Slartibartfast's Magical Music Random Load Blog

NIN's Ghosts is pretty good.

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

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.

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

Edited by Slartibartfast - October 05 2011 at 06:24

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

I suspect you may be missing some of the newer titles while being fairly complete on the older ones.

Afro Celt Sound System    Volume 3 : Further In Time - sounds like some kind of weird disco group in name.  On Peter Gabriel's Real World label.  Really liked their first three but their subsequent albums haven't wowed me. 

Gabriel, Peter    Music by from the film Birdy - Peter's first venture into soundtrackland.  Some recycled stuff particularly from number 4.  Still a good package overall but possibly a bit awkwards with regard to fitting the movie.

Hedges, Michael    Taproot - I had quit following Michael so much after the started to add vocals to his music.  This is an excellent album.  Not because he just sings on one song but it is sort of a concept album.

Kaiser, Henry    Those Who Know History Are Doomed To Repeat It - I had encountered HK with Frith on the With Friends Like these album first.  Kept me away from him for a while.  This album looked intriguing.  It's a bunch of cover pieces but you learn new things.  Like the Andy Griffith Show theme song has lyrics and not just whisting. 

Led Zeppelin    III - aeeeeaaahhh aaahhh aaa ahhh...

Rypdal, Terje    If Mountains Could Sing - Rypdal as a composer doesn't quite appeal to me as much his band work.

Summers, Andy-Robert Fripp    Bewitched - kind of a step down from I Advance Masked, still good, but doesn't really answer the question What Kind Of Man Reads Playboy.

Torn, David    Cloud About Mercury -my intro to Torn.  Got it because I was familiar with Levin, Bruford, and Isham already.  Glad to see it was reissued.



Edited by Slartibartfast - October 05 2011 at 06:29

Slartibartfast wrote: Ariel and Aerial? Bass Communion     Bass Communion Bass Communion     Bass Communion Bass Communion     Bass Communion is what it is what it is what it is is what it is what it is what it is is what it is what it is what it is is. Belew, Adrian     Desire Caught By The Tail, Adrian as a solo musical painter.  An interesting experiment, glad he caught it.  Least favorite of his first three solos which isn't to say I hated it. Bush, Kate     Aerial - took long enough but worth the wait. Gong     Gazeuse!, egads!  knew this one first as a promotional copy of an LP called Expresso.  This was my first introduction to Gong. Goodman, Jerry     Ariel, OK, hands down, this one comes in second to Kate's Aerial.  If you were going to listen to that new age thing, this was a pleasant enough listen. Johnson, Eric     Venus Isle I loaded up Bloom instead, so that title gets tossed back in for future selection.  Bloom was a nice package, came with a pick in the style that Eric uses.  It's smaller than what I like to use. Rypdal, Terje     Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away - the album cover is a great reflection on the mood of the music, cold and distant. Tangerine Dream     Goblins' Club - gobble gobble gobble. Tangerine Dream     Turn of the Tides - not bad for work music, but I am home right now. Towner, Ralph     Lost And Found - another good one for work as it can go a little louder and not bother others.

Very good stuff

Slartibartfast wrote: Afro Celt Sound System    Volume 2 : Release - they started having guests.  In this case Sinbad O'Connor. Budd, Harold    Agua - a live album in an intimate setting.  None of us were likely invited.  A good selection of his piano stuff though. Genesis    Abacab - much maligned, screw you guys, even the most maligned, Whodunnit, is a fun tune.  What the guys aren't allowed to have a little fun and make a lot of money.  Misunderstanding was far more unforgivable.  Goodman, Jerry    On the Future of Aviation - Goodman's new age phase.  Not that bad.  If new age is a bad thing then albums like this help redeem it. Roxy Music    Manifesto - has it's good points, still towards the bottom of regard for RM albums for me. Rypdal, Terje    After the Rain - another Rypdal album where the title really fits the mood of the music, still cold but things are thawing. Santana    Borboletta - the long lost Santana prog album from my perspective.  Not as adventurous as Caravanserai, but closely related. Wynne, Jeff    War of the Worlds, The - sigh.  I could condense this thing down to one CD of really good stuff, but the concept would suffer.  Particularly notable for me for having Herbie Flower bassist of Sky fame on it.

Love these albums