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| Author |
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| 25 new of 268 responses total. |
krj
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response 100 of 268:
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Sep 11 04:13 UTC 1992 |
Do you still get shopping in Canada very often, Laurel?
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mythago
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response 101 of 268:
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Sep 11 06:12 UTC 1992 |
Not usually, due to lack of money and less opportunity to be in Canada.
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aa8ij
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response 102 of 268:
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Oct 15 22:56 UTC 1992 |
I might as well do this....
Just bought Shepard Moons by enya and it is a truly magnificant CD,
Carribean Blue and Marble Halls being the star tracks. The music is
quite intoxicating and lingering... I plan on buying Watermark in the
near future, and I hope it's just as intoxicating and enthralling...
enya is one special person...and what a voice!!!
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mcnally
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response 103 of 268:
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Oct 16 01:49 UTC 1992 |
Recent purchases:
Peter Gabriel - "Us" : Very good.. One or two throwaway tracks, but
a decent effort that I had looked forward to with some trepidation. I'm
pretty happy with it..
R.E.M. - "Automatic for the People" : Disappointing, though it may grow
on me. Like "Out of Time", the best songs are at the beginning and end of
the album and there seems to be a serious mid-album drag problem. Unlike
"Out of Time", however, there are no standout tracks to redeem the dreck.
Moodswings - "Moodfood" : Very good.. I bought it mostly on the strength
of the single ("Spiritual High") but find that I enjoy the rest of the album
just as much. If I had to pigeonhole it, I suppose I'd describe it as
ambient dub, though that doesn't really suggest a decent impression of what
it sounds like.
Walkabouts - "Dead Man Rise" (CD Single) Picked up at Discount Records
to round out a purchase to four discs (since their pricing scheme favors
such arrangements), I'm quite happy with this disc, especially the tracks
"Dead Man Rise", "Hangman", and "Train to Mercy".. there are two other
live tracks that I don't enjoy as much, but overall I'm convinced it was
well worth the $4 I paid for it.
Robert Musso - "Active Resonance" Bought this mostly because Vinyl
Solution had filed it in the same bin with one of my favorite bands,
Material. Indeed, this album is well populated with the standard Material
crowd and the Bill Laswell influence is clearly audible meaning that this
album is an interesting mixture of funk and middle-eastern worldbeat with
a liberal amount of weird jazz sprinkled throughout. Recommended for
Material fans, though if you're unfamiliar with Material I'd recommend
you start out with "Seven Souls"
Talking Heads - "Sand in the Vaseline" (2 CD collection) Disappointing,
since I bought it only for the "new" tracks and they're not up to what I
had hoped. What I would much rather have seen is a CD release of "The Name
of this Band is Talking Heads" with these extra tracks tacked on. Instead
what we have is a purported "best of" collection (which is certainly not
their best) which has too much previously released material to please
serious fans and too many "rarities" included for completeness's sake
(rather than because they fit with the rest of the album) to attract
buyers who are casual fans..
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krj
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response 104 of 268:
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Oct 16 15:10 UTC 1992 |
Mike and I are obviously coming at the Walkabouts from different angles.
The live tracks he didn't like-- "Anvil Song" and "Long Black Veil" --
are my favorites from that "cd-ep", and indeed "Long Black Veil" is
one of my two favorite Walkabouts songs, period.
Given the songs you liked, Mike, you might want to go ahead and pick up
the whole SCAVENGER album, from which they all come. I remain convinced
that the Walkabouts are the best American rock band in 1992, even
though nobody's heard of them. With all of the other bands from Seattle
being turned into mega-stars, I keep hoping it'll be their turn.
My chief disappointment with the Heads set is that they omitted the last
remaining Talking Heads collectible, the acoustic version of "Psycho Killer"
arranged for autoharp and cellos. I haven't finished playing all of it,
but I'm reasonably content with the track selection, especially on the
second disc which covers the lesser later albums.
I'm still working on listening to the new R.E.M. (which so far I find
fascinating, but it's probably too folky for Mike) and Peter Gabriel.
More on them later.
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mcnally
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response 105 of 268:
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Oct 16 17:02 UTC 1992 |
We probably are approaching from different directions, which seems to
happen most of the time with the music that we both enjoy (for example,
in the time since you introduced me to the Golden Palominos, their latest,
"Drunk With Passion", has grown to be my favorite of their albums..
as I recall, you didn't care for it..) In any event, though I couldn't
possibly agree that they are "the best American band of 1992", I am
enjoying the Walkabouts single..
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mcnally
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response 106 of 268:
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Oct 23 20:31 UTC 1992 |
I was looking at the liner notes of that Walkabouts single a little
earlier and noticed that Brian Eno contributes keyboards and vocals on
"Last Train to Mercy".. Does he play on any other tracks on that
album?
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sandeep
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response 107 of 268:
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Oct 24 16:53 UTC 1992 |
"Train to Mercy" is the only song on the SCAVENGER album that Eno guests on,
I'm afraid.
I've listened to a bunch of new stuff lately so I may as well put in a few
reviews. Here goes...
The Bigod 20 album STEEL WORKS was a huge disappointment. They try to do
industrial dance music, but it isn't very interesting. At their best they
sound like a wimpy Front 242, at their worst they sound like a souped-up
Erasure. Not recommended at all.
On the other hand, the Meat Beat Manifesto's SATYRICON was excellent. This is
kind of mutant house music, with driving dance beats, atmospheric electronics,
tons of samples, and vocals that are sometimes chanted, sometimes sung. A
fascinating mix, with the single most interesting track I've heard in 1992:
it moves from an acid house groove to an African percussive rhythm to a lush
strings and flute melody excerpted from an old Chanel commercial. Wild.
I must also mention the release of a Birthday Party compilation entitled
simply HITS. While I'm not a huge fan of Nick Cave's work with the Bad Seeds,
his twisted demonic vocals with the Birthday Party were great. Add to that
Rowland Howard's insistent guitar (reminds me of Steve Albini and Big Black,
one of my all-time favorite groups), and you've got a combination that beats
the sonic tar out of most of today's "grunge" rock groups.
Daddy Freddy's RAGAMUFFIN SOLDIER was quite good; I'm hesitant to give it
a high recommendation because I'm not yet very familiar with this ragamuffin
rap scene that mixes reggae and rap, so I don't have a lot to compare it to.
At times I thought he went a little too far to the rap side, and didn't
incorporate very much reggae rhythm into his musical backing, but when he
does it really works well. If anyone has any recommendations regarding
ragamuffin music, I'd be most interested to hear them.
That's all for now....
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mcnally
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response 108 of 268:
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Nov 12 06:14 UTC 1992 |
Anything new out lately that's interesting? Has anyone heard Eno's
new (even newer than "Nerve Net") album, "The Shutov Assembly"? Is
it out yet? I haven't been in a record store in weeks, which must be
some sort of record for me..
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morel
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response 109 of 268:
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Nov 12 22:30 UTC 1992 |
I doubt that this is exactly what you meant by "interesting", but I heard
a song from the new recording by Nina Cherry, daughter of the late jazz
trumpet player Don Cherry. I haven't quite caught the title of it, but
it could be "Sex Education". When it first started playing the other
week on WDET, I thought they were playing "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf. When
I realized it wasn't I ran upstairs, found my Easy Rider soundtrack [ ;-) ],
threw it on the turntable and switched from fm to phono several times. The
guitar part in the Nina Cherry song was an *exact* copy of that in The
Pusher, down to the same key and same style of playing. When I called
the station, they checked and said there was no credit given for the guitar
part.
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steve
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response 110 of 268:
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Nov 13 00:19 UTC 1992 |
About a week ago WUOM played a new recording of Mozart's quintet in
C. It was decent, but not as good as the Smetana quartet (+Suk), in
my opinion. What was bizarre for me, was the fact that I'd heard about
this for about a month. Someone browsing CDs at the library mentioned
it too, like it was a real big event. Perhaps I'm missing something,
'cause I liked Smetana a lot better.
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krj
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response 111 of 268:
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Nov 13 05:50 UTC 1992 |
New stuff? Mumbledy-mumble. I like about half of the new R.E.M., which
is typical for their recent albums. Everything else I've been listening
to lately is too obscure for anyone else to care... THE OLD HAT DANCE
BAND is a fairly trad English folk dance band, with not one but two
squeezeboxes. BASTARD, by the (East) German folk-rock band JAMS,
mixes a variety of Eastern European styles at a manic pace; it's sort of
like 3 Mustaphas 3 with a dollop of klezmer stirred in.
Schoolkids was playing a lovely, frenetic Afro-Cuban jazz album -- all
fierce horns and timbales -- by Mario Baunza, so we picked that one up.
Oh, and the new Robyn Holcomb album ROCKABYE has a lot of promise, though
we haven't really given it all our attention yet.
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sandeep
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response 112 of 268:
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Nov 15 12:40 UTC 1992 |
"The Shutov Assembly" *is* out; WCBN received a copy of it, but I haven't
heard anything about it .
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mcnally
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response 113 of 268:
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Nov 15 19:52 UTC 1992 |
Yep.. saw it in the stores the other day but was unsure enough about
it (being somewhat disappointed with "Nerve Net" and not really wild about
Eno's ambient stuff) to avoid it for the time being, especially since I
already had about five or six other purchases in my hands..
The big surprise find was a CD copy of the Flying Burrito Brothers'
"Gilded Palace of Sin" album, which I've been looking for for a while but
thought didn't exist.. Of course now that I've paid import price for it,
it should be released domestically next week or so.. I like it so far,
since it sounds (unsurprisingly) like Gram Parsons-period Byrds.
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mcnally
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response 114 of 268:
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Dec 9 23:55 UTC 1992 |
When the Mekons sang the lyric "It's very said, I'm afraid the goose
that laid the golden egg is dead" on their last album (the really, really
good "Curse of the Mekons") I didn't suspect at the time that it might
refer to themselves.. About 1 1/2 or two weeks ago, I was excited to
stumble across a new release from them at Tower. This disc is an EP with
two songs "Wicked Midnight" and "All I Need" from their upcoming album
"I (heart symbol) Mekons" as well as three uninspired live tracks from
their recent tour (two are of songs on "Curse of the Mekons", the other
I don't recognize)
After discovering the Mekons through "Curse of the Mekons" I went out
and bought some of their other albums, hoping to find something as good.
Though it took me a while to give up, the other Mekons titles I bought
were all very disappointing compared to "Curse". Until recently I was
at least able to cherish the hope that "Curse" marked a new direction in
there career and that they would be producing excellent music from now
on. I'll probably buy "I (heart) Mekons" anyways, just in case, but
judging from the advance single, I suspect it is plagued by the same
mediocrity that afflicts the rest of their albums and that "Curse" was
just an amazing fluke..
[sigh..]
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cwb
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response 115 of 268:
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Dec 17 04:15 UTC 1992 |
I feel so musically illiterate on the non-classical scene now after
reading
all these reviews for groups I've not heard.
I recently bought Sara McLachlan's Solace, after hearing
two songs on WDET. Overall I like it, and since I got it
used, I don't mind some of the crap
that is on it. She has a very interesting voice,
but her singing could prophet from some simplifying. She tries
to mix vocals in the style of Silly Wizard
(lots of ornamentation) with modern scoring with mixed results.
Listen before you buy.
Jethro Tull's "A Little Light Music" on the other hand
is an unquestionably good album for you Tull fans out there.
It's a long album (something like 17 tracks) of
live Tull with an acoustic emphasis. They're doing
some of their more obscure stuff. Yum.
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tcc
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response 116 of 268:
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Jan 3 07:45 UTC 1993 |
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 2: M.O. now rich and famous redoes and outdoes
his original TB, richer fuller and more expressive. It's
the same bass patterns and sections, with all different timbre
and orchestrations and melodies.
Suzanne Vega - 99.9F: Kept hearing 'Blood Makes Noise' on 89X, so I got the
album. Quite listenable, but it's my first S.V. album so its
taking a bit to get used to.
Jan Hammer - Beyond the Mind's Eye: Kind of disappointing, throughout the
album I keep expecting the theme song to Miami Vice. Maybe I
just need to listen to this one a few more times, although the
first few times I was already annoyed by the sound of the syn-
guitar riffs (every song!)
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cwb
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response 117 of 268:
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Jan 5 03:35 UTC 1993 |
Thelonius Monk: the Complete Riverside recordings. This was a
birthday present, by far the best I've received in a good while. Imagine
if you will, 15 cds packed with everything he did between 1956 and 1961,
with many other artists. I strongly urge any jazz fans who win the lotto
to go and buy this one.
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steve
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response 118 of 268:
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Jan 7 22:49 UTC 1993 |
Wow: four years. That sounds really neat.
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sandeep
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response 119 of 268:
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Jan 10 16:31 UTC 1993 |
I've been listening to Pavement's SLANTED AND ENCHANTED album quite a bit
lately- they're a UK band that has received enormous plaudits in the press
over there and have a substantial underground following here in the States
as well. They're kind of a cross between REM and Sonic Youth- sometimes
sounding very grungy, sometimes very melodic and even folksy. The singer
is at times amiably off key (a la Calvin from Beat Happening), and they do
experiment some with dischordant tunings, but they're much more accessible
than, say, older Sonic Youth in that regard. One of the best albums of 1992-
one of the music directors at WCBN likens it to REM's "Murmur" and I can see
the comparison. Especially check out "Summer Babe" and "Zurich is Stained."
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mcnally
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response 120 of 268:
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Jan 11 22:09 UTC 1993 |
I've been considering picking that up for a while now.. I came very
close to buying one of the singles from it last time I was in Tower..
Maybe I'll give it a try..
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krj
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response 121 of 268:
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Feb 13 20:50 UTC 1993 |
I was really responding enthusiastically to Sandeep's review of the Pavement
album until he mentioned Beat Happening. I'm sorry, Sandeep, but the
Beat Happening album I borrowed from you falls below my Minimum Singing
Quality Standards. Maybe I can hear a few tracks next time we get together.
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mcnally
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response 122 of 268:
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Feb 14 00:08 UTC 1993 |
I'm not too wild about the Pavement album yet (I like some of it OK, but
it doesn't thrill me) but several people have told me that though they were
ambivalent about it to begin with it really grew on them. So, I've sort
of put it on the shelf, though I pull it off every now and then to see if
some sort of miraculous transformation has occurred..
Ken, I'd say the vocals remind me most of Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed.
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krj
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response 123 of 268:
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Feb 17 15:37 UTC 1993 |
Ah, I see the Pavement album was most enthusiastically recommended by
Entertainment Weekly. :-)
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sandeep
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response 124 of 268:
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Feb 18 21:17 UTC 1993 |
When I first played Pavement for one of my friends, he had the exact same
reaction as Mike: he thought the vocals sounded a lot like VU. I don't
know whether to be happy or miffed that Entertainment Weekly has picked up
on this band....
A *lot* of people don't like Beat Happening for the very reason Ken cites;
I like them 'cause they have a very distinctive sound, and I find Calvin's
admittedly off-key warbling rather amusing....
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