Slartibartfast's Magical Music Random Load Blog

Banks, Peter    Two Sides of Peter Banks - almost like thumbing his nose at Yes.  Actually better or at least as good as The Yes Album.

Big Big Train    Gathering Speed - I would say shame on them for being waay too imitative of a part of Fountain Of Salmacis in one part.  Still a nicely done concept album.  Musically favors early Genesis a lot, which can be a good or bad thing for you

Byrne, David    David Byrne - David Byrne David Byrne - I set here writing this before giving it a spin and there's nothing memorable about it off the top of my head despite having had it around for a few years now.  David's solo albums are all good, but for me it's hard to top Remain In Light or his soundtrack for The Catherine Wheel.

Europa String Choir    Starving Moon - there's more than a few gems on Fripp's DGM label that I hadn't heard of and wouldn't have were it not for being on that label.  Sort of modern chamber music I think is how you'd describe it.  Think of a lighter version of Univers Zero.

I drew a couple of the great lesser known albums:
Lancaster, Jack and Robin Lumley    Marscape - Brand X in space sort of.  Also a great concept album.

Shadowfax    Watercourse Way - one of those gems from the later mid '70's when prog was allegedly starting to die and the album that made me push for their inclusion on this site.  Five stars without hesitation.  They tended to over-correct for mellowness when they surprisingly turned up on the Windham Hill label after seemingly disappearing off the face of the earth. 

Yothu Yindi    Freedom - Tribal Voice got me interested in this band.  This album was my second and where I stopped.  Not bad, but not as good as TV.  I mentioned this on this site and was told by someone that knew them a little better that I probably wouldn't need to bother with more albums.  I don't trust everyone's opinion so who knows, maybe later?


Edited by Slartibartfast - October 05 2011 at 06:46

Edited by Slartibartfast - October 05 2011 at 06:24

Djam Karet    Devouring, The - does have sort of a Halloween flavor to it.

Laddio Bolocko    In Real Time - odd band that a boss of mine was enthusiastic for.  I wouldn't miss it if it walked off.

Pastorius, Jaco    Word of Mouth - I think I like the self titled solo album better though I've had a copy since going back to the LP age.

Rhodes, Happy    Many Worlds Are Born Tonight - the artist is one of my treasured discoveries from last year.  Went on another binge of her albums this year and completed getting all that was readily available.

Summers, Andy    Golden Wire, The - I run across so many of albums in the used CD section over the years, though it's been a while.  Andy always works with excellent musicians.  Paul McCandless being the most notable for me on this one.

Synergy    Barcodes - I ran across this one on the internet looking for Larry Fast's Synergy.  Jazz fusion with Trey Gunn.

Weather Report    Black Market - not a particular stand out for me for some reason.

XTC    Rag & Bone Buffet - a good collection of B-Sides with almost no alternate versions of songs from other albums.


Edited by Slartibartfast - October 24 2011 at 22:48

A friend sent me a link to a video of LZ'S The Rain Song (from Houses of the Holy). It's on YouTube and is remarkable in it's progginess.  I never heard that on the album, but that live version is in a class of its own.

September's new releases have been pretty much worked over, so I'm loading up a batch of 13 today.  The randbetween gave me two 86s so I'm loading the Eno and the one after it:
Budd, Harold with Hector Laxou    Glyph - interesting, more for fans than newbies.

Coryell, Larry    Sketches of Coryell - yet another basic modern jazz snooze fest.  I've pretty much sworn off adding any more Larry that isn't from the '70's or so.

Coryell, Larry, John Abercrombie, Badi Assad    Three Guitars - like this one much better.

Eno, Brian    Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks - definitely one of the cream of the Eno ambient crop.

Eno, Brian    Before and After Science - one of my favorites particular for its diversity and having some ambient on it to boot.

Genesis    From Genesis To Revelation (Remaster) - yes the unfairly maligned album.  This is my third copy.  Couldn't resist the mini-LP packaging.

Phillips, Anthony    Missing Links Volume 1: Finger Painting - another fine assortment from the most prolific musician who ever was in Genesis

Porcupine Tree    On the First Sunday of Life - what do you know?  I also drew down another maligned first album.

Radiohead    Hail to the Thief - put this one in on the way home.  Once I got hooked, there is no bad Radiohead album.  Even their debut is OK for what it is.

Rhodes, Happy    Find Me - I was just playing this because it was displaced out of my CD jukebox.  So I'm loading up CDs this morning and had a hard time finding it.   Turned out I was looking in the wrong pile.  This is the one I'd recommend newbies try first.  The title track is sort of an tribute to And Dream Of Sheep.

Ten Seconds    Ten Seconds - one of those rare gems from the DGM label.  Not sure why they aren't on this site other than practically no one's heard of it.  I need to suggest it to the appropriate team.

Wakeman, Rick    Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record - I put this one in the league with Rick's better known

XTC    Mummer - when this came out I was already a die hard fan so I basically got every album whenever they came out and played them often enough that their albums always take me back to the time I heard them.  In this case I was wearing it out when I went to college.

Room for two more:
Ozric Tentacles    Spice Doubt - I hate to say it, I have a bunch of OT, but I can hardly tell one album apart from another.  So another fine album from the OT.

Anderson, Jon    Promise Ring, The - never again was Jon to release an album of the stature of Olias, but one of his better solo efforts.  This one has a Celtic flavor to it.

Speaking of Kate Bush, hers will probably be my last addition for the year.  Time to put the brakes on and get back to enjoying what I have.


Edited by Slartibartfast - November 04 2011 at 18:15

NIN's Ghosts is pretty good.

Eno, Brian    Another Day On Earth - hey it actually is.  Brian never fancied himself a good vocalist, but I was glad to see him get back to it and deliver an album that I really liked after The Drop and Nerve Net left me rather cold.  I find it rather interesting that a track with a computerized style vocal, And Then So Clear could be that moving to me.

Explosions In The Sky    Rescue, The - another one of those bands that if you like one album, you'll likely like them all because there isn't much variation between them and you can't beat a free download.

Ferry, Bryan    Taxi - Bryan's one of those guys whose solo albums I've only added when found at a used record store browsing.  I haven't heard one that rises to the level of Roxy Music musically, that is until Olympia.

Frith, Fred    Gravity - Fred had a run reasonably accessible though still weird albums in the '80's  This is one of them.  It refutes the notion that you can't dance to prog, which Fred has managed to do with several albums.

Gabriel, Peter    OVO:The Millenium Show - this was a bit of mystery to me as I'd been following Peter getting his latest releases when they came out and it passed me by until after Up.  Wish I had know about it when it was new.  Now it seems a little disassociated from his discography to me. 

King Crimson    Nightwatch, The - kind of didn't need this one what with having the Great Deceiver box set and Starless And Bible Black, but I figured what the heck.

Led Zeppelin    In Through the Out Door - many Zepplin fans rank this one pretty low.  I wasn't much of fan when I got this one, but I like it fine.

Mussorgsky,Tchaikovsky,Balakrev    Pictures at an Exhibition, Children's Album, Islamey - got this one for the original piano version of Pictures.  One listen and you'll know why it inspired Ravel to orchestrate it, ELP to update it for prog and add vocals, and most recently, Tori Amos to revamp some of it herself.

Phideaux    Number Seven - I'll be surprised if Phi ever puts out an album I don't like, this is his seventh one and I like it.

Phillips, Anthony    Soiree (Private Parts & Pieces X) - in his multitude of PP&P there are a lot of good albums yet few that really stand out for me, this would be one of those.

Roach, Steve    Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces - I was on a Roach kick for a while thanks to the long gone AOL ambient streaming station.  It didn't go too far, still good ambient stuff.  It's just for what I tried not much distinguishes them.

Sylvian, David    Secrets of the Beehive - was on a Sylvian kick for a while, I might get back to it at some point.  So I've got two bee albums a couple with Fripp, so far so good.



Edited by Slartibartfast - November 16 2011 at 07:15

Proggernaut wrote: You really need to listen to Led Zeppelin II - it is one of the best albums ever by them. Do yourself a favour and give it a go.

I like LZ II.  It got it's turn already  As it stands now only LZ IV is left in this round.

Slartibartfast wrote: Anderson, Laurie    United States Live (Disc Two) Dixie Dregs    Bring 'Em Back Alive Fayman (Jeffery) & Fripp (Robert)    a temple in the clouds Hassell, Jon    Fourth World Volume Two: Dream Theory In Malaya Incredible Expanding Mindf**k    1996-1999 Jarre, Jean Michel    Metmorphoses Jones, Percy    Tunnels Kayak    Royal Bed Bouncer Lavitz, T    Mood Swing Metheny, Pat Group    Travels     I do realy enjoy this live album...I'm keen on : Are you going with me Psychedelic Furs, The    Midnight To Midnight Tuck & Patti    Dream Wyatt, Robert    Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard XTC    Nonesuch (Remaster)

Anderson, Jon    Live From La La Land - if you're not a fan, this album will drag on too long.  If you are it's a nice set of Jon on his solo.

Beatles, The    Past Masters Volume Two - one of those bands I just don't need to know any better than I already back beyond their Rubber Soul era.  So, a good set of songs but I don't think I need number 1.

Buckethead    Cuckoo Clocks of Hell, The part of the Buckethead overload symptom for me.  I guess into every collection a heavy metal rain must flow.

Fleck, Bela and the Flecktones    Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - these guys were in their infancy as a band and a breath of fresh air.

Holdsworth, Allan    All Night Wrong - this one really hasn't sunk in much with me, I should like it better than this one:
Holdsworth, Allan    Road Games - I suppose but I think for me the problem is that Allan for the most part has made music I just like better than when he takes the helm.

Jethro Tull    Thick as a Brick - anyone who disses this album is either not paying attention or it just ain't for you, move on.

Monade    Socalism Ou Barbarie - ah ha ha ha.  Yes, I have an album with socalism in it's title.  I guess if I knew French language better I could appreciate it's socialism better.

Nine Inch Nails    And All That Could Have Been - OK driving around with this one in now.  Also have the companion video.  Maybe I'm just getting old, but sometimes the heavy stuff like this just wears me down.  Still The Res does manage to keep it interesting.

Primus    Frizzle Fry - this is one of those really interesting albums for me.  Never paid them much no mind at that time but when I gave this a try many years after it's release, I was extremely impressed.  Probably cemented my fanship of the band.

Steely Dan    Citizen Steely Dan: 1972 -1980 Disc 4 - this box set was my first collecting of any music by the band, and wow, what an introduction, it had the complete album compacted into four discs with some bonus material.  I was familiar with some of the music remained basically uninterested.  This set changed things in a major way.  Disc 4 is some of Aja mixed with Gaucho.

Wakeman, Rick    In the Beginning - saw this one sale at a Turtle's in the early CD age.  Looked interesting as I was Wakeman fan and certainly not hostile to Christianity.  It's still a bit of a dull album but any profits were dedicated to charity.  Needs a little Residents Wormwood for balance.


Edited by Slartibartfast - November 29 2011 at 20:35