si muy comico

Special tribute post.....


When I was about 13/14 I remember having Pink Floyd forced upon me by many different people. And I just thought they were sooooo dull.
A few years later I was staying with a friend & got talking to her step father about music. He was a huge Pink Floyd fan and I told him that they didn`t really do anything for me.I told him about the stuff I liked and he gave me a copy of Piper At The Gates Of Dawn & told me to give that album a chance. I played it & loved it instantly. Eventually I did get into Pink Floyd , and I could see why people thought that the likes of Dark Side Of The Moon & Wish You Were Here were so great , but for me it was the Syd Barrett era of the band that I thought was special. Some people like Pink Floyd for Dave Gilmours guitar skills , other for Roger Waters lyrics but for me it was Syd Barretts songwriting that made me like that band.
I`d always been aware of Syd`s solo albums but never really bothered to check them out , then about 10 years ago I found myself reading in detail about them in various magazines (I think it may have been the hype over his 50th Birthday) and decided I should check them out.

His first album 'The Madcap Laughs' is a very erratic affair ,it`s pretty directionless & raw as hell. The opening song 'Terrepin' is a slow bluesy acoustic number that sounds like it`s about to breakdown any minute. Just listening to songs like this you can tell in what a fragile state the guy was in. 'No Good Trying' is more like the psychdelic pop that he wrote with Pink Floyd , it just sounds totally random. The lyrics hardly fit the song , the guitars sound like they`re doing what the hell they like , the song is just utter chaos.'Love You' is a little more cohesive sounding like an early Beatles song with a bit of music hall piano ,Barrett seems to be really putting effort into this song. One of the best songs on the album.The next two tracks No Mans Land & Dark Globe are light psychadelia inspired acuostic songs , they`re nothing special really but they keep the album flowing.'Here I Go' could be a great 60s style pop song but Barretts vocals spoil it , it`s just like he`s mumbling the whole song.'Octopus' is the best song on the album , This is probably the best song Barrett ever recorded as a solo artist.It probably closer to something on the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album than anything Pink Floyd ever recorded, but it`s a fantastic piece of 60s psychadelia thats worth hearing the album for.After that the album goes downhill quite dramatically of the 5 remaining tracks only 'She Took A Long Cold Look' is really any good the other 4 tracks basically being directionless acoustic songs where Barretts voice really sounds strained.

His second album 'Barrett' is a huge improvement , probably due to the added influence of Roger Water & Dave Gilmour who were much more involved with this album than the first.It`s said that Barrett had very little to do with the music side on this album , he wrote & sang the songs but did very little else & would disappear for days on end during the recording of it.The opening song on the album 'Baby Lemonade' is another of Barretts best songs as a solo artist, a wonderful example of pop at it`s purest form with vunerable edge to it.'Love Song' is a beautiful piano led ballad , easily on par with anything on 'Piper' , one of my favourite Barrett songs too.The next couple of songs 'Dominos' & 'It Is Obvious' are more of the same psychadelic pop , much better than anything on the first album , showing the consistancy that this album has that 'madcap' didn`t. 'Rats' is probably the nearest Barrett song ever made to what could be classed as 'rock' , he even shouts some of the lyrics.'Maisie' is possibly the weakest track on the album , just a slow steady drum beat with Barrett mumbling over the top of it.'Gigalo Aunt' would probably be Barrett`s best known track , A nice upbeat guitar pop song that i`ve lost count of the number of indie bands that have covered it.The album picks up after this with 4 nice songs in 'Waving My Arms In The Air' , I Never Lied To You' 'Wined & Dined' and 'Wolfpack', again these 4 songs are nice gentle examples of psychadelic pop that was missing from the first album,if there is a fault they do all sound rather similar.The album ends off with 'Effervescing Elephant' which is basically a nursery rhyme put to music , a bit like 'Bike' of 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn'

'Opel' was a compilation of unreleased songs & alternate takes released in 1988 , of the new tracks here 'Clown & Jugglers' is a highlight being an version of 'Octopus' with different lyrics , in fact it reminds me a lot of 'Sally Simpson' off the Who`s Tommy.'Swan Lee (Silas Lang) is just plain weird , it just sounds like someone tuning up a guitar mumbling over it , in fact it probably was.in 'Lanky Part 1' Syd actually picks up an electric guitar , it sounds like the weird bits in 'Intersteller Overdrive' but it makes a nice change from all the acoustic pop on the album. Speaking of which the song that closes the album 'Milky Way' is one of the better ones of that nature.

I`m not going to pretend these are the greatest albums ever recorded , if you are into the 'rock' music Pink Floyd put out in the 70s you may as well look elsewhere because these albums are all psychadelic pop / folk music. But for anyone whos willing to give them a chance between the three of them there`s enough good material to make up one albums worth. But it has to be said given the circumstances that they were recorded under given Syd`s mental state it`s a miracle that we even have these out at all. There are some real gems buried in these albums and I hope that people will check them out with the raised awareness of them around his death.

Thanks for everything Syd.

Beginners guide to Syds solo work : Terrepin , No Good Trying , Octopus , She Took A Long Cold Look , Baby Lemonade , Love Song , Gigalo Aunt , Effervescing Elephant , Clown & Jugglers , Lanky Part 1, Milky Way.

The Prisoners are a classic example of wrong time, wrong place.Had a band like them existed in London in 2000/2001 with their brand of mod / psychadelic garage rock they would have been all over the music press as the next big thing. However being from Kent in 1982 when the rest of the world was interested in new romantics , new wave , new wave of British heavy metal and various other genres beginning with the word 'new' it was never going to happen.
There`s quite a few influences at work on this album , the album opener 'Better In Black' sounds just like The Jam , even vocalist Graham Day sounds like a more gravel voiced Paul Weller . The following song , the title track 'A Taste Of Pink' is an instrumental song plucked straight from mid 60s , Jamie Taylors organ dominates on this track and theres an obvious influence from the R&B / mod pop bands of the time such as Booker T & The MGs.There are a couple of nice ballads on the album too in 'There Can`t Be A Place' & 'Threw My Heart Away' which are pure mid 80s jangly C86 indie 4 years early. Another highlight is 'Come To The Mushroom' which is pure early Pink Floyd (Try telling me that album cover isn`t a total rip off from Piper At The Gates Of Dawn).There`s also a couple of more 'punk' numbers in 'Creepy Crawlies' & 'Say Your Prayers'.The album finishes with possibly the best track on the album 'Don`t Call My Name'.
I can`t remember where I first heard of this band.I think it was about 3 or 4 years ago reading something about them when this album was reissued.Glad I checked it out though.They put out a couple more albums that were lapped up by their cult following but sadly it wasn`t enough and they lasted just 3 more years and split in 1985. Shame.

Favourite Songs - Better In Black , There Can`t Be A Place , Come To The Mushroom , Don`t Call My Name




I was there........

Around 1987/88 the BBC`s acclaimed documentary series 'Arena' broadcast an eagerly awaited documentary about 'Heavy Metal' , on 9pm one Friday evening. As a young kid just getting into metal at the time this was unmissable veiwing and I sat down to watch it with my Dad. Expecting to see the usual metal bands of the mid 80s , people were shocked to discover that the main topic of the documentary followed one band....... Napalm Death. From the moment the band launched into their live show things were never quite the same again.
My Dad sat there with his jaw on the ground , I was staring wide eyed at the screen in amazement that a band like this even existed. It might sound old hat now but back then you NEVER had music like this on prime time TV. This to me was my 'Sex Pistols on the Grundy show' moment. They had songs a couple of seconds long , they called Slayer a bunch of wimps , my parents thought it was a joke. They were perfect.
I went to school the following Monday , all the metal kids were only talking about one band , Napalm Death.The metal magazine letters pages went into meltdown , even metal fans thought it was a joke. Suddenly Iron Maiden seemed boring in comparison.
I never did get around to buying the album , no money at that age plus indie albums were hard to get here at the time. I did pick up a couple of their later more 'Death Metal' albums but it was a totally different line up and wasn`t really the same.
I finally did get the album a few weeks ago , with the original Dorrian , Embury , Steer , Harris line up.It bought back so many memories and I listened to this brutal , loud , uncompromising music with a huge shit eating grin on my face.
My first ever contact with 'underground' music , and probably the best too.

Favourite Songs - Evolved As One , It`s A MANS World , Cock Rock Alienation , Mentally Murdered

I only have Scum. It's pretty... brutal. In a good way though.

I finally own this again after losing it when I moved house a few years ago , so i`m now happy.
I got into this lot in the late 90s after getting into Ian Svenonius following band The Make Up. I liked The Make Up but I found that a lot of the gospal style preaching detracted from the music. I found myself wishing that Svenonius would just shut up & play. The Nation of Ulysses seemed to me to be a more streamlined band than the Make Up and I liked them a lot more for that.
I like the band for the same reason I like bands like the New York Dolls & Motorhead, It`s pure dumb loud rock n roll. I`ve always thought that if the New York Dolls were a post punk band they would sound like this. In fact during the song 'Today I Met the Girl I'm Going to Marry' features the exact same spoken word intro to the Dolls 'Lookin For A Kiss'.
I do find it funny there are some people consider this band an influence on emo. I think that kind of misses the point. The whole beauty of the Nation Of Ulysses is that they are totally superficial. The defining theme of this album is image , it`s about looks , clothes , manifestos , political imagery , preaching , In fact you could say that the Nation Of Ulysses are the ultimate scene/poser band , something that your average 'real' emo fan seems to detest.
The whole subject of album is little more than a joke to me. To me this is satire of musical elitism done so well you wonder if they`re being serious or not.But the music on it is faultless. Punk? post punk? hardcore? post hardcore?....who the hell cares, to me it`s great rock n roll.

Favourite Songs - Spectra Sonic Sound , Look Out ! Soul Is Back , Asprin , Target USA

^Could you upload that album and possibly go on with the list? I'm gonna try to find everything I haven't heard from the 100 and this thread as well.

It`s a while since I did anything in here but i`m in the mood to start it up again so here we go.........


First off I have to say that this is going to really difficult because I do not have a clue how i`m even going to begin to describe this album , In fact i`d even struggle to tell you which genre you could stick this under.All I can do is tell you this album is wonderful and just say how it sounds to me. I`m sure if anyone listens to it they`ll disagree with me totally and roll off a load of other names that this sounds like but it doesn`t really matter, the point is this is in a class of it`s own.
I know virtually zero about this band , I know they`re made up of four beardy multi-instrumentalist none of which have a defined role in the band , and that they`re a backing band for ex Swans vocalist Michael Gira. But thats about it.
The album opens with the 9 and a half minute epic Blessed Force which starts off sounding like Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart fronting The Mars Volta , before going off on various tangents including bubbly acoustic guitar and chanting before finishing off in some kind of freeform jazz interlude. The second song Gone Beyond is an acoustic folk song , The title track sounds like a cross between and Irish folk song and a sea shanty. Next comes a couple more slower tracks , No Space In This Realm verges on post rock , Lightning Bolt Of Compassion is another acuostic ballad.The Rider (Dolphin Song) is a 7 minute psychadelic wig out. The final song Love & Space is a mellow track that sounds like a Pogues song sung by a barbers shop quartet.
A totally weird album , but I love it.In fact it`s easily one of my favouirte albums of the year.

Favourite Tracks - Blessed Force , Meek Warrior , Lightning Bolt Of Compassion , The Rider (Dolphin Song)

God I'm loving this shit. I get the feeling Meek Warrior might just make it into my Top 100.

My God is it really a year since I updated this?

You'd be correct