Amph What Album Did You Just Hear?

Poking around in Mum's album collection and, funnily enough, found this:



Surprisingly, i love it. Never saw Lenny as more than a Hendrix hopeful, but this album is pretty decent.

 

Just heard this one. Simply godawful. Really disappointing considering that I actually liked the last one.

 

It's Rivers Cuomo. Guy hates consistency, even when it's good.

 

Live Wire (2004) – Third Day

This CD features nine live cuts and one studio effort from Third Day. Most of the live performances are of songs from Wire, of course, but I did appreciate them going all the way back to their very first album to get Blackbird, which they give a bluesy rendering. None of the songs here are really improvements on the studio versions at all, but they’re fine. The studio cut is really good. The CD comes with a DVD that’s absolutely packed. The CD is about forty minutes and the DVD features the concert that they pulled from for the CD. The concert is actually around an hour & ten minutes all told; then there’s a thirty minute behind the scenes documentary about the recording of Wire. Frankly, I think this one probably should have been sold as a DVD with a bonus CD instead of the other way around. Not sure why they kept the CD to just forty minutes with so many good cuts they could have pulled from the concert. In particular, there’s a nice version of Consuming Fire, another song from their first album, and a really beautiful version of Offering, the title track to their best album. Anyway, kudos for a packed DVD, but this one’s mainly for completists. 2 ½ stars.

tl;dr – bonus DVD features a lengthier concert than the one reflected on the CD, but this one is still mainly for the super-fan; live versions don’t improve on the studio cuts. 2 ½ stars.

 

Just got done listening to this and I quite liked it.

 

I've listened to some of the new stuff by Disturbed. It's actually fairly decent.

 

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) – Ryuichi Sakamoto

Sakamoto is one of the great film composers, I’d say. He’s not as well-known as a lot of composers because he makes a lot of odd choices, like this movie for instance, a mostly forgotten film about a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He turned in a great score for The Revenant and, in a real twist, did some of his most gorgeous work for the absolutely forgettable De Palma flick, Snake Eyes. Here he’s working in an electronic mode and there is a lot of dissonance and synths here. The album is mostly just kind of atmospheric, but the dark atmosphere makes the moments of beauty really stand out. The central theme of this score is absolutely lovely. It’s given a great reading in the title track and then again in an even more ethereal track called Father Christmas. The album ends with a vocal version of the track by David Sylvian and his voice is strange and singular enough that it fits perfectly. Also featured here are a couple of minimal vocal versions of Ride, Ride, Ride, a traditional song and an absolutely beautiful version of the 23rd Psalm. At only a bit over forty minutes, this album goes by really fast and there’s always a surprise just around the corner. I think it’s a great score and a great soundtrack. A great way to get acquainted with Sakamoto and one that still stands up on repeated listens. 4 stars.

tl;dr – strange score is a mix of electronic atmospherics, gorgeous lyrical themes, beautiful treatments of traditional songs; somehow it coheres into a constantly surprising, wonderful soundtrack. 4 stars.

 

Justice League soundtrack, composed by Danny Elfman

 

Rogue1-and-a-half Wow, thanks for this. I'm a pretty big fan of Sakamoto. I got both Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Left-Handed Dream from my parents many years ago.

 

LA Xmas (2010) – Nathen Maxwell & the Original Bunny Gang/Northern Pole United

Well, it is that time of year again and this year I decided to do something I haven’t done in quite some time, which is actually spend some time exploring Christmas music. This isn’t a full album & technically it’s not even a full EP, I suppose, though I guess I’m qualifying it as such by giving it a review, something I don’t really do for singles; I suppose it is really a split single with Nathen Maxwell (bassist for Flogging Molly) providing the A-side and Northern Pole United providing the B-side. The A-side is an agreeable pop tune about being lovelorn at Christmastime and the B-side is a reggae infused ode to the fact that Santa is, in fact, a skinhead. I liked Nathen Maxwell’s tune quite a bit better. It should be noted that this was only released on vinyl, isn’t very easy to find and, as far as I know, neither tune has been legally released in any other format. Not really much of a thing, ultimately. 1 ½ stars.

tl;dr – split single features agreeable enough tunes, but nothing particularly special; not worth tracking down really. 1 ½ stars.

 

Yuletunes (1991) – Various Artists

You don’t have to say you love me
I know that’s not true
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas will do

Yuletunes is a compilation put out by Black Vinyl records (on CD, not vinyl) and it’s never been released digitally that I know of. It’s a kind of indie-styled Christmas record and it’s not particularly good. You’ve probably heard of none of the artists; the only one I’d heard of before I picked up this record was Matthew Sweet and, I mean, when the most famous guy on your record is Matthew Sweet, you’ve got a pretty obscure record. There are a few standout songs. Material Issue’s Merry Christmas Will Do is a nice pop-punk tune with a Ramonesy vibe. Matthew Sweet’s Baby Jesus is strange, but compellingly so. Herb Eimerman delivers a nice pop ballad called You Gave Me which is a real rarity: a song about how awesome your parents were. Even in Christmas songs, the singers are usually lamenting their terrible parents, but You Gave Me is genuinely epic and quite moving. Best of all is Spooner’s The Saddest Time of Year, a melancholy ballad that’s perfectly performed. The rest of the songs tend to end up below average; there’s a reason we haven’t heard of some of these people before. They tend to fall into the classic Christmas song ruts. There is one track that really goes for something different: Cavedogs’ Three Wisemen & a Baby, which is a sort of sound collage with musical quotations, clips from Christmas movies, etc. It’s got a real Revolution No. 9 feel to it and, of course, I hate Revolution No. 9 so I think it’s the worst song on the album; but kudos for trying to do something different. Anyway, I kind of wish the good songs on this album were available elsewhere, but apparently even the Matthew Sweet track hasn’t been released on any other compilation. Some great songs, but the album as a whole doesn’t add up to much of anything. 1 ½ stars.

tl;dr – indie Christmas comp features a load of very obscure artist and only a couple of really great tunes; mostly mediocre as a lot of these albums are. 1 ½ stars.

 

Finally discovered the 4-disc Fanderson release of the Joe 90 soundtrack by Barry Gray.

While 90 is probably my least favourite of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation shows that I've seen (I haven't seen the 3 black and white only shows), Gray's music is never less than excellent. While the 4-disc release is nice, only a few of the tracks are exclusive to it, most having been covered adequately by the Silva Screen release, unlike for example the Captain Scarlet Silva version, which had some major gaps. This set is nice, but doesn't feel as expansive compared to the shorter release, owing to a lot of reused music (I wish Fanderson would cut down on this, and edit out the reuses).

Regarding the whole soundtrack, it feels more pared back than the full orchestras of, say, Thunderbirds, but there's some nice stuff here still. I just adore the slow 'cottage' variation of the main theme. The Balloon Flight is really nice, elevating the rather middling episode. There's a lot of nice guitar music for episodes like Big Fish and King for a Day, reminiscent of the Tajmanon cues from Stingray or the Hood's theme.

As for the stuff exclusive to this release the extended score for Double Agent here is great, a lot like Hi-jacked in it's jazzy style and has a great globetrotting style. The full Fortress is nice, adding the boat chase music (Gray was always excellent at action scenes). The Unorthodox Sheperd tracks cover a lot more of the 'spooky' atmosphere music. Most Special Astronaut has some really nice electronic cues. All of the 'military marches' are great, but what did you expect, it's Barry Gray, he's always great with those.

All in all though, it's mainly just a few small extras that make it better than the Silva release, with all of the highlights pretty much covered by the earlier release.

 

About five months away from the 30th anniversary of the band going into the studio record their most perfect album ever...

Jo half-joked with me that was nearly impossible to play her bass lines downtuned to A. Considering how fast the Bolts were playing on this album, I can understand why they tuned up to C after RoC, but dang it, I just how ridiculously heavy the material is and when combined with Baz's awesome grooves, it just makes for death metal that no one else has replicated in the almost 3 decades since this monster was unleashed. They would write some stellar music after this (never losing their heaviness or the groove), but this is where extreme metal all but stops for me. There were some great bands afterward, but if someone took away all my metal except for two albums this would be locked in my grimy mitts alongside Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales.

 

Blue Christmas (1964) – Ernest Tubb & the Texas Troubadours

This smart little album sails by at just a bit over thirty minutes and it’s an absolute dream. Tubb was an old-school country artist, a lot of bending guitar notes, shuffling snare drums and high violin melodies. His voice has the necessary gritty charm and he takes on a series of standards and also some wonderful originals. He does both Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the title track as good as I’ve ever heard them done probably (I’m not really a fan of either). This kind of makes sense, given that he was, in fact, the original artist on Blue Christmas; the Elvis version was a cover. The originals really shine as well, particularly the devout We Need God for Christmas and a couple of the real weepers, Christmas is Just Another Day & I’m Trimming My Christmas Tree with Tear Drops. But every song on this one is a keeper, even the chestnuts. Tubb was a good songwriter and also a good interpreter, making this one of the better Christmas albums out there in my opinion. 4 stars.

tl;dr – old-school country album features both chestnuts and sharply written originals; every track is a keeper, even the tired standards, with Tubb’s signature spin on things. 4 stars.

 

i've been digging through my crates of vinyl, trying to listen to some records to justify my continued ownership of them more than anything. gave "bringing it all back home" a spin and i think it might have resonated with me more than it ever has. dylan at his best.

 

Eminem's Revival since it came out.

 

Bestial Invasion floored me with this one. Fantastic album.

 

You Sleigh Me: Alternative Christmas Hits (1995) – Various Artists

Hallelujah, everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

After a dire start, my annual Christmas music exploration has taken a step up. This compilation album is close to a perfect distillation of the “Christmas compilation.” Quirky artists doing interesting versions of standards or covers of obscure tunes or somewhat off-kilter originals – this is exactly what you’re looking for. And, oh, yeah, this album is under fifty minutes, always a plus. This features some nice versions of standards. Mary Karlzen turns in a nice version of Run Rudolph Run which serves as the perfect opening track. But when the standards get a little off beat is when they really work. An eight minute version of White Christmas that features saxophonist James Carter accompanied by only an acoustic bass is probably the best track on the record; it’s minimalist, witty and constantly going off in some new direction. Next up in the quality department are a couple of similar tracks. They both feature singular female artists giving really tender live readings of classics, accompanied by only piano: Tori Amos’ luminous Little Drummer Boy and Victoria Williams’ aching Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. There’s also a gorgeous acoustic original called Make It Home by Juliana Hatfield and a weird, kind of New Wavey Blue Christmas by Collective Soul that is, I think, legitimately the best version of the song I’ve ever heard (possible spoiler: the Porky Pig version). The rest of the tracks are just a bit middle of the road; the only track to really drop below middle of the road to downright bad is Daniel Johnston’s cover of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but if you know who Daniel Johnston is, as I did, you’re probably going to want to check that one out for perverse reasons. He is, at least, interesting, unlike some of the blander bits here. Probably the thematic center of the record is Jill Sobule’s endearingly sloppy version of Merry Christmas from the Family; like this album, it finds joy and warmth in the merging of all kind of disparate characters. Nothing fits, I guess, like a bunch of misfits; I learned that on television. Christmas television, that is. 3 ½ stars.

tl;dr – holiday compilation is endearing & quirky in its treatment of standards; a few bland tracks, but drawing from a wide variety of genres ensures that this album stays fresh. 3 ½ stars.

 

Got a couple more Christmas albums I've been listening to; I'll mop those up this week.

Jingle My Bells (1993) – Strip Mind

This is an EP that contains five tracks. The title track is a really nice five minute metal workout. The other four tracks all kind of go together. There’s a Sludge Version & a Punk Version of O Christmas Tree; and then a Sludge Version & a Punk Version of O Tannenbaum, which is, of course, O Christmas Tree in German. There seems to basically be only one instrumental track for the Sludge Versions and they lay in different vocals. The Punk Versions of O Tannenbaum & O Christmas Tree are somewhat different, though not much. This EP really flies by; it adds up to about sixteen minutes and some people feel cheated by the fact that the last four tracks are all so similar. That didn’t bother me, however; I had a blast with this one. I just really like the sound here and this is a great gift for the metalhead in your life. Or, you know, just get down with it yourself. Loved this. 4 stars.

tl;dr – brief, high-energy metal EP clocks in at sixteen minutes of pure fun; a real breath of fresh air. 4 stars.