Slartibartfast's Magical Music Random Load Blog

jammun wrote: Minstrel I can do without.  Mebbe there's a couple of good songs.  I'm sorry, gimme TAAB.  And while I'm thinking about it, f**k Passion Play and its ilk.  Aww man, that is so harsh.  I like all the albums you mentioned.   XTC I've said my piece around here.  Maybe Apple Venus Vol 2 is a bit more rock-y; I've got no problem with that.  Between Vol 1 and 2, I don't know what more you'd want as a listener.  I love these guys. No one here will admit it, in fact they will get their thongs tied in knots down there about it, but XTC was the second best prog band of the '80s.  The first best prog band of the '80s is also missing here.  I'm too old to argue any longer.  I know what is true.  I've always considered the guys prog.  My intro was English Settlement.  Dial it back a few years and they hadn't quite got there but still made some good stuff.   Ol' Joe Jackson.  I love the Great American Songbook.  Maybe he was not the one to play it, but let's give him a  for trying. You have managed to hit on one Joe I do not know.

I don't know if I want to fill up the newly available slots for tomorrow or not.  I've got eight spots but I also have enough in the case to make it through Friday.


Edited by Slartibartfast - November 11 2010 at 21:27

I'd definitely have to go for a new Henry Fool album.  Get with it guys. 

Time for a new batch:

Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit    Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit - a Bruce project that had a life of its own after he moved on.  If you like the avant and Bela Fleck check them out.

Jethro Tull    Minstrel in the Gallery (Remaster)  - Always coll this the Menstrual In The Gallery just because I'm a fungi.  One of their better ones from a prog standpoint and one of the albums that qualifies them for prog folk.

Laddio Bolocko    Strange Warmings of - OK if anyone knows of this band I will be highly surprised.  Not bad yet I do regret them taking up space in my collection.  File this under you can't make this stuff up: the band stayed overnight at the house of my bosses many years ago.

Maserati    Language of Cities, The - I've only got two of theirs so far.  They are from Athens, Georgia.  Near my neck of the woods.  When you say post rock, Explosions In The Sky comes to mind first typically.  These guys seem a little better.

no-man    dry cleaning ray - one of the albums I bought when I was on a no-man binge.  I like it but it's just that I am still hung over from the binge.

Rundgren, Todd    Initiation - Todd's slouching towards prog with this one.  Of course the first Utopia is his prog masterpiece.  Ra is flawed but good.

Vangelis    El Greco - well regarded by people here that have it.  Rather boring to these ears.  I would not recommend it, but if you a Vangelis fan, it may work for you.

XTC    Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) - XTC comes on the scene for a couple of more studio albums and I believe they have now called it quits.  I really like the stuff on those two.  Brings me back to the time I was dating my wife.

Yothu Yindi    Tribal Voice - I wouldn't know this band were it not for an appearance on the Dennis Miller show.  Not long after DM became a total jerk.  I still like this band although I just got one more album and moved on.  I'd recommend this over the other one.

van't Hof, Jasper  Brutto Tempo - I am still trying to track down an album or the live show that I had on cassette.  For the guy looking for keyboard oriented jazz-fusion, this might work for you.

Jackson, Joe  Jumpin' Jive - Joe's tribute to the 30' and 40's.  If you like the swinging stuff from that era you might like this album.  It seems that he did faithful covers of tunes from back then, but I don't pretend to be an expert on it.

The next batch:

Budd, Harold    Serpent (In Quicksilver/Abandoned Cities, The - one of those albums which demonstrates that you should never write anything off.  Before I started my music circulation scheme this one was on the shelf gathering dust.  I don't know why, but I was going on vacation with my girlfriend before my wife and I took a walk on the beach alone with this one in the portable CD player (headphones) and it clicked with me.

Childs, Toni    Union - I've got three of hers and what got me started was The Woman's Boat for having Robert Fripp on it.  This one has one of the Davids from the next item as well as a Rhodes named David and Steve Hogarth and a few others prog fans might recognize, Jerry Marottta, Alex Weir...

David + David    Boomtown - I know this album for the air play it got on an alternative radio station that I was listening to on the job two jobs and many years ago due to co-workers playing the station.  I like these guys for having an obvious Fripp influence in their music.

Focus    In and Out of Focus - sometimes a prog band's first release isn't too pretty.  This one is pretty much not like the others but has some great moments.

Frith, Fred    Rivers and Tides - I'm going to sound like a broken record about Frith but pretty cool stuff in the '70's and '80's, much less interesting stuff for me afterwards.

Gong    Angel's Egg - I still don't have number one of the trilogry and I really should remedy that one.  You was the one that really got me now on Daevid Allen's incarnationses of Gongs.  Took me a while to get a copy of this one.  You still reigns supreme.

Henry Fool    Henry Fool - Henry Fool Henry Fool, just felt the need to be redundant for some stupid reason.  I went on a bit of a Tim Bowness binge when I first heard no-man.  This is a really good album even though it is more Bowness and no Wilson.

High Llamas, The    retrospective, rarities & instrumentals - a band that will not likely appeal to any fans around here.  I wouldn't have bought this one if I had investigated it first before ordering it.  Only one track that I didn't already have.  If you have any interest in exploring this band, their early stuff is best.  I think Snowbug, which isn't too early, might be of interest.

Synergy    Sequencer - Larry Fast, say no more.  Does a cover of Oregon's Icarus.  There was better stuff to come from Larry to these ears.

Synergy    Reconstructed Artifacts - Larry rehashes stuff from his past Synergy album.  Not essential unless you want a good assortment Synergy album or are just a huge fan.

Tomita, Isao    Live at Linz, 1984 - The Mind of the Universe - another syntesist, what the hell is up with this?.  When it comes to synthesized interpretations of classical music Tomita is amongst the best.



Edited by Slartibartfast - November 06 2010 at 18:37

Slartibartfast wrote: It's kind of weird, I first got know some of the music of Miles at free jazz festivals in Piedmont Park in Atlanta when I was a teen.  I didn't get my first on until I bought The Complete Bitches Brew box set in 1999 and since then I've been steadily adding titles.  The local independent stores have typically had something I haven't tried yet and his catalog is so huge.  I like everything going back to Birth Of The Cool, which is my earliest title.  For me, if someone were to ask me what is jazz?  I'd put on Kind Of Blue and that would be it.  Not to take anything away from other stuff in the wide world of jazz.

]

n.b., my CD's do not seem to reproduce in this manner

jammun wrote: I need to put Water Babies on the turntable.  I haven't heard that one in probably 20 years.

20 years?  That album could have had babies that are all grown up by now.

Another batch:
Passport    Looking Thru - you absolutely can't go wrong with any Passport album from around this time.

Sting    Brand New Day - I pretty much have liked all of his solo albums since the first one.  This is one of the better ones.

Blue October    Foiled - I tried this one out from BMG music club due to the vocalist's similarity to Phil Collins oddly enough.  Slightly proggy, too.

Afro Celt Sound System    Volume 2 : Release - if the idea of Celtic music mixed with African intrigues you, this is something you should check out.  Sinbad O'Connor does a cameo vocal.

Alitheia    Chthonick - ordered this based on the CD Baby blurb.  Not exactly my cup of T, but sometimes you have to stretch out a little.

Allman Brothers, The    At the Fillmore East - I'm not a big expert on their catalog, but this is the one album I would recommend to just about any prog fan.

Bowie, David    Heathen - Bowie is always at his best when he has prog guests.  In this case it is David
Torn and Tony Levin.  Plus Sunday will forever remind me of post 9/11/2001.

Davis, Miles    Water Babies - recorded before Miles' jazz rock phase. Released after.  Probably a breath of fresh air to those who didn't dig the J/R phase.

Metheny, Pat with Dave Holland & Roy Haynes    question and answer - not a favorite of mine as I like the Meth more when he's doing Jazz/Rock.  This is more jazz.

Moody Blues, The    Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - I'm still amused that their hits are my favorites and the rest often seems quaint.

Nine Inch Nails    [With Teeth] - a good comeback effort from Mr. Reznor but Year Zero has better stuff.

Van Tieghem, David    Safety In Numbers - primarily a percussionist, but yet a multi-instrumentalist.  Has worked with Laurie Anderson and David Byrne.  Nice instrumental album.



Edited by Slartibartfast - November 03 2010 at 21:00

Weather Report    Mr. Gone - not well respected around here.  I like it.  Joe was stretching out a bit.

Rypdal,  Terje    Skywards - this one has yet to make much of an impression on me.

Gong, Pierre Moerlen's    Pentanine - Pierre's last Gong project before he moved on to the great gong in the sky.  I really liked it.  The only thing it has in common with the Gong is Moerlin.  A good listen all the same.


Bach, Johann Sebastian    Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4-6 - a friend of mine brought the Brandenburg by one night when it was starting to snow.  I'll forever associate those with winter in my mind.

Claypool, Les Frog Brigade, The    Purple Onion - nice set of tunes by Les fortified with a little Whamola.

Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit    Mirrors of Embarrassment - I keep singing the praises of Bruce to y'all.  The avant fans should take a listen to his material. 

Collins, Phil    Face Value - Phil's first solo album and his best.  I didn't really follow his later offerings but am fairly confident that this is his best compared to the later stuff.

Curved Air    Phantasmagoria - just before Way parted way with the band an it seems to me they were still making good music.  The reformed group with Jobson put out an album I like better, but this may be the best of the first three with the Daryl Way.

Enya    Watermark - I don't think she gets any respect around here if she is mentioned at all.  Damn shame, another one of those artists that made the '80's tolerable.

Hackett, Steve    Wild Orchids - Steve seems to have come back to in a major way.  Ranks well with his earlier albums.

Hedges, Michael    Torched - a posthumous from an artist who died way too soon.  His singing never really caught on with me much but his guitar playing was out of this world.
 
Jackson, Joe Band    Beat Crazy - hard to get a hold of for some reason, but I managed.  Still not prog but still really good.

Ponty, Jean-Luc    Cosmic Messenger - Ponty seemed so much more inspired in the '70's, though I think Enigmatic Ocean was the peak.

Soft Machine    Seven - basic good JRF album, nothing really stands out for me.

Next batch (still have three from the old load left to go):

Bach, Johann Sebastian    Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4-6
Claypool, Les Frog Brigade, The    Purple Onion
Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit    Mirrors of Embarrassment
Collins, Phil    Face Value
Curved Air    Phantasmagoria
Enya    Watermark
Hackett, Steve    Wild Orchids
Hedges, Michael    Torched
Jackson, Joe Band    Beat Crazy
Ponty, Jean-Luc    Cosmic Messenger
Soft Machine    Seven

Slartibartfast wrote: King Crimson    Discipline - old Crimson fans that might not have been following Fripp after the previous album must have have gone "what the hell is this crap?".