It's Tuesday....what's spinning?

[mad rhetorik]

Last night was fusion night for me:

Frank Zappa: Hot Rats
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds Of Fire
Miles Davis: In A Silent Way

Prior to that, I played:

David Bowie: Station To Station
King Crimson: Red
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Axis: Bold As Love
Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Essential SRV & Double Trouble
Bad Brains: I Against I

I also played Troy's Garage Band CD. So far I think it's pretty good. I need to give it a few more listens before I can review it.

[Dave_G]

1) Shadowland - Through the Looking Glass - more "neo prog" crap that I eat up.

2) Galahad - Year Zero - see above

3) Yes - The Ladder - I think this is an excellent Yes album, it was well recorded and is overall most excellent. At least to me.

4) Fish - Pigpens Birthday - some live Fish, 2 cd's, pretty good, about 1/2 Fish and 1/2 Marillion.

5) Sparks - Balls - different, almost disco sounding stuff. Pretty foo-foo, but hey, that's SPARKS.

6) Tull - Stormwatch rematser

7) Tull - Roots to Branches - what a killer album, wish they had a dvd of a gig from this era.

8) Marley - Survival - great rasta music

9) The Stranglers - their new one - was supposed to be great but it's pretty weak, I'm way disappointed in it.

10) UFO - You are Hear - typical UFO stuff, pretty good.

11) UFO - Force It - pretty good old school UFO music

Regards,

Dave

[ForeverAutumn]

Lot's of Mother-in-Law approved (yet still very cool) music over the weekend as Easter dinner was at our house this year.

In the 5-disk player on shuffle was...

Rik Emmett - Handiwork
Rik Emmett - Good Faith
David Bryan - Lunar Eclipse
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
Rod Stewart - The Great American Songbook (a little schmaltsy for my taste but the in-laws liked it)

For my personal listening enjoyment, lots of Yes in preparation for their May 7th concert.
Relayer
Drama
Close to the Edge
The Ladder (Dave, this is one of my fave Yes albums too!)
The Ultimate Collection
Magnification (still trying to warm up to this one)

Also, a few leftovers from previous weeks,
Chain - Reconstruct
Cryptic Vision - Moments of Clarity (I'm finally starting to tire of this one for now)
Sam Roberts - We Were Born In A Flame

And, lastly, a dada comp kindly donated to my collection by Finch.

[-Jar-]

I finally put the finishing touches on a 3 disc set of late 60's/early 70's music that I made for my uncle. So, we've been listening to them a lot. Most of the songs came from comps that ya'll sent me, some from the library, a few MP3's.. so I'm sure you all know these songs like the backs of your hands.. but to me, a lot of it was rediscovering the subtleties of these songs that I had heard before, but never really paid attention to. These aren't definitive, and they reflect my preferences, and what I remember my uncle listening to when I was a kid (I remember grooving to COSMO'S FACTORY on grandma's console stereo.. remember those, slide open the top.. hehe).. anyway, I thought I'd "show them off" so to speak (by the way, I called them "Before My Time 1, 2 & 3"):

1 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Down On The Corner
2 Bob Dylan - Tombstone Blues
3 Moody Blues - The Story In Your Eyes
4 T. Rex - Mambo Sun
5 Canned Heat - Going Up the Country
6 The Band - The Weight
7 Crosby, Stills & Nash - Helplessly Hoping
8 The Byrds - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
9 The Allman Brothers - Ramblin' Man
10 Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'
11 Rolling Stones - Tumbling Dice
12 The Animals - It's My Life
13 The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society
14 Grateful Dead - Franklin's Tower (Live)
15 David Bowie - Space Oddity
16 Velvet Underground - There She Goes
17 Pink Floyd - See Emily Play
18 War - The Cisco Kid
19 Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In the Sky
20 James Taylor - Suite for 20 G
21 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Hopeless

1 The Byrds - My Back Pages
2 Rare Earth - Born to Wander
3 Santana - Evil Ways
4 Steely Dan - Only A Fool Would Say That
5 The Beatles - Girl
6 Rolling Stones - Torn and Frayed
7 Neil Young - Ohio
8 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
9 Bob Dylan - Just Like Tom Thumb Blues
10 The Band - Rag Mama Rag
11 Grateful Dead - Friend of the Devil
12 Van Morrison - Sweet Thing
13 Uriah Heep - Lady In Black
14 Fleetwood Mac - Hypnotized
15 Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown
16 Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers
17 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend
18 Guess Who - No Sugar Tonight
19 Bob Dylan - I Want You
20 Neil Young - I Believe In You
21 Jim Croce - Operator
22 Elton John - Border Song

1 King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
2 Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself
3 The Doors - Hyacinth House
4 David Bowie - Moonage Daydream
5 Santana - Jingo
6 Velvet Underground - Train Round the Bend
7 Cream - Crossroads
8 ZZTop - LaGrange
9 Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie
10 Yes - We Have Heaven/South Side of the Sky
11 Jethro Tull - Living in the Past
12 Pink Floyd - Fearless
13 King Crimson - Lament
14 Moody Blues - Question
15 Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home
16 Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Cortez the Killer

-jar

[DarrenH]

Mad Rhetorik,

I've noticed that you and I haved crossed boundaries in our tastes in music on several occasions. Those fusion picks are fantastic. Krim, Jimi, SRV, oh yes, we like a lot of the same music.

Geezer,

I really like Yes' The Ladder as well. Roots To Branches is a great album. The best since Crest Of A Knave and the remaster of Stormwatch is a huge improvement over the original. Oh, the remaster of Live - Bursting Out includes all the "beeps" where they edit out Ian's off-color commentary.


My week in music:

Jethro Tull - Live, Bursting Out (remaster)
Jethro Tull - Stormwatch (remaster)
Jethro Tull - A (Jap remaster)
Jethro Tull - Too Old To Rock, Too Young To Die (remaster)

Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain
Miles Davis - Miles In The Sky
Miles Davis - Pangaea
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior

Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash - Unchained
Willie Nelson - 16 Greatest Hits

Cryptic Vision - Moments Of Clarity. I agree FA, it has run it's course with me as well.
Rush - Grace Under Pressure. A dark horse favorite of mine.
Moody Blues - To Our Childrens Childrens Children
Zappa - Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Having difficulty connecting with this album but I'm working on it. Of all the Zappa I've heard thus far (and it hasn't been a lot mind you) Hot Rats is the winner so far.

AC/DC - '74 Jailbreak
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
Nektar - Remember The Future. Great album.

Crud, I know there was more to this list but I can't remember.

Darren

[Davey]

Most of the stuff I listened to in the past week I already mentioned in other posts so I won't list them here, but I also spun some comps and they were all uniformly excellent and definitely worth mentioning with a word or ten....

Tookay Three: Awl Dun Now by tentoze - This is one of my faves from the last year. Just a ton of great songs with a nice, relaxing flow to it. That Tindersticks song always just kills me. Always have to repeat that one, along with about 5 others on the disc. Usually with comps you wind up skipping songs, but on this one I wind up repeating them. Nice job.

No Remedy by Whooptee - After spending time with the tentoze comp above, I felt the urge to pull out this one that Whooptee put together last year because there are some similarities. Another great listen. Love this comp. Almost everything on it new to me too.

Half Gone 2001 by dbi - As you can tell by the title, this is an "old" one, but that dbi character used to pull some good ones out of his ass, and this was one of his best. Brilliant opening 4-song volley of Chris Whitley/Lucinda Williams/Joe Henry/Califone...maybe unmatched in comp history. And who else could pull off a middle sequence like Texas punk-pop-rockers Spoon followed by the hypnotic Afro-pop of Sengalese star Baaba Maal? And not content to rest on those lofty accomplishments, the ending sequence is awe-inspiring, including gems from Mogwai and Idlewild, followed by a sweet summer closer from Gorky's Zygotic Minci. What a trip, dude

And by eyeing my pile of recent listens, I also see Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart from Camper Van Beethoven and Is This It? from The Strokes and a Califone comp from yours truly.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

I got The Stills album; Logic Will Break Your Heart and have been enjoying it for 4 or 5 days now. Good, 80s-style rock of the type I like. Good song writing, nice voice, ringing guitars and a tight rhythm section, make for a very listenable album. My first 5 or 6 listens were somewhat distracted and on modest (crappy?) systems, in my car, office and/or cottage, and I thought I heard an overtly U2 influenced sound that disconcerted me a little, but not much really. Once I played the album at home and paid more attention, that impression left, the guitars now sounded more varied than just the Edge-style that I originally heard. The Edge influence is there, but it's not overwhelming. The first name that now comes to mind is Wire Train, (especially on the most anthemic song; "Still In Love Song"), but I also hear Bunnymen (especially in the guitars), without McCullochs penchant for vocal bombast, and The Cure, without the gloom, and New Order, and The Sound, and Mighty Lemon Drops, and ....etc. I don't get the Joy Division comparisons. The good news is that so far after a week, I like the album more and more with each successive listen. Plus, they're from my home town!

Unfortunately, the second to last sentence doesn't apply to The Walkmen; Bows + Arrows. I liked it well enough on the first couple of listens, but rather than my fondness growing with each listen, the opposite has proven to be the case. The aural assault, bereft of much, if any, melody or dynamic variation, (at least within a given song, there is some song to song dynamic range), has caused me to remain at arms length from the music, never really connecting with any of the songs. The notable exception being The Rat, the one very good song on a pretty mediocre album.

other stuff, that I wont go on about...

Kings of Leon Youth and Young Manhood (anyone like the "hidden" track on this one...I love it).
The Libertines Up The Bracket
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever to Tell
Fountains of Wayne
Ben Harper Welcome to the Cruel World

Plus comps from Davey Fun In the Sun, Stone No Cover Image Available and my own Pop Songs comp. I've also been enjoying the latest Sloshmix; This Tainted Life, which arrived on Thursday. I definitely need some SFA and Wrens and more Decemberists...great stuff Slosh. Thanks.

[tentoze]

Since I've been trashing all my money on (mostly vintage) stereo gear the last couple of weeks, the only new-to-me disk I heard was Sufjan Stevens' Greetings From Michigan, courtesy of Unklebob- after only a couple of spins, I have to say I really, really like this cd.

Spun a ton of old vinyl, standout memory being Al Kooper's Naked Songs.

Continuing in heavy rotation from the previous week is Espers' S/T- can't say enough about this one. Just as they lull you into a comfortable folky dream framed with 12-strings, dulcimers, and chimes, the tone generators and acid drenched guitars (very reminiscent of Jade Warrior's sound) slap you in the jaw. Fine stuff. Highly recommended.

[Stone]

Unfortunately, the second to last sentence doesn't apply to The Walkmen; Bows + Arrows. I liked it well enough on the first couple of listens, but rather than my fondness growing with each listen, the opposite has proven to be the case. The aural assault, bereft of much, if any, melody or dynamic variation, (at least within a given song, there is some song to song dynamic range), has caused me to remain at arms length from the music, never really connecting with any of the songs. The notable exception being The Rat, the one very good song on a pretty mediocre album.

That's been my reaction to it too. I haven't spent a ton of time with it, but so far it's been a disappointment, especially given some of the stellar reviews it's received.

[Davey]

I got The Stills album; Logic Will Break Your Heart and have been enjoying it for 4 or 5 days now.......The good news is that so far after a week, I like the album more and more with each successive listen. Plus, they're from my home town!

Sounds like a good one. I read about it last year but never put it on my wishlist, I guess because the reviews were all over the place and nobody mentioned it here, or did they? Did you ever read what the idiot at Pitchfork said? Hehehe, he gave it a 5.1 and this was the first paragraph of a rather silly review.....

"Beware of lazy critics trying to turn us all into velcro-magnons. This album is not a "classic." As a member of that crucial demographic that has outlived Keats but not Jesus, I can understand why young'uns might consider Logic Will Break Your Heart poetic while the oldies find it miraculous. But those of us aged 27-32 have been thoroughly banged around by rock history revisions, fluctuations in irony, surrogate nostalgia, genre inbreeding, genre crossbreeding, and the pursuit of cool-- we've grown up inside a pasticheteria, so we know that The Stills are what The Posies were in their day, and what The Libertines were a few minutes ago: stuck in a phantom zone called "not there yet," and possibly because the personalities of their influences eclipse any sense of identity they could muster. The Stills are a complicated case, though, inspiring equal amounts of pleasure and horror, like that dream in which everyone has mozzarella genitals."

Mozarella genitals? OK....

Seems like there's a whole group of critics and consumers these days that think of music as being just like any other retail commodity, and if you don't get it to the market before someone else with a similar sound, then you're yesterday's news and not worth exploring. Kind of an odd view, as though the songs and the album and a hundred other intangibles don't really count, just the "sound". Oh well, for every review like that one at Pitchfork there's one by someone who loved the album like the guy at Splendid.

I felt pretty much the same as you about Bows and Arrows, except I listened to a few songs before I bought and really only thought The Rat lived up to the advance hype so decided to skip it. Blonde Redhead and Electrelane are definitely making me happy, though

[PPG]

Bruce Hornsby - Greatest Radio Hits

Comp - Rockin' Funky

1. Family Affair - Sly & Family Stone
2. Spinnin' Round - IZZ
3. Baby - Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise
4. Ice Cakes - Dixie Dregs
5. Before You Accuse Me - Eric Clapton
6. Josie - Steely Dan
7. New Country - Jean-Luc Ponty
8. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder
9. Walk In The Night - Jr. Walker
10. Diamonds - Herb Alpert
11. Empty Pages - Traffic
12. Lazeez - Acoustic Alchemy


Plus, I saw Cheap Trick over the weekend at the House of Blues, a pretty good show from the veteran power-poppers, mostly doing the early stuff and throwing in a couple tracks from Special One.

[Dave_G]

How were they?

Does Rick still have that goatee thingy?

Dave

[PPG]

How were they?

Does Rick still have that goatee thingy?

Dave

They were tight, playing the better-known tracks from the Epic years ("Surrender", "I Want You To Want Me" sounded better on the stage than the radio version we've been hearing all these years, "Just Got Back", "If You Want My Love", "Dream Police", "My Obsession", "In The Streets" (from "That 70's Show"), "The Flame", "Big Eyes", "She's Tight", "Tonight It's You" (the weak spot of the line-up), "Goodnight Now", and the encore was "Auf Wiedersen". With the House of Blues acoustics, they seemed far too loud - Robin's vocals couldn't be heard nearly as well as on the records, but, musically the guys were in fine form. The opening band, The Butchies, a 3-girl punk band played for only 30 minutes, thank goodness - the crowd was ready for the Tricksters and they didn't disappoint. And the goatee is gone.

[Troy]

Spinning like a hashish addled dervish.

RPWL- Stock. Love it. Surprised more modern progbands don't do more of this Floydian stuff.

Supergrass- In it for the Money. Very good brit-pop. Fans of early XTC would enjoy this.

Thinkman- The Formula. Rupert Hine's other band. 80s techno-pop with an artistic bent. Thin transfer to CD. Terrible master.

Yes- Tales From Topographic Oceans. I made it through disc one and was bored only a little. There's some really good stuff on there, interesting off key melodicism. Got 10 minutes into disc 2 and had to turn it off. What WERE they thinking?

Porcupine Tree- Stupid Dream- Love it. This band at it's most accessible.

Easy All Stars- Dub Side of the Moon. Funfunfun.

Yes- Drama. Better than most Yes albums.

Dave Matthews Band- BEfore these Crowded Streets. Parts are excellent.

Billy Sherwood- The Big Peace. Villified by most Yes fans, I happen to like this a lot more than any of the 90s+ Yes releases.

King Crimson- The Power to Believe. Possibly the best KC album to date.

Shankar- Touch Me There. Indian violinist solo album done during his collaboration with Zappa days in the late 70s. Lots of FZ influence (co-writing and production and vocals on one track). Simon Phillips on drums. Very strange Hindu jazz fusion.

XTC- Black Sea- Yep, a classic.

Hecates Angels- Hidden Persuader. Trippy ambient sinister music from Stan Ridgway's wife and keyboard player. Great atmosphere.

Flaming Lips- Soft Bulletin. Great album, crappy sonics.

Billy Joel- Streetlife Serrenader. His first album. Has a nice attitude. Kinda funny and self deprecating. Very unlike his later work.

Mad Rhetoric's Spiral Architects disc is in the player, first spin right now. Hope they get paid by the note . . .

[ForeverAutumn]

Spinnin' Round - IZZ

Is this new IZZ?

Is it good IZZ?

Did you know that Canadians pronounce Zee as Zed (as in ex, why, zed)? But, if you go into the CD store at Ceaser's Palace in Vegas, where their only clientele is tourists, and ask for "IZZ spelled eye, zed, zed" (so's that the young punk at the information desk won't punch IS into the computer), the young punk will look at you like you're speaking a foriegn language and that you're a freakin' martian instead of just a crazy Canadian.

[Stone]

One new one and a bunch of stuff I hadn't listened to in a while:


Hop On Pop – As Drawn By Ethan, Age 2
New album from a new band. Only listened once, and it has some good songs but so far hasn't grabbed me in a big way.

Archers of Loaf – Icky Mettle
Classic angular indie rock. One of my favorite albums of the 90s and as I posted earlier, one of my favorite bands of the 90s.

Archers of Loaf – Vee Vee

The High Back Chairs – Of Two Minds
Some great power pop. Not what you'd expect to hear on Dischord.

Bedhead – Transaction de Novo
Another favorite of mine from the 90s. I'm eagerly awaiting the upcoming New Year release.

Billy Bragg & Wilco – Mermaid Avenue

Steel Pulse – Babylon the Bandit
I have two Steel Pulse CDs including this one and it doesn't do much for me at all. I feel disappointed every time I listen to one of them. I'll stick with the more traditional stuff.

Faith No More – Angel Dust
Their best? Probably, as far as I'm concerned.

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes

John Vanderslice - Cellar Door
A damn fine pop album. Maybe not quite as good as ... Four Tracker, but not a clunker in the bunch. This guy knows how to write and arrange great pop songs.

Front 242 - Front By Front
Their best? Probably, as far as I'm concerned. It's been forever since I've listened to this. Now I remember why I liked these guys so much. The beat, and the use of the drums to drive it home, is what makes their stuff stand above most other industrial acts.

Stone

[Davey]

Hey, what's with the new avatar? And did you and Jar choreograph the change? I thought that lizard was gonna follow ol' Mason to the great beyond

You guys made me itchy to change mine so now I'm just a Blur.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and how come the New Tricky Ricky still doesn't have an avatar? I can understand the smilie boycott, but no avatar? Where's the fun in that!!??

[Ex Lion Tamer]

I haven't heard the first album, but I had high hopes for this band, because of the critical buzz. I should have known because the lack of buzz from the usual suspects here.

[nobody]

I'm a little late, and in a bit of a hurry, so I'm just gonna name a couple things I've really been digging lately...

Zero 7 - When it Falls
Excellent, mellow electronic house. More soulful thanmost of the electronica out there. I see 'em called derrivitive, but to me the soulful element sets this one apart.

Martina Topley-Bird - Quixotic
Beautiful voice. The mellower tunes grab nme first, but then again, they need the more uptempo stuff to set them off or the whole may end up being boring. Only criticism I've seen of this one is that it kinda trip hoppy. Imagina that, Martina puttin' out something trip hoppy. May as well condemn the White Stripes for putting out garage rock.

Speaking of White Stripes, really getting into their debut lately. J, if you don't have this, you need it. Rougher and more raw than their other stuff. Good stuff. Also been listening to Joe Strummer's Streetcore a lot, some Tom Petty, A ton of 80s stuff while making comps for a party for my wife, Iran & Wine still hitting the spot, Mum, can't wait for their new one coming out soon, some old soul and a little rock and roll...

[Ex Lion Tamer]

[QUOTE=Davey]"Beware of lazy critics trying to turn us all into velcro-magnons. This album is not a "classic." As a member of that crucial demographic that has outlived Keats but not Jesus, I can understand why young'uns might consider Logic Will Break Your Heart poetic while the oldies find it miraculous. But those of us aged 27-32 have been thoroughly banged around by rock history revisions, fluctuations in irony, surrogate nostalgia, genre inbreeding, genre crossbreeding, and the pursuit of cool-- we've grown up inside a pasticheteria, so we know that The Stills are what The Posies were in their day, and what The Libertines were a few minutes ago: stuck in a phantom zone called "not there yet," and possibly because the personalities of their influences eclipse any sense of identity they could muster. The Stills are a complicated case, though, inspiring equal amounts of pleasure and horror, like that dream in which everyone has mozzarella genitals."[QUOTE]

What a tool!

[PPG]

Is this new IZZ?

Is it good IZZ?

No, "Spinnin' Round" is the first track from the "I Move" album, which is indeed "good Eye Zed Zed".

[Jim Clark]

Sounds like a good one (The Stills). I read about it last year but never put it on my wishlist, I guess because the reviews were all over the place and nobody mentioned it here, or did they?

Depends, do I count? I had The Stills as numero 6 on my ten best of 2003 list. Had a little description and even scan of the cover. Guess it lacked impact.

jc

[ForeverAutumn]

No, "Spinnin' Round" is the first track from the "I Move" album, which is indeed "good Eye Zed Zed".

I wasn't paying close attention (obviously) and thought that you were listing disks that you had listened to. I didn't realize that it was a track list from a comp.

Boy, do I feel silly.

[Stone]

Hey, what's with the new avatar? And did you and Jar choreograph the change? I thought that lizard was gonna follow ol' Mason to the great beyond

You guys made me itchy to change mine so now I'm just a Blur.

No, no choreography involved. I got tired of Penfold and had some time to change it, so I did. I had a couple other things in mind but I found out that I'm pretty inept at shrinking larger images (or portions of them) down to 80 x 80.

That Blur guy does bear some resemblance. Interesting choice.

[Davey]

Depends, do I count? I had The Stills as numero 6 on my ten best of 2003 list. Had a little description and even scan of the cover. Guess it lacked impact.

Touché, my post-punk friend. Should've remembered since you seem to be on top of all the cool bands these days. Are you getting some underground newsletter or something? Maybe your presentation was too professional so I just blew it off as a shill

Hehehe, actually it might've been you that prompted me to check them out initially. I've been trying to be pretty selective lately and so when I see reviews all over the place for a band I don't know, I tend to hold off....but if Jim and Mark are both really diggin' something then I know it must be good. And anyway, better late than never. It is only just from last year - sometimes we take a little long to come around to your dark side