Steve Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" on vinyl. . . I've owned that one for a while now. I look forward to getting some more Jarre . . .

[JACkory]

Here are some of the albums I've listened to this weekend...


Pixies Death To The Pixies

PiL Second Edition

Bob Dylan The Essential Bob Dylan

Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi

Starflyer 59 Leave Here A Stranger