Bobby's Bright Blue Baseball Boots

What I Consider to be the Twenty Best Albums Ever Released (in no Particular Order).

2008-11-23T17:05:00.000Z

1. The Electric Light Orchestra - The Electric Light Orchestra (1st Album)

2. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division

3. So Far - Faust

4. IV - Faust

5. Forever Changes - Love

6. Master of Puppets - Metallica

7. Destroy, Erase, Improve - Meshuggah

8. Secret Treaties - Blue Oyster Cult

9. Protest Songs - Prefab Sprout

10. The Walking (Canadian Version) - Jane Siberry

11. Technodelic - Yellow Magic Orchestra

12. In a Silent Way - Miles Davis

13. Eskimo - The Residents

14. Nail - You’ve Got Foetus on Your Breath

15. Burnt Weeny Sandwich - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

16. Aenema - Tool

17. Red - King Crimson

18. Reise, Reise - Rammstein

19. De-loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta

20. Brain Salad Surgery - Emerson, Lake and Palmer

MESHUGGAH - YEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-14T19:48:00.000+01:00

Well, I had to do it, go and review the Meshuggah albums. Why? you ask. Well, basically they are the best metal group on the planet at this moment in time and even though people say there are other groups like them, nobody is as good as or like Meshuggah.

Meshuggah hail from Sweden and started around 1987. I don't want to say anymore than that as the biography is on the official sight and is also mentioned elsewhere (seek and ye will find).

www.meshuggah.net

I love Meshuggah for a few reasons:

1) I have always envisaged metal would sound something like what they do and boy I was right.
2) The music changes from album to album and they only have a small number of releases of
which most are in print (were do they go from now though as they appear to have everything
pretty well sewn up in coming up with a new style).
3) They excite me.
4) Devin Townsend and Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree both cite Meshuggah as a
favourite artist of theirs (found this out well after I got into them).

The reviews are in no particular order in release or favouritism (to be posted as and when I feel like it).

CHAOSPHERE (1998) - MESHUGGAH

I have just listened to this album in one sitting and must say some of the solos are rather Jazzy, but the music is quite fast and it took me quite a long while before I was able to appreciate any of the songs on this album. In fact I did not like it at all and dismissed it for a long time.

The album is quite short in length and is quite fun once you get used to it. The last track "Elastic" is approx 15 minutes in length or so it appears, but is not really, as it is broken down into four segments. The first segment is the song, the second segment is noise, the third segment is white noise and the last segment comprises of four of the previous songs all played at the same time (what a row, but it works).

This album is a favourite of most fans of the Mesh, but to me it still falls short and I only play it once in a while. The first five songs are great, but after that the momentum is lost. Not an album to be dismissed, but not a first buy either. Buy it, give it a whirl and see what you think.

Free - A General View of the Greatest Rock Band With Soul

2006-10-11T01:05:00.000+01:00

I got into Free because my friend had bought a couple of their greatest hits albums and he had happened to mention on how much he liked them. I had never ever thought of Free before when it came to buying music as they only had a few hits and were not a band that was well published or advertised. I jumped in by buying the five disc box-set "Songs of Yesterday" and then bought the remastered albums (with bonus tracks) when they were released in 2001.

Free tend to get lumped in with Led Zeppelin quite a lot, but apart from the first album "Tons of Sobs" they are a total different beast to Zep as they have a more soulful singer in Paul Rodgers and have a more rounded sound. The comparison also came about because of the heaviness Free sometimes had too.

The first album "Tons of Sobs" was released late 1968 and has a very strong blues feel. The most famous track is "The Hunter" which was also issued on the first Led Zep album the next year. As Paul Rodgers said about playing in Sunderland, the locals would request every band to play this track whether they knew it or not. A competant album by a very young group, but to my ears, the production sounds a little dated.

"Free" was released about a year later and is my favourite album. It has less of a blues feel as some of the tracks are slower and verge into folk type territory. The track "Mourning Sad Morning" is sublime and features female co-vocals as well as flute. I probably like this album more because it features the most bonus tracks which makes it a good listen and a bargain-to-boot.

"Fire and Water" from 1970 features the ubiquitous hit "Alright Now". This album is considered to be Free's best album and did quite well sales-wise, but I wasn't convinced originally. I am slowly coming round to liking this album more as I sing the opening lines to the title track virtually every day at the moment. The arguments between Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser staretd about this period and were to continue until Andy left the group and Paul Kossoff was also having problems due to his extreme drug taking. One point to note is that the group were very unhappy with the single version of "Alright Now" as it was an edited version and they felt that the full version should have been released instead.

Free's fourth album was called "Highway" and contained the single "The Stealer". It is quite a poppy album with a fair bit of soul in places. Not one I tend to play very often. I must listen to it more.

In 1971, the band split and a live album was released. A good album which was recorded at Sunderland and Croydon. The studio track "Get Where I belong" was also added. A good live album, but does not do a lot for me, not because of the quality but because I am not always keen on some live albums. The original US version of this album included the single "My Brother Jake".

1972 came around and Free got back together again to record "Free At Last". When this album was originally released, it wasn't a big seller reaching the late sixties in the US charts. I quite like this album as it has a magical feel to it, even though not many of the songs are known out of Free fandom. A very psychadelic and memorable cover too.

Andy Fraser leaves the group and Koss is quite ill due to his drug problems, so two new members are brought into the group even though Koss is still featured on some of the tracks. The final album "Heartbreaker" has some good soulful numbers on it, but doesn't quite make the mark as previous albums did. I still happen to like this album a lot though due to the soulfulness that some of the tracks have.

The "Songs of Yesterday" box-set is a five CD compilation of various out-takes, early versions, unreleased studio/live tracks and a selection of band member tracks with other groups they formed. In one way it is fascinating, but in another way it proves to be quite cumbersome as a number of the tracks featured are inferior to the original released versions. Worth obtaining for the few unreleased tracks and the unreleased live material if live versions are your bag. To the unitiated, sticking to the albums first may be the best thing to do.

"Live At The BBC" has recently been released and comprises of two discs. The first disc is of material recorded for the sessions that Free did for "Top Gear" and other BBC Radio Shows. Not all the session tracks are available due to either the BBC wiping the tapes or to Koss recording over a track or two. Still, a very fine album centreing around the first three albums. Disc two has two short recordings giving eleven tracks of Free performing live for the BBC. The quality of the first two tracks and the last two tracks is quite poor as all this discs material is taken from home recordings off the radio. The songs "Free Me" and "Remembering" are astonishing and remind me very much of the early Whitesnake. Not suprising as David Coverdale came from Paul Rodgers home town too.

Also recently released, is the DVD "Forever". I have only seen a smattering of this on the first disc. Does Paul Rodgers have the lyrics written on the inside of his eye-lids, I wonder. The second disc comprises of some viewing material, but is mainly audio from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 and uses still photos only. An interesting and fascinating document, but only meant for hardcore Free fans.

Anybody who has an interest in music should own some Free music especially if they like groups such as Led Zeppelin, Deep purple etc etc. There are three good quality compilations available which are priced quite favourably. The current one is "Chronicles" which has just been re-released at a price of around UK pounds 9.99 and has 35 tracks on 2 discs.

All together now ( Bob singing opening lines to Fire and Water). I would have quoted the lyrics, but I have to be careful of copyright restrictions. Sorry.

Arthur Lee

2006-08-05T13:51:00.000+01:00

Sadly, Arthur Lee of the group Love passed away on Thursday after suffering with the illness Leukemia. He was a very young 61 year old and a find it very sad that such an enigmatic and talented character should pass away this way.

Arthur, I obviously didn't know you, but I hope that you may rest in peace.

Whatever Happened to Slade

2006-08-04T20:21:00.000+01:00

The above title was an album released by Slade in 1976, but that is not what is going to be discussed about here. What I am going to write about is what became of Slade and the reasons why.

Slade were originally known as Ambrose Slade until Chas Chandler took them under his wing and he convinced them to drop the Ambrose. From 1971 to early 1976, they were very popular due to the simple and very catchy Glam Rock they produced and it looked like there was no way in stopping them. They had 12 top five hits in a row and 6 of them went to number 1. What happened?

Around 1975/1976, Slade went to the good old USA for a year and were virtually forgot about in the UK. This was so tragic, as sales in the USA were quite poor and the group came back with their tails between their legs. If US sales could have matched crowd attendances, they would have been on top of the world. We now know of course that they had a resurgence after a successful Reading appearance in 1981 and had a few more hits in the UK with a few good albums thrown in too, but in the early nineties, Noddy Holder left, then Jimmy Lea did too and now they carry on as Slade 2 all but almsot forgotten in their home-land apart from the loyal few.

The one thing that I find incredible is that youngsters of today don't seem to know who they were and what their hits were like apart from the ubiquitous Xmas hit. Why doesn't radio play their songs anymore? I think it may be because they were of their time, but now seem quite frivolous and dated to some. It is such a shame as young people would still get quite a lot from hearing these wounderful and catchy tunes. Radio people are you listening?

I was browsing the Amazon site in the UK and came across the re-release of some of their albums along with some b-sides which have not been seen since their original release in the '70's.For once, I thought that the label may be doing something right, but looking at the singles discography, it appears that a number of the b-sides are missing. I hope that this is not another cock-up like the poor release of the greatest hits and accompanying DVD last Xmas. Maybe some of the b-sides may be lost or maybe they may not be available due to licensing restrictions. Who knows, we may find out in time. I expect a fair bit of back-lash to come from the loyal and trusting fans.

Footnote added 11/10/06. All Slade material is being released including a separate CD of most of their b-sides including the ones not released as extras on individual studio albums (this information gleamed from a release schedule available on the web).

Sisters, Record Deals, Tunes & Soul

2006-07-31T13:59:00.000+01:00

When I was 24, I got into "The Mission" and through this association for my 25th birthday my brother bought me the first album by "The Sisters of Mercy". As far as I am concerned this was and still is the best gift that he has ever bought me. When I put the album on I was so blown away that I had to discover further what other treasures lay in store from this unique group. I collected the back-catalogue and when new releases came out, I purchased those until I lost a little interest during 1991. Luckily for me, they only released a couple of best-offs and a few singles just after that time.

A couple of years ago, I bought the best-offs and two of their three albums on CD as they were going very cheap and have not bothered much since, until recently. Watching some of the videos on You-Tube has kindled that interest, especially after hearing a new song called "We Are the Same Suzanne". I have been looking at a number of web-pages about the sisters and have also managed to download a rough version of this new song. Yesterday, I created a CD of the b-sides not available on CD with the tracklisting being roughly similar to the bootleg "Some Boys Wander By Mistake". I wish that Warners or what-ever name they are going under now would release these tracks officially, as the sound quality would be vastly superior to what I created.

Reading about "TSOM" told me that they severed their ties with Warners nine years ago and that they do not have a label at this time. This problem is also compounded as Andrew Eldritch thinks that all record company's are non-sensible and stupid.

It is galling that "TSOM" have not had any new material released for thirteen years (sixteen years if you count the last complete new album) and that he and his side-kicks have a number of new songs that they play live constantly, but have yet to lay down for posterity. Here's hoping that something is done soon as I am pretty certain that a new album would sell well especially when you think how many non-unsigned groups get to play The House of Blues in Vegas like the "TSOM" did this year. Not many I bet.

I love the the music of "TSOM". I know it is not technically great like some of the artists I like, but it still gives me great pleasure unlike the new Christine Aguillera song which I saw being previewed on TV yesterday. The song in question is "Ain't No Other Man" and basically it doesn't have a tune and even more seriously, it does not possess soul. Such a shame, as I know she has a great voice and has had some decent tunes out previously. Is this what modern music is coming too? - I hope not.

A New Site I Have Found

2006-07-12T13:52:00.000+01:00

Whilst mulling over the internet, I came acroos this site

www.youtube.com

and it shows different types of stream movies sent in by various people. The best thing about it is that it shows old and new films/videos of most musical artists you can think off.

I wonder how many laws are being broken by the people uploading the videos and music, but should the BPI and other music authorities really care. Personally, I think they should allow it to carry on as it is a great advert for music that people probably may not get to hear anywhere else easily.

Anyway, get yer peepers there and see what you can dig up. Happy hunting!

Rosenrot by Rammstein

2006-07-12T13:23:00.000+01:00

After their previous album Reise-Reise being a good 'un I had great expectations for this album but when I got it as a download from legal sources may I add, I was very disappointed.

The album starts off in reasonable form with the track "Benzin" which sounds quite similar to "Mein Teil", but then the second track "Mann Gegen Mann" which is quite heavy is not really that remarkable at all and the next few tracks just seem to be very slow and just troll out the speakers with very little impact. The album improves from track six, but still does not make much of an impression on me. A very big disappointment as their previous albums were of a very high quality.

The above relates to how I felt about this album until recently.

When I was at my friends house, I was watching Scuzz TV and the video for the song "Mann Gegen Mann" came on. I loved the video and the song was swimming around my head and wouldn't pack it's bags and go. When I got back home, I decided to play Rosenrot and loved it (only track 4 seems to be redundant now). It was quite funny, because I felt some of the songs sounded so much like the Sisters Of Mercy and not like Rammstein at all.

Originally, I would have given this album two out of five, but now feel I must change it to three and a half. Not a great album by any means, but not one to be totally ignored either.

Time to Make These Pages More Full

2006-07-06T18:33:00.000+01:00

Well as you can see, I have not really wrote a lot of late and this has been due to playing Thang online. Well, Thang is still on the go, but not a priority anymore so hopefully I will be digging the music back out and be bringing you some more wonderful reviews. This all came about because I was listening to the Spock's Beard Tour Into MP3 on their site. You can bet that I will be bringing reviews on their stuff. As my bro would say, They're Awesome!!!!!!!!

10,000 Days (revisited)

2006-05-19T20:13:00.000+01:00

Well i'm not going to bother writing a lot more about this album. I am going to renage. All I will say is that it took five years to come out with this pile of dung (songs 4 and 12 excepted). I suspect that this will be the last Tool album ever. Another five years and they will almost be pensioners.

In other words, avoid if you can and buy one of the other Tool albums instead. Nuff said.

10,000 Days by Tool

2006-05-08T01:59:00.000+01:00

Well, I bought my first album in a long time and would you guess it, it's the new tool album. Well there's a suprise.

As promised previously, a full review will be forthcoming. In the meantime, since i've only actually heard the album in full once, I will give you a taster of what it is like.

The first track is very much akin to the Lateralus album. What a disappointment. Next we have a heavier track which rolls along very nicely. There are some instrumentals and filler material much like what we have heard from Tool before, but there are a number of tracks which seem to be slightly softer and seem to reach a new level that hasn't been met previously. One thing though, if you are expecting this album to be heavy you will be very disappointed. If not, you are in for a very welcome suprise.

As I have only heard this album once I still don't really know what to make of it. I have read a number of personal reviews on Amazon and a lot of people reckon that it is Tool's best album yet. I will reserve judgment until I get to know it better.

New Tool Album For 2006

2006-02-14T02:12:00.000Z

HURRAH!!!!!!!!!! HURRAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've just found out that a new tool album is due out sometime this year - good news indeed.
Five years is far too long to wait for new product.

A review will follow when said item is is released and purchased.

Just For My Brother

2005-10-30T22:42:00.000Z

I have decided to list what I consider to top be some of the top prog rock albums of the 70's. Here we go

ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
King Crimson - Red
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Yes - Relayer

Wot! No Dark Side of The Moon, Close To The Edge, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway etc.
No, as I consider the list above states each of these bands best efforts.

Fanfare For The Comman Man (The Best of ELP) by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

2005-10-25T10:41:00.000+01:00

I have been listening to this little sucker of late and thought that I should give a write-up about it.

This compilation covers a range of tracks from all their studio albums (except "In The Hot Seat" and the live album "Pictures At An Exhibition"). Most heavily represented albums are "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", "Tarkus" and "Trilogy". I think that the selection offers a good representation of their work and probably most are fans favourites. Some tracks like "Jeremy Bender" and "The Sheriff" show the lighter side of this group.

Probably for me the inclusion of "Take A Pebble" and the Track "Tarkus" are most pleasing. On the downside, the long version of "Fanfare For The Common Man" is most displeasing. Why not use the single edit of "Fanfare..." which gets straight to the point and does not meander on. I also find it quite puzzling that "The Endless Enigma" only includes the first two out of it's three sections and therefore finishes jarringly in mid-air.

The package comes in a slipcase which includes a booklet comprising of two essays and a full discography with single and album illustrations. Also included is a fold out of a Pete Frame drawn family tree which amazingly stops at 1992 (this album came out in 2001) - strange!!

For somebody who wants a small taste of this group this is a good choice to go for, but this album can also be enjoyed by the fan who has everything.

Earthbound by King Crimson

2005-10-23T00:01:00.000+01:00

I only purchased this album as it was going cheap at a fiver. I was not bothered if I possessed this album as I had read many reviews that the production was awful and that the actual songs were not up to scratch.Those reviews were partly true. The production is not actually that bad, but it certainly helped when Robert Fripp did a bit of cleaning up on the tapes.

The only decent song on the whole album is "21st Century Schizoid Man". Well you can't go wrong with this song can you, no matter what state it is in. The rest of the tracks are mainly jams that noodle aimlessly and really don't seem to have any point to them.

This is KC's worst official release which is a shame as there are better live recordings of this version of the band. I believe that some of the club releases are pretty poor as they eminate from bootleg sources (I don't possess any club releases).

In general, I would say this is one album that should be avoided at all costs. Only purchase if you are an avid completist.

Kiss - All American Men

2005-10-11T14:11:00.000+01:00

I Thought than rather do just prog rock reviews, I would also add my musings about other groups from time to time.

After seeing Rock School featuring Gene Simmons, I got to thinking about what in my opinion are the best Kiss studio albums ever. So here goes in release order.

Kiss (first album)
Destroyer
Creatures Of The Night
Lick It Up

and

Revenge

Script For A Jester's Tear by Marillion

2005-10-10T14:23:00.000+01:00

I originally purchased this album upon release March 1983 and at the time we had just moved house and because we were upside down a bit, I had to wait a few days before getting my ear'oles accustomed to it. When I did, I thought the songs were majestic, Fish's singing was quite provocative and loved the samples they used to accentuate the songs . It did help a lot that it had a very similar sound to 70's Genesis.

Moving forward to now, I haven't played this album in a very long while. I bought the remaster cd and listened to it a couple of times and thought at the time that yes, it is a very good album but how the production and sound makes it sound very dated.

The only track I do not like is "Garden Party". Didn't like it then, don't like it now. For me, the best track is the title track and I find that now and again I will sing the first few lines to myself.

Not a good choice for a first time buyer, but well worth a listen to gather the initial roots of the original group with Fish.

Deadwing by Porcupine Tree

2005-10-09T18:18:00.000+01:00

The latest installment in the musical array of Steven Wilson's merry men.

I have lived with this album since it's release early on in the year and find that I am warming to it more now.

When I originally spun the disc, I listened to it a handful of times and was quite bewildered as It was to my mind not very good. I was bewildered as I wanted to really like it a lot especially as I have been a fan for quite a long time.

Initially I liked the tracks "Deadwing", "Shallow", "Halo" and "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" and thought that the rest of the tracks were poor. But since then I have grown to like "Start Of Something Beautiful" and dismissed the title track as being overtly long and not really going anywhere. The B side tracks on the "Lazarous" single should have been added to the cd version of the album to give a more balanced view (running time being the shortest since their second album from the early nineties.

I have played the 2002 release "In Absentia" and apart from a couple of so-so tracks, it Walks over "Deadwing" by miles.

I Have Been Listening to Music for Many Years

2005-10-09T17:41:00.000+01:00

My first recollection of music was during 1967 when as a young lad I used to watch the US series "The Monkees". I used to think the series was great as well as the music. I still like some of the songs, but when I saw the series on Channel 4 a few years ago, I thought it was dated and very, very silly.

In the early to mid seventies, I got into heavy rock. I still like this type of music in all it's various forms but have not left it at that as I listen to all types of wonderful music as I am always seeking a new slant on what I like to hear.

As promised in my other blog, I have decided to write about a number of various prog rock groups. The ones I have decided on are:-

King Crimson, Marillion, The Mars Volta, Meshuggah (not strictly prog rock but progressive), Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard (inc. Neal Morse & Transatlantic)and Tool.

First posting

2005-10-09T17:36:00.000+01:00

Well, I reckon that there's gonna be tons and tons of writing on this site.

Come visit, stick with us and you may found something enlightning or maybe not.