Amph What Album Did You Just Hear?

i've always enjoyed the stuff just prior to head hunters a little more. the weird, noisy, dense stuff.

 

No arch-heresy here...Thrust is a far more polished album than Head Hunters, and for all the reasons you mentioned, at least in my opinion.

Have you listened to Bennie Maupin's work on Man-Child; thoughts?

 

I enjoy Crossings so you'd think I'd look further into the other Mwandishi band albums, but no. One of these days, surely.

I have not, but since I'm trying to listen to more Hancock albums that'll definitely fit well in the proverbial docket.

 

But Head Hunters is so much fun! And for me, it's one of the greatest party albums.

 

i just downloaded his complete columbia albums set. i can't wait to listen to the disco-funk stuff complete with vocoder-y goodness! gonna be awesome.

 

Permanent Waves (1980) - Rush



So, this was really interesting. This album very obviously starts a new phase in Rush’s career, ie. a phase more focused on, not to be insulting, a poppier sound. Now, it’s no sin to go pop. In fact, with these guys, it’s the best thing that ever happened to them, at least in terms of the three albums I’ve heard at the point of this review. This album starts with The Spirit of Radio and it just bursts out of the gate with this beautiful guitar riff and then the song proper starts and it’s got this great, really catchy melody. And it’s like a drink of cold water after the brutal desert of Hemispheres. Freewill is also a really good, rocking song and Different Strings is just a lovely tune with a great piano solo in it. Different Strings is, I think, the best song of theirs that I’ve heard so far. Now there are a couple of the longer epic tracks here as well, Jacob’s Ladder and Natural Science and both of those are, once again, totally forgettable. But, on the whole, this represents a massive step up for the group in terms of quality. They’ve still got more or less the same sound, as in production sound, and the technique on display is still wonderful. It’s just that now they have actually good pieces of music to apply those things to. This is a solid album. I’m going to give it a conditional recommendation. Good record. 3 stars.

tl;dr – Rush integrates pop into their prog sound and takes a huge step up with wonderful songs; the epics still fail to engage, but on the whole, a solid album. 3 stars.

 

Foetus - Deaf

 

Warpaint
(self-titled album)

 

i have the great gatsby soundtrack in my car for some reason so i've been listening to it. i actually find it kind of meh. it's all a little too theatrical and overwrought for my taste. maybe it works in the film, i don't know.

 

Guardians Of The Galaxy Soundtrack Disc 1 and 2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Flying Lotus
You're Dead!

 

Lana Del Rey
Ultraviolence



On repeat because I'm missing her concert down the street, sold out

 

the flaming lips
with a little help from my fwends

actually still listening. it's fun.

 

i also listened to yusuf's new album "tell 'em i'm gone". a lot of religious overtones as you might expect, but it still sounds like cat stevens albeit an older version. it's actually not bad.

 

Moving Pictures (1981) - Rush



This is, I think, usually seen as a step above Permanent Waves, but I actually think it’s a bit of a step down. The poppier sensibility is still the same, which is good, but I just didn’t find the songs here to be as strong. No, not even Tom Sawyer, surely the one song everyone knows is a Rush song. It’s fine, but not particularly great. Which is true of most of the tracks here actually. Red Barchetta is probably the best, and at over six minutes, it’s actually one of the longest tracks, so bit of a change up there. Though The Camera’s Eye, the requisite ten minute track, is pretty awful. The rest of the songs here are just okay, if not ever memorable. I mean, whatever, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Distinctly average album. Recommended against. 2 stars.

tl;dr – poppier sound persists but songs aren’t particularly good; even the iconic Tom Sawyer is a disappointment. 2 stars.

More Music Reviews!

 

i listened to the first song and it was kind of a gotdamned mess. does it get better?

i most recently listened to half of this:



and half of this:



oh, and most of this:

 

Exit...Stage Left (1981) - Rush



So, it’s the last album in this box set of Rush albums and it’s a live album. It was a double album when it came out; the whole thing clocks in at seventy-three minutes, so it can all fit on one CD now. Anyway, it’s . . . you know, live versions of a lot of the songs from the last four albums. There are a couple of tracks that are new or, actually, old, I guess. They come from albums released prior to the albums in this box set. Anyway, the technique really makes these songs almost indistinguishable from the studio versions; the band is tight, I give them that. But it also means my opinions here are basically the same as my opinions elsewhere. Peart does do a great drum solo in the middle of YYZ that I really liked. Otherwise, if I liked the song before, as in Spirit of Radio or Closer to the Heart, then I liked it here; if I didn’t, as in 90% of the songs in this set, then I didn’t here. The main difference is that this album is twice as long as their studio albums; you probably already know whether I consider that a positive or not. Anyway, strongly recommended against. 1 ½ stars.

tl;dr – live album features flawless copies of the studio versions of Rush’s songs; your opinion on this album will be the same as your opinion of their studio albums. 1 ½ stars.

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Black Love by The Afghan Whigs. Fantastic. Actually anything with Greg Dulli is grade A.

One of the best songs ever in this reporter's opinion:

 

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

 

Gong Live Etc.