| Author | Message | ||
     skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1046 Registered: 10-2008 |
gang of four content. listen to it here http://www.npr.org/series/98679384/first -listen | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2028 Registered: 09-2006 |
Excellent - thanks. | ||
| Lewisdhead Member Username: Lewisdhead Post Number: 67 Registered: 01-2007 |
Steve Wynn & Miracle 3-Northern Aggression The Stars of Heaven-Speak Slowly The Stars of Heaven-Sacred Heart Hotel Jonny-Jonny (Norman Blake and Euro Childs) Ryan Adams-III/IV Primary 5-Revive Demos and Rarities | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2029 Registered: 09-2006 |
My Wire binge has reached the present day, and I'm enjoying the new one more with each listen. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1055 Registered: 10-2008 |
these new puritans - hidden sleeper album of last year, at least for me anyway. i was aware of it due to mega positive reviews but had only given it cursory listens on napster. but after hearing some session tracks from the album on bbc6 it really started to hit home so i bought the album. its almost uncategorisable. loads of percussion, and orchestral sounds married with electronic flourishes and vaguely menacing vocals. nobody else sounds like this today, and to think with their debut album a few years ago they were "the new fall". | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2031 Registered: 09-2006 |
Pulnoc - Live at P.S. 122 Old 97s - The Grand Theatre Vol. 1 | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 323 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Decemberists - The King is Dead A lot of Peter Buck and Gillian Welch on this album. One song (Down by the Water) is more REM-ish than anything I've heard by REM for the last 15 years. Nice album. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2033 Registered: 09-2006 |
Ze Records 30 Zevolution: Ze Records Re-edited | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 615 Registered: 04-2005 |
The Smiths: demos + outtakes from http://thepowerofindependenttrucking.blo gspot.com If you are the kind of sad sad individual who gets excited at the prospect of a version of ‘The Queen is Dead’ with a few extra seconds then this is the download for you. There are a few gems in here though, with the best quality Troy Tate produced ‘Reel Around the Fountain’ I’ve yet to hear. As it says in the description ‘This song features some of the chimingest (is that a word) guitars I've ever heard Marr create’. I feel that we have entered an era when The Smiths are being completely overrated (all those MOJO type articles), but it is still nice to hear these tracks. I loved the band when they first exploded on the scene, but for me they lost that initial thrill pretty quickly. I think I have listened to that dog of a last LP about 3 times. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1061 Registered: 10-2008 |
strangeways is their best album imo andrew. the first album sounds shit, and has too many turgidly paced songs. meat is murder is split 50/50 with truly great songs and filler, but at least sounds good. the queen is dead is their most overrated album, its morrisseys "stand up comedian" album - franly mr shankly, some girls... etc. i found it all very formulaic by this point, how may times had we heard that guitar on some girls...? by the time of strangeways at least johnny marr was stretching his musical palette. i say all the above as a massive smiths fan  but like those other great 80's bands the cure, new order, the bunnymen, orange juice etc i will always remember them aa a truly incredible singles band, but disappointing overall when it came to albums. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 616 Registered: 04-2005 |
In retrospect seems like a daft decision by the band to have jettisoned the Troy Tate version of the first LP and gone for the re-recording with John Porter. The original version seems to have a lot more life and ‘sparkle’ about it. Far less ‘turgid’! I’m with you Kevin in the sense of The Smiths being a great singles band, and the Peel sessions were wonderful as well. I remember the buzz around the first two singles, and it was incredible they were given a BBC2 “In Concert” without even having an album out. Maybe ‘Hatful of Hollow’ is my favourite LP by the band, even if it is a compilation. For me ‘Strangeways’ is the sound of a band that has already fallen apart. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 410 Registered: 10-2006 |
Hard for me, at least, to overrate the Smiths. I'd given up on pop for a long period of unemployment, since having only Radio 1 to listen to all day was truly brain-rotting. So I turned to radio 3 and classical stuff and enjoyed a whole new world. Then I heard William it was really nothing one night in a pub and it was as if something pungently genuine had invaded the universe of pop, yet bereft of the aggression I'd hated in punk. It was a wonderful moment. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2132 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'd agree with Kevin that Strangeways is incredible. The band sounds great, alternately muscular and tastefully understated, depending on what the song calls for. The songwriting is sharp and sometimes mesmerizing. They definitely matured and were looking to expand their palette, but in my opinion they did so without losing what made them special in the first place. Wistful and lovely Marr melodies are still wonderfully abundant. Unlike Kevin, I really love all 4 of the Smiths albums, but I think that Strangeways was the perfect high point from which to bow out. I do agree that the first Smiths album is the most flawed, and that's largely down to Porter's brittle production. I love what he did as far as layering Marr's guitar parts, but you could balance the sound of that record on the point of a needle. At least the singles from that time that Porter produced were a bit fuller sounding. The Troy Tate version is definitely chunkier and looser, more representative of their live sound, but then it's not quite as richly layered. So, I've never been able to make up my mind on which is better. I prefer the BBC versions of the debut's songs on Hatful of Hollow to both the Tate and Porter versions. As for the demos Andrew mentions above, they're interesting to hear, but I frankly wasn't all the impressed with the bulk of it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3777 Registered: 05-2005 |
I also think Strangeways is their best album Andrew! And I'm saying this as a very late convert to The Smiths in the past decade, so I have no emotional baggage about which ones I preferred when I was 14 (this isn't meant to be an insult by the way!). | ||
| Graham Twyford Member Username: Graham_twyford Post Number: 42 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've been listening to this for the last 3 days, and when I haven't it's been on constant play in my head - a track from the forthcoming R.E.M. album, and I reckon their best song since 1992: http://link.brightcove.com/services/play er/bcpid686842425001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAABRL ZgA~,GTTTK4mpWuqKP_uAOHTbU7lU0autO3hH&bc tid=758064737001 | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 617 Registered: 04-2005 |
re Smiths : Maybe Johnny Marr's "musical palette stretching" had something to do with me going off them ! The moment those glam rock influences kicked in (or the bloody Thin Lizzy guitar riffs) it was over for me. My son (who is 14) is currently going around the house singing 'There is a Light that Never Goes Out'. Seems a bit young to have all that existential angst but they grow up fast these days. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1066 Registered: 10-2008 |
andrew, i heard the strains of "bigmouth strikes again" wafting from my 15 year old daughters room the other day. she likes the smiths but doesnt care much for morrissey as a solo artist. i suppose she has the luxury of choosing which morrissey era to like, we lived through the smiths split and were just happy to have morrissey singing anything for the first few years of his solo career which is when he was still doing worthwhile stuff - up to vauxhall and i. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 722 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ah. The Smiths. Great memories. For a long while I couldn't bare to listen to Morrisey being so depressing/making fun of being depressed. I agree the first album is very "thin" in sound. The second was, for me, one of those "conversation interrupters" when I first heard it and is still one of my all time faves. The Queen I agree was overrated and I also agree that the magic was gone by the last one. A bit like "Let It Be", "The Black Swan" and "16 Lovers Lane, it seems "Strangeways.." has now become fashionable to site it as their best, when at the time most peoples opinion was that they could do better. Morrisey's stuff after the Smiths proved to me Marr's point that he didn't want to be churning out bloody Cilla Black type songs when he was listening to New Order or whatever. Marr too was very disappointing for me when he left the Smiths. I found most of his guitar work quite uninspired. He seemed to be aiming for psychedelic but it sounded like he was on mogadon. Imagine if he had gone really ambient or started doing movie soundtracks - he had all those amazing chords in his head. The people Marr aligned himself with seemed to "lap up" that he wanted to be in the background and Johnny seemed to love exploring new sounds...but I don't think he did it very well. Of all the The The stuff, I reckon only "Dusk" holds a candle to any of Marr's previous work. I wonder whether he realised this years later which prompted him to write the very Smithsy "Even a Child" with the Finnster? He said in an interview after the Smiths something like he didn't want to jingle jangle for the rest of his life...but maybe he should have played to his strengths. Now is there anybody I HAVEN'T offended here?????? (Bigmouth Strikes Again!) | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 619 Registered: 04-2005 |
The Smiths : sum of the parts much less than the whole or something ? Despite throwing myself early into Smiths worshipping (all those flowery shirts, imitating Morrisey's dancing at parties, that rhododendron bush hanging from the back pocket etc etc) they lost it for me pretty quickly. But for a brief period they were EXTREMELY important and did make some wonderful wonderful records. I bumped into Marr and Morrisey the morning after their second Edinburgh gig and was struck immediately by Marr's "muso" leanings. We wanted to discuss the undermining of accepted gender patterns in their songs and instead got how his guitar sound was not as good as it had been in Aberdeen. Never meet your heroes. Anyway despite playing with everyone and their auntie he has not exactly done much of interest since the break-up has he ? And I have never followed Morrisey's solo career very closely. And 'yes' those demos are not essential listening. 'GirlFriend in a Coma' as reggae-lite anyone? | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2138 Registered: 10-2004 |
Yes, Marr's post-Smiths output has been generally abysmal. Such a huge waste of talent. And his one solo album was just an embarrassment, showing the former trendsetter desperately aping generic-Oasis-y sounds that were already a decade stale. He didn't seem to add much to The The. Mind Bomb is an okay album, and Marr's harmonica and melodic arpeggiated guitar melodies in "The Beaten Generation" are great, but if I had heard the album without knowing Marr was on it, I would never have guessed that he was. There's not much to say about Electronic - just a two-hit wonder for two songs that don't hold up to the legacies of the Smiths and New Order (and the Pet Shop Boys, for that matter). I can understand Marr not wanting to repeat himself. If he doesn't want to keep playing jangly, that's fine. But why'd he also have to abandon his knack for those catchy, wistful, weak-in-the-knees melodies? I'm really bored by Morrissey's solo career as well. It started off promising: 1988-89 saw a stellar run of singles, but Viva Hate, imo, is fairly patchy. Kill Uncle was a crap album. Your Arsenal and Vauxhall were okay, at least in the singles department, but by then, there was something kind of generically commercial creeping into Morrissey's sound. And I think everything he's done over the past 15 years has been infuriatingly bland. You occasionally get a hint or spark of something nice, but there's just something tediously generic about much of his work, and I can't relate to the diehards who still insist his recent output is good. I disagree that it's become fashionable to praise Strangeways. To this day, I still hear way more praise for Queen is Dead, and plenty of complaints about Strangeways. I've been defending that album since it came out! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3784 Registered: 05-2005 |
I think Electronic had many great songs Jeff. Just for the record though, which two are you referring to? I got Morrissey's three disc EMI singles and b-sides collection this time last year and it's a fantastic set from soup to nuts, with very few exceptions. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1070 Registered: 10-2008 |
the bona drag comp is a belter, although thats obviously only covering his early solo career. i disagree about vauxhall and i just being ok, its my favourite album by morrissey or the smiths. i also saw him around about that period in a small venue in motherwell(just outside glasgow)and morrissey and the band were electric. i agree that his "comeback" albums were patchy at best, but i saw him in my hometown about 2004-ish, and while not as good as the previous gig he still put on a fairly good show. and he was on good form, loads of witty comments between songs. i probably remember the show fondly for other reasons though, my 8 year old(at the time)daughter came along with my wife and i, it wasnt because we couldnt get a babysitter either!!. she really wanted to come, she loved the songs "last of the gang to die", and "irish blood,english heart". plus, she still likes sons and daughters, who were the support band that night. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2036 Registered: 09-2006 |
Gang of Four - Content liking a whole lot Fine Young Cannibals - The Finest Taylor Swift - Speak Now | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1071 Registered: 10-2008 |
culture - at joe gibbs, 4 cd boxset dennis brown - at joe gibbs, 4 cd boxset the louvin brothers - satan is real captain beefheart - doc at the radar station steve wynn - northern agression broadcast - haha sound the fall - this nations saving grace bob dylan - love and theft | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2576 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Fall--Your Future Our Clutter Certainly better than the last new Fall album I got (Reformation Post). | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3785 Registered: 05-2005 |
Apex Manor - The Year of Magical Drinking | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2140 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig, the two Electronic songs I'm referring to are their biggest hits: "Getting Away With It," and "Get the Message." | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2577 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Bathers--Unusual Places to Die | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1076 Registered: 10-2008 |
wire - red barked tree. after a month of listening solidly to this i dont think its an exaggeration to say the holy triumverate of pink flag, chairs missing and 154 has grown to a quartet. honestly, i do think its that good. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2079 Registered: 01-2005 |
Better then the second period (1987-1990) run of very good to great albums? Wow, I've got to pick it up soon. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2141 Registered: 10-2004 |
Red Barked Tree? Good? For real? I'm not a fan of the previous '00-era Wire records, so I haven't even bothered with this new one. I suppose I'll have to go check it out. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 269 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've bought this week-end "Red Barked Tree" and yes it's very good. The one they've made before, "Object 47", is also worth to listen. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1077 Registered: 10-2008 |
i spoke to a friend yesterday about wire, he too said object 47 was pretty good, he was also very enthusiastic about the new album. like jeff i hadnt really bothered with any wire ouput from the last decade apart from "send", but the buzz about this new album got me curious and i have been blown away by how good this is. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2038 Registered: 09-2006 |
Agreed on the new Wire...and have been playing the new Go4 pretty obsessively lately, too. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1079 Registered: 10-2008 |
new york dolls - dancing backwards in high heels. interesting on first listen, they reckon its their best ever album :-) | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2581 Registered: 03-2005 |
Broadcast--The Noise Made by People Yeah, this is pretty marvelous. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2042 Registered: 09-2006 |
Josh Groban Sings Kanye West's Tweets I'm still stuck on CD 17, overwhelmed by the beauty... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Axzxe1a7 8E | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1551 Registered: 08-2006 |
Wow, that's a hoot, Allen. For no good reason, I always took Groban for one of those guys without a sense of humor, maybe because his music is so... sincere. That's good stuff. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1080 Registered: 10-2008 |
i know nothing of grobans music, but have saw him on a few panel shows on tv in the uk, the guy constantly seems to rip the piss out of himself and seems not to take himself too seriously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ_x7c_AK w4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue3HsMNkY 28 | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2143 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'm on the verge of shelling out for Red Barked Tree, based partly on the recommendations of Kevin and Allen. If this album sucks, I'm gonna kick your asses!! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1086 Registered: 10-2008 |
jeff, i'll be amazed if you think it sucks. it will surely be a case of whether you think its good, very good, or excellent. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2044 Registered: 09-2006 |
Jeff, I've hired Graham Lewis as a bodyguard just in case, though I'd agree with Kevin that it probably won't be necessary... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3792 Registered: 05-2005 |
A mix CD I just made, titled The Godlike Genius Of Damon Albarn, featuring Blur, Monkey, Mali Music, Gorrilaz, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Albarn solo and Albarn with Ray Davies. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2144 Registered: 10-2004 |
Well, I've listened to Red Barked Tree in its entirety. First impressions are: it's not bad, some songs are definitely good. Production could've been a bit more adventurous, or spacious. One song reminded me of "Too Late" from Chairs Missing, while another reminded me of 154's "Blessed State." Still need to listen to it more, obviously. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1087 Registered: 10-2008 |
does anybody else think the song clay from red barked tree is a rewrite of i am the fly? | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2145 Registered: 10-2004 |
Yes. .. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2045 Registered: 09-2006 |
Chills - live sets from '82 and '90 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3795 Registered: 05-2005 |
Allen, where did you get those live sets? Is the sound quality any good? | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2046 Registered: 09-2006 |
Padraig, the '82 set is here: http://www.mediafire.com/?hamjmjtitzj It's six songs, 22 minutes. It's got some of that blurry/underwatery sound to it. The 1990 show is here: http://wilfullyobscure.blogspot.com/2009 /04/chills-smile-from-dead-dead-face.htm l 71 minutes, excellent set list, sound quality comparable to the live stuff on Secret Box. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2588 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Fall--Your Future Our Clutter | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2148 Registered: 10-2004 |
Is that any good, Randy? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2589 Registered: 03-2005 |
Jeff, it is vastly better than Reformation Post (which I regard as complete rubbish). You couldn't call it layered or intricate but you get a series of pretty good grooves backing his ranting. It certainly doesn't have the sneaky pop brilliance of "Wonderful and Frightening World" which I've been listening to lately having picked up the new box version. I've still only heard "Your Clutter" twice so I can't comment on a per track basis but my visceral overall view is that I might eventually rate this near "Fall Heads Roll." MES' voice freaks me out now and then, though, because he sounds older than he is. Given his hard living that shouldn't be a surprise but, seriously, he sounds like recent Dylan who sounds pretty bad but at least has the excuse of being a good deal older than Smith. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2149 Registered: 10-2004 |
Interesting. I know what you mean about MES's vocals. Part of the reason why I have a difficult time with Fall music of the past ~10 years has to do with how shot Smith's voice is. He used to be such an integral and unique part of the musical equation, but he now sounds like an old, drunken uncle, barking incoherently at random intervals. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2150 Registered: 10-2004 |
Some unsolicited thoughts about Wire's Red Barked Tree: It's good overall, but I wouldn't place it at the level of the first three, nor at the level of Ideal Copy/A Bell is a Cup. I think Wire works best in art-pop mode; their best work, imo, balances edginess with atmosphere and hooks. But the problem is that Wire still write lots of songs in buzzsaw guitar punk mode. As much as I love Pink Flag, I wish they'd get over the punk rock thing and focus on what I think they do best. And it's the poppier and/or moody/introspective numbers on RBT that I like most, like "Please Take," "Adapt," and "Bad Worn Thing." Catchy, melodic, dense, colorful, even pretty. Several tracks on RBT reference Chairs Missing era. "Two Minutes" has the same dense distorto-buzz and charged energy as Chairs Missing's "Too Late," but without the hooks. The same can be said of "Moreover" in relation to "Question of Degree": same blaring guitars and stiff beat, but none of the quirky chord changes or hooks. "Clay" sounds like a grown-up revisit of "I Am the Fly": slowed down and stripped of oddly treated guitar and nagging chorus. But "A Flat Ten" and "Smash" sound like generic alterna-punk that could've been written by anyone, dragging RBT down a bit. The last two songs, however, venture back into moody/artsy territory, hinting at the colorful atmosphere Wire used to inhabit, without aping it. But the production could've used the added space and color that producer Mike Thorne gave to their earlier work. And RBT's recorded-in-the-bedroom drum sound doesn't really work . There's some good stuff here, but they're just not pushing boundaries like they used to. They've settled into a comfortable groove (even at their edgiest). Oh, and Wire should be slapped for mastering this album so LOUD and compressed. Allen - Graham Lewis *does* have that bodyguard don't-mess-with-me aura about him, doesn't he! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1088 Registered: 10-2008 |
I once stood a few yards away from Graham Lewis at an AR Kane gig in Hammersmith about 25 years ago. Menacing is the word I would use to describe him! | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2049 Registered: 09-2006 |
Indeed...the last time I saw him was on "The Scottish Play," the live DVD from the "Send" era, and not only is there the menacing aura he looks like he works out in the weight room 28 hours a day. Like a solid block of granite. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2151 Registered: 10-2004 |
I saw Wire on their first re-reunion tour about 11 years ago, and menacing is an apt way to describe Lewis. I was standing a few feet away from him, and he was really intense! Meanwhile, Newman seemed laid back, Gilbert looked mildly annoyed, while Gotobed just got on with it. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 293 Registered: 03-2007 |
The Manhattan Love Suicides - Longer and Louder ( Deluxe Edition ) The Blanche Hudson Weekend - Reverence, Severance and Spite The Medusa Snare - Cinderella Insect Guide - Dark Days & Nights All released by Squirrel Records, Leeds, England. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1090 Registered: 10-2008 |
pj harvey - let england shake gregory isaacs - night nurse:the best of grgory isaacs. great new comp on trojan, 2 discs covering 1970-1985 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2592 Registered: 03-2005 |
Ups & Downs--Sleepless At last, a new stylus! This record is NOT available on CD. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 724 Registered: 05-2005 |
...what's the pity!....but I DO have the fan only record converts into digital (Ups and Downs Anthology)which has demos and the unreleased ep etc etc. if you are interested Randy! "Sleepless" is still one of the best Australian releases ever to my ears. Came out in the UK with 2 singles "The Perfect Crime" [the perfect jangle!] and "In the Shadows" added to it. This band should have been HUGE!!!!!! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 417 Registered: 10-2006 |
Has anyone heard the new Glen Richards solo thing? Worth getting? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2595 Registered: 03-2005 |
That explains it, Geoff. I've looked for your anthology numerous times and come up empty-handed. I can't give "Sleepless" as high a rank as you do. It's probably a little too traditional for me though "Living Kind" is wonderful. Stuart, I got the Glenn Richards solo album. I've only heard it maybe about three times which probably tells the tale. It has its moments but I think he should have waited longer to make an album, to collect more good material. Maybe he's still planning future Augie March releases and saving some of his better songs for that goal. Having said that, I'll give it another listen when I'm done with my reacquaintance with vinyl rarities. I do sometimes lose track of good records if I happen to get them at the same time as too many others. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2596 Registered: 03-2005 |
Geoff, let me clarify that comment about the Ups & Downs. Instead of "traditional" I should have used "mainstream." But it is important to remember that you are a big Church fan whereas I like them well enough but could not rate myself as a actual fan. For Aussie psych surf, I make a beeline for the gloriously trashy sounds of another band you turned me onto: the Moffs. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3798 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Glen Richards solo album is very good Stuart. It's got some pretentious sleeve notes about how Augie March is really him anyway and he'd be a rich man now if only he'd used his own name on recordings from the start; but don't let that put you off. The sound is hardly a million miles from Augie March. You can get an autographed copy here http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/music/pop -rock/glimjack-signed-copy/574142 | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 624 Registered: 04-2005 |
Agnes Obel - Riverside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjncyiuww XQ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3799 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3804 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin rarely gets excited by music which isn't an old school reggae re-release (usually by someone I've never heard of) or some avant garde stuff that I, for one, would classify as difficult listening. But I am with him 100% on Wire's Red Barked Tree. It is a wondrous thing. Truly stunning. The bar has been set for 2011. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2602 Registered: 03-2005 |
Last night: Winged Angels Vols. 1 & 2 This is Keith Richards' recording of Justin Hinds and his troupe of Rastafarians singing and drumming after Hinds had withdrawn from pop music. Richards couldn't resist adding some regular instruments. Well, I thought it might be interesting. None of the added instruments were worth adding. I suspect this would have been much better in its unadulterated form with vocals and drums only. Not a patch on the terrific Jajouka recordings his deceased former band mate did in the late 60s. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1099 Registered: 10-2008 |
dynamite steps - twilight singers. real return to form for greg dulli. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2603 Registered: 03-2005 |
Broadcast--the Future Crayon Can somebody explain to me why this group is compared to Stereolab? Maybe I have the wrong Stereolab records, but I find no resemblance at all. I even read somewhere that Broadcast is a less intellectual Stereolab. I do not recall any Stereolab music that said "intellectual" to me. They're also compared to Portishead, who I haven't heard. I'm enjoying this collection btw. It's my first listen. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2154 Registered: 10-2004 |
Randy, have you heard any Stereolab records made after 1992? | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 191 Registered: 11-2007 |
Throbbing Gristle - Hot On The Heels Of Love | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3806 Registered: 05-2005 |
Georgia Fair - Times Fly EP Randy, I do think Broadcast sound like Stereolab. Not in any less intellectual way though. Whatever that means. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1100 Registered: 10-2008 |
its lazy journalism randy, both groups have a female singer. both groups are great in their own right, although stereolab seem to be running on empty for me these days. spookily both groups lost a female member in tragic circumstances. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1555 Registered: 08-2006 |
So Dynamite Steps is good, Kev? The couple clips I've heard sounded as Whigs-y as anything I've heard him do lately. I've found the Twilight Singers kind of hit and miss, so I'd love to hear Dulli nail one. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1101 Registered: 10-2008 |
rob, i think its good yeah. i'm a big fan of dulli, but the last decade's worth of output has been patchy at best so this is a pleasant surprise. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1102 Registered: 10-2008 |
broadcast - work and non work. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2604 Registered: 03-2005 |
Jeff, the only Stereolab records that I truly liked were the first two or three but I continued to buy them from time to time in no systematic way. By the time I got "Sound Dust" I concluded that their concept was exhausted. Plus, once Spence turned me onto McCarthy I no longer got all that much enjoyment out of the first two or three Stereolab records. I admit that "Sound Dust" and "Fab Four Suture" probably only got two listens each. I should probably give them another listen, but it's hard to forgive them for replacing the brilliant McCarthy. Whereas "The Noise Made by People" gripped me right away. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2092 Registered: 01-2005 |
Randy, No Portishead? You should try and remedy that soon and get their first album. I perfer my Stereolab circa 1992-94. Although to be fair about it I should say that 1999's Cobra and Phases was the last one I bought. I have yet to explore McCarthy, so I'm behind the curve or early Tim Gane music. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2157 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'd say Stereolab expired right after Dots and Loops. Everything after that has been self-parodic regurgitation. I guess for me, their peak was Transient Random Noise Bursts through Dots and Loops, with some of the very best material of that era being the Fluorescences and Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center EPs. Like Kevin says, to some degree it's lazy journalism, but I think that people compare Broadcast to Stereolab because they have similar stylistic reference points from the 60s - the dense organs, the late 60s Italian soundtrack melodies, jazzy chord progressions, cool/detached female lead vocals, retro-futuristic aesthetic, etc... But they certainly weren't carbon copies of each other by any means. Also, Broadcast's first single came out on Stereolab's Duophonic label, so there was a an obvious connection there, which I'm sure led people to think, "yeah, another band with droney 60s-sounding organs and cool chanteuse vocals." | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1108 Registered: 10-2008 |
radiohead - the king of limbs wire - red barked tree. two brilliant albums that i will play regularly throughout the year. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1112 Registered: 10-2008 |
josh t pearson. last of the country gentlemen | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2611 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Jazz Butcher--Fishcoteque and now I've switched to vinyl: A House--On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3811 Registered: 05-2005 |
On the new Wire album, has anyone else noticed that Two Minutes bears more than a passing resemblance to Spacemen 3's Revolution? Kevin? Jeff? | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 484 Registered: 01-2007 |
Knocked out by PJ Harvey Let England Shake. Also got the GoGO Boots by Drive-by Truckers but not played it yet | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2161 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig - I'm not a Spaceman 3 fan, so I don't know! But, "Two Minutes" does sound a bit like "Too Late" from Chairs Missing. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3812 Registered: 05-2005 |
It must be about 16 years since I last played Chairs Missing. Must try to find it. So maybe Wire are stealing the riff back from Spacemen 3? | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1115 Registered: 10-2008 |
padraig, its not immediately obvious. the wire song is much more urgent, tempo wise anyway, but i do see where youre coming from. and they do both have the same rat a tat tat drum piece. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2100 Registered: 01-2005 |
Spacemen 3's Revolution sort of sounds like Fun House era Stooges to my ears (without the menacing Iggy vocals of course). | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1117 Registered: 10-2008 |
moritz von oswald trio - horizontal structures amazing new album, a melting pot of techno/dub/jazz tunes from the master of berlin techno. must go back to berlin one day! | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 256 Registered: 02-2005 |
Recent regular outings including some new albums and some not so new, but new-to-me (recent acquisitions) as well as stuff I'm just playing: New York Dolls ~ Dancing Backwards in High Heels Autolux ~ Transit Transit Smog ~ Wild Love The Church ~ Untitled #23 (after seeing their wonderful concert last week) Colin Newman ~ Not To & Commercial Suicide Wire ~ Red Barked Tree (in advance of seeing them at Bowery Ballroom in April) The Kinks ~ Four More Respected Gentlemen (a personal comp... singles and unreleased stuff around the time of Village Green). Lee Dorsey ~ Yes We Can (dusting-off an alltime favorite) Michael Rother ~ Sterntaler | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2052 Registered: 09-2006 |
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner Gil Scott Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here That latter item is Gil's album from last year radically remixed with new soundscapes by Jamie from The xx. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1119 Registered: 10-2008 |
broadcast and the focus group - investigate witch cults of the radio age toots and the maytals - the very best of | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1122 Registered: 10-2008 |
various - leslie kong connection vol2 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2612 Registered: 03-2005 |
Getting a good dose of early reggae there, Kevin. For me right now: Vic Godard & Subway Sect--Singles Anthology next up: The Adverts--Cast of Thousands. I remember hearing this album years ago and being disappointed with it. We'll see how it sounds now. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1124 Registered: 10-2008 |
yes randy, and i never realised how many major names were produced by leslie kong. also, that vic godard comp is ace. radiohead - in rainbows. after listening to the king of limbs solidly for a week, i dug this one out for the first time in a couple of years. and its just beautiful, a word not normally associated with this band. and to think i had no time for this band pre kid a. kid a, amnesiac and in rainbows are masterpieces imo, and as a reasonably casual radiohead fan i realise that a straw poll would probably see ok computer and the bends top these three albums. i find these two albums a bit overblown, although ok computer does have some great tunes. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2613 Registered: 03-2005 |
This second Adverts album is pretty good. And I realize this is NOT what I heard long ago and didn't think much of. It was T.V. Smith's Explorers that disappointed me. This record never would have. It just shows a useful bit of growth from "Crossing the Red Sea" much as the Saints' second and third albums stepped away from the narrow punk thing but still bristled with punk energy. Same thing here but frequent (not always) abandonment of the punk instrumental conventions. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1126 Registered: 10-2008 |
josh t pearson - last of the country gentlemen this is a truly astonishing record. a confessional, stripped to the bone, acoustic storytelling album. just pearson, his voice and the odd violin, its almost painful to listen to due to the subject matter, but the performances lift it above just mere maudlin self pity. another truly great record at the start of the year, along with wire, radiohead and moritz von oswald trio. already its shaping to be a better year than last year. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1128 Registered: 10-2008 |
broadcast - the future crayon johnny thunders - so alone david johansen - s/t | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2053 Registered: 09-2006 |
Lucinda Williams - Blessed Moby - 18 B-Sides | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2060 Registered: 09-2006 |
R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now First listen: eh, not bad. Though these days even good R.E.M. has me asking myself whether I need any more of it. The new Lucinda is very good. |