Slartibartfast's Magical Music Random Load Blog

I noticed "The Prodigal Son" by Nektar

Beck, Jeff    Jeff - still can't top his '70's stuff.  Not a bad one though.

Brand X    Unorthodox Behavior - probably their best.  Phil had yet to go over to the dark side of commercial music.

Clarke, Stanley    Journey To Love - fairly new one for me.  Has yet to make a strong impression.

Dixie Dregs    King Biscuit Flower Hour - the Dregs were always at their best live.  This show shows them at their prime.  And for those of you not acquainted with the KBFH, it was the best show to make your own live bootlegs off of.

Free Flight    Jazz/Classical Union, The - I've only got a couple of their albums.  I think this is the first one.  Really good Jazz/Classical fusion.

Gabriel, Peter    Security - Peter continues his departure from the style of Genesis when he left.  Had some commercial success with Shock The Monkey.  The rest of the songs were outside the mainstream.

Genesis    Duke (Remaster) - the band is certainly starting to head towards more commercial material.  I absolutely hated Misunderstanding when the album came out.  I’ve grown to merely dislike it.

Hedges, Michael    Breakfast in the Field – Mike’s early instrumental albums were his best.  This is no exception.
Jackson, Joe    Summer In The City – a live show in NYC before a small audience. 

Kodo with Isao Tomita and Kusillaqta    Nasca Fantasy – I was familiar with Kodo before but never had any of their albums.  Decided to give this one a shot as it had Tomita.  Not bad at all.

Laraaji    Ambient 3/Day of Radiance – this album is the least like the others in the series.  Eno doesn’t perform.  I think I remember reading somewhere that this artist was a street musician that Brian happened to run into.

no-man    Heaven Taste – this was yet another in my no-man binge. 

Oldfield, Mike    Hergest Ridge – proto ambient/new age.  Really good stuff.  A much simpler piece than his first solo outing.

Sting    Ten Summoner's Tales – Sting’s debut remains my favorite.  He continues to put out basically good albums though and I haven’t missed one.

Synergy    Cords – seemed to be having
 a bit of a brain fart when loading my case.  Pulled out Games instead.  If you like synth music and haven’t tried Synergy, then by all means do.

Talking Heads    The Name of This Band is Talking Heads – brain fart number two.  Pulled 77 of the shelf instead.  Oddly enough that title came up in rotation for the next batch. 
Tibbetts, Steve    Safe Journey – Steve tended to move away from
 his proggier first two albums when he hopped on the ECM label.  Still good stuff, but the first two remain my favorites.

Umphrey's McGee    Summer Sampler 2010 – so I’m at the liquor store and I go up to the counter and they had a small stack of these they were giving away for free.  Excellent.  Compilation of live tracks.  I think it’s still available as a free download.


Need to comment on all of these.
Next:
Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe    Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe - really a Yes album except for the fact that you can't have a Yes album without Chris Squire.  Had it since it was new.  Liked it better then.  Not particularly enthusiastic about it now.

Belew, Adrian    Lone Rhino - Adrian's first self titled release.  Remains my favorite.

Bowie, David    Lodger - I keep forgetting that Eno and Belew are on this one.  Probably a driving factor in keeping from getting too poppy.

Bush, Kate    Aspects of the Sensual World - as most EPs it's of most interest to the bigger fans.

Bush, Kate    Hounds of Love + 6 Bonus Tracks - she hasn't put out anything I don't like better.

Dixie Dregs    Full Circle - it ain't the old Dregs, but they have Jerry Goodman on board.  For those not in the know, they covered some Mahavishnu Orchestra songs live in the early days.

Eno, Brian    More Music For Films - the long lost Music For Films 2 album. 

Gentle Giant    King Biscuit Flower Hour - the King captured some prog greats at their peak and put out a live on the radio.  Another great one.

Harrison, Jerry    Casual Gods - I've got three of his solo albums.  The one I'd really like to have is The Red And The Black.  Maybe sooner or later.  Not bad, but no Talking Heads either.

Horn, Paul Featuring Egberto Gismonti and Nexus    Altitiude of the Sun, The - I don't know Horn, but long acquainted with Gismonti.  Nice mellow instrumental.

Knifeworld    Buried Alive: Tales Of Crushing Defeat - another one of those albums that hasn't been as much appreciated on this site as is warranted.  Try it dammit!!!

Nirvana    From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah - I would be surprised if this band ever makes it on this site.  I think what attracted me to them was Kurt seems to have a Fripp influence. 

Renaissance    Tales of 1001 Nights Volume I - I normally say avoid compilation albums or "best" ofs.  I got it because the compilations were the only way to get the band on CD.  At this point I'll probably stick with I and II.   Running out of space and funds, you know.

Talking Heads    Talking Heads: 77 (Remaster) - if I haven't already put in a good word for Jerry Harrison's remaster series with 5.1 mix and bonus video material, I highly recommend them.


Edited by Slartibartfast - January 27 2011 at 20:15

Sanctious very much.

Next batch:

Amos, Tori    Hey Jupiter - EP, non essential to be sure.

Bowie, David    Buddha of Suburbia, The - not one of his more progressive ventures but decent music all the same.

Dixie Dregs, the    Industry Standard - last attempt at having some commercial success.  Pretty much the end of the Dregs as I knew them.

Fleck, Bela & The Flecktones    Live At The Quick - eh, your basic live album.

Gunn, Trey Band, The    Joy of Molebdenum, The - happy happy joy joy.

Head Machine    Orgasm - aahhh ahhhh ahhh aoohhh.

Manzanera, Phil    Primititve Guitars - very influential to me.  Nice set of instrumentals.  Unfortunately, Phil would try some more commercial ventures after this one came out.

Metheny, Pat Group    American Garage - simply one of his best.

Moraz - Buford    Music For Piano and Drums - saw them live on this tour.  Really more of a jazz than progressive effort.

Oldfield, Mike    Tubular Bells 2003 - this one often gets knocked for being a remake.  I quite like it.

Oregon    Oregon - Oregon goes a bit less acoustic.

Phillips, Anthony    Private Parts & Pieces - his first.  He apparently recorded a lot of stuff post Genesis.  First of the series.  If you like acoustic you should like this one.

Roxy Music    Flesh & Blood - yeah they went in a more commercial direction.  Still a good album.

Santana    Caravanserai - jazz rock fusion at it's best.

Tomita, Isao / Musorgsky    Pictures at an Exhibition - excellent version.

Amos, Tori    Abnormally Attracted To Sin - her latest to date.  Good as always.  I think she'd be hard pressed to make a regular studio release that I wouldn't like.

Premiata Forneria Marconi    Live in U.S.A. - originally released as Cook with a much cooler album covet, my intro to the band.  Made me a big fan.


Edited by Slartibartfast - January 19 2011 at 21:22

Blegvad, Peter    Just Woke Up - good stuff.  I took an interest because of Andy Partridge being on one.  Not a huge fan though.  I got a few and probably won't be getting any more.

Clarke DiMeola Ponty    Rite of Strings, The - not so fond memories of going to see these guys at an outdoors concert at stone mountain and not having applied any sunscreen, getting the crap sunburned out of me.

Dixie Dregs    What If - what if I could have only one Dregs album.  It would be this one.

Hackett, Steve    Spectral Mornings (Remaster) - Steve did some really good solo albums before attempting to go commercial.  This is one of them.

Heads, The    No Talking Just Head - not bad for a non-Byrne Talking Heads project.  Substitute vocalists instead.  I think I bought this because Andy Partridge is one of them.

Metheny Group, Pat    Offramp - saw him on the tour for this live.  One of those Atlanta Agora concerts I got into before I was old enough to go into a venue that served alcohol.  I still have the t-shirt in storage. 

Nektar    Tab in the Ocean, A - definitely one of their best, though the reincarnation has been doing some good stuff.

Oregon    Troika - decent though no standout.  I don't think they were ever quite as good as when Colin Walcott was still alive and with them.

Phillips, Anthony    Slow Dance - basically good mellow music.

Sinfield, Pete    Still - Pete does some cheesy stuff, but the non-cheesy stuff is quite good.  Come to think of it, the cheesy stuff isn't all that bad.

Sky    Sky Five Live - nice live set.  I didn't know of its existence until the CD releases came out.

Steeley Dan    Two Against Nature - nice comeback for them although it is hard to top the '70's stuff.

Wilding/Bonus    Pleasure Signals - you like Brand X?  Neither of those two played in X but there's a few Xers on this album.  And an array of nekkid ladies on the cover.  What's not to like?

Edited by Slartibartfast - January 19 2011 at 21:22

Full case this morning, interesting set:

Beefheart, Captain & His Magic Band    Trout Mask Replica - I know some people adore this album.  I dread whenever this one comes up in circulation.  Maybe this time it will be magic.

Cocteau Twins    Head Over Heels - first came to know these guys due to their work with Harold Budd.  The only album I have though I like it and should try another.  So if anyone reads this who is familiar with their discography, make me a suggestion.

Davis, Miles    Round About Midnight - I prefer his fusion stuff, but his jazz stuff is classic.

Jarre, Jean Michel    Oxygene 7-13 - I guess giving your pieces number instead of names saves time.  The J man has done some stuff recently that isn't quite as good as his earlier stuff.  You can rank this one with the earlier stuff.

Johnson, David Earle with Jan Hammer    Hip Address - get hip, seriously.

Marillion    Made Again - for me an unremarkable but not bad live album.

McLachlan, Sarah    Laws Of Illusion - who knew illusion had it's laws?  My favorite since Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. 

Morse, Steve Band    Coast to Coast - Steve's solo albums are good yet fairly predictable. 

Mr. Bungle    California - my favorite and first bungling experience.  I liked it enough to get the whole discography.

Penguin Café, The    Music From the Penguin Café - a friend introduced me to this album many years back.  I taped it to cassette but never bought a copy.  Now rectified.

Premiata Forneria Marconi    Per Un Amico - my intro to PFM was the English language stuff.  Some say the Italian language stuff is superior.  I like both.

Rungren's, Tod Utopia    Utopia - Todd hopped on the prog bandwagon for a while.  This is one of the best.

Schema    Schema - in the scheme a things a quite good EP that has Mary from Stereolab.

Zappa, Frank    Thing-Fish - I like this one much more than the Trout Mask and I can just hear the groaning coming from the Trout Mask fans.


I drove around with it in the player today and it nearly drove me crazy.   I see people writing about albums being too long, perfectly describes this one.
Doc was my first and I like that much better.  But the Trout Mask really put me off to the point where I didn't try anything new for years, which so far has been Safe As Milk and I quite like it.
V V V


Edited by Slartibartfast - January 19 2011 at 21:22

I'm actually a bigger Island fan.  Not sure if I can put my finger on why.  

It's been a while since I listened to that disc.  It's in the truck's player now.  Actually a collection of live tracks rather than the studio ones. 

Edited by Slartibartfast - December 30 2010 at 21:13

Blues Brothers, The    Original Soundtrack Recording a gift from someone who didn't know my musical tastes.

Debussy, Claude Achille    Suite Bergamasque, Children's Corner, Estampes, etc. - you could almost sneak this one into the archives as a prog album.

Goodman, Jerry | Steve Smith | Howard Levy | Oteil Burbridge    Stranger's Hand, The - a Mahavishnu Orchesta violinist, a Journey drummer, a former Flecktones keyboardist/harmonicist, and and Aquarium Rescue Unit bassist walk into a bar...

Gunn, Trey    Third Star, The - if you only know this guy from Crimson, he's quite good solo.

Hendrix Experience, The Jimi    Live At Winterland - my first Hendrix and one of my first CDs.  Excellent set.

Jethro Tull    20 Years of J.T.: The Essential Tull - this box set has become almost totally redundant as I have just about everything on the remasters.

King Crimson    Islands - doesn't get the full respect it deserves around here.  Nice amalgam of the heavy and the light.

Lloyd Webber, Andrew    Variations - wait is the Lloyd part of his last name or a middle name?  My understanding is that he did this album because he lost a bet or something.  Yes, it's great prog.

O'Connor, Sinead    Sean-Nos Nua - the only one of hers I have.  Nice collection of new versions of traditional Irish songs. 

Phillips, Anthony & Harry Williamson    Gypsy Suite - I liked his duet album Garcia better, but if you like mellow acoustical guitar music, it's not bad.

Sting    Soul Cages, The - hard to top his debut solo, still good.

Sylvian, David & Robert Fripp    Damage - an album I mail ordered and it arrived with a damaged case.  Imagine David substituting for Adrian on a King Crimson album.  Well, if you don't know David's music then this won't mean anything to you.

Triggering Myth, A    Tiggering Myth, A - the triggering album for the myth.  A bit different from their next albums, but not too much so.

Zappa, Frank/The Mothers of Invention    Freak Out! - still can't believe an album like this came out when it did though it still sounds of it's era.

Oldfield, Mike    Amarok - unlike a lot of other Mike, I didn't get acquainted with it until well after it's release.  Interesting...




Edited by Slartibartfast - December 30 2010 at 21:13

I like to play songs on Random or shuffle because you never know what's coming up next. And that's the fun part for me; not knowing

Bowie, David    Heathen - that opener with Torn is something else.

Col. Bruce Hampton, Ret.    Songs of The Solar Ping -you know, I'm just going to have to quit telling people to check him out.  To heck with y'all.  "hey you, you in the tunnel..." Out of The Way Chamber of Commerce Pamphlets

Frech Frith Kaiser Thompson    Invisible Means - I'm still totally surprised that these guy made it on to the Windham Hill label. 

Gentle Giant    Missing Piece, The - my first copy was a used promo.  It came in a blank white album cover.  I made my own cover art.  Aww crap.  Sometimes the brain doesn't work so well.  What I wrote was for Playing The Fool.  This album doesn't get a lot of respect around here (talking about The Missing Piece now).  I know why as it represented a strip down in instrumentation.  I like it.  On the bright side it's no Giant For A Day. 

Hedges, Michael    Aerial Boundaries - does Mike belong on PA.  I'd put this forward as exhibit #1.

Holdsworth, Allan    Sand - not really a stand out album from Al.  I hate to say it, but all I have heard after Metal Fatigue hasn't particularly moved me.

Howe, Steve    Beginnings - there are some solo albums by Yes men I like better.  Not bad though. 

Manzanara, Phil / 801    Listen Now - pales in comparison to the 801 live album but it has it's moments.
Morse, Steve    High Tension Wires - I've never been disappointed by a Morse solo album.  Still they don't have quite the magic for me that The Dregs had at their best moments.

Oldfield, Mike    Songs of Distant Earth, The - seemed promising, but a bit too new agey.

Ponty, Jean-Luc    Mystical Adventures - nice title.  Good music but another artist that was having a hard time topping his previous efforts.

Praxis    Tennessee 2004 - Buckethead, Brain, Worrell, and Laswell live.  No real strong opinions on this one.

Return to Forever    Return to the 7th Galaxy: The Anthology - I still haven't gotten around to getting RTF's back catalog.  I blame this anthology.

Steely Dan    Citizen Steely Dan: 1972 -1980 Disc 3 - this box set was where I really began to explore the Dan.  All their studio albums at the time compacted chronologically into one box set of four discs and a couple of bonus tracks thrown in, sweet.  This one has stuff from '75 to '78.


Edited by Slartibartfast - December 30 2010 at 21:13