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List 21


Elvish

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Ready to go on the next list. Be sure and renominate anything that was overlooked - there were a lot of great suggestions in list 20 :thumbsup:

Edited by Guest
extreme profanity and ethnic slurs....haha, just kidding, I'm just unstickying this topic.
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Please save a spot for Americano! by Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers.

Roger was in The Refreshments, which are one of those bands that should have been much more successful than they were. A few years ago, he formed Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers, and Americano! is their latest release.

Shawna is a big fan and made sure I had a listen when I was in Arizona. I also discovered that in the Southwest, the band has a huge following. When I listened to the CDs, I found out why: Roger writes the kind of lyrics that make you go back a few times in the same way you re-read a great passage from a book that makes you feel or think something special. The sound is clean and Roger has a great voice. The passion is there and the songs are really interesting.

Roger took the time to speak with us about a lot of his songs, so pretty soon you will be able to read about them on Songfacts. I think you will find this CD quite rewarding, as I've already found myself coming back to it.

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here's a good electronic band, and my review (which is posted in the reviews forum)

Tangerine Dream

Phaedra

February 20, 1974

37:34

Edgar Froese

Peter Baumann

Christopher Franke

1. Phaedra (17:45)

2. Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares (9:55)

3. Movements of a Visionary (8:01)

4. Sequent C’ (2:18)

Do you smoke massive amounts of weed? Do you consider “On the Run†not only a good song in that it adds to the album Dark Side of the Moon, but a good song on its own? Do you like dark, scary music? Do you enjoy the ambient music of Brian Eno, but find yourself wishing that he was more German? Do you need things repeated to you multiple times for you to get the point? Do you need things repeated to you multiple times for you to get the point? Do you need things repeated to you multiple times for you to get the point? Do you like electronic music of any kind? More specifically, do you like trance? Do you need things repeated to you multiple times for you to get the point? If your answer to any of these questions was “yes,†then Phaedra by Tangerine Dream might be right up your alley.

Tangerine Dream is one of the most important and influential bands in electronic music. Albums like Phaedra and Rubycon were incredibly revolutionary, and still sound unique and new today. Phaedra is pretty much the beginning of trance music. Unlike Tangerine Dream’s earlier, wilder albums, Phaedra is an ethereal and relaxing album. Earlier Tangerine Dream albums were challenging to listen to, but Phaedra is really an easy-listening album. The thing that separates Phaedra from other easy listening albums is its dark and eerie mood. Without the use of any heaviness (or any audible rock n roll influence), Phaedra is darker than Black Sabbath. For an incredibly unique, scary, and relaxingly eerie musical experience, listen to the title track in complete darkness (which reminds me, this album is great to listen to during late night and alone driving).

Another thing worth mentioning about Phaedra is how extremely entrancing it is. Synthesized arpeggios and patterns are repeated over and over and over again, becoming very hypnotic and spacey. Because of this, Phaedra is a terrific album to listen to if you can not focus completely on the music. If you are doing your homework or something, and you are listening to Phaedra, the main idea of the music repeats until it is engrained into your brain, whether you’re listening closely or not. Also, the mood, which is the main focus of Phaedra, is easily captured and enjoyed. For many, this is the only way to listen to Phaedra. Although, that isn’t to say that you can only listen to this album unfocused. If you are patient, you will be sonically rewarded when focusing on the music during the entire album, as you will be able to notice all of the subtleties that make Phaedra such a great, timeless album.

I’m going to be honest; for a fan of rock, this album may be hard to get into. I originally got this album because it was on DDD’s list of 100 best prog albums. When I first picked up the album at the library, it was in the new age section, which I definitely wasn’t expecting after seeing it on a prog rock list. It turned out that Phaedra bears no resemblence to rock n roll. To make matters worse, I read the credits and found that there were no instruments...all three band members played synthesizers and technology. And to top it off, upon my first biased glance, it seemed too repetitive to me. However, after a few listens, I put my biases aside, and was able to lose myself in the layers of synthesized supernatural beauty, and I let the album take me on an amazing sonic journey. Hopefully you will too.

Plus, if you're a weed smoker, this album's reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally good!

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I'd like to nominate Something/Anything? by Todd Rundgren

somethinganythingtrundgren.jpg

Todd Rundgren's 1972 one man band masterpiece, 'Something/Anything', is a double album filled with catchy pop, hard rock, psychedelic and R&B/soul tinged tunes. Divided into four halves, Rundgren provides all the vocals and plays all the instruments for the first three halves.

The first half, entitled A Bouquet Of Ear-Catching Melodies consists of tracks 1-6 and contains the dreamy ballad 'It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference' and one of Rundgren's biggest hits, the Carole King tribute 'I Saw The Light'.

Part two, named The Cerebral Side (tracks 7-13), is more experimental, opening with Todd giving the listener a run down of studio workings. Part two is also home to the instrumental 'Breathless' and 'Song Of The Viking', a nod to the showtune style of Gilbert & Sullivan.

The Kid Gets Heavy (disc two, tracks 1-5) is part three. Here, Todd rocks things up with numbers such as 'Little Red Lights' and the psychedelic rocker 'Black Maria'.

The fouth and final part is Baby Needs A New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (tracks 6-12), a live in-studio recording featuring a full band. This is Rundgren's rock operetta and is filled with amusing comments, asides and allows Rundgren to indulge his slightly strange sense of humour. Part four is home to one of Rundgren's other major hits, the stunning Hello It's Me (used to great effect in That 70's Show, where the gang, after attending a Todd Rundgren concert, enjoy a sing-a-long in the vista cruiser).

This is the album where Todd Rundgren received some well deserved mainstream success! Some fantastic songs on here, I highly recommend!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Track Listing:

Part One, Disc One: A Bouquet of Ear-Catching Melodies

1. I Saw The Light

2. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference

3. Wolfman Jack

4. Cold Morning Light

5. It Takes Two To Tango (This Is For The Girls)

6. Sweeter Memories

Part Two, Disc One: The Cerebral Side

7. Intro

8. Breathless

9. The Night The Carousel Burned Down

10. Saving Grace

11. Marlene

12. Song Of The Viking

13. I Went To The Mirror

Part Three, Disc Two: The Kid Gets Heavy

1. Black Maria

2. One More Day (No Word)

3. Couldn't I Just Tell You

4. Torch Song

5. Little Red Lights

Part Four, Disc Two: Baby Needs A New Pair Of Snakeskin Boots

6. Overture - My Roots: Money (That's What I Want/Messin' With The Kid)

7. Dust In The Wind

8. Piss Aaron

9. Hello It's Me

10. Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me

11. You Left Me Sore

12. Slut

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They are playing at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park at the end of March...a Friday night too...Maybe it'll work.

Just found out they are playing five miles from home at the end of March too...at Kean University. I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan play there and he was out of this world. I saw him another 4 times and nothing matched this show,

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How about Let it Be by The Replacements? Has that been mentioned yet?

I love how the album was in the middle of the career, and they got all the overly rough edges out of the way, and hadn't become completely too polished yet (I do have to say I thought "Don't Tell A Soul, even with "I'll Be You" was a bit of a disappointment.) and it has the greatest song ever, I Will Dare on it...I mean, if I wanted to have a flashback moment, I would be standing outside my crush's window, trenchcoat on, boombox raised overhead, and THAT song would be playing.

And then it flips the mood and has one of the greatest songs about loneliness on there, Answering Machine. You really want to talk to someone, make a connection with them, and you get their answering machine. It totally takes the wind out of your sails, for whatever you want to say. And I love Seen Your Video, if only for the 2 second Alan Hunter audio clip.

"Favorite Thing" is a great rocker, and I love how it can't help but be an ambivalent love song: "You're my favorite thing...once in a while!"

The Replacements, with this album perfectly blended punk and pop without selling out. More people need to know about this album.

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Ah sorry... :P

Velvet Underground and Nico

First album released by VU. Released in '67. Had the famous banana design by Andy Warhol on its cover.

Themes: anguish, moral misery, musical theatre, ruin and desolation, solitude and paranoia, and the beauty of evil.

One can find elements of electronic avant-garde, oriental and african drum beats.

The album contains tracks like: Sunday Morning, Heroin, Femme Fatale, the sadomasochist Venus in Furs, All Tomorrow' s Parties, I' ll Be Your Mirror, Waiting For My Man, Black Angel' s Death Song, Run Run Run and There She Goes.

Rock Bottom

One of the early works by Robert Wyatt (a hardcore commie btw). An artist who made some important contributions to British progressive rock yet was eclipsed by more famous bands like Yes, the early Pink Floyd and Genesis.

The album was a collaboration between various artists -

Robert Wyatt - Keyboard

Hopper and Richard Sinclair - Bass

Gary Windo - Clarinet

Mongezi Feza - Trumpet

Mike Oldfield - Guitar

Fred Frith - Viola

Ivor Cutler - Concertina

Nick Mason - Producer

Themes: Self-inquiry, introversion, madness, panic, flows of consciousness, the occult, apocalyptic,

Tracks include Moon In June, Alifib (probably his best song), Las Vegas Tango, Sea Song (almost a keyboard solo) Last Straw. Alife and Little Red Hood contain apocalyptic themes. The songs produce an athmosphere of calmness, sentimentality, dada-ism and resigned madness.

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The Dandy Warhols "13 tales from urban bohemia"

The dandy warhols were on their way up after "come down", and this album put them in the mainstream; particularly with "bohemian like you", which was used for the vodafone ads. Aside from that, there are some great songs in this album. my fave is "get off", which for me was the song of the summer of 2000, a purely fun song that got everyone on the dancefloor jumping up and down! "bohemian like you", "shakin' " and "horse pills" (the later sticking to the drugs theme they always seem to have) are some more fun songs, which are nicely complemented by the more serious and mystical "nietzche" ("I want a god who stays dead, not plays dead") and "godless"

unfortunately, it seemed that this album was the peak of their career, with the next album being rather disappointing. so if you are intrigued by the dandys, this is the album to go for

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prairiewind.jpg

I would like to nominate "Praire Wind"....Ive heard a few songs from this album, and as soon as I get the money I'm going to get it...If anyone else has this album let me know what you think...I've always been a big Neil Young fan. I think he's just amazing, and has been around for years, and hopefully for many more. He's been through quite a bit in his life. If you read up on his bio you will see it's been tough. And having to deal with some major brain surgery and making this album with songs that reflect on his life is just amazing....I also want to be able to get to see his new movie "Heart Of Gold". Listen movie

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here's an older suggestion from list 18:

»RJD2 "Deadringer"«

This is an album with sounds of funk, soul, trip-hop and hip-hop. not to everyones taste, some songs not even to mine! but I assure you, what he has done with the reast of the album is amazing! you know what moby did in "play"? well, it's a similar kind of thing, possibly even better. definite must-listen songs are "the horror" (quite upbeat), "smoke and mirrors" (very chilled) and "ghostwriter", which uses soul vocals, horns to create ana amazing rhythm!

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Please save a spot for Americano! by Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers.

Yes, yes yes! Roger definitely deserves another turn! Anybody who has a chance to see Roger in concert should NOT pass it up. It's great music, great performance and an all-around great time. You can thank me later! :grin:

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Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go

To start off this review, I should probably provide a brief history lesson, to all those who aren’t fans of the Manics. The Manic Street Preachers started off as a punky British hair metal band, modeling themselves after the Clash, glam rock, and Guns N’ Roses. This was the sound found on their debut album “Generation Terrorists,†which featured the lineup of James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore, Nicky Wire, and Richey James Edwards. James Dean and Sean Moore were terrific musicians, and Nicky Wire was only an average bassist, and guitarist Richey James...didn’t know how to play the guitar. During live shows, he would jam away on an unplugged guitar. He was in the band because he was Nicky Wire’s best friend, and he had a car, so he could drive the Manics around to their concerts. After “Generation Terrorists,†the Manics lost a little bit of their hair metal sound, and focused more on a grungey punk rock, in their album “Gold Against the Soul.†Pretty soon, Richey’s problems with alcohol, self-mutilation, anorexia, and depression started to define the Manics sound. Between the albums “Gold Against the Soul†and their masterpiece “The Holy Bible,†Richey’s problems were a huge influence on the band’s sound, especially when Richey learned how to play the guitar. Richey wrote most of the lyrics for “The Holy Bible,†which became one of the most depressing albums of the 90’s. Shortly after the release of “The Holy Bible,†Richey disappeared, and has not been seen since.

In “Everything Must Go,†Richey’s disappearance has a huge effect on the Manics’ music. The album is full of fun and cheerful songs, such as “Further Away,†and “Australia.†It also had a lot of bittersweet songs, such as “All Surface No Feeling,†and “Enola/Alone.†By listening to these bittersweet songs, you can tell that the Manics were very sad about Richey’s disappearance, but instead of writing a bunch of really depressing songs about it, they were trying to overcome the sadness that came from the disappearance.

As I was saying earlier, this album is not at all like the early Manics albums. While the first song on the album, “Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier†is a rather gloomy yet exciting rocker, the next song, “A Design For Life†is an undeniable pop song. The album is full of British sounding pop-rock songs. “Enola/Alone†really shows the difference between Richey and post-Richey MSP. When Richey was around, a song about loneliness would most likely be incredibly depressing. An example of a Richey lyric about loneliness is:

“I have crawled so far sideways

I recognise dim traces of creation

I wanna die, die in the summertime, I wanna dieâ€

An example (from “Enola/Aloneâ€) of a post-Richey lyric about loneliness is:

“I'll take a picture of you

To remember how good you lookedâ€

or an example from “Further Away†:

“The happier I am when I’m with you

the harder it gets when I am aloneâ€

Big change in direction, eh? The pop-rock songs such as the ones I just mentioned are incredibly catchy. When I first found out about this album, I listened to some of the songs multiple times, just because I couldn’t get them out of my head. They are some of the best pop songs I’ve heard, and it’s great how even in their pop direction, they don’t lose their hard rock edge. Also, the pop songs show off another side to James Deans’ singing voice, not often heard in albums such as “The Holy Bible.â€

This album isn’t completely different from the early work of the Manics. “Everything Must Go†still shows a lot of their glam rock influence. In fact, with the bombastic and sweet string arrangements and beat-driven pop make “Everything Must Go†more glam than their earlier albums. Great examples of the glam-ness of the Manics can be found in the anthemic title track, and the danceable, almost disco-ish “The Girl Who Wanted to be God.†This album also shows the Manics returning to their full sounding arena rock, which can also be found in the title track.

The last song, “All Surface No Feeling†is one of my personal favorite songs of the 90’s, and an incredible ending to the album. It almost seems like all the pop before this song was there to build-up to the ultimate bittersweet pop love song. This song’s placement is really a testament to how well thought out the Manics are when it comes to song choice, and where to put songs in an album. They are a band that has hit singles, and still has an album that is improved when played all at once in the correct order. If “All Surface No Feeling†was put at the beginning of the album, the listener might not be ready for it. “Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier†was a perfect transition from “The Holy Bible†to “Everything Must Go,†and the rest of the album focused on the Manics showing their fans their new direction, and in a way, the rest of the album shows the Manics trying to “desensitize†MSP fans to pop. By the end of the album, a fan of “The Holy Bible†can recognize the beauty in the Manics’ pop songs, and appreciate their new style. Partly, due to the album’s buildup to it, “All Surface No Feeling†is able to be a beautiful and bittersweet pop-rock song, without sounding sappy and overly-emotional. Instead of trying to go out with a self-righteous bang, as they did with “PCP†(the last song on “The Holy Bibleâ€), the Manics leave “Everything Must Go†with on a mature note, as if the Manics have given up on punk...or so it may seem. Once “All Surface No Feeling†comes to an end, there is 40 seconds of the chords to the chorus being played like it’s grinding punk rock. It’s all very touching, yet it rocks at the same time.

This album is amazing. If you are a Manic Street Preachers fan, you must get this. If The Holy Bible is a 10/10 album, Everything Must Go is a 9.9/10 album.

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