This was great! That voice is incredible I just loved listening to it. Soulful rhythm and blues with some powerhouse vocals, ranging from so smooth to anguished screaming. Meanwhile the music is working along side his vocals, giving us instant catchy earworms most of the time, knowing when to shine, and when to let Bobby Bland go for it, and when to join him. A nice variety from song to song throughout this collection too, which kept it moving along. 8/10, and #44 in my decade chart.
I consider The Boatmanโs Call one of the must listens from the Nick Cave discography.
Top 19 Music Albums of 1961 by EyeKanFly (3 picks left)
1. Miles Davis At Carnegie Hall by Miles Davis
2. Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane by Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane
3. West Side Story (The Original Sound Track Recording) by Various Artists
5. 8 Bitar by Jan Johansson
12. Showcase by Patsy Cline
14. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
15. Lonely And Blue by Roy Orbison
16. Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde by Otto Klemperer / Wiener Symphoniker / Elsa Cavelti / Anton Dermota
17. Falla: El Sombrero De Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) by Ernest Ansermet / L'Orchestre De La Suisse Romande
18. The Trio by Billy Bean / Hal Gaylor / Walter Norris
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Who would have thought that BEA's top Nick Cave album would be a subdued collection of piano ballads? These are well-written and sometimes quite poignant. Musically, there's not a lot going on, but that simply serves to focus the attention on the songwriting. This is not the record to make me a Nick Cave fan (Skeleton Tree has come the closest so far), but it's quite nice, although I respect it more than I wholeheartedly enjoy it. I'll start it at a 3.5/5.
3. I'm going to try something new that I'll call Pop Genre Grab Bag, going through ten of my favorite pop subgenres* with one pick for each from the most popular albums on RYM with 3.25+ that I haven't heard.
Pop Genre Grab Bag: Baroque Pop
10. Paris 1919 - John Cale
11. Scott 3 - Scott Walker
18. Scott 2 - Scott Walker
19. Scott - Scott Walker
20. Ekstasis - Julia Holter
24. 20/20 - The Beach Boys
27. Vintage Violence - John Cale
29. Initials B.B. - Serge Gainsbourg
31. Aerial Ballet - Nilsson
34. Poses - Rufus Wainwright
*Baroque Pop, Brill Building, Bubblegum, Girl Group, Jangle Pop, Nashville Sound, Pop Soul, Power Pop, Sunshine Pop, Twee Pop _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
Patsy Cline is a legend, but I found the drowsy music and arrangements, and the 60 year old lyrics, a bit dull to be truthful. But I'm not really into the genre anyway, and her famous songs have never wanted me to hear more anyway. Still, full respect to her, and it's always good to hear an album from a classic artist and get more of an understanding, even if part of that is that it's not for me.
Let's make a start with Scott Walker, at the beginning with Scott.
Top 19 Music Albums of 1961 by EyeKanFly (2 picks left)
1. Miles Davis At Carnegie Hall by Miles Davis
2. Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane by Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane
3. West Side Story (The Original Sound Track Recording) by Various Artists
5. 8 Bitar by Jan Johansson
14. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
15. Lonely And Blue by Roy Orbison
16. Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde by Otto Klemperer / Wiener Symphoniker / Elsa Cavelti / Anton Dermota
17. Falla: El Sombrero De Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) by Ernest Ansermet / L'Orchestre De La Suisse Romande
18. The Trio by Billy Bean / Hal Gaylor / Walter Norris
19. Prokofieff: Piano Concerto No. 3 / MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2 by Walter Hendl / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Van Cliburn
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
I listened to this probably 4 times over the last 3 days, this was a very good weekend of old school stockholm death metal. This album kicks ass! I feel like I shoulda clicked with this sooner especially after falling in love with Dismember. But anyway this is a badass album. The only gripe is the vocals at times are a bit silly (only when they go super low and affected like on the last track, or when the singer gets all dramtically high pitched and strained like on the second track I think ... mostly vocals are very sturdy and good). The riff work is sick and crunchy and creative throughout. The Bass work caught me off guard because the bass absolutely takes over at points and its sublime. The way the bassist sometimes will turn up and rattle around and underneath the already heavy guitar and drum assault and rattle my brain a bit is fabulous.
There is also something else special here and its the songwriting and the structure and the heart of the music. This isn't just aimalistic old school death metal stripped of feeling or sophisticated changes and so forth. There are some really incredible and bold switch ups and multi-parted compositions here. Most obviously is on the opening title track, which is 6:30 of stellar writing. The soloing on the back half of that title track is incredible and emotional and on first listen surprising.
The album never gets old or tiresome or redundant, the band keeps the proceedings invigorating and fascinating. This is up there with Like An Ever Flowing Stream or Leprosy or Altars of Madness as one of my fave early death metal albums.
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@Purplepash, I haven't heard any of those - not even the Miles or Monk/Coltrane ones - and I am shamefully ignorant of that era of music.... but still, Miles is a great so I choose:
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. Children of God by Swans/1987 (Recently did big deep dive into the 1980s in order to fully update chart. Saw this and was very very enticed. Time to give Swans another shot to win my heart.)
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. A Blaze In The Northern Sky by Darkthrone/1992 (suuperr hyped and classic black metal album here. Recently I have started, again, to get interested in black metal after spending most of my time interested in death metal of various kinds. No more classic early bm album than this... I heard this once awhile back and remember it being somewhat hard to get into at that time.)
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
Shade by Grouper
Yeah this was slightly too slow and sparse from Liz imo. It's a toned down version of folky singer/songwriter music that she's been trying for the last several years, I never did buy into that. OK, I've been following her for only 3 years, but still. When the things were highly psychedelic and ambient, like on Dragging a Dead Dear... then sure, it was fantastic. When the things were more ambient dream pop (AIA), again, great. Ruins is actually the closest thing to Shade which I actually love, but even then it's much more hazy, ambient and has those long, winding pieces of drone music which throw you off completely, yet work well within the context of the album. At times I think she's an immaculate and inventive ambient musician, at times (like here) it's good, but lacking that special something. (OK now I've realized that all of this sounds too negative, I still love the Grouper project, and this, while not being a highlight, is still a good album.) Pale Interior is a highlight, as well as Basement Mix. 7.5/10
(2)
Children of God, Merc!
(3)
2021
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
ะ ะพะถั [Rozh] - ะะตัะฝะพะต
Lorde - Solar Power
Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana
Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time
Blanck Mass - In Ferneaux
Portico Quartet - Monument
Idles - Crawler[/quote] _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
NOLA by Down
Hmm... this was fine I guess but I think I was perhaps even less impressed than on the Melvins album. It's strange because the faults I had with Melvins are not present on this one. Everything sounds crisp, the production is more thought out and the instrumentation is more intentional. There's a much more hi-fi sound and nary a trace of garage rock. But overall I think I'm much less impressed with the songwriting or musical talent on this album than on some of the other metal-aligned albums I've heard recently.
There's certainly some tracks I recognize here. I'm not new to Down, but what I've heard was more grunge-oriented than metal. So this was a bit of a welcome surprise, and I think the biggest song on the album ("Stone the Crow") is also by far the weakest, trying to get into grunge or alternative rock where the sludge metal or stoner metal is definitely Down's strong point. This album took me a while to finish since I guess I just wasn't in the mood for this brand of sludge metal, and while the first track was solid, I almost instantly got bored with the second-third tracks, so I picked it up and put it down a couple times before finally finishing it. Unfortunately it was a bit of a slog to get through. I felt like a lot of the album got a little too uninspired and samey, without much variety between songs. However, both the opening and closing tracks do not fall into this category. I was cautiously impressed with the first song, and maybe enjoyed it more because I've now listened to it more times than any of the other tracks. The final song gave a much better final impression than I was expecting. "Bury Me in Smoke" was probably my favorite track, and I think that alone salvaged this album from 2/5 territory into a 3/5.
2)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Crawler by Idles
I love Idles and was a bit disappointed by their 2020 album, this is much better. Not as good as Joy As an Act of Resistance, but pretty close in quality to Brutalism. Possibly also a decent introduction to the band if you haven't heard any of the aforementioned albums.
3)
Mercury's top albums of the 1990s
17. The Complete Blind Willie Johnson [compilation]
23. Rear View Mirror by Townes Van Zandt
24. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor
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
48. City by Strapping Young Lad
52. Goat by The Jesus Lizard _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Also realized Purplepash is using one of my charts. FYI those classical albums currently lower down on many of my lists are typically LPs that I own that I am gradually adding to the database here. They may not be easy to find/on streaming services. On the off chance that someone recommends one and you can't find it, feel free to just pick something else you can find lol, or DM me and maybe I can find a different recording of the same piece. _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
A perfectly pleasant background listen for a drive home from work. Nothing overly exciting but mostly kept my interest without needing my full attention. At no stage was I bored or disinterested at all, but I hardly ever am with reliable Miles. A solid 7/10.
I was tempted to go with Goat, but how about a change of pace with some Townes Van Zandt.
Noted about the classical albums EyeKanFly, thanks, would probably go with a different recording if needed, but with only 1 pick left now anyway....speaking of which there are two albums that I want to hear so I am already disappointed that at least one didn't get chosen ๐
Top 20 Music Albums of 1961 by EyeKanFly (last pick)
2. Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane by Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane
3. West Side Story (The Original Sound Track Recording) by Various Artists
5. 8 Bitar by Jan Johansson
14. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
15. Lonely And Blue by Roy Orbison
16. Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde by Otto Klemperer / Wiener Symphoniker / Elsa Cavelti / Anton Dermota
17. Falla: El Sombrero De Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) by Ernest Ansermet / L'Orchestre De La Suisse Romande
18. The Trio by Billy Bean / Hal Gaylor / Walter Norris
19. Prokofieff: Piano Concerto No. 3 / MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2 by Walter Hendl / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Van Cliburn
20. Listen To The Ahmad Jamal Quintet by Ahmad Jamal
Crawler by Idles
I've been following them since Brutalism, in my opinion they're one of the best bands who made it big recently. And, like EyeKanFly said, the last album Ultra Mono was quite a disappointment. There were some bangers, but overall it was more of the same sound, but not nearly as consistent as the first two albums. Crawler is a welcome change in sound and pace. It's still noise rock, post hardcore and punky, affair, this time with several ballads, more industrial and art rock influences than ever before. The closest they've come to art punk imo. The songs are very good, a lot of standouts (MTT 420 RR, The Wheel, The New Sensation, Stockholm Syndrome, The Beachland Ballroom, Wizz, The End, probably a few others I've forgotten about). Wizz was especially crazy, thought the album was over and some grindcore song was autoplaying on Spotify. After 2 listens, I can confidently say that Idles are back and I'm looking forward to seeing them live in June. 8/10
(2)
I should listen to much more Mahler (and classical music in general), but everything I've heard from him was stellar. I hope Das Lied Von Der Erde is too, Pash.
(3)
2021
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
ะ ะพะถั [Rozh] - ะะตัะฝะพะต
Lorde - Solar Power
Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana
Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time
Blanck Mass - In Ferneaux
Portico Quartet - Monument
BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Well, this was intense. It's dark, hell to say its dark seems to be underselling it. Gira and Co, know how to make an epic that absolutely flushes all cheer. The rhythms are almost all so heavy and mechanical and dense, the melodies are dissonant, and the whole roiling flow of this epic is seismically dreary and bleak. That said there are moments when the female vocalist comes in and steals the show,. Love those moments of beauty amidst this onslaught. Emotionally, outside of other swna albums heard, the closest thing to this existential Christian journey I can think of are the last few Lingua Ignota albums especially the newest one. But that said outside of the general intensity of darkness and the subject matter broadly, there is very little similarity to Get Ready Sinner.
My critiques are not truly critiques because everything is done so intentionally and the vision is brought to life as far as I can tell. But the things that didn't jive with me is the oppressive darkness and mood. This is weird because in recent months I have been really REALLY into apocalyptic, unrelentingly hopeless albums. But I like and dig the music in albums such as Through Silver In Blood more than this style. Also Gira's vocals are just not my thing. He is a master of creating these epics and playing them and composing them and being the ringleader of these huge labyrinthine albums, but a vocalist I ever enjoy listening to he is not. That is probably why, while I enjoyed and was impressed with this whole album, the moments with the other vocalist are the moments that really rose high.
I have heard the early no wave/industrial filthy albums but its been awhile and don't have much of an opinion. I have heard Soundtracks for the Blind and that is great if, again, not really my speed (desperately deserves a revisit), I have heard the Seer and it's been a long time so not sure how well I like that one and I recently-ish heard To Be Kind and while I kind of had a negative reaction to that album at the time, it has grown on me to a point now where I have no interest in hearing it again but I respect it for its sound and ambition and execution. This one is right in between Soundtracks for the Blind and To Be Kind (the only other 2 that are clear in my mind). It was clearly a major shifting point in the size and scope and sound and ambition of this bands when this was made in 1987. Glad I heard it.
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@LedZep, of those the ones I'm most excited to get to once my next surge of 2021 comes are LP! and Talk Memory... I have heard the BADBADNOTGOOD all the way through though, and it's quite cool, so:
Let's focus on a few genres. As you can see with my most recent update of my chart(s), I have been re-acquainted majorly with my punk/hardcore roots. And that is still the case the morning after. I am going to look for albums of interest within Death Metal, Grindcore, Powerviolence, Hardcore Punk, Crust Punk, D-Beat, Screamo, Sludge Metal, and other genres that are part of the punk/hardcore punk tradition in one way or another. Here are 10.
1. Jeromes Dream/Orchid Split EP/2000 (Legendary Screamo/Emoviolence split EP between a couple giants of the genre.)
2. Black Dots by Bad Brains/1979 + 1996 (well this is cool. it's the demo from 1979 before bad brains released their iconic debut. I recall this existed but i was 14 and had no access to this and had to look in record stores and forgot about it. Now I will FINALLY be able to listen to this hardcore punk lost gem.)
3. Sadness Will Prevail by Today is the Day/2002 (Up there with any swans album in terms of darkness and oppressive hopeless atmosphere. This is a massive 2 hour and 15 mi ute mix of sludge/noise rock/avant garde metal and found sounds and like all kinds of stuff stuffed together into a daunting listen. I started this a bit back and tbh it kind of unsettled me despite checking a ridiculous amount of boxes in what I am into musically lately. Before picking this, Pray for me.)
4. Dopesick by Eyehategod (One of the more acclaimed pure, disgusting sludge albums that I have never heard. )
5. Monuments to Thieves by His Hero Is Gone/1996 (crust punk from a memphis band that lasted 4 years and was gone. Super alluring stuff.)
6. The Faith/Void Split LP by The Faith and Void/1982 (Old school ultra intense hardcore)
7. Magrudergrind by Magrudergrind/2009 (Heard this Powerviolence and Grindcore insanity a bit back, forget what I thought of it. I present it now as an option.)
8. 01010101 by Portraits of Past/1996 (90s screamo. interesting.)
9. A Blaze In The Northern Sky by Darkthrone/1992 (Keeping this super classic black metal album here, as I am told by things that maybe there is some death metal elements buried in there as well.)
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.) Doesn't fit any categories previously mentioned except its post hardcore so that will do. very intrigued.) _________________ -Ryan
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Purplepash
baystateoftheart
Mercury
LedZep
EyeKanFly
