Paedantic Basterd

THANKS BOB YOU ARE THE BEST.

Bob is the best, everyone. Also, partners:

Janszoon - Frownland
Mankycaant - Bob
Goofle - Chrysalis
Howard - Trollheart

Goofle

Cool cool cool. I will have to get a little more familiar with my partner.

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Howard the Duck

i hardly even communicate with Trollheart until recently, but we have mutually agreed on the albums

his suggestion was this:-



which of course I am very familiar with, and is probably my fave Nick Cave, so here goes:-

famous for giving Kylie Minogue some sort of artistic "validity" in the duet "Where the Wild Roses Go" and is also a minor hit, this album is probably his most accessible, it is also essentially very maudlin and reflective of Cave's own introspections on the inter-relation between love and crime

it's composed of mostly ballads, and is slow and furtive, only picking up speed in "The Curse of Millhaven", and has a Dylan cover - "Death is not the End", which is nowhere my fave Dylan song, but his cover is good

the peak of this album is the 15-minute "O'Malley's Bar" and is pretty good for this sorta stuff - its arrangement is "strophic" but that doesn't stop it from being engaging

this is my fave Cave, followed by "Let Love In"

9/10

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

Trollheart

Although we may not have communicated personally, as he says, I have been following Howard's contributions to various threads over the last few weeks and I have to say, for a duck he's pretty damn sharp! We had a little SNAFU on the album he had recommended for me, as I had already reviewed it on my journal, so this is what we settled on.



I'm not at all familiar with UFO's work, though I do know of them, so will take a little time to listen to and form an opinion of this album. At the moment there's a medical semi-emergency going on in my house (when is there not?) so it may take a little longer, but I'll get to it.

Am I to assume there's a general format, a la how Howard has reviewed "Murder ballads", or am I allowed to let my creative muse run free, ie run off at the mouth until everyone wishes I'd just shut up?

Thx guys
TH

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

(Tried to send this as a PM but your inbox is full, young lady!)


If the above means you literally have to get everything you had again, and I can be of any help, let me know.

I can send you a list of the albums/artistes I have, and can upload anything you may be interested in.

Hate to see someone without music! Same thing happened to poor old Blarobbarg...

TH

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Goofle

Nujabes - Metaphorical Music

Chrysalis was kind enough to send me this album, and it is one that I have somehow overlooked, or at least not given a fair listen (I don't remember listening to it, but it's possible as I did recognise a few tracks). Anyway, here goes...

Firstly, I would like to comment on the production/sound of this album overall. It is so damn good. Absolutely perfect for this type of moody/chiller/laid back Hip Hop record. From start to finish, there isn't a beat on here that isn't well put together and at least nice to listen to, even if a little boring on it's own.

The opening track is so perfect, introducing the sound of the album right away. This leads into the first instrumental track on the album, which contains a Miles Davis sample, which is perfectly placed. Then, the highlight of the album and I assume their most popular song, Lady In Brown. That song is so good. The acoustic guitars, the rhythm, the production, the lyrics. All excellent. I wish a few more tracks had been like that.

Now, I am not great with remembering which tracks are which, but the album certainly takes a little drop off, not immediately, or to any great extent, but a few of the instrumentals just ended up sounding nice, then going nowhere. Nothing on this album is bad by any means, but I could have done without a few of the instrumentals, or at least shortened them (not sure how long the album is, but it feels around the 45/50 minute mark).

Overall the album is fantastic, and one I will be returning to quite regularly, but I will probably end up narrowing the track selection down in time, which I think will enhance my personal enjoyment.

I would give it a 4/5, but some days I feel less strongly about it.

Thanks again to Chrysalis.

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Trollheart

Lights out --- UFO --- 1977 (Chrysalis)

Tracklisting:

1. Too hot to handle
2. Just another suicide
3. Try me
4. Lights out
5. Gettin' ready
6. Alone again or
7. Electric phase
8. Love to love

Howard sent me this album, and I will be the first to admit I know virtually nothing about the music of UFO, but do know that they're respected in the rock and metal community as one of the greats. So I'm interested to see if that reputation is deserved.

Have to say, from the opening this sounds very Steppenwolf to me, good hard guitar work and a vocal that's a little raw maybe, few touches of BTO in there too. I have to say I'm surprised to find the great Michael Schenker on guitar: thought he was always in German bands? In fact, if I glance through their alumni it's clear that UFO have been, over the years, something of a clearing-house for some of the best talent in English rock. Names like Bernie Marsden, John Sloman, Neil Carter, Aynsley Dunbar, Simon Wright, Laurence Archer and Jason Bonham show just how respected this band has been, to have featured such luminaries in their ranks.

The introduction of piano for second track “Just another suicide” works very well, tempering the rougher sound and allowing Phil Mogg's vocals to come through clearer and more solidly; great guitar work from Schenker again with Pete Way and Andy Parker holding the rhythm well. I find this a lot more commercial than the opener, “Too hot to handle”. The piano again features heavily, along with a great strings section in the only ballad, “Try me”, which suits Mogg's smoky, aching vocal well, and a soulful and intensely laidback guitar solo from Schenker completes the picture. Standout so far.

The title track, which I think became one of their standards, kicks everything back up into high gear again, with a healthy dose of organ courtesy of Paul Raymond (wasn't he involved with all those Penthouse playmates?) and I can see why this is so loved among their fans. It's a real anthemic power-rocker, trundling along like a locomotive with thunderous percussion from Parker and pulsating bass from Way. Maybe I was misrepresenting Mogg's voice at the start, or maybe it was just a bad track for him. Certainly seems to be fully into his stride now, and no complaints from me.

This is like those old vinyl records I used to buy as a youth, where you more or less expected eight, maybe a maximum of ten tracks per record, and this has just the eight. “Gettin' ready” again brings in the Bachman-Turner Overdrive influences, a very seventies rocker which sounds like it belongs more at the beginning of the decade rather than towards the end. Touches of Free can also be made out, but this is a lot less impressive than the previous, then their cover of Love's “Alone again or” is well, just strange. Almost like the sixties trying to muscle in on the seventies. Some great slide guitar on “Electric phase” and then we're into the closer, and the longest track on the album at just over seven and a half minutes.

“Love to love” opens with an almost three-minute instrumental section on piano and guitar, with strings coming in just before the vocal hits, the strings becoming an integral part of the melody as it takes flight, with a certain sense of blues permeating the latter part of the song, however I hate the way it just falls apart at the end and finishes abruptly.

Having listened to this as my first UFO album I wouldn't say I'm that impressed, and it's not likely to encourage me to seek out any more of their stuff, not at the moment. I don't rate albums, but if I did, this would probably get a 4/10, maybe sneak a 5, but no higher.

Thanks though Howard, for if nothing else satisfying my curiosity.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Paedantic Basterd

Do we want to do this again for July?

Janszoon

I still have to post my review of the album Frownland sent me for June! Hopefully I can do that tonight.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Trollheart

Yup, count me in!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018