The Album Club: Hard Reset

[Lisnaholic]

Review of:-



With only 6 tracks, a track-by-track review is easiest, I think:-
1. La Reina: some interesting sounds at the very start, but then the depressing pace sets in. Some people like slow-moving ambient music, but not me: I find it just never suits my mood these days.
2. March In Colony: this track was better, with some low-register jazz runs on what? an oboe? They were pretty cool
3. Microfungal Expansion: Back to ambient soundscapes which I find kind of irritating. This track includes some whispering that you can't quite make out, which I find particularly annoying. The leading vocal lady contributes a motif of ah-ha-ha-hum, but then the track really picks up with some Don Cherry style sax playing.
4. Atta Cephalotes: I left the room during most of this track: did I miss the album highlight? I'd say "no" judging from what I did hear of this one, but feel free to correct me.
5. Red Water: Lots of ambient sounds, which, perhaps cleverly, made me think of water, but also of crackling at the same time. The girl with the disembodied voice comes back, with "i-ha-i-ha". Given how varied non-verbal singing can be, I find it disappointing that the vocal contribution here and on track 3 are so unimaginative that they sound like warm-up exercises.
6. Funeral De Zompopa: This track starts with what sounds like a mosquito, so once more the soundscape is, for me, more annoying than mysterious. The track does improve, especially when the moody sax comes back again.

For me, there were about two tracks, or more precisely, three halves of tracks which I quite liked, so I'm going for a generous 2/10 for this album. I'm also going back to a cd by Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Emsemble that I have: I want to make a comparison with a band that has a pretty similar vibe, imo. 

[DJChameleon]

Current album has changed today. Now that we finished up the old list of recommendations. We can go back to waiting two weeks between switching albums.

Emerald Web - Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales (1979) is the new one. I need to just update the album cover in the OP.

We will have two weeks to cover it. One week to listen and one week to review of course at your own pace if you feel like dropping the review earlier.

Also we still need more recommendations as well from the other active members. Mrs. Waffles gave me two which I appreciate.

[Lexi Darling]

And here's a link to the album playlist on YouTube, I wasn't sure what streaming services it's on, but I did find this official YT upload so here you go!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kErPWGhUdeUpKNuK9cQf3pbyfrzjYmlEA

[DJChameleon]

OP updated.

[Lisnaholic]

I'd like to nominate the album Locomotora by Blops (1973).
Also Bright Green Field by Squid (2021)

[Lexi Darling]

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to review our own albums or not, but I'm intimately familiar with this one anyway so here goes.

Emerald Web - Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales (1979)

I love fantasy themes in music so much. I also love synthesizers, and this album combines those to create a very mystical vibe that really hits a sweet spot in the nexus of my aesthetic tastes. Sweeping string and synth brass parts, gentle twinkly arpeggios and sequences, and soaring flute solos dot the landscape here, and it's all very pretty ear candy, or as some might say "airy fairy nonsense". But I honestly think this album is an interesting precursor to, though probably not an actual influence on, the dungeon synth movement. As a fan of that genre, it's so cool to see that 15 years before it became a widespread thing, there were people like Emerald Web. They were a husband and wife duo, and I admit that does endear me more to their music in a way, as a hopeless romantic myself.

You can hear shades of Tangerine Dream, echoes of early 70s prog and psychedelic folk, and the traces of what would explode in the decade to come as new age music. I consider the 70s and early to mid 80s as a golden age for electronic and synthesizer music, and this album is a magical and beautiful example of that. The synth sounds and overall vibe are definitely a dated relic of the 70s, but it's a treasured relic that belongs in a golden shrine in the Temple of Synth.

I don't like giving ratings, but it's suggested in the OP, so I give this album 4 stars out of 5, or 4.5 if we're doing half stars.

[DJChameleon]

Yes by all means review your own albums that's perfectly fine. I do it but also if you don't feel like it and have discussed it previously on MB multiple times that's cool too.

[Lisnaholic]

Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales:

I've listened to this album 3 times and I enjoyed it more each time I played it. I think that's to do with knowing what to expect, and therefore being able to focus on the quality of the music' s quiet, beautiful details.

At first listen, the album felt a little weak overall; there aren't any immediately catchy tracks or blow-your-head-off moments and I felt that the first five tracks were rather short and didn't go anywhere. Dragon Rising opens with nice solo flute and has a great moment that really wakes your ears up, but elsewhere there was perhaps too much delicacy about the singing and synth playing. Things improved with Lifeforce Celebration, which is a longer, lightly jazzy track which reminded me of Tangerine Dream.

After Lifeforce came a block of about four tracks which were pleasant, but unexceptional, until we get to halfway through Chasing The Shadowbeast. This is where Emerald Web finally turn the dial on their synthesizer up to 11, and this to me is the high-point of the album.

But what I discovered after a couple of listenings was that there was a lot more to the tracks I was dismissing: beautiful singing and dramatic synth effects in Flight of the Raven while the slower tracks (Loosing of the Shadows, Powerstone) contribute to the whole in a relaxing way, making this a very enjoyable listen: soothing rather than exciting, but that's fine: 8/10

[Lexi Darling]

Lovely writeup, glad you enjoyed it! I agree that Chasing the Shadowbeast is the album's finest hour.

I often put this album on while going about my routine during crisp autumn mornings and I find it really shines in that context.

[Lisnaholic]

^ Thanks, Mrs. Waffles - and thanks for the recommendation. I'm sure I will be playing Dragon Wings again.

Your review was also interesting to read, and you make some good points about how the music was an early precursor in evoking a certain kind of fantasy world, which in fact it does quite well.

[DJChameleon]

Oops I'm a little late with switching to the next album that should've been done on Monday. I had a super busy week.

Next up is the Michael album from Killer Mike.

I re-listened to it AND also Mrs. Waffles's album so I might as well write about both of them now and get it out of the way.

Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales
I'm so glad that I listened to this on the way to the gym and not AT the gym. I would have definitely soured on it or had a bad first impression. I do feel like I want to give it a couple more listens because I think I missed out on the last few tracks of the album or I wasn't paying attention. It seemed to end abruptly but that's completely my fault and not a critique of the album or the music itself. I definitely felt like this was the soundtrack to a fantasy esque story. I had images of Night elves and gnomes getting together to have a shindig in my head. I would play this album during a DND session as background music that's how lovely it was.



Michael
So I have been listening to this album since it was first released like crazy. I didn't realize that it was going to be like a hip hop gospel album. The choir is featured promptly on a few tracks but a majority of the tracks just speak to me and my personality. On the track Run, he self censors himself to say better instead of the N word and it always feels off because when I first heard the single it was just the N word. On that track Dave Chappelle also gives a great intro speech that I feel like I would use if and when I decide to run for a political office position. Since my mother has passed I super related to the track "Motherless", even though my grandmother is still alive and kicking which is the slight difference between Killer Mike and I. Andre 3000 comes out of his dungeon to toss Killer Mike a feature and it certainly doesn't disappoint. I always love to hear Andre 3k pop up in different places but it just makes me sad because I know that he isn't working towards putting out another Outkast project. I'm sure by the end of the year when I get my yearly music wrap up this album will be in the top 3 most listened to by me.

[Lisnaholic]

Michael by Killer Mike:

Well, this was an interesting eye-opener of an album for me, DJ, so thanks for sharing it with us. It's not something my algorithms would normally select for me.

I have to say, my heart sank a little to realise I was in for an album of largely rap, because I don't enjoy that kind of rapid-fire delivery of lines. It wears me out, and I find myself saying, "If you want me to register the words, please slow down!"

In fact, Killer Mike does that once, on Shed Tears, where the music pauses to highlight this great, heart-felt line: "I shed tears every morning in the bathroom mirror, face to face with Fate." If only the album had more moments like that. Instead, there are chunks of spoken word, that I'm not generally keen on in music, and ditto bad language. On the plus side, on Slummer and elsewhere there are some cool female backing vocals which I really liked.

TBH, I've only played about half the album, and although I liked the repetition of the line, "Run, better run" on Run, in the end I just needed a  break from so much hip-hop. I might go back to the album to give it another go because I noticed a lot of clever lyrics and how Killer Mike was expressing what seems to be his own genuine experience and frustration. That's powerful stuff, and a lot of musicians don't attempt that kind of personal honesty. For me the consistent problem was the speed: he was rushing through each song too fast for me to enjoy what he was saying. Singing is like sex - it isn't always about "do it as fast as you can"

If we're still giving numbers, this is about 3.5 out of 10  from me, I'm afraid.

[DJChameleon]

Michael by Killer Mike:

Well, this was an interesting eye-opener of an album for me, DJ, so thanks for sharing it with us. It's not something my algorithms would normally select for me.

I have to say, my heart sank a little to realise I was in for an album of largely rap, because I don't enjoy that kind of rapid-fire delivery of lines. It wears me out, and I find myself saying, "If you want me to register the words, please slow down!"

In fact, Killer Mike does that once, on Shed Tears, where the music pauses to highlight this great, heart-felt line: "I shed tears every morning in the bathroom mirror, face to face with Fate." If only the album had more moments like that. Instead, there are chunks of spoken word, that I'm not generally keen on in music, and ditto bad language. On the plus side, on Slummer and elsewhere there are some cool female backing vocals which I really liked.

TBH, I've only played about half the album, and although I liked the repetition of the line, "Run, better run" on Run, in the end I just needed a  break from so much hip-hop. I might go back to the album to give it another go because I noticed a lot of clever lyrics and how Killer Mike was expressing what seems to be his own genuine experience and frustration. That's powerful stuff, and a lot of musicians don't attempt that kind of personal honesty. For me the consistent problem was the speed: he was rushing through each song too fast for me to enjoy what he was saying. Singing is like sex - it isn't always about "do it as fast as you can"

If we're still giving numbers, this is about 3.5 out of 10 from me, I'm afraid.

that's fine the rating I mean. It's not gonna be everyone's cup of tea. I thought you'd appreciate the backing choir vocals on a couple of the tracks. There is another slower one near the end when he talks about his mother and grandmother.

Also I'm going to update the OP because we are now moving onto King Gorm I believe. Lemme double check.

[Lexi Darling]

Ah, apologies for not getting around to doing the Killer Mike album. I can throw it on in a bit after I'm done restocking some stuff around the house if you want.

[DJChameleon]

yeah that's cool take your time.