Albums you've really tried to love...

[Frank Blank]

I am just watching another documentary that includes the Grateful Dead (Festival Express (2003)) and I am finally realising I don’t get the Grateful Dead.

[Rich]

On ‎04‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 15:51, Daz39 said:

I like Muse - brilliant drumming, bass work and guitars - but I think Matt gets lost in the 'I am a polymath, I must add more keys and noise to this' - and it gets a bit like the last days of Queen - pompous for the sake of it.

They do have some killer tracks though - you can't deny their technical craft, they just get a bit OTT with it. I suppose it's the split between making what they want and what the fans want - a similar problem Dream Theater have had.

Wholeheartedly agreed.

[Rich]

On ‎06‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 12:58, Frank Blank said:

Kraftwerk, however, have been a huge inspiration to me over the years, I totally dig them and yet I can understand people who don't.

Kraftwerk impress and intrigue me in the same way that the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop do/did. In order to make the sounds/music they wanted to, they had to actually make the instruments and media first. It's all very well doing a bit of programming or tweaking patches a bit, but these people had to actually make things to get the sounds they wanted. Bits of wire and tape and soldering irons and stuff. Fascinating.

[Norm]

On 2 July 2018 at 17:12, PaulWarning said:

Bruce Springsteen, I have tried but

Me too. Just don't get the music, quite like him as a fella but just don't get it.

[Frank Blank]

6 minutes ago, Rich said:

Kraftwerk impress and intrigue me in the same way that the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop do/did. In order to make the sounds/music they wanted to, they had to actually make the instruments and media first. It's all very well doing a bit of programming or tweaking patches a bit, but these people had to actually make things to get the sounds they wanted. Bits of wire and tape and soldering irons and stuff. Fascinating.

I remember seeing them before their current laptop set performances when they had the big consoles which were part self-built instruments part installations of existing instruments stripped and incorporated into the consoles. Their home-made electronic drums were excellent, I used to dream of playing such a thing when I was a kid!

[Frank Blank]

4 minutes ago, Norm said:

Me too. Just don't get the music, quite like him as a fella but just don't get it.

Likewise...

[Leonard Smalls]

13 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I remember seeing them before their current laptop set performances when they had the big consoles

I saw them on the Pocket Calculator tour at Liverpool Empire, many years ago.

One of the best gigs I'd ever been to!

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I saw them on the Pocket Calculator tour at Liverpool Empire, many years ago.

One of the best gigs I'd ever been to!

I saw them on that tour too at Hammersmith Odeon as was, July 3rd 1981 so good. I have seen them several times since, the last being 10th June 2017 at Usher Hall in Edinburgh, they are always astonishing.

[paul_5]

Donald Fagan’s ‘Nightfly’. Bought it on the recommendation of my bass tutor at the time (hella player and all round nice guy) and since I respected his opinion I sprung for a copy. Very impressive personnel but utterly, utterly unlistenable to me; stale, insipid lift music from the 80s. 

[Hellzero]

17 hours ago, Rich said:

Kraftwerk impress and intrigue me in the same way that the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop do/did. In order to make the sounds/music they wanted to, they had to actually make the instruments and media first. It's all very well doing a bit of programming or tweaking patches a bit, but these people had to actually make things to get the sounds they wanted. Bits of wire and tape and soldering irons and stuff. Fascinating.

Their first three albums were made using conventional instruments and the spirit was already there. Listen to them : Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2 and Ralf und Florian.

Don't forget that the two founders were classical musician interested in electronic music of the time (1968) so they knew what they wanted to hear and started with what they had : conventional instruments. Ralf und Florian is the beginning of the "massive" use of "synthesizers".

I would also recommend watching the Swedish film "Sound of Noise", very Kraftwerkian approach.

 

[Frank Blank]

4 hours ago, paul_5 said:

Donald Fagan’s ‘Nightfly’. Bought it on the recommendation of my bass tutor at the time (hella player and all round nice guy) and since I respected his opinion I sprung for a copy. Very impressive personnel but utterly, utterly unlistenable to me; stale, insipid lift music from the 80s. 

I just didn’t get Nightfly for years, decades, I eventually did get a hook on it via the lyrics I think. I love it now, not as much as Kamakiriad but damn it took a long time.

[grumpyoldfart]

Animals by Pink Floyd. Always hated it and never "got" it. Blackmores night - All our yesterdays - what the hell were they thinking about releasing  this?

[kendall]

for me its Mastodon - Emperor of Sand.  I liked some of early Mastodon albums but The Hunter and Once More Around the Sun, didn't do much for me.  I had high expectations for Emperor of Sand, reviews are good, lots of friends etc. commenting on what a great album it is.  For me, it leaves me cold.  I find it bland and a bit tedious.  Steambreather starts out great then descends into this annoying chorus.

I've really tried with this album, taken it on long runs, long drives and just as background when working, it never grabs me.  Looking on iTunes i've played it 20 times now and still nothing.  I have at last admitted defeat.

[Barking Spiders]

I've know three or four  Grateful Dead fanatics who had everything they ever did including several shelves worth of bootleg tapes. For myself, the tedium of having to sit through one of their dirgy albums brings on my migraines.

 

[Japhet]

18 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I just didn’t get Nightfly for years, decades, I eventually did get a hook on it via the lyrics I think. I love it now, not as much as Kamakiriad but damn it took a long time.

Ruby Baby is one of my all time favorite tracks to play along to. No chance of ever getting to play it with a band though since it hasn't got a guitar solo!

[Dad3353]

15 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

I've know three or four  Grateful Dead fanatics who had everything they ever did including several shelves worth of bootleg tapes. For myself, the tedium of having to sit through one of their dirgy albums brings on my migraines.

... and some folks have racks of disco-funk stuff that, to me, sound identical and cheesy. Different tastes, I suspect. 

[Daz39]

44 minutes ago, kendall said:

for me its Mastodon - Emperor of Sand.  I liked some of early Mastodon albums but The Hunter and Once More Around the Sun, didn't do much for me.  I had high expectations for Emperor of Sand, reviews are good, lots of friends etc. commenting on what a great album it is.  For me, it leaves me cold.  I find it bland and a bit tedious.  Steambreather starts out great then descends into this annoying chorus.

I've really tried with this album, taken it on long runs, long drives and just as background when working, it never grabs me.  Looking on iTunes i've played it 20 times now and still nothing.  I have at last admitted defeat.

Mastodon seem to have one sound now: loud with too many drum fills. Even the vocals are relentless. 

[Graham]

2 hours ago, kendall said:

for me its Mastodon - Emperor of Sand.  I liked some of early Mastodon albums but The Hunter and Once More Around the Sun, didn't do much for me.  I had high expectations for Emperor of Sand, reviews are good, lots of friends etc. commenting on what a great album it is.  For me, it leaves me cold.  I find it bland and a bit tedious.  Steambreather starts out great then descends into this annoying chorus.

I've really tried with this album, taken it on long runs, long drives and just as background when working, it never grabs me.  Looking on iTunes i've played it 20 times now and still nothing.  I have at last admitted defeat.

Yeah, with you on that, really wanted to like it and whilst an improvement on Once More... and possibly The Hunter too, it doesn't do it for me. 

I am a bit sad that the Mastodon who wrote Leviathan doesn't exist anymore, but I understand the need to sustain a career.

1 hour ago, Daz39 said:

Mastodon seem to have one sound now: loud with too many drum fills. Even the vocals are relentless. 

Try the Call Of The Mastodon EP - I swear the drums on that are just a constant stream of fills!

Edited July 9, 2018 by Graham
syntax

[Cosmo Valdemar]

2 hours ago, kendall said:

for me its Mastodon - Emperor of Sand.  I liked some of early Mastodon albums but The Hunter and Once More Around the Sun, didn't do much for me.  I had high expectations for Emperor of Sand, reviews are good, lots of friends etc. commenting on what a great album it is.  For me, it leaves me cold.  I find it bland and a bit tedious.  Steambreather starts out great then descends into this annoying chorus.

I've really tried with this album, taken it on long runs, long drives and just as background when working, it never grabs me.  Looking on iTunes i've played it 20 times now and still nothing.  I have at last admitted defeat.

I didn't really enjoy Emperor of Sand either. It wasn't 'bad',  just felt like going through the motions. Mastodon by numbers.

Up to this one,  all of their albums seemed to be a clear development for the band. Mastodon should never be bland.

[thodrik]

Okay, on the Mastodon front, I really don't mind Emperor of Sand. I really tried to enjoy The Hunter and Once More Around the Sun, but they seemed pretty bland to me after (in my opinion) a run of classics of Remission, Leviathan, Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye. The albums since Crack the Skye have just sounded a bit generic to me. Perfectly decent modern rock/metal affairs, but nothing that left me going 'wow'. 

Also, I don't like Brann Dailors clean singing on The Hunter and Once More Round the Sun. However in his defence I think his singing on Emperor of Sand is a lot stronger. His singing live was also a lot better when I saw them live last year when I saw them touring The Hunter. 

 

[Barking Spiders]

2 hours ago, thodrik said:

Okay, on the Mastodon front, I really don't mind Emperor of Sand. I really tried to enjoy The Hunter and Once More Around the Sun, but they seemed pretty bland to me after (in my opinion) a run of classics of Remission, Leviathan, Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye. The albums since Crack the Skye have just sounded a bit generic to me. Perfectly decent modern rock/metal affairs, but nothing that left me going 'wow'. 

Also, I don't like Brann Dailors clean singing on The Hunter and Once More Round the Sun. However in his defence I think his singing on Emperor of Sand is a lot stronger. His singing live was also a lot better when I saw them live last year when I saw them touring The Hunter. 

 

Righty ho I take a bit of a different view here.  I like Leviathan though my faves are Hunter and Once as tracks are shorter, more melodic and lack the proggy vibe of Crack and Blood. I can't abide prog in any shape or form. Also, I like the inclusion of Brann's clean singing while I really don't like Brent's voice. But in agreement with you peeps, I was a bit disappointed with EOS overall.

[thodrik]

1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said:

Righty ho I take a bit of a different view here.  I like Leviathan though my faves are Hunter and Once as tracks are shorter, more melodic and lack the proggy vibe of Crack and Blood. I can't abide prog in any shape or form. Also, I like the inclusion of Brann's clean singing while I really don't like Brent's voice. But in agreement with you peeps, I was a bit disappointed with EOS overall.

That would explain the difference. I'm a big fan of proggy non-traditional song structure so the proggy vibes of the Crack the Skye were right up my street. 

That said, one of my favourite Mastodon songs is Tread Lightly, the one that opens Once More Round The Sun. I just detest The Motherload (I don't like Brann's singing) and High Road (I'm Scottish so whenever I hear lyrics including 'You take the high road' it makes me think of The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond, so I will automatically hate the song).

Edited July 9, 2018 by thodrik
I can't spell

[Barking Spiders]

16 hours ago, thodrik said:

That would explain the difference. I'm a big fan of proggy non-traditional song structure so the proggy vibes of the Crack the Skye were right up my street. 

That said, one of my favourite Mastodon songs is Tread Lightly, the one that opens Once More Round The Sun. I just detest The Motherload (I don't like Brann's singing) and High Road (I'm Scottish so whenever I hear lyrics including 'You take the high road' it makes me think of The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond, so I will automatically hate the song).

Tread Lightly is also my fave with those other two among my fave ten Mastodon tracks as are 3 from Leviathan. I'm not even a rock fan and dislike most heavy metal but as always there are exceptions to the rule. Mind you, live they'd need to be more communicative with the crowd although Troy at least makes some effort to rock out.

[radiophonic]

On 08/07/2018 at 13:22, Hellzero said:

Their first three albums were made using conventional instruments and the spirit was already there. Listen to them : Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2 and Ralf und Florian.

Don't forget that the two founders were classical musician interested in electronic music of the time (1968) so they knew what they wanted to hear and started with what they had : conventional instruments. Ralf und Florian is the beginning of the "massive" use of "synthesizers".

I would also recommend watching the Swedish film "Sound of Noise", very Kraftwerkian approach.

 

+1. Also, there is much more of a continuum between the 'disowned' early records (Tone Float > R&F) and the 'official' canon than they'd like to admit. Aside from the title track, Autobahn shares quite a bit with R&F to my ears and there are still conventional instruments on Autobahn too. Florian's flute is quite prominent and Klaus Roeder played guitar - although he's been excised from the sleeve notes. I'm not sure if he's still on the back sleeve (inside the car). That picture was doctored anyway.  Not only were Ralf & Florian composition students, but Karl Bartos was an orchestral percussionist - also from the Franz Schubert Conservatory, recruited via their former tutor for the Autobahn tour. Only Wolfgang Flur was a rock'n'roller. Ironically, given the flack they took about musicianship, there can't be many successful pop bands with a higher level of formal training than Kraftwerk. It shows too. 

[HengistPod]

On ‎05‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 11:46, MacDaddy said:

I love me some Dio, but Mob Rules and Heaven and Hell, just don't do it for me.

Whereas stick some Holy Diver on, and 30 odd years just fade away...  \m/

I loved (most of) Heaven & Hell, and still think Die Young is absolutely one of the greatest rock songs ever.

I wasn't too fussed about Dio when he announced his solo band, but made the train journey down to Glasgow to see Waysted support him at the Apollo. Stayed on to watch Dio's set and was suitably blown away. Bought Holy Diver the next day and loved it.

Nowadays, though, I just can't listen to it. Comes across as simplistic repetitive heavy-metal-by-numbers, with uninspiring guitar playing and cod lyrics. I think Last In Line has stood the test of time better (caught that tour in Aberdeen, eardrums nearly burst by Geoff Tate's screeching in QR's support set). One Night In The City, though, eh? That'll do for me.