Comus

Album 987



Comus - First Utterance
Year: 1971

Jangly, psychedelic and downright scary music makes this a must listen experience. Yes, it's my namesake Comus' first, and in my mind only, effort. The ability to make acoustic instrumentation sound so heavy is just amazing. The themes tackled are even more profound, violence and rape to name just two. It's an album that I've put off reviewing, and I can't see myself actually ever doing so, it has a certain grip on me and I can't really get past that to be able to properly talk about it. Everything is just perfect in my eyes, especially Drip Drip. However for such a strange album, there is a lot of beauty to be found, especially on the Herald which is the perfect juxtaposition to Drip Drip. Anyways, this is just an album to listen to, no matter what on earth you're doing it will work with this album, or at least you will make it work.

3 Choice Tracks: Diana, Drip Drip, The Bite

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Fruitonica

Man, this is some undertaking. Great choices so far, I'm going to get my hands on 010.

DeepDishBedPan

The description leaves me optimistically curious but the album cover gives me the uneasy sensations I often feel in anticipation of some bad heart burn.

Comus

Album 986



Camel - Moonmadness
Year: 1976

The title of this album is so about the menstrual cycle, I don't care what you tell me. But yes. The album shows a slight deviation from the direction they took in The Snow Goose, and a more mature band than made Mirage, which almost made it on the list instead of this one. The whole album, like a lot of Camel's music is mostly incredibly relaxing with a nice spattering of something a bit harder and edgier to keep you on your guard. Overall it is indeed a masterpiece, it has everything you'd want, beauty, passion, atmosphere and some great guitar. This is definitely one to listen to late at night, before you go to sleep, just to set you off and make sure you have some nice, calm and interesting dreams.

3 Choice Tracks: Spirit of the Water, Air Born, Lunar Sea

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Comus

Album 985



Billy Joel - Turnstiles
Year: 1976

Pop perfection, in every sense of the word. Wikipedia calls it rock, but I'm not fooled, this is pop at it's finest and why shouldn't it be? Billy Joel is the undisputed vocal and piano master of the 70's, not like that utter hack Elton John. Anyways this album is just flawless. There's not even a second of filler and it really does show. Every time you put this album on it is pretty much guaranteed to sound fresh and packed with beauty and hooks. I don't understand why this album is so often overlooked for Piano Man or The Stranger, when both have significant flaws. So far this has been the album which has made it very difficult for me to pick just three tracks. I wanted to include every one of them when I listened back over it to ensure it was worthy, and as good as I remembered. Anyways this album is great anywhere, at a party, at work (I used to play it at work), when going to sleep, when just sitting at your computer chilling and posting, when you're in the bath etc etc etc.

3 Choice Tracks: Summer, Highland Falls, Prelude / Angry Young Man, James

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DeepDishBedPan

I forgot about Billy Joel, I'll have to give this a listen tonight

Comus

Album 984



Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Year: 1994

What's this, experimentation? But you thought Pearl Jam were just some shitty Nirvana rip-off riding on Cobain's wave of popularity. Pearl Jam finally show some maturity and evolution as a band on their third effort. Both Ten and VS are brilliant albums, but Vitalogy is a masterpiece in it's own right. The overall shift in sound to a more sincere, realistic portrayal of who they are is incredibly refreshing. The new drummer does a great job and so does the rest of the band. This is one of the essential 90's mainstream albums, yet it's either dismissed because "it's Pearl Jam" or because "it's not Ten". Listen to this one if you're feeling just a bit angry and want a release on a degree a bit less than metal.

3 Choice Tracks: Nothingman, Better Man, Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me

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Comus

Album 983



The Sonics - Boom
Year: 1966

This is filthy, garage rock at it's best. It's dirty, it's heavy it's full of energy and a significant portion of the songs are covers. It makes you feel like, with little talent and a few instruments, you to can make a great album. Hailing from the fine state of Washington that also gave us our previous album it's this garage rock movement that eventually set the scene for grunge some 20 odd years later. This album makes for an incredible listen, if just to see how little garage rock has changed over the years. This album is one to listen to just before you get bathed, the dirt can be quickly disposed of and then you can enjoy your day with memories of this great music.

3 Choice Tracks: Cinderella, He's Waitin', Shot Down

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Guybrush

Nice little review of Vitalogy As you know, I'm listening to it right now and I very much agree with your description of it. Listening to it now, I think it might lack the accessible hits like Even Flow, Jeremy and Alive, but that doesn't mean there aren't songs just as strong as those and the whole album is enjoyable from start to finish.

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FireInCairo

The Sonics kick much garage ass.

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