More Music Cleared

I burnt through and discarded about 20 albums on Sunday.
I managed to hook up my speakers to my laptop to give me a better sound, and tested them by playing my favourite Iron Maiden album, Somewhere in Time.
I was surprised that after a listen through I discarded Quiet Riot seeing as Im both a huge fan of Randy Rhoads and Frankie Banali. I guess greatness came after QR disbanded.
Most of the music I listened to was Psychedelic and Stoner rock in style.
I also updated my Motorhead discography and got rid of a couple of duplicate albums, and also ensured the music I did have was 320 bit rate.

World Music Musicians and Why I Hate It

More of an observational rant rather than anything serious.

There was, and still is, a trend for 1980's musicians to engage and adopt world music styles into their own music or change musical direction and become world musicians themselves. In their eyes it is the equivalent of their maturing musical identity, to the rest of us its either an interesting reworking of their sound, or utter rubbish.

Im going to name names, and these are normally good musicians who have become worse in my view rather than better.

Paul Simon - while I don't think he has done anything better since his days as a duo with Garfunkle, his Graceland album (which I detest) has many world music elements that it doesnt quite gel as a pleasurable listening experience, and seeing him in concert now is akin to watching an Africaan Dance music festival.

Sting - I tolerate his world music as he is one of the few who has made it work, but he does go overboard on his concerts.

Peter Gabriel - Im no fan of Genesis with or without him, but his solo work is almost deliberately world music.

Robert Plant - Its sad to see Mr Plant being dragged down with the world music scene. Yes both he and Jimmy Page have both used middle eastern influenced music in songs such as Kashmir, but they did a live album together called No Quarter which has many world musicians playing as well. But to be fair that have stolen a lot of first world music as well as third world music roo.

Why do they do it? Ego perhaps, but they are also products of their own experience, as they have (Sting and Peter Gabriel) been involved with travelling, poverty and Amnesty International

Dragging half an African tribe onto the stage is not the equivalent of world music.

Adventures in Music Part 1 1970s

My first introduction to music was the same I’m sure for most people, listening to my parents records. I never heard my parents play any of their records, but then I never saw them read any books, but they had plenty of those as well. Not having any knowledge on how record players worked, I was only able to look at the album covers and was curious about their cassette tapes. Their music collection seemed to be mostly Country and Western albums and I distinctly remember them having collections of MARIO LANZA, and the West Side Story Musical stage show.

Beyond that limited music collection I didn’t pay attention to any other music, other than bits and pieces I saw on Saturday morning television, but that was nothing more than music that got in the way of the cartoons I was more interested in.

The first 7inch single I was ever bought was SARAH BRIGHTMAN AND HOT GOSSIP’s I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper. A dire and average disco pop record. I’ve no idea why it was bought for me, I didn't have or know how to use a record player. That wasn't the first record I bought, but was only one of two records my mum ever bought for me. The other was much later, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’s Born in the USA 7inch.I remember being invited to a friends birthday party and I brought the record along to be played. I don't think they bothered. The dad of my friend was heavily into Jazz music and had collections of the stuff and listened to it constantly. I'm pleased I never got into that style of music.

I eventually learnt how to use my parent’s record player and was also able to play my parent’s music as well as my own 7inch. I spent countless hours learning how to queue up singles on a record player. I think I experimented with albums to see just how many I could balance on record player at once without ruining them rather than playing them.

One year later for my birthday I was bought a radio cassette recorder, and to go with it was THE BOOMTOWN RATS’ A Tonic for the Troops, containing the songs Like Clockwork and Rat Trap. I listened to this album many times, along with a couple of audio-books and found a few other tapes my parents owned, including the soundtrack to the film Exodus which was incredibly moving, inspiring and probably explains my deep love for soundtrack albums, the main theme was beautiful. I was too young to be trusted with my parents vinyl records.

The following year I was bought a Bontempi organ that had numbers on each of its keys, making it easy to follow and play music specially written for it. It came with half a dozen books allowing you to play common melodies, but I remember my mum buying a special book; SIMON & GARFUNKLE’s Greatest Hits. I’d never heard of either of them (Simon or Garfunkle), and oddly could play their music well even though Id never heard them played properly. So for almost ten years the only version I knew was my crappy cover versions.

Removed Several Stoner Rock Albums - Update

Just a short update to say Ive cleared out half a dozen albums that I liked, but just never felt the need to listen to again. One of these was the new Hell Yeah! album. I really enjoyed the groove metal of Pantera although I didnt care too much for the screaming vocals, in fact they are one of the only bands I have that screams (okay 2 if you include Trivium but they sing with clean vocals). I have dimissed all of Opeth's albums because of this very fact. I just don't get black or death metal at all.

While Hell Yeah! had decent drumming, I felt the songs were quite weak and the vocals nothing special, so although it got good reviews, I didnt think it was a stand out enough album to keep.

I have now brought my download list right up to date, meaning any new albums that are listing on the website I dont need to queue up. I am still left with a weekends worth of music to listen to whilst also listening to some of my older classic albums. It doesnt help that the car Im driving to work at the moment doesnt have a CD player, and the mechanics involved in getting music from my PC to my mobile phone are too cumbersome. Im hoping to land a new job before September and I will migrate my music listening back to a dedicated MP3 player, maybe an iPod or 2nd hand iPhone.

Saturn 2013 Naya Din

I want to give a massive shout out to Saturn's little heard 2013 release Naya Din. Modern hard rock mixed with progressive and acoustic elements and vocals that sound very suited to the style of Indian music a la Kula Shakar.

 

Pakistan's very own answer to Dream Theater sees a very experienced and tight band performing really catchy melodic progressive metal.

 

One element I like is that while both the vocalist and guitarist feature prominently in every song, each of the musicians in the band is allowed to shine. Solid keyboard bass and drums really propel this album along so it sounds shorter than it is

 

Be warned that this is a hard to find gem of an album and that the singer sings exclusively in his mother language.

 

A promising 1st release and I will be looking forward to their 2nd album.

 

6.5/10. I know the score is quite mean but its open to be revised.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(band)

 

Music Listening Update - How I Listen

My current music set up is as follows. All my music lives on a 1TB external hard drive (Western Digital) and is backed up routinely to a RAID 1 Mirror hard drive at home. Music that is downloaded but not yet listened to sits on my laptop until I decide if its good enough to be kept permanently or deleted as dross. Im fully aware that I may well be discarding music I will like if given a chance, but I am genuinely only looking for new albums by artists I already enjoy and music by bands Ive never heard of but really catch my ear, and the only way they can do that is to blow my socks off from the opening tracks.

After spending most of 2013 catching up with almost 500 albums worth of new material I have become far more discerning as to the kind of music I try out.

Previously I would have downloaded anything that was in the following music category;

Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Metal, Power, Symphonic, Folk, Prog Rock, Psychedelic, Space and ambient. But after having listened to all and sundry I've limited it down to just Stoner, Psychedelic and Space. I've listened to far to much power and speed metal to know it all sounds the same, and have decided to (unless I read a good review elsewhere) to focus on those few power/speed metal bands I currently enjoy.

The main problem with so much music is that I rarely get to listen to old music I still enjoy.

I've almost caught up with my downloads of albums I've bought but not yet put onto my laptop, but now have a laptop full of music that must be listened to.

Tributes? Covers? No Thanks

The very first tribute album I bought was Apocalyptica plays Metallica. A four-piece cello group that recreated Metallica's music (specifically the Black era and earlier) and made it sound new and fresh. Whilst Apocalytpica would create new music in later albums, they would expand their covers and renditions with their own sound and style. While I have fond memories of the first album music, I havent listened to it for years. It was a novelty which sadly wore off quickly.

Oddly it was by accident that I bought my next tribute album, Metallica Blackest Industrial Tribute to..., and my third was Abba Metal, a Metal Tribute to Abba.

I noticed a growing trend of tribute albums, and then later covers albums (Garage Days Revisited/Garage Inc started the revival) and really saw them as cheap cash ins. Essentially a tribute album is done one of two ways. Either a perfect rendition (pointless when you can listen to the original) or a (for example) a Jazz swing version of Enter Sandman. I started seeing these tribute albums as a good purchase, who doesnt want to hear new versions of the same songs, but then the bubble burst. It seemed every band was producing a covers album (Id say its hazy ground on par with a compilation album) or allowing tribute albums of its material to be covered.

Ive stopped buying Tribute albums because they no longer have anything useful to say musically, and cover albums no longer satisfy me when Id rather the band be creating new music. Sure, bands can play cover songs at live concerts etc...but dont sell me an album full of covers. Please.

Devin Townsend Again & Metroid Metal

I was again listening to Devin Townsend's Biomech album and still finding it fresh and full of energy.

I also tried a new band who should have been right up my street. I enjoy movie soundtracks, and especially game soundtracks. I heard of a band called The Black Mages who are a Japanese rock band who play Final Fantasy music in the style of power/progressive rock metal. They have released three albums and a live DVD/CD which I have as well. I enjoy the soundtrack to the Metroid Prime games on the GameCube/Nintendo Wii and have both on CD as well. Metroid Metal is the name of the band, and they play heavy metal versions of Metroid game soundtracks. I got their third album and began to listen to it. I was disappointed for several reasons.

(a) I know the original music very well, and the tracks they covered on this album I could not recognise.
(b) There was none of the energy and beautiful etherealism that was in the music that was present in the game soundtrack, i.e. the cover versions added nothing to the music at all.

If I stumbled across their first two albums I may accidentally buy them, but I wont be expecting much.

Devin Townsend

I spent a few hours on Saturday and Sunday listening to some of the early music by Devin Townsend. Its amazing to see how progressive he was, but equally to see how little he has evolved as a musician during his musical career.

Yes he has different "modes" black metal, progressive/industrial rock, ambient/down tempo and even recently "country rock" (although I'd debate that its country), but he manages to delight me still with producing complex and layered walls of sound and vocal that has yet to be equalled. He is one of the few musicians for whom I hope he continues writing the same style of music.

My first introduction to him was as the vocalist on Steve Vai's VAI album. I remember being totally struck by his vocal range that went from screams and howls to heights that he reminded me of Cher. I never heard of his music after that, until I stumbled across Napster and saw his name again. The album was Physicist and whilst its considered to be his weakest album, it was enough to make me want to follow his music and enjoy each of his releases.

Ghost - Late to the Party

There was only one band that caught my ear in 2013, and that band was Ghost. A Swedish band labeled as Doom/Heavy Metal, but I’d say closer to the quality Heavy Metal riffing of Black Sabbath mixed with Lordi. Their debut album can only be described as a difficult album to break into. It took three listens before his voice (weak, but perfectly suited to this genre) melded with the simple guitar riffs. But lets go back to the beginning. I'm used to the heavy metal tropes of a keyboard intro, and this album delivers that, but the organ sound seems meandering and disorganised but does give a little hint of what is to follow. Despite the band having two guitarists and a keyboard player the music never drowns each of the other instruments out. You can clearly hear the simple effective drums leading a perfect bass, and as for the two guitars, one plays the rhythm parts perfectly, whilst the slightly distorted lead takes control from the lead singer perfectly. Yes there are guitar solos here, but you're hearing not epic shredding solos, but almost extended riffs which complement the song in the same way that a Twisted Sister guitar solo would.

The Devils Blood

So far its been a lean, “download and delete” kind of year so far, with very little new material surviving the recycle bin.

But one band has or did survive, and despite their 3 album output before their demise and ultimately the death of their lead guitarist ensured they would never output again, I present to you The Devils Blood. Mixing psychedelic guitars, Jimi Hendrix and a modern retro take on Black Sabbath, this female vocal led band surprised you with every song. I'll be the first to admit I dont always enjoy female metal/rock singers, but thats because of the handful out there, very few fit the bill perfectly. What you have with this band are two genuine full length albums, a handful of EPs and a posthumous release of a half finished third album before they split up. Very much like Kingston Wall before them (also released three albums before the untimely death of the lead guitarist and singer) they made a retro sounding music sound modern.

Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls

After their interesting Nostradus concept album last time around, and considering Judas Priest's track record ever since Painkiller, I have always been worried and concerned about any new release they make. It was Halford's solo albums that really set the bar for what a hard sound JP should be aiming for, but equally I miss the style of metal sound they had on such albums as Defender of the Faith and British Steel. Hard hitting music without too much production and embellishment.

Here's hoping all the excitement and media push on this is worth the hyperbole.

Uncharted

I enjoyed the game and the main theme that I just had to get the soundtrack. One of the few main themes that really lends itself to the adventure genre.

 

It was created by Greg Edmondson who had written all the music for Firefly and Serenity - so that would explain it then.

The Dark Crystal - OST - Trevor Jones

I was in the mood for some movie soundtracks on Sunday while clearing up the loft, and happened up Trevor Jones' beautiful and ethereal composition for The Dark Crystal.

He manages to meld such diverse sounds that one could say he is an equal to John Williams in the range of styles, from folk, to epic strains on brass and string.

There are several versions of this soundtrack, all of which are worth acquiring if you have no other choice. The music is uplifting, sad and haunting all at the same time, and whilst the movie can be scary for the younger viewer, the music manages to capture that suspense to perfection. My only wish is that the movie stayed closer to the book which had a far sadder ending than that which was presented in the film.

Along with Last of the Mohicans and Dinotopia, this is Trevor Jones' finest work.