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List 22


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I'm going to start off this list with a lot of reccomendations

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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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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Gorillaz

I'll write a proper review this weekend, but here's a general overview.

The Gorillaz are not actually a band. The Gorillaz consists of ex-Blur member Damon Albarn, and Dan "The Automator" Nakurma of underground/alternative hip hop group Handsome Boy Modeling School. The pop contributed by Damon and the weird electronic beats and backgrounds from Nakurma create a totally unique kind of music. On many songs, Nakurma takes over and creates incredibly distant and cold music (the Gorillaz is a pretty distant band. They never appear in music videos, the band is shown as a group of Japanese cartoon characters. In fact, in concert, they perform backstage as the crowd watches the cartoons on screen). Sometimes the two meld perfectly and create an amazing song (not to say that Nakurma's songs aren't great as well). The perfect example of this is their mega-hit, "Clint Eastwood." It's rare to find an electronic group today you can't dance too, but only listen to. It's even more rare today to find a group that upholds a mystique in their persona and in their music. This band does both of those things.

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The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

If you have lost faith in modern music because of the technology that has taken it over, listen to this album. "Yoshimi" uses electronics incredibly, while still retaining a "real" sort of vibe. I hardly ever hear pop music that is this epic, adventurous, and experimental. For a great example of one of the Flaming Lips' songs, listen to "Do You Realize."

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1. heir masterpiece (I never got around to buying it on cd because a friend gave me a copy of it on tape)

In any case, "substance" has my fave joy division songs, which I also had in permanent until the cd stopped playing because it was way too scratched from overplaying.

joy division, despite being so short-lived, were a very influential band, and many believe were the root of electronic dance music of the 80s onwards (well, new order were born from the ashes of joy division!) several more recent band , such as interpol and editors, also seem to be heavily influenced in sound and lyrical content by joy division.

"substance" and permanent" contain amazing tracks, including their greatest hit (i think) , that not-really-a-love-song "love will tear us apart". other amazing songs include "sshe's lost control" and "atmosphere". I think everyone should give them a listen at least once, otherwise they don't know what they are missing!

2. he 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

3. »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 an amazing rhythm!

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Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

1. Laura

2. Take Your Mama Out

3. Comfortably Numb

4. Mary

5. Lovers In The Backseat

6. Tits On The Radio

7. Filthy/Gorgeous

8. Music Is The Victim

9. Better Luck Next Time

10. It Can't Come Quickly Enough

11. Return To Oz

Laurie gave me the idea to nominate the Scissor Sisters' debut album.

The Scissor Sisters are from New York and are greatly influenced by the gay club scene. I always remember that fact because there's much sexual innuendo in their texts (which is not a bad thing).

"Take your Mama out" was the first song I heard of them and is still my favourit (with "Filthy/Gorgeous" and "Comfortably Numb" close behind), but there's something for everyone: slow and fast, disco and rock, dancefloor and country. All these parts in one great mixture. I'm by no means the dancing-type, but when I hear this I can't keep my feet still.

I always thought of them as a kinda underground band who got a little airplay at MTV, but I just read that they are very successful in UK with several Top 10 hits. Additionally the album was the best selling one in 2004. It seems that in some countries they are more appreciated than in others.

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i loooooooooove scissor sisters! i've seen them live twice and they really put on a good show - fun, flamboyant, energetic and most importantly the music's good too!! my brother met ana matronic in australia - she's hot and feisty! this is a great album - it will definitely get my vote!

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A re-nomination from List 20:

I would like to nominate "The Stranger" by Billy Joel. This album is considered Joel's best, and I tend to agree.

The title track is my favorite, starting out with whistling, then a slow piano, and then electric guitars blasting in...then of course, there are great lyrics.

My second favorite is "Just the Way You Are", a song written for his first wife about unconditional love and accepting someone for exactly what they are and wanting nothing more.

There are other standouts, "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant", "Movin' Out" and "Vienna", but you really can't go wrong with this album.

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