Eternal Wondering of an Interactive Poll |
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Lewian
Prog Reviewer Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14830 |
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Very moved by your reaction, particularly to After The Flood. As I wrote, this is one of the most important songs in my life. Thanks for taking the time to share your reactions! Also thank you to the other who did that, sorry, not enough time to respond to all of you individually, but I love how the music shared here is listened to properly. I try to do the same each time, sorry that I often don't find the time to write (and I'm not much of a writer). Nick: I was aware of some nods to christianity in Talk Talk's lyrics but you mentioned some other. I have a tendency to ignore such things but in fact there's something in this hint that makes me want to explore this more.
Edited by Lewian - June 27 2021 at 06:30 |
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nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737 |
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Not being a Christian, and not having ever been a Christian, I tend to ignore such things too. I’m fact, I’m sure I overlook a lot of references and allusions, simply because I’m not Christian so don’t recognise them for what they are. I think many more Christian artists tend to incorporate their faith in their lyrics than most people realise. It’s usually only particularly obvious when they start preaching, or are overtly a Christian Music artist or band. One of my absolute favourite albums in my late teens was Merge by For Love Not Lisa, and at the time it completely passed me by that they were a Christian band. I had been listening to the album for a couple of years before it occurred to me that they were singing Christian themes. I definitely have no problem, in general, with bands singing about this sort of thing, even if I’m not Christian myself. It’s when I feel like I’m being preached at, that I find it harder to listen to…. |
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mathman0806
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 06 2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 6474 |
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Thanks Nick. I agree with the other songs. And it was also the video that made think of it first. Also, Deacon's song "When I Was Done Dying" and accompanying video. |
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nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737 |
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I had a feeling it was more the video than anything else that made you choose that particular song from that album. I would definitely recommend anyone who wasn’t such a fan of “Sat by a Tree” to give a listen to the other tracks mentioned. I wouldn’t go so far as to say “Sat by a Tree” is an anomaly on the album, but it is not exactly representative. |
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mathman0806
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 06 2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 6474 |
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This is from Bill Laswell's album City of Light inspired by the region of Banaras.
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nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737 |
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One of my favourite albums from this year begins in “Benares”, and ends on “Nirvana Beach”. From my review ( http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=72507 )
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mathman0806
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 06 2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 6474 |
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^I'm going to check that out. I do like "sludgy psychedelia."
The Laswell album was recorded in Banaras. Features tabla work by Trilok Gurtu, a track by Coil, and the spoken words by Lori Carson.
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nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737 |
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Listening now. Thanks for the Bandcamp link. (I love Bandcamp!) This is such a great album. Thanks for bringing it to my attention! 🤗👍🏻 |
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TCat
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 07 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 11612 |
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Sorry it took so long to respond Nickie and Kees. It is the same song, you just don't get the full effect of having the video attached to it . It's okay, I wasn't serious about posting it, I just thought everyone would want to hear some shameful pop from another country. It is, however, quite popular in some countries. I ran across the song by accident when it came up as a suggestion on youtube, and noticed that it was tied to the topic, so I thought I would share it with all before someone beat me to it.
Admit it, everyone, you really enjoyed it the first time, right?
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mathman0806
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 06 2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 6474 |
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Mike, I refuse to answer that question. Apparently the official video is blocked in the U.S. I do see a screen capture of someone in a gorilla so I am thinking it must add to the experience of the song. 😀
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Snicolette
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6042 |
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First thoughts on up to here, picking up from where I left off and including some additions since my first post.
Cristi: Occultation “Forever Hereafter” Heavy, heavy, organ riffs, drums and guitars,
too. I like the guitar lead when it
shows up after the initial dirge-like part, it goes back quickly to that. Intoning-type vocals with a sense of
darkness. Some swirlies come along, then
another heavy guitar riff. Back to the
death-march and intoning. And then to
another heavy guitar lead. Eventually
they get where they were headed, it would seem, as they march down deeper into
the abyss and the torches’ lights fade away. Kees: Arvo Pärt “Spiegel im Spiegel”
Slow, simple piano notes start and the violoncello joins in for a serene
beginning. This is so hauntingly
beautiful to my ear. Melancholy and
almost sentimental without becoming cloying.
There is no rush here, for why rush when all of eternity is at your
disposal? Enchanting.
George: Dan
Deacon “Sat By A Tree” Whanging guitars
and steady drumbeats, then some wonky sorts of keys, the vocals are very
effected. The song is fast-paced and
there’s a sense of euphoria in it (despite the eeeeeegy video, lol). There are some very high feminine vocals that
enter the picture about 2/3rds In. A
sense of always moving forward to it, until it finally woogles to a close. Another by Dan Deacon, “When I Was Done Dying” This one starts with more whangly sounds,
sort of stream of consciousness story-telling of a new life after death, in a
bit of a wry tone. There’s a sense of
lightheartedness that runs through this work, not a lot of space left by the near-continuous
lyrics and relentless forward pacing with the marimba-ish sound. Bill Laswell “Above The Earth” Cosmic space sound to start here, with an
Indian mantra intonation, which fades and a feminine voice speaks, going into a
whisper, then tablas emerge. A
repetitive synth sound, I think, and bass emerge and the mantra returns, joined
in a bit by some ooooeeeeeoooos. Certainly
a meditative piece. As scrunched together as Dan Deacon’s pieces were, this is
the exact opposite, lots of spaciousness here.
Finally ends with fades and breaths. Mike: M Ward “Chinese Translation” Sounds like a 60’s-ish country song, or a more modern alt-country song done in that sort of style. Words of wisdom from an elder song about how things truly remain the same for humans, throughout eternity. Sweet video, too. Tungevaag & Raaban "Samsara" This one sounds like a pretty modern pop/club piece, which surprised me. Since I don’t listen to this type of thing at all, I’m probably sounding pretty ignorant, lol. I don’t think I want to have samsara actually be an experience, if it’s going to sound like this. Or maybe that would be a personal visit to Old Nick’s place? A funny aside is that the only perfume I wear is Shalimar, Guerlain also makes a perfume called Samsara. Both are much pleasant than this track, lol. Hiram: Tuomari Nurmio “Ei kukaan” Without a translation, not sure what how he’s related the description you’ve posted in his words. However, this is kind of a rough-edged vocal with wrangly guitars and a skipping sort of beat, maybe a touch of the absurdity of life in the music? Note that I was unable to locate a version with harmonica, although I combed through quite a bit on YT. Vesa-Matti Loiri “Sielun pohjalla” Very different from the last piece, sort of odd plinky piano note, with a lilting female vocal. Then a plucky stringed instrument enters and a deep male voice, with some brushed percussion. There is a sense of theatrics in this to me, as in from a musical, perhaps. The female comes back in after several verses and there is a double-plucked stringed instrument, perhaps a mandolin of sorts, then returns to the male vocalist. |
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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TCat
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 07 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 11612 |
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Yes it totally adds to the experience. Gorilla costumes always make a pop song more enjoyable.
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Snicolette
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6042 |
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737 |
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jamesbaldwin
Prog Reviewer Joined: September 25 2015 Location: Milano Status: Offline Points: 5989 |
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My nomination is:
Donovan - Nirvana Not easy choose one song from "Sutras", the album is wonderful as a whole, not for the value of the individual songs, which are all good, sometimes very good, but without having the highest peaks, it is the amalgam that makes it special. Ps Thanks to Nickie and Nick for their words. Edited by jamesbaldwin - June 30 2021 at 16:57 |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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Hiram
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 30 2009 Location: Finland Status: Offline Points: 2084 |
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My nomination is Vesa-Matti Loiri - Sielun pohjalla.
I would've nominated Tuomari Nurmio, but since the video wasn't available to all, it's easier this way and fine by me.
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Cristi
Special Collaborator Crossover / Prog Metal Teams Joined: July 27 2006 Location: wonderland Status: Offline Points: 44186 |
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I nominate
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nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737 |
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Oh my word, time flies! We’ve reached the nomination stage already, and I still haven’t managed to listen to every suggestion, let alone make my own. I’m a failure in my own poll! 🤪
I’ll try and catch up today. Ever since covid, the lingering brain fog has made it a real struggle for me to juggle all the plates without dropping some. I used to be able to keep up with several things at once, but now I have to put all my concentration into one thing at a time, or I simply lose the plot. My brain is in a state of samsara….. 🙄 [EDIT] OK, first submission. It's by no means either my favourite or what I think is the best representation of samsara from the albums I listened to last year, but Karmatrain was the first album last year that made me stop and take notice, and really reflect on how many albums I had already listened to that year which were about samsara. And, to be fair to Outside In, they probably made the most effort to create an album that represented the journey through life/lives of samsara. Karmatrain was deliberately created to match the structure of Hermann Hesse's Siddharta, so the album, like the book is divided into two parts - the first four chapters (or songs) representing the Four Noble Truths, and the remaining eight representing the Noble Eightfold Path. The album takes the listener on a journey, and the careful consideration that has gone into the creation and sequencing of the tracks really pays off. The album flows like the river which provides such meaning within Hesse's story, and is references throughout Karmatrain. I mentioned in my review of Karmatrain that I had listened to the album several times before reading Siddhartha so I had no way of knowing, for example, that Bridges was the end of the first part of the story/album - and yet, I knew. Morning Warning therefore sounds like an opening number, even though it is the fifth track on the album. I almost considered giving that as one of my suggestions, as it is possibly my favourite song on the album, but I decided that Garden of Light maybe represented samsara in its lyrics more, if I were to use just one song (although the lyrics throughout are obviously easily connected to Siddhartha and/or samsara). And my review, if anyone is interested. [EDIT] For my second submission, a more recent example - from this year's Find the Others by Shiva the Destructor. This is a really neat take on samsara, as it attempts to portray how samsara can exist regardless of what faith, if any, one follows. It is constructed to take the listener on a journey across time and space, making deliberate comparisons that might otherwise be overlooked. Thus third track, Summer of Love, can be paired with the opening track, Benares. Benares is a city on the Ganges which is a major hub for multiple religions, and Summer of Love refers to the summer of '67, and so compares how people converge in a place that has shared meaning. For many people, San Francisco in that Summer of Love served the same purpose as Benares does every year for those who make pilgrimages there. And it's also, of course, an acknowledgement of the eternal wandering of the homeless soul of the protagonist. The album finally ends with the freedom of thought that there is no need to "care anymore about time and space. It surely is the highest point one can reach, I'll be surfing here on Nirvana beach." This new found purpose (the Finding of the Other) has the protagonist of the album finally abandoning samsara - no longer drifting (wandering) aimlessly, where the river (Benares) and waves (Hydronaut) take them, but making their own path - carving their own waves. Its not my favourite song on the album, but I love how purposeful it is (having found purpose) compared to the rest of the album. It probably doesn't have the same impact presented here by itself, but as the journey's/album's end, it always hits me, and leaves me wanting more. And, again, my review, if anyone is interested. Edited by nick_h_nz - July 01 2021 at 04:39 |
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Snicolette
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6042 |
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I was about to remark that we hadn't yet heard your own nominations, Nick, so glad they are here. In the meantime, going to go ahead and elect the Dhafer Youseff piece to be up for the vote.
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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TCat
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 07 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 11612 |
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Nick gets it!
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