Slartibartfast's Magical Music Random Load Blog

Wha? three slots left.  Toss out some of that other stuff and put in these:

Well, I had three to go from the last set and Roxy's Country Life came up.  One of my favorites, though number one is probably Viva as it was the one that got me into them.  From the middle or their discography, more or less, Bryan's vocal style was starting to get a little smoother.  So I'm going to play it and have A Really Good Time.

Thanks again to Jammun for his suggestions.

Slartibartfast wrote: Well, I had three to go from the last set and Roxy's Country Life came up.  One of my favorites, though number one is probably Viva as it was the one that got me into them.  From the middle or their discography, more or less, Bryan's vocal style was starting to get a little smoother.  So I'm going to play it and have A Really Good Time. Thanks again to Jammun for his suggestions.

I could easily go through your 'master' list and come up with another 100 or so favorites.  Sadly, you're missing some Mouth & MacNeil or ABBA, but that's just the Euro-pop devil on my shoulder...you know that little red guy with the goatee and horns and pitchfork... doing the talking .

I can do drive bys of your suggestions though.  

Davis, Miles    Agharta - I think I may like this better than Pangea.  Both improved out the same day.  That is rather astonishing. 

Eno, Brian-David Byrne    My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Remaster) - Added some extra tracks, subtracted Qu'ran.  Great, now I have to keep both copies.  A really interesting collaboration/experiment.  Makes Everything That Happens pale in comparison.

Jethro Tull    Thick as a Brick - nominally 4 inches in the US.  Remains one of my favorites from Tull.  A bit of a step up from Aqualung, which I also like a lot.

King Crimson    Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Remaster) - A significant step forward for KC.  Seems like there was a bit of meandering after the itchycock.  Then we got a solid three albums before KC went on hiatus.  When I first heard the opener I didn't know what to think, but I knew I liked it.  The prog I had gotten into at that point had already softened me up to new forms of music.  This kind of took things a bit further.

Return to Forever    Return to the 7th Galaxy: The Anthology - I don't know exactly why, but this is currently the only RTF CD I have.  Have a few DiMeolas and Coreas solos.  Might have to do with this being an excellent anthology with unreleased tracks to boot.

Talking Heads    Fear of Music (Remaster) - the original album has a textured cover.  The Fripp cameo is pretty cool.  Not your daddy's prog, but prog it is.

Weather Report    Sweetnighter - a basic and good JRF album for me.  I was a latecomer to it and it hasn't made a big impression on me as much as their more famous albums.  Jaco came along and kind of blew away Sid's brother Miroslav.  Still a fan of Vitous, too.

XTC    Skylarking - when this came out I had pretty much become a I have to get whatever they put out next right away kind of fan.  This is one of those bands whose albums tend to bring me back to period when they were released because when I got one I played it over and over and over.  It would shock you too...

Zappa, Frank    Thing-Fish - one of my first CD additions.  I was already digging Zappa for the musical qualities and the crudeness.  This one doesn't disappoint.  Also, for those who don't know and give a damn and are old enough to view, Frank did a photo shoot of the album in Hustler magazine: http://home.online.no/~corneliu/thingfish2.html



Edited by Slartibartfast - October 09 2010 at 10:09

Fresh batch this morning:
Eluvium    When I Live By the Garden and the Sea
Fleck, Bela & the Flecktones    UFO TOFU
Glass, Philip    Music With Changing Parts
Jackson, Joe    Symphony No. 1
Marillion    anoraknophobia
Nektar    Down To Earth
Oregon    Beyond Words
Ozric Tentacles    Spirals In Hyperspace
Police, The    Synchronicity
Wakeman, Rick    Songs Of Middle Earth (The Seven Wonders of the World/Heritage Suite excerpts)

Time to hit the shower.

Slartibartfast wrote:   ... Eno, Brian-David Byrne    My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Remaster) - Added some extra tracks, subtracted Qu'ran.  Great, now I have to keep both copies.  A really interesting collaboration/experiment.  Makes Everything That Happens pale in comparison....

^ To be honest I don't always get at what you're getting at.
Which Byrne/Eno album were you referring to and why would I want to get "bootleg versions of DSOTM and listen to them with a tuned ear"?

I'm not too particularly production focused unless it's bad.  I take it the two albums you are referring to are Black Sea and English Settlement, unless you meant Go 2.   

As far as Down To Earth goes, I can't agree that the band was pretty much over.  Really liked Recycled.  But tastes are tastes.


Edited by Slartibartfast - October 12 2010 at 18:21

I'll leave off commentary on Omphrey as it's new

Joachim Kuhn Band    Sunshower - Top notch JR/F. Jan Akkerman is on this one.  I've been told that Kuhn is primarily a jazz guy.  He did do at least two JR/F's which I have.

Residents, The    Bunny Boy, The - I've become a bit tired of their newer stuff.  They did have some interesting stuff online to accompany this album that I never made it all the way through.  I'll probably save it for truck play so I can give it a better listen.

So, on to the randoms:

Big Big Train    The Difference Machine - This band has made a big big impression on me.  So far they just keep getting more prog.  My latest addition and I have pretty much a complete set.  They really are that good.

Curved Air    Airborne - Not one of their better moments but it has some good moments.  I'll get back to you with those as there really aren't anythings currently memorable.

Fleck, Bela & the Flecktones    Flight of the Cosmic Hippo - When I was thirsty for new prog and it by and large wasn't out there as far as I knew, Fleck and company were something completely different by traditional prog standards.

Hackett, John, Steve Hackett    Sketches of Satie - I was familiar with one Satie piece.  This is the only full set of stuff I have.  Really nice.  Really tempted to go out and get something where the original versions were recorded but this stuff is so beautiful I probably don't really need to.

Hedges, Michael    Live on the Double Planet - Mike had added singing to his music at this point.  I most certainly preferred him as an instrumentalist.  But hey, there's a mixture of both and the guy died in a car accident way before his time.

High Llamas, The    Gideon Gaye - A band that likely won't appeal to most prog fans.  But you never know about my favorite tracks: Checking In, Checking Out and Track Goes By.  Might just win you over.

Marillion    Somewhere Else - I wrote a brief review of this one right after my first listen and got a smack down for it being my first listen and other things about the review.  It no longer wows me as much as my first impression.

Medeski Martin and Wood    End of the World Party (just in case) - I had to get this one just in case I needed to have an end of the world party.  Only one of two MMW's I have and I'd recommend it (just in case).

Metheny, Pat Group    STILL life (talking) - Pat was moving into a phase where I found his music more formulaic and less interesting.  STILL good stuff, but not great stuff.

Ponty, Jean-Luc    Tchokola - Ditto for Ponty here.  There is the novelty of working with African musicians, but not quite the magic of his earlier albums.

Synergy    Games - One of Larry's best for me. 

Wyatt, Robert    Nothing Can Stop Us - Robert Wyatt being over left wing political?  Who'd have thunk it? Nice set of mostly covers.

Zappa, Frank & The Mothers of Invention    Absolutely Free - I'm actually a newcomer to this one despite being a long time Zappa fan.  It still hasn't totally sunk in.

Jon Hassel  Earthquake Island - A relatively new addition that hasn't made a strong impression with me.  Stay tuned, I'll get back to you.

Nektar    Down To Earth - really my intro to the band and always loved the quirky style esp... the silly concepts and Nelly!
Ozric Tentacles    Spirals In Hyperspace - weird and wonderful, but I rarely return to the music.
Police, The    Synchronicity - is this prog? its their classic and put em on the map for sure along with Regatta...!


Edited by AtomicCrimsonRush - October 17 2010 at 16:51

Dude what happened to your avatar? It went from amusing to er...creepy. Oh nevermind i just read that it's your Halloween avatar.