Thursday 24 December 2009

Albums of the Year

Albums of the Year

10   Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low
Not what you expect from a MM album, but an accomplished gothic rock album non the less. A very diversive album and you'll struggle to find two people who have the same feelings about each song.
Download: Leave a Scar
 9   New Model Army - Today is a Good Day
Featuring arguably the best song title of the year in Mambo Queen of the Sandstone City this is a great New Model Army album to finish the decade with, it draws on their direction this decade whilst having more in common with their classic albums than the last couple.
Download: Peace is Only
8   Devildriver - Pray for Villains
Melodic Death Metal at it's best. The eagerly awaited fourth album from Devildriver didn't disapoint. It seems impossible for the press to mention Devildriver without saying that Dez used to front Coal Chamber, so there we go.
Download: Back with a Vengeance
 7   Billy Talent - III
Discovered during the week we were away in Wales, with Rusted in the Rain seemingly being played every other song on Scuzz. A fine slab of americana.
Download: Devil on my Shoulder
6   Arch Enemy - The Root of all Evil
A re-recording of some of the songs from the band's first three albums before Angela Gossow became vocalist. This invaluable for those who want to here the album version of some of the songs they play live, but don't particularly want to check out the original vocalist.
Download: Pilgrim
 5   Slayer - World Painted Blood
A Slayer album that deserves to be mentioned along with the band's classic output of Reign in Blood, South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss. A return to form after the servicable, but ultimately tired Christ Illusion.
Download: Americon
4   Weezer - Raditude
After the hard to listen to, but ultimately rewarding Weezer (Red Album) last year, I wasn't sure what direction that this album would take. It's the most instantly accessable (to me) Weezer album since Weezer (Blue Album). I hope they tour the UK next year.
Download: The Girl Got Hot
 3   The Wildhearts - Chutzpah!
It's a Wildhearts album, which means more songs by Ginger. Seriously this guy is the best songwriter of our generation and one of the best live frontmen.
Download: The Only One
2   KISS - Sonic Boom
Who'd have thought it? Not only did KISS release an album this year, but it's a corker! Full of songs doing what KISS do best. Rocking. Obviously each member get's his moment in the spot light, but it's not jaring - the album remains cohesive.
Download: Say Yeah
 1   Megadeth - Endgame
Building on the momentum that Megadeth have been building this decade, Endgame is a tour de force of thrash metal done the way that thrash metal should be. There are no Risks or Cryptic Writings here, this is Mustaine claiming the thrash metal crown back.
Download: Bodies

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Comic Musings I

A spoilerific look at the day's breaking comic book news.

Rickleton over at Nerd Blog made a damn fine about spoilers the other day, but sometimes you can't help but see them sadly.

The Source and various other comic sites today revealed that a new series The Return of Bruce Wayne will be written by Grant Morrison and begin in April.

To be fair, I should have seen it coming after the War of the Supermen announcement earlier in the week, which will no doubt bring Clark back to his own books.

Now anyone who has spoken to me about comics knows that along with Geoff Johns and Ed Brubaker that Morrison is one of my favourite comic writers and I'll pretty much read anything they put out, but this announcement irked me a bit for a few reasons.

1. I sort hoped that Bruce would stay "dead" a bit longer. I'm not naive enough to think that he'd be gone for ever. (Not like I did in the 1990s when I first started reading Batman and Jean-Paul Valley took the cowl after Knightfall.) Plus dispite the hype and initial media hysteria, he was never really dead in the first place. I just hoped that Dick would have the limelight for awhile longer and could have done without knowing that in around September (April + 6 months assuming no slippages - it should be on time as a different artist is doing each issue).
2. Due to the Bruce fighting his way back through time nature of the premise, there's going to be a clamour of peole comparing Batman more to Brubaker's run on Captain America and current DC to current Marvel storylines even more. Even though they are mostly coincidences, after all there's only so many types of story you can tell in pulp fiction.
• Marvel brought back Bucky - Captain America's long dead partner - in a really successful story line, to great acclaim to take a high standing role in the Marvel Universe. && DC brought back Jason Todd - Batman's not quite so long dead, but dead partner - in a ... well the brought him back. I wish they hadn't.
• Captain America died, in a really well written comic. && Batman died in a really well written comic. Technically he sort of died twice, which I'll come to in point 3.
• Captain America is coming back in a series called Reborn which involves Steve Rogers being unstuck in time, reliving moments of his life as his greatest enemy possesses his body. && Batman is coming back, in a story that involves him fighting his way through time back to the present. Tho in both cases it's not 100% certain that they will retrieve their mantle, but with them waiting in the wings it's a matter of even less time than it was.
• Captain America's former sidekick, The Winter Soldier, Bucky is now Captain America. && Batman's former sidekick, Nightwing, Dick Grayson is now Batman.
• Blackest Night, which had been planned for ages since Green Lantern: Rebirth && X-Necrosha, which had been planned for ages since Kyle and Yost started offing X-Men in New X-Men. You could even say that Blackest Night is sort of like Marvel Zombies, but with rings.
• JLApe && Marvel Apes.
• Etc...
Similar but not really comparable (even tho I just did) hmm.
3. I wonder how they'll tie the story in to the two ways Bruce died. Or if they'll even try. One of the things I thought was genius about the way that he died in RIP was that if you were only reading RIP then you got the full story and were ready for the Battle for the Cowl and the "new exciting status quo" that came after it. Or if you were reading Final Crisis then it made sense then. I guess they won't bother and just go with the Final Crisis one, which was the kick off point for the Red Robin series.
4. A mini series? Seriously? Are there not enough bat-books on the stands that it could go in one of those. Maybe kicking off from Batman #700?

I'll still read it tho, when it hits trade form :o) Tho I do wonder how essential Batman & Robin will be, and how it will all tie in to Batman #666, but then I guess that's the joy of the medium. Still, it all looks good for the next chapter in Morrison's Batman epic, it's just a shame this will be the fourth title to feature the storyline.

For a "humourous" take on it, see Newsarama's post on the subject. The best bit being the Gladiator Batman and the line starting "My name is Bruce Anthony Wayne. Son to murdered parents..."

Dick, chin up son, maybe there's a spot for you on a team consisting of Wally West, Kyle Rayner and Connor Hawke for heroes who graduated to their mentor or predecessor's role but stepped down again. Might be a use for the Titans book. Heck, I'd probably read it with that line up.

Favourite Albums - K

Honourable Mentions
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime - Faith No More (1995)

Where to start... that cover art is just so damn iconic of the 1990s. Then there's the absolutely crazy ammount of genres involved on the album from jazz funk (Evidence)to heavy metal (Digging The Grave, Cuckoo for Caca) and stopping pretty much everywhere inbetween.

The combination of genres and the abrupt switching between them has no right to work. It shouldn't work. It should have been abandoned at the idea stage as it would be impossible. But it does work and works sublimely. Pure genius.

Lyrically, the songs that speak to me most are Digging the Grave "It would be wrong to ask you why / Because I know what goes inside / Is only half of what comes out / Isn't that what it's about ? / To remind us we're alive / To remind us we're not blind / In that big, black hole / Comfortable" and Just a Man "Sky is clear tonight / Sky is clear tomorrow / - And every night I shut my eyes / So I don't have to see the light / Shining so bright / I'll dream about a cloudy sky, a cloudy sky" tho you can't help but chuckle at Ricochet's refrain of "It's always funny until someone gets hurt... / And then it's just hilarious !".

Historically this album puts me back at school in the mid 1990s, tho I guess the strongest memory attached to it is the vaults again as @Tim2323 had the t-shirt. It sort of got lost in the move from tape to CD as I got the best of Who_Cares_a_Lot? when it came out in 1998 when I was at university and only just recently picked up the album itself again.

On release the album didn't sell as well as previous releases, but hot diggity that just makes it more cult. Enjoy.

# Title Length
1 Get Out 2.18
2 Ricochet 4.30
3 Evidence 4.55
4 The Gentle Art of Making Enemies 3.30
5 Star AD 3.25
6 Cuckoo for Caca 3.43
7 Caralho Voador 4.01
8 Ugly in the Morning 3.07
9 Digging the Grave 3.06
10 Take This Bottle 4.59
11  King for a Day 6.36
12  What a Day 2.39
13  The Last to Know 4.29 
14  Just a Man 5.36
56:49
Singles
The singles were "Digging the Grave", "Ricochet" and "Evidence"
Favourite Tracks
"Just a Man", "Digging the Grave", "Ricochet", "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies"

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Favourite Albums - J

Jennie Bomb - Sahara Hotnights (2002)

I only own 3 albums begining with J, and this is the best of them. It's power pop punk in the vain of The Donnas. I aquired it around it's release date, it was dark times, The Vaults had shut and I was going through an extended indie phase.

It's pleasant enough, I just don't have any real stories to go with it. The standout tracks are Alright Alright and On Top of your World both of which are singles and the videos are linked to below.

If anyone has any recomendations I'm all ears.

# Title Length
1 Alright Alright (Here's My Fist Where's The Fight?) 2.08
2 On Top of your World 3.17
3 Fire Alarm 3.08
4 With or Without Control 3.34
5 Keep Up The Speed 3.08
6 No Big Deal 1.55
7 Down and Out 2.41
8 Only The Fakes Survive 3.43
9 Whirlwind Reaper 3.38
10 Fall Into Line 3.29
11 Are You Happy Now? 2.33
12 Out of the System 2.39
35:42
Favourite Track
"On Top of Your World"

Monday 7 December 2009

Favourite Albums - I

It's a Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads (1992)

This is the ultimate chill out album, perfect to relax to. One of the best albums of my youth and indeed the 1990's.

Rather than read waffle, just play the videos below and you'll see what I mean.

# Title Length
1 Rockin Stroll 1.48
2 Confetti 2.45
3 It's a Shame about Ray 3.07
4 Rudderless 3.20
5 Buddy 2.52
6 The Turnpike Down 2.34
7 Bit Part 1.51
8 Alison's Starting to Happen 1.59
9 Hannah & Gabi 3.55
10 Kitchen 2.55
11 Ceiling Fan In My Spoon 1.48
12 Frank Mills 1.45
13 Mrs. Robinson 3.44
35:18
Singles
The singles were "It's A Shame About Ray", "Mrs Robinson"
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Friday 4 December 2009

Favourite Albums - H

How To Make Friends and Influence People - Terrorvision (1994)
  • Defining album of my teens - This one.
  • Album that got me into rock - This one.
  • Favourite Album of All Time - This one.
  • Album to get into the party spirit - This one.
  • Album to lift a bad mood - This one.
  • Etc...

I mentioned The Vaults the other day, this was another CD that was on the jukebox, and it always used to get a great deal of use when we were in, except probably Ten Shades of Grey which probably isn't the sort of track to kick start a night in a rock pub, tho I'm pretty sure it would've got played when fingers and brains weren't too engaged late in the evening, tho my memories of this album go back to comprehensive school in '94 when it was released and we were all coming of age.

In this day and age of MP3 and playlists and shuffle and what not, it's reasonably rare to sit down and listen to an old CD how it's makers intended. You just pick out you fave tracks and they go on some sort of über playlist. I know when I want to listen to some Terrorvision I put on my Terrorvision playlist on shuffle with all my favourite songs of theirs.

The latest Terrorvision tour in April to support the 15th(!) anniversery of this album they played the whole thing in order live. Before when I've seen bands play an album in order, it's not that much fun. Even when Iron Maiden did it in December 2006 supporting the A Matter of Life and Death (a fine album) it left me pretty cold. When Terrorvision did it with this album it was noticable how well it all hangs together even so many years on, with the quieter track Ten Shades of Grey coming in at the perfect time to give the crowd in the pit a breather.

The tracks Alice... and Oblivion are still floor fillers in rock clubs today.

The downside? If I had to pick one it's the hidden track. I can't stand hidden tracks at the best of times, but when it's just talking it's even worse, without it the album would be perfectly cyclic with the end of What Makes You Tick being the start of Alice, What's The Matter?

It's difficult to say what this album means to me. If you don't own this, you probably don't have a CD collection, imo.

# Title Length
1 Alice What's The Matter 2.44
2 Oblivion 3.04
3 Stop The Bus 3.44
4 Discotheque Wreck 3.18
5 Middleman 3.32
6 Still The Rhythm 3.32
7 Ten Shades of Grey 3.03
8 Stab in the Back 4.51
9 Pretend Best Friend 3.47
10 Time O The Signs 3.25
11 What The Doctor Ordered 2.18
12 Some People Say 3.03
13 What Makes You Tick 14.35
54:48
Singles
The singles were "Oblivion", "Middleman", "Pretend Best Friend", "Alice, What's the Matter?", "Some People Say"
Favourite Tracks
The album

Thursday 3 December 2009

Favourite Albums - G

Ghost of Cain - New Model Army (1986)

First off how iconic is that cover? Awesome.

Going back to tapes when I was second year of uni 99-00, I was travelling around from Manchester to Lincoln or Nottingham a lot by train. I never took CDs around with me because the cases were hard to port about and portable CD players hard to skip, MP3 players were new on the scene with not much storage for a lot of £££. It might not have been a lot of £££, but it certainly was to a student!

One tape that did the rounds with me a lot was Love of Hopeless Causes (A) and Ghost of Cain (B) by New Model Army, so this album always reminds me of that period in my life. In more generally New Model Army reminds me of @EdLittle, days spent killing time in science scribbling NMA and me crossing them out. Or later in business studies, him trying to remember the entire lyrics to "Ballad" to write down on his folder.

I was listening to this a lot as we were off to see them in Manchester in March 2000, but the strongest gig related memory to this album was at their 20th anniversery gig at Nottingham Rock City in october that year, when they aborted the intro to "Poison Street" and the crowd sang it anyway. I have this on video, sadly I don't have a video player :o( I wish they'd bring it out on DVD.

Album wise, it starts off with a tale of vigilante justice in "The Hunt", and doesn't let up. Lyrically my favourite track is "Master Race" with the refrain ... kids scrawl frustration on the back street wall / Most of them can't even spell bastard being my quit message on IRC for a very long time. "Heroes" comes close with And the man has the skill and the man has the power / But the boy has the will to win and so much time. Tho I'll never like "Lovesongs" that much. It's probably Eddies favourite track, it usually works out that way! :o)

I was never much one for the great "Big Bang" theory / Going out in a blaze of suicidal glory Never truer words sang.

# Title Length
1 The Hunt 4.14
2 Lights Go Out 3.57
3 51st State 2.35
4 All of This 3.34
5 Poison Street 3.06
6 Western Dream 3.55
7 Lovesongs 3.02
8 Heroes 4.06
9 Ballad 3.55
10 Master Race 3.00
35:18
Singles
The singles were "51st State", "Poison Street". Sorry can't embed 51st state.
Favourite Tracks
"Heroes", "Master Race", "Poison Street"

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Favourite Albums - F

Floodland - The Sisters of Mercy (1987)

"Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me" This album more than any other reminds me of nights out in lincoln in the late nineties. In those days there was really only two pubs - the Cornhill Vaults (now a bookshop) and Badgers (now a strip club).

The beauty of the vaults was that it was in an old vaulted celler, so there was lots of little nooks and crannies. There was the bit round the corner near the dartboard in a little alcove, the bit with the bar, the main room and the pool table / jukebox room. That and the cheap beer, £1.23 for bitter, £1.70 for strong lager.

We'd start off in the alcove, until we felt we were able to deal with people and then move to the main room. @Tim2323 would strike up conversations with the people around us and eventually we'd play drunken pool. @Rickleton would put bad music on and we'd have to pretend to not know who'd done it. @Tim2323 bouncing a pint and catching it. Good times. So many that the vaults probably deserves it's own nostalgic post after the albums are done.

But what does this have to do with this album? Well they had A Slight Case of Overbombing on the jukebox and "Temple of Love", "This Corrosion" and "Lucretia My Reflection" are tracks that were played quite a lot there and this album always reminds me of it.

The album itself is a fine slab of gothic rock, probably my favourite Sisters studio release, tho doesn't necessarily have my favourite tracks on it, it's the one that flows together best. (Certainly to track 8, as track 9 and 10 are extras included on the CD release and weren't on the original LP, but don't really affect the flow too much.

And yes, it is always cool to wear sunglasses at night.

# Title Length
1 Dominion / Mother Russia 7.02
2 Flood I 6.23
3 Lucretia My Reflection 4.57
4 1959 4.11
5 This Corrosion 10.55
6 Flood II 6.47
7 Driven Like The Snow 6.28
8 Never Land (A Fragment) 2.56
9 Torch 3.50
10 Colours 7.18
60:00
Singles
"This Corrosion", "Dominion", "Lucretia My Reflection"
Favourite Tracks
"This Corrosion", "Dominion / Mother Russia", "Lucretia My Reflection"

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Favourite Albums - E

Earth Vs The Wildhearts (1993)

Let's go back in time... sixth Form, september 1996 - june 1998, those were the days. Great times, mostly sandwiched between a really long bus journey about 50 minutes there and 40 back (not that it was any faster back, I just got off at a different stop) down seemingly endless windy roads that lasted forever.

There were many ways to stave off boredom on that trip that people (mainly @Tim2323 and @EdLittle), making words out of the no smoking sign, something involving band names I can't recall the rules to, asking the Oracle questions and er... fire.

Me, I had a portable tape player and a few tapes in my bag, the memorable ones being Iron Maiden - Best of the Beast, Pearl Jam - Ten (A) and Versus (B), Nirvana - Nevermind (A) and Bleach (B) nowadys it seems so odd to only carry about a few items of music on a journey, seeing as my ipod holds every piece of music I own (well apart from single bsides) on it, but those were different times. But the tape I credit most with getting me through was The Wildhearts - Earth vs (hence the point of the story) backed with PHUQ. This album always takes me back to that time, and that is reason alone to love it.

Of course it helps that it's packed with killer tune after killer tune. From "Greetings..." to "Love U..." this is "Riff After Riff After Motherfucking Riff". Absolute quality brit rock. If you like rock, you'll like this album. Flash fact.

It wears it's influences on it's sleeve with "Loveshit" bringing to mind Status Quo and a Beatles riff in "My Baby is a Headfuck", but is greater for it.

For awhile, they were "the band that got away", ie the band I loved most but had yet to see live. I came close when they played Milton Keynes and we had tickets, but I was taken ill and missed it. I finally got to see The Wildhearts live at download 2008, simply brilliant live. Ginger is an amazing front man and engages the crowd really well. Here's what happened when he asked for things to be thrown at him "for the true festival experience".

Just look up this album on last.fm or spotify or however the cool kids are doing it these days.

# Title Length
1 Greetings From Shitsville 4.31
2 TV Tan 4.30
3 Everlone 6.31
4 Shame On Me 3.57
5 Caffeine Bomb 2.39
6 Loveshit 3.57
7 The Miles Away Girl 5.38
8 My Baby Is a Headfuck 4.25
9 Suckerpunch 2.59
10 News of the World 5.50
11 Drinking About Life 2.04
12 Love U Til I Don't 5.04
51:54
Singles
The singles were "Greetings from Shitsville", "Caffeine Bomb" and "Suckerpunch". Plus TV Tan was an EP. Personally I'd have gone with "Loveshit", but they're all gold.
Favourite Tracks"TV Tan", "My Baby Is a Headfuck", "Loveshit", and pretty much every thing else...

Monday 30 November 2009

Favourite Albums - D

Doomsday Machine - Arch Enemy (2005)

I think a lot of what constitutes a favourite album is how it speaks to you.

No more / It's over / I'm on to you / Your evil game / The tables have turned / I am taking back my soul from "Taking Back My Soul" speaks to me. For me it's about connecting to your roots and not loosing sight of who you are or were.

The album itself is exactly where my metal tastes lay at the moment. I guess the genre for it is "Melodic Death Metal", which wikipedia defines as "... (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal which combines the melody of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) with the intensity of death metal." I would describe it as loud, technical guitar based metal, with vocals on the right side of decipherable and a decernable melody underneath the agression.

There is much to love, from the Amott brother's guitar work, Daniel Erlandsson's drumming to Angela Gossow's vocals that I could talk about it for ages, but check out the videos and they'll do the speaking for me I think. I know what I'll be staying awake to at work tomorrow.

# Title Length
1 Enter the Machine 2.02
2 Taking Back My Soul 4.35
3 Nemesis 4.12
4 My Apocalypse 5.25
5 Carry the Cross 4.12
6 I am Legend / Out for Blood 4.58
7 Skeleton Dance 4.33
8 Hybrids of Steel 3.49
9 Mechanic God Creation 3.20
10 Machtkampf 4.16
11 Slaves of Yesterday 5.01
48:56
Singles
Well, there weren't any single so to speak, but there were music videos for Nemesis and My Apocalypse, both execellent tracks.
Favourite Tracks"Taking Back My Soul", "Nemesis", "My Apocalypse"