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What albums did you listen to today?...continued |
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Finnforest 
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 Posted: September 18 2019 at 08:09 |
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Another interesting item about Blue Moves: I believe--and there's always a chance these days that my memory is off--but I believe I recall reading that Blue Moves is Elton's favorite EJ album, which doesn't surprise me all. You can really hear the blood, sweat, and tears he put into that record, and then to have the critics carve it up, it would make an artist bond with it even more I suspect. If just feels like his most personal as opposed to "being a persona" earlier in his career or being a product machine later. And, I love that cover art. I think it fits the music beautifully and it reminds me of a "Hissing of Summer Lawns" style.
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Prog Sothoth
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Posted: September 18 2019 at 07:22 |
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Definitely not their best album, but I love the atmosphere of "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight" during the chorus with that weird organ (Ash sings that I think), and "Antonin Artaud" is a mad killer rocker.
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Prog Sothoth
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Posted: September 18 2019 at 07:19 |
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To be honest, Jackie's album isn't all that great, but it's pretty cool and pretty weird, which tells me she'd have been a ton of fun to schmooze with (love that word "schmooze"  ).Yeah, Blue Moves is a keeper, not without its flaws here and there, but if one is looking for good music from a musician's standpoint rather than a pop-hit standpoint, then it's definitely worth having. Two more Eltons: A Single Man: Musically less ambitious, though I swear it sounds like David Gilmour pounced in for a solo during "It Ain't Gonna Be Easy", making it the most memorable tune. This is the first time I felt he was just going through the motions a bit, and the lyrics are more soppy at times than prior albums. It was pleasant enough for the drive to work, but not much stuck with me. Good piano-work though. Victim of Love: The most hilarious thing about this album is not that it starts with an 8 minute disco cover of "Johnny B. Goode", but that it only gets worse from that!
 Believe it or not, I survived the entire album, apparently designed for disco dancing with the family in the living room as the tracks all bleed into each other with the same disco beat. I try to see the positive in things, and all I can say about this travesty is that the bass player gets to do his funky, slappy licks a lot. One of the worst albums I think I've ever heard by a legendary performer that I like. I can't even... |
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HolyMoly
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Posted: September 17 2019 at 20:45 |
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I’ve been tempted to buy Blue Moves for years now, but I never heard a single positive opinion about it til now. I guess most reviewers gauge Elton albums by how many hits it has. I’ll grab it next time I see it.
Lots today: Geronimo Black | s/t — eclectic supergroup built around Jimmy Carl Black of the Mothers. Very cool, highly recommended. I got my copy signed by Denny Walley (guitarist) - I brought it to a show where I knew he’d be. He was very pleased I thought so highly of it. It was a cool group that had some commercial potential but sadly didn’t last long. The Fall | Ersatz GB — one of their later albums. Bauhaus | Burning from the Inside — final album as the group was beginning to splinter. Peter Murphy was absent from many of the tracks due to illness so Daniel Ash and David J had more of a presence here. Proto-Love and Rockets, if you will. Some tracks seem undercooked (9 min title track is kind of underwhelming) but overall a cool album. Genesis | The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway — 2nd half. My fav Genesis. Michael Hoenig | Departure from the Northern Wasteland — when all else fails, this album will always be my comfort food. Minutemen | The Punch Line — takes “Pink Flag” brevity to an extreme level. 18 songs in about 15 minutes. And all with thoughtful abstract lyrics almost like haikus. The Nice | Five Bridges — a nice listen (har har) Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band | Bluejeans & Moonbeams — a rare spin but a decent album all told. Electric Light Orchestra | Balance of Power — this and “Hold Your Fire” (Rush) are examples of mid-80s albums by classic rock artists with red covers that use digital-happy graphics and go reeeal far in the synth direction — yet have aged remarkably well. I listen to this fairly often and it’s solid. Give it a try if you like ELO. |
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It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
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Finnforest
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Posted: September 17 2019 at 19:35 |
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@ Jim - Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the MMs. @ Dave - Great story! I've added Jackie to my list of stuff to check out. That does suck though, just knowing you could have spent time schmoozing with her about her great album and didn't realize....but hey, you made it up for it by buying her vinyl.  Liked your mini Elton review too. Stick with Blue Moves, my guess is it will grow on your more over time. One of those albums that reveals some new things each time. It does begin to decline after that one. Simple Man has several cool songs, most memorable is the long, bluesy "It aint' gonna be easy" which has some nice guitar leads. I have a real personal soft spot for The Fox too, but by the '80s it gets real hard for me to enjoy Elton.
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Prog Sothoth
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Posted: September 17 2019 at 07:39 |
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Elton John - Blue Moves: Fascinating stuff. It's like Elton John is the name of the band instead of Reginald's given moniker here. I can understand how pop fans would be turned off by something like this, but as a music fan and onetime musician, I can only bow before the talent level of the band here. Listen to "One Horse Town" for starters...there's some major chops going on. "Out of the Blue" is one hell of an instrumental jam too, not something you'd expect out of a typical singer/songwriter release. Hell, there's a song with a sitar as the main instrument...Elton really went all out on this, to the horror of his label I would guess. I wouldn't go ahead and say it's his very "best", but it's definitely his most "interesting" that I've heard up til now, and honestly, it's pretty great...certainly better than his previous release. I have yet to actually "hate" any of his releases up to this point, but I feel like I'm nearing the cliff judging by ratings and such...time for a breather.
Jackie Cohen - Zagg: Quirky and very indie rock/pop/folk with some surprises. The story... I saw her perform alongside some twee guy as the opener for Weyes Blood, doing cutesy folk tunes. She sang well, looked good and it was kinda fun...for about 15 minutes. At about the 30 minute mark I was really getting tired of hearing this "same-sounding" stuff, and just wanted her to get off the stage and make way for the glorious Weyes. Here's a sample of what I was dealing with: At one point the two asked us to please buy some merchandise so they could pay for parking tickets they've gotten during the tour. That got a decent laugh. After the show my wife & I walked by the concession stands. Weyes Blood had a super long line (and no sign of the queen herself), though I didn't care for any of the shirts. There was nobody in line for Jackie's stuff, which was right next to Weyes' packed booth, and Jackie herself was standing their behind the booth, alone and looking pretty downcast. My wife was thinking we should buy an album from her since the covers were neat-looking, but ultimately we decided not to since I didn't see myself ever playing her silly folk stuff, so we left the place, and Jackie looking understandably glum. The next day, on the way home from work I decided to stream her full-length album Zagg to see how boring it really was, and I was shocked. Crazy quirky pop with a full band and some explosions into post-punk. Some of the stuff was real catchy...like the aformormentioned linked song in its proper version... ...and wild noncommercial thrusts like this cool beast... All I could think was "Why didn't she have her full band on stage instead of that twee loser? The girl can rock!" as well as "Why didn't I listen to her before the show so I knew what her stuff was about? I would've gotten autographed albums and we would've hung out and chit-chatted with her!" My guess is that maybe she couldn't afford the full band and was hoping that touring with Weyes Blood, who was selling out all of her shows due to growing popularity, would garner her more fans. If she performed the album in its original pop-rock fashion, I'm thinking her booth wouldn't have been completely devoid of customers. I wound up feeling terrible for her and bought her limited yellow vinyl Zagg album off Bandcamp for above the requested price. When I think of the entertainment industry, it's images like a pretty performer standing behind a booth alone next to a super long line for a rising star's booth that make me think "this is how it is". Sorry guys, wanted to get that off my chest and I don't have a blog.
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AEProgman
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Posted: September 17 2019 at 06:30 |
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^^ The morphing of the Doobies began when Skunk Baxter joined the band for the Stampede album who later invited MM (the SD connection) when Johnston could not tour very much due to health reasons. The Doobies I saw was the Skunk and MM era, which was a great live show. Without really realizing it until now may have been my first influence of my jazz interest in later years from the Taking it to the Streets album.
I have not heard the later classic albums in entirety since Streets since I was more into classic rock and prog at that point, I think I will start that run today with Streets and then the next 3. Besides Skunk's music career, he has or is still a Military Defense Consulting contractor with various agencies (missile defense, intelligence, etc...), crazy amazing.
Edited by AEProgman - September 17 2019 at 06:33 |
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Finnforest
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Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 03 2007 Location: The Heartland Status: Offline Points: 17691 |
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 21:48 |
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That's funny....my older brother was just telling me to check out Guess Who too! |
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Finnforest
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 21:47 |
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Yeah, I really love what he brings. Great voice, great mood.
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patrickq
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 21:14 |
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A scandalous era indeed, but I love it. McDonald is probably the best “blue-eyed soul” singer ever, even including Daryl Hall. Imho, of course. Edited by patrickq - September 16 2019 at 21:15 |
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HolyMoly
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 20:23 |
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I may be delving more of into Elton & the Doobies soon too.
Might I recommend another classic 70s band that deserves a closer look: The Guess Who. Discovering them was a huge buzz for me. More stuff tonight: Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 | Strangers from the Universe (a longtime fav, see my PA review) Women | Women (strange/wonderful underground guitar avant rock from 2008) |
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My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
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Finnforest
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 18:44 |
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Doobage continued... Doobie Bros - Takin' it to the Streets Doobie Bros - Livin' on the Fault Line Doobie Bros - Minute by Minute Doobie Bros - One Step Closer The scandalous MM era. It's hilarious how there are two fairly entrenched "camps" when it comes to the Doobies... Some of the reviews I've read are so rough on each other. With this band, I just don't see the need to choose sides. Both eras have their great moments to me. The new life and changed dynamic in this era is fascinating to me. It's like a huge jolt of Steely Dan and soulful funkiness were injected into the classic rock biker band. The musicianship is on another level. Loved all of it. I've basically ignored the band for decades, but I'll be enjoying all their albums for my remaining years. |
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HolyMoly
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 15:26 |
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Wow, The Vanilla Queen in Walmart? That’s incredible. Right up there with hearing The Vanishing Girl by the Dukes of Stratosphear in the Boston airport!
Today: Beastie Boys | Some Old Bullsh*t Beastie Boys | Ill Communication The Drones | Feelin Kinda Free (again) Joni Mitchell | Court & Spark Slint | Spiderland The Knife | Deep Cuts |
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My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
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HolyMoly
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 15:22 |
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My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
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Finnforest
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 08:46 |
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Yeah, I do remember you talking about Hangman earlier! When playing it, that came back to me that you said it was a great song live. I wish I could have seen them live back then. Stampede seems a bit different, I think, because they injected just a teeny bit of country-rock vibe to their sound, which is played up again on the cover artwork.
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Meltdowner
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 08:34 |
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Last weekend and today so far: Mort Garson - Plantasia (My brother saw it on top of the vinyl pile and played it again :P) Finch - Beyond Expression (With so many new LP's I could listen to, I keep wanting to return to this.) Kraftwerk - Radioactivity Michael Brückner - Naura Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell (I woke up with "New Life" playing in my head. The synth melody is similar to one in Radioactivity.) Terumasa Hino - City Connection Eloy - Colours (Fantastic album, one killer tune after the other!)
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AEProgman
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Posted: September 16 2019 at 06:03 |
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Love your binges Jim! I may have mentioned earlier in this thread that I picked up Stampede at a record show and found the song that eluded me for many years after seeing them in concert on their "Taking it to the Streets" tour. They played "I cheated the Hangman" and the end of that song blew me away. However, being in an altered state of mind back then, I did not know what song it was and it always bugged me that I could never find it until I grabbed the CD at the record show and heard it. It is now my favorite album by them of those you mentioned above. Have not listened to anything after Taking it to the Streets.
I played that T. Rex album (8-track) to death in my room in my pre and early teens. That title track does have a way of becoming an earworm. Most people prefer Electric Warrior, but Slider is my favorite by them. Oh, and those Muppet shows were awesome. I still remember the one with Buddy Rich and Animal doing a drum battle. Plus the episode with Alice Cooper as the host. A listening side story involving the dreaded Walmart. Went in Walmart to pick up an item and on the way out I stopped in my tracks as I heard a song over their PA system that was familiar to me, it was one of my favorite songs off of Golden Earring's Moontan album, no not Radar Love, but Vanilla Queen! A 9 minute epic that was never played over the air that I remember. Anyway, only album yesterday was Golden Earring - Moontan.
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patrickq
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Posted: September 15 2019 at 23:37 |
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Recently, the first three PFM albums. And Fish Out of Water. I’m sure it’s possible to listen to this one too much but I’ve never reached the limit.
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Finnforest
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Posted: September 15 2019 at 19:15 |
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^ Doobies coming to town....ReRun gets busted recording the band for a bootleg...gets lectured by them.
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HolyMoly
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Posted: September 15 2019 at 19:06 |
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that must be a trip. Now playing: The Drones | Feelin Kinda Free — modern experimental rock from Australia. Some of these band members are also in Tropical F—k Storm. Good stuff. |
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My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
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HolyMoly wrote: