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Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier
Page 38-43
Dire Straits: I've often shamefully referred to the Dire Straits as the Dire Shits on this forum, something I actually regret because in essence they are a great guitar rock band in every sense. I'm not a huge fan of their debut, but I know it is a highly rated album and their core sound was laid down on this album.
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I've been a fan of Dire Straits since I heard "Sultans of swing". I have the first five albums on vinyl, and always thought they were a great band. I recall being blown away by "Telegraph Road", and I also remember one very cold Christmas week they were on the TV with the "Alchemy" tour. The family was going to evening mass for Christmas but I think I either had gone already or had just decided not to go. Either way, it was freezing and I think raining, and I remember them all going out while I sat in front of the fire and watched Dire Straits, and feeling really cosy and delighted I hadn't to go out in the cold. Funny how these things stay with you...
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John Sykes: Is a great musician and I'm guessing anybody linked with Thin Lizzy or Gary Moore (I'm guessing these two are amongst your fav artists given the amount of attention they've received) is going to be popular with you, anyway I really enjoyed your piece on John Sykes.
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Thanks. It's really more for his Tygers work I like Sykes, but although I like Lizzy I wouldn't say they're among my favourites. I do like Gary Moore though, as you'll see from my anniversary Gary Moore week this year. I just thought the idea of following a person through all the bands they had been in, solo efforts, collaborations etc was a good idea. Hell of a lot of work though!
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Nick Cave:I'm actually working my way through Nick Cave at the moment having just started with his early band the Birthday party.
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You might find it hard to believe, but I never heard any of the Birthday Party stuff. Got into Nick via "The good son" and "Henry's dream" and worked backwards and forwards from there. I have his earlier albums, like "The firstborn is dead" and "Tender prey" but I have never really felt the urge to listen to them, so for me "The good son" marks the point from which I get into Cave and onward from there. His last two albums weren't the best though, I have to say.
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Spock's Beard: I like this band a lot, but they're not the easiest modern day prog act to get into, their debut album The Light is a real classic that not many people seem to know too much about it.
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I've actually started to get into Spock's Beard, mostly from the determined refusal to remove their music from my ipod, and although there are still a few of their tracks I'm not mad about, there are a lot more I like and a few I really love now, so I'd have to say I'm starting to appreciate and enjoy their music more now. If I could only do the same with IQ....
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Black Sabbath: The Born Again album! One of the most slated metal releases ever but does it deserve the slating? I first listened to it eons ago and thought it terrible, then again a few years ago and felt it wasn't so bad, I'm now listening to it again and quite enjoying it! Anyway, whats good about it. First up its heavy and there are some great guitar riffs put down by Tony Iommi and the majority of the songs really allow Ian Gillan to show his vocal chops. Whats bad, well quite a lot really. The songs are very similiar with little diversity and you'd really expect a band like Sabbath to bring more to the table here. The songs have a quickly thrown together feel and are just disguised with Gillans vocals and Iommi's guitar and does a song like "Zero the Hero" really need to be nearly 8 mins long? Finally, as for that album cover it has to be one of the worst ever for a mainstream metal band.
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Sorry, but I said all I'm going to say on "Born again" in my review. I think it's a terrible album, and Ian Gillan's singing is not suited to Sabs' material at all. I'll also never forgive him for this quote: "Black Sabbath have been through a lot of changes, but basically they're a blues/rock band: don't call them heavy metal!" Jesus, Gillan! Are you serious!??
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Robert Plant v Ian Gillan: I know you didn't do a section on this but you mentioned on your last post what happened to the Robert Plant legend, well his solo work demonstrated that without the guiding light of Jimmy Page he just couldn't do it on his own and his voice just doesn't suit that much outside of a Led Zeppelin song. On the other hand, Ian Gillan is a better vocalist than Robert Plant, but he lacks the flamboyance of Robert Plant. What I'm trying to say here, is that neither vocalist did anything any good outside of Zeppelin or Purple. In essence Ian Gillan's solo work is probably better than that of Robert Plant's (by a whisker) but for some reason Robert Plant's solo discography had more variety and some better individual songs than Ian Gillan could muster, most of Ian Gillan's solo work is very samey samey, but I will say that Mr.Universe was a good album and easily his best. BTW I'm a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, also I think the majority of Ozzy's solo work sucks as well.
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Yeah, often a solo career is a bad move. Then of course there's Fish, Ric Ocasek, Justin Hayward etc..
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I don't recall the Angry Machines album by Dio, but the cover looks terrible.
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Hugely disappointing. So bad I couldn't believe it. So bad, in fact, that I'm consciously featuring it within the Dio tribute I'll be doing next month.
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As a huge Neil Young fan I strongly recommend the Jim Jarmusch film/documentary Year of the Horse about Neil Young and Crazy Horse and you'll see just why Neil is a legend, some of the live performances and jamming on there are just legendary.
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Oh I agree he's a legend, just that I haven't heard all that much of his music. I though "Harvest" was a very weak album though overall...
Thanks for the considered comments. Keep 'em comin'!
