This was what I needed at the moment. Nothing too spectacular or groundbreaking, I suspect I will have forgotten all about this in a week or two, but while it was on, it was highly enjoyable. A lovely little collection of romantic super catchy pop songs with Clouds and Quiet Heart being the ones that stood out. There was a period of time where I would be excited about this kind of album and would play it non-stop ( I wanna say about a decade ago, not 100% sure, maybe a bit more). Anyway, I' ll say 70/100.
3.
Mercury's chart
1. Nilsson Sings Newman - Harry Nilsson
2. Prowler In The Yard - Pig Destroyer
3. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight - Richard & Linda Thompson
4. Old Chestnut - Ned Collette
5. So Far - Bob Theil
6. Looks Like Rain - Mickey Newbury
7..There's Nothing Wrong With Love - Built To Spill
8.. Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder (unlike the others, it's not gonna be a first listen, but I really feel like revisiting this at the moment)
9. Continuum - John Mayer
10. Sign 'O' The Times - Prince (same as number 8 )
My Maudlin Career by Camera Obscura
While still good, this wasn't anywhere near the level of Let's Get Out of This Country. It's not as immediate, not as catchy and memorable. From the songwriting to the overall sound it's much less interesting to me. They went for the Belle & Sebastian sound with loads of soaring ballads, orchestral parts and consistently sad sounding songs. Which, compared to the more upbeat and overall varied previous album, was a disappointment. And I like the Belle & Sebastian shtick, but there's some variations of twee pop that I enjoy better. Also, many bands who go for that sound just can't do it as well as B&S (including post 90s B&S themselves lol). Even the closer Honey in the Sun, while admittedly energetic and fun, felt like a lesser version of some songs from Let's Get Out... In fact, only French Navy and The Sweetest Thing seemed good enough comparatively. I guess this one suffered from the success of its predecessor, it's not as bad as it sounds from my review, that's just me being disappointed. 7.5/10
Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun - Divine Music From A Jail
Rokia Traoré - Bowmboï
Soungalo Coulibaly - Dengo
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The Magnetic Fields - The Wayward Bus
Belle And Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
The Magnetic Fields - The Charm Of The Highway Strip
Beach House - Devotion
The Cardigans - First Band On The Moon
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Lenny Valentino - Uwaga! Jedzie tramwaj
Shub Niggurah - Les Morts Vont Vite _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
This was great! I loved how I was never on solid ground, never fully sure of what was coming. It was Progressive folk, but I though I'd heard enough of such that I could kinda guess where it was going, but no! Whenever I thought I was getting a grip on the music here, it would change drastically (but in an artful and smooth way) into some rock or even kinda metal way. The first song is one of the best I heard from last year, and while the rest of the album isn't quite as perfectly great as the opener on first listen, every song kept me engaged by the beauty of the acoustics, and the subtle changes in instrumentation. The vocals on one of the songs has this very manipulated sound, and that was cool to start but kinda wore out its welcome slightly (not a major gripe) but I only remember that cuz there were so few missteps that I heard. His vocals were good, the acoustic guitar bits were subtle yet proggy and complicated and tricky, the parts that brought in electric guitars and other elements were all both beautiful and also complex and fascinating! I am glad I was nominated this (thanks Luigii) and I am glad I am aware of this artist as I will be waiting for his next album and It will be a moment. I also plan on delving into the whole Lunatic Sul Discography. Nice feeling discovering a new artist that I really like and am fascinated by.
Top 10 5 albums of 2020 per RYM that I have not heard. mixed with 4 top rated albums that I actually just want to hear in genres that interest me. Bet you can't figure out which is which. I'm also gonna mix in the Afterhours Greatest jazz and rock albums that I never liked or never heard or only heard a couple times and just don't really remember what made them so special. 1 afterhours pick so far but as other albums get nominated I'll add more, until I guess it will be mostly classics from his list. I know this top 10 list is getting weird.
1. Manger on McNichols by Boldy James & Sterling Toles
2. Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond
3. Little Dominiques Nosebleed by The Koreatown Oddity (#25)
4. Inner Song by Kelly Lee Owens
5. Miles by Blu & Exile (#26)
6. Welcome to Hard Times by Charley Crocket
7. Program Music III by Kashiwa Daisuke (#27)
8. Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt (this is the one After hours I'm mixing in. Never "got" this one. Been years and I have no receollection of the details of this apparent masterpiece of music.)
9. 冀西南林路行 (Inside the Cable Temple) by 万能青年旅店 [Omnipotent Youth Society] (#28)
10. Bildungsroman by 海朋森 [Hiperson] _________________ -Ryan
Pretty early for me. "Shouldn't you be at work?" I would if it wasn't snowing hard. So I get a day off. Yay. But with this album, this was excellent. Actually it may be a little more then that because while there might be a few vocal passages that I need to get a bit acclimated towards, I can't say there was anything I disliked about it. Sound wise and performance wise it was excellent. I could argue tracks like Drums of Heaven and Outbreak of Love did a little more compared to the rest of the album. But the rest of the album gave that feeling of driving through the country side that I was enjoying myself. Grade:95
(2)
Mercury, Program Music III. Don't know what it is and I'm guess you might not like it. But the ye old college try is important. Also to Ledzep, I thought your favorite track for Xuvetyn would have been Flowered Smothered or Ghosts That Swirl.
(3)
BEA's Top 100 Albums of 1993
(64) Meat Loaf-Back Out Of Hell II (would have to listen to the first Back Out Of Hell album)
(65) The Auteurs-New Wave
(67) Buffalo Tom-Big Red Letter Day
(73) Donald Fagen-Kamakiriad
(76) The Posies-Frosting on the Beater
(79) Neil Young-Unplugged
(82) Cracker-Kerosene Hat
(84) Blue Rodeo-Five Days In July
(85) Sugar-Beaster
(86) The Lemonheads-Come On Feel The Lemonheads
It's almost there. 3/4's of the way there. Maybe it won't get done by the end of February. But I could see it being done by March. The 250 albums? As I go through 77, I'll listen to stuff on my spare time.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
This was actually quite breathe-taking and just gorgeous. Somehow Daisuke manages to mix sublime and moving classical suite with glitchy, crackling parts, with some third stream jazzy parts, ambient textures, even some somewhat IDM parts and a hip hop "song" (rather a portion of one massive song). The whole album flows effortlessly between so many little musical ideas and its a very VERY pleasant little journey. The album is 2 tracks, the first track is called "Sons" and its 51 of 59 minutes. The second song is also quite great but "only" like 7 minutes. Anyway, this for sure is a solid as hell album and a great listen. Going somewhat high on that 2020 chart of mine.
------------------------------------------
2.
Luigii,
I think you're ready for the cheese and fun of this and the album its a sequel to. We have to do it at some point. Urban Legend says that whenever a member of BEA and a forum regular listens to these albums, a certain old and iconic BEA member will be watching you whilst laughing and painting a masterpiece during his usual gym class period.
Top 10 4 albums of 2020 per RYM that I have not heard. mixed with 4 top rated albums that I actually just want to hear in genres that interest me. Bet you can't figure out which is which. I'm also gonna mix in the Afterhours Greatest jazz and rock albums that I never liked or never heard or only heard a couple times and just don't really remember what made them so special. 2 afterhours pick so far but as other albums get nominated I'll add more, until I guess it will be mostly classics from his list. I know this top 10 list is getting weird.
1. Manger on McNichols by Boldy James & Sterling Toles
2. Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond
3. Little Dominiques Nosebleed by The Koreatown Oddity (#25)
4. Inner Song by Kelly Lee Owens
5. Miles by Blu & Exile (#26)
6. Welcome to Hard Times by Charley Crocket
7. Parable of Arable Land by The red Crayola (Afterhours-derived).
8. Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt (this is the one After hours I'm mixing in. Never "got" this one. Been years and I have no receollection of the details of this apparent masterpiece of music.)
9. 冀西南林路行 (Inside the Cable Temple) by 万能青年旅店 [Omnipotent Youth Society] (#28)
10. Bildungsroman by 海朋森 [Hiperson] _________________ -Ryan
Divine Music From A Jail by Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun
Tuvan throat singing with accordion. The vocals could be a turn off for some, but I personally liked it a lot. Accordion is a weird instrument, it's very prominent in some local Balkan music which is terrible, so I associate it with bad music. But every once in a while I stumble upon an album like this one where the instrument is played passionately and it fits so well. In fact, it's a very versatile instrument overall which I've heard (and liked) in just about every genre of music ever. Pop, rock, folk, jazz, Tom Waits, you name it. The length of almost an hour is a bit questionable, but overall the album is great. 8/10
(2)
INNER SONG. Love that one, it's on the verge of cracking the top 10 of 2020 for me.
Rokia Traoré - Bowmboï
Soungalo Coulibaly - Dengo
--------------------------------------
The Magnetic Fields - The Wayward Bus
Belle And Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
The Magnetic Fields - The Charm Of The Highway Strip
Beach House - Devotion
The Cardigans - First Band On The Moon
--------------------------------------
Lenny Valentino - Uwaga! Jedzie tramwaj
Shub Niggurah - Les Morts Vont Vite
Midori - Aratamemashite, hajimemashite, Midori desu. _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Also to Ledzep, I thought your favorite track for Xuvetyn would have been Flowered Smothered or Ghosts That Swirl
Ghosts That Swirl was excellent, probably a runner up for my favourite. Flowered Smothered was average imo (album average that is, still a great piece of music). Those are your faves Luigi? _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Ghosts That Swirl was excellent, probably a runner up for my favourite. Flowered Smothered was average imo (album average that is, still a great piece of music). Those are your faves Luigi?
I could throw the opener as well as See Saw. Again, it has been a while since I listened to it. So there was probably way more favorites. Especially being a high contender for 1996 and the 90's in general. Though now that I mentioned Ghosts That Swirl and this might be a me thing, those last two minutes reminds me of the ending of Whole New World/Pretend World. Though this track came first.
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
So I listened to Landing On Water and Ragged Glory back to back and that was an interesting experience. While Landing On Water is not good, it's also not as bad as what it is made out to be. But what is interesting is how what was happening musically in 1990, was way more suited to Neil Young's style than when he tried to incorporate what was happening in the '80s into his music. Anyway on to Ragged Glory, from what I can tell not having heard everything from Neil Young, what a welcome return to form after his '80s output (maybe along with Freedom? - I haven't heard that yet). A fitting title for this album, recorded live in the studio it was a bit ragged, and although there were no songs destined to end up as classics, there was examples of Neil Young's glory. Especially in some of the longer songs, which were my favourites, where I could just appreciate and enjoy Neil Young & Crazy Horse sort of jam for a while. Although they were probably my least two liked songs on the album I did like the touch of the opening track being a throwback to his country rock days and the closing track a nod to his folk rock ancestry. I give this a solid 7.5/10, and rank it at 36/59 for 1990.
The Wayward Bus is the only one I've heard. It's okay I guess.
Top 69 Music Albums of 1990 by Tha1ChiefRocka (4 picks left)
3. Frizzle Fry by Primus
5. Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em by Reverend Horton Heat
6. AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted by Ice Cube
7. One For All by Brand Nubian
15. Intelligent Hoodlum by Intelligent Hoodlum
18. World Clique by Deee-Lite
19. Funky Technician by Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth
21. Black Angels by Kronos Quartet
22. Jordan: The Comeback by Prefab Sprout
24. Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em by Eric B. & Rakim
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
So I've had a really confusing time trying to track down info about Live Convention 81. I can't find a download anywhere, and a Reddit post with links to all the parts leads to deleted YouTube videos. There's also no info on Discogs, RYM, or elsewhere about how long each track is, which hampers my ability to match up the various videos floating around and discern which is which. The track lists and credits are also really inconsistent from place to place. So this was the best I could do - can anyone verify if it's the full album or just side A? If it is the whole album, it actually doesn't qualify for BEA (4 tracks & 16 minutes).
Anyway, whether it's complete or not, this is very cool and fun live hip-hop from the era in which it was just getting off the ground. Raw for sure, but worth a listen to any fan of the genre. The music in this video gets a 3.5/5.
~~~~~
2. This is the only one I've heard. Pretty good, but wasn't a big fan:
3. Hip-Hop Medalists (slightly modified For Black History Month)
1981 silver: 8th Wonder - Sugarhill Gang
1982 silver: Live Convention 82 - Various Artists
1983 bronze: Players - Too $hort
1984 bronze: Fat Boys - Fat Boys
1985 silver: The Album - Mantronix
2003 bronze: Center Of Attention - InI
2007 silver: Volume 9: Negative Thoughts - DJ Sound
2009 gold: The LP - Large Professor
2014 bronze: Piñata Beats - Madlib
2015 bronze: Rodeo - Travis Scott _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Last edited by baystateoftheart on 02/03/2021 02:42; edited 1 time in total
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LedZep
Mercury
Purplepash
baystateoftheart
