My fifth Tangerine Dream album, and definitely the most rock-oriented so far, although it's still predominantly electronic. The psychedelic cover does a good job preparing you for what's in store. Stratosfear is mostly beautiful, at times transcendent, and at times noodling. The bookend tracks carry the album, with the middle tracks both quite nice but less impressive. The title track is my favorite of the four. While I wouldn't say this is a mind-blowing record, overall it's a great and interesting listen. I'd place it behind Phaedra and Oedipus Tyrannus, and above Zeit and Rubycon. 4/5.
S3: At Mister Kellyโs - Sarah Vaughan And Her Trio
S4: Blonder Tongue Audio Baton - Swirlies
T: Wilder - The Teardrop Explodes
T2: Peripheral Vision - Turnover
U: The Four Horsemen - Ultramagnetic MCโs
V: Discover America - Van Dyke Parks
W: Why Canโt We Be Friends? - WAR
&: 1st - ไธๅคฑ่ (Fushitsusha)
V/A: Mi Media Naranja - Labradford
A: Hours Were The Birds - Adrianne Lenker _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
I've come a long way in my jazz appreciation over the last few years (which was basically close to nil) through this game, to the point where I know defend jazz to others, and should enjoy most of these jazz picks when they come. I still don't know enough or have enough experience to comment much. especially intelligently though. So just briefly :-
apparently this is a bit of a concept of each track being inspired by one aspect of the blues, which I found interesting. Maybe because of this there was a bit of variety from track to track. Most enjoyable for me where the first track, which seemed to showcase a few different instruments (the flute section was cool), the upbeat and energetic second track, and the last track where they got some great sounds out of their instruments. I liked this one, 7.5/10, and comes in at #89 for my decade chart.
3. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
4. Free Jazz by Ornette Coleman Double Quartet
6. Olรฉ Coltrane by John Coltrane
7. Africa/Brass by John Coltrane Quartet
8. Showcase by Patsy Cline
9. Djangology by Django Reinhardt
10. Eastern Sounds by Yusef Lateef
11. Someday My Prince Will Come by The Miles Davis Sextet
12 The Genius Sings The Blues by Ray Charles
13. Lonely And Blue by Roy Orbison
I've come a long way in my jazz appreciation over the last few years (which was basically close to nil) through this game, to the point where I know defend jazz to others, and should enjoy most of these jazz picks when they come. I still don't know enough or have enough experience to comment much. especially intelligently though. So just briefly :-
apparently this is a bit of a concept of each track being inspired by one aspect of the blues, which I found interesting. Maybe because of this there was a bit of variety from track to track. Most enjoyable for me where the first track, which seemed to showcase a few different instruments (the flute section was cool), the upbeat and energetic second track, and the last track where they got some great sounds out of their instruments. I liked this one, 7.5/10, and comes in at #89 for my decade chart.
Revival by Gillian Welch
This was great. I enjoyed Time (The Revelator) but haven't really listened to much else by Gillian Welch, so I was expecting something similar to that alternative country-rock album. This was actually significantly different. It's softer country with huge folk and bluegrass influence. The bluegrass was so strong even that it felt like some songs could've appeared on the Kentucky Route Zero soundtrack (which was probably inspired by Welch or the same influences as Welch).
In particular, "Paper Wings" through to the end of the album was all incredible, I really enjoyed the softer folk in these songs. I could easily see this album going into my top 90s albums, it's certainly pretty high up for 1996. 4/5
2)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Djangology by Django Reinhardt
This is a set of songs from 1949-1950 sessions with Reinhardt and French violinist Stรฉphane Grappelli, the last time they recorded together. They're some great sessions and feature recordings of many of their best and most famous tunes. It's a much different kind of jazz from most of the other American jazz in the 1961 chart (of course, being recorded 10+ years apart will do that as well as the geographical/cultural differences).
3)
Mercury's top albums of the 1990s
4. Like an Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
16. The Complete Blind Willie Johnson [compilation]
18. NOLA by Down
23. Rear View Mirror by Townes Van Zandt
24. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor
28. Lysol by Melvins
29. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
38. Long Hair in Three Stages by U.S. Maple
43. Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell by Social Distortion
45. Resurrection of the Bayou Maharajah by James Booker _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
I don't have quite as much to say about this one as some earlier or more recent write ups. This albums rocks hard and there are some really interesting things going on here. The band kicks ass and on some songs (starting with "Collagen Rock", with its cartoonishly bouncy sharp melodic guitar lick) have some really prominently, strangely biting and high pitched guitar riffs that dominate the songs which are otherwise crunchy and intense post hardcore things. I thought that was awesome.
The vocal took some getting used to and really the first song turned me off and I thought the whole vibe of the band was not my thing especially vocally. But that song on 3rd listened grew a little on me and, more importantly, the rest of the album I feel gets better going forward. Some really stand out tracks that just got me riled up in a youthful, punk rock way, were the aforementioned "Collagen Rock", "What We've Learned", "Day of the Dead Ringers", "No New Wave No Fun", "To Hell With Good Intentions", and the closing track "whoyouknow." Also came to like the slowed downness and moodiness of ""Fuck This Band" and one other I am forgetting.
Overall, this sound is my jam. Really dig the innate hardcore energy mixed with other hard rock and punk and more arty side routes and sonic details. Very glad I FINALLY got to this. Can understand the hype.
-------------------------
@EyeKanFly, as much as I am tempted to recommend some Blind Willie Johnson or James Booker to you (a good deed it is when I can get someone into those artists) I think some more extreme metal is in order, after some great punk and alt country and folk stuff.... so...
Sadly not on streaming services, and I check often. It's on Youtube. there are a couple uploads. I am not very discerning on audio punch or quality, maybe try both or a few of the full album uploads and then decide for yourself. This album is as good as death metal gets in my opinion based off what I've heard personally.
------------------------
3.
Okay, I have decided what to do as a "gimmick" for my list, and that is simply no gimmick, no challenge and no forcing myself to listen to anything I'm not already majorly interested in and kind of in the bag for lol - so I simply have this big list of albums I want to hear and I roughly ranked em and then now I will at random grab 10 that seem like either really cool and up my alley or ones that I feel like an idiot for never listening to em. Here we go!
+ = this is the most recently added choice
1. Monuments to Thieves by His Hero is Gone/1996 (This is a classic crust punk album. I have had this ear marked for ages. I add it here now.)
2. Mecca and the Soul Brother AND The Main Ingredient by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth/1992 + 1994 (If you pick on of these, I'll listen to both. I got big-ish box sets of these albums back in like 2015 and I listened a couple times and I loved 'em. But then moved on to other genres and styles of interest and forgot about them to some degree and then when I came back to HONESTLY rate only albums I felt I recollected on RYM, I left these unrated because I just feel like they are vague in my memory and they deserves lots and oodles of respect and time.)
3. ใใใฆใ (Pneuma) by ้่ๅธๅญ+ไธๅฎ ็ด+ๅฑฑๆฌ้ไน +ๆธก่พบ็ญ (Ichiko Aoba, Jun Miyake, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Hitoshi Watanabe)/2017 (As a pretty recently converted Aoba die hard and fanatic, this album having not been heard is a crime. So whether this is chosen soon or not, I will be listening in next couple days. Still, here it is for possible choosing.
4. Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis/1998 (This is a shameful admission: I have never sat down - nor even stood up! - and listened to this album in one sitting - nor in one standing! I know I know how is this even admissible for someone that has Spirit of Eden high on his all time faves list? Idk. I have bit-and-pieced this album 1 or 2 times over the decade or so of awareness of it. I intend to rectify this soon. RIP Mark Hollis.)
5. Por este rio acima by Fausto/1982 (The album cover of this for some reason holds sway over my heart and I have been mean ing to check out this album for a long time... maybe I did back when I was doing some 1982 deep diving. But I can't remember. I don't think I ever did though. So this Portuguese folk/singer songwriter album it is.)
6. Moon Pix by Cat Power/1998 (I neeeeed more Cat Power in my life and for some reason I never rated this on RYM or here and I don't recall what this one is like and this is one of her more loved LPs. So this one is an option)
7. An Evil Heat by Oxbow/2002 (In the other similarly named game thread recently LedZep had me listen to another Oxbow album and I thought it was good bordering on GREAT. This seems to be their most famous album and I hear its experimental, droney, sludgy and weird - that sounds right for me atm.)
+8. Pawn Hearts by Van der Graaf Generator/1971 (some classic prog I have been meaning to check out for ages!)
9. Left Hand Path by Entombed/1990 (Bring on this absolutely classic and legendary Swedish death metal classic! I couple months ago I absolutely saw the light on Entombed's peers, Dismember, and their 1991 masterpiece Like an Ever Flowing Stream. At that time I meant to now delve into the works of Entombed... but I never did. I listened to the first few tracks of this album newly and thought it was cool but no Dismember and went back to them. Now I would like to give this one the time and TLC it deserves. I heard it awhile ago but I was not a DM fan at the time and I didn't love it just liked it.)
10. At Action Park by Shellac/1994 (A classic 90s post hardcore release that I have been meaning to play for a decade or close to. When I was updating my 90s chart yesterday I saw this and instantly remembered how much I've wanted to give this a spin. So here it is as an option.) _________________ -Ryan
It was high time I heard the breakout album by one of the Bay State's top bands of the 90s. I really enjoy their 1996 effort, but I think this one is even better on first listen. Blonder Tongue Audio Baton gets off to a fairly slow start, but really picks things up when the shoegaze kicks in with Pancake. The whole rest of the record is relentlessly great, and finishes on a hilarious note with bizarre hidden track spoken word. The noisy guitars and the combination of female and male vocals are strengths. Because more than half of this is great, it starts with a light 4/5.
~~~~~
2. Let's finish the Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth discography so it can all be fresh in your mind at once.
~~~~~
3. Now for a brief detour back to one of the o.g. lists of this game: the BEA overall chart!
248. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs - Derek & The Dominos
255. Machine Head - Deep Purple
261. Hotel California - Eagles
273. Crime Of The Century - Supertramp
280. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
314. Aqualung - Jethro Tull
338. The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
349. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
350. Van Halen - Van Halen
358. 2112 - Rush _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
Impressive guitar playing for sure, but a bit too old-timey for me, probably due to the swing influence. A bit up and down with some tracks a bit interesting, and others that bored me a little bit. I didn't really get into this one much overall. 6.5/10.
3. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
4. Free Jazz by Ornette Coleman Double Quartet
6. Olรฉ Coltrane by John Coltrane
7. Africa/Brass by John Coltrane Quartet
8. Showcase by Patsy Cline
10. Eastern Sounds by Yusef Lateef
11. Someday My Prince Will Come by The Miles Davis Sextet
12 The Genius Sings The Blues by Ray Charles
13. Lonely And Blue by Roy Orbison
14. This Is Our Music by Ornette Coleman
Natura Morta by Sven Wunder
This was a very pleasant listen. Played it once several days ago and now again, I don't think it's anything that special but it works as background music. Flutes are charming, it all sounds so lush. On some tracks it reminds me of nemanja's debut, but that one was more funky and Anatolian-style (and better). This would probably be fun live. 6.5/10
(2)
Free Jazz is possibly the best thing I've heard from that year, also possibly my favourite Coleman album.
(3)
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Grouper - Shade
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
ะ ะพะถั [Rozh] - ะะตัะฝะพะต
Lorde - Solar Power
ํ๋๋ ธ์ [Parannoul] / Asian Glow / sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey - Uneasy
Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana
Blanck Mass - In Ferneaux
BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Like An Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
Thanks for the heads up on lack of streaming, but it's easy to find on Youtube as you said, good quality uploads too. I dug this album, death metal still isn't my favorite and I'm not the most discerning metal listener, but this seems to me to set the standard for the style. It's got great growling vocals, thrashing drums and bass, technical guitar, all of which come together perfectly. It seems this album set the stage for a good bit of Scandinavian metal bands, and that seems to be the genre that Sweden, Norway, and Finland are most known for today (along with... dance pop). Though I'm sure they exist, I can't recall ever hearing a Swedish metal album from earlier than 1991.
Though I think all these positives about the album also come with a negative: it doesn't really feel unique. I suppose since it stands as a template for metal albums which followed, I think I've found more interesting Swedish metal in bands like Opeth or Ghost. I'll also mention that I listened to a "deluxe"/reissued version which came with 4 bonus tracks, and those bonus 4 were noticeably, substantially worse songs than those on the album as originally released. Just thought that was interesting, hard to believe that some of them came from the same sessions, and very understandable that they were cut.
Looking forward to more 90s metal, this was a fun, energizing listen and was great for setting the stage. 3/5.
2)
LedZep, agree with Natura Morta, "pleasant" is totally the best way to describe it. Also will definitely need to check out Nemanja, sounds interesting. Now though let's go with:
3)
Mercury's top albums of the 1990s
16. The Complete Blind Willie Johnson [compilation]
18. NOLA by Down
23. Rear View Mirror by Townes Van Zandt
24. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor
28. Lysol by Melvins
29. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
38. Long Hair in Three Stages by U.S. Maple
43. Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell by Social Distortion
45. Resurrection of the Bayou Maharajah by James Booker
47. And She Closed Her Eyes by Stina Nordenstam _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
This is the first Ornette Coleman album I've listened to and I think I've still got a ways to go when it comes to free jazz. I mean I like a little bit of chaos in my music but this was too much chaos for me. To my untrained to improvisational free jazz ears it mostly sounded like a bunch of musicians doing their own thing and not working with each other. However every now and again there were bits of noisiness that I did like. Enough to get a low 6.5/10.
I haven't heard any of these. Want to hear some Melvins.
3. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
6. Olรฉ Coltrane by John Coltrane
7. Africa/Brass by John Coltrane Quartet
8. Showcase by Patsy Cline
10. Eastern Sounds by Yusef Lateef
11. Someday My Prince Will Come by The Miles Davis Sextet
12 The Genius Sings The Blues by Ray Charles
13. Lonely And Blue by Roy Orbison
14. This Is Our Music by Ornette Coleman
15. West Side Story (The Original Sound Track Recording) by Various Artists
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
baystateoftheart
Purplepash
Repo
EyeKanFly
Mercury
LedZep
