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[Manatee]

NP:  World Series of Poker Main Event:  Europe  (from the Empire Club in London)

I'm fairly sure this has already been decided, but I haven't seen it before.

[Steve Jones]

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy.

My least favourite PJCD but still worth a spin now and then.

[Manatee]

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy.

My least favourite PJCD but still worth a spin now and then.

It's inconsistent, but it's got a few really good songs.  'Not for You' is one of my favorites of theirs.

[Steve Jones]

It's inconsistent, but it's got a few really good songs.  'Not for You' is one of my favorites of theirs.

True, yes.  I'm not about to put it in the recycling bin

[Manatee]

NP: Demians - Building an Empire

[Steve Jones]

Kim Mitchell - Rockland

[Steve Jones]

Bit of a run on the Canadians tonight, what with Pat Travers, Kim Mitchell and now...

Anvil - Worth the Weight

[The Butterfly Man]

I think that one has to interpret Mikael Åkerfeldt's and Slayer's lyrics in different ways:  Mikael's lyrics seem to me to be guileless, and altho I myself am Christian, I'm willing to follow him when he expresses things in a pagan framework that isnt decidedly anti-Christian. When he recites "Out on the courtyard, Come back tonight. My sweet Satan, I see you," he oversteps that framework.

Otoh when Tom Araya sings "Got hates us all, He fuckin' hates me," you can't take it seriously, cause no rational human could mean that, no matter how atheistic s/he was, and the Slayer guys definitely are rational beings. So they must mean something else with it. I take it that it's a combination of their personal anger and their habit of provoking / making people think.

Okay, but still it's a mystery to me why you are offended by a hidden backwards-recorded message that appears to be just a nod to Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven but when an artist actually speaks out that he thinks that 'God hates us all' you are fine with that, because it can't be taken seriously in your eyes. I mean, is there any reason why you do take Opeth's message seriously then?

Maybe I just can't 'see' what you mean because I'm not a very religious person. If this is the case, please forgive me for bugging you!

NP: Demians - Building An Empire

Tom

[Manatee]

NP:  Opeth - Damnation

Also been continuing my attempt to get a feel for some Room-approved bands that I don't know well, using Pandora.  I tried Sieges Even, and it was hard to get it to play many of their songs, but the two I did hear sounded promising.  Seemed like the vocals are a bit unusual (but not bad, might even be excellent, just need to hear more to get a better idea of it).  Tried some more Queensryche (sorry, too lazy to go find umlauts just now) -- heard a few songs from the live album Live Evolution, and I'm encouraged.  You guys sure do give me a lot of homework.   

[Steve Jones]

I tried Sieges Even, and it was hard to get it to play many of their songs, but the two I did hear sounded promising.  Seemed like the vocals are a bit unusual (but not bad, might even be excellent, just need to hear more to get a better idea of it).

Can't say I ever noticed that - perhaps I need to do some homework!   Any idea which tracks they were?

Tried some more Queensryche (sorry, too lazy to go find umlauts just now) -- heard a few songs from the live album Live Evolution, and I'm encouraged

The matching DVD for that one is excellent!


Capercallie - Dusk Till Dawn

[Manatee]

Can't say I ever noticed that - perhaps I need to do some homework!   Any idea which tracks they were?

I was able to check because I thumbs upped them in hopes of encouraging it to play more songs by the band itself (plus those again).  They're both from The Art of Navigating by the Stars.  Sequence II: The Lonely Views Of Condors and Sequence V: Blue Wide Open.  I don't mean he really does anything strange with the vocals, just that his voice struck me as fairly unique, and perhaps since he's a native German speaker, there's a bit of an accent to it (although not to the extent of Demians).  Anyway,  I think I'm going to like this, but I'm hoping to grab a couple more listens before I go on another CD rampage.   

[Steve Jones]

I was able to check because I thumbs upped them in hopes of encouraging it to play more songs by the band itself (plus those again).  They're both from The Art of Navigating by the Stars.  Sequence II: The Lonely Views Of Condors and Sequence V: Blue Wide Open.  I don't mean he really does anything strange with the vocals, just that his voice struck me as fairly unique, and perhaps since he's a native German speaker, there's a bit of an accent to it (although not to the extent of Demians).  Anyway,  I think I'm going to like this, but I'm hoping to grab a couple more listens before I go on another CD rampage.   

Gotcha.  I've been thinking that perhaps I've listened to so much EuroProg in the last few years that I no longer notice any linguistic peculiarities.

I don't know if Pandora offers it, but I find "When Alpha and Omega Collide" to be most impressive.  The drums are a storming opener to the "Paramount" album, although whether they'll be storming after they're squidged-up for internet use is anyone's guess!

[Manatee]

Gotcha.  I've been thinking that perhaps I've listened to so much EuroProg in the last few years that I no longer notice any linguistic peculiarities.

I don't know if Pandora offers it, but I find "When Alpha and Omega Collide" to be most impressive.  The drums are a storming opener to the "Paramount" album, although whether they'll be storming after they're squidged-up for internet use is anyone's guess!

Pandora has some odd quirks.  With certain bands, it has a strong bias towards certain albums or songs.  For instance, other than 'Long Time Suffering' from Snow (which may very well be their best song since it's better than everything ever recorded by most bands), every Spock's Beard song it's played for me has been from Octane.  So far just about all the Anathema it's played for me has been from A Natural Disaster too.  Perhaps it doesn't have access to all albums from some bands, although it gives a good spread of IQ from their whole career, and they're not exactly a household word among the great unwashed either.



NP: Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart

[Steve Jones]

Pandora has some odd quirks.

Ditto LastFM, which seems to be roughly equivalent to Pandora.  Devin T, for example, only gives me 30 second clips.  That's enough to reassure me that I'm not dealing with a Rapper or, God forbid, an X-Factor Karaoke Diva, but not enough to shoot him to the head of the long list of people I really need to try an album by.  I guess from an artist's point of view it's a fine line to walk.


Def Leppard - Vault.  I do like a bit of the Lepps now and again.  But not every day.

[Manatee]

Ditto LastFM, which seems to be roughly equivalent to Pandora.  Devin T, for example, only gives me 30 second clips.  That's enough to reassure me that I'm not dealing with a Rapper or, God forbid, an X-Factor Karaoke Diva, but not enough to shoot him to the head of the long list of people I really need to try an album by.  I guess from an artist's point of view it's a fine line to walk.

Does LastFM allow you to choose particular songs to be played?   Pandora lets you choose a band or a song (or more than one of either) as a seed for the "station," but it doesn't play the particular song or band on demand.  You'll generally hear what you seeded eventually, but, especially with obscure bands and specific songs, it may play several other things before it gets to your seed.   For instance, I seeded a station with Karma Police (which I love but don't own although I did buy that album as a gift for my brother at one point) from Radiohead.  It played an enormous amount of overly experimental crap before it one day blessed me with the song itself.  I still love that song, but by the time it got to it, I was pretty much convinced that Radiohead had turned to crap after their first few albums.   

[Steve Jones]

Does LastFM allow you to choose particular songs to be played?

Yes it does - as long as they're available of course.  I wouldn't use it otherwise as I've no desire to let someone else dictate what I listen to.  Having said that, I rarely use it for listening anyway, it's just a convenient way to get some stats on my mp3 habits that iTunes won't give.

[Manatee]

Yes it does - as long as they're available of course.  I wouldn't use it otherwise as I've no desire to let someone else dictate what I listen to.  Having said that, I rarely use it for listening anyway, it's just a convenient way to get some stats on my mp3 habits that iTunes won't give.

Interesting, although I might have some interest in the stats, it's the fact that an outside program is spying on my music-habits that makes me hesitant to use LastFM.  Tempting to use it if you can go right to a particular song though, given that I now have this source for recommendations.  One thing I like about Pandora is that it tries to play other stuff that has musical similarities to what you say you like, which can lead to discovering a band you like that you were unaware of.  It's how I found Arena, in fact.   

[Steve Jones]

Interesting, although I might have some interest in the stats, it's the fact that an outside program is spying on my music-habits that makes me hesitant to use LastFM

I wasn't awfully keen on the spying idea, but ultimately that's what most systems use to recommend other things you might like, so I thought I'd accept the trade-off.  The stats were a bit of an eye-opener for me at first - I wasn't really aware of just how much Marillion I was playing!

One thing I like about Pandora is that it tries to play other stuff that has musical similarities to what you say you like, which can lead to discovering a band you like that you were unaware of.  It's how I found Arena, in fact.   

LastFM does that too, although I don't tend to use the facility.  My problem is that personally I'm so swamped with ideas and recommendations that I'm already way past the point of being able to cope without something coming along and adding to the problem.  But I don't doubt that it's a good feature.

[PH]

Just filled my DVD player with "nothing but f****ng epics!"

[The Butterfly Man]

Just filled my DVD player with "nothing but f****ng epics!"

Do they fit in there?

Great DVD though!

Tom

[Manatee]

LastFM does that too, although I don't tend to use the facility.  My problem is that personally I'm so swamped with ideas and recommendations that I'm already way past the point of being able to cope without something coming along and adding to the problem.  But I don't doubt that it's a good feature.

Yes, I've used Pandora much less since I've been talking to the Roomies and getting more specific recommendations, but it's nice for a lone proggie flailing in the darkness.      Now I rarely listen to it just to have music on -- I mostly
just use it to get a sampling of bands that have been recommended to me.

Just filled my DVD player with "nothing but f****ng epics!"

I take it you mean musical epics and not things like Lawrence of Arabia?

NP: Marillion -Afraid of Sunlight

I read a review somewhere that described Hogarth-era Marrilion as "quasi-prog."  I think that might actually be accurate but not in a negative way.  It just seems more "song-based" and so forth.  I'm ready to call this punt a success and will probably try another.  Any suggestions?

[Steve Jones]

It just seems more "song-based" and so forth.  I'm ready to call this punt a success and will probably try another.  Any suggestions?

Blimey!  Where do you start, especially when die-hards spend most of their lives arguing over which is the best anyway?  How about giving the latest "Happiness is the Road" an English punt?  Very song-based and one of my two favourites, the other being the mighty "Marbles"

Also it might be worth trying a sampler or two, for example http://www.marillion.com/music/racket/crash.htm is a free dowload and includes some good choices including the latest album, also http://www.marillion.com/music/racket/bonus.htm as a download can be had immediately for just a handful of spare change.

[Manatee]

Blimey!  Where do you start, especially when die-hards spend most of their lives arguing over which is the best anyway?  How about giving the latest "Happiness is the Road" an English punt?  Very song-based and one of my two favourites, the other being the mighty "Marbles"

Also it might be worth trying a sampler or two, for example http://www.marillion.com/music/racket/crash.htm is a free dowload and includes some good choices including the latest album, also http://www.marillion.com/music/racket/bonus.htm as a download can be had immediately for just a handful of spare change.

Thanks!  And I really get a kick out if it when someone says, 'Blimey'.   

Speaking of which, Blimey, Hogarth's singing is so emotional, it wouldn't surprise me if he teared up listening to himself.   

NP: The Killers - Sam's Town

Based on some things I've read (not here), I'm not supposed to like this album, but I do.

[Steve Jones]

Speaking of which, Blimey, Hogarth's singing is so emotional, it wouldn't surprise me if he teared up listening to himself.   

Crikey!  Yes, I can't think of anyone comparable in that respect.


NP: Marillion - An Introduction.

[PH]

Speaking of which, Blimey, Hogarth's singing is so emotional, it wouldn't surprise me if he teared up listening to himself.  

I was thinking exactly the same.
I think when Hogarth sings in a very emotional way (like only he can!) he isn't pretending.
He is a very emotional person and his emotions are real, even when he's reproducing the song in a live setting time after time.