feeeeeeling good. Gotta new avatar, gotta new text line under my name, the weather is getting crisp and just what I love, work is going okay, listening to some great muysic, I'm in good spirits.
Can one of you give me an album which is vibrant, joyous and celebratory? Like, a GREAT album which happens to be generally a celebration of life and thinsg instead of an angry or sad one?
One that comes to mind is Songs in the key of life or even Close to the edge.
let me know below.
(I'll still be listening to Leaves turn inside you" later but wanna have a palette cleanser ready. _________________ -Ryan
Can one of you give me an album which is vibrant, joyous and celebratory? Like, a GREAT album which happens to be generally a celebration of life and thinsg instead of an angry or sad one?
Can one of you give me an album which is vibrant, joyous and celebratory? Like, a GREAT album which happens to be generally a celebration of life and thinsg instead of an angry or sad one?
I listened to half of that Rafferty album, Repo, and it was cool as fuck! I got interrupted by work and i will return. It blew my mind when I heard that iconic Sax on Baker Street! Somehow I never realized this artist and song and album all were connected.
---------------------------
Recently have been listening to a bit of this new album ....
and Its pretty fucking polished and awesome! I haven't heard it enough yet to review it, but I think it also may be a perfect antidote to the hopelessness found on a lot of acclaimed classics I'm working my way through.
Yesterday I finally fucking did it, I listened to the gem all the way through and ...wow, it was a bit of a revelation. Of course I am typing of...
Basically, this album is emotional and dark, sure, but not oppressively so. It's "Proggy" and complex but not excessively. Its abrasive at time and cutting edge, but not to a degree that is off putting or tiresome. Somehow, despite being a long album, and I tend to not like long albums as much as introductions to artists or bands, it flew by and was a feast of new ideas, and perfectly placed crescendoes all along the way. I remember listening to this a couple years back and I remembver thinking "hmm this is cool" buit never coming back. Now that I have I am very happy. I will for sure be listening again asap.
Back to the proggy bits, there are a lot here. Some seriously wild and complex rhythms and parts are sprinkled throughout, all earned and integrated and cool as fudgesicles!
Anyway, I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics and lyrical themes. But on next listens I'll pay attention to these. Overall I gave this a rating of 4/5 on RYM, but I was so close to a 4.5. I probably will give it a 4.5 or a very rare RYM 5 after subsequent listens. Its just a dooope album! _________________ -Ryan
The next classic mordern classic I'll be relistening to is You Forgot It In People by Broken Social Scene. I'm preeety sure this is going to be a great experinece.
I'll also be listening to some more stapleton, rafferty, some ELO and that other album I never heard of that dihansse recommended. Busy day. _________________ -Ryan
Okay, okay, I'm back. The last few days i've been quiet. The simple reason is book 4 of the Stormlight Archive "Rhythm of War" released on the 17th of November. It's really good and REALLY long (approximately 1220 pages and 58 hour audiobook). I have 6 hours of audiobook left and right now I'm taking a break as its getting intense.
Another thing I did instead of posting here is finish yet another nerdy playthrough of the Witcher 3 including all DLC/Expansions. It was fabulous as always and I finally managed to finish all quests, contracts, and scavenger hunts (Including the subtly most MONSTROUS of secondary quests "Gwent - Collect 'Em ALL"). In all I ended that playthrough level 53 and a half, and with 213:10 invested. Again, yes, nerdy. But when not at work Witcher 3 and now Rhythm of War have been my shit.
The last album I really listened to was Broken Social Scene's 2002 classic "You Forgot It In People". Now based off earlier posts here you can clearly see I was ready to be blown away. I was kinda expecting this album to sweep me off my feet. And yes yes it fucking did.
As I write this now, I am listening to this marvel for the 4th or 5th time.
I don't know what it was about the album that never quite bowled me over in the past. Perhaps I felt like I was just listening to it so that I could say yeah I've heard it. Again, treating it as a checklist item rather than a piece of art. Well, now I am fully on board.
But still this album is hard to pin down as it has so much going for it with each track, but each track is very much its own isolated sound while still being cohesively part of the full picture...does that make as little sense as I think it does? Well, I guess another thing is that it takes all the coolest and most moving aspects of albums I've liked or loved in the past from genres like Post Rock, Art Pop, Pop Rock, the utterly vague term "indie rock", dreamy stuff, etc - then it takes these elements and blends em in a high powered blender. Then this team of brilliant artists poured this blended mess out and used it as a base for their finger painted mural with each artist sort of overseeing primarily a portion of the "painting" and making it their own. After that step they seemed to do the hardest thing which is figuring out, heads together, what would be the through-line of this Indie Rock classic. Then they released it and then we have "You Forgot It In People."
The first 4 songs set the table for the majesty of the whole album. The logical progression and yet unique flair of "Capture the Flag", "KC Accidental" "Stars and Sons", and "Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)" blow me away each time. They are not obviously interconnected (certainly not as obviously as the rest of the album) but with each song the intensity and excitement is ratcheted up until by the end of track 4 its fucking rocking your socks off!
Somehow that gives way to the most incredible stretch of music on the album - or close to any album I have experienced - with the jazzy, off kilter breezy brilliance of "Looks Just Like the Sun" and then the somehow even better (if such a word should be used) "Pacific Theme" (side note, "Pacific Theme" is wildly brilliant. Seemingly toothless breezy jam that yet has some of the most gorgeous drum sounds ever recorded and some awesome crescendos and horns and generally brilliant creativity throughout. All instrumental. Whatever the point is that its great and maybe my fave song here?) then the very famous 1-2 punch of Feist's show-stopping vocals and overall song "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" - which is so brittle, moving, emotional and raw despite being unlike any other song - then somehow they keep this winning streak with the absolute banger which is Cause=Time." - a perfect pop hook and a perfect pop rock/indie rock song. Like how the fuck does an album like this exist? This is peak level rock music art here!
Then the last 3rd of the album is also cool. Sorry losing steam on descriptions. But I really adore the instrumental (for the most part) "Late Nineties Bedroom Rock for the Missionaries". I love the smooth way it transitions into "Shampoo Suicide" another mostly-instrumental which is mind bendingly subtle, complex and catchy and warm yet off kilter etc etc. The brilliant 1-2 punch of "Lover's Spit" and "I'm Still Your fag" is so richly rewarding on relistens just like the rest of the album, it tends to stymie me in my silly attempt to write about. The tenderness of "I'm Still Your fag" is...amazing. IDK its just such a warm and tender song. The closer is cool too, although just like "Capture the Flag" is almost a "typical" intro track, the closer "Pitter Patter Goes My Heart" is the same for closers. They functions as small, pretty bookends, designed to slowly ease you in and then ease you out of the 11 song cycle betwixt.
All in all, I don't wanna overhype this album. But I really am hot and bothered with this one. Its so dense and detailed and sculpted. Most music in this genre or these genres seem a bit more (or a lot more) haphazard and, I don't know the word, slackerfied(?). Now that aesthetic is perhaps intentional, and under the surface there very well may be just as much detailed shit happening. I'm not a producer so there ya go. YET this album manages to be both a perfect embodiment of a generation of indie rock, while actually transcending it and becoming its own unique masterclass of sorts. I will be listening over and over and over and I'm sure each time I'll pick up more subtle instrumental or vocal or production nuances which will deepen my appreciation of this album.
Another random note, going in I knew that a lot of the members of this group were well known somewhat from the Canadian indie scene. But just looking at the affiliated names and bands, I can't say I have listened to albums or previous works by any of them outside of Feist. So, I feel like there is A LOT of jumping off to be done trying to get a better handle on where this album came from! Like this group and album came into the world seemingly fully formed and classic. But there must be connections which I will love exploring for the next little while.
---
Initially I gave this a 4.5/5 on RYM a few days ago. This, in itself, is rare, cuz I have been trying to be more picky with my 4.5s, 5 and even 4s. But even after this most recent relisten I could tell right away this album is special. I think I'll go ahead and give away my 36th 5 star rating now. If the shine comes off and I think it's more an elite 4.5 and not a 5 in the next few weeks I'll change it. For now I'm slotting this monster in as a top tier album on a shelf next to the Close To The Edges, Blonde on Blondes, or In A Silent Ways of the world. Yikes. Overhype? maybe. But I love it. _________________ -Ryan
Okay, I listened to more of Rhythm of War audiobook, I cried a lot then slept last night. I also liostened to You Forgot It In People again and I didn't cry but I did swoon and smile a lot.
on Repo's recommendation and it was really cool. I need to listen again sometime with more attentiveness. But overall on first listen its a solid 3.5/5. Will return.
Haven't listened to the other couple recs yet and for this i apologize.
In terms of forgotten gems (forgotten TO ME not to you and the music fandom of the world) that I will be listening to soon to fill in the gaps, so to speak, in my album listening, the ones most highly rated and revered and ranked on RYM that have intrigued me the most and I plan on getting to after finishing this book are...drum roll...
...Now this apparently at 56 on the all time chart of RYM is the highest ranked album that I can say I have heard but don't really have any clear recollection of. Have started and stopped it a few times over the last month and just haven't really clicked with it in recent attempts. I know its a good one or at least many MANY people think it is so I will be back soon to listen. This feels a bit more like a checklist listening pick and I may put this off a while longer.
Skipping forward over albums I just don't have interest in now despite how revered they are (many Swans albums, OutKast albums etc which are in the top 100 that I am just not interested in investing 1-2.5 hours in.) amnd I come to these:
Now I've heard this and remember thinking it was really cool. The following will sound shallow...I don't like listening to albums with lyrics in a deifferent language. I am a pathetic cretin and don't speak Portuguese so I tend to avoid brilliant all time classics from this vibrant country and music scene because I just feel like a fraud not understanding the lyrics at all and not really understanding the cultural and political context of the music either. Still, I'll do a bit of research, see ifI can find some translation of lyrics and I will dive into this classic soon.
CCR albums are usually short and sweet and if I have heard this album all the way through, I have forgotten it. I remember being shocked it is the most highly ranked CCR album - I thought Green River was the canonized album of theirs - but I like them and will this album out and see what all the fuss is about. (I do legitimately love Green River so that's nice).
Next...
After that there is a looooong gap of lots of brilliant and acclaimed albums that I plan on listening to someday but not like today or this week. the above was #115 on RYM and I have to go alllll the way to #405 to find another overlooked or very vaguely remembered album i am hankerin' to give a listen to, and that is
yep I need some more BtS in my life. I own this album and I remember liking it but don't remember much about it. I always think of BtS as the older and wiser brother of DCfC. Anyway, will listen to this as well as Perfect from now on soon.
Now full disclosure I am not at all in a metal mood lately. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age and I can't handle the noise. Recently tried to listen to some Blind Guardian and some Gorguts and even some Sabbath, and none are tickling me like they optimally would. HOWEVER I remember when I was listening to sludgy albums a few years back I stumbled upon Leviathon and I remember thinking "This shit is pure GOLD!" but then never came back to it. I also remember listening to Crack The Sky and thinking "This is some sissy prog shit, wtf?!?". Since then I have become a big fan of Prog rock of a more iold school nature, so I am hoping I will still love Leviathon while also newly loving Crack The Sky, and voila! I will be reinvigorated for metal and Mastodon yet again and all will be well with the world.
Oh and Crack the Sky is #447 on RYM and Leviathon is 499.
Now these are WAYYY later on in the top albums of RYM lists. These are number 843 and 847 respectively. These are not the same artist but are both early 70s singer songwriter album sthat If I recall correctly kinda try to stretch the format a bit and are a bit more progressive than your avg singer songwriter fare. These are albums I listened to once or twice a couple years ago and even ranked them high on my lists and yet I never found time to revisit. So I shall now as a coupled theme.
There were soooo many pages of albums I respect and look kinda interesting before I got to the 840 range. Mostly they were various metal, classical and hip hop albums and for some reason a LOT of japanese video game soundtracks. I just am not interested enough at this time.
Side note, I respect Japanese video games a lot, but why is it that these soundtracks are generally super highly ranked but western games' soundtracks aren't ? Generally speaking of course it seems like the JRPG fans really are FANS of these soundtracks and as a result every FF game soundtrack from 5 to 10 is in the top 500-1000 albums. Not so much the case with western RPGs like Elder Scrolls and witcher or Baldur's gate. Why is it? I think musically they are similar in quality and I personally love Witcher 3 soundtrack. Just a thing I noticed which sparked a question.
This is at 926 on the all time RYM chart. I am excited to see what its all about. Some major BEA forum reg has this high on their chart and i read the comment recently and was intrigued. Maybe it was Tha1cheif rocka? Anyway, I am excited to listen.
Next:
tbh now I am past 1000 on the chart and I'm good with these... there was one grindcore album which caught my attention and one midwest emo album that did the same yesterday when I was just looking at 2000-2020 albums on RYM, one moment and I'll add them to the list and then end this loooong post...
So weird! I just downloaded this today! Was checking out Decibel's top 100 albums of the 2000s and hadn't heard this one. Will b curious to hear your thoughts!
So weird! I just downloaded this today! Was checking out Decibel's top 100 albums of the 2000s and hadn't heard this one. Will b curious to hear your thoughts!
Yikes!!! That's one intense shit! lol. I was not prepared. 🤣
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Cool read! Seeing as you're going through the top charts, maybe it's a good time to join the fun over on the canon game thread? 😎 _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Mercury
Repo
dihansse
baystateoftheart
