This was exactly what I needed right now: a light, fun disco album. Consistently groovy, but with few songs that jump out as highlights, this is an effective homage to the greats of the genre. And they're along for the ride, as both Moroder and Rodgers make guest spots! Interesting that this is the best-loved disco album of all time on BEA, as I don't think it rises to the heights of the disco OGs... ๐ค
Anyway, it was very enjoyable, and I appreciated Get Lucky much more in context than I did when it was all over the radio. Random Access Memories hasn't displaced Discovery as my favorite Daft Punk album, at least for now, but it feels like a potential grower and I still need to hear Alive 2007. 3.5/5.
~~~~~
2. Really tough choice between this and Felt... listen to some great post-punk:
198. AM - Arctic Monkeys
230. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs - Derek & The Dominos
233. Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
234. Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits
241. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
256. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
266. Machine Head - Deep Purple
267. Hotel California - Eagles
271. Band On The Run - Paul McCartney & Wings
278. The Stranger - Billy Joel _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
The Way Out by The Books
Was a bit disappointed on the first listen, but after additional 2 spins I like this much more. I loved The Lemon Of Pink, think I gave it 8.5 when I reviewed it some time back in this game. Just listened to it again, and it's as good as I remember. Folky, sample-based masterpiece with loads of well-written tracks. Another bonus is the running time of 37 minutes, which is perfect because it doesn't allow the album to drag or the songs to become uninspired and samey. All of which happens on The Way Out. 50 minutes is too long, it doesn't have nearly as much highlights and the overall sound is much more synthetic. Instead of playful and engaging folk instrumentals with violins, banjos, acoustic guitars and whatnot, we get a different, more electronic kind of background music with spoken word stories over it. Which were not very interesting most of the time, despite some funny lines. Except The Story of Hip Hop, what one's hilarious, weird and engaging all the way through. The only "real songs" were Beautiful People and We Bought the Flood. The latter was probably the best song, and I wish the songwriting went more in this direction of "classic" song structures. Then again, it would defeat the purpose of the album. All of that being said, I still liked the album overall. The "background music" as I called it is actually very good most of the time. Although the album rarely reaches the highs of Lemon of Pink (mostly due to vocal samples and songwriting not being as good), it's still a unique experience, and I respect the band a lot for that. 7.5/10
(2)
Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare, top 2 along with their debut. Also the only ones that I truly like all the way through.
(3)
deepcuts top 50 of the decade & RYM metal top 100 & SquishypuffDave Top 100 Greatest Albums
50/ Oceansize - Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up
Cryptopsy - None So Vile
Immolation - Close To The World Below
Autopsy - Mental Funeral
Demilich - Nespithe
Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations
Coroner - Mental Vortex
1. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
6. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History
7. Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Wow LedZep, your analysis of those two Books albums mirrors mine, but with the albums flipped. I really dig the first track of The Lemon of Pink but always thought it kind of meandered after that and felt overly long for a <40 minute album. Whereas The Way Out feels breezy and relaxing with more well-defined breaks between the different songs / ideas. I know that The Way Out kind of has the reputation of being the "easy listening" version of the group without as creative sampling, but I think it helps make it more cohesive. It probably comes down to personal opinion and that I prefer albums that tend to focus on an idea rather than jump between a lot of them, and I imagine a lot of people find The Lemon of Pink more unpredictable and exciting. Also, I want to come to the defense of "Free Translator," which is also a real song ๐ _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Wow LedZep, your analysis of those two Books albums mirrors mine, but with the albums flipped. I really dig the first track of The Lemon of Pink but always thought it kind of meandered after that and felt overly long for a <40 minute album. Whereas The Way Out feels breezy and relaxing with more well-defined breaks between the different songs / ideas. I know that The Way Out kind of has the reputation of being the "easy listening" version of the group without as creative sampling, but I think it helps make it more cohesive. It probably comes down to personal opinion and that I prefer albums that tend to focus on an idea rather than jump between a lot of them, and I imagine a lot of people find The Lemon of Pink more unpredictable and exciting. Also, I want to come to the defense of "Free Translator," which is also a real song :D
Hahah that's funny to hear. I can definitely see why you'd say that though, the styles on those two albums are pretty different and like you said, personal preference is a thing. I guess that I prefer their more experimental and diverse effort over the more cohesive The Way Out. Didn't know that The Way Out was the "easy listening" of The Books though, it didn't feel that way. Free Translator was great, and a "real" song which I forgot to mention. But not as good as We Bought The Flood ๐ _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
I had heard some stuff from Claro Intelecto before, but never a whole album's worth. Some more of their laid back downtempoish kind of techno, that's never overly repetitive or sterile sounding. It does a good job of creating atmosphere and a danceable beat rather than just one or another. It's not anything that will blow minds, but it's a good album to throw on while around the house (where most of us find ourselves these days) to give a nice soundtrack to your day. Little overlong though.
Ledzep, Ocensize to finish that list.
The Northern Hymn - Kammarheit
Javiera Mena - Mena
Mathias Grassow - Rest in Emptiness
Byron Stingily- The Purist
Triston Palmer - Showcase
Michael Tippett: The Knot Garden
ๆ้ Anri - Timely!!
Lou Karsh- Phantom Structures
FACT Magazine: The 30 Greatest Techno Albums You've Never Heard
1. Bandulu- Guidance
3. Cristian Vogel- Specific Momentic
Frumpy might have been colossal, if they had had a top shelf songwriter to guide them. That's not an indictment against the album (which is pretty good). Each of the instrumentalists of the band is a big time talent, the keyboardist, Jean-Jacques Kravetz, most of all (that guy's got serious dexterity and hand independence). Inga Rumpf has a very unique contralto voice that is also something to behold, and the big draw here. They managed to strip away some of the brashness found on their first album, while retaining most of the energy, and consequently this is better focused and more engaging. Still, it's more spectacle and fun than it is anything else. But, it does those things well...this was a blast.
// 2
Whatever the hell Timely!! is.
City pop, apparently. ๐
// 3
RYM Heavy Psych Chart (three more):
1. T2 /--/ It'll All Work Out In Boomland
3. Captain Beyond /--/ Captain Beyond
4. Stray /--/ Stray
5. Buffalo /--/ Volcanic Rock
7. Groundhogs /--/ Split
8. Jericho /--/ Jericho
11. Grand Funk /--/ Grand Funk
14. Mountain /--/ Nantucket Sleighride
15. Dark /--/ Round The Edges
16. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats /--/ Blood Lust (might have heard this before, not sure) _________________ Can you play free, or in three, or agree to try something new?
I think it's safe to say that I've listened to a lot of 80s City Pop albums from Japan by this point, and each one is nearly the same in quality. Some have some more musical chops than others, but they're all just a load of fun. Anri is no exception to the rule.
There's a couple of those that I dig Jameth; I'm going with The Groundhogs and Split.
The Northern Hymn - Kammarheit
Javiera Mena - Mena
Mathias Grassow - Rest in Emptiness
Byron Stingily- The Purist
Triston Palmer - Showcase
Michael Tippett: The Knot Garden
Lou Karsh- Phantom Structures
FACT Magazine: The 30 Greatest Techno Albums You've Never Heard
1. Bandulu- Guidance
3. Cristian Vogel- Specific Momentic
4. Dan Curtin- The Silicon Dawn
Welp, I've spent all day listening to the Groundhogs' first five albums, including this one. Tony McPhee is evidently one of the best British blues rockers around, yet I was oblivious to the existence of him or the band. But, here we are. McPhee's got a blues style that's pretty unconventional at times, and really striking when he gets it going. I'd say it's a more Texas-based style that I don't think I ever hear listening to British blues, which is refreshing.
The band started off with a sound somewhere between the Yardbirds and early Mac, but for Split they took on a much heavier sound, apparently after listening to Sabbath for weeks or months. The album's split (oh, I see) into the four part title suite on the first side, and four standalones on the other side. The suite is okay, I didn't go crazy for it...and a second listen didn't help much. Side two is the cream, with no real letdown. "Cherry Red" is easily one of the best 70's hard rock tracks you never heard. Overall, solid. I prefer their previous two albums, Blues Obituary and Thank Christ For The Bomb, though.
// 2
Clear away some more of your old list: Rest In Emptiness.
// 3
RYM Heavy Psych Chart (two more):
1. T2 /--/ It'll All Work Out In Boomland
3. Captain Beyond /--/ Captain Beyond
4. Stray /--/ Stray
5. Buffalo /--/ Volcanic Rock
8. Jericho /--/ Jericho
11. Grand Funk /--/ Grand Funk
14. Mountain /--/ Nantucket Sleighride
15. Dark /--/ Round The Edges
16. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats /--/ Blood Lust (might have heard this before, not sure)
17. Mountain /--/ Climbing! _________________ Can you play free, or in three, or agree to try something new?
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
I felt like doing a first reaction song by song for this album.
Don't Fall - very good opener, sets the post-punk atmosphere and sound, continuing on from what fellow Manchester band Joy Division had been doing...but with some poppier hooks
Here Today - a really good follow on from the opening track, continuing the vibe and sound
Monkeyland - I like where this song went and how it picked up the energy for the chorus, and loved the Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) like gothic vocals
Second Skin - like how the drums pop on this one
Up The Down Escalator - interesting the way the tempo slowly slowed at the end
Less Than Human - possibly the weakest song so far - but I'm keen for the second half of the album
Pleasure And Pain - I like the slightly echoey vocals at times, and the emotional mellow end after a bit of a build up was nice - reminded me a little bit of a current Australian band City Calm Down
Thursday's Child - solid song, he sounded a bit breathless by the end like he had put his heart into it
As High As You Can Go - got a bit of a The Cure vibe from the guitars and basslines in the verses of this song
A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days - the first song on the album where the lyrics have played a role in my appreciation of the song...it's like horror post-punk...and the way the song quietly faded out and died at the end suited that
Paper Tigers - a relatively calm track, hopefully before a strong closer
View From A Hill - I can't help but wonder if this was an early inspiration for Disintegartion era The Cure...nice atmospheric track to finish the album off
Overall, a really consistent, quality post-punk album that I imagine would have been an influence on a lot of bands that followed, both in the post-punk genre, and later the post-punk revival scene. No real highlights (although Monkeyland was probably my personal favourite), but no lowlights either, and a really strong opening, with the first four songs being a such great run to start the album that I would always continue to listen to the end (even though I always do once I start an album, but if I was the sort that didn't...). I give it 8/10, and makes my top 10 for 1983 at 10/21, interestingly just after another Manchester band, New Order.
I enjoy Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, but seeing as how you might have already heard that album let's go with Buffalo.
Well I really enjoyed that look at Rocka's '80s chart (aka my '80s wishlist) with all five of the albums I listened to being really good, and one of them, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip by Rain Parade good enough to make my '80s chart - no mean feat, considering I love the '80s, it's the decade when I started to fall in love with listening to albums over singles. It's a bit of a shame it's time to move on to the next chart, still Jameth always has interesting charts with mostly music I would never listen to otherwise so that's great too.
Top 54 Music Albums of the 1980s by Jameth (5 picks remaining)
1. Shahen-Shah by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
2. Les Dragons by Ninki-Nanka
3. Ali Farka Toure (Ten Songs From The Legendary Singer From Mali) by Ali Farka Tourรฉ
7. Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun by Dead Can Dance
9. Discipline by King Crimson
12. Sandinista! by The Clash
13. Sumaj Llajta by Luzmila Carpio
20. Yasimika by Djeli Moussa Diawara
23. Moving Pictures by Rush
25. Wassolon - Percussions Malinke by Mamady Keรฏta & Sewa Kan
This is pretty uninteresting musically, but it did help me get into a good state for reading a book. Nothing really happens for the first 40 minutes; however, there are some changes by the second half, which make it an average ambient album. I don't think I would listen to it again for any other purpose than to just have some sort of noise on, which I guess is the purpose of this kind of music sometimes.
Alright Purple, time for me to pick again, but this time on another chart. I think "Dead Can Dance" will illicit the most intersesting reactions from the album's on the list that I know.
The Northern Hymn - Kammarheit
Javiera Mena - Mena
Byron Stingily- The Purist
Triston Palmer - Showcase
Michael Tippett: The Knot Garden
Lou Karsh- Phantom Structures
FACT Magazine: The 30 Greatest Techno Albums You've Never Heard
1. Bandulu- Guidance
3. Cristian Vogel- Specific Momentic
4. Dan Curtin- The Silicon Dawn
5. Experimental Audio Research- The Kรถner Experiment
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