Now Listening To (The Resurrection), Musical Musings Options

[Ramirez]

Chickenfoot - Down the Drain

A supergroup I only learned about yesterday, made up of Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Chad Smith and Michael Anthony. Some good old hard rock. They have tow songs on their Myspace page, which you can listen to here

[milanius]

Nothing satisfies, nothing will cause it won't get a chance to.
Altered spirit and altered mind take a turn for the worst soon.
Fear has struck, fear is stuck maladjusted.

Assurance won't sit well at all cause no one is trusted
You've got what you wanted
the reason you came
control action control of the game

See through the happiness,
see through the sappiness
Seen through the front that obscures all the truth
and see ugliness, torture, torture and ugliness

Selfishness lost in a quagmire of human filth

Fear has struck, fear is stuck, maladjusted
Fear that rules a twisted f***, maladjusted!

I play this to myself when I'm down. Helps me run myself into the ground further.

[bbqplatypus]

I'm not listening to any album in particular, but I have had "One Toke Over the Line" stuck in my head for the past several hours.

Honestly, I think this might be the catchiest song ever written.

[bbqplatypus]

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I think Songs for Beginners is the best solo album that any of the members of CSN OR CSNY ever released.


Yes, that includes Neil Young.

[seerauna]

Lots of Tantric, Nirvana, and Metallica lately... I think I've become a victim of my brother's rock obsession. Oh well, I like a lot of it so not much to complain about.

[canis216]

Yesterday I purchased Wilco's Sky Blue Sky. Here's one of my favorite tracks, "Impossible Germany", being performed live. (Great guitar work by Nels Cline.)

[Colonel Mustard]

Listening to Demon Days by the Gorrillaz at the moment. They're an odd thing for me, that band; either I love a song by them or I hate it.

[bbqplatypus]

Share the Land by the Guess Who. I think these guys are extremely underrated. I'd say that they're the third-best group to come out of Canada (with the first two being the Band and Neil Young, in that order). This album has a whole bunch of good songs on it - including the title track, which I swear to God should be played at graduations or weddings or something. Then again, maybe that would ruin it for me. In any case, this album is good.

[bbqplatypus]

The Three E.P.'s by the Beta Band. A friend of mine burned me a copy of this album (well, not exactly an album - it is, as its title implies, three E.P.'s packaged together as one disc), accompanying this with a very, very strong recommendation that I listen to it - and sooner rather than later. Since I like to think that I'm at least theoretically open to the idea of expanding my musical horizons beyond the 60s and 70s, I decided to do exactly that.

And you know what? I liked it. I liked it quite a bit, in fact. They certainly aren't lacking in variety. They seem to be channeling an odd combination of folk, low-fi grunge, and hip-hop by way of Brian Eno. Emphasis on odd. But it's an endearing sort of weirdness. There are a lot of great ideas and good songs here - "Dogs Got a Bone," "The House Song," "She's the One," "It's Over," and "Dr. Baker" (which has a kind of a hypnotic Gregorian chant quality to it) are particular favorites of mine.

But what I really want to talk about is the first track on the disc, "Dry the Rain." Why? Because it's a goddamned classic, that's why. Here's the thing - there are two kinds of awesome songs. There are the kind that kick your boat right from the get-go (like "Heaven and Hell" from Live at Leeds) and there are songs that go on a slow burn until they get to a sustained boil. "Dry the Rain" is the latter. It lends credence to my theory that some songs rock much harder when they're quiet than when they're loud (just look at how much better J.J. Cale's version of "After Midnight" is compared to Eric Clapton's version). The way the song is written and structured makes the crescendo that comes in the middle of the song seem louder than it is.

Frankly, I'm surprised that I forgot the song was featured in High Fidelity. I would've thought I would remember a song that good being in the movie.



Now, this is coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't typically listen to indie rock. I'm sure more knowledgeable folks are rolling their eyes and thinking "Dude, these guys broke up five years ago, and you're talking about it like it came out yesterday." Yeah, well, for someone who pretty much has the same musical preferences as his parents do, 1998 is pretty freakin' recent. I think this is one of those discs that I usually only listen to one or two songs off of, but when I'm in a VERY specific mood, I listen to the whole thing. Or maybe I just listen to "Dry the Rain" five times. In any case, I might want to see if that friend of mine has anything else by these fine Scotsmen.

3 1/2 out of 4 stars, sez I.

[bbqplatypus]

Live from Chicago! Bigger than Life! by Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows. Big Twist is (in my opinion) one of the more unjustly forgotten of the blues artists that emerged during the 1980s. Sadly, the Big Twist is no longer alive to grace the stage with his presence and charisma, but luckily, we have this live album to remember him by. This album does what any good live album should do - it captures the essence of the band's stage act the best as can be done without seeing and experiencing it.

Their sound is upbeat and playful and the band is big - if you don't like trumpets and horns in your music, you'd best stay away from this one. It has nothing in common with the hard, wailing, guitar-oriented blues of, say, Stevie Ray Vaughn. But it's good, lighthearted fun. I can't say I put it on every day, but I still enjoy it on those occasions when I feel like listening to it.

All in all, it captures the Big Twist as he was - "300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy."

[Colonel Mustard]

I just heard Alien Ant Farm's cover of 'Smooth Criminal.'

They must be burned. Burned before they can breed and spawn more atrocious songs.

[Illydoor]

I agree dude I used to hate that song. Anyone like The Crystal Method here? There not my favourite type of music but they've got an awesome song that I've downloaded here, it was on the matrix and tropic thunder (which is terrible, suffice to say, but that's for another time).

The starting line from the song is:

"Listen aallll you motherfuckeeersss..."

Ring anybody's bells?

This post has been edited by Illydoor: May 13 2009, 09:30 PM

[bbqplatypus]

Killer by Alice Cooper. The thing that sets Alice Cooper apart from the multitude of crappy theatrical bands that emerged in the 70s (other than the fact that he set the trend of shocking stage acts and kooky performances rather than just following them) is the music. He's got better musical sensibilities than KISS and Sweet combined and added together five times over.

This album is one of the best pieces of evidence to support this (as well as the notion that Alice Cooper the band is better than Alice Cooper the solo artist - however, Alice as a solo artist is still great). Now, sure, the theatricality of the music is still quite obvious on the three "shock rock" tracks (for instance, you can practically see Alice walking up to the gallows onstage during the organ-based funeral dirge that concludes the title track). However, the music is quite good on its own right.

It comes crashing right out of the gate with "Under My Wheels," the album's most famous track. And it gets radio play for a reason - it kicks boat in a slightly-Stonesy but still undeniably Cooperian fashion. From time to time, when I'm alone in my house, I find myself just shouting "WHEE-WHEE! WHEE! WHEE! WHEELS!" at the top of my lungs. The rest of the music is divided between superb examples of Detroit garage-glam ("Be My Lover," "You Drive Me Nervous," "Yeah Yeah Yeah") and sprawling, theatrical, yet still hard-rocking shock rock numbers ("Halo of Flies," "Dead Babies," "Killer") - with the exception of "Desperado," which has elements of both. Both these elements work extremely well - in fact, they kick boat.

Overall, I think this is Alice's best album (and yes, I'm including Billion Dollar Babies in that assessment). It encapsulates everything that's great about the music of Alice Cooper. If you're unfamiliar with Alice Cooper and are looking to get into him, this would be a pretty good place to start (so would Love It to Death and the aforementioned Billion Dollar Babies).

4 stars out of 4, sez I.



(Oh, and the last five seconds of this album made me jump out of my chair the first time I heard it).

[seerauna]

Just found a band that I love. It's called Hedley and probably my favorite song of their's is Bones Shatter.

Here's a link to the song
Hedley Bones Shatter

[milanius]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhh4Ui0KlWg

Flamenco and metal. It's the kind of fusion that fits perfectly in my head, just like ice-cold waterdrops complement ouzo nicely.

[milanius]

After 14 hours of work, I come back too tired to feel anything and I strike a goldmine:

The Pogues - Lullaby of London
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - A Message To You, Rudy

be sure to check the other related Pogues and Strummer videos, this is pure effin win here, folks

This post has been edited by milanius: Jun 29 2009, 10:11 PM

[canis216]

Am presently listening to Lucinda Williams' fine album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. A terrific sort of alt-country folky-rock thing going on. The woman is one hell of a songwriter.

[Dantrag]

Been listening to Neurosis a lot lately, since I bought the album 'The Eye of Every Storm'. It's metal, but not really heavy. I don't really know how to explain it. Toned-down, I guess. And very droning (in a good way). I like.

Specifically, I'm listening to the song Left to Wander.

(and I know it's an old post, but i think the AAF cover of smooth criminal was great. they actually put their own style and spin on it and added something, which is what i think a good cover should do.)

This post has been edited by Dantrag: Jul 4 2009, 07:44 PM

[Nottheking]

Inexplicably, I've got the "Bright Man" theme from Mega Man IV stuck in my head, so I've been obligated to listen to it as a result.

[LadyTaurucis]

The End of the World by Angela.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FQKH5cz26o