Now Playing Thread

[Manatee]

Just listened to Karmakanic - Who's the Boss in the Factory? on the iPod while away from the computer.  Absolutely tip-top album, jolly excellent.

How would you describe their music?  Totally a new one for me.

[Steve Jones]

How would you describe their music?  Totally a new one for me.

There's a fair bit of Flower Kings in there, unsuprising given the family tree.  But it's got a bit more of an edge in places.  Total prog, though, without a doubt - not metal or anything.  Beautiful stuff.  I wonder if Gazpacho's lack of appeal for me is partly down to buying Karmakanic at the same time?

Given that Amazon US does the mp3 download for a mere $5.34 there's an easy way to find out.

[Manatee]

There's a fair bit of Flower Kings in there, unsuprising given the family tree.  But it's got a bit more of an edge in places.  Total prog, though, without a doubt - not metal or anything.  Beautiful stuff.  I wonder if Gazpacho's lack of appeal for me is partly down to buying Karmakanic at the same time?

Given that Amazon US does the mp3 download for a mere $5.34 there's an easy way to find out. 

That could be interesting.  As I've said before, I generally like the Flower Kings' sound, but they do too much aimless wandering around to hold my interest for long stretches.  Maybe the added edge would make the difference I'm looking for.  I'm still in the "want the hard copy" camp, but I must admit, the immediate gratification and lower price of downloads do make them tempting. 

[Steve Jones]

I'm still in the "want the hard copy" camp, but I must admit, the immediate gratification and lower price of downloads do make them tempting. 

Indeed.  UK price was £4.14 as against £12.98 for the hard-copy, a clinching factor when I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for.  As it happens it's my favourite purchase of 2009 and the sound quality is at the better end of mp3s

I'm thinking I might be doing more of my auditioning via downloads in the future, if the price is right, although mainstream purchases (eg the forthcoming Dream Theater) will still be physical.

[Manatee]

re: Karmakanic - Who's the Boss in the Factory

I just read this in one customer review on Amazon:

"Perhaps this is a little unfair, so take it for what it's worth, but this album is a bit more linear and its figures seem a little tighter than most of the Flower Kings albums. Time seems a little more compressed and there is certainly less meandering then on FK albums, much in the same way that 90125 was a little more musically direct than say Going for the One."

That's exactly what I was looking for, although I must say, Going for the One is one of my favorite Yes albums.  Yes does do some meandering, but I wouldn't have picked that album as the poster child for it.  In any case, sounds like it's worth a punt.   

[Steve Jones]

Pink Floyd - Pulse.

Or as the retarded database would have it when I re-ripped the album, Pulse [Blinking LED]

[Manatee]

Pink Floyd - Pulse.

Or as the retarded database would have it when I re-ripped the album, Pulse [Blinking LED]

iTunes does has an annoying habit of tagging album titles with trailing info like [Bonus Tracks].  One that bugs me personally is Afraid of Sunlight [Remaster] (Disc 1) since my version only has one disc, and it's nice that it's remastered (assuming improved quality), but I don't consider that part of the album title.      I suppose if I'm annoyed enough, I can just manually edit it out, but I'm not all that highly motivated.

Just Finishing Up: Demians - Building an Empire

I figured I'd take a break from playing Night and Tick Tock back-to-back continuously, and this was the only thing I could think of that seems to fit with them at the moment.

[Steve Jones]

iTunes does has an annoying habit of tagging album titles with trailing info like [Bonus Tracks].  One that bugs me personally is Afraid of Sunlight [Remaster] (Disc 1) since my version only has one disc, and it's nice that it's remastered (assuming improved quality), but I don't consider that part of the album title.      I suppose if I'm annoyed enough, I can just manually edit it out, but I'm not all that highly motivated.

Ooh, don't start me off on that.  It's not just iTunes, but Windows Mediaplayer and all the others.  A million monkeys might be able to come up with the works of Shakespeare, but they sure as f*** can't populate a music database

Pet hates include live albums where some f***wit has appended [live] to each track name and those irritating [ * ] [ # ] suffixes.  Read the f***ing sleeve, you c***s!

I'm much calmer about these things once I've had my morning medication...

[Manatee]

Ooh, don't start me off on that.  It's not just iTunes, but Windows Mediaplayer and all the others.  A million monkeys might be able to come up with the works of Shakespeare, but they sure as f*** can't populate a music database

Pet hates include live albums where some f***wit has appended [live] to each track name and those irritating [ * ] [ # ] suffixes.  Read the f***ing sleeve, you c***s.

I'm much calmer about these things once I've had my morning medication...

Yeah, generally if you've bought a live album you know the songs are live.  I don't mind that quite so much on a few of my recent prog purchases that have live bonus songs, where the rest of the album is not live.  This is especially true on the second disc of Ghost Opera: The Second Coming since the second disc is mostly live and includes live versions of a couple songs on the first disc, plus the last few songs on it are not live.  I haven't gotten hit with the suffixes yet.

NP:  Devin Townsend - Infinity

Smashing my brain a bit to mellow out before bed.      I think it's been nearly a week since I played Devin. 

[Bupie]

NP: Mad Dogs & Englishmen - Joe Cocker

I have this one for ages but haven't played it much. It just doesn't grip me as a whole ...

NP UFO - Phenomenon 

By the time of its original release, there were no www, no spoilers or free songs, no downloading (legal or not), the albums were most of the time short of the 40 minutes mark, you visited your local music shop once a week to check if they had received a bunch of new LP's, you had to buy music periodicals to get some -de facto indisputable- reviews ... and this was not a bad era after all !

Too bad that my parents didn't like rock because at age 8 I was a bit too young to have a significant purchasing power 

[Steve Jones]

NP UFO - Phenomenon 

One of my lasting regrets is that in the split with my ex, one of the things that got 'lost' as I moved out was a batch of UFO photos taken at Birmingham Town Hall in the 1970s.  Complete with MS on guitar.


NP: Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.  I'm not much for Halen without Diamond Dave, as a rule, but this one I like

[Bupie]

So you saw UFO live too during MS first era

Considering your age and the numbrer of gigs you seem to have attended in the 70's, I am wondering : was your father (or your mother BTW) a big rock fan who took you to concerts or did you escape by your bedroom's window on each given occasion 

NP UFO - No Heavy Petting

[maddox]

Gazpacho ~ Tick Tock

[Steve Jones]

So you saw UFO live too during MS first era

Yes, I'm pleased that I did   At the time MS was good at the classic Rock God pose - leather, long blonde hair and flying-V.  I'd stress that I always thought UFO were equally good after he'd left (the bottom line is they always were a classic live band) but I'm certainly glad I caught them with Schenker at his peak.

Considering your age and the numbrer of gigs you seem to have attended in the 70's, I am wondering : was your father (or your mother BTW) a big rock fan who took you to concerts or did you escape by your bedroom's window on each given occasion 

It's funny, but I always think of it the other way round - I missed a lot of potentially great gigs in my early teens for the simple reason I couldn't afford to go.  I missed Bowie in his Ziggy/Aladdin guise, for example, although some of my mates went. It was only when my pocket money increased to a more reasonable rate once I was in the 6th form (final 2 years at school) that I could afford gigs.  At that point I became hooked and went for it big-time.  I think it's true to say my life revolved around live music for a good few years after that.  The only influence my parents had was raising my pocket money - neither of them are interested in rock music.


NP: Jethro Tull - Living in the Past.

[Bupie]

I think it's true to say my life revolved around live music for a good few years after that. 

I'd be happy to have your view about the concert(s) you enjoyed the most during this period, the one(s) where you leave the place with a blissful smile on your face and bumming ears 

As a teenager (I mean under 20), I think my favorite one was Joe Jackson at Montpellier during the Night And Day tour. Sparkling and rocking big time despite the fact that there was no guitar in the band during this tour !

NP - Meg ...  Ok, forget it, I'll keep it for myself

[Steve Jones]

I'd be happy to have your view about the concert(s) you enjoyed the most during this period, the one(s) where you leave the place with a blissful smile on your face and bumming ears 

I started to answer that, but ended up creating a new thread rather than hijacking this one


Just: Gazpacho - Tick Tock.  Sorry guys, but I'm now starting to like this one less each time I play it!
Now: Joe Satriani - Live in San Fransisco   Hey! The smiley even looks like Joe!

[Teunis]

Arena - Songs From The Lions Cage

[The Butterfly Man]

NP: Dredg - El Cielo

Tom

[The Butterfly Man]

NP: Dredg - Live At The Fillmore

Anyone here into Dredg?

Tom

[Steve Jones]

Be Bop Deluxe - Radioland: BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert

[PH]

Anyone here into Dredg?

I've heard of them. Seems like they're pretty big in some circles.

What are they like?

[The Butterfly Man]

I've heard of them. Seems like they're pretty big in some circles.

What are they like?

Dredg is an American progressive/alternative rock band that I happen to really like. But instead of me talking about them it's better to head over to http://www.myspace.com/dredg and listen for yourself.

I can recommend the track 'The Canyon Behind Her', that's one of my favourites.

The other tracks are fine as well but they are a bit more poppy. Nothing wrong with that though!

Tom

[Manatee]

Just: Gazpacho - Tick Tock.  Sorry guys, but I'm now starting to like this one less each time I play it!

Great, more Tick Tock for me then!  Er, it doesn't work that way, I guess.  Well, a pity it's not your cup of lightly perfumed water, but we each have our own likes and dislikes.  Nobody's sent a hit man after me for not liking Dream Theater, so I suppose I can forgive you for this one.   

[The Butterfly Man]

Nobody's sent a hit man after me for not liking Dream Theater

Hmm, I guess he's still on his way then. America isn't really nearby when you have to swim you know...

Tom

[Steve Jones]

Catatonia - Way Beyond Blue