Slartibartfast's Magical Music Random Load Blog

Drawn from the last 137 a set of 14 (I still have two to finish listening to from the last draw):
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer    Return of Manticore, The Disc One            35 -  The four disc set is a good sampling of the truly best of ELP.  Didn't really need a new version of Touch And Go or 21st Century Schizoid Man, but I did like their rework of Pictures At An Exhibition and Hang On To A Dream and Fire.

Genesis    Wind & Wuthering            47 - a really quite dreamy album when you think about so I decided to put on some headphones and give it a listen in bed before sleep.

Gentle Giant    Interview            48 - I think most people would agree that this the album where they started slipping.  Not a bad album but not as good as what they had done before.

Gismonti, Egberto    Sol Do Meio Dia            49 - Gismonti, Vasconcelos, Towner, Walcott, and Garbarek, say no more. Music dedicated to the Saipan and Xingu Indians.

Holst, Gustav    Planets, The            61 - had to get a copy of the original music although I liked what Tomita and Gleeson did with their synth interpertation.  From the same bargain bin classical series as the Williams album from the previous load.

Jackson, Joe    Night and Day (Deluxe Edition)            64 - probably didn't really need to get this one.  Didn't need Night and Day demo tracks, but I did get the Mike's Murder tracks so what the hell.

Jethro Tull    Little Light Music, A            65 - a nice collection of live mostly acoustic Tull.

King Crimson    In the Court of the Crimson King (Remaster)            71 - I could have sworn this one already came up the cycle.  I could really care less about the endless debates on this album: first prog, etc.  It's still a damn fine album.

Metheny, Pat Group    First Circle            80 - at some point I started to lose interest in getting all the Metheny I could whenever it came out.  This wasn't it.  Any Metheny fans drinking a beverage when the first track started probably spewed it out their nose.  Does humor belong in music, yes.

Oldfield, Mike    Killing Fields, The Original Film Soundtrack            87 - good movie, good soundtrack.

Oregon    Moon and Mind            88 - it's weird but I didn't start digging back too deep into Oregon's 70's catalog until recently.  Glad I did.  And what do you know?  Two albums with Walcott and Towner in one draw.

Phillips, Anthony    Sides            94 - continuing in path of related draws, another Genesis guy.  He'll never top Geese but it's OK for what it is.

Rutherford, Mike    Smallcreep's Day            109 - another Genesis guy.  Well I'm glad Banks and Rutherford managed to at least squeeze out one decent prog album each.  For some reason they got LP sides reversed on the CD, so I fixed it when I ripped it.

Yes    Symphonic Music of Yes            134 - Yes guys have a stronger presence on this one but I only got it because it was cheap used.  Not really necessary.

Loading today for tomorrow.

If anyone wants to for fun, see how many dots you can connect between these albums.


Edited by Slartibartfast - February 28 2012 at 13:16

Bruford    Gradually Going Tornado            17 - Holdsworth is gone, singing is back courtesy Jeff Berlin.  He does a pretty good job, I just like the instrumentals on this album better.

Bubu    Anabelas            18 - an album I wouldn't know from boo if weren't for PA. 

Buckethead    Bucketheadland 2            19 - a little less shredding and more creepiness.

Frith, Fred    Cheap At Half the Price            39 - fun little politically oriented album.  Homemade with Frith accompanying himself a cheesy little Casio keyboard and borrowed drum bits.  Sampling before there was sampling.

Hackett, Steve    Cured            43 - hope I don't wake in the morning, trying to find you attempting pop...Has a few good moments, often the songs have a nice proggy intro and then fizzle when Steve starts to sing.

McDonald and Giles    McDonald and Giles            62 - I haven't had the CD for but a few years now.  It just doesn't really excite me.

McLaughlin, John    Floating Point            63 - speaking of albums that don't excite me.  It got a lot of really positive reviews on this site but.

Nice, The    Ars Longa Vita Brevis            68 - a little crazy a lot of moderized classical, I like it.

Residents, The    Animal Lover            84 - I saw it browsing and decided to give it a try.  My last was Wormwood.  This one's much better.

Scofield, John & Pat Metheny    I Can See Your House From Here            89 - another jazz rock album that fails to excite me.  Metheny has taken a decidedly negative view of the term jazz rock/fusion being applied to his music.  I think the PM Group album represent some of the best of that.  I think this album is one in which he runs away from that style.

Yes    Keystudio            109 - what might be the classic band lineup is on this one.  Sometimes I just fail to see the reason they kept making music.


Edited by Slartibartfast - April 05 2012 at 19:17

moshkito wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: moshkito wrote: Hi,   Wish I could get out of listening to "Feast of Ashes" ... Djam Karet. (Burning the Hard City) ... I think I will wear down the CD player on the car ... and then worry about it! Before that it was the Girl from ... and Dagelbert's ... from Dance of the Flames by Guru Guru ... before that it was Riuichi Sakamoto's "Heartbeat" (specially the title cut ... 17 times in a row!) ... so there ... my mini-blog! I've run through all the DK albums in this cycle including that one.  The rest I don't know. By the way, why do you like to open up most of your posts with Hi?  If I'm not on perhaps it should be "Hello, hellllo, are you there?" I thought I'd rename the title just to fool people into thinking this is a new blog.   Riuichi Sakamoto only did an umpteen number of soundtracks, has an Oscar in his closet for writing the western music in a movie that David Byrne wrote the Eastern music, and on top of it also acted a lot and happened to be a fabulous keyboard wizard ... with ... Yellow Magic Orchestra!

Hang around here enough and you'll learn something new. 
My brother had a YMO album that I think was made of yellow vinyl....

It may have been magical but I cannot attest to that.


Edited by Slartibartfast - March 20 2012 at 13:16

The High Llamas will finish out the last round today.  Time to load up 15 plus one for the truck.  And the lucky winners are:
Amos, Tori    Strange Little Girls            3 - I couldn't believe it when I saw that Adrian Belew was the guitarist for this album.  An album of covers.  Most notable for me are the deconstruction of Neil Young's Heart Of Gold and her version of Slayer's Raining Blood is absolutely chilling particularly considering it came out right after 9/11/2001

Beck, Jeff    Emotion & Commotion            10 - two words: Tal Wilkenfeld, spring for the version with the concert DVD.

Budd, Harold    Room, The            17 - I listened to this one while I was in one of my rooms.  One of his better ones.  Not that there are any I'd consider bad.

Bush, Kate    Sensual World, The            19 - this album was new out when my maternal grandmother died and it will always remind me of that fall season.

Carlos, Wendy    Digital Moonscapes            20 - after being wowed by The Beauty In The Beast, I found this one a bit of a disappointment, can't really quite put my finger on why other than the music on that one is just much more interesting.

Curved Air    Air Cut            22 - considering that all that was left of the original band was Sonja Kristina.  The beginning of Eddie Jobson stalking Darryl Way.

De Grassi, Alex    World's Getting Loud, The            24 - Alex' claim to fame was his solo acoustical guitar work on Windham Hill label.  He put a band together for this album.

Happy the Man    Death's Crown            38 - One for the fans.  It's a concept album that precedes their first release on Arista.  The recording is demo quality for the time and many of the musical ideas would show up in their first official releases.

Hine, Rupert    Immunity            39 - this album came to the used bookstore I was working at.  I gave it a try because it had Phil Collins on it as a guest musician for two tracks.  It's a mix of crossover prog and synth pop.

Mahavishnu Orchestra    Inner Worlds            47 - probably my least favorites when stacked up against any of the albums that came before it yet it has one of the most beautiful songs John has ever done: Lotus Feet.

Metheny, Pat    New Chataqua            51 - did we really need a new Chakakahn?  Just a man and his guitar.  One Quiet Night did not turn out as well as this.

Phideaux    Doomsday Afternoon            60 - after I tried Fiendish, in 2007, I went on a raid and got five more titles including this fresh out one.  Certainly my favorite, but I really enjoy the others as well.

Porcupine Tree    Fear of a Blank Planet            66 - PT has yet to put out a bad album since I got on the train with In Absentia.  Same for those that came before.

Sutin, Paul with Steve Howe    Seraphim            75 - even though Steve got top billing, he doesn't play on all the songs so I logged it in with Paul's name first.  Kind of new-agey.

Wyatt, Robert    shleep            85 - my intro into Wyatt's solo work.  I was familiar with old Soft Machine, but there was a radio program on National Public Radio that I happened to tune into by chance and it was an interview and the discussion focused on this newly released album.  I was instantly hooked.  Still probably my favorite.

Zappa, Frank/Captain Beefheart/Mothers    Bongo Fury    - my first Zappa album and also introduced me to Beefheart.  Weird wild stuff.


Edited by Slartibartfast - April 14 2012 at 17:55

I generally only read a book once.

Ran through my last batch, working on the next set:
Anderson, Jon and Vangelis    Short Stories            4 - I was already a Vangelis fan when this album came out, heard if first on the radio.  Like it much better than Cairo.

Beck, Jeff    You Had It Coming            9 - not as good as most of his '70's stuff.  Jeff did get back on par with E & C.

Curved Air    Lovechild            17 - one of those long lost albums from the Jobson period this time with two of the original members.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer    Return of Manticore, The Disc Four            19 - could scratch all the sappy love songs on this disc, but it is redeemed by Pirates.

Kansas    Leftoverture            37 - rightfully a highly regarded Kansas album although I think I've heard Carry On Wayward Son enough for a lifetime.  It's not bad for a commercially successful prog song.

Maserati    Inventions for the New Season            39 - my intro to this band was sampler CD included with an Explosions In The Sky Song.  I'd describe their music as more energetic.  Went to try and order a copy of the album but it hadn't been released yet.  I like Maserati better but like all post rock I've tried, nothing seems to distinguish one album from the other.

Metheny, Pat Group    Speaking Of Now            41 - another good album, but seems like after a string of really good albums, starting with the debut, they don't really have anything new to say.

Patterson, David    Selene            46 - David is or at least was a local guitarist, kind of crossover.  I was surprised to find this for sale on Amazon.

Porcupine Tree    in absentia            54 - the album that started it all for me as a PT fan.  It's weird mixture of heavy metal and prog rock, with some Crosby Stills and Nash like vocal parts here and there.  Just clicked.

Porcupine Tree    Stupid Dream (Remaster)            55 - I was trying to complete my PT catalog and this along with Lightbulb Sun were two that were out of print.  I found a new import version that I paid too much for and wouldn't you know it, the remaster was released shortly after.

Santana    Shaman            58 - I mostly like his guests albums that started with Supernatural.  Of course they are always a mixed bag.  I can't stand that song that opens up with the vocalist telling us to turn it up.  I usually turn that one down or hit skip.

Talking Heads    Little Creatures            62 - they peaked with Remain In Light for me.  I kept following them up until their demise, but nothing had the magic of that. 

Various Artists    Big Blue Ball            68 - kind of like what Santana was doing with his albums like Supernatural only not just primarily vocal collaborators.

Wyatt, Robert    mid-eighties            70 - Robert Wyatt: one of the things that didn't suck in the '80's. 

XTC    Homespun            71 - I don't think this was really worth getting but I was so thrilled that XTC had started making new albums again I had to have it.  I think a couple of listens for curiosities sake would have been enough.




Edited by Slartibartfast - April 18 2012 at 09:04

Coming down to the last few:
Afrocelts    Seed            2 - hate to say it but after a while there's only a point in getting so many of their albums as they are all rather similar.

Anderson, Laurie    Home of the Brave            3 - best experienced in video format, unfortunately only available on VHS and out of print at the moment.

Belew, Adrian    side one            7 - highlight of this was having Les Claypool guest on this one.  Downside, he only guests on a few tracks.

Claypool, Les and the Holy Mackerel    Highball With the Devil            11 - one of the many Claypool non-Primus projects.  They're all good.

Dregs, The    Unsung Heroes            12 - Dixie Dregs ditched the Dixie and did a radio friendly new version of Cruise Control.  I seem to recall that getting a little radio play.  They made one more album with two radio friendly tracks but gave up and disbanded, but would later come back alive.

Eno, Brian    Here Come the Warm Jets            13 - a bit of a rough debut, I still like it but a few more were to follow that I like better.

Enya    A Day Without Rain            15 - first saw her on VH1 before she became better known.  Some might wright her off as being too new agey, but it.

Fripp & Eno    No Pussyfooting            17 - I just recently added this one to the collection, maybe it was due to having a track called Swastika Girls.  Just for fun on the deluxe version they added a second disc with tracks run at half speed and backwards and the music still works.

Hine, Rupert    Wildest Wish To Fly            21 - took an interest in Rupert with Immunity.  My original copy was a promo.  Mixture of synth-pop and electronic prog or maybe it would fit better in crossover.

Jackson, Joe    Body and Soul            22 - this was his first album after a live show on the radio, I think it was King Biscuit, got me to take notice of him as an artist.  This one certainly deepened my respect for his work.

Kansas    In the Spirit of Things            25 - rather unremarkable album, but hey, it's got Steve Morse. 

Phillips, Anthony    Private Parts and Pieces IX: Dragonfly Dreams            32 - a cobbling together of pieces of various styles made at various times with Ant on various instruments.

Pineapple Thief, The    Tightly Unwound            33 - another one of those groups that after a while you realize one album isn't that radically different from another, which can be a good point and a bad point.  Good album, being my fourth addition.  I wasn't in a hurry to get their next one though.

Steely Dan    Everything Must Go            38 - glad they decided to start putting out albums again.  Nothing spectacular but your basic quality SD music.

Tangerine Dream    Mars Polaris            39 - I like this one much better than Vangelis Mars album and of course the Marscape album over them both.

28 titles left in the cycle, that's about two more loads.  I'll wrap up the blog with a random spin through anything newly added since before September 23 2010, when I started the whole collection cycle.

Edited by Slartibartfast - April 27 2012 at 15:14

And so ends this cycle:

Banks, Tony    A Curious Feeling - thank god Banks got one good solo album out before he went totally commercial.

Brand X    Manifest Destiny - latter day BX doesn't quite have the magic of early era or Phil Collins, but this one's pretty good.

Focus    Live at the BBC - great set sans Jan.  Philip Catherine is an excellent substitute.

Jackson, Joe    Look Sharp! (Remaster) - I don't think I would appreciate the songs on his earlier albums if I hadn't gotten to know them first in later live incarnations.

Johnson, Eric    Venus Isle - I dropped the cover art into the what are you listening to thread and what do you know, exposed a couple of other fans.  I have yet to get a bad EJ album.  One of those artists more folks around here should get to know.

Metheny, Pat    Bright Size Life - in many ways Pat was more adventurous with his earlier work.

Moody Blues, The    Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - the Moodies are one of those bands I felt the need to complete the early discography of even though I could easily cut out a lot of the quainter songs and come up best of compilation that would include some of the more commercially successful ones.

Nine Inch Nails    Year Zero - an improvement over his first comeback album.  Observations on life in the latter 2000's.  The last two songs are particularly moving.

Skeleton Crew    Learn To Talk/The Country of Blinds - I got the first album at a concert when the Crew came to town.  Took forever to come out on CD.  Really pleased to see it paired with a second SC album that I hadn't heard yet and of course the bonus tracks.

Vangelis    China - the V man got on a roll with me starting with Albedo this is part of it.

Yorke, Thom    Eraser, The - nice filler while I was waiting for In Rainbows.  Sad to say none of Radiohead's stuff post Hail To The Thief have had quite the impact on me as the ones from The Bends thru that one.

Zappa, Frank    Hot Rats - it's got rats and peaches, what's not to like here?

After this on to 94 titles added since this blog was started in 2010.


Edited by Slartibartfast - May 04 2012 at 15:12

Slartibartfast wrote: ... Gismonti, Egberto    Works - kind of shy away from compilations, but there's lots of good stuff here. ...

Slartibartfast wrote: ... Curved Air    Air Cut            22 - considering that all that was left of the original band was Sonja Kristina.  The beginning of Eddie Jobson stalking Darryl Way.

Barbu wrote: I appreciated reading your comments on the selected albums, Slarti. Fine read, good musical taste.

 

Edited by moshkito - May 03 2012 at 10:21