Earlier
this year an unexpected pleasure awaited DNA Girl and myself at the Cabot
Theater Beverly. We went to see the Squirrel Nut Zippers for the first time.
Now of course we were into going and such but never, ever did we expect such a
heady night of musical fun.
The
band is incredible live, and because they focused on material for their amazing
new album Beasts of Burgundy is partially why they were so solid damn good.
This
album is a voodoo driven New Orleans jazz joint good time. Each song does the
amazing feat of sounding just familiar enough to be nostalgic, even though
every single tune was written by someone in the band’s lineup.
Not
a single dud or filler tune is present. It makes you feel like it’s late at
some hopping beer soaked jazz hall at the edge of a joyously cursed swamp in
Louisiana.
Rusty Trombone is
a darn funny 20’s roaring ode to oral sex. Use What Mama Gave You is an amusing
pro-stripping ditty. The zippers aren’t afraid to unzip such bawdy tunes.
It
would be incredibly negligent if one song in particularly wasn’t singled out
for special mention. The final track Fade may be one of the best torch songs
ever recorded. The feel, the burn, the incredible haunting vibe, is soul
shaking.
Listen to Fade here.
This
album is a must if you dig the vibe of old world jazzy tunes.
And
we never would have discovered this amazing album if we hadn’t gone to see the
Squirrel Nut Zippers live.
Moonscape Hotel is
the first album by Devoured by Flowers.
The 90’s are alive
in this album. Perhaps it’s fitting that this band is from Portland Oregon,
where it is often said that the lifestyle of the 90s still exists.
There were many
ages of music that I enjoy. The 20s, 60s, 70s and 90s are some high periods for
me. So the 90s vibe is a great thing.
Swooning speedy,
dream pop with a lush undercurrent of goth is a thick part of the tapestry of
the tunes on this record.
Dorian Campbell is
the lead vocalist along with playing guitar and other cool duties. I don’t know
much about Campbell’s background or other projects, but he sounds very polished
here. Clearly he has a vision of how he wants to sing, which he pulls off quite
well.
Driving the
instrumentation along is the ever-astounding tune titan, Ashkelon Sain. Friends
of mine have often heard me gush like a river about the incredibly talented Mr.
Sain. Ash was the Lovecraftian musical architect behind Trance to the Sun, one
of my favorite bands that I love to name-drop whenever possible.
Of all the tunes
here in, Faire Creatures and the last track, A Seaside Ballad are the standouts
to my ears. The wonder in Dorian’s voice in Faire Creatures is super earworm
haunting. A Seaside Ballad gets a grand boost with some wonderful female vocals
running along with Dorian’s voice.
The guitar playing
throughout the proceedings is beautifully pristine.
One
of the great joys of music is variety. There are so many wonderful styles of
tunes, why not dive into the buffet?
When
you want old school, kick butt, party on down, stomp your stereo good time rock
and f’ing roll, Alright by the Gypsy Moths is a classic.
Putting
this album on is putting a sweat soaked, dance filled, juke joint, rock and
roll dive bar awesome good time into your stereo.
I
like this record so much I have it as both a CD and vinyl record. Which do I
prefer? Well in this instance it’s very much the vinyl album. While the CD is
great for the car, the grooves of this collection of songs cry out for the
action of a needle driven sound system. Plus there’s a great photo inside the
album with fun pictures of the band boozing it up as they rip up the stage of
every bar they play at!
The
production on the album is smooth enough to not lose its much need rock grit.
All the instruments and vocals are well positioned in the mix with nothing
drowning anything else out. This is no small feet given the rich sound that the
band has going on.
What
more can I say about this awesome slice of classic rock and roll tunes? Well
here’s a personal bit, I have been fortunate enough to follow the musical
career of Chris Conway and Steve O’Brien for many years, and this band is the
best I have ever seen either of them perform in. Great job guys!
Ok this isn’t a
cut from the album, but it will give you a taste of the fabulous tunes waiting
for you if you dive in:
So
what you’ve got here is a write up of a mini vinyl album. Sugar Trip is a
beautifully colored 33⅓mini LP
with two songs on each side.
The
title track starts us with a bouncy toy piano intro that takes us on a
wonderfully bizarre trip of sounds from a dimension of psychedelic splashed
bunnies. There is a sly undercurrent here that reminds me of the tinkle of old
school amusement parks as filtered through a grand wizard of a 90’s DJ.
Mike
Langlie is the amazing dude behind Twink. He performs his crafty music on toys
and electronics. With that simple credit, Twink creates a wall of inner child
fun music.
The
whimsy on display here is so kooky it’s impossible not to dig it. The second
track on side A, “Uh Uh Oh” goes in as many directions as a day glow bouncy
ball. Just when you think you have that song nailed down, it jumps off in some
other charming direction.
Side
B takes off with Fruitbat. A fun flight of fancy. Very beat driven and brief as
a hopping bunny playing synths.
Finally
we have The Return of Doctor Eelsleeves. The title of this song alone is
awesome. It could have easily been the title to a track on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band. This one is a wobbly cacophonic spritely mish mash of a tune
that re-invents itself in seconds. At a little over four minitues this is the
longest track. Twink Prog?
This
download/vinyl album is another grand addition to the amazing collection of
Twink recordings.
There’s
so much to say about this album. Perhaps I should chart it out, or I could just
write endlessly that Driven is one of my all time favorite Rush songs. From the
stunning lyrics to the killer molten jams, to Geddy’s dead on perfect vocal
delivery. This tune is pure Rush.
It’s
my turn to drive.
Neil’s
lyrics on this album take on urban violence, the Internet in its pre-antisocial
media haze, and time.
Some
of the most playful set of lyrics Neil has ever delivered are sung on this
collection of tunes.
This
album is the most recent in the list. I took this whole FB challenge thing to
mean albums that had an impact or influence at a young age. When this album
came out, I felt as young as I do most of the time when I want to do so.
I
could write a much longer piece than this, but I don’t want to make an overlong
blog.
On
the Test for Echo tour I managed to see Rush four times. They were incredible
on that tour, playing better than I had ever seen them before. One of the shows
I went to was in Montreal. The only time I saw them on their Canadian turf. Part
of the official live album from the tour, Different Stages was recorded at the
Not So Great Woods show which some friends and I attended. So yes, I recorded
with Rush. If you call screaming like an idiot recording with, then yes, Rush
and I jammed along with a huge crowd.
The
best thing about all these stories, is that it ties in with a story about the
love of my life. DNA Girl and I attended a cast BBQ, we used to kill people on
stage for money, and stories about our murderous past will be saved for another
time. We talked about how I ran to Montreal to see Rush. She was impressed with
my concert cult level devotion. Trading concert stories brought us closer as
friends.
I’ve
got a pantheon of animals in a pagan soul.
Nail
biting hood boys in borrowed ties and jackets.
Emerson,
Lake, and Powell was what I first thought I knew about Keith Emerson and Greg
Lake. Years later I would learn that I had been hearing those two many years
earlier, but… that’s a story for another time.
My
discovery for this incarnation of ELP was via MTV back in their music video
playing phase. The wall of synths that Keith played mesmerized me. Before then
I never saw such a massive wall of synths. How does he play them all? Does he
play them all? Is he an octopus? I didn’t know. Cozy Powell’s heavy attack on
the drums really got me. The catchy lyrics worked their hook as well.
It
wasn’t long before I bought this cassette.
Later
the CD which I still listen to quite often.
This
album has stuck with me because it was unashamedly prog in the mid 80s. The
first song, the Score goes on for over two minutes before the vocals begin. Who
did that in the 80s? No one I knew of at that point in time.
Yes,
it’s sad to think that all three of these musicians are gone, but like Freddie
Mercury they live on through their fantastic music.
“Hey!
Have you seen the preview for that new movie Highlander? Queen does the
soundtrack!” That might have been how it started. Or maybe it was with
Entertainment tonight discussing Highlander and showing a clip from a video
with Freddie Mercury andChristopher Lambert.
I
was already a bit of a Queen fan, but this album is the first one I bought. I
had it on cassette first then CD. That’s a big part of the reason it makes the
list.
The
album rips and roars. Brian May builds, builds, and builds his guitar sound
until it explodes all over the songs.
One
night my friends and I were driving around aimlessly listening to a tape of the
audio of the Highlander movie that George Barnes had recorded. Not only was the
highlight yelling along with the quotes, but also hearing that music. That
amazing music.
The
night I got a phone call telling me that Freddie Mercury was dead the first
thing I thought of was this album. He was gone. Freddie wasn’t immortal in
flesh, but he is in music.
Long
live the princes of the universe.
Speaking
of the princes of the universe, here they are:
Those
who live in Mass might remember a record store in Cambridge called, Second
Coming (insert your own teenaged depraved variant of the name here, I sure did
back then as I was the right age). Most Saturdays some friends and I would hop
the train to Cambridge so we could record shop. Why did we go there so much
when so many other closer stores were around back in those daze? Two words:
concert bootlegs. Second Coming was a temple for bootlegs both on vinyl and
cassette. They had so many boots that when word would somehow come to the store
that they were due to be raided, the store would have almost nothing left in
it. More than once we were in there to find only maybe a fistful of albums and
tapes were on the shelves. Normally there would be thousands. How did they know
in advance the cops were going to come? Who knows?
So
into this store I walked one Saturday. Flipping through the bins I stumbled
across Hawkwind (they had their own small section). I knew the name of the band
so it wasn’t a stunner. Music writer/critic Jim Sullivan had name-dropped them
in a write up about Motorhead in one of his articles in the Boston Globe. I
knew who Motorhead was and who Lemmy was and that he had once been in Hawkwind.
Hawkwind were also
mentioned in a few episodes of the English comedy show, the Young Ones, which
once also featured Motorhead. What fan of the Young One’s can forget Neal
whining, “Play some Hawkwind or Marillion!” and in the credit sequence Hawkwind
was written on a chalkboard. So yes, I knew the name.
Still
that day, I think my jaw might have dropped. Not because I found a section of
their albums, but because I was staring at an album called The Chronicle of the
Black Sword.
Why
was that a big deal? Well, because I had read the Elric books by Micheal
Moorcock. A wild trippy fantasy series about the weakling, non-human, sorcerer,
Elric and his living, soul eating, black sword, called Stormbringer and here I
was, staring at an album that was devoted to that series.
The
cover was a beautiful macabre painting that outdid all of the Elric book
covers.
So
yes, I bought it without listening to it, or any hesitation at all. As I told
my friends, “I don’t care if the music stinks, at least the cover is great.”
Later
that day when I got home that album was what I put on the turntable. When the
pulsing opening synth barrage hit me in the face I was floored. This album is a
fantasy metal psych attack. My brain wasn’t ready, but it rolled along. After
listening to it once through, I called my friend Paul Armstrong and told him he
had to hear it. I put the album on and held the phone towards it.
Yes
my mind was blown. I will always treasure this album. The Chronicle of the
Black Sword was my stepping-stone into a different world.
If
I hadn’t bought this album, I may never have discovered Aural Innovations the
space rock internet radio show, which led to me writing words for the great
Atlanta band Spaceseed, some of which were performed by Harvey Bainbridge who
played keyboards on The Chronicle of the Black Sword album. Most likely I never
would have wound up recording with the amazing Harts Horn, or recording with
the mighty Tim Mungenast, and even contributing to a birthday song for Michael
Moorcock himself. I certainly never would have gone to Alabama to perform at
Carlo Robet Deshouten’s SpaceRock Con if the Black Sword hadn’t been added to
my collection.
Yeah,
this album changed my life in a profound way.
And
just for the record, the music is still amazing. I could write a lot more about
this album and one day I just might.
A
fire of unknown origin took me away. An album full of science fiction
apocalyptic sword fights was the perfect thing to find its way into my teenage
conciousness. Thank you Blue Oyster Cult, the one true cult that I would gladly
embrace.
My
friend Paul Armstrong had this cassette tape which we blasted often on his boom
box in those lost daze.
Not
a bad tune to be found on this collection. Production by Martin Birch, straight
up, top notch.
Burnin
For You is a nice rocking follow up song to the title track.
The
feedback driven guitars in Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver are so wonderfully
twisted along with the demented lyrics.
Joan
Crawford features a hysterically odd tape/sample/collage subbing for a solo.
What gruesome humor.
Vengeance
(The Pact) is a tight story driven song, of swords, and bird beasts. The time
change is deftly executed.
It
would be really cool if BOC performed this entire album live. I know they
played the complete first album live a few times a year or two ago so why not
this one?
It
also has an intricately tripped out symbol crawling cover that would entertain
a conspiracy theorist for hours.
This
album is just part of my feeble mind. It’s impossible for me to imagine it not
being in my collection.
Here’s
the punky vampire song, After Dark. Terror took control and told me what to
say…
Someone
I knew let me listen to a cassette they recorded of this album. It was the
first proper Tangerine Dream album I had ever heard. Of course I had heard
their soundtracks to many different movies but none of that stuck to me so
much.
This
album has stuck with me.
I
was told that the title track was a monster drum fest and I was informed
correctly.
Green
Desert blew strange ethereal sounds backed by pounding mad drums and psych rock
guitars that torched through my cheap stereo.
This
album only has four songs on it. The epic title track chews up side one. The
next track White Clouds is like a mini-redux of the title track. Astral Voyager
and Indian Summer are up next. These two tracks are ambient spacey trips to the
inner grid.
Many
ages ago I remember walking into a chain movie theater in Somerville sitting
down to wait for the movie to start and Astral Voyager was playing on the
speakers! It then went right into Indian Summer then the trailers started. Who
ever decided to play those before the movie, thank you! That movie theater no
longer exists.
Flash
forward to a few years ago, my musical partner in crime, DNA girl, and I are
discussing what our next album should be and it hits me to do our own bizarre
tribute to this album, thus we created the Astro Al Purple Mushroom cd which is
4 tracks of spaced out madness tipping our hat to Green Desert with our of
kilter science fiction trip out album.
All
TD fans have their go to album for the band, this one is mine even more so than
Zeit which I discussed in a prior blog.
Here
is Indian Summer. The beautiful closing track.
A
time cube of psychedelic thoughts sprawling into songs. Songs that could have
been written in 1960-1970-1980-1992 but recorded in the 80-90-00 time frame.
That’s what this record is to me.
This
was the album that was predicted by many to help make Robyn huge, but much to
the detriment of the music world it didn’t. An opening to a musical world that
should be so much better than it’s present status. If he had been taken closer
to mainstream it would open up more and more, but alas…
“It
rained, like a slow divorce and I wish I could ride a horse.” –Balloon Man.
What a childish genius lyrical line! Robyn did some fantastic writing on this
album.
Robyn
paints the world in words as strange as our reality.
This
album always makes me smile inside. This was the first Robyn Hitchcock album I
heard. That is one reason why it sticks to me so strongly.
This
was the first album of theirs to come out while I was actively in their thrall.
Some people hated this record, that is their loss.
To
me it was an instant classic.
“Better
the pride that resides in a citizen of the world, than the pride that divides
when a colorful rag is unfurled.” –That is one of my favorite bits of Rush
lyrics right there. It comes from Territories. I deeply agree with that
sentiment.
Mystic
Rhythms is a psychedelic classic with expansive lyrics. The thudding drum intro
is entrancing. MTV used to play a video of Mystic Rythms which was directed by
one of the Devo dudes.
Here’s
the video
All
the jams in Marathon make the song like a fine wine for the ears.
Production
wise this is a wonderfully crisply brightly sounding affair which matches the
material perfectly.
Lyrically
Neal did some sharp, deft, writing. Consider this rail against conformity in
Grand Designs, “Swimming against the stream, life in two dimensions is a mass
production scheme.” Brilliant.
The
Power Windows tour was the first time I ever saw them thanks to my good friend
Paul Armstrong. We went to the show on the old party bus from the store
Stairway to Heaven in Boston, it was crazy.
The
Clockwork Angels tour was fantastic because they played a good chunk of Power
Windows on that tour. Grand Designs even got a spin.
I’ve
heard all these songs live except for Emotion Detector, which I believe was
never performed in concert.
My
personal connection to this album is that I never, ever get bored or tired of
hearing it. If anything as time goes along, I like it even more.
What
can I say about this album from my favorite band?
The
production is densely layered. Rush’s playing is just at an amazing level.
Using Permanent Waves as a springboard from this record their writing is
sharply crystallized packing a visceral punch.
When
I first heard this album it was already a few years in the rearview mirror, but
that didn’t matter. The freshness of the album still resonated to me and in
many ways whenever I listen to it there is a feeling of joy as if it’s a
welcome familiar friend.
How
well do I know this album? Whenever I get any piece of new stereo equipment
this is my go to album for testing it out. I know how this album should sound
no matter what type of speaker/headphone it’s blasting through.
In
a snide review of Moving Pictures someone once suggested no one ever listens to
side 2.
Wrong!
When
I had the cassette of this stellar album I always listened to both sides back
to back in order. Once the CD came out, if anything the track that would be
skipped was often Limelight but now I appreciate it as a great lead into the
astonishing rise fall epic the Camera Eye. What a beautiful song contrasting
two cities. Witch Hunt is a howl of horror. True horror. First its witches,
communists, terrorists… “Quick to anger, slow to understand.”
Another
thing going for Moving Pictures is that it is a well-sequenced album. Just a
spot on classic. Never have I tired of listening to this record.
On
the Time Machine tour, Rush played this entire album in order. That was worth
the ticket price alone.
My
personal connection to this album is that it is insanely amazing.
Most
of you have probably heard of the top 10-album challenge thing on the social
media spheres, it’s primarily on Fakebook.
Yours
truly was nominated and did it. A real friend on the site, Laura Clifford of
the great cable show, Reeling: The Movie Review Show, nominated me. Another
real life friend Mike Langlie of the incredible toy piano band, Twink suggested
that I do an essay on each of my choices; so here it is on this here blog.
The
way I viewed this challenge is believe it or not they aren’t necessarily my
favorite albums of all time, but rather they are records that came at a
formative time of my musical experiencing life and have stood the test of time,
consistently staying in orbit of my tune conciousness as well as being in the
stereo often enough to be on this list. The albums are listed in the order that
they were placed in on FB, which is to say merely in the order that they
occurred to me; not at all in order of how much I dig them.
So
having given you that entire foreground, let’s proceed.
Day
1.
Tangerine
Dream: Zeit.
This
isn’t a standard musical album; it’s a pure experience. At time’s in the double
album’s worth of tracks, it’s not even music, it’s pure sounds. Unearthly,
unhumanistic, strange, creepy, shape shifting sounds, this thing is all that
and more.
It
has only four tracks. Each of which consumed an album side back in the day. There
are distorted cellos, an early Moog synth, distorted organs, and sounds no
other human probably ever made. All of this blends through an amorphous filter
of gurgling soundscapes that wash through the conciousness.
This
is the soundtrack to a dream.
Upon
my first listening to this record I knew that there was something that
beautifully defied reason bursting into my ears.
This
album has been well traveled throughout my life. It was the soundtrack to many
Halloweens worth of handing candy out to the kids with it blaring through open
windows giving them a freak out as they received treats. The album is still
played regularly during late night writing sessions. The atmospheres greatly
helped to shape the Dracula novel I’ve been constructing. One Halloween at the
long gone amazing Middle Eastern bakery/coffee shop/restaurant the Crescent
Dragon we used this album as the soundtrack to the silent movie Nosferatu as we
heckled the film. A friend told me about listening to this album in black room
with a head full of LSD; it’s hard to imagine that not being a life changing
experience.
Here
is a link to the album. Listen to it and allow it to change your perceptions of
what music can be.
OK so we’re well into 2018 and I
have finally have this list up. As Ministry and Ed Wood would say, “So what?” Would it help if I told you that
I probably already have one favorite for the 2018 list? No? Well then read this
list or don’t.
3. Analog Missionary: Arc
Really great to see the long silent
Analog Missionary become active again. I’ve really enjoyed this bands wonderful
music. Welcome back!
Peace is one of the most creative
songs crafted in 2017. For that song alone the album hit number three. This
song blends so many insane elements together it transcends the genres of
Bollywood, early 80’s prog rock, 90’s prog rock, New Wave, Psychedelia, and a
twinge of Goth.
The classic sounds of Analog
Missionary are still there but are given a newfound fire. I have the feeling if
they put out another album soon it’ll be the best they’ve ever done.
Joy! Joyful dancing stuffed animals
in a magic forest toy piano jam. Yeah, that’s what I hear in this record. It’s
a party of fluffy awesome. Tunes that just bop out of the electronic corners
and crash into your soul.
Another year, another amazing Twink
album. So many great releases come out of this project that it’s mind blowing.
Wild Eyed Wild Ride races to the top as one of the best Twink albums ever which
is why it’s so easy for it to make the top 3 this year.
Another fantastic album cover and a
beautiful vinyl release as well. Twink forever!
This is their second best album.
Their best being the first Blackfield album. Wonderfully orchestrated strings
sweep across this record. From the opening score to the crashing end with the
ocean sweeping throughout the album. Amazing songs that feel nostalgic yet
fully planted in the present.
“I’m a Lonely Soul” is a trance inducing
loop of a song that is smart enough not to overstay its welcome. One thing I
adore about this album is that it’s 40ish minutes. It lasts just long enough
for you to think, wow that was brilliant then its gone in the ocean.
Family Man has a rocking biting
guitar kick. A dig at the straight life but yet a love for it at the same time
with fantastic hooks. A perfect example of a pure wonderful pop rock song.
