Here's something I used to do in my original journal. Simple enough, like most of my ideas. I dump all my record collection into a randomiser player and then write about whatever comes out. Since my music taste is not quite as eclectic as some, but still relatively varied, it could be anything from country to classical or metal to ambient, soundtrack, maybe even the odd prog rock! Hey, stranger things have happened. Could be something I love, something I hate, something I have not yet heard, something I've even forgotten I had. You know, random.
Anyway, here's what fell out of the machine today.
(https://i.discogs.com/49JhNG_5TTppjjBnXZw77NwdbSCr1XAVqknoyR6DV1o/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:490/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI1MjY3/NTMxLTE2NjkzMDA2/OTgtOTk4NS5qcGVn.jpeg)
Title: "Said She Loves Me"
Artist: Miss Crazy
Format: Band
Year 2014
Genre: Hard Rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: Their fourth album Inception
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album/track: Zero
Comments: Before I hear a note, I have to say a band who calls themselves Miss Crazy sound, well, not up to much, but I've been wrong before. This is taken from what appears to be their last album, released in 2014, seems like they may fit in to the idea of glam rock? Lots of tributes on their website, mostly to Eddie Van Halen and Jeff LaBar of Cinderella as well as Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot. Whether they have anything to do with the band or not is something I don't know, but they call LaBar anyway "one of the family". Hmm. Not much actual information on the band itself (why do bands make official websites and then not even include a goddamn bio?), so what's the music like? Meh, it's basic glam rock all right, with the singer sounding like Noddy Holder after a bad night, or maybe yer man from Bonfire. Hard rockin' guitars but this could be any hair/glam/pop metal band really. Nothing memorable.
So unmemorable, in fact, that nobody could be bothered putting up a YouTube! Hey, I'll give them points for "Make America Crazy Again". But that's all I'll give them points for.
(https://i.discogs.com/UWmPFMzx4QYu4QaZbYF8GdV3efEzWzRrg3o2Cxw_Tj8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:507/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTg5Nzk1/MTItMTY2NzQ4Mjcx/OS0yODMwLmpwZWc.jpeg)
Title: "Master of the House"
Artist: Cast
Format: Cast
Year Not at all sure: 1987?
Genre: Soundtrack/Musical
Nationality: Multi, I assume
Taken from: Soundtrack to
Les MiserablesFamiliarity with artist: N/A
Familiarity with album/track: Not this, but I have seen the musical, at least the musical 2012 film on telly.
Comments: I don't honestly know which version this is from - I think it says "original Broadway cast recording"? Probably doesn't matter. Fantastic music all the way through, and the book, if you haven't read it, is of course a masterpiece, even if it does get slightly bogged down (to say the least!) in the Napoleonic Wars. This is I believe sung in the tavern owned by (for those who are familiar with the story) Thénardier and his wife, to which little Cosette is brought by Fantine at the beginning of the story. It's basically a "look how great it is to be running your own pub" sort of song, and unless you know what scumbags the landlord and his wife are, it's a pretty upbeat, harmless drinking song. More or less.
(https://i.discogs.com/ecjulqKtaQ1gqavFI_47MmDV-V0XIInFetSwRc4YcVE/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTcyMjYy/MS0xMzUxMTA1MjQx/LTc4OTUuanBlZw.jpeg)
Title: "In Your Mind"
Artist: Imperia
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Nationality: Dutch
Taken from: Their debut album
The Ancient Dance of Qetesh Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album/track: Zero
Comments: For a symphonic metal track, I'm glad to hear it has less of the usual forced operatic stuff that bands - which I do like but still - like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica
et al all tend to do too much, making the whole thing very theatrical and over-bombastic. This is a ballad anyway, or a slow song, and the singer's voice is quite soothing. Nice enough, though I'd not say enough to make me want to check them out further at this point.
(https://i.discogs.com/wn_9T-Qon2DO3v6r_iHn8RKW49W4Ab0kgHXrwjxI40A/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:420/w:420/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTUyNDMx/NDMtMTM4ODU4MjEw/NC02OTk5LmpwZWc.jpeg)
Title: "RCA (-)"
Artist: Carbon Based Lifeforms
Format: Band
Year 2013
Genre: Ambient, electronic
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to
Refuge, seventh in their discography but first soundtrack I think
Familiarity with artist: Some; I've heard about three of their albums
Familiarity with album/track: I believe I may have heard it once before, as this is one of those three albums.
Comments: Very ambient and atmospheric, not really too much in the way of music; more electronic groans and hums and not quite a drone, as it does change, but for at least half of the way through it's just buzzing and low humming. Easy to see it's from the soundtrack of a movie. Not the greatest introduction to CBL if you haven't heard them before, but decent enough.
I was looking for a "Your favourite music which could be soundtrack material" thread, so settled for TH's thread which is random and soundtrack-y.
This is "Espiègle", composed by a young Pierre Lapprand in 2019. I think it could be an awesome soundtrack to some kind of Batman vs Joker, or perhaps a throw-back film noir of the 50s-60s. I just lurve this type of erratic cinematic sound.
I didn't know what Espiègle meant so I looked it up: Vif et malicieux, sans méchanceté. Un enfant espiègle.
"The quality or state of being roguish or frolicsome".
Trollheart, I hope all is OK!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRLfyo27RO4
^Hey, that's pretty cool,
@Saulaac 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Cool, glad you liked it
@Guybrush ! He's the one in the yellow trousers with the soprano sax or whatever it is. Same as the sax player at the lake concert in the yellow shorts which I posted earlier.
On his website he writes "
Pierre now explores the most punk corners of modern Jazz with CHRONES, improvises interstellar landscapes with Congé Spatial and creates a singular electronic universe with telluric energy in his solo project Pierre & The Stompers".
He sounds like an unstoppable force with a horn rocket in his hand :laughing:
(https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/6659/cover_123689112019_r.jpg)
Title: "Reality"
Artist: The Samurai of Prog
Format: Band
Year 2019
Genre: Prog rock duh
Nationality: Multi
Taken from: 7th album
Toki no KazeFamiliarity with artist: I've heard one album. This one. I wasn't overly impressed with it.
Familiarity with album: As above
Familiarity with track: I've heard it but only once and I don't remember it. That's not good, surely.
Comments: The Samurai of Prog can't be called a supergroup, but they are made up of certain members of other prog bands, whose names I won't bore you with now. I guess you might call them a project? Anyway, despite the name, they're not Japanese (mostly Finnish) and this is the only one of their albums I've heard. This track is a long one (over 9 minutes) and features a lot of sound effects before a bouncy piano melody comes in, slightly reminiscent perhaps of early Supertramp, then the song appears to be sung in another language (Japanese?) though its title is in English. There's a lovely orchestral backing, and overall it's quite uptempo and cheerful, but I'm a little confused by the switch from English to Japanese (it is Japanese; I checked) which throws me off. I also find a lot of Japanese female vocalists sound like they're about twelve, and so does this one. Might get into this at some point, right now it's just all right.
Rating: :3stars:
(Found a video)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Dream_Theater_-_Black_Clouds_%26_Silver_Linings.jpg)
Title: "A Nightmare to Remember"
Artist: Dream Theater
Format: Band
Year 2009
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Their 10th album
Black Clouds and Silver LiningsFamiliarity with artist: I'm aware of their work
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track: None
Comments: Dream Theater are one of these bands in the prog metal genre with whom I have little patience. They seem to be almost the poster boys for excess and overblown pomposity, and for them I have coined, and do claim copyright in all territories and in perpetuity on the phrase "technical wankery", which I believe describes many of their long, instrumental jams which often seem to go nowhere. That said, I have heard a few good tracks recently, so there may be hope for them. This one, and this whole album, is new to me.
Has a typically dramatic opening with those choral synths (Prophet?) then the guitars take over and it races along. I suppose it's my own fault, having so much prog rock and prog metal, but again we have a fucking monster of a track, sixteen minutes and change - seven minutes longer than yesterday's! Welcome to my world, huh? Nice piano break there in the fourth minute, and police sirens seem appropriate, as I read this was written about a real-life car accident that John Petrucci had as a child, and it describes his experiences both during the accident and then in the hospital.
I have to admit, it's better than I expected. Maybe there's some hope for me and Dream Theater after all. The track speeds up in the 8th minute on Petrucci's fretwork and then there's a sort of half-unclean vocal (just the singer doing a raw voice really, totally decipherable) in the 10th. Not too much TW I suppose, and it follows a basic melody and plot, so yeah, not bad at all.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/EricClaptonTheBlues.jpg)
Title: "Meet Me (At the Bottom)"
Artist: Eric Clapton
Format: Solo artist
Year 1999
Genre: Blues
Nationality: English
Taken from: 15th compilation album
BluesFamiliarity with artist: Duh
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: You may hate his politics, his racism and his smug smile, but you can't fault Clapton as a guitarist, or indeed a legend. This is taken from an album with the highly original title of
Blues, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a blues tune. Has some nice organ accompanying it, giving it a slightly gospel bent, but of course it's the frets that hold court, and like, I assume, all the other tracks on this album it's a cover, this being a Willie Dixon song.
Some nice slide guitar there, Derek I mean Eric, and I find myself wondering if this is an instrumental, but then it runs for seven minutes so he could start singing any moment. Not yet though, and we're two of those minutes in, so maybe. Let's see if there's anyone I know on that organ while we wait. Hmm. Gary Brooker apparently. Cool. Yeah I don't see Slowhand opening his mouth now. If not, then for seven minutes I would have to say it's pretty much the same most of the way through. Not that I would diss one of the blues legends. Or Clapton. Decent, but I've heard better from him. Oh wait: he's singing now. Well ye left it long enough, Mr. C! Five fecking minutes in! Hardly worth your while.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Monument_%28Blutengel_album%29.jpg)
Title: "When I Feel You"
Artist: Blutengel
Format: Band
Year 2013
Genre: Futurepop/Darkwave
Nationality: German
Taken from: Eighth album
MonumentFamiliarity with artist: I've heard an album or two
Familiarity with album: But not this one
Familiarity with track: So none
Comments: It's all right, this Darkwave stuff, innit? I must admit when I first heard Blutengel (Blue Angel) I thought I was listening to either Phil Oakey or Eldritch; maybe they all sound the same. Anyway, given all the stick I give to Depeche Mode about their music being soulless, it might seem odd that I enjoy this darkwave band, but hey! I'm a complicated guy. I wouldn't say I'm a massive fan of this kind of music, but then, I've not heard much of it. What I have heard, I like. This I like.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3899489617_10.jpg)
Title: "Fluxstration"
Artist: Plankton's Odyssey
Format: Solo artist
Year 2013
Genre: Rock/Guitar instrumental
Nationality: American
Taken from: 2nd album Krill
Familiarity with artist: I know most of his music
Familiarity with album: I reviewed it once and have listened to it a few times
Familiarity with track: And so I know this track
Comments: Strange one today. For those who don't know, or have not come here from Music Banter, or did, but later, Plankton was one of our members and a real nice guy. He is an absolute wizard on the guitar, and really should have been a star, but I guess was never discovered. He left us shortly before we all left MB, due to unspecified reasons, but wherever he is we wish him well.
I have some of his music on my playlist and it still comes up, as it did today, reminding me of the talent of the guy. I reviewed the album way back in 2014, and I think the best way to approach this is to transcribe the relevant portion of that review. So, over to 50-year old me!
For any who don't know, Plankton is one of our own. He's been a member here for a while now and is generally regarded as a nice guy with a lot to say, and is indeed praised for his music in the subforums dealing with members' contributions, which I must admit I have never frequented. This is not his first album, but the one he's looking on I believe as his debut for public consumption, and for a first effort I have to say I'm more than impressed. I actually faced two major problems agreeing to review this: one was that it was the album of a friend, someone I know and respect, so I wanted to make sure I did it justice in the writeup. The other, something I only realised when I began playing it, is that it is an instrumental guitar album, and if you read my review of Neal Schon's The Calling last year you'll see I have little time for those sort of albums. In short, they usually bore me. Conversely though, I thoroughly enjoyed Buckethead's Electric Sea, so perhaps there was hope.
At any rate, I have now listened to it well over twenty times and feel qualified, as far as I can be, to set down my thoughts on it. I've consulted with Plankton for some pertinent information, and will drop that into the review as I go, but for now let's get to the meat of the matter, the lifeblood of any album, its raison d'etre. Yeah: the music.
I should also point out that I am not a guitarist and know little of the instrument beyond the basics, so I can't tell you when he's using a flange bar (if such a thing exists), a tremelo or capo, and I can't identify when he's using effects pedals or what they are. What I can tell you is that everything you hear here is his own work, played and written by him, arranged and produced solely by him. Oh, with one exception, which I'll come to in due course. He tells me he worked on a track a week, every Monday from the time he got home to whatever time he got to bed, and that the album was conceived and recorded this way in about nine months --- should I say born? Plankton has thirty years' experience playing guitar and it certainly shows here. From what he's told me he's almost completely self-taught, which is another plus to add to the many he already has racked up.
We open on the oddly-named (and it's not the only one!) "Flustraxion", which right from the off has an early Iron Maiden feel to me, like something off Killers or The Number of the Beast, with a sense of acoustic guitar under a squealing electric, then it kicks up with heavy, machinegun drumming and the tempo rises as the track comes fully to life, the guitar wailing histrionically through the piece, with another one growling and snorting in the background. The similarities to Maiden continue, and I'm sure Dave Murray or Adrian Smith would be proud. It's a short track, just over two and a half minutes long, and ends as it began, with a laidback acoustic-sounding outro.
Unfortunately, our old mate only put a few tracks up on YouTube, and this is not one of them, so the best I can do is point you in the direction of his Bandcamp page, and if you want to you can discover his genius for yourself.
https://planktonsodyssey.bandcamp.com/album/krill-2
Rating: :4.5stars:
(https://megaboon.com/images/release/400/446/830446.jpg?5.674846386954919)
Title: "Seven Storms"
Artist: AOR
Format: Band
Year 2016
Genre: AOR
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th album
L.A. DarknessFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: It may be very clever, calling yourself after the genre, but it makes it damn hard to track your stuff down! Yes, AOR, from, presumably, Los Angeles, as all or most of their album titles mention the city, are an AOR band. Who woulda thunk it? Oddly enough, given my love of the genre, I've never heard anything from them, so this will be a first for me.
And AOR is as AOR does. Stop me if I'm being too technical. Walls of guitars, bubbling keyboards, catchy choruses, 90 percent of their songs about girls, you know the kind of thing. Like Power Metal, you can almost substitute a song by one AOR band for another. This, to be entirely fair to the band, is pretty bargain basement, lowest common denominator stuff. I'm sure they can do better. I sure hope so.
(https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/306/cover_17514382017_r.jpg)
Title: "Where Are You Now?"
Artist: Saga
Format: Band
Year 1997
Genre: Progressive rock
Nationality: Canadian
Taken from: 11th album
Generation 13Familiarity with artist: I've heard some tracks and possibly one album
Familiarity with album: Not this one
Familiarity with track: So not this
Comments: Saga are another of those bands I just can't get into. They've had their hits, but like other prog acts such as Enchant who just do nothing for me, I just don't get Saga. They almost seem like a poor man's copy of maybe Kansas or Styx or something. This is a short track at least, so even if it's crap it won't last long. Yeah it's hard to judge such a short track. It almost sounds like some sort of interval or bridge track between others, but when I look at this album I see there are a lot of short tracks, and I kind of get the impression it may be a concept album, so to get the song, piece, whatever, I'd have to listen to the whole thing, and I ain't doing that.
Rating: Too short to fairly rate
(https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/6682/cover_154462832019_r.jpg)
Title: "Stained Glass Sky"
Artist: Arch/Matheos
Format: Band
Year 2011
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Debut album
Sympathetic ResonanceFamiliarity with artist: None; I've heard one album by Fates Warning, but that's about it
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track: And so it follows, none
Comments: Hell, at least they didn't title their debut album with their names! That's something. As I say, I've heard a Fates Warning album - think it was in the Top 500 Prog Albums thread - as far as I remember, I didn't think too much of it. This is another, perhaps ill-advised epic (prog metal bands seldom do those as well as prog rock ones, with some notable exceptions), but that's how it goes. Given that this band is essentially made up of the vocalist and guitarist from FW, it's not at all surprising that the first four minutes of the song are all instrumental, fretburning solos and hammered guitar chords and shredding for over a third of the song. I certainly don't like the vocals - think I may have said the same about the parent band - and overall, so far, not impressed.
Yeah this is pretty woeful. Halfway through it slows down on acoustic guitar, joined by electric, but it all seems pretty formulaic, and more what the band think they ought to be doing, rather than having any real sort of vision for the song. I could be wrong, of course; maybe they know exactly what they're doing and where they're going, but it just doesn't come across that way to me. I know where I'm going though: on to the next track.
Rating: :2stars:
Missed out yesterday (these things happen) so here are two for today. First up:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/7951134568e206fd561104a9579c0e0a/7506923/mesozoic-welcome-girl-our-second-sun-shines-for-you-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "City of Grey"
Artist: Mesozoic
Format: Band
Year 2014
Genre: Post-rock
Nationality: Australian
Taken from: 2nd album
Welcome, Girl. Our Second Sun Shines for YouFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Anyone?
Comments: What a very hippy-sounding album title! And the cover looks like the artist may have had the odd shot of peota out in the desert too. Hmm. I do like my post-rock though. Not too easy to get track listings on this, never mind information. I assume it's a band. Nice piano-driven melancholy little piece, with attendant almost drone synth and very little if any percussion. I like it.
Rating: :4stars:
Title: "Go Ahead and Rain"
Artist: J.D. Souther
Format: Solo artist
Year Unknown
Genre: Country/Pop rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: Compilation album, um,
100 Greatest Soft Rock Anthems - Ever! Right.
Familiarity with artist: I know of him only through his work with the Eagles
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track: None
Comments: Ah, J.D., the oft-ignored Eagle. Glenn and Don get so much of the limelight, poor old Souther is forgotten, yet you can hear his voice on Eagles songs such as, um, none of them. And he only wrote literally a handful of songs, and only with the help of the others. And he was gone by the time their seminal
Hotel California came around, so maybe there's a reason why he's the forgotten Eagle. But is that just because he never got a chance to fly, that Henley and Frey crowded him out of the eyrie?
Alright, enough avian metaphors. This is his own song and as you might expect it sounds like it belongs on one of his parent band's albums. It's okay but nothing special.
Rating: :3stars:
D'oh! Did it again! Two more, then, for ya.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/Chic_-_It%27s_About_Time_artwork.png)
Title: "Sober"
Artist: Chic
Format: Band
Year 2018
Genre: R&B/Disco
Nationality: American
Taken from: 9th album
It's About TimeFamiliarity with artist: Everyone knows their hits. I said HITS! Honestly!
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: To be perfectly honest, I thought Chic were children of the 70s, maybe had pushed into the 80s, but after that had gone the way of all disco. It seems, however, that there are twenty years plus between this album and the previous, its release having been delayed by the untimely deaths of Prince and Bowie. I'm not entirely sure what bearing that had on Nile Rodgers (maybe he couldn't write, or wanted to change the direction of the album to pay tribute to them?) but that's what it says. So does this sound like a song, album and band out of time? Well, Rodgers is known for being able to adapt, so I wouldn't really expect it to sound like "Le Freak" or "I Want Your Love" or whatever but, well, it kind of does. Craig David guests on vocals, but it still seems something of a throwback to me. It's all right I guess. Worth waiting twenty-six years for? Meh.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/d0bba2dab6e6522c8b2d5aeadc882795/2911931/china-light-up-the-dark-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Light Up the Dark"
Artist: China
Format: Band
Year 2010
Genre: Hard rock
Nationality: Swiss
Taken from: 5th album
Light Up the DarkFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: What is this obsession rock bands have with calling themselves after countries or cities they're not in? Asia were English, Berlin are American, so are Algiers, and now here we have a Swiss band calling themselves China. Ah, maybe they just like delicate teacups, who knows? What I do know is that this pretty bog-standard melodic/hard rock, China trying very hard to be American and cool, and failing on just about every level. Pass. As an aside, how weird is it that two random tracks follow each other whose name both starts with CHI? Zen, man!
Rating: :2stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Yes_-_Yes_UK_cover.png)
Title: "Yesterday and Today"
Artist: Yes
Format: Band
Year 1969
Genre: Progressive Rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: Debut self-titled album
Familiarity with artist: Very; have been trying to get into their 70s material without much success. Love their 80s work though.
Familiarity with album: Listened to it twice I think
Familiarity with track: Very little
Comments: Although this is from Yes's first album, and in general it didn't really impress me, luckily for me the gods of random choice and shuffle have chosen for me a really lovely little ballad, soft and gentle and only added to by Jon Anderson's angelic voice. Now if only all their early stuff had been like this.
Rating: :4.5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/06eac89a7d5afab37e994e756063d605/1379082/ruthie-foster-stages-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Death Came a-Knockin'"
Artist: Ruthie Foster
Format: Solo artist
Year 2004
Genre: Blues
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th alum
StagesFamiliarity with artist: I've heard one of her albums and loved it
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: A great
a capella vocal with just the hollowest of drumming until the guitar cuts in shows how well Foster can sing without benefit of any accompaniment. Definitely a strong sense of gospel in this, but more in the lyrical department than the music itself, which is more rooted in Chicago blues. Cool.
Rating: :4.5stars:
(https://i.discogs.com/VrPbnGMF9i-cAoqC0DqkHTnZcVzKyKKoectM2d6UVGQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:510/w:567/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQ0MzAz/NjAtMTUzNTAyNTg1/NC05ODgxLmpwZWc.jpeg)
Title: "Blive Derude"
Artist: Dalton
Format: Band
Year 2010
Genre: Pop/Folk/World Music/Country
Nationality: Danish
Taken from: 2nd album (1st live)
Var HerFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album: Familiarity with track:Comments: In future I'm not going to bother filling in the other two categories if the first is zero. After all, if I know nothing about the artist I can hardly be familiar with any of their music, now can I? And don't they look like total washed-up has-beens trying to eke out the last of their vanished popularity on the cover? Apparently, Dalton were, ahem, big in Denmark, an actual supergroup, but I know nothing about any of them. How this even got on my hard disk is a mystery, and increases my suspicion that there is a download pixie living in my house, who comes out at night and maliciously downloads things randomly onto my computer. That would certainly explain all the porn on it. Yes, yes it would. It must be him. Only explanation. I've set traps for him, but so far nothing. Well, I've caught two underwear gnomes and what I think - but I'm no expert - may be a sock elf, but that bugger is tricky and even my "Napster is back!" signs haven't fooled him. I'll get him, don't worry. He'll get his. Fucking Air Supply discography! He's got a lot to answer for, let me tell you!
What? Oh yeah, the music. Well, it's not shite. Not completely. Apparently the song is written by Richard Thompson, so may be a cover, but as I know precisely none of his music I can't say. Doesn't help that it's in Danish. Listen, the only Danish thing I like is their drama and their pastries. Mmmm! Danish. And Vikings of course. Come think of it, them Danes is all right.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Calmbeforethestormoriginal.jpg)
Title: "Black Xmas"
Artist: Venom
Format: Band
Year 1987
Genre: Heavy Metal
Nationality: English
Taken from: 5th album
Calm Before the StormFamiliarity with artist: Some; I did a feature on them for my NWOBHM* article years ago
Familiarity with album: Not sure
Familiarity with track: Pretty sure I don't know this one though
Comments: Ah you've got to love Venom! Three guys who accidentally created a whole subgenre of heavy metal, named after their second album. Did nobody get the joke? Black metal has become one of the most poe-faced subgenres, with everything from real devil worshippers such as Watain to those who tread the line between it and speed metal, like Emperor and Immortal. But when Venom set out to play music, they were three lads from Newcastle who probably spent more time in the local than in the studio and could not, in the beginning, be accused of being able to play.
Anyhoo, if you want to read more check out that thread, but you'll have to go "back to Hell", as it were, since I never bothered to port it over from Music Banter - not enough hardcore metal heads here, I think, for it to be worth it. But you can't help but smile at a song called "Black Xmas", especially when, against all odds, it comes out of a random playlist a week before the big event. At War with Satan? Possibly, but no fans of Jesus either!
As for the song? Ah well, you know how it is: Venom is as Venom does. It's a mess, but a glorious one. Put it this way: I think I'd rather listen to a Venom album than an Air Supply one. Come to think of it, I'd rather listen to anything than an Air Supply album.
Rating: :3stars:
*New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, if you have to be told. ::)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/GeorgIvonGro%C3%9FbritannienGeorgFriedrichHaendelHamman.jpg/580px-GeorgIvonGro%C3%9FbritannienGeorgFriedrichHaendelHamman.jpg)
Title: "Bouree"
Artist: George Friedrich Handel
Format: Composer
Year 1717
Genre: Classical
Nationality: German/British
Taken from: Water Music - Suite in F Major Familiarity with artist: Duh
Familiarity with album: N/A
Familiarity with track: One of Handel's best-known and loved pieces
Comments: And from, almost literally, the ridiculous to the sublime. Travelling back over three hundred years, to the heyday of classical music, and a suite composed by the great Handel. Only part of it, of course; this is called "Bouree", which apparently is a dance similar to the gavotte, and if you think that's a little hammer a judge bangs on his desk or a weapon used to strangle people, maybe you should not be here.
It's actually a sprightly little piece, happy and exuberant, and you can certainly imagine courtiers and gentlemen wearing more frills and flounces than the ladies they dance with bowing to those aforementioned ladies and taking their arms, leading them around in the dance, perhaps waving silk handkerchiefs as they did. That's the kind of thing they often got up to in the 18th century.
And if you think Bruce Springsteen gives long performances, get this. The
Water Music was, as most people know, composed by Handel to honour King George I and give him something to listen to as he tooled on up the Thames. Since his ipod was in the shop, the whole orchestra assembled on the banks of the river and played as his barge drifted upstream. And back down again. I suppose you could, with some justification, call this the first instance of portable music, as the orchestra were also in a boat following the king (not much point being on the shore, as His Majesty would soon drift out of earshot). Also the first instance of "and the band played on"? In fact, the orchestra played, it is said, with one break, for four hours, 8pm till midnight. Wonder how they managed to still see to play, given that this was all out in the open? Ah, a musician's lot in the 18th century!
Honestly, I have to give it the top rating as it's a pure classic and to do otherwise would be pointless, but as pieces of classical music go, it's a little light and lilting for me. I prefer big string sections and pianos. This is all a little, um, flutey for me.
Rating: :5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Tom_Waits-Night_on_Earth.jpg)
Title: "Baby I'm Not a Baby Anymore (Beatrice Theme)"
Artist: Tom Waits
Format: Solo artist
Year 1992
Genre: Soundtrack/Jazz/Blues
Nationality: American
Taken from: 11th album, 2nd soundtrack album
Night on Earth OSTFamiliarity with artist: Totally. One of my favourite artists.
Familiarity with album: Yeah I like this one a lot.
Familiarity with track: Much of the album is instrumental, so I can't say I'm totally familiar with it, but I'm sure I know it.
Comments: Jim Jarmusch's movie
Night on Earth is not one I've ever seen, nor have any great desire to see, but Waits wrote the soundtrack for it, and if the music reflects the movie (or vice versa) it must be a pretty dour, dark,
film noir kind of thing. Just looking at some of the titles on this album - "New York Theme (Hey, You Can Have That Heart Attack Outside Buddy)", "Los Angeles Theme (Another Private Dick)" and my favourite, "Dragging a Dead Priest" - gives you an idea of the kind of things you might expect to see in the movie.
Of course, it may not be anything like that, but I can't see any reason Waits would have written that sort of music for a bouncy, happy rom-com or a movie about giant robots pursuing terrified Asians down Tokyo streets. This piece is another instrumental (the album is not entirely so; there are perhaps one or two vocal pieces on it, but this is not one of them) and is a sleazy, slow jazz/blues piece led by hollow slow percussion and sultry horn, definitely like something out of a fifties gangster movie.
Rating: :4stars:
Thanks for bringing my attention to a forgotten Waits release! I have original pressings of his complete discography a collector bought new for 40 years, played each once to dub to cassette, and then poly bagged and shelved. All near mint. However as this is more of a soundtrack than a studio album proper I don't actually have this one on wax.
And I'm excited to see you're familiar with CBL! I love all their key albums. Quality ambient.
You have excellent (and varied!) taste.
AH yeah it's a great album all right. You have One From the Heart, I presume? Waits and Crystal, together. Superb. Very very underrated. Awful movie, great album. Yes I like CBL, and any other ambient artists as long as they're not too experimental. I got slightly into drone via Solar Fields, which originally I hated but now quite enjoy.
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/764558e0ec3a6624439218b34e9e60a4/2303538/east-of-the-wall-east-of-the-wall-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "I Have Been Wishing You Winter Now For What Seems Like Forever, Part II"
Artist: East of the Wall
Format: Band
Year 2006
Genre: Post-rock/Sludge Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Debut Self-titled EP
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: With a title like that, there's really only one or two genres this is going to fit into, isn't there? The only other ones who write such long titles are usually your black metal bands and the odd prog rock ones, but when it comes to long titles post-rock has everyone beaten. Just look at some of the titles Godspeed You! Black Emperor have come up with. Interesting point nobody cares about: I used to live in a place called East Wall, which is pretty close to this band's name. Also, I wondered if they had anything to do with "The" Wall, but then, Game of Thrones was well after this, even if the books were published before it.
Whether or which, as my ma used to say, that's neither here nor there. What's the music like? Well it's kind of like I suppose a strain of atmospheric black metal really when it opens, quite experimental with a lot of harsh noise and the odd bit of music coming through sporadically until the guitar rises through the fog and takes control. Nice little busy bass line and it starts to take shape, but you know how it is: post-rock is as post-rock does, and to some degree if you've heard one piece of music from the genre you can guess what to expect. You wouldn't be disappointed, and whether that's a good or bad thing depends I guess on your view of this genre. I must admit I found it quite formulaic, tedious and way way too long at almost ten minutes. There are far better post-rock bands around.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(No video available)
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/d6379df9a87af5efbb1356edff9550c2/5998506/the-long-ryders-final-wild-songs-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: The Rains Came"
Artist: The Long Ryders
Format: Band
Year 2016
Genre: Country
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th compilation album
Final Live SongsFamiliarity with artist: I've heard the odd song
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track: None
Comments: What I know about this band can probably be confused with that movie about the James Gang. I'm pretty sure I've heard their music though. This is a pretty short track, just short of a minute and a half, and quite honestly it's nothing special. I'm sure they have better. I sure hope so.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Blue_Valentine.jpg)
Title: "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis"
Artist: Tom Waits
Format: Solo artist
Year 1978
Genre: Blues
Nationality: American
Taken from: 6th album
Blue ValentineFamiliarity with artist: Totally: one of my all-time favourite artists
Familiarity with album: Love this album; one of my favourites of his
Familiarity with track: Absolutely love this song
Comments: A Christmas carol for the realist, this fits perfectly into Waits' world, where Santas on street corners are more likely to hit you over the head and steal your presents than wish you good cheer, or jam a gun in your ribs and force you into a dark alley, and where the only snow in the yuletide season that matters to his characters is the type they shove up their noses. All that comes down their chimneys is soot (and maybe a hidden .38 Special if the tape comes loose) and as he growls himself in "Wrong Side of the Road", on the same album his advice: "Strangle all the Christmas carollers, scratch out all their prayers. Tie 'em up with barbed wire and push 'em down the stairs." Indeed. I've often felt that way.
The song is played entirely on a deceptively upbeat piano, framing the sad, dime-a-dozen story of a hooker who ostensibly writes to tell her ex-lover how great her life is, how well she's doing now. To make her point, this is written inside a (no doubt cheap) Christmas card. But at the end, she realises she can't go through with the lies she's been telling him, and comes clean as it becomes evident that all she's doing is trying to hit him up for bail, lawyer's fees, and anything else she can squeeze out of him. A sad tale, but you get the impression Waits' character just shrugs, crumples up the card and throws it in the fire.
Rating: :5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/DavidBowieScaryMonstersCover.jpg)
Title: "Teenage Wildlife"
Artist: David Bowie
Format: Solo artist
Year 1980
Genre: Art rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: 14th album
Scary MonstersFamiliarity with artist: Duh
Familiarity with album: I know it well
Familiarity with track: I know it
Comments: Referred to later as "his last great album", this could be seen as Bowie's comeback album. After critically acclaimed but commercial flops in the Berlin trilogy of albums prior to this (
Low, Lodger and
Heroes) Bowie reminded the pop world he was still a force to be reckoned with.
Scary Monsters returned him to the top of the album charts, and also gave him a number one hit single in "Ashes to Ashes".
This is perhaps not the greatest song on it, elements of the melody nodding back to the title track on
Heroes, but come on: when has anything Bowie wrote ever been less than great? He's at full operatic voice here on this one, a slower, kind of mid-paced song, said to be a deeply personal song for the Thin White Duke, whichever of many interpretations put on it you choose to accept.
Rating: :4.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Magnum_-_Wings_of_Heaven.jpg)
Title: "Start Talking Love"
Artist: Magnum
Format: Band
Year 1988
Genre: Progressive Rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: 7th album
Wings of HeavenFamiliarity with artist: Some; I've heard a few albums
Familiarity with album: Not this one, I don't think
Familiarity with track: I believe I have heard this as it was a single.
Comments: I have to admit, the title sounds like something the cops would say if they were interviewing a female suspect doesn't it? You certainly wouldn't mistake Bob Catley's grating, gruff voice for that of any other singer. It's pretty typical of the thing they put out, almost a mix of prog rock, pomp rock and AOR, very catchy but somewhat generic. As I say, if it wasn't for the distinctive voice of Catley this could really be any band operating in any of those three spheres. Decent song though.
That's it for 2024. See you in the new year!
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/04f98d09ac6a3bd2d1fc1997428bf2fe/7057582/forgotten-deity-wisdom-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Bloodbonded Tribes"
Artist: Forgotten Deity
Format: Solo artist
Year 2017
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Nationality: Polish
Taken from: 33rd album Wisdom
Familiarity with artist: Zero, though I have heard of them. Him.
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Leave it to me to come up with a weird one to kick off the new year! For some reason, the player brought this one up in the native Polish, so I spent some considerable time trying to track it down without success, until I saw the words "Forgotten Deity" in brackets after the name, so then I could go searching under that name. It seems pretty incredible to me that a band who have been together since 2014 could have almost fifty albums, but I think I have an idea this is actually a one-man band. Let me check: yeah I'm right. One guy. Adam Tarczweski. That's even more impressive. Now admittedly most of the albums seem to be in the single digits in terms of tracks, but even so, some of the tracks are quite long, as you might expect with this genre.
This is a shorter one, less than five minutes, and it's dark and brooding, atmospheric with a kind of threatening feel to it - all instrumental of course, with a heavy, slow, pounding drum beat melding with high crying synth to create quite a soundscape. It's decent, but I suspect our Adam is capable of much better.
Rating: :3stars:
(No video available)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/Saxon_lionheart.jpg)
Title: "Man and Machine"
Artist: Saxon
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Heavy Metal
Nationality: English
Taken from: 16th album
LionheartFamiliarity with artist: Very; I have all their early albums. Not so
au fait with the later ones though.
Familiarity with album: Like this one.
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: Saxon are no-frills, honest and straight-forward. You won't find them trying to write 13-minute songs about dodgy sailors who are too old to get insurance going to sea, or men who come in the night and throw sand in children's eyes. No. Saxon write about the staples - women, beer, bikes and the odd bit of history. Maybe. I mean, hell, I don't know: as I say above, I don't know all their albums, but any band who can write a song about a train and a plane on subsequent albums get my vote! Saxon don't try to reinvent the wheel - they fly down the highway on ones of steel. This is kind of what you'd expect: no-nonsense, unapologetic metal which may not be as polished as Maiden or necessarily as raw as Raven, but they've been doing this for nearly fifty years now and they know what they're at. They'll do for me.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/Ani_DiFranco_-_Which_Side_Are_You_On.png)
Title: "Life Boat"
Artist: Ani Di Franco
Format: Solo artist
Year 2012
Genre: Indie rock/Folk rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: 17th album
Which Side Are You On?Familiarity with artist: I've only heard this one album.
Familiarity with album: I reviewed it once. Didn't think much of it, as I recall.
Familiarity with track: Didn't leave enough of an impression on me, even though it's the opening track.
Comments: Don't ask me where I got this from. Indie rock is not normally my thing, and folk doesn't do a lot for me, but for some reason I downloaded it, and as I say above, when I reviewed it I remember being distinctly underwhelmed. I suppose, with 16 albums under her belt by the time this was released, perhaps expecting a high quality record was asking too much. Or maybe all her music is shite. I don't know. All I know is this left no impression on me. It's a typical low-key, somewhat drab song that reminds me of someone trying to be a star singing this on acoustic guitar in their bedroom. It's probably fine, for what it is, but it ain't for me. As I surely said in the review, in response to the question in the title, not yours, sister. Next!
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Jorn-Dio.jpg)
Title: "Sacred Heart"
Artist: Jorn
Format: Band
Year 2010
Genre: Hard rock
Nationality: Norwegian
Taken from: 7th album
DioFamiliarity with artist: I've heard some songs
Familiarity with album: None, but I'm sure I know all the songs as this is a tribute album.
Familiarity with track: Yes I know it.
Comments: Jorn (not Korn, thank god) are one of the many bands I have to check out more. Like Jaded Heart, First Signal, Bonfire, Panopticon and hundreds more, I like just about everything I hear from them when they come up on playlists, but these days I seldom settle down and listen to a full album, which I should do. This is from, as I say above, an album which pays tribute to that much-missed diminutive rock legend, Ronnie James Dio, and covers music he played with his own band and his time with Black Sabbath and Rainbow. This track is one of his own solo efforts, in fact the title track to his third album. That album I found to be okay, but suffering from a lot of weak tracks, and it sort of pointed the way to my ceasing to listen to or be interested in his further work.
Accusations that Jorn were cashing in on the death of Dio, which occurred only two months before the album was released, were hotly rejected by them, and from the way Jorn Lande, band creator and leader, talks of him you get only admiration and respect for the man from his words, so personally I would say it was just bad timing, but you can see why the accusation was made. Might have been more sensitive to have waited a while. At any rate, of the few good tracks on
Sacred Heart, this is one of them, though perhaps an odd choice, being the only one they cover from that album. I would have suggested "Hungry for Heaven", "Just Another Day" or even the single, "Rock and Roll Children". But this is what they chose, and it's at least not one of the weaker songs. The important thing, of course, is for them to have done a good job and not ruined the song, and I think Jorn succeed here, while reminding us what we lost when Ronnie passed, over fourteen years ago now.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Westlifewestlife.jpg)
Title: "Can't Lose What You Never Had"
Artist: Westlife
Format: Band (allegedly)
Year 1999
Genre: Pap sorry pop
Nationality: Irish, god forgive us!
Taken from: Debut self-titled album
Familiarity with artist: Far more than I wish to, thanks to my brave descent into Boybandland for my journal years ago. The things I do for my art!
Familiarity with album: I assume I reviewed it
Familiarity with track: Forgettable
Comments: Jesus Christ on Autotune! What the fuck are Westlife doing on my PC? Oh yeah, right. That time I had the mad idea to explore the world of boyband music thoroughly. Must have forgotten to delete their albums when I was finished. Let this be a lesson, as Principal Skinner once warned, to recycle frequently. Anyway, this is the last track on the first album they unleashed upon us, and from which they gained many hit singles. This wasn't one. It's not quite sure if it wants to be a ballad or some sort of half-pop rocker. All I'm sure is that I do not want to listen to it again. Puerile. Makes me ashamed to be Irish, it does.
Rating: :2stars:
(https://y.yarn.co/0dc8642c-c9d6-46f8-8d2a-8813a42b30f8_text.gif)
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/584b1340195031340abf081566cd583c/2275620/the-infamous-stringdusters-the-infamous-stringdusters-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Black Rock"
Artist: The Infamous Stringdusters
Format: Band
Year 2008
Genre: Progressive/Acoustic Bluegrass
Nationality: American
Taken from: Second, self-titled album
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: Ah, I do like a bit of bluegrass! Blow away the cloying cobwebs and sticky sentimentality of Westlife. Mind you, what exactly "progressive bluegrass" is I do not know: I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not banks of synthesisers added to lineup, nor do I expect these guys to sing about riding on the back of a dragon or anything! Why they titled their second album eponymously is also something I don't know, but anyway. Plenty of fiddle and banjo, as you'd expect, good fast tempo on the song, definitely makes you want to stomp your feet and holler for another tankard of rotgut! I must admit, I think I hear the progressive bit in there, where there's a sort of slower violin part, which does change the music somewhat. Seems to be an instrumental. Good fun, as it always is with bluegrass. Yee (and may I add, into the bargain) haw!
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Kylie_Minogue_-_Let%27s_Get_to_It.png)
Title: "Right Here, Right Now"
Artist: Kylie Minogue
Format: Solo artist
Year 1991
Genre: Pop
Nationality: Australian
Taken from: 4th album
Let's Get To ItFamiliarity with artist: Well duh!
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: This appears to have been the parting of the ways between Kylie and the "Hit Factory", with Stock, Aiken and Waterman (SAW) finally realising they could not hold back this blonde bombshell and that she was going to do as the album title suggested. She was "allowed" to write six songs herself for the album, and as a result it's more varied than her previous, tightly-controlled ones, and points the way towards her, if you will, musical and artistic emancipation as she broke free and exploded onto the music scene in her own right.
Mind you, I don't know the album. Like everyone, I know her hits and I have a greatest hits album, and I've reviewed two others I think, but that's about as far as my knowledge of her music goes. Though this is one of the songs she collaborated with the tasteless trio on, you can hear their influence still tightly maintained on it, the album apparently sold poorly and Kylie left them behind. The split does not appear to have been amicable, but who's laughing now, guys?
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/PainOfSalvation-Scarsick.jpg)
Title: "Scarsick"
Artist: Pain of Salvation
Format: Band
Year 2007
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: 6th album
ScarsickFamiliarity with artist: I've heard a few albums
Familiarity with album: But not this one
Familiarity with track:Comments: Couldn't call myself a huge fan of the band, but I've heard some good stuff from them. This I feel has a kind of Riverside feel to it, quite uptempo and with guitars leading the charge and then some sort of choral singing, and honestly then I kind of lost interest. I mean, it's okay but it didn't keep my attention and it certainly hasn't given me an epiphany about the band or anything.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/DeadWinterDead.jpg)
Title: "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)"
Artist: Savatage
Format: Band
Year 1995
Genre: Heavy metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: 9th album
Dead Winter DeadFamiliarity with artist: I've heard one album
Familiarity with album: Not this one
Familiarity with track:Comments: I feel Savatage are one of the always-underrated and forgotten bands in the metal scene, certainly in the prog metal one. Their album
The Wake of Magellan is a total masterpiece, and this is the one before that, also a concept album, based around the Bosnian War. This track is an instrumental, which points the way towards Jon Oliva's other project, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It's basically a retreading of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", beginning on mournful cello and then blasting into a guitar and tubular bells (wait, what?) rendition of that other one, can't remember the title, but you can listen to it below. It's a pretty masterful fusion of metal tune and Christmas carols. Easy to see why he went in the direction he would go ten years later, and if you like this try any of the TSO albums, especially
Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Lost Christmas Eve or
The Christmas Attic.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Marillion_misplacedchildhood.jpg)
Title: "Bitter Suite"
Artist: Marillion
Format: Band
Year 1985
Genre: Progressive Rock
Nationality: English/Scottish
Taken from: 3rd album
Misplaced ChildhoodFamiliarity with artist: Total; my second-favourite band
Familiarity with album: One of my all-time favourites of theirs
Familiarity with track: Completely; one of their epics
Comments: Given how much I listen to Marillion, it's perhaps odd that it's taken so long for me to get a random track from them, but it's been worth waiting for. This is one of the two suites (geddit?) on their third album, the concept
Misplaced Childhood, and for those familiar with it, the piece uses the main melody which would be the backbone of their second hit single, "Lavender". It features the usual excellent wordplay from Fish, some great atmospherics and of course wonderful music. Even the title is a pun. Go, Fish! (Yes, another one).
Rating: :5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/d1d8c6f4011d77b87b137ab34ec22f7b/1637973/dalton-injection-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Heartbroken"
Artist: Dalton
Format: Band
Year 1989
Genre: Hard rock/Glam Metal/AOR
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: 2nd alum
InjectionFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: This is interesting. And confusing. This is not the same Dalton we sampled a track from previously, and yet I know nothing of either band. Must have downloaded them both at the same time, thinking they were the same artist. These guys are, or were, Swedish - they broke up in 2014 - and certainly this track at least sounds much more promising than the other Dalton, with a kind of Asia-like synthy intro and it's a pretty high-level lush ballad, which makes me want to listen to more of their music. Very impressed.
Rating: :4.5stars:
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/5/2/8/15282.jpeg)
Title: "Ride of the Daylight"
Artist: Axxis
Format: Band
Year 1999
Genre: Heavy metal
Nationality: German
Taken from: 6th album Pure and Rough
Familiarity with artist: Yes I'm quite familiar with them. I've heard a few of their albums.
Familiarity with album: Think I've heard it
Familiarity with track: But I don't recognise this one.
Comments: Find it hard to pin this album down. RYM haven't got it, nor Discogs, Wiki says it's their sixth but then Metal Archives does have it, but says it's a compilation and that it was released in 2002, not 1999. Not that you or I care, but it's odd how little information there is about it. Also, some of those who have it list this song as "Ride OF the Daylight", but my media player calls it "Ride ON the Daylight". Guess I'll find out once I play it through. Which I'll do now.
Turns out it's a rather nice acoustic ballad, something I've heard Axxis do well before. In fact, I maintain my contention that metal bands often write the best ballads. Right, this isn't quite acoustic - I can hear an electric guitar in there. But it's relaxing, and it's "Ride OF the Daylight", in case you were wondering. Actually picks up a bit later on, but still a ballad, and very enjoyable.
Rating: :4stars:
(No video, strangely. Oh well.)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Styx_-_Man_of_Miracles.jpg)
Title: "A Man Like Me"
Artist: Styx
Format: Band
Year 1974
Genre: Pomp Rock/Hard rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th album
Man of MiraclesFamiliarity with artist: Very little; I know the singles, that's it
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: Like a lot of people I guess, my introduction to Styx was via their number-one hit "Babe", and, similar in ways to Journey, it seems the band got tagged with this "love ballad" label, though the next single, "Mr. Roboto", was certainly no love song! However the fact remains that anyone who isn't a fan or into this style of music probably knows them for those two singles, maybe Dennis DeYoung's "Desert Moon" and little else. I have never particularly had the incentive or desire to explore their catalogue, so this is new to me. It doesn't change my mind. Very basic hard rock, sort of I don't know? Very early Yes, bit of Kiss, maybe GnR. Ah I don't know. It is, basically, nothing special at all.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/c323c9824aa2c28b73f575e7874dd08a/5938131/forest-moon-a-northern-star-a-perfect-stone-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Carbon Scores and Smoke"
Artist: Forest Moon
Format: Solo artist
Year 2015
Genre: Indie Folk
Nationality: Canadian
Taken from: Debut album
A Northern Star, a Perfect StoneFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: While trying to track this down I came across two other artists for whom I thought the name would have been just as appropriate, one a black metal band from Colombia (come on! It has that sort of long-winded pomposity that black metal seems to love, doesn't it?) and the other an ambient American band, but apparently no; neither of those far more interesting artists is what the random gods have thrown my way today. Rather, they've chosen, in their wisdom (or drunkenness) to give me ... indie folk!
Now, I'm prefacing this with a sort of rant about why I don't like this genre, so it will be quite funny if I end up liking the track. Though as Mr. Burns said once, not bloody likely! I just find indie folk usually depressing and dull, and very much up itself. I guess we'll see. Roll, as they say, the tape. Well I will say it's a little more upbeat that I expected, with banjo and some sort of maybe castanets or something like that. Quite pleasant so far. Perhaps if he doesn't start singing. Does he sing? Let's see, oh dear yes he does. That is one seriously falsetto voice! Came as quite a shock, and had I not known it was a man etc. Still, nowhere as bad as I had expected, and considering it runs for over six minutes, that's something. Nice bit of trumpet in there, and I see he plays a lot of instruments. Good for him.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dd/Theli.jpg)
Title: "The Siren of the Woods"
Artist: Therion
Format: Band
Year 1996
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: 5th album
TheliFamiliarity with artist: Very little; hardly any
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: Therion are one of those bands I know of but have heard nothing from, and I always got the feeling they were more on the extreme metal side of things, though I think I may have been mixing them up with Cirith Ungol or Celtic Frost for some reason. I mean, if it's symphonic metal, it can't be that extreme, now can it?
Can it? No, it can't. In fact it's very relaxed and laid back, almost acoustic with a very definite nod to Pink Floyd's "Echoes". Nice female vocal too. Like this a lot, though I would imagine maybe it's not typical of the band? Very sort of ethnic feel to it. Must listen to more of these guys. I'll put it on the list. That list is growing longer every month.
Rating: :4stars:
Title: "Etude for Piano No. 9 in F Minor, Op. 10"
Artist: Frederic Chopin
Format: Composer
Year 1829
Genre: Classical
Nationality: Polish
Taken from: N/A
Familiarity with artist: Duh
Familiarity with album: N/A
Familiarity with track: Yes very
Comments: I know my Chopin, but not all of his compositions. This one is quite famous and so I of course recognise it; kind of the quintessential chamber music you'll hear in movies set in the 19th century. Not much else I can tell you about it, but definitely worth a listen, as is just about anything he wrote.
Rating: :5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/The-Coral-The-Coral-220494.jpg)
Title: "Wildfire"
Artist: The Coral
Format: Band
Year 2002
Genre: Neo-psychedelia/Folk Rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: Debut self-titled album
Familiarity with artist: I've heard one album
Familiarity with album: This is it
Familiarity with track: But I only heard it once so I don't remember any of the tracks.
Comments: I do remember being very impressed with what I heard though, almost on a par, if I recall, to how I felt after hearing The Maccabees for the first time. This is a short little track with an edge of seventies rock, maybe even psych or space rock; sharp guitars, deep lush organ, but it doesn't impress me the way I think other tracks on the album did.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/ZiggyStardust.jpg)
Title: "Hang on to Yourself"
Artist: David Bowie
Format: Solo artist (RIP)
Year 1972
Genre: Glam rock/Proto-punk
Nationality: English
Taken from: 5th album
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from MarsFamiliarity with artist: I may have heard the odd tune (!)
Familiarity with album: Love it
Familiarity with track: Not my favourite, but is there a bad track on that album?
Comments: Comment? You want comment? Just listen to it, son. It's Bowie at his whacked-out best, when songs like "Starman", "Rock'n'Roll Suicide", "Suffragette City" and the title track made us all look up and say, uh, wha? The world would never be the same again.
Rating: :5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/68e6e2f7f656766535a614df47130efe/4116399/iron-fire-voyage-of-the-damned-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Voyage of the Damned"
Artist: Iron Fire
Format: Band
Year 2012
Genre: Symphonic Metal/Power Metal
Nationality: Danish
Taken from: 7th album
Voyage of the DamnedFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: I must say, the album cover looks cool, and if I hadn't already checked I would have said maybe Viking Metal? Well apparently the album is a concept based around science fiction, so maybe not. Certainly gave me that impression though. I definitely hear a lot of progressive metal in here too, and in fact I think I'd dump the Power Metal tag and label this Symphonic/Prog Metal if it were me. There are none of the galloping drums, squealing keyboards or dark intonations that are so endemic to PM, and this fits much more into the prog metal frame for me. The dark, almost-but-not-quite-unclean vocals sprinkled over the track do nod back to symphonic metal, though it's odd to hear what sounds like Robbie Williams singing! :laughing: Yeah it's a long track - over ten minutes - but does make me want to hear more.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/b0276b89fd34018f9ca773a9d828aa63/1962038/ednita-nazario-super-exitos-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "De todos modos"
Artist: Ednita Nazarios with Russell Hitchcock
Format: Solo artist
Year 1995
Genre: Latin Pop
Nationality: Puerto Rican
Taken from: 2nd compilation album
Super ExitosFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: When I was listening to yesterday's track I accidentally hit next instead of play. Imagine my surprise when Danish metal band Iron Fire began singing in a sweet female voice in Spanish! I have no idea who this lady is, or why I have her album(s), but I do recognise Hitchcock - he's one half of Air bloody Supply, whose discography refuses to be deleted from my ipod Classic (mostly as it's too much hassle, thank you itunes!) so I'm kind of predisposed to hate it. But let's see what it's like, and how much input Russ has on it. It's not too bad actually, reminds me of a Latin Jennifer Rush. Waiting for Hitchcock to supply (geddit?) the other vocal, not hearing him though. Surprised they bothered crediting him. Unless that was him on the guitar? Does he play guitar? No, it doesn't seem so. Well fuck him then: I can't see he adds anything to this.
The song itself is decent enough, nothing special, nice little ballad and she has a good voice. I imagine the title translates to something like "always" or "in every way" or something like that. Hey, it wouldn't make me want to go listening to her other albums, but I also wouldn't mind hearing more.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Newton_Faulkner.jpg)
Title: "Feels Like Home"
Artist: Newton Faulkner
Format: Solo artist
Year 2007
Genre: Folk Rock/Pop Rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: Debut album
Hand Built by RobotsFamiliarity with artist: A little; I've reviewed one album
Familiarity with album: This was it
Familiarity with track: But I wasn't sufficiently impressed to remember any track
Comments: Apart from the interesting name (anyone else called Newton you know?) I find this pretty generic and actually almost this side of boring. There's nothing wrong with it,
per se, but there's nothing special about it either. It's just kind of meh.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Bon_Jovi_7800_Fahrenheit.jpg)
Title: "In and Out of Love"
Artist: Bon Jovi
Format: Band
Year 1985
Genre: Pop-Rock/Hard Rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: 2nd album
7800 FahrenheitFamiliarity with artist: Total; love these guys
Familiarity with album: Very familiar; but probably my least favourite in their discography
Familiarity with track: I'm familiar with it
Comments: Oh cruel fate how you mock me! Of all the albums to choose! There's no doubt that
7800 Fahrenheit is their worst album - even the band admit it - with about maybe four good songs on it. Honestly, if this was to have been your introduction to Bon Jovi, you'd never listen to them again. Considering how superior their - still flawed - debut is, I find it hard to understand how they could have turned out what is basically the turd in their catalogue, but there it is. The opening track, this is about as generic, heads-down, titter-titter-sing-about-girl as you can get. It's pretty poor, and to be fair, about half the album could have been jettisoned without losing anything. Oh well. Hopefully next time they come up it'll be a better track.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/9867/cover_93141972016_r.JPG)
Title: "Know..."
Artist: Anderson/Stolt
Format: Duo
Year 2016
Genre: Symphonic Prog
Nationality: English/Swedish
Taken from: Debut album
Invention of KnowledgeFamiliarity with artist: Very familiar with Anderson, not so much with Stolt
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: An interesting idea, to team up two giants of the prog world. Jon Anderson will need no introduction of course, as the leading light behind prog supergiants Yes, while Roine Stolt is known mostly as the main driver of Swedish prog band The Flower Kings. Anderson has collaborated with other artists of course, most notably Vangelis, and fellow Yes alumnus Rick Wakeman. It's hard though to hear him sing on anything and not feel it's primarily his music, and as I'm not familiar enough with the music of the Flower Kings, it does sound like an Anderson solo project to me. Which is no bad thing. Quite a long track, but then, in typical Anderson/Yes fashion, this album consists of four epic suites, of which this is the last.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Ayreon_-_Dream_Sequencer.jpg)
Title: "Dream Sequencer (Reprise)"
Artist: Ayreon
Format: Band
Year 2000
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: Dutch
Taken from: 4th album
Universal Migrator Part I: The Dream SequencerFamiliarity with artist: I've heard their work
Familiarity with album: Not very
Familiarity with track: Not at all
Comments: Ayreon give me, how can I put this? A pain in my hole. They always seem very overblown, and while the music is good, it's very forgettable. I've listened to a few of their albums and never yet come away with anything I remember or thought, wow that was good. This is, at least, an instrumental, which is something. Maybe. Yeah it's decent enough. What a ringing endorsement, eh? Well, someone show me why I should care about Ayreon.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/35e36d2f5bbb5bbb5674c5824a8f7e3c/4285383/borealis-voidness-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Nightfall"
Artist: Borealis
Format: Band
Year 2012
Genre: Ambient/IDM
Nationality: Canadian
Taken from: Debut album
VoidnessFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: Strangely enough, there are three artists I came across with this name, and all are Canadian! What are the chances? This is a fairly nice low-key synthy ambient piece which builds rather well, giving the idea it might break out at any moment into a trancy dance thing, but it doesn't. I think I heard basic vocals there somewhere in the mix, but don't quote me. Evocative, certainly, but not really that much in it for me to judge.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/Native_Invader.png)
Title: "Broken Arrow"
Artist: Tori Amos
Format: Solo artist
Year 2017
Genre: Alt-Rock/Pop-rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: 15th album
Native InvaderFamiliarity with artist: I've heard one or two tracks
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: I don't even think I
like Tori Amos, so what am I doing with her discography on my computer? Who knows: there are things there that have no business being there, and maybe this is another. Sounds like some sort of talk-box beginning, a feeling of soul maybe, then it resolves into an organ-driven ballad. People say she sounds a lot like Kate Bush, and I can hear it. I guess it's okay but I wouldn't be mad about it. Certainly won't be rushing to listen to the rest of her music, that's for sure.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/12125/cover_473313162022_r.jpg)
Title: "November"
Artist: Astronid
Format: Band
Year 2012
Genre: Post-metal/Experimental metal/Post-black metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: 1st EP November
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:
Familiarity with track:
Comments: I've grown to like post-metal and even more so post-black metal, so this might be fun. An EP with only two tracks on it, this is one of them. It's got the black metal heaviness and punch in it for sure, and surprisingly to me has vocals, and even more surprisingly they're intelligible ones, if a little far down in the mix, sort of drowned in the wall of guitars. Yeah. I like it. Unfortunately, even though I spelled it right, YouTube keeps giving me videos of asteroids. Sigh.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Ayreon_-_01011001.jpg)
Title: "Age of Shadows"
Artist: Ayreon
Format: Band
Year 2008
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: Dutch
Taken from: 7th album
01001001Familiarity with artist: See last time
Familiarity with album: Not much
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: Ah for fuck's sake! Do the random gods of music hate me that much? Guess they do, as here we are, only four days later, with another fucking Ayreon track! Talk about having it rammed down your throat! Another 10-minute epic, this time from a different album. Do I care? You know, I try. I do. But Ayreon persist in being byzantine, overblown and pretentious, resisting all efforts to enjoy their music and making each time more a case of endurance for me. As someone once said, if only I cared.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/314e539098cfa50d75f76232126e9e4d/1862359/blind-guardian-another-stranger-me-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Lionheart"
Artist: Blind Guardian
Format: Band
Year 2007
Genre: Power Metal
Nationality: German
Taken from: 3rd EP
Another Stranger MeFamiliarity with artist: I'm aware of their work
Familiarity with album: It's not an album, and I had to search a few sites before I could find it.
Familiarity with track:Comments: From Progressive Metal to Power Metal, some might say unkindly from progressive to regressive. I've gone on before about how formulaic power metal is, but Blind Guardian do at least break the mould slightly. With their take on sword and sorcery and fantasy mostly referring to
The Lord of the Rings, they're kind of a blend of Power and Symphonic Metal. I hear a kind of Magnum idea here too. It's decent, but you know, nothing all that different to a lot of Power Metal, though the chants kind of almost push it an inch or two in the direction of Viking Metal too. Good stuff, if not great stuff.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/BoyzIIMen-II-Cover.jpg)
Title: "I Sit Away"
Artist: Boys II Men
Format: Band
Year 1994
Genre: R&B/Soul/Pop
Nationality: American
Taken from: 3rd album
IIFamiliarity with artist: Very little
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: Another album whose presence is a mystery on my disk. Maybe it was for my boyband thing? I don't think I covered them in that though. Well, for whatever reason, it's there and the random-o-meter has spun around to it, so here we go. Seems a fairly jazzy, upbeat song with a half-ballad idea in it. A bit boring, a bit sulky. Not really my kind of thing at all. Tempted to rename it, but I won't.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/3/4/8/0/34801.jpg?4116)
Title: "Naschtok is Born"
Artist: Aina
Format: Band
Year 2003
Genre: Power metal
Nationality: German
Taken from: Debut (and only) album
Days of Rising DoomFamiliarity with artist: I've heard the album
Familiarity with album: As I say
Familiarity with track: But didn't think much of it
Comments: Rock operas can be hit-and-miss, so much more so metal operas, but if there are two subgenres at least suited to the latter then it would be power metal or symphonic metal. This is a bit of both, but that's kind of the problem. Aina (who, I think and don't really care, are some sort of so-called supergroup made up of members from other power metal bands) try to be all things to all men, and kind of fall between the stools in so doing. I listened to the album once, found I was very unimpressed with it, and never picked it up again. Of course, being an opera, you need to follow the plot, and taking one track out of context will always weaken its appreciation, but rest assured: the opera ain't that good, so you're definitely not missing anything. Basically, if you hate power metal you'll hate this, if you love power metal you'll be well aware there is far better available than this. Mediocre, at best.
Rating: :2stars:
Looks like this got past me yesterday, so here's a two-fer.
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/4/5/3/5/4535.jpg?3335)
Title: "Prayers of Steel"
Artist: Avenger
Format: Band
Year 1985
Genre: Power metal
Nationality: German
Taken from: Debut (and only) album of the same name
Familiarity with artist: In name only
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: Oh you just have to cringe at these eighties power metal band names don't you? I mean, come on! Avenger?
Prayers of fucking Steel? Do me a lemon! No wonder nobody took them seriously. Seems after their prayers of steel went unanswered they changed their name to Furious Rage, then must have realised either that the first word is superfluous (you can't be in a calm rage can you? Controlled maybe) or that they weren't quite that angry and became just Rage. Oh ho ho. Did they do any better with their new name? Hell yes they did! 25 albums, 5 compilation albums, 4 live albums and no less than 8 boxsets! Guess all they needed was a name change after all. Fair play to them. And still recording and gigging today. Who would have believed it?
As for their Avenger days, well, look, with titles on this album such as "Swords Made of Steel" (certainly better than fellow power metal band Slightly Miffed's inferior "Swords Made of Butter"), "Assorted by Satan" and, um, "Faster than Hell", you know what you're in for. Just try to keep the chuckling to a minimum, huh? I think it's either meant to be a thunderstorm or the roar of some fearsome beast, but it sounds more like they're rolling steel barrels down a flight of steps! To be fair, they're not what I'd call standard power metal, more a sense of Saxon or Angelwitch about them. Hard and heavy, for sure. Ah, there's talent in there; they just had to change the silly name and they were on their way. Feel a bit bad for pre-judging them and slagging them off now. Though not
that bad.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/1/8/0/118099.jpg?2331)
Title: "In Dreams"
Artist: Ancient Cross
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Debut (and only) album
Ancient CrossFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: Isn't that odd? Two artists who had only one album (well, under that name anyway). All right, I cheated slightly, but they brought up another fucking Ayreon track and I will be triple cursed and damned before I will listen to another fucking Ayreon track, so sue me. This sounds better anyway. Well, the long-drawn-out death rattle of a man dying from terminal flatulence sounds better than having to listen to another bleeding Ayreon song! Kicks up into a pretty sub-Maiden riff though soon enough, and perhaps there's a reason these guys had one album and were then heard from no more. Did they, too, change their name, and go on to be very successful indeed? No. No, they did not. Seriously, how you can label a band "active" when their last release was over 20 years ago is beyond me, but then, that's EM for you. This is okay, but it's nothing you haven't heard a million times before, and better too.
Rating: :3stars:
Looks like I did it again. On the double, then...
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Omni_angra.jpg)
Title: "Magic Mirror"
Artist: Angra
Format: Band
Year 2018
Genre: Progressive metal/Power metal
Nationality: Brazilian
Taken from: 9th album
OmniFamiliarity with artist: I'm aware of their work
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: I tell ya, these RTOTD picks are making it look like I have only power and prog metal in my collection. I do have a lot of it, but the more interesting music just isn't being picked. Oh well. Kind of reminds me of a cross between Threshold and Kamelot. If that means nothing to you, I hate you. There are some nice group choruses and also a somewhat embarrassing attempt at "unclean vocals". Interesting: I don't see any keyboard player on this album, nor do I hear any on this song. Always assumed they were vital in a prog or power metal band. Doesn't really sound like the song loses by their absence though. Not bad. Oh no wait: there's a piano passage. And a definite synth backing. Must just not be credited.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2412534360_16.jpg)
Title: "Watchers Eyes"
Artist: Black Tower White Mountain
Format: Band
Year 2018
Genre: Drone/Post-rock/Stoner rock/Ambient
Nationality: American
Taken from: 2nd album
Wall of GlassFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: I had to search and search for this, and finally, having exhausted all my usual sources, checked out Bandcamp, where I found these guys. Recorded, they say, in the "spirit of fun", the album was recorded in, and I quote, a 12x10 bedroom, over two months. The boys cite Kyuss and Sleep as two of their influences, and as you can see, their music seems to range across quite a few genres. This one comes across as perhaps acoustic drone with some stoner thrown in, and I guess if you like the aforementioned bands you may like this. It's good I'm sure, but really not for me personally. Unsurprisingly, no YouTube, but you can check out their bandcamp page below.
Rating: :3stars:
https://blacktowerwhitemountain.bandcamp.com/album/wall-of-glass
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/9/6/4/296467.jpg?2050)
Title: "Drop the Bomb"
Artist: Bloodbound
Format: Band
Year 2011
Genre: Power metal
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: 3rd album
Unholy CrossFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: You know, I don't think these guys know what power metal is all about. They have titles on their albums that seem to speak more to death/doom/thrash or even black metal -
Nosferatu, Book of the Dead and this one - and they sound more in the mould of thrash metal to me than power; heavy, grinding guitars, coarse vocals (as in, raw sounding voice, not lyrics based on questionable subjects), and I would see them more as a cross between maybe Saxon and Maiden, with a bit of Kreator thrown in. Even their name is hardly power metal - Bloodbound? Sounds very black metal. Hmm. They have keyboards but at least on this track you don't hear them much. It's not a bad song, and to be fair, not at all derivative, as I've been constantly going on at power metal for being, and it's relatively catchy too. Not half bad, as the man says. Nice to hear someone breaking out of the often-rigid power metal tropes. If they are power metal. Which I doubt.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/f9b6f1995b17ea98e4a65a186ae863e3/5340628/air-music-for-museum-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Angel Palace"
Artist: Air
Format: Duo
Year 2014
Genre: Ambient
Nationality: French
Taken from: 4th EP
Music for MuseumFamiliarity with artist: Quite a bit
Familiarity with album: Not so much
Familiarity with track: Don't know this
Comments: Finally, something without a shred of metal in it. I would have said anything with 9 tracks on it would be more an album than an EP, but apparently the French duo consider this to be the latter. As you'd expect, if you know Air, the music is very minimalist and ambient, atmospheric and ethereal. As they say, music for museums. For what it is though, I think 10 minutes it way too long.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/3145/cover_25571520102018_r.jpg)
Title: "Endless Silence"
Artist: Also Eden
Format: Band
Year 2013
Genre: Progressive Rock
Nationality: English
Taken from: 4th album [Redacted]
Familiarity with artist: Some; I've heard their music
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track:
Comments: Yet another prog rock track turns up on the randomiser. Very what they call neo-prog this, a lot of Marillion and Genesis in it, quite atmospheric, nice and laid back. The singer reminds me so much of Tim Bowness that I would swear it's him, except I know it's not. High praise indeed. No video appears to be available, sadly.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Bachman-Turner_Overdrive_-_Freeways.jpg)
Title: "Easy Groove"
Artist: Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Format: Band
Year 1977
Genre: Hard rock
Nationality: Canadian
Taken from: 6th album
FreewaysFamiliarity with artist: Very little; I know the singles
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track:Comments: Everyone knows BTO for the hits "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and "Taking Care of Business", but that's about all I know of their music. This album apparently was their first to be a commercial flop, so it's unlikely that, unless you're a fan of theirs, you'll know this one. Honestly, I can see why the album failed to impress. Despite the genre tag used, this is about as heavy rock as ABBA: more like some sort of Canadian bastardised soul or something. There even seems to be an orchestra involved here. Certainly not a song you'd pick out, were you presented it without any idea where it had come from, as one of the Canadian band's compositions. Good for what it is, but unrecognisable as BTO.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/230fcffe6f049126fcf8d39a1880ce3b/4248853/david-arkenstone-celtic-journeys-a-david-arkenstone-celtic-collection-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Call of the Sea"
Artist: David Arkenstone
Format: Composer
Year 2011
Genre: Celtic/New Age
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th compilation album
Celtic Journeys: A David Arkenstone Celtic CollectionFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: You either like new age or you don't. Pair it with Celtic stylings, and if you like it, you probably love it. I know I do. The sort of music you could hear being played as a backdrop to ancient Irish folk tales or even a fantasy series like
Lord of the Rings or
The Last Kingdom, but with some added punch from drum machines and synthesisers.
Rating: :3.5stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Blind_Guardian_Twilight_Orchestra_-_Legacy_of_the_Dark_Lands.png)
Title: "War Feeds War"
Artist: Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra
Format: Orchestra
Year 2019
Genre: Orchestral
Nationality: German
Taken from: 11th Blind Guardian (and debut and only Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra) album
Legacy of the Dark LandsFamiliarity with artist: A little, not much
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track:Comments: Interesting idea. Power/symphonic metal band Blind Guardian go the whole hog and record with an orchestra. Not only that, they write a concept album based around Solomon Kane in the Thirty Years War. Yeah, me neither, but it's an intriguing concept. The orchestra certainly changes the direction of BG's music while yet retaining the drama and grandeur of it. This is an instrumental, so basically I guess think of it as film music.
Rating: :4stars:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Bon_Jovi_100_Million_Bon_Jovi_Fans.jpg)
Title: "Flesh and Bone"
Artist: Bon Jovi
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Pop rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: Boxset
100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be WrongFamiliarity with artist: Total; love this band
Familiarity with album: I've never listened to it all the way through but I've heard a lot of it on playlists
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: Box set compilations of rarities, out-takes, B-sides and unreleased material can be a very hit-and-miss affair, and while I've, as I say above, not listened to this all the way through, even for a die hard Bon Jovi fan, there's a lot of dross here. There are also some shining jewels. Which category does this fall into? Sort of the former. It's nothing special, and they do use the middle-eighth/guitar solo from "Keep the Faith", which is a bit disappointing.
Rating: :2.5stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/7dbea88ca572a5a42bf06cc22c763f6f/2506695/alien-skin-dont-open-till-doomsday-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "The Outer Limits"
Artist: Alien Skin
Format: Solo artist
Year 2008
Genre: Synthpop
Nationality: Australian
Taken from: Debut album
Don't Open Till DoomsdayFamiliarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album:Familiarity with track:Comments: The brainchild of Australian composer George Pappas, who seems to have had quite a prolific career, releasing over 15 albums, sometimes two in the same year. This sounds fairly ambient, with a bass line very reminiscent of Pendragon circa
Men Who Climb Mountains. Kicks up soon into a fairly uptempo (if not upbeat) synthy tune. Not bad. I hear some Alan Parsons Project in here too. Apparently he was with a band called Real Life? Means nothing to me.
Rating: :3stars:
(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/5f07538cf7dd0ff11fdea6ea81b854f8/1296628/boston-corporate-america-Cover-Art.jpg)
Title: "Livin' for You" (live)
Artist: Boston
Format: Band
Year 2002
Genre: Pop rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: 5th album
Corporate AmericaFamiliarity with artist: Very familiar
Familiarity with album: I've heard it
Familiarity with track: But not this track, which is from another album
Comments: I think it would be fair to say Boston are a band who are hostage to their own early success, and have been damned by it ever since. Anyone who's heard the self-titled debut will agree it's always going to be their best album, and the follow up was dismal to the max.
Third Stage came close to reaching the heights of that debut, but fell slightly short. After that, I kind of lost interest. I've heard this album once, for review, and don't remember being particularly impressed by it; this view seems to be borne out by not only critics and reviewers, but band leader Tom Scholtz himself, who called the album a "disaster" and even went so far as to sue the record label for poor promotion.
At any rate, in some ways that's all moot, because this track is from the fourth album,
Walk On, which I don't think I know at all. It has a nice "Foreplay"-style keyboard intro, and is one of their many ballads. In fairness, it's not bad, and probably better than much on the actual fifth album. It's hard though to listen to any Boston song without wanting to close your eyes and slip awaay-aay-ayyy!
Rating: :3.5stars: