z.a.r.p.e.k. (O-Z) XIII
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Topic: z.a.r.p.e.k. (O-Z) XIII
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Subject: z.a.r.p.e.k. (O-Z) XIII
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 16:04
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Okay i have acouple of 2 on 1's here so two Thinking Plagues and two Ozric Tentacles. Floyd will of course win again but lets talk about these. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Replies:
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 16:14
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Top three would have to be Univers Zero's "Crawling Wind", Thinking Plague's "Moonsongs" and Walter Wegmuller. Mind you that Floyd album has to be part of this so i'll call this a top four and pick one later. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: infocat
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 19:04
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Weird, unlike previous z.a.r.p.e.k. polls, where I know at most one of the albums, I own six of these! I vote Erpland. ------------- -- Frank Swarbrick Belief is not Truth. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 19:27
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After a little doobious thought, I'm voting for Walter Wegmuller's Tarot. Trippy. |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 19:38
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I'll give Moonsongs a vote, one of my favorite TP albums. Warheads, Etude for Combo, title track.... three classics right there. As much as I like In Extremis (historically my favorite, but nowadays I dunno), the earlier stuff really benefits from Bob Drake's input. There's a certain roughness to his playing that keeps the album on edge. After Drake left, his successors were pretty much virtuosos, which is great, but something was kind of lost with no Bob. And I'm drawing a blank on the singer's name, but I really like her work with the band on this album and In This Life. Hard not to vote for Ummagumma, but .... when you get down to it, Ummagumma is kind of a BS album, being half live and half solo experiments. Don't get me wrong -- a fantastic album by one of my favorite bands, but if I were to make a case against it, I'd bring up how they kind of side-stepped the issue that they really were still kind of confused and uncertain after Syd left. Ironically, though, it's that very confusion that makes early Floyd so compelling to me. Somewhere along the way, they must have said, we may not have a clear direction right now, but let's just poke around and see what works.
------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 19:57
------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
infocat wrote:Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 19:58
An all-star cast as well with basically the Cosmic Jokers playing the music. Some find Walter's spoken word bits a negative but to me they fit the trippy music. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 20:03
Man the live part of Ummagumma i'd give 5 stars too, love it ! The studio part is an acquired taste no doubt. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 21:26
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Well this is a tough one, I have seven of these and like them all, could easily vote for either Ozrics, either Thinking Plague or the UZ, Ummagumma is one of my favorite Floyd albums as I love the live material. I'll vote for Present, the CD is excellent but the DVD that comes with it is out of this world. |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 01 2013 at 21:47
I'm going with Univers Zero's Crawling Wind. Originally released as an EP in Japan only it has been increased to over 42 minutes now. Some amazing live stuff on here and studio tracks. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 02:49
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Damn...another difficult round. Erpsongs, Crawling Wind, Barbaro, Moonsongs all top notch. I'm going to go with Moonsongs. Thinking Plague's first where they were firing on all cylinders. They really found their 'voice' here IMO and starting to write some great music. Almost pains me not to vote for CW as it's damn intense (esp with the original EP material). ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 02:51
Ditto for me on the rankings of TP's albums. And just for the record (didn't mention it in my other post), the live disc of Umma is definitely superior, but I quite enjoy the studio disc as well. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 05:56
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Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 06:10
In with Nogbad here, I'm going to cheat as well and vote for the Present album/DVD `Barbaro'! The album itself is a chilly, oppressive and stony monster. but THAT DVD....out of this world. Takes a few minutes to kick in, but when it does, it's the most intense, hypnotic vile and downbeat music...very addictive and emotional listening/viewing, I love it. If I could afford to lose any more, I'd be tearing my hair out watching it! 
Have to say, though, both the Ozrics albums are among their best, and two of their most defining works, they're sure to both see some love in this poll! |
Posted By: digdug
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 07:52
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I love Ummagumma but I will show the Ozrics some love Jurassic Shift is pretty awesome ------------- Prog On! |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 08:55
------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 09:05
 Man that proposed one day concert that Alain might do in Paris around the same time has my mouth watering with bands like One Shot, Unit Wall, Setna, Scherzoo and Neom. Are you kidding me !? Also i'm surprised Unit Wall hasn't been added here at the site.------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 15:06
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John, funny you mention Unit Wail, I bought that a couple of months ago from Greg Walker but haven't given it a proper listen yet. When Greg's updates show up, I tend to just buy several of the purely instrumental albums he gets (I've got a friend who prefers 100% instrumental albums, so I'm always on the lookout for smething to recommmend to him), and hope for the best! Usually end up with something interesting!
I'll dig out the Unit Wail CD now and give it a listen over the next day or so! 
Actually, just giving the opening track a spin now, what a dramatic, swirling Zeuhl run with nasty distorted guitar! I'll keep at it! UPDATED - John, several tracks into the Unit Wail album, it's really good! Man, even the jazzier stuff on it like the third track `Télété' has a really bent and off-sounding guitar/keyboard unease to it! |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 15:13
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I have written so few reviews, but Erpland was the second one that I wrote for PA so I share it here just for giggles. http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=133427" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=133427 And I also give it my vote. ------------- 
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Posted By: Sagichim
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 17:04
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Some very good choices here, I usually tend to go with the more obscure ones but this time I have to go with the Floyds. I never thought of Ummagumma as a directionless album, It's just a band experimenting with what they have. Haunting acoustic songs aside with pure heavy psychedelia, this is one of their albums who affected me the most, I don't know why but it just did.
Tarot is another goodie although some time those spoken vocals are too much, but plenty to find on this one no doubt. Same goes for that Sensations' Fix album.
Never heard those early Thinking Plague albums, I started with In Extremis and moved from then on. Guess I need to fix that although they are not mentioned here.
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Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 17:13
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Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 17:14
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Sagi, see what you think of this:
To be honest, there's different stuff on the album that sounds more Zeuhl-like, but overall it's rather bent, eerie and uneasy music. Bit of a mix of Crimson, Present, etc. Here's the description of it from the Wayside Music website: "Unit Wail is the long awaited return to music of Franck Fromy, who was the founder and leader of the rightly legendary dark French zeuhl band Shub Niggurath. The sound here is heavy and dark, but also modern; the sound is closer to modern, 00s heavy Zeuhl bands like Combat Astronomy and Ga'an. The line-up is Vincent Sicot-Vantalon (keysboards & all compositions), Philippe Haxaire (drums), Adrian Luna (bass), Emmanuel Pothier (synths) & Franck Fromy (guitar). Bassist James Hugget from Combat Astronomy even makes a guest appearance on one track. Propelled by a heavy rocking band, the music explores dark Crimsonian horizons, illuminated by Franck’s stellar guitar. Unit Wail proposes us here some kind of dark Zeuhl post-rock, exploring little frequented side-paths." I got this at the same time as that Strave album we've been discussing. Perhaps I should suggest them to be added to the site, unless someone has already done so? UPDATED - Band/album proposed in `Suggest New Bands' etc. |
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 17:17
Nogbad, I obviously posted that long reply/sample just as you were posting yours! Yep, I've been playing it all morning now, it's terrific!! It's probably because I bought about ten other CD's at the same time that it's been a little neglected. I have never heard Shub Niggurath, even though I certainly know OF them, is there a place you would recommend to start with them?
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Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 18:17
Their masterpiece is Les Morts Vont Vite, it's an absolute monster of an album, a lot more atmospheric, dark & menacing than Unit Wail but if you like that sort of thing it's genre defining alone with Univers Zero - Heresie. The other one to get is Introduction, it has one shared track with Les Morts but it's worth it for the rest. They are the only two albums released by the definitive lineup. To be honest I'd avoid the rest. |
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 18:30
Thanks for the suggestions, Nogbad, I've written them down to look further into them! Man, something as full-on as `Heresie' is a very intimidating prospect - bring it lol! 
Their most recent `Clivages' was really good if I recall? I've also got `Heatwave' by Univers Zero, but not really given it much of a listen, what's your opinion on that one? Should I go and dig it out? I've got a number of Present albums (although I don't enjoy those ones with vocals as much), and `Le Poison Qui Rend Fou' is in my top 5 favourite prog-related albums. I must have heard it over 70 times and it STILL floors me every time. That album seriously lowers the temperature of any room it's played in.....heh, and I frequently play it in my office at work much to the annoyance of other people!
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Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 19:29
I'd also recommend their second (or third) C'Etaient De Tres.... By no means as consistent as the other two but some of the pieces are just as good. Testament is a different beast all together, pure avant-garde madness full of noise, only recommended if you are into that sort of thing. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 19:34
I'd suggest you give it another chance and see if it connects. After that I'd go back Ceux Du Dehors, Uzed, Heresie & 1313. Present are a wonderful band, I've got everything by them and pretty much like all of it. |
Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 19:51
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I love the Present album a whole lot, between the beastly music on the CD and the awesome DVD footage.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 02 2013 at 21:05
------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Sagichim
Date Posted: January 03 2013 at 00:44
Thanks Mike that was great, like always your descriptions are on the spot. From that short video it does feel like they do belong here. Hmmm...but that drum sound can be a little tedious on the ears if listening to a whole album. I've heard it a hundred times, it was recorded with a trigger which sometimes sounds good and sometimes not. I find it harder to get used to, reminds me of the band About Tess. But I don't want to sound negative because I did like the music 
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Posted By: Eria Tarka
Date Posted: January 03 2013 at 14:55
| I vote Jurassic Shift... Tarot is an amazing album though. |