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Just discovered a new band this morning. Seven Kingdoms - Neverending

Powerful clean female lead with beautiful guitar harmonies. Reminds me of The Agonist without growls.

Ozric Tentacles - Paper Monkeys (2011)

One of the more recent releases by this workhorse psychedelic / prog / space rock / electronica band. They've been around since the '80s, and I've been following them off and on since the mid-'90s. Good music to code to.

Anovoca wrote:

Just discovered a new band this morning. Seven Kingdoms - Neverending

Powerful clean female lead with beautiful guitar harmonies. Reminds me of The Agonist without growls.

I think I liked it, but the mix needs a little help. To my ears the vox are too much in the background. Bump them even 1-2dB could make a difference. It's worst coming out of the solo.

Super clean guitar playing, though. I can't come close to matching that and it makes me want to quit.

Pink Floyd wish you were here

Heiwashin wrote:

Pink Floyd wish you were here

The only song I could ever once play (chords only, no picking) on the Yamaha acoustic that lies buried in the back of the spare room closet. G Major was the "toughest" chord in that tune. I'd pick the Yamaha up again if I could finally regain full feeling in my left pinky.

Oh, and I simply cannot play F or any other barre chords.

The Wallflowers and Better Than Ezra were in Peoria last night playing a riverfront outdoor concert. Neither group has all of its original members, but the Wallflowers might as well be renamed "Jakob Dylan and some other guys".

Despite the absence of so many originals, both bands kicked a lot of ass.

The Killers - The Man

Portugal. The Man - Feel it Still

The Kansas back catalog, in chronological order. Currently on Masque, their third album (released in 1975, right on the heels of their sophomore effort, Song For America).

The first self-titled album has really grown on me. Didn't care for it much in my younger days, and the LP collected dust in the "rarely played" section of my music collection. I hadn't listened to it in years when I finally ripped the vinyl about a decade ago (I never bought the CD reissue). Since then I've really come to appreciate it, and rank it among their best.

Song For America is a mixed bag. The title track is fantastic. IIRC Cap'n Ned has a soft spot for "Lamplight Symphony", which I find to be over-the-top melodramatic. "Lonely Street" has some of the dumbest lyrics Kansas ever recorded, and "The Devil Game" hints at the overtly preachy "Christian Rock" direction they would take on some of their mid-period releases. "Incomudro - Hymn To The Atman" is as fine a prog rock piece as Kansas has ever done; I did not realize until this evening (looked it up) that "atman" is a Hindu word for "soul".

Masque (what I'm currently listening to) has always been one of my favorites, in spite of the opening cut "It Takes A Woman's Love (To Make A Man)", which feels like a perfunctory "this is supposed to be the hit single" track. Even with that wart, I'd say I prefer this album to Leftoverture, the album that really put them on the map. "Icarus - Borne On Wings Of Steel" is quintessential Kansas, and the closing section of the album "Mysteries And Mayhem / The Pinnacle" is great too.

IMO the tension (and ebb and flow) between their prog rock leanings, commercial pressures, and the ever-present (sometimes more subtle, sometimes less so) Christian element is part of what made them so unique.

They released a new album of studio material recently, The Prelude Implicit. Still with two original members (who are both well into their 60s). There's some decent stuff on it. "Carry On" indeed!

Sylvia - Nobody

Contender (alongside "Lonely Street") for dumbest Kansas lyrics: "Anything For You" (from Audio Visions). A sample: "I fell for you 'cause you were nice and tall / I liked what I could see"

So I got a little ahead of myself (skipped forward several albums) with that last post, since I hadn't said anything about Leftoverture, Point Of Know Return, or Monolith. Regarding the first two, what's there to say? I consider them (along with Masque) to be the essential Kansas albums... their Holy Trinity.

IMO Monolith is underrated. In spite of some cheesy synth sounds here and there, it's a solid album.

Audio Visions is where they really start to lose their way; the writing isn't up to snuff, and they feel like they're just going through the motions. Primary lead vocalist Steve Walsh quit after this album.

Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures feel like Kansas albums in name only. VC is very much in a "Christian Rock with some violin thrown in" vein, and DM is, quite frankly, a mess.

***

I'm gonna say a few more words about Drastic Measures, because it is, in its own way, a fascinating train wreck of an album. You could say it is the sound of a band imploding. Walsh's replacement John Elefante wrote most of the material for the album; and without Walsh on vocals or violinist Robbie Steinhardt (who left after Vinyl Confessions), nearly all traces of the original Kansas sound have been obliterated. Much of it is pop/rock in the vein of other popular acts of the time (e.g. Foreigner).

The opening cut and single "Fight Fire With Fire" is catchy, competent power pop, but sounds nothing like Kansas. The second track, "Everybody's My Friend", is essentially Elefante whining about the pressures of being a rock star. And it doesn't get much better after that.

The oddest thing on the album by far is "Andi", a quiet ballad about a transgender girl:

Yea, she wants to be a lady
Can anyone see?
That's she's trapped inside a little boy's body
She's waiting
For the dream of her life
To be a lady
That's all she wants to be

Keep in mind that this was back in 1983. From a band with several "Born Again" members.

Livgren contributes only 3 songs to the album; one of them ("Mainstream", which also happens to be the only cut that clocks in at over 6 minutes) is a blatant jab at the music industry in general, and the new direction of the band specifically:

It's so predictable and everybody judges by the numbers that you're selling
Just crank 'em out on the assembly line and chart 'em higher (higher, higher)
Just keep it simple boys it's gonna be alright as long as you're inside the
Mainstream, are we moving too far away
Is it worth it if it doesn't pay
The centerline is status quo, it's
Mainstream
For the masses in Consumerland
Give 'em everything that they demand
Survive another year

Heh.

Livgren also wrote the album closer, "Incident On A Bridge". The final two lines of the chorus:

Now the bridge leads on, to a brighter dawn
It's waiting for me

He left the band shortly thereafter, effectively putting the final nail in the coffin of "Kansas V2.0". So his final songwriting contribution to the band was likely a kiss-off of sorts.

Megadeth - Tornado of Souls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbd3C44fAHo

Billy Joel in a vocal duet with Tony Bennett at the closing of Shea Stadium.

Captain Ned wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbd3C44fAHo

Billy Joel in a vocal duet with Tony Bennett at the closing of Shea Stadium.

Billy Joel was just at Wrigley this weekend and is coming to St. Louis soon. Tickets are more than I can bear, though. I love his music.

just brew it! wrote:

Contender (alongside "Lonely Street") for dumbest Kansas lyrics: "Anything For You" (from Audio Visions). A sample: "I fell for you 'cause you were nice and tall / I liked what I could see"

No, this is a classic. It paints a picture of a hot, 800-foot-tall woman.

derFunkenstein wrote:

Captain Ned wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbd3C44fAHo

Billy Joel in a vocal duet with Tony Bennett at the closing of Shea Stadium.

Billy Joel was just at Wrigley this weekend and is coming to St. Louis soon. Tickets are more than I can bear, though. I love his music.

just brew it! wrote:

Contender (alongside "Lonely Street") for dumbest Kansas lyrics: "Anything For You" (from Audio Visions). A sample: "I fell for you 'cause you were nice and tall / I liked what I could see"

No, this is a classic. It paints a picture of a hot, 800-foot-tall woman.

...with really nice ankles?

J. Geils Band - Must've Got Lost

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Portugal. The Man - Feel it Still

I like that one. Airy/high manvoice has been big for a good while now. I think I mentioned mentioned Rhye's Open earlier in the thread; super-sexy R&B type stuff (might not be your bag). In June they released their first stuff since Woman in '13, a single called Please.

---

@thread: Kurt Vile - Pretty Pimpin - indie/lofi rock. "didunt recognize the man in the meeeeruh" (also, evidence that, contrary to British claims, Murkans can appreciate irony)

Paul Kelly - To Her Door - folkish rock? I very much like the tale, opening sour and finishing open-ended.

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game - for the sexytheme, I guess. Voice on that guy, eh? An utter classic iyam.

Marty Robbins - Cool Water - because the vidyagaem West of Loathing is out and you should buy & play it, especially if you ever managed your moxie/muscle/mysticism. Mosey.

...

Newp, synthwave hasn't left me. New Retro Wave continues to snatch up interesting new artists so I'll keep giving them their due. They just picked up Thunder Porpoise, so get your Syd Mead artbook and a glass of rum and visit imaginary spaceplaces with these slow beats: Oppenheimer's Gambit, The Out There

Rag 'n Bone Man.

Intronaut - Valley Of Smoke (2010)

Just ordered the CD off Amazon, listening to the MP3 "AutoRip" download now. First impression is very positive. Slabs of sludgy prog-metal goodness, with occasional jazzy interludes.

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture.

The famous/infamous Telarc "digital cannons" recording.

Captain Ned wrote:

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture.

The famous/infamous Telarc "digital cannons" recording.

I think I may have the vinyl of that in the crawlspace. Probably don't have anything capable of tracking it.

Sympathy for the devil. Unfortunately most of the rolling Stones music has a sound that my ears find too slow, but I do like this song. All of that really early Rock is hard for me to listen to.

Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones) (2013)

More Intronaut today, for the commute home. This is less overtly metal than their earlier releases, with clean vocals/harmonies.

Heiwashin wrote:

Sympathy for the devil. Unfortunately most of the rolling Stones music has a sound that my ears find too slow, but I do like this song. All of that really early Rock is hard for me to listen to.

SftD. I've had their 60's compilation album Hot Rocks since about the first week in the dorm in the fall of 1981. It wasn't until CD and remasters that I could finally make out the line "and Anastasia screamed in vain". I had many versions of this line, though none correct (this was also pre-'Net). The "whoo hoos" are sampled in a ton of songs.

The single best version is on the 1970 live album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!. Every time I play this to someone who is also one of Jerry's Children (yes, I am one), Mick and the boys' loose and swingy approach to the intro instantly registers as Dead. Hell, the first time I played it for my wife she just assumed I was playing a Dead album until Mick chimed in.

Sadly, DeadBase says they never played this in concert. Mick and Keef could have taken notes if they did.

The real piece of unobtanium Stones trivia is an early-'80s TV Public Service Announcement put out by the US Red Cross over the song "Gimme Shelter". It didn't run for long, as the Red Cross only saw the title and never read the lyrics until "comments" came in. I remember shots of "Carly SImon on lead" (Carly leading kids by the hand) and "Paul Shaffer on keyboards" (Paul banging away on a 1st gen PC, AT&T 6300 IIRC). I've searched for it for decades, but it's old enough that the cleanup job actually worked.

MC Hammer - Can't Touch This

Weird Al Yankovich - Word Crimes

JustAnEngineer wrote:

MC Hammer - Can't Touch This

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Weird Al Yankovich - Word Crimes

Just curious whether you got from A to B via Weird Al's "I Can't Watch This"?

MC Hammer was on XM9 last night. Weird Al was on XM98 tonight.

The Eagles-Take it Easy in 24-bit 192 Khz FLAC.

(BTW I bought all 8 Eagles studio albums from 1972-1979 from HDTracks for $112.)

http://www.hdtracks.com/the-studio-albums-1972-3142