05/31/13 - I Brought my Pencil

Intro:  Hey folks, it's been a while.  I wasn't certain what I was going to listen to today, nothing was quite moving me and I remembered the project I started last year.  Now is the time to start this bad boy up again.

The Albums:

• The Dreams of Man - Pallas
• Drops of Jupiter - Train
• Dub My Funky Groove - Timewarp Inc
• Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld
• Duke - Genesis
• Dulcenia - Toad the Wet Sprocket
• Duran Duran (the first self titled one)

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

01/10/13 Review - Steve Hackett - Genesis Revisited II

Artist:  Steve Hackett
Album:  Genesis Revisited II
Rating:  2 Stars
Link: http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=39001

Review:

So I love Genesis, new, old, blue, bold you name it, I'm a fan.  There have often been times that I've thought to myself that I'd love to hear updated versions of some of the old classics, seriously, who wouldn't want to hear Apocalypse in 9/8 with a Heavy Devy (Townsend) style wall of noise holding down the bottom as Clive Nolan soars through the keyboard solos with something other than a forty yer old organ.  

Ok, I get it, maybe not everyone has that hope, I did though.  

The one thing that I didn't want was a recreation of the original recordings as true to their initial recording as possible.  I believe that Phil Collins was considering doing an album recreating fifty's standards note for note.  He received a certain amount of ridicule from the prog community for this endeavor.  Unfortunately, for me this is the same basic concept, only with better starting music.  If I just wanted an updated recording of the music, I'd have bought the original 5.1 remasters that were reissued a few years ago . . . oh wait, I did.

I don't mean to sound terribly bitter, but I was so excited about this release prior to buying it, when it came out, it sounded like another version of the originals rather than a remake.  The Mellotron was a fantastic keyboard in its time, it was a pioneering instrument, cutting edge.  That was forty years ago.  Same with the Hammond B3, it was fantastic and fresh in the heyday of progressive rock, but when today's keyboard players rely almost exclusively on these keyboards it sounds like they haven't moved on in forty years.

We've moved past the electronic toms and Jan Hammer keyboards of the eighties.  If this album was to be an updated version of the seventies classics that I love so much, it failed.  It wasn't as much an update as it was a rerecording.

Now, with that being said, there are still some highlights.  Some of the songs do have additional vocal harmonies which somewhat satisfies my 'time to do something different' twitch.  The Musical Box and Eleventh Earl of Mar both have harmonies added by Nad Sylvan that were welcome additions to my ears.  In addition, the expanded chorus in Ripples featuring the mixed choir of voices is absolutely beautiful.  The addition of the female voices adds a wonderful touch.

I do realize that this album is partially a showcase album designed to create excitement about an upcoming tour of the material with Mr. Hackett's new band.  I am excited to see the tour and would even buy a live album from the tour.

In the end though, I have to give this CD a two star rating.  While I would give five star ratings to many of the albums that these tracks originally appeared on, this release did not do enough to distinguish itself from the original songs and give it merit on it's own worth.

1/9/13 Review, Corvus Stone -

Artist:  Corvus Stone
Album:  Corvus Stone
Rating:  3 Stars
Link: http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=39547

Review:  

When looking at the top albums of the year on The Prog Archives, I noticed "Corvus Stone" as a common choice among my fellow collaborators.  As it turns out, Corvus Stone was formed through the power of the internet and it's ability to bring people together.  I was intrigued and found it on Spotify.

The CD starts out wonderfully with a worldly sound building the tension through a series of effects and noodling weaving a soundscape that had me eager and ready for more.  I would love to say that the rest of the album lived up to initial soundscape.

Both Pasi Koivu's keyboards and Colin Tench's guitars sound fantastic and they get a lot of time to shine on the mostly instrumental CD.  This is both a good and a bad thing.  While they're both phenomenal musicians, they did not start the project with a drummer or vocalist.  This makes the album sound mostly like a showpiece / jam album.  The majority of songs are relatively simple chord progressions with extended jams over lack luster drum programming.

One of the highlights of the album gives an exciting picture of what is to come, "Ice King" features vocalist Blake Carpenter, a late addition to the band.  Mr. Carpenter's voice is a wonderful fit to the spacey atmosphere that they create, again hearkening back to the ambient soundscape that led the album off.  The addition of drummer, Robert Wolff, to the band, unfortunately came too late to save the album from the doldrums of the drum machine.

Another highlight is the production, for an album that was recorded all around the world, the production sounds amazing.

I truly look forward to their next release, the addition of vocals and live drums to the majority of the band will represent a huge leap forward.  In addition, additional musicians should help add some diversity to the song writing process.  Honestly, this is a good debut album and shows a huge promise of things to come.

Review - 12/27/12 - SoulenginE - Mind Colours

Artist:  SoulenginE
Album:  Mind Colours
Rating:  4 Stars
Link:  http://www.progstreaming.com/_wb/pages/play-album.php?activeAlbum=00294%20-%20SoulenginE%20-%20Mind%20Colours

Review:


Well this is a pleasant surprise.

So, I arrived at work this morning and wasn't sure what I was going to listen to, pulled up Progstreaming and saw an option for a band that I'd never heard.  The cover looked cool so I gave it a whirl.

Holy smokes, Mind Colours is fantastic. Five minutes into the album I realize that I've stumbled onto a gem.  Every musician in this band is top notch and the rhythm section melds together fantastically.  The first song, Polheim, has moments of Genesis interspersed with moments of Return to Forever.

Fabio Mancin is obviously a virtuoso keyboard player and has a fantastic sense of backing rhythm vs solo madness.  He can do both and the important thing, is that he knows the right one to play at any given time.  Ettore Salati's guitar blends perfectly with Mancin's keyboards.  I would describe his style as a combination of Carlos Santana, Steve Hackett and a modern shredder (sorry, no one comes to mind at the moment).

The rhythm section of Nando de Luca and Giacomo Pacin are firing on all cylinders and sound like they've been playing together for years.  Pacin, in particular is incredibly intricate, the cymbal work in No Rewarding made me sit up and say wow.

All in all, this is a great addition to anyone's collection.  It's a tight combination of Symphonic and Fusion with an amazing rhythm section to balance out a pair of vets on the lead instruments.

Review - 12/21/12 Perhaps

Well the good news is that the world didn't end today!  Here's my review of Boston's Perhaps:

Artist:  Perhaps
Album:  Volume 1
Rating:  2 stars

So I was asked to write a review of the album by the band, and honestly I struggled with the request for a week or two, mulling my thoughts and opinions. Honestly, I waffled, at times I thought that it would be better for all parties involved if I didn't write a review, other times I felt that I should write one. Finally, I decided that good or bad, I was going to give my feedback.

The production and sound of the album is very good, even more so when you consider that this was a live recording. I would have preferred that the bass was mixed a little hotter, but again, in a live setting, you often don't get everything that you want.

The musicianship is phenomenal and utterly chaotic. Major props to the chops (see what I did there) of drummer Don Taylor for playing the drums like he was in a knife fight. For the majority of the piece, he doesn't as much keep the beat as he augments the melody with one of the longest drum fills on record. Jim Haney and Sean McDermott are equally aggressive and chaotic on their various guitars.

For me though, this was a little too chaotic. With all three musicians synced up throughout the piece, there was very little to keep me grounded amid the waves of notes. There were parts that I started to enjoy, but just about when I latched onto them is exactly when something exploded and went off in a different direction.

I struggled with the rating but finally settled on two stars based on the guidelines of this site; 2 stars = Collectors / Fans only. The truth is that I'm not a huge fan of chaotic music and while this CD certainly has moments of amazing musicianship, it did not transcend the chaos and connect with me. If you're into Lark's Tongue and similar music, I recommend that you give it a whirl. For me though, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

12/20/12 Progstreaming

Intro:  So today I'm puling albums from www.progstreaming.com, this is a great site if you're looking to discover new Prog Bands.  I'm starting from the bottom and working my way up:

The Albums:

• Lost Kite - Lost Kite
• Epicloud - The Devin Townsend Project (Pulled this from Spotify so no link)
• One Eye on the Sunrise - Nine Stones Close

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

12/19/12 Christmas Time is here

Intro:  Today is the first of three or four days of Christmas carols.  Yes, it's that time of year.  Without further ado, let's get the holiday season started!

The Albums:

• Progressive Rock Christmas - Various
• Barenaked for the Holidays - Barenaked Ladies
• The Best of Christmas - The Starlight Choir
• Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits - The Vince Guaraldi Trio
• Christmas - Manheim Steamroller
• The Christmas Attic - Trans Siberian Orchestra
• A Christmas Concert - The Vienna Symphony Orchestra
• Christmas Eve and Other Stories - Trans Siberian Orchestra
• Christmas Favorites - Nat King Cole

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

Review 12/18/12 Ocnos

This is a placeholder page.  I listened to Ocnos yesterday (on the 18th) as part of my new Prog Archives responsibilities.  My plan is to write a review and include links to the band tonight, but didn't want to loose the place in line.

Also, I'm going to start reviewing for the site again.  As mentioned in my Phidaux story, I felt uncomfortable reviewing at the time as I wasn't a practicing musician, as I'm not actively in a band and writing music again, I feel I can review without feeling hypocritical.  The review posts will start with the title review while the daily music posts will keep their previous format.

12/17/12 Neoprog

Intro:  So I'm breaking away from my initial project for a while.  I've been nominated to become a member of the Neo Progressive Rock team at my favorite web site, www.progarchives.com, and I'm pretty excited about the honor.  In preparation, I'm immersing myself into the genre for the next couple of weeks (Christmas being the exception).  Assuming that the nomination goes through and I become part of the team, there will be frequent excursions from 'The Project' to keep more up to date on what is coming out.

The good news is that the blog isn't going away.  The better news, if you're here looking for recommendations on new music, there will be a larger focus on new prog rock as it comes out.  There will still be a focus on albums so I'm going to keep the format that I already have going for me.

There probably won't be a lot of 'moodies' as most of the moody albums are ones for a particular genre that I don't always listen to.  For instance, I need to be in the right mood to enjoy 70's funk  . . . no, bad example, I can always dig a little funk (can't we all), I guess 80's New Wave is a good example, loved it growing up and enjoy it these days when I'm feeling nostalgic.

By my initial calculations, The Project was going to be completed by May or June, I anticipate that we'll be going into the fall of next year now.  So, stick around, maybe we'll get some new folk in here.  Feel free to drop comments, I'll post just about everything that is sent.

So with that being, I'm starting the with the top rated Neo-Prog albums from The Prog Archives, I'm also sprinkling the most recent works by some of the luminaries of the field, Marillion, Arena, Magenta.

The Albums:

• All Rights Removed - Airbag
• Sounds That Can't be Made - Marillion
• The Seventh Degree of Separation - Arena
• Shooting Albatross - Abel Ganz
• Moonshine - Collage
• Elements - Introitus
• Misplaced Childhood - Marillion
• In the Last Waking Moments - Edison's Children
• Script for a Jester's Tear - Marillion

The Wrap Up:  

Sadly, I was too busy at work and didn't listen closely enough throughout the day to give proper ratings.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

12/13/12 Dreams of Dooooom!

Intro:  Ok, so I didn't quite get through Doomsday Afternoon yesterday (I listened to about five minutes of the first song) so we're starting the day off with it.  We're going to hit most of the 'Dream' albums today, interestingly enough, I think Dreams is the second most used word to start an album (not including 'the' and other small fries).  Black still wins, but there are apparently a lot of people out there that dream in black.

On a related note, both Robert Plant and Robert Miles have an album called Dreamland . . . who knew.

The Albums:

• Doomsday Afternoon - Phideaux
• Dosage - Collective Soul
• The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
• Dramarama - Agents of Mercy
• A Dramatic Turn of Events - Dream Theater
• Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall
• The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
• The Dream Sequencer - Ayreon
• Dreamland - Robert Miles

The Wrap Up:  

So, it's a catch up kind of day.  I've sadly been remiss in updating the blog as of late.  Between work and my new duties with The Prog Archives, I'm a little behind.  With that being said, there really wasn't a big chance that anyone was going to beat Doomsday Afternoon.  Phideaux is a great artist and Doomsday is one of my two favorites by him.  If you're looking for melodic, brooding prog, you can't go wrong here, from the gentle, pained warblings of Crumble to the driving angry mood of "Thank You For the Evil" this remains one of my frequent go to albums.

I should probably include "A Dramatic Turn of Events" as a grower as I didn't turn it off once, it's growing on me.

Dramarama is the second release from "Agents of Mercy" an offshoot of one of my favorite bands, The Flower Kings.  The unfortunate reality is that they never quite hit their stride on this one.  Even with the addition of Lalle Larsson (one of the best keyboard players in prog) doesn't save Dramarama from the general meanderings of the CD.  It feels like it should go somewhere . . . it doesn't.

I think I've mentioned this before, I have a soft spot for Sting, I love a lot of his stuff and "The Dream of the Blue Turtles" is no exception.  This was his first solo release and he hit the mark on this one.  This one produced four solid hits; "Fortress Around Your Heart", "Russians", "If You Love Somebody, Set them Free" and "Love is the Seventh Wave".  Yeah, same album.  The beauty of it is, is that there are four other songs that are just as good if not better; "We Work the Black Seam" and "Moon Over Bourbon Street" both are on par with the hits.  The title track, however, is a one minute jazzy gem that just makes you smile.  My favorite track from the album is "Shadows in the Rain".  This is a four minute romp through insanity and excess with the formative lyrics:

Woke up in my clothes again this morning.  Don't know exactly where I am.
I should heed my doctor's warning, he does the best with me he can

Kenny Kirkland's electric piano solo is worth the price of admission on its own merit.  All in all, this CD could have easily been crowned the co-winner of the day.  (You know what, it's my blog, I'm doing it)

Also, an honorable mention for the Robert Miles CD, the song Children has such a haunting melody and the overall electronica / trancy feel warrants a keeper rating for this one.


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Doomsday Afternoon - Phideaux
• The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
• Growers
• The Dream Sequencer - Ayreon
• Keepers
• Dreamland - Robert Miles
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• A Dramatic Turn of Events - Dream Theater
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall
• Bleh
• Dosage - Collective Soul
• The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
• Dramarama - Agents of Mercy

12/12/12 Dooooooom!

Intro:  

The Albums:

• Disciplined Breakdown - Collective Soul
• Discography:  The Complete Singles Collection - Pet Shop Boys
• Disintegration - The Cure
• The Distance to Here - Live
• Diva - Annie Lennox
• The Division Belle - Pink Floyd
• Dogman - King's X
• Dogs From Japan - Crack the Sky

The Wrap Up:  

I may have to listen to Disciplined Breakdown again.  I like what I heard but due to the ebb and flow of the work day, I didn't hear as much as I wanted to of it.  Both that and Diva by Anne Lennox get the grower award, I heard parts of Diva and I want to hear more of it.

Dogs from Japan was pretty awful, poor 80's rock production and, in my opinion, weak songwriting.

I had to weigh Dogman and The Division Bell for a few moments before finally anointing Dogman.  King's is such a fantastic band and they absolutely smoked both times I saw them live.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Dogman - King's X
• Growers
• Diva - Annie Lennox
• Keepers
• The Division Belle - Pink Floyd
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• The Distance to Here - Live
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Disintegration - The Cure
• Discography:  The Complete Singles Collection - Pet Shop Boys
• Bleh
• Dogs From Japan - Crack the Sky

12/11/12 Big Big Blog

Intro:  So today I get to introduce you all to Big Big Train which is one of my new favorites.  Also, as a side note, I did the unthinkable, I skipped something entirely without listening to it.  Different Stages by Rush is one of the five live albums that I have by them.  Honestly, I didn't feel listening to Rush for the entire four hours of the release so I just gave it a 'Bleh' and skipped it.  No apologies.  The purpose of the blog is for me to listen to the obscure stuff on my hard drive . . . Rush is not obscure.

The Albums:

• Detours - Sheryl Crow
• The Difference Machine - Big Big Train
• Different Stages - Rush
• Dig Your Own Hole - The Chemical Brothers
• Dirt - Alice in Chains
• Dirty Epic / Cowgirl - Underworld
• Dirty Vegas - Dirty Vegas
• Discipline - King Crimson
• Disciplined Breakdown - Collective Soul

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh
• Different Stages - Rush

12/10/12 Bleh

Intro:  Damn, I'm really getting behind on the write ups here.

The Albums:

• Deconstruction - Devin Townsend
• Deep - Peter Murphy
• Deep Forest - Deep Forest
• Definitive Collection - Stevie Wonder
• Delirium (remixes) - Euphoria
• Deliverance - Sylvan
• Demon Days - Gorillaz
• Desireless - Eagle Eye Cherry

The Wrap Up:  

Bleh, it's a bleh kind of day.  Sorry, not much of a write up here, there were a few keepers from the day but nothing that stood out.  Demon Days is a grower in that I actually listened to it the whole way through.  Not my best of days musically.  The good news is that I'm actually doing a write up.  Starting next week, Christmas albums!.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• Demon Days - Gorillaz
• Keepers
• Deep - Peter Murphy
• Deep Forest - Deep Forest
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• Deliverance - Sylvan
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Definitive Collection - Stevie Wonder
• Bleh
• Deconstruction - Devin Townsend
• Delirium (remixes) - Euphoria
• Desireless - Eagle Eye Cherry

12/06/12 Darkness

Intro:  Darkness reigns . . . No seriously, the project has gone a bit better than I thought it would.  Next week, I'm going to start the Christmas music, but for today, we reach another milestone.  We've made the transition from C to D.  Yes, we're starting out with Michael Jackson and I was originally going to give today the title of "Jam" until I realized that there are a lot of great CD's coming today, all of which start with the word 'Dark'.

The Albums:

• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• Dark Matter - IQ
• Dark Passion Play - Nightwish
• Dark Passion Play (Instrumental) - Nightwish
• Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
• The Dark Third - Pure Reason Revolution
• Darwin - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
• David Myers Plays Genesis - David Myers

The Wrap Up:  

It takes a pretty friggin amazing album to keep "Dark Side of the Moon" from winning.  "The Dark Third" by Pure Reason revolution is that album.  They kind of take the dark brooding atmospheres of gothic rock and overlay it with Pink Floyd psychedelics then top the whole thing off with not one lead singer, but what sounds like three part chamber singers, two sopranos and a tenor.  The combination is magnificent.  Sadly, the albums that come after this have replaced much of the atmosphere with poorly done electronica, but The Dark Third is not an album to miss.  The highest compliment that I can give any album is that 'it's been on the new iPod since I got it'.  I do a lot of moving stuff on and off, but The Dark Third is always there.

If you're reading this blog, if you like my recommendations then don't miss this one, go to Spotify now, play it as loud as you can get away with and enjoy.  Even if you don't like it, you'll appreciate the unique quality of this album . . . but you're going to like it.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• The Dark Third - Pure Reason Revolution
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• Dark Passion Play - Nightwish
• Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• Dark Matter - IQ
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• David Myers Plays Genesis - David Myers
• Bleh
• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• Dark Passion Play (Instrumental) - Nightwish
• Darwin - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

12/07/12 Remember

Intro:  

The Albums:

• Day for Night - Spock's Beard
• A Day Without Rain - Enya
• Days of the New (1) - Days of the New
• Days of the New (2) - Days of the New
• De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
• Deadwing - Porcupine Tree
• A Decade of Steely Dan - Steely Dan
• Decade:  Greatest Hits - Duran Duran

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

12/05/12 Crash!

Intro:  So I think I'm going to start waiting until the end of the day to give the day a title.  A lot of times there's a story involved and I'm thinking that the name should be derived from the story.  Incidentally, I missed the last four tracks from Counterparts yesterday and I'm listening to them now. . . what a fantastic way to end an album and start a day off.  I don't think I'm allowed to give something the winning CD two days in a row but it's a thought.

On the bright side, I figured out what today's story will be so I'll give today's post a name right now.

The Albums:

• Cowboy's Back in Town - Trace Adkins
• Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky
• Crash - The Dave Matthews Band
• The Cross and the Crucible - Pallas
• The Cross of Change - Enigma
• The Cry - Arena
• Culture of Ascent - Glass Hammer
• The Cure - The Cure
• Cut the Cake - The Average White Band

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Crash - The Dave Matthews Band
• Growers
• The Cross of Change - Enigma
• Culture of Ascent - Glass Hammer
• Keepers
• Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• The Cross and the Crucible - Pallas
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Cowboy's Back in Town - Trace Adkins
• Cut the Cake - The Average White Band
• Bleh
• The Cry - Arena
• The Cure - The Cure

12/04/12 (Insert witty name here)

Intro:  Kind of a crazy morn, should be an eclectic day musically.  We have 90's alt, Country, 70's rock, 80's pop, 00's pop and Rush.

The Albums:

• Continuum - John Mayer
• Contraband:  The Best of Men at Work - Men at Work
• Core - Stone Temple Pilots
• Counterparts - Rush

The Wrap Up:  

Well this ended up being a short musical day for some reason, sadly, I don't have a lot to write about.

Here is the one point of interest from yesterday, I'm giving Counterparts the win and a 'grower' tag.  On the last few releases by Rush, I've been unimpressed by Geddy's voice.  He sounds really good on Counterparts though.  I don't know if it's a mix or the result of a younger Geddy singing, but I caught a little of the magic of Rush again.  Don't get me wrong, I love Rush, I probably see them every other tour and give them props for continuing to do what they obviously love.  It was just a nice change to not have to apologize for Mr. Lee's voice (in my own head).  I get it, we all get older and degrade a little bit as we age, sadly nothing to be done about it.  I just really enjoyed hearing a younger Geddy Lee singing.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Counterparts - Rush
• Growers
• Counterparts - Rush
• Keepers
• Continuum - John Mayer
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Contraband:  The Best of Men at Work - Men at Work
• Core - Stone Temple Pilots
• Bleh

12/3/12 Complex and Contagious Oxygene

Intro:  Today will be an interesting day musically, Oxygene 1 and 2 bundled together and two top twenty albums.  Don't get too frightened by the multiple contagions by Arena, the first one is the real album, the second two are related three song EP's.

The Albums:

• The Complete Depeche Mode (Excerpt) - Depeche Mode
• The Complete Oxygen - Jean-Michel Jarre
• The Complex - Blue Man Group
• The ConstruKction of Light - Kimg Crimson
• Contagion - Arena
• Contagious - Arena

The Wrap Up:  

So I declared a multiple winner day.  Both 'The Complex" and "Contagious" are all time favorites of mine.

I started my fascination with The Blue Man Group a few years ago, I think they were on a PBS concert and I was utterly impressed with their work.  I bought "The Complex" and absolutely loved it.  Highly innovative and imaginative with their music, their stage show and their instrumentation.  Marianne and I went to see them in concert and absolutely loved it.  Honestly, I can't wait for the chance to take Tori to go see them.  If you're interested in people that make their own instruments, these are the guys to see.  I've heard amazingly interesting things come out of PVC thanks to these guys.

Contagion is by a Neoprog band called Arena and tells the story of Earth after the population has been decimated by disease.  The real story here though is the music.  Clive Nolan truly shines on Keys, so much of this album is dominated by his work, if you want to hear a great 'keyboard feature' piece, check out "Riding the Tide".  For songwriting, try "Skin Game", the modulation from minor to major at the 2:41 mark is one of the key points and most spine tingling moments of the album.  If you like Neoprog, this album is a must have.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• The Complex - Blue Man Group
• Contagion - Arena
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• The Complete Oxygen - Jean-Michel Jarre
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• The ConstruKction of Light - Kimg Crimson
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• The Complete Depeche Mode (Excerpt) - Depeche Mode
• Bleh
• Contagious - Arena

11/30/12 Afternoon Delight

Intro:  So I spent the morning in a meeting and didn't listen to a blessed thing.  I have about three and a half hours today so it's going to be a short one.  I'm bumping 'The Complete Oxygene" to next week as it's a double album and wouldn't fit in the day's listening.

The Albums:

• Comm - The Tangent
• Communique - Dire Straits

The Wrap Up:  

Crazy day, I was only able to listen to two albums.  Communique was good if you're in the mood, you have to be in a bluesy low key kind of mood.  Comm was the winner, The Tangent has come a long way in my opinion.  A lot of their earlier stuff was a bit too far out there for me, but as I keep listening to them, either they're getting better or I'm more open to them.  Either way, The Tangent takes the trophy from an abbreviated day.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Comm - The Tangent
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Communique - Dire Straits
• Bleh

11/29/12 Colors

Intro:  I love Colors by Ken Nordine, hysterical, game changing CD.  I don't know if I can listen to it in one sitting.  We may skip it.  If we do, this means that we'll get to "Comm" by The Tangent.

The Albums:

• Clutching at Straws (Bonus Disc) - Marillion
• Collective Soul - Collective Soul
• Colors - Ken Nordine
• The Colour of Spring - Talk Talk
• Coma Divine - Porupine Tree
• Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
• Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology
• Come With Us - The Chemical Brothers
• Comfort Eagle - Cake
• Comm - The Tangent

The Wrap Up:  

Anger . . . anger . . . Google Chrome crashed on me and apparently my work wasn't saved, so this is the second time I'm typing this.

I'm not a huge fan of Bonus Discs and despite my love of "Clutching at Straws", the bonus disc doesn't do much for me.

Cake was given to me by a friend with the words 'here, you'll like this'.  She is no longer my friend.  Cake is getting booted from the hard drive.  Cake is rhythmic whining.  (I'm being overly harsh for comedic purposes, I just really didn't care for them).

The main subject of the day is "Colors" by Ken Nordine.  A few years ago I realized that I had a bunch of songs named after elements; Silver by Juno Reactor, Carbon by Tori Amos, Neon by John Mayer, Mercury by The Clarks, Chrome by VNV Nation . . . and so on.  I did a search on the iTunes store for more and came across "Gold" by Ken Nordine.  I listened to the song and it was so weird, I immediately bought the entire album.

Ken Nordine does what is described as 'word jazz', basically he tells a somewhat bizarre / beatnik story over melodies played by jazzy musicians.  Sometimes the musicians play together, sometimes not, but it's really the stories that set this apart.  The album is a series of 2 minute pieces based on different colors and their personalities.  For example:

• Fuchsia is apparently a fuss budget and wants everything in the world to be colored fuchsia.
• Yellow was being picked on by Green, it was a bad scene until Blue came in and reminded Green that if Blue and Yellow got together, well they didn't need Green, a gentle threat.
• Gold wants everything to fight over it.

You get the hint.  I had a buddy of mine, Mike Marcus, come over and help me paint my basement.  I put this album, to his credit, it was about a half hour and a few beers of this before he finally threw something at me with the eternal question, 'wtf is this'.  No, he didn't use the acronym.


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• The Colour of Spring - Talk Talk
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• Coma Divine - Porupine Tree
• Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• Collective Soul - Collective Soul
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Colors - Ken Nordine
• Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
• Come With Us - The Chemical Brothers
• Bleh
• Clutching at Straws (Bonus Disc) - Marillion
• Comfort Eagle - Cake