What Are You Currently Listening To And On What? Part III

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Tonight Matthew I will be listening to....

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Finally setup my CD rips over my server via the Bluesound Node and Pulse mini. Listening to ...

A.M Architect - The Road to the Sun

Absolutely superb on my system :D

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Kel Assouf - Black Tenere

Then Fleetwood Mac 50 Years CD (1). Both on my ageing Sony La Scala S1 that has just today been "upscaled" from my 10yo daughters bedroom and David Walliams on repeat.

Not my set-up, but I'm on the whisky, its dark and I aint about to try and put the lights on!
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Couple of entried fora Wednesday Morning -

1) I seem to be listening to lost of melodic doom / prog metal bands at the moment beginning with the letter "S". I have previously posted Soen - Lotus and Source - Totality and today comes Sermon - Birth of the Marvellous. Similar in style to the other two, prog underpinnings with a veneer of scandinavian melodic doom (although they come from London) with a bit of stoner thrown in for good measure in the distorted guitars. If this is what they can do on a debut album this could be interesting.



2) To follow up on my Guitar intros play list I am listening to "Top Band Frontmen I have seen" 15 song playlist. These are not necessarily the best singers or the best bands but have front men (have seen some good front women but they did not make the list e.g. Warlock, T'Pau, Evanescence, Anathema etc. ) that engage with the crowd and make a gig an event. Top three get a double dose and top/tail the list.
  1. Queen - March of the Black Queen - 1986 Main Road - Freddie Mercury - the ultimate frontman!
  2. Iron Maiden - Run to the hills - Several time but first 1984 Manchester Apollo - The original Human Air Raid Siren - Bruce Dickenson
  3. Stone Sour - 30/30-150 - 2010 Brighton Centre - Cory Taylor, who gets two entries with to different bands, absolutely owns the stage with either.
  4. Thirty Second to Mars - Kings and Queens - O2 Arena 2013 - So impressed with Jared Leto when I saw them and a great voice.
  5. Meatloaf - Lost Boys and Golden Girls - Brighton Centre 1987 - Big in stature, big in personality - always brought a performance - usually for 3 hours !
  6. Tesseract - Tourniquet - Shepherds Bush Empire 2018 - Dan Tompkins is energetic and commanding and had one of the best live voices I have heard, his tai chi/kung fu moves are an acquired taste though.
  7. Jethro Tull - Aqualung - Guildford Civic hall 1992 - Ian Anderson, on one leg, playing a flute what more can you ask.
  8. Dio - Sunset Superman - Hammersmith Odeon 1987 - Another absolutely classic voice and out of such a small person.
  9. Alice Cooper - Cold Ethyl - Wembley Arena 1989 - Such a show man and yes the song is about necrophilia (apologies if you have sensitive ears/eyes) !
  10. Limp Bizkit - Take a look around - Sonosphere 2009 - Fred Durst is a legend and was able to cross the metal/rap boundary unlike any other
  11. Korn - A different world (feat. Cory Taylor) - Ozzfest 2010 - Jonathan Davies is one of those singers that just gives it his all every time and so recognisable
  12. Skindred - Warning - Ozzfest 2010 - Benjie Webbe is an absolute monster on stage, brilliant festival band, anyone for the Newport Helicopter !
  13. Slipknot - Geheena - Wembley Arena 2015 - More Cory Taylor but this time in reflective mood for Slipknot.
  14. Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name - Wembley Arena 1990 - Bruce Dickenson at his best on one of the best Metal songs ever (imo).
  15. Queen - Is this the world we created - Main Road 1986 - A final one from the Maestro.
A couple of honorable mentions - Jamie Cullam who was brilliant and so talented, Jean Michelle Jarre who is not the typical front man but put on a great show in London Dockland and more recently Avenged Sevenfold and Monuments, very good but not up the those on the list.

Playlist - Top Band Frontmen I have seen, a playlist by ugg10 on Spotify
 
Driving up the High Street in Glasgow earlier when a Billboard caught my eye and sent me racing back to 1981.
Now sitting in the house listening to "Punks not Dead" by The Exploited, and getting some bemused looks from the kids and the better half.
Maybe not a classic but it's my time, my memories, my trip back to when I had more hair on my head than in my ears and nose!!
 
Santana ~ Abraxas (1970). The second album featuring their Woodstock-era lineup and still very good, though I like even better their magnificently fiery Third Album from the following year (augmented by guest guitarist Neal Schon, then aged just 17). After that, it was mostly downhill, starting with Caravanserai which just pootled along in second gear all the way to the closing track, Every Step Of The Way, but by then it was too late to save a dismally lacklustre album. Gregg Rolie departed to form Journey (with Neal Schon), which had a much more successful career than (Carlos) Santana did without him.
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Lisa Wahlandt - Wowowonder . Featuring Trio Elf.
What a superb Album this is !

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Isaac Hayes ~ Shaft (1971). Still and always magnificent. I've yet to hear another of his albums to rival it.
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Just arrived. The Beach Boys Summer Days (and Summer Nights), Analogue Products stereo SACD.
 
Dave Grusin ~ Homage to Duke (Ellington) (1993) ~ And very good it is too, featuring amongst others Brian Bromberg, Harvey Mason, John Patitucci, Steve Kujala, Clark Terry (who was actually a member of the Duke's band in later years), Tom Scott and Eddie Daniels. Arranged and produced by Uncle Dave and impeccably recorded at Sunset Sound by Don Murray with assistance from Mike Kloster and Geoff Gillette.

I'm still curious as to why Dave stopped writing and recording original material after 1989's excellent Migration.
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Simple gifts played on the cello by Yo Yo Ma and sung by Alison Krauss.. 3 minutes of heaven on Tidal and on Lenovo Yoga tablet with senneheiser Momentum on ears.
 
Genesis ~ And Then There Were Three (1978). Post Steve Hackett, a decidedly creditable album, featuring, of course, their big hit single of the year, Follow Me, Follow You. I didn't like the next two, Duke and Abacab but, right from the first time I heard it, liked the one with the yellow triangular shapes on the cover. Recorded in Holland and produced by David Hentschel.
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Genesis ~ And Then There Were Three (1978). Post Steve Hackett, a decidedly creditable album, featuring, of course, their big hit single of the year, Follow Me, Follow You. I didn't like the next two, Duke and Abacab but, right from the first time I heard it, liked the one with the yellow triangular shapes on the cover. Recorded in Holland and produced by David Hentschel.
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Been going through a bit of a Genesis thing myself over the last couple of months. Listened to all there albums at least twice in that time. "Selling England by the pound" was always a big favourite of mine but at the moment "The Lamb lies down on Broadway"is the album i'm most taken with, which is surprising as originally could never get quite into it. Think it may be an age thing!
 
Something old and something new this morning -

East of the Wall - NP-complete (2019). Pretty good prog metal with similar sound to Between the Buried and Me and Haken, mainly clean vocal but with the odd bit of (not totally convincing) harsh vocals thrown in. Clean vocals reminiscent of Deftones (a bit). Well put together album with quite a bit of variety but with lots of recognisable Prog elements. There lots of jazz inspired parts including as Flugel Horn duet (over dub) on track 8 and the bass on track 5 is pretty good to say the least. Worth a listen.



Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001). One of my favourites and one of the heavier of Opeths. So many epic tracks and technically brilliant without being up their own ar*es and maintaining lots of emotion (rather than some of the brilliant but clinical stuff about). Produced by Stephen Wilson (Porcupine tree etc.), say no more! One to sit back, concentrate and enjoy.



EDIT - and bit of a diversion this afternoon - Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984 - jeez that long ago :eek:). Forgot how good this album is and also how well it is produced, so clean and clear, well worth returning to once in a while.

 
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Ry Cooder ~ Jazz (1978) Turn of the (last) century jazz played on traditional instruments such as bass sax, cymbalum, tuba, pump organ, cornet, marimba, vibes, mandolin and trombone plus piano, drums and guitars. Got my copy at Charlie's Records in the centre of Vancouver in 1997 for CN$9.99, on the same holiday as I discovered Andy Summers' magnificent Last Dance of Mr X in Seattle. A nice and interesting album.
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Having four adolescent kids in the house you tend to hear music you would never find in your usual searches.
at the moment they have me listening to Billie Eilish "When we all fall asleep....) and really rather enjoying it. A big talent in a young girl! Well worth a listen.
 
The V.I.P. Club ~ Coconut Kiss (2001). Debut album from German Wolfgang Haffner, known hitherto to me as drummer for Chuck jazz/rock outfit Metro led by guitarist Chuck Loeb and keyboards player Mitchel Forman. Decidedly at the pop end of the jazz spectrum and recorded over a period of three years at no less than nine different studios in LA, NYC and Germany, with input from a wide range of American and German musicians such as Chuck Loeb, Mitchel Forman, Andy Snitzer, Jeff Golub, Will Lee, Til Bronner and Kim Waters. Not a seminal album, it must be said but quite jolly when you're in the mood.
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Hmmmmmm. Not sure whether this is a 5/5 or a 1/5!!

So, I think a “curates egg” best describes the new Periphery album Periphery IV : Hail Stan.

My issue is that it pretty much has every prog metal sub genre represented including traditional Prog Rock and Metal and Djent (their normal fare, like Haken, Tesseract etc.) but also they stray heavily into metal core (like Bring me the Horizon), go more commercial with a couple of tracks (like A Day to Remember), quite a bit of tech (Animals as leaders through to Algorithm) and then throw in some symphonic and melodic vocal harmonies and even orchestral arrangement, and most of that is contained within the first 17min track!

So, lots of really good stuff, technical very well accomplished, good spread of vocals from some very good clean ones, some “Bennington-esque” fry screams through to out and out screamo, good use of the three guitarist, an odd guest vocalist and some pretty complex percussion.

So, a very good collection of songs but still getting my head around every track being pretty much a different sub-genre and even some tracks with different styles within them

Jury still out after about 5 listening!

 
Came across this band as they were advertising their gig in May at the Boileroom in Guildford.

Psychedelic P*rn Crumpets - High Visceral Pt 1&2 (2016/7). In a similar vein to a number of the new retro/throw back to the 1960's/early 70's rock bands like Greet van Fleet. Very influenced by Led Zep, Cream etc. these are a pretty good listen and mix it up a bit with interesting interludes and use of other instruments (sax, violin etc.), sound pretty good on my office system, clean production but with just enough distortion. Worth a listen.



Note - Parental Guidance on Track 3.
 
Andy Summers ~ The Last Dance Of Mr X (1997). Still the best album in my collection by a guitar player (my second favourite is Steve Laury's Keepin' The Faith from 1993), very ably supported by Tony Levin (el. bass) and Gregg Bissonette (drums). Superb from start to finish.
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Chris Rea, The Journey 1978-2009.
FLAC, lounge system.
 
Eagles ~ Desperado (1973). Produced and recorded by the great Glyn Johns at Island Studios in West London (his second favourite to the now sadly defunct Olympic Studios in Barnes). Desperado has always been my favourite Eagles album and I never liked Hotel California, still less The Long Run. After recording just two tracks for On The Border (1974), the band fell out with Glyn Johns over the musical direction he felt they should maintain in favour of the more rock orientated flavour they wanted, as a result of which recording and production of the rest was transferred to Bill Szymczyk in LA. This change of direction also meant that One of These Nights (1975) was Bernie Leadon's last album with them, though he remained firm friends with Glyn Johns who produced his 1977 collaborative album with Michael Georgiades, which isn't a masterpiece but it's not bad either.
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Gong ~ Gazeuse (1976). Their best by a mile (though Second Wind from 1988 isn't at all bad) and a classic album (of its ilk) by any measure. Lots of percussion, Allan Holdsworth on guitar and superb electric bass playing c/o Francis Moze. Recorded at Richard Branson's Manor Studio in Oxfordshire and produced by Dennis Mackay, whose oversight might well have produced better results with most of their subsequent albums.
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