Despite the title, I'll rarely bring up music I think is bad, because let's face it, there's so much good music out there there's no point dwelling on the bad stuff. I just notice that music doesn't get too much love here, and I love music, so let's jam.
Q: So what's the deal?
A: Every day I'll probably try to post a review or two of albums I think are alright, good, or great. I can't imagine myself reviewing an album I think is bad, because I think that's a waste of your time and mine.
EDIT: I should probably note that in my opinion, an alright album has only some songs that are worth the money and some that just aren't. A good'un has some songs worth getting, but having the whole album wouldn't hurt. A great'un is all around strong.
Q: What's the format?
A: It'll probably go a little something like this.
Album:
Band:
Year:
Genre (Relative!):
Number of Tracks:
Summary:
Track by Track Notes:
Final Verdict:
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
Q: So when can I ignore your opinion?
A: Never! Well, okay, there's some things you should note about my tastes. I don't like synthesizers, I tend to like faster songs, and I don't really pay attention to the singer's voice too much. I've already got an album with heavy synth on my list to review, and my first group is intended to be Shaimus whose style is pretty laid back, and I'll note when the singer isn't orthodox, though, so I'm tryin' to watch out for ya. Jerk.
Q: What's this jazz about helium and lead tracks?
A: Despite an album's overall quality, it's not rare at all for certain songs to be significantly better or worse than the rest of the album. These will be noted in the Track by Track Notes: Helium Tracks are higher than the other ones, Lead Tracks are lower, y'see.
EDIT: It should be noted this is almost always entirely subjective but if you disagree then you are a jerk.
Q: What are these links?
A: If I know/suspect the song has a video on YouTube, I'll go ahead and link to the video in the Track by Track Notes. Note that I do not bother with this on Lead Tracks, because I feel your time can be better spent.
Q: So what do I say?
A: Feel free to respond to anything I post, but if you want to do a review of your own, I'd suggest making your own topic for two reasons. One: This forum is malnourished on the music front, and we need to feed it as much as we can. And two: I don't want you dragging me down, man. If you do want to review, feel free to copy my format, but don't be afraid to discover your own groove. It may be more jammin' than what I came up with, anyway. Because I came up with it whilst typing.
Q: Does anyone have extra questions?
A: I don't know, let's find out. Any suggestions to format are also welcome. Any suggestions to what to review will probably kinda confuse me because why would you tell me that but I guess if you want shoot me a PM.
Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
16 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Karmelo » Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:58 pm
Last edited by Karmelo on Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Eh.
-
Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Shaimus - Paper Sun AND The Sad Thing Is, We Like It Here
by Karmelo » Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:04 pm
Today on KRAPMusic, a double dose of Shaimus! Because you should totally buy their new CD.
Album: Paper Sun
Band: Shaimus
Year: 2006
Genre (Relative!): Alternative, Pop(?) Rock
Number of Tracks: 10
Summary: The band's first effort, and it's a good'un. It's overall slower than I normally like (expect to see some punk here), but the musicianship is amazing in my opinion so it's earned a place in my heart. To me, it's got peaks and valleys, so expect liberal use of Helium and Lead tags.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Left to Dry - A great opener, the guitars work together to form an excellent rhythm. Vocally it's pretty jammin', and simply put it's a strong song. Depending on your tastes, it might be a bit long at 4:29, but there's not really any filler, so you know.
2) Slow Down - A soft song, but it's nice. A nice slow solo in there, I don't know what else to say.
3) All of This (Warning: Crazy fanmade video, consume at own risk) [Helium] - Easily the fastest song on the CD, it's no surprise I really like it. But it's a fun, bubbly song with sweet lyrics and a kickin' guitar solo.
4) Run My Spirit Down - And coming back down from All of This, we come to another slower song. Probably the most focus on the piano in this one so far (that's not saying much), and a short solo. It kinda drags for the last thirty seconds, but four minutes of non-filled isn't bad.
5) Put It Off [Helium] - This is a pretty good, faster song overall, with a lot of interesting little riffs in it. The song ends at about 3:10 so nothing drags, the remaining 2:20 is mostly buildup and a superkickin' guitar wah-solo. This, in my opinion, is the strongest song, and THE one you should grab if you're a fan of harder softer rock. Wait, what.
6) Old Fashioned Love - Another slower song, I'm remembering much this CD whiplashes you between the styles now. Starts out slow with a piano intro, but the guitar really paints the song at the end.
7) Red White and Blue - An anti-war song, and another that starts out slow and builds up. I don't have much to say about it, it's nothing special but by no means bad.
8) When I Dream - The slowest so far, a piano-heavy ballad. The rest of the band makes their first appearance at 1:20, and they apply the rest of amount of musicianship to match the song. If you like softer softer rock, this is probably THE one track you should pick up.
9) The Book (Again and Again) - This has a neat riff that alternates between piano and guitar. The chorus kinda grates on me after a certain point, and that makes about the last minute kinda drag to me, but it's definitely got some high points I can't apparently point into words. Also, the ending leads directly to...
10) Stay [Lead] - Vocally, I really like this song. It's easily the softest song on the CD, focusing mostly on his singing with an acoustic guitar part providing most of the background. But that's not a problem to me. It's got some sort of percussion(?) in it that just really rubs me the wrong way. If it doesn't bother you, this is a pretty good one.
Final Verdict: With no real downs and a few ups, I'd say this is a good'un
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-All of This was in Guitar Hero, as two of the bandmembers worked for Harmonix during development. That's the best I've got. Also, it's supposed to come to Rock Band at some point? I suck at this.
Album: The Sad Thing Is, We Like It Here
Band: Shaimus
Year: 2009
Genre (Relative!): Alternative, Pop(?) Rock
Number of Tracks: 10
Summary: Their sophmore attempt also at 10 tracks, this shines even brighter than a paper sun. Rimshot. I'll be here all week. Overall it's more cohesive than Paper Sun, both speed-wise and sound-wise, but it's sorta double-edged because no tracks really stand out this time around.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Interview - The song opens in the style of many older songs, vocals and piano. The guitar comes in a bit strong and the song becomes a bit poppier and faster than most of their older efforts, though anyone who enjoyed the guitar riffs transitions on the first will not be disappointed by this one. The very ending is a bit metal, but not really surprising considering most of the guitar parts and solos from the first.
2) Turn the Other Way - This is free on their site, so there's no reason not to like it. It's a song about struggling through employment, and makes it clear the album has largely done away with extended guitar solos in exchange for heavier breakdown parts in general.
3) All the Good Ways - This is first slower song on the album, but towards the end the guitar makes sure you haven't forgotten he's in the band. Probably the closest to mainstream rock they really get, but it's a good one.
4) Tie You Down - And so this one pushes towards a metal sound until the singer comes in. The song mostly moves away from that outside of that riff, but it is the heavier than a lot of older stuff. There's a nice bridge where they all show off a bit instrumentally without getting crazy, and it goes between softer and harder parts for most of the song but it does it well.
5) Heads Or Tails - A nice island/reggae/ska sound going on with the rhythm guitar. This is the slowest song so far, and if I recall correctly, the slowest on the disc. If you're a fan of softer stuff, this might be the best choice, although don't be surprised if there's some slightly harder sounding stuff in there once or twice. It's Shaimus, guys.
6) Don't Want the Story - This is also pretty straight forward rock that doesn't indulge in intricate rhythms as much as some of their other stuff. It still has enough to sustain someone like me who tends to listen to the instruments, but seeing how he has a nice voice and good lyrics anyway, that should be enough for most people.
7) Let Go - Apparently I don't recall correctly. Piano intro! It's more rock than Heads or Tails, but it's softer over all. It's also almost six minutes, which tends to be a detractor to someone like me, but again, there's not really filler, so at least it uses the time well.
8) Like A Fool - My favorite from the album, probably because it's the closest equivalent to All of This. It's a really well done song on all parts, and has that classic Shaimus 'metal guitar break' in the middle before progressing to the classic Shaimus 'soft vocally focused break' only a bit after that. It pulls no punches, but I wouldn't say it's the most accessible song, so it might not be your cup of tea. Jerk.
9) While We're Young - The longest one on the CD at almost seven minutes, you better hope there's no filler. It starts off slow, like Stay slow. But it builds up and changes to a fun sound I enjoy a minute and a half in. It travels enough and keeps changing to new sounds, which is unsurprising because their guitarist does love to do that. I'm not sure if seven minutes was needed though, seems like the last minute and a half aren't necessarily, although they aren't terrible either. They're just kinda there.
10) Stuck Around - Another softer, poppier one. Showcases his voice, but the band does support it well. It's got a clear solo in it that matches the mood, and the song has kinda a timeless feel to me.
Final Verdict: Although I don't feel it reaches the same heights as some of Paper Sun did, it's overall better and really good, so let's say a great'un
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Heads or Tails Also has a Mario coin sound at the end for reasons I don't fully understand? I mean, I guess they were like 'hey, a coin sound, heads or tails,' but aren't those coins the same on both sides?
-Like a Fool was one of the 20 free songs for RB2, and Tie You Down is supposed to come out at some point
-I've got a signed copy of this, so I might be biased
-Where the hell is Heaven Is Close?
Hm, hopefully these will get better as I go along. This was actually difficult to describe because while all the songs do sound different, the approach they take to every song is similar and it's hard to describe. For me. Shut up, you jerks. I hate you. I'm never doing this again.
Tune in tomorrow maybe.
Album: Paper Sun
Band: Shaimus
Year: 2006
Genre (Relative!): Alternative, Pop(?) Rock
Number of Tracks: 10
Summary: The band's first effort, and it's a good'un. It's overall slower than I normally like (expect to see some punk here), but the musicianship is amazing in my opinion so it's earned a place in my heart. To me, it's got peaks and valleys, so expect liberal use of Helium and Lead tags.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Left to Dry - A great opener, the guitars work together to form an excellent rhythm. Vocally it's pretty jammin', and simply put it's a strong song. Depending on your tastes, it might be a bit long at 4:29, but there's not really any filler, so you know.
2) Slow Down - A soft song, but it's nice. A nice slow solo in there, I don't know what else to say.
3) All of This (Warning: Crazy fanmade video, consume at own risk) [Helium] - Easily the fastest song on the CD, it's no surprise I really like it. But it's a fun, bubbly song with sweet lyrics and a kickin' guitar solo.
4) Run My Spirit Down - And coming back down from All of This, we come to another slower song. Probably the most focus on the piano in this one so far (that's not saying much), and a short solo. It kinda drags for the last thirty seconds, but four minutes of non-filled isn't bad.
5) Put It Off [Helium] - This is a pretty good, faster song overall, with a lot of interesting little riffs in it. The song ends at about 3:10 so nothing drags, the remaining 2:20 is mostly buildup and a superkickin' guitar wah-solo. This, in my opinion, is the strongest song, and THE one you should grab if you're a fan of harder softer rock. Wait, what.
6) Old Fashioned Love - Another slower song, I'm remembering much this CD whiplashes you between the styles now. Starts out slow with a piano intro, but the guitar really paints the song at the end.
7) Red White and Blue - An anti-war song, and another that starts out slow and builds up. I don't have much to say about it, it's nothing special but by no means bad.
8) When I Dream - The slowest so far, a piano-heavy ballad. The rest of the band makes their first appearance at 1:20, and they apply the rest of amount of musicianship to match the song. If you like softer softer rock, this is probably THE one track you should pick up.
9) The Book (Again and Again) - This has a neat riff that alternates between piano and guitar. The chorus kinda grates on me after a certain point, and that makes about the last minute kinda drag to me, but it's definitely got some high points I can't apparently point into words. Also, the ending leads directly to...
10) Stay [Lead] - Vocally, I really like this song. It's easily the softest song on the CD, focusing mostly on his singing with an acoustic guitar part providing most of the background. But that's not a problem to me. It's got some sort of percussion(?) in it that just really rubs me the wrong way. If it doesn't bother you, this is a pretty good one.
Final Verdict: With no real downs and a few ups, I'd say this is a good'un
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-All of This was in Guitar Hero, as two of the bandmembers worked for Harmonix during development. That's the best I've got. Also, it's supposed to come to Rock Band at some point? I suck at this.
Album: The Sad Thing Is, We Like It Here
Band: Shaimus
Year: 2009
Genre (Relative!): Alternative, Pop(?) Rock
Number of Tracks: 10
Summary: Their sophmore attempt also at 10 tracks, this shines even brighter than a paper sun. Rimshot. I'll be here all week. Overall it's more cohesive than Paper Sun, both speed-wise and sound-wise, but it's sorta double-edged because no tracks really stand out this time around.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Interview - The song opens in the style of many older songs, vocals and piano. The guitar comes in a bit strong and the song becomes a bit poppier and faster than most of their older efforts, though anyone who enjoyed the guitar riffs transitions on the first will not be disappointed by this one. The very ending is a bit metal, but not really surprising considering most of the guitar parts and solos from the first.
2) Turn the Other Way - This is free on their site, so there's no reason not to like it. It's a song about struggling through employment, and makes it clear the album has largely done away with extended guitar solos in exchange for heavier breakdown parts in general.
3) All the Good Ways - This is first slower song on the album, but towards the end the guitar makes sure you haven't forgotten he's in the band. Probably the closest to mainstream rock they really get, but it's a good one.
4) Tie You Down - And so this one pushes towards a metal sound until the singer comes in. The song mostly moves away from that outside of that riff, but it is the heavier than a lot of older stuff. There's a nice bridge where they all show off a bit instrumentally without getting crazy, and it goes between softer and harder parts for most of the song but it does it well.
5) Heads Or Tails - A nice island/reggae/ska sound going on with the rhythm guitar. This is the slowest song so far, and if I recall correctly, the slowest on the disc. If you're a fan of softer stuff, this might be the best choice, although don't be surprised if there's some slightly harder sounding stuff in there once or twice. It's Shaimus, guys.
6) Don't Want the Story - This is also pretty straight forward rock that doesn't indulge in intricate rhythms as much as some of their other stuff. It still has enough to sustain someone like me who tends to listen to the instruments, but seeing how he has a nice voice and good lyrics anyway, that should be enough for most people.
7) Let Go - Apparently I don't recall correctly. Piano intro! It's more rock than Heads or Tails, but it's softer over all. It's also almost six minutes, which tends to be a detractor to someone like me, but again, there's not really filler, so at least it uses the time well.
8) Like A Fool - My favorite from the album, probably because it's the closest equivalent to All of This. It's a really well done song on all parts, and has that classic Shaimus 'metal guitar break' in the middle before progressing to the classic Shaimus 'soft vocally focused break' only a bit after that. It pulls no punches, but I wouldn't say it's the most accessible song, so it might not be your cup of tea. Jerk.
9) While We're Young - The longest one on the CD at almost seven minutes, you better hope there's no filler. It starts off slow, like Stay slow. But it builds up and changes to a fun sound I enjoy a minute and a half in. It travels enough and keeps changing to new sounds, which is unsurprising because their guitarist does love to do that. I'm not sure if seven minutes was needed though, seems like the last minute and a half aren't necessarily, although they aren't terrible either. They're just kinda there.
10) Stuck Around - Another softer, poppier one. Showcases his voice, but the band does support it well. It's got a clear solo in it that matches the mood, and the song has kinda a timeless feel to me.
Final Verdict: Although I don't feel it reaches the same heights as some of Paper Sun did, it's overall better and really good, so let's say a great'un
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Heads or Tails Also has a Mario coin sound at the end for reasons I don't fully understand? I mean, I guess they were like 'hey, a coin sound, heads or tails,' but aren't those coins the same on both sides?
-Like a Fool was one of the 20 free songs for RB2, and Tie You Down is supposed to come out at some point
-I've got a signed copy of this, so I might be biased
-Where the hell is Heaven Is Close?
Hm, hopefully these will get better as I go along. This was actually difficult to describe because while all the songs do sound different, the approach they take to every song is similar and it's hard to describe. For me. Shut up, you jerks. I hate you. I'm never doing this again.
Tune in tomorrow maybe.
Eh.
-
Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Boston - Boston
by Karmelo » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:14 pm
This week day on KRAPMusic, Boston's debut album, Boston. Now, I think this might be a little redundant, because I'm sure everyone knows More Than A Feeling, and possible one or two others from this album. However, this is possibly the best debut album in rock history, and I need to make sure you know every track on it.
Album: Boston
Band: Boston
Year: 1976
Genre (Relative!): (Classic) Rock
Number of Tracks: 8
Summary: As I stated, this is a really good album, the music comes together really well on every song. Although only eight tracks, this album an incredible amount of sound in it, both diverse and delicious.
Track by Track Notes:
1) More Than a Feeling - Although Amanda was their big hit single, this is probably the definitive Boston song for most people and maybe even the definitive Classic Rock song for some. The soft intro switching to a more rock sound is something you'll hear a lot on this album. You'll also hear the guitar trick he uses in the solo a lot, because apparently he really liked that. The song's really hard to describe in general, and you know it anyway, so why are you reading this one? Oh yeah, and the ending probably drags on a bit. Just sayin'.
2) Peace of Mind - Soft intro into an more rock sound? Okay, yeah, I'm kinda being a jerk. Hey, it works. Related: Hey, that guitar trick. The background singer(s?) always kinda catch me offguard, watch out for that. Okay, okay, the point of the song is "Hey, materialism's kinda pointless," but Boston has a hard time making its songs sound more disapproving and less awesome, so one might miss the tone of the lyrics. This one definitely drags at the end to me, but it's by no means bad.
3) Foreplay/Long Time - Wait a second, that's no soft intro. That's the kind of Foreplay I like. Foreplay is overall a pretty simple musical piece that manages to sound amazing because of how well it comes together. There's a bit of a quiet transition between Foreplay and Long Time, but it's not really filler. The guitar solos sound great, and anyone who enjoys bass gets a little treat before every chorus. The song is easily the longest on the CD, approaching eight minutes, but the song never really approaches a drag, as it constantly introduces new pieces, even if it's only something as 'subtle' as switching from acoustic to electric guitar for the last chorus.
4) Rock N Roll Band - The shortest song on the album, it's one of those "Man, we're great" songs. This is also the first to not see acoustic guitar get any love, or focus at the least. There's not much to say about this one, it makes its points and it takes its leave. The most straightforward rock of the album, it doesn't stray too far into different sounds, whcih makes it hard to note anything about.
5) Smokin' - Smokin' always has had a really good rock riff to me. The song starts out as a really good classic rock song, but the focus switches to the organ for most of the song after that. It changes sounds two or three times in there, but each time it pushes more towards a jam sound than a mainstream one. It comes back to the original sound for one last verse and chorus, but by then the damage is done and the song is unplayable on mainstream radio. Except it shows up on classic rock radio a lot.
6) Hitch A Ride - Ah, there's our soft intro. My favorite of the album, I just really think all the pieces really come together well in this without really anything in particular taking focus unless it's clearly a solo. Speaking of which, the song kinda abruptly changes to the organ solo and first guitar solo (which is led up to with a nice drum fill), but it bugs me less and less each time. It returns to the chorus afterwards, before going to a minute and a half guitar solo, which has always stuck with me. It's got a few 'look at me' moments, but overall keeps a nice serene(?) sound matching the rest of song.
7) Something About You - Another soft intro. And hey, when we get into the first rock riff, there's that guitar trick. This also is another pretty straightforward rock song. The guitar probably shares the spotlight with the rest of the instruments most in this song, but that's not saying much. It's the song after Hitch A Ride, I don't have much to say about it. Another great Boston tune, of course.
8) Let Me Take You Home Tonight - Personally, this one has always sat kinda weird with the other songs, but I guess that's because it's supposed to be a straightforward ballad moreso than a rock song about love. The focus is more on vocals even moreso than the other songs, and it's mostly a nice soft song, which largely constrasts but doesn't clash with the rest of the album. The ending changes to a harder rock sound, which does keep it from dragging but I think I might have preferred just keeping the sound soft. Although I think it's the weakest of the album, it's still good stuff.
Final Verdict: If you know me, you know I tease things I actually like, so you can see with all the teasing, I think this is a great'un.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-I'm told, being an mechanical engineer, Scholz created his own amps and effects for guitars, making his music impossible to mimic at the time. Wikipedia SEEMS to confirm this, but I've misread it before
-More Than A Feeling has probably been in every movie and show ever (Well, maybe not). Also, it was in Guitar Hero.
-Peace of Mind was released as DLC for Guitar Hero III, but it was probably overcharted what who said that
-Foreplay/Long Time was originally two songs, Foreplay ending with an explosion after choking on how to really end it. They then realized that the two songs were in the same key, and that they flowed together well. Also, it was a disc song on Rock Band. Most importantly: Clavinet!
-Rock N Roll Band appears as DLC for Guitar Hero: World Tour, but it was probably overcharted. Wikipedia also said it was in one of the DS games. Sad. who said that
-All but Let Me Take You Home Tonight were eventually made playable in Rock Band, the other six being DLC (Apparently Harmonix thought the song sat weird too, oh snap)
I'll fix it in post. I probably shouldn't have tried tackling this one for my second attempt, as this kinda has the same problem as the Shaimus stuff where it all sounds different while being done similarly. Eh, it'll live. Might do another tonight, we'll see. But it won't be one where all the songs are done similarly, I'll tell you that.
Album: Boston
Band: Boston
Year: 1976
Genre (Relative!): (Classic) Rock
Number of Tracks: 8
Summary: As I stated, this is a really good album, the music comes together really well on every song. Although only eight tracks, this album an incredible amount of sound in it, both diverse and delicious.
Track by Track Notes:
1) More Than a Feeling - Although Amanda was their big hit single, this is probably the definitive Boston song for most people and maybe even the definitive Classic Rock song for some. The soft intro switching to a more rock sound is something you'll hear a lot on this album. You'll also hear the guitar trick he uses in the solo a lot, because apparently he really liked that. The song's really hard to describe in general, and you know it anyway, so why are you reading this one? Oh yeah, and the ending probably drags on a bit. Just sayin'.
2) Peace of Mind - Soft intro into an more rock sound? Okay, yeah, I'm kinda being a jerk. Hey, it works. Related: Hey, that guitar trick. The background singer(s?) always kinda catch me offguard, watch out for that. Okay, okay, the point of the song is "Hey, materialism's kinda pointless," but Boston has a hard time making its songs sound more disapproving and less awesome, so one might miss the tone of the lyrics. This one definitely drags at the end to me, but it's by no means bad.
3) Foreplay/Long Time - Wait a second, that's no soft intro. That's the kind of Foreplay I like. Foreplay is overall a pretty simple musical piece that manages to sound amazing because of how well it comes together. There's a bit of a quiet transition between Foreplay and Long Time, but it's not really filler. The guitar solos sound great, and anyone who enjoys bass gets a little treat before every chorus. The song is easily the longest on the CD, approaching eight minutes, but the song never really approaches a drag, as it constantly introduces new pieces, even if it's only something as 'subtle' as switching from acoustic to electric guitar for the last chorus.
4) Rock N Roll Band - The shortest song on the album, it's one of those "Man, we're great" songs. This is also the first to not see acoustic guitar get any love, or focus at the least. There's not much to say about this one, it makes its points and it takes its leave. The most straightforward rock of the album, it doesn't stray too far into different sounds, whcih makes it hard to note anything about.
5) Smokin' - Smokin' always has had a really good rock riff to me. The song starts out as a really good classic rock song, but the focus switches to the organ for most of the song after that. It changes sounds two or three times in there, but each time it pushes more towards a jam sound than a mainstream one. It comes back to the original sound for one last verse and chorus, but by then the damage is done and the song is unplayable on mainstream radio. Except it shows up on classic rock radio a lot.
6) Hitch A Ride - Ah, there's our soft intro. My favorite of the album, I just really think all the pieces really come together well in this without really anything in particular taking focus unless it's clearly a solo. Speaking of which, the song kinda abruptly changes to the organ solo and first guitar solo (which is led up to with a nice drum fill), but it bugs me less and less each time. It returns to the chorus afterwards, before going to a minute and a half guitar solo, which has always stuck with me. It's got a few 'look at me' moments, but overall keeps a nice serene(?) sound matching the rest of song.
7) Something About You - Another soft intro. And hey, when we get into the first rock riff, there's that guitar trick. This also is another pretty straightforward rock song. The guitar probably shares the spotlight with the rest of the instruments most in this song, but that's not saying much. It's the song after Hitch A Ride, I don't have much to say about it. Another great Boston tune, of course.
8) Let Me Take You Home Tonight - Personally, this one has always sat kinda weird with the other songs, but I guess that's because it's supposed to be a straightforward ballad moreso than a rock song about love. The focus is more on vocals even moreso than the other songs, and it's mostly a nice soft song, which largely constrasts but doesn't clash with the rest of the album. The ending changes to a harder rock sound, which does keep it from dragging but I think I might have preferred just keeping the sound soft. Although I think it's the weakest of the album, it's still good stuff.
Final Verdict: If you know me, you know I tease things I actually like, so you can see with all the teasing, I think this is a great'un.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-I'm told, being an mechanical engineer, Scholz created his own amps and effects for guitars, making his music impossible to mimic at the time. Wikipedia SEEMS to confirm this, but I've misread it before
-More Than A Feeling has probably been in every movie and show ever (Well, maybe not). Also, it was in Guitar Hero.
-Peace of Mind was released as DLC for Guitar Hero III, but it was probably overcharted what who said that
-Foreplay/Long Time was originally two songs, Foreplay ending with an explosion after choking on how to really end it. They then realized that the two songs were in the same key, and that they flowed together well. Also, it was a disc song on Rock Band. Most importantly: Clavinet!
-Rock N Roll Band appears as DLC for Guitar Hero: World Tour, but it was probably overcharted. Wikipedia also said it was in one of the DS games. Sad. who said that
-All but Let Me Take You Home Tonight were eventually made playable in Rock Band, the other six being DLC (Apparently Harmonix thought the song sat weird too, oh snap)
I'll fix it in post. I probably shouldn't have tried tackling this one for my second attempt, as this kinda has the same problem as the Shaimus stuff where it all sounds different while being done similarly. Eh, it'll live. Might do another tonight, we'll see. But it won't be one where all the songs are done similarly, I'll tell you that.
Eh.
-
Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Mitera Nikkou » Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:33 pm
Seeing as I choose Boston whenever I have to pick a favorite band, just so I don't have to deal with any indecision (and so I have an answer to that nagging question that people tend to ask), their debut album is something akin to a holy grail. To me, anyway.
But I'm not a music critic. I like Boston so much mostly because I love the guitar and lead vocals. When I think of pure and simple rock, I think of Boston. Speaking of which... I believe the band also produces music with no synthesizers or computers.
But I'm not a music critic. I like Boston so much mostly because I love the guitar and lead vocals. When I think of pure and simple rock, I think of Boston. Speaking of which... I believe the band also produces music with no synthesizers or computers.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned because only women can give two tits for every tat.
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Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Karmelo » Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:43 pm
I'd say their first album is objectively a musically welldone album, but someone might disagree but they are probably a jerk. I'm not really a critic, I just like to ramble about music, as the title states. But I think the album stands well against any hypothetical criticism.
I'm actually pretty sure a lot of the first album was recorded in Scholz's basement. What say you, Wikipedia?
Good man.
I'm actually pretty sure a lot of the first album was recorded in Scholz's basement. What say you, Wikipedia?
Wikipedia wrote:Most of the guitar, bass, and keyboards were performed by Scholz and recorded at his basement studio.
Good man.
Eh.
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Deep Purple - Machine Head
by Karmelo » Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:46 am
I'm in a seventies mood. This might count as a late double update or an early update, we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. Everyone knows Smoke on the Water, right? Well, these guys have songs that really extend beyond that in sound and musicianship. This is probably the most diverse album I've done to date, and the easiest time I've had with one, but that's not saying much on either front. Love to both previous groups, of course. Not so much for the ramblings. But hey, I'll keep ramblin' on, it's what I do.
NOTICE: This album was released on Warner Bros. in the US, which is owned by WMG. WMG removed all their music from YouTube, so I CANNOT find full videos for any of these, sorry.
Album: Machine Head
Band: Deep Purple
Year: 1972
Genre (Relative!): (Classic) Rock, Metal, clearly some blues influence
Number of Tracks: 7
Summary: Though the shortest song is four minutes, there isn't much filler on this guy. The song's got intense classic rock instruments painting every track, amazing vocal prowess popping quite often, but is hampered by the lyrics being often being uninteresting. If that's tolerable or not a problem at all for you, read on, I say.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Highway Star - Perhaps nothing is more rockin' than this intro. It gets your heart pounding, likely so you won't notice how bland the lyrics to this song are. "Like a moving mouth, body control, and everything?" Even as innuendo, that's really weak. But Ian Gillian's got a rockin' voice (and terrible parents for that name), and the instruments on this are wild, man. The bass has all sorts of delicious little licks thrown in, and the drums has fills splattered all over in there. Let's not forget the organ and guitar solos, which rank among my favorites with a nice range of sounds. Six minutes long, but of nonstop rock musically. Lyrically, you'll find better things to sustain you on later tracks, sorry.
2) Maybe I'm A Leo - This song definitely has a blues feel to it, with an excellent riff that doesn't get tired no matter how many times you hear it. Has a mellow guitar solo followed quickly by an equally mellow keyboard solo which slightly detract from the bluesy feel, and the song starts ramblin' into a jam at the end with another solo, but it ends before it loses direction. In fact, it fades out, and I'm curious if that solo has more than they let on the album. I'll never know until I steal the master. Oh yeah, this is another strong vocal-weak lyric song.
3) Pictures of Home - Ian Paice on the drums, ladies and gentlemen. A beautiful intro. The song has a lot of instrument work, although it's probably the most focused on vocals during the verses in this one. It's unsurprisingly about homesickness, but does surprisingly show somewhat inspired lyrics. Delicious guitar solo, delicious organ solo, delicious bass solo(!), delic--Aw, main riff. Ah, outro guitar solo. If you like the sound of classic rock instruments, this is one to check out. The fact that's one of the stronger lyrical ones is a good bonus, too.
4) Never Before - Ian Paice on the dr--Aw, not so much on the intro this time. Another clearly blues-inspired one, full of great guitar riffs. The vocals don't quite feel like anything else on the album to me, I constantly find myself wanting to sing along, shut up. It could be they sound passionate, it's more likely it's simple two or three syllable phrases. The song has a very soft break in the middle pushing on psychedelic(?), before predictably moving into a guitar solo. It's Deep Purple. And a keyboard outro after we're done with the last verse and chorus. And Ian Paice on the drums outro, there we are.
5) Smoke on the Water - Easily their most wellknown song, but I've never been a fan. It's much simpler than the other stuff on the album, and its lyrics are kinda whiny in my opinion. Still a good riff, but not their best. And let's face it, Paice always throws in some quality drums. As with the riff, a good solo, but not the best. Approaching six minutes, this as probably has some pieces it could lose, and the organ at the end probably could have come in earlier.
6) Lazy - At seven and a half minutes, this'll probably be hit or miss. Organ intro on this one (Jon Lord, ladies and gentlemen), but I feel it's pretty weak compared to the rest of the song. The fifteen second section starting at 0:55 is nice, but the real song doesn't start until about 1:20 for me. You can tell coming in this is going to be another bluesy one, and to me it surpasses the other just half a minute in (the real song). The solos are great fun to listen, going from guitar to organ in this one. They're really enjoying themselves, we don't hear a word out of the vocalist until about 4:20, and then after the first chorus and verse (which are lyrically weak), he does a harmonica solo. Another verse and chorus at about 5:20, and the last we hear of any words is about 5:50, leaving the last minute and a half to be the instrument shenannigans and a guitar solo. The ending is classic blues. Another good one for classic rock instruments, but the length might easily be a dealbreaker to some.
7) Space Truckin' - Roger Glover gets his love on bass on this classic groove. The vocals are amazing throughout this even if the lyrics are about...space truckin'! If you don't want to sing along with the chorus, you're dead inside. The guitar and organ largely sit this one, their rhythms and the solo being the weakest on here. Ian Paice takes the spotlight instrumentally throughout this one with his energetic and short fills and syncopation throughout, extended fill before the second chorus, the bangin' drum solo, buildup part, and the absolutely insane outro. Wow, so much love.
Final Verdict: IF you want music to just rock out to, this is a great'un. The lyrics, as I've stated, aren't great, but if you're a fan of vocals as an instrument, it's got some good stuff.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-EDIT (One I Forgot): The story behind Highway Star is the band was asked how they wrote songs in an interview, and Blackmore starting playing the basic riff to the song as Gillian did improv lyrics over it. The band refined the song afterwards and performed it at their concert that night, so lyrical weakness is excusable there.
-Highway Star appears on disc on Rock Band, being used in the opening trailer as well. The volume of the organ solo is decreased, though, so watch out.
-Smoke on the Water appears in a lot of media as well. And yes, it was in Guitar Hero.
-Space Truckin' appears in the Classic Rock Drum Book produced by Hal Leonard. Ha, I bet you thought these were all going to be about rhythm games again, huh? ...It's also a DLC song for Rock Band.
-But, I have more! Ian Paice is the only member of Deep Purple to be constant throughout its 30 years of roster changes
-Also, Ian was a popular name back then? And Ian Gillian, seriously, what jerks
-One More Thing: Ian Gillian sang as Jesus Christ on the original album for Jesus Christ Superstar. That's right.
See you later, space trucker.
NOTICE: This album was released on Warner Bros. in the US, which is owned by WMG. WMG removed all their music from YouTube, so I CANNOT find full videos for any of these, sorry.
Album: Machine Head
Band: Deep Purple
Year: 1972
Genre (Relative!): (Classic) Rock, Metal, clearly some blues influence
Number of Tracks: 7
Summary: Though the shortest song is four minutes, there isn't much filler on this guy. The song's got intense classic rock instruments painting every track, amazing vocal prowess popping quite often, but is hampered by the lyrics being often being uninteresting. If that's tolerable or not a problem at all for you, read on, I say.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Highway Star - Perhaps nothing is more rockin' than this intro. It gets your heart pounding, likely so you won't notice how bland the lyrics to this song are. "Like a moving mouth, body control, and everything?" Even as innuendo, that's really weak. But Ian Gillian's got a rockin' voice (and terrible parents for that name), and the instruments on this are wild, man. The bass has all sorts of delicious little licks thrown in, and the drums has fills splattered all over in there. Let's not forget the organ and guitar solos, which rank among my favorites with a nice range of sounds. Six minutes long, but of nonstop rock musically. Lyrically, you'll find better things to sustain you on later tracks, sorry.
2) Maybe I'm A Leo - This song definitely has a blues feel to it, with an excellent riff that doesn't get tired no matter how many times you hear it. Has a mellow guitar solo followed quickly by an equally mellow keyboard solo which slightly detract from the bluesy feel, and the song starts ramblin' into a jam at the end with another solo, but it ends before it loses direction. In fact, it fades out, and I'm curious if that solo has more than they let on the album. I'll never know until I steal the master. Oh yeah, this is another strong vocal-weak lyric song.
3) Pictures of Home - Ian Paice on the drums, ladies and gentlemen. A beautiful intro. The song has a lot of instrument work, although it's probably the most focused on vocals during the verses in this one. It's unsurprisingly about homesickness, but does surprisingly show somewhat inspired lyrics. Delicious guitar solo, delicious organ solo, delicious bass solo(!), delic--Aw, main riff. Ah, outro guitar solo. If you like the sound of classic rock instruments, this is one to check out. The fact that's one of the stronger lyrical ones is a good bonus, too.
4) Never Before - Ian Paice on the dr--Aw, not so much on the intro this time. Another clearly blues-inspired one, full of great guitar riffs. The vocals don't quite feel like anything else on the album to me, I constantly find myself wanting to sing along, shut up. It could be they sound passionate, it's more likely it's simple two or three syllable phrases. The song has a very soft break in the middle pushing on psychedelic(?), before predictably moving into a guitar solo. It's Deep Purple. And a keyboard outro after we're done with the last verse and chorus. And Ian Paice on the drums outro, there we are.
5) Smoke on the Water - Easily their most wellknown song, but I've never been a fan. It's much simpler than the other stuff on the album, and its lyrics are kinda whiny in my opinion. Still a good riff, but not their best. And let's face it, Paice always throws in some quality drums. As with the riff, a good solo, but not the best. Approaching six minutes, this as probably has some pieces it could lose, and the organ at the end probably could have come in earlier.
6) Lazy - At seven and a half minutes, this'll probably be hit or miss. Organ intro on this one (Jon Lord, ladies and gentlemen), but I feel it's pretty weak compared to the rest of the song. The fifteen second section starting at 0:55 is nice, but the real song doesn't start until about 1:20 for me. You can tell coming in this is going to be another bluesy one, and to me it surpasses the other just half a minute in (the real song). The solos are great fun to listen, going from guitar to organ in this one. They're really enjoying themselves, we don't hear a word out of the vocalist until about 4:20, and then after the first chorus and verse (which are lyrically weak), he does a harmonica solo. Another verse and chorus at about 5:20, and the last we hear of any words is about 5:50, leaving the last minute and a half to be the instrument shenannigans and a guitar solo. The ending is classic blues. Another good one for classic rock instruments, but the length might easily be a dealbreaker to some.
7) Space Truckin' - Roger Glover gets his love on bass on this classic groove. The vocals are amazing throughout this even if the lyrics are about...space truckin'! If you don't want to sing along with the chorus, you're dead inside. The guitar and organ largely sit this one, their rhythms and the solo being the weakest on here. Ian Paice takes the spotlight instrumentally throughout this one with his energetic and short fills and syncopation throughout, extended fill before the second chorus, the bangin' drum solo, buildup part, and the absolutely insane outro. Wow, so much love.
Final Verdict: IF you want music to just rock out to, this is a great'un. The lyrics, as I've stated, aren't great, but if you're a fan of vocals as an instrument, it's got some good stuff.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-EDIT (One I Forgot): The story behind Highway Star is the band was asked how they wrote songs in an interview, and Blackmore starting playing the basic riff to the song as Gillian did improv lyrics over it. The band refined the song afterwards and performed it at their concert that night, so lyrical weakness is excusable there.
-Highway Star appears on disc on Rock Band, being used in the opening trailer as well. The volume of the organ solo is decreased, though, so watch out.
-Smoke on the Water appears in a lot of media as well. And yes, it was in Guitar Hero.
-Space Truckin' appears in the Classic Rock Drum Book produced by Hal Leonard. Ha, I bet you thought these were all going to be about rhythm games again, huh? ...It's also a DLC song for Rock Band.
-But, I have more! Ian Paice is the only member of Deep Purple to be constant throughout its 30 years of roster changes
-Also, Ian was a popular name back then? And Ian Gillian, seriously, what jerks
-One More Thing: Ian Gillian sang as Jesus Christ on the original album for Jesus Christ Superstar. That's right.
See you later, space trucker.
Eh.
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Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Mitera Nikkou » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:41 pm
I had little problem finding the songs, both audio and live, on Youtube, so I was able to listen to the songs that I was unfamiliar with. It's an okay album, to me. It sounds like you should be high, or tripping, while listening to a few of those songs. And, for some reason, I'm reminded of Steppenwolf. ;/
Say, would you take requests, if you were familiar enough with the album requested? I'd like to hear your krappy ramblings for Queen's Innuendo. (There should be no problem finding their music on Youtube. And this guy has all the songs for the album with lyrics.)
Say, would you take requests, if you were familiar enough with the album requested? I'd like to hear your krappy ramblings for Queen's Innuendo. (There should be no problem finding their music on Youtube. And this guy has all the songs for the album with lyrics.)
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned because only women can give two tits for every tat.
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Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Karmelo » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:03 pm
Crescent Pulsar wrote:I had little problem finding the songs, both audio and live, on Youtube, so I was able to listen to the songs that I was unfamiliar with. It's an okay album, to me. It sounds like you should be high, or tripping, while listening to a few of those songs. And, for some reason, I'm reminded of Steppenwolf. ;/
Really? Hm. I guess I'm just stupid. Somehow, I always knew.
As I've implied heavily but never really said, instrumentation is really appealing to me. A lot of the songs are pushing, if not right-out, jams; and if that ain't your number I can see it being a detractor. Also, to each their own. The idea, if anything, isn't just 'Karm said this was good,' but 'Karm said this was good and he previously said this album I like in the same/similar genre was good so I might should check that out.' Granted, I did put that into Classic Rock with Boston, even though it's a different type, so mea culpa on that, I guess. Finally, the Steppenwolf thing isn't entirely surprising.
Crescent Pulsar wrote:Say, would you take requests, if you were familiar enough with the album requested? I'd like to hear your krappy ramblings for Queen's Innuendo. (There should be no problem finding their music on Youtube. And this guy has all the songs for the album with lyrics.)
READ THE FAQ, NOOB. As I said, I don't know why someone would request one, but if you want me to, I'll always take a stab at it. Remember that we may/definitely have differing tastes, so don't be surprised if I don't hold it in the same regard as you. But the REAL motivation behind this was to re-explore albums I liked last time I listened to them, so throwing a few new ones into my library probaly won't hurt me. Or will it? We'll find out together.
Eh.
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Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Mitera Nikkou » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:36 pm
I already know all of this. ;p
I favor instrumentation myself, unless we differ on our understanding of what that is. But it still comes down to whether it sounds good to me or not. For instance, there are parts of Space Truckin' that I felt inclined to cover my ears for, because it sounded like something broke and created noise instead of music. Granted, it was live, so it may not sound like that in the studio version.
And I've already forgotten the FAQ, so sue me. I figured I'd ask for a request to increase the chances of more people posting, in reply or otherwise, since it's usually silly to make a topic where only one person will post. It has nothing to do with your opinions since, well, they're opinions. I'm simply curious about them; I'm not interested in contesting/arguing over them. I mean, I already know what I think about albums, so it's more interesting to know what others think.
I kind of got the "REAL motivation" you mentioned, which is why I added, "if you were familiar enough with the album requested." If that album from Queen is something new, then don't bother with it. You silly windsock.
I favor instrumentation myself, unless we differ on our understanding of what that is. But it still comes down to whether it sounds good to me or not. For instance, there are parts of Space Truckin' that I felt inclined to cover my ears for, because it sounded like something broke and created noise instead of music. Granted, it was live, so it may not sound like that in the studio version.
And I've already forgotten the FAQ, so sue me. I figured I'd ask for a request to increase the chances of more people posting, in reply or otherwise, since it's usually silly to make a topic where only one person will post. It has nothing to do with your opinions since, well, they're opinions. I'm simply curious about them; I'm not interested in contesting/arguing over them. I mean, I already know what I think about albums, so it's more interesting to know what others think.
I kind of got the "REAL motivation" you mentioned, which is why I added, "if you were familiar enough with the album requested." If that album from Queen is something new, then don't bother with it. You silly windsock.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned because only women can give two tits for every tat.
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Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Karmelo » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:00 pm
Crescent Pulsar wrote:I already know all of this. ;p
I favor instrumentation myself, unless we differ on our understanding of what that is. But it still comes down to whether it sounds good to me or not. For instance, there are parts of Space Truckin' that I felt inclined to cover my ears for, because it sounded like something broke and created noise instead of music. Granted, it was live, so it may not sound like that in the studio version.
That's one reason I really want to avoid live videos (I only linked to Heaven Is Close by Shaimus live because there's no studio recording YET), because it's not rare for artists to either try to improve something and fail or just go on stage wasted live. Even in the case of good live versions, it's very rare for a live version to not have something included in the studio version, because otherwise they could just listen to the studio version. If you want, I'm always up for sending you the studio version of Space Truckin', worst case scenario we break some laws and you continue to not care for it.
Crescent Pulsar wrote:And I've already forgotten the FAQ, so sue me. I figured I'd ask for a request to increase the chances of more people posting, in reply or otherwise, since it's usually silly to make a topic where only one person will post. It has nothing to do with your opinions since, well, they're opinions. I'm simply curious about them; I'm not interested in contesting/arguing over them. I mean, I already know what I think about albums, so it's more interesting to know what others think.
I think I might sue you. And I figured that was your intent, I was just teasing, gosh. LIGHTEN UP.
Crescent Pulsar wrote:I kind of got the "REAL motivation" you mentioned, which is why I added, "if you were familiar enough with the album requested." If that album from Queen is something new, then don't bother with it. You silly windsock.
DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO. Worst case scenario, I end up not liking it as much as you. Oh well. I have no problem with new music, you know I'm a music slut. Mm, music.
Mmmmmm.
Eh.
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No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
by Karmelo » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:56 am
Today on KRAPMusic, we see the first female fronted group. It's the first week and I'm already breaking down boundaries. Also, we see the first ska album, but if you didn't expect that within the first week with me, you're pretty stupid!
Album: Tragic Kingdom
Band: No Doubt
Year: 1995
Genre (Relative!): Pop Rock, Ska(-Punk?)
Number of Tracks: 14 (A new record!)
Summary: No Doubt has always has always been a chimaera of a band. Gwen Stefani so desperately wants to sing pop. Dumont clearly wants to do (nu-)metal. Young wants to just wants to play the drums as fast as possible, like some sort of punk. And Kanal was there too, I think. Somehow, they decided to create a ska album. This was one of my introductions to ska, so I've always held it higher than it should be in head. Let's see how far down we knock it.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Spiderwebs - Letting you know it's ska right away, there's some brass. And hey, (nu-)metal guitar. The song stays largely poppy (it's about a phone stalker, so you know) and unnotable until the bridge, which takes on a different darker sound for a bit before returning to the chorus. There's definitely some fat that could be cut from the ending, before and after it switches to a purer ska sound at the end. Though this was a commercial success, it largely serves a taste of what's to come later on at this point, for better and worse.
2) Excuse Me Mr. - More or less a hard-hitting punk song, nothing terribly notable about its overall sound. Fun story I'll tell you later, wait for that section. It's no secret I enjoy fast songs, so this one does stick with me well. The bridge is so fun on the horns to me, too. Then there's a build-up back into the outro, the song doesn't stay any longer than it really needs to, so that's a plus compared to later songs. I mean what.
3) Just A Girl [Helium] - Any time I hit an album by a big band (and it'll become increasingly more rare, unsurprisingly), I expect you to know one song off of it. This is that song. If you do not know this song, you should probably...I don't know. I didn't expect that. ANYWAY. As always, I have trouble describing the big songs. I'm going to get it down someday. There's that guitar again. Also, this song is unsurprisingly 'Hey, female stereotypes are pretty stupid.' The song is the most straightforward rock so far in. Okay, we're done here.
4) Happy Now? - A very 80's feel overall, which isn't really surprising given Just A Girl. It's 'you broke up with me, you missed out.' Good times. The verses actually have interesting lyrics, but the chorus and outro are bland. All the music is recycled at some point in the song, but I think it's pretty well used and nothing gets grating. It's hit or miss, I'd say.
5) Different People - I think that's wah guitar in the intro. Not surprising, of course. The bass groove is great in this, and I say coupled with the brass sound this might push funk. The song's sweet, and I think this is a good song for Gwen Stefani's voice (Sometimes she just doesn't fit). It's pretty much "People can help one another, you know." The song changes sounds for a bridge and guitar solo, then it comes back for one last verse. The message might not be worth four and a half minutes, but I've listened to Space Truckin' so I don't really have room to talk I guess.
6) Hey You [Lead] - Oh, Indian sounds in songs. This isn't the 60's, guys. Is it? I don't think so. Anyway, that rarely comes in aside from the bridge. The chorus is weak, and the song's sound is overall poppier (and unnotable) than its message, which is 'your happiness will fade in time.' The song is largely unnotable and not in the 'I don't know what to say' way, so I say moving on.
7) The Climb - The intro to this has a very classic rock feel, perhaps even prog? What is prog? I don't know, don't tell me. The longest song (~6:30), hence why I so readily offer prog. Don't hit me. The guitar introduces interesting riffs time and time again, and Gwen Stefani offers her range on vocals (not as much on lyrics, though!). At the three minute mark, we see the brass section come in. The song changes sound soon after, further supporting my vague 'prog' description, and changes once again at the 4:45 mark, the instruments offering a fair deal of diversity by the end of the song. It's overall the biggest adventure on the album, although one that slipped my mind somehow.
8) Sixteen - This is easily the overall noisiest song on the album, so it's not surprising that I like it. I'm sorry. It's about 'sixteen still sucks (alliteration!).' The riff is very nu-metal in this song. The brass during the verses make me smile if only due to contrast. Oh, sound clips. Oh hey, metalish solo. Not exactly inspired, though. As I said, it's one of the harder songs on the album, but it's not straightforward enough for me to warrant recommending it if one likes that.
9) Sunday Morning - Probably my favorite of the singles if not of the album, it encapsulates almost all the sounds we've heard so far into one song. The sound starts off with a fast snare roll and the bassline enters soon after that. The song calms down for the pop verse, though the chorus pushes near that again (The very end of the chorus is very poppy though). The second verse has a nice short variant in the drum rhythm and guitar in there. There's also a bridge with harder vocals over some rock guitar, the outro introduces some new riffs to try to keep from getting stale, and the drums end with some snare and cymbal fun.
10) Don't Speak [Helium] - Okay, remember when I said you should know Just A Girl? What I really meant is you should REALLY REALLY know Don't Speak. Despite being the biggest single, it actually sits fairly uneasily with the rest of the album, being a softer apologetic song. Outside of its standard rhythm, it's got a nice acoustic bridge, and a few small fills towards the end. It's really a song that focuses on the vocals and lyrics, and it's one that's wellsuited for that. If you like softer songs and somehow have never heard this, it's one to check out.
11) You Can Do It [Lead] - Oh no, Disco! It's...Uh. Well. It's a disco song. The guitar is kinda neat and varies, but still eventually gets grating to me in every section. Keyboard solo? I'm horrible at this. About the last minute is unneeded and annoying to me, but it's pretty clear I'm not terribly a fan of disco from this. It's uh. Yeah.
12) World Go 'Round - Short guitar intro before we get into a pretty ska/reggae feel. We're focused on vocals/lyrics. It's 'Hey, we're kinda letting the world suck.' I like simplifying lyrics, okay. The bridge section is kinda annoying to me, the horns are kinda intrusive there. And the last half minute doesn't add anything new. But it's not disco, I'll tell you that.
13) End It On This - This KINDA has a classic rock feel overall and especially the beginning. However, her voice doesn't match up as well in this song I feel (and another weak chorus). There's a short fitting bridge/solo (depends on who you ask), and the instruments are pretty cohesive overall. And once again, I feel the ending kinda overstays its sound, and probably could have been abridged.
14) Tragic Kingdom (I wasn't going to link to anything other than the singles, but this video makes me smile)- One I like, you know what that means: Harder sound! Sorry. The rhythms to this song are nice, and her voice and the lyrics work well together. The drum has some fitting fills in there, the horns add a lot of depth, and the bridge has a really nice rhythm behind it. And then: Two-handed tapping solo! That part isn't actually that great sounding, but the rest works in my opinion. Another chorus, and outro rhythm that speeds up. Eventually it gets noisy (especially the horns), even I'll admit. But if you sit through that, you get to hear one of the horns be silly and play the Star Wars theme at the very end of the song. Worth it to me.
Final Verdict: I feel this is the most missable of the ones I've mentioned, a meager alright'un. Don't Speak and/or Just A Girl are never bad additions to one's library, but there's some tracks on here that are really do nothing. As always, when it comes down to it, discern yourself. I'm supposed to be the lazy one, you jerks.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Excuse Me Mr. was recorded in a folksy style as well as the punk style present on the album. The master for the punk style was actually lost, and the studio urged the band to just the folksy version, but they refused to record Spiderwebs unless they could re-record Excuse Me Mr.
-Just A Girl appeared in Clueless
-The Singles 1992-2003 was released as Rock Band DLC, which included tracks 1-3, 9 and 10 (The Singles!)
-Gwen Stefani was born twenty years after Lindsay Buckingham. ..Yeah, okay, I won't write this trivia bits when I'm tired anymore
I need to decide on consistent colors. I'll do it later.
Album: Tragic Kingdom
Band: No Doubt
Year: 1995
Genre (Relative!): Pop Rock, Ska(-Punk?)
Number of Tracks: 14 (A new record!)
Summary: No Doubt has always has always been a chimaera of a band. Gwen Stefani so desperately wants to sing pop. Dumont clearly wants to do (nu-)metal. Young wants to just wants to play the drums as fast as possible, like some sort of punk. And Kanal was there too, I think. Somehow, they decided to create a ska album. This was one of my introductions to ska, so I've always held it higher than it should be in head. Let's see how far down we knock it.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Spiderwebs - Letting you know it's ska right away, there's some brass. And hey, (nu-)metal guitar. The song stays largely poppy (it's about a phone stalker, so you know) and unnotable until the bridge, which takes on a different darker sound for a bit before returning to the chorus. There's definitely some fat that could be cut from the ending, before and after it switches to a purer ska sound at the end. Though this was a commercial success, it largely serves a taste of what's to come later on at this point, for better and worse.
2) Excuse Me Mr. - More or less a hard-hitting punk song, nothing terribly notable about its overall sound. Fun story I'll tell you later, wait for that section. It's no secret I enjoy fast songs, so this one does stick with me well. The bridge is so fun on the horns to me, too. Then there's a build-up back into the outro, the song doesn't stay any longer than it really needs to, so that's a plus compared to later songs. I mean what.
3) Just A Girl [Helium] - Any time I hit an album by a big band (and it'll become increasingly more rare, unsurprisingly), I expect you to know one song off of it. This is that song. If you do not know this song, you should probably...I don't know. I didn't expect that. ANYWAY. As always, I have trouble describing the big songs. I'm going to get it down someday. There's that guitar again. Also, this song is unsurprisingly 'Hey, female stereotypes are pretty stupid.' The song is the most straightforward rock so far in. Okay, we're done here.
4) Happy Now? - A very 80's feel overall, which isn't really surprising given Just A Girl. It's 'you broke up with me, you missed out.' Good times. The verses actually have interesting lyrics, but the chorus and outro are bland. All the music is recycled at some point in the song, but I think it's pretty well used and nothing gets grating. It's hit or miss, I'd say.
5) Different People - I think that's wah guitar in the intro. Not surprising, of course. The bass groove is great in this, and I say coupled with the brass sound this might push funk. The song's sweet, and I think this is a good song for Gwen Stefani's voice (Sometimes she just doesn't fit). It's pretty much "People can help one another, you know." The song changes sounds for a bridge and guitar solo, then it comes back for one last verse. The message might not be worth four and a half minutes, but I've listened to Space Truckin' so I don't really have room to talk I guess.
6) Hey You [Lead] - Oh, Indian sounds in songs. This isn't the 60's, guys. Is it? I don't think so. Anyway, that rarely comes in aside from the bridge. The chorus is weak, and the song's sound is overall poppier (and unnotable) than its message, which is 'your happiness will fade in time.' The song is largely unnotable and not in the 'I don't know what to say' way, so I say moving on.
7) The Climb - The intro to this has a very classic rock feel, perhaps even prog? What is prog? I don't know, don't tell me. The longest song (~6:30), hence why I so readily offer prog. Don't hit me. The guitar introduces interesting riffs time and time again, and Gwen Stefani offers her range on vocals (not as much on lyrics, though!). At the three minute mark, we see the brass section come in. The song changes sound soon after, further supporting my vague 'prog' description, and changes once again at the 4:45 mark, the instruments offering a fair deal of diversity by the end of the song. It's overall the biggest adventure on the album, although one that slipped my mind somehow.
8) Sixteen - This is easily the overall noisiest song on the album, so it's not surprising that I like it. I'm sorry. It's about 'sixteen still sucks (alliteration!).' The riff is very nu-metal in this song. The brass during the verses make me smile if only due to contrast. Oh, sound clips. Oh hey, metalish solo. Not exactly inspired, though. As I said, it's one of the harder songs on the album, but it's not straightforward enough for me to warrant recommending it if one likes that.
9) Sunday Morning - Probably my favorite of the singles if not of the album, it encapsulates almost all the sounds we've heard so far into one song. The sound starts off with a fast snare roll and the bassline enters soon after that. The song calms down for the pop verse, though the chorus pushes near that again (The very end of the chorus is very poppy though). The second verse has a nice short variant in the drum rhythm and guitar in there. There's also a bridge with harder vocals over some rock guitar, the outro introduces some new riffs to try to keep from getting stale, and the drums end with some snare and cymbal fun.
10) Don't Speak [Helium] - Okay, remember when I said you should know Just A Girl? What I really meant is you should REALLY REALLY know Don't Speak. Despite being the biggest single, it actually sits fairly uneasily with the rest of the album, being a softer apologetic song. Outside of its standard rhythm, it's got a nice acoustic bridge, and a few small fills towards the end. It's really a song that focuses on the vocals and lyrics, and it's one that's wellsuited for that. If you like softer songs and somehow have never heard this, it's one to check out.
11) You Can Do It [Lead] - Oh no, Disco! It's...Uh. Well. It's a disco song. The guitar is kinda neat and varies, but still eventually gets grating to me in every section. Keyboard solo? I'm horrible at this. About the last minute is unneeded and annoying to me, but it's pretty clear I'm not terribly a fan of disco from this. It's uh. Yeah.
12) World Go 'Round - Short guitar intro before we get into a pretty ska/reggae feel. We're focused on vocals/lyrics. It's 'Hey, we're kinda letting the world suck.' I like simplifying lyrics, okay. The bridge section is kinda annoying to me, the horns are kinda intrusive there. And the last half minute doesn't add anything new. But it's not disco, I'll tell you that.
13) End It On This - This KINDA has a classic rock feel overall and especially the beginning. However, her voice doesn't match up as well in this song I feel (and another weak chorus). There's a short fitting bridge/solo (depends on who you ask), and the instruments are pretty cohesive overall. And once again, I feel the ending kinda overstays its sound, and probably could have been abridged.
14) Tragic Kingdom (I wasn't going to link to anything other than the singles, but this video makes me smile)- One I like, you know what that means: Harder sound! Sorry. The rhythms to this song are nice, and her voice and the lyrics work well together. The drum has some fitting fills in there, the horns add a lot of depth, and the bridge has a really nice rhythm behind it. And then: Two-handed tapping solo! That part isn't actually that great sounding, but the rest works in my opinion. Another chorus, and outro rhythm that speeds up. Eventually it gets noisy (especially the horns), even I'll admit. But if you sit through that, you get to hear one of the horns be silly and play the Star Wars theme at the very end of the song. Worth it to me.
Final Verdict: I feel this is the most missable of the ones I've mentioned, a meager alright'un. Don't Speak and/or Just A Girl are never bad additions to one's library, but there's some tracks on here that are really do nothing. As always, when it comes down to it, discern yourself. I'm supposed to be the lazy one, you jerks.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Excuse Me Mr. was recorded in a folksy style as well as the punk style present on the album. The master for the punk style was actually lost, and the studio urged the band to just the folksy version, but they refused to record Spiderwebs unless they could re-record Excuse Me Mr.
-Just A Girl appeared in Clueless
-The Singles 1992-2003 was released as Rock Band DLC, which included tracks 1-3, 9 and 10 (The Singles!)
-Gwen Stefani was born twenty years after Lindsay Buckingham. ..Yeah, okay, I won't write this trivia bits when I'm tired anymore
I need to decide on consistent colors. I'll do it later.
Eh.
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Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
by Karmelo » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:43 am
Karm listening to indie music? The notion is preposterous. PREPOSTEROUS. And yet here we are. Also, yeah, there's going to be a lot of indie stuff too, sorry. That's KRAPMusic for ya.
Album: Shake the Sheets
Band: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Year: 2004
Genre (Relative!): (Indie) Rock
Number of Tracks: 11 (That's ridiculous, it's not even funny)
Summary: I'm told this is more politically charged than their earlier stuff, and that's not very surprising, because it's really politically charged. But it's not at all the shallow kind, it's spoken with passion (and a nice rock voice) and communicated via some of the best lyrics I'll complain about. You'll see me struggle with this, if only because a lot of songs are fairly short compared to what I've been tackling.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Me and Mia [Helium] - Vocally and lyrically focused (not to say there's some nice variations now and then instrumentally), this is an excellent starting track (and the most well-known off of it, but that's not saying much). The song is about eating disorders, (general consensus is Mia is bulimia, but that might be reading too much into it), but the lyrics are so finely crafted in this song with double meanings. It's probably the grab track off of this, okay. The nice vocal focus on the second to last chorus to the guitar solo in the last chorus is a nice touch in my opinion. it's really well done in my opinion, check it out.
2) The Angels' Share [Lead] - Sigh, this one has a guitar part that really grates on me on quickly. The drums picking up at 1:15 help revitalize the song, but the sound really distracts from the song's intent. There's a bit of a bridge that's a refreshing change, but it doesn't really add much on its own. I'm told the demo version is better, but the album version is hit or miss I'd say.
3) The One Who Got Us Out - Lovely guitar riff that sits a bit uneasily with the punk drums which in turn sit a bit uneasily with the vocal approach to this song. It slows for the choruses fairly abruptly and overall this song feels a bit unorganized, and changes yet again at 1:40 to a slower, more cohesive sound by the 2:10 mark. The song is clearly about being unhappy with the then-current shape of the country, but the delivery of the song is unusual if nothing else.
4) Counting Down the Hours - Acoustic intro and vocals, then an electric guitar gives us a nice little riff that appears for the chorus. The song is hard to describe soundwise after this. A solo after the second chorus leads to a bridge then back to the main sound. It's one you probably need to experience yourself, don't be afraid, it's a good'un.
5) Little Dawn [Lead] - The longest on the album but only five and a half minutes. Heavy guitar intro for a good 30 seconds as the other instruments enter, but the line gets stale to me before the change. The change is just as heavy with driving guitar and fairly hectic drums, and the first vocals appear about the minute mark. The song takes a much softer sound then, the back-up singers annoy me in the chorus though. We return to the intro sound with a nice bass groove which takes focus away from the repetitive guitar sound, then we're back to the part before once more, and back to the intro guitar AGAIN. The song ends with Ted Leo repeating 'It's alright' about 148(!) times over the sound, which frankly is unnecessarily to me. It's a curious approach, as the song is about carrying on fine with life when everything's breaking for everyone else, but still, two minutes of it is a bit much to me.
6) Heart Problems - Ah, health care. This is one of my favorites, even though I don't really connect on the message. It's well done musically and of course vocally/lyrically. The last fifty seconds is a different sound with Ted Leo listing medications over it, and I've always had a soft spot for songs that list things for some odd reason.
7) Criminal Piece - A 'seize a day' song I believe (Your peace and quiet is criminal!). The song moves from a reggae feel to a pop rock feel quite often to me. Another difficult one to describe, it says its message and leaves. Man, I'm bad at this.
8) Better Dead Than Lead [Lead] (lol) - Oh, bass playing with vocals, although this rhythm sorta grates me and it's the main one, sigh. The way he sings the chorus makes me smiles, however. There's a solo after the second chorus, but nothing to write home about.
9) Shake the Sheets [Helium] - Another of my favorites, seems to be another 'do what you can' song. The song switches between two rhythms in the verse, one for when he's singing a couplet, and another of the same length between each couplet of the verse. The prechorus picks up a bit of a harder sound, and then we got back to the verse with a new guitar sound for the second rhythm. The chorus is pretty standard overall, but great lyrically to me. There's a bridge that doesn't really do anything, but the next chorus is even better. There's a reggae feel for a second, then a final chorus with that new guitar sound in the background, and we exit with another reggaesque section.
10) Bleeding Powers - Probably the most straightforward rock song, but his voice isn't quite rock in it and the drum rhythm is a bit unusual for anyone looking for something on the radio. The solo pushes noise, as well. Still, overall, a good song.
11) Walking to Do [Helium] - A great closing track to me, the guitar and drum rhythms are so interesting in this. The solo in this is also the probably the best on the album (Counting Down the Hours is a good'un too), but as with the rest of the album, the best part are the vocals and lyrics. The last chorus is so fun to me. A lot of people take it as a stab at religion, but I think maybe for once he's just saying 'there's more to come.' It's all personal on all of this songs, I guess.
Final Verdict: Aw, I was hoping to be nice to this, but there's some filler in there that really has no business in my opinion, so alright'un. Me and Mia, Shake the Sheets, and Walking to Do are probably the ones to check out if anything. Counting Down the Hours and Heart Problems are a step below those to me, and beyond that there's no harm in missing the rest of the album in my opinion.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Counting Down the Hours mentions a Mr. Mellor, referring to the birth name of the Clash's guitarist, Joe Strummer
-This is a tough'un, I don't really know too much about them
I'll probably tackle Innuendo in a few days, wanna get a few listens in to try not to miss anything. Also, Nikkou, if you decide to check any of this out, lemme know if you find any studio versions of the Helium tracks at the very least. Dankon.
Album: Shake the Sheets
Band: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Year: 2004
Genre (Relative!): (Indie) Rock
Number of Tracks: 11 (That's ridiculous, it's not even funny)
Summary: I'm told this is more politically charged than their earlier stuff, and that's not very surprising, because it's really politically charged. But it's not at all the shallow kind, it's spoken with passion (and a nice rock voice) and communicated via some of the best lyrics I'll complain about. You'll see me struggle with this, if only because a lot of songs are fairly short compared to what I've been tackling.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Me and Mia [Helium] - Vocally and lyrically focused (not to say there's some nice variations now and then instrumentally), this is an excellent starting track (and the most well-known off of it, but that's not saying much). The song is about eating disorders, (general consensus is Mia is bulimia, but that might be reading too much into it), but the lyrics are so finely crafted in this song with double meanings. It's probably the grab track off of this, okay. The nice vocal focus on the second to last chorus to the guitar solo in the last chorus is a nice touch in my opinion. it's really well done in my opinion, check it out.
2) The Angels' Share [Lead] - Sigh, this one has a guitar part that really grates on me on quickly. The drums picking up at 1:15 help revitalize the song, but the sound really distracts from the song's intent. There's a bit of a bridge that's a refreshing change, but it doesn't really add much on its own. I'm told the demo version is better, but the album version is hit or miss I'd say.
3) The One Who Got Us Out - Lovely guitar riff that sits a bit uneasily with the punk drums which in turn sit a bit uneasily with the vocal approach to this song. It slows for the choruses fairly abruptly and overall this song feels a bit unorganized, and changes yet again at 1:40 to a slower, more cohesive sound by the 2:10 mark. The song is clearly about being unhappy with the then-current shape of the country, but the delivery of the song is unusual if nothing else.
4) Counting Down the Hours - Acoustic intro and vocals, then an electric guitar gives us a nice little riff that appears for the chorus. The song is hard to describe soundwise after this. A solo after the second chorus leads to a bridge then back to the main sound. It's one you probably need to experience yourself, don't be afraid, it's a good'un.
5) Little Dawn [Lead] - The longest on the album but only five and a half minutes. Heavy guitar intro for a good 30 seconds as the other instruments enter, but the line gets stale to me before the change. The change is just as heavy with driving guitar and fairly hectic drums, and the first vocals appear about the minute mark. The song takes a much softer sound then, the back-up singers annoy me in the chorus though. We return to the intro sound with a nice bass groove which takes focus away from the repetitive guitar sound, then we're back to the part before once more, and back to the intro guitar AGAIN. The song ends with Ted Leo repeating 'It's alright' about 148(!) times over the sound, which frankly is unnecessarily to me. It's a curious approach, as the song is about carrying on fine with life when everything's breaking for everyone else, but still, two minutes of it is a bit much to me.
6) Heart Problems - Ah, health care. This is one of my favorites, even though I don't really connect on the message. It's well done musically and of course vocally/lyrically. The last fifty seconds is a different sound with Ted Leo listing medications over it, and I've always had a soft spot for songs that list things for some odd reason.
7) Criminal Piece - A 'seize a day' song I believe (Your peace and quiet is criminal!). The song moves from a reggae feel to a pop rock feel quite often to me. Another difficult one to describe, it says its message and leaves. Man, I'm bad at this.
8) Better Dead Than Lead [Lead] (lol) - Oh, bass playing with vocals, although this rhythm sorta grates me and it's the main one, sigh. The way he sings the chorus makes me smiles, however. There's a solo after the second chorus, but nothing to write home about.
9) Shake the Sheets [Helium] - Another of my favorites, seems to be another 'do what you can' song. The song switches between two rhythms in the verse, one for when he's singing a couplet, and another of the same length between each couplet of the verse. The prechorus picks up a bit of a harder sound, and then we got back to the verse with a new guitar sound for the second rhythm. The chorus is pretty standard overall, but great lyrically to me. There's a bridge that doesn't really do anything, but the next chorus is even better. There's a reggae feel for a second, then a final chorus with that new guitar sound in the background, and we exit with another reggaesque section.
10) Bleeding Powers - Probably the most straightforward rock song, but his voice isn't quite rock in it and the drum rhythm is a bit unusual for anyone looking for something on the radio. The solo pushes noise, as well. Still, overall, a good song.
11) Walking to Do [Helium] - A great closing track to me, the guitar and drum rhythms are so interesting in this. The solo in this is also the probably the best on the album (Counting Down the Hours is a good'un too), but as with the rest of the album, the best part are the vocals and lyrics. The last chorus is so fun to me. A lot of people take it as a stab at religion, but I think maybe for once he's just saying 'there's more to come.' It's all personal on all of this songs, I guess.
Final Verdict: Aw, I was hoping to be nice to this, but there's some filler in there that really has no business in my opinion, so alright'un. Me and Mia, Shake the Sheets, and Walking to Do are probably the ones to check out if anything. Counting Down the Hours and Heart Problems are a step below those to me, and beyond that there's no harm in missing the rest of the album in my opinion.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Counting Down the Hours mentions a Mr. Mellor, referring to the birth name of the Clash's guitarist, Joe Strummer
-This is a tough'un, I don't really know too much about them
I'll probably tackle Innuendo in a few days, wanna get a few listens in to try not to miss anything. Also, Nikkou, if you decide to check any of this out, lemme know if you find any studio versions of the Helium tracks at the very least. Dankon.
Eh.
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Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Re: Karm Rambles About Pieces of Music (KRAPMusic)
by Karmelo » Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:52 pm
Notice to my dedicated(?) fans(?): This isn't dead, real life has just been kickin' me around a bit. I've had difficulty finding time to review a full album, so I'll probably do single album reviews in various sittings and publish probably every other day. I'm hesitant to do this because if anyone know me, my musical taste can vary wildly hour by hour, but as the saying goes, eh.
Granted, my Spring Break starts tomorrow, so I should be able to update daily during it (doesn't mean I will, I'm Karm you know), so moot notice.
Granted, my Spring Break starts tomorrow, so I should be able to update daily during it (doesn't mean I will, I'm Karm you know), so moot notice.
Eh.
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Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
by Karmelo » Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:01 am
And we're back. I hope you all enjoyed the word from our sponsor. Dead Air: When Live Air Is Just Too Much.(TM) I debated long and hard what to strike back with, then I said 'eh screw it.' Only I didn't do the first part at all. So, Muse!
Album: Black Holes and Revelations
Band: Muse
Year: 2006
Genre (Relative!): Rock (Alternative maybe? I don't know), New Prog (This is not the stupidest genre I'll touch, just you wait)
Number of Tracks: 11 (That's ridiculous, that's not even funny)
Summary: Okay, so let's be level here. Despite the talent of the members, Muse is pretty melodramatic on this album. Sometimes it's works pretty well, other times not so much. But we'll hit that on a track by track basis. I probably don't comment on vocals as much as I should. Frankly, while they're all good, there's not MUCH variation track per track in my opinion. I'll note outliers, of course. Also: I'll use synth and keyboard interchangeably most of the time, keyboardists forgive me for that. Eh, I don't really care what you think, I'll be honest.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Take A Bow [Lead] - To me, this starts off as "Forgive me, but that's just too much." The song speaks of how governments should take responsibility for their actions, how innovative. Anyway. The synth line goes on quite a while, vocals at 34 seconds, and hey, bass at 1:42. Guitar doesn't join until 2:23, and pretty much instantly goes into a 'solo?' The synth line still hasn't gone away, and with the fills on the drums and various vocal effects, this sound honestly feels a bit crowded to me, and its outro is particularly noisy. Maybe this is the idea, but Muse pulls off good intense stuff at times (even on this album) and I don't think this is, personally. It's honestly a really weak introduction in my opinion, although it does have some good ideas in it. But that only gets you so many points.
2) Starlight- Agh, whiplash! Going from the melodramatic and overly painted Take A Bow, we come to a nice, 'softer,' sweeter love song. Not any vocal tricks here, and it works so better in my opinion. Guitar comes in about 1:15, but doesn't do anything special, just adds a little layer. The synth is frankly still a bit intrusive at times in my opinion, but the song is relatively simple so it doesn't muck it up much by adding too much song.
3) Supermassive Black Hole - Oh ho, disco! They pull it off. This song has a hook that strikes in right at the beginning, and if you don't like that feeling, well, you should probably turn away right now. Oh, falsetto. He pulls it off well in my opinion. Another love song (victim of the other person instead of circumstance this time, though), and quite frankly, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. The robotic voice going 'into the supermassive' makes me giggle, and the screaming 'SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE!' adds quite a bit of edge to the song. Then: Solo! The song returns to the disco feel, and exits with the bit before the solo again. The song probably takes itself too seriously, but it's a fun'un to me, so that's all that matters.
4) Map of the Problematique - This is an interesting one. Sorta gothtronica intro? I don't know, I don't know anything about gothtronica except I wish it wasn't a word that returned Google search results. Okay, okay, getting back. Drums really set the rhythm to me. It's a bit screechy on the guitar side, but it's not bad enough to detract and I'll sit through and enjoy worse, so moot point. Oh no, vocal effects for chorus. Oh man, drum break. That's the highlight to me, the song starts to drag on a bit too much even after that. It's content in its sound, it doesn't really deviate past that point.
5) Soldier's Poem - Someday there will be an acoustic song I don't criticize. I swear to you. I think. Uh. So. I don't know, his style of vocals doesn't quite stand up to this kind of song, to me. It's got some harmonies going on, told big fans of Queen might like it, Nikkou. It's alright to me, okay? Actually, that went better than I though. Good job, team.
6) Invincible - A lot of interesting in this one. Drum marches. Oh wait, is that a theremin? That better not be a theremin, guys. I swear to God, I will kick your asses if you used a theremin in this song. Oh, right, it's a nice upbeat song lyrically that rests a bit uneasily in Muse's overall catalog but hey it works here so screw that. About halfway through it gets particularly nice, his vocals work better with a band working with it in my opinion. Delicious bass break, vocal effects, and wacky guitar solo towards the end remind you it's Muse, of course.
7) Assassin - The rhythms get kinda annoying to me, but are definitely good hooks, just personal preference. This is heavy hitting, watch out if you're a fan of softer stuff. Drums are excellent on this track, there's a break in there on synth or guitar that's not so much. "Destroy demonocracy." Deep stuff. Anyway, it's pretty headbangin'. His vocals sit a bit unusually with it, but not as much they probably should.
8) Exo-Politics - Love this one. It's gritty sounding, simple but engaging drum beat, droning beat. It definitely sounds like Like A Stone by Audioslave (especially the chorus), but I like it a lot more, not sure if it's sound or what. The guitar solo as simple as the rest of the song, but just as engaging. Genius in simplicity is a lot of the musical vibe to me, and I think Muse could overall learn more from relistening to this than like Take a Bow. Just sayin'. And there's more on the theremin sound in the notes, don't worry.
9) City of Delusion - Got sorta Spanish/Arabic feels to it overall. Really enjoy the bass groove on this one. The drums also really work well in the chorus to me, but I think that's hit or miss. The string arrangement certainly add some atmosphere, but where this song really comes alive to me is unsurprisingly the trumpet solo. Good stuff, I'm sayin'.
10) Hoodoo [Lead] - You do! Ha, I've only been doing these so I could eventually do that joke, you can lock the topic now. The Spanish sound carries over to this song, but not as well. The intro is kinda silly to me, but better than his voice alone (with some guitar). About two minutes in, after the intro puts you to sleep, the piano and drums come in and wake you up. Not terribly interesting though, and frankly a bit noisy again. And now we're back asleep for the vocal and guitar outro. I'm sorry, his voice does that alone. It's a good thing, he's got a good voice, but it's alone it lulls me.
11) Knights of Cydonia [Helium] - This song is also silly to me, but it's fun, so you know. The intro is a combination of rock guitar and vocals, it works here. After that, the song has an interesting guitar sound that's hit or miss but grows on me more and more so you know. And hey, trumpet again. I missed you so much in Hoodoo, let me tell you. Also, vocalizing along with trumpet, but I could live without that. The song has a gallop feel to it, and it's about standing up and doing something yourself, so that always gets some points to me. It's a fairly epic song, okay. There's a good break that gives all the instruments some love before come back to a synth(?) bass line and some vocals that hook you in, which is good because they've got a fun lyrical section to sing along with. Guitar comes back in, drums come snare roll in, and we come to the outro, which is an excellent, excellent rock hook. Seriously. So much love for the outro. Also: The hook vocals come back in one more time, then keyboard/synth over the hook for the last half minute before it changes up for the last bit. It could be culled easily, but it's really good to me until like maybe the last two repetitions, so I'm not always against getting rid of something.
Final Verdict: I guess a good'un. Take a Bow and Hoodoo weigh the album down, but they're not really THAT bad, just unnecessary to me.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Take A Bow will appear in Watchmen.
-I can't find any proof Invincible used a theremin from the band, but Exo-Politics has the quote "So essentially he's playing Theremin on the guitar." I hate Muse now.
-Supermassive Black Hole and Exo-Politics were released as part of a Muse track pack for GH3, but they were probably overcharted
-Assassin is a disc song for GH:WT
-Knights of Cydonia is a disc song for GH3
-None of the songs have been released for Rock Band yet. What the hell.
Queen probably tomorrow, Nikkou. I promise. I don't promise.
Album: Black Holes and Revelations
Band: Muse
Year: 2006
Genre (Relative!): Rock (Alternative maybe? I don't know), New Prog (This is not the stupidest genre I'll touch, just you wait)
Number of Tracks: 11 (That's ridiculous, that's not even funny)
Summary: Okay, so let's be level here. Despite the talent of the members, Muse is pretty melodramatic on this album. Sometimes it's works pretty well, other times not so much. But we'll hit that on a track by track basis. I probably don't comment on vocals as much as I should. Frankly, while they're all good, there's not MUCH variation track per track in my opinion. I'll note outliers, of course. Also: I'll use synth and keyboard interchangeably most of the time, keyboardists forgive me for that. Eh, I don't really care what you think, I'll be honest.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Take A Bow [Lead] - To me, this starts off as "Forgive me, but that's just too much." The song speaks of how governments should take responsibility for their actions, how innovative. Anyway. The synth line goes on quite a while, vocals at 34 seconds, and hey, bass at 1:42. Guitar doesn't join until 2:23, and pretty much instantly goes into a 'solo?' The synth line still hasn't gone away, and with the fills on the drums and various vocal effects, this sound honestly feels a bit crowded to me, and its outro is particularly noisy. Maybe this is the idea, but Muse pulls off good intense stuff at times (even on this album) and I don't think this is, personally. It's honestly a really weak introduction in my opinion, although it does have some good ideas in it. But that only gets you so many points.
2) Starlight- Agh, whiplash! Going from the melodramatic and overly painted Take A Bow, we come to a nice, 'softer,' sweeter love song. Not any vocal tricks here, and it works so better in my opinion. Guitar comes in about 1:15, but doesn't do anything special, just adds a little layer. The synth is frankly still a bit intrusive at times in my opinion, but the song is relatively simple so it doesn't muck it up much by adding too much song.
3) Supermassive Black Hole - Oh ho, disco! They pull it off. This song has a hook that strikes in right at the beginning, and if you don't like that feeling, well, you should probably turn away right now. Oh, falsetto. He pulls it off well in my opinion. Another love song (victim of the other person instead of circumstance this time, though), and quite frankly, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. The robotic voice going 'into the supermassive' makes me giggle, and the screaming 'SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE!' adds quite a bit of edge to the song. Then: Solo! The song returns to the disco feel, and exits with the bit before the solo again. The song probably takes itself too seriously, but it's a fun'un to me, so that's all that matters.
4) Map of the Problematique - This is an interesting one. Sorta gothtronica intro? I don't know, I don't know anything about gothtronica except I wish it wasn't a word that returned Google search results. Okay, okay, getting back. Drums really set the rhythm to me. It's a bit screechy on the guitar side, but it's not bad enough to detract and I'll sit through and enjoy worse, so moot point. Oh no, vocal effects for chorus. Oh man, drum break. That's the highlight to me, the song starts to drag on a bit too much even after that. It's content in its sound, it doesn't really deviate past that point.
5) Soldier's Poem - Someday there will be an acoustic song I don't criticize. I swear to you. I think. Uh. So. I don't know, his style of vocals doesn't quite stand up to this kind of song, to me. It's got some harmonies going on, told big fans of Queen might like it, Nikkou. It's alright to me, okay? Actually, that went better than I though. Good job, team.
6) Invincible - A lot of interesting in this one. Drum marches. Oh wait, is that a theremin? That better not be a theremin, guys. I swear to God, I will kick your asses if you used a theremin in this song. Oh, right, it's a nice upbeat song lyrically that rests a bit uneasily in Muse's overall catalog but hey it works here so screw that. About halfway through it gets particularly nice, his vocals work better with a band working with it in my opinion. Delicious bass break, vocal effects, and wacky guitar solo towards the end remind you it's Muse, of course.
7) Assassin - The rhythms get kinda annoying to me, but are definitely good hooks, just personal preference. This is heavy hitting, watch out if you're a fan of softer stuff. Drums are excellent on this track, there's a break in there on synth or guitar that's not so much. "Destroy demonocracy." Deep stuff. Anyway, it's pretty headbangin'. His vocals sit a bit unusually with it, but not as much they probably should.
8) Exo-Politics - Love this one. It's gritty sounding, simple but engaging drum beat, droning beat. It definitely sounds like Like A Stone by Audioslave (especially the chorus), but I like it a lot more, not sure if it's sound or what. The guitar solo as simple as the rest of the song, but just as engaging. Genius in simplicity is a lot of the musical vibe to me, and I think Muse could overall learn more from relistening to this than like Take a Bow. Just sayin'. And there's more on the theremin sound in the notes, don't worry.
9) City of Delusion - Got sorta Spanish/Arabic feels to it overall. Really enjoy the bass groove on this one. The drums also really work well in the chorus to me, but I think that's hit or miss. The string arrangement certainly add some atmosphere, but where this song really comes alive to me is unsurprisingly the trumpet solo. Good stuff, I'm sayin'.
10) Hoodoo [Lead] - You do! Ha, I've only been doing these so I could eventually do that joke, you can lock the topic now. The Spanish sound carries over to this song, but not as well. The intro is kinda silly to me, but better than his voice alone (with some guitar). About two minutes in, after the intro puts you to sleep, the piano and drums come in and wake you up. Not terribly interesting though, and frankly a bit noisy again. And now we're back asleep for the vocal and guitar outro. I'm sorry, his voice does that alone. It's a good thing, he's got a good voice, but it's alone it lulls me.
11) Knights of Cydonia [Helium] - This song is also silly to me, but it's fun, so you know. The intro is a combination of rock guitar and vocals, it works here. After that, the song has an interesting guitar sound that's hit or miss but grows on me more and more so you know. And hey, trumpet again. I missed you so much in Hoodoo, let me tell you. Also, vocalizing along with trumpet, but I could live without that. The song has a gallop feel to it, and it's about standing up and doing something yourself, so that always gets some points to me. It's a fairly epic song, okay. There's a good break that gives all the instruments some love before come back to a synth(?) bass line and some vocals that hook you in, which is good because they've got a fun lyrical section to sing along with. Guitar comes back in, drums come snare roll in, and we come to the outro, which is an excellent, excellent rock hook. Seriously. So much love for the outro. Also: The hook vocals come back in one more time, then keyboard/synth over the hook for the last half minute before it changes up for the last bit. It could be culled easily, but it's really good to me until like maybe the last two repetitions, so I'm not always against getting rid of something.
Final Verdict: I guess a good'un. Take a Bow and Hoodoo weigh the album down, but they're not really THAT bad, just unnecessary to me.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Take A Bow will appear in Watchmen.
-I can't find any proof Invincible used a theremin from the band, but Exo-Politics has the quote "So essentially he's playing Theremin on the guitar." I hate Muse now.
-Supermassive Black Hole and Exo-Politics were released as part of a Muse track pack for GH3, but they were probably overcharted
-Assassin is a disc song for GH:WT
-Knights of Cydonia is a disc song for GH3
-None of the songs have been released for Rock Band yet. What the hell.
Queen probably tomorrow, Nikkou. I promise. I don't promise.
Eh.
-
Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
Queen - Innuendo
by Karmelo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:12 pm
So, it's finally come down to this, eh procrastination? Well, tough luck, I'm taking charge and reviewing Innuendo. Play that on your ukulele.
Album: Innuendo
Band: Queen
Year: 1991
Genre (Relative!): Prog(?), (Hard?) Rock, I don't know, let's just say Queen
Number of Tracks: 12
Summary: I really feel like I'm missing a lot in this review, because this is a hard one to tackle. Queen's focus is always on Freddie's voice, which is fair, because it's pretty awesome. I'm told his health showed in the lyrics and videos of this one. There's a few pieces of flair here and there (especially harmonies, which rarely do much for me) that add a nice bit to the song but are generally so short that I just won't note them, so hey, if you like 'em, they'll be nice surprises for you, then.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Innuendo - Starting off with the longest track at six and a half minutes, I'm already having difficulty judging. The overall sound is alright, but it really starts to shine about three minutes in to me, I especially enjoy the flamenco guitar. The harmonies at four minutes and operatic sound build up to a hard rock/metal bridge(?), then returns to its original sound, which is more attractive to me now, perhaps due to added harmonies and guitar coming in.
2) I'm Going Slightly Mad - The keyboard(?) in this is interesting. The song is probably mostly focused on Freddie Mercury's voice, because it is Queen. Overall it's a strong vocal song, songs about madness always get bonus points with me. The guitar solo is interesting, but a bit unattractive at points. That may be the point, but well, so what? Still good.
3) Headlong - This one hooks with the vocals, I think. This is certainly has a glam rock feel to it, which isn't surprising. I mean, it kinda has a generic 80's rock feel overall, but Queen helped make that sound, so that's excusable. The solo towards 3:15 is a good example of this, but it's great fun.
4) I Can't Live With You - Oooh, fun intro. This song really has some fun vocals. The guitar really paints this one (especially the outro), and the drums have some interesting stuff. As with a lot of these songs, there's not much to say, they're good, they're vocally focused, that's a lot of it right there.
5) Don't Try So Hard - Falsetto! Vocally focused (shock!), it's a good'un. The guitar solo in this one probably has the personality I've heard on this album, it just feels very soulful. Again, well, good stuff.
6) Ride the Wild Wind - Duet all night long! The drums and bass set a neat rhythm for this one, but are obviously just there for the background sound (which is good because they can't really last the song). The guitar also adds some fun sound every now and then, as is not rare in Queen songs. Also, fade out during guitar solo? Weak. Anyway.
7) All God's People - Interesting sounds with this, especially vocally, but I mean, Queen. Switches sounds from sorta tribal to sorta bluesy about two minutes in, then switches back later. The last minute probably isn't really needed, but not bad.
8) These Are the Days of Our Lives - Conga! It's a nice, simple song. Like, really simple. I can't really comment on it, it's got a nice message, a simple solo, a simple sound, but it's good. It's good.
9) Delilah - A song about a cat. Okay. It grows on you, I think. Talk box solo! Kickin', let's face it. The guitar is kickin' in this song, it's kinda weird considering the subject. Pretty good song, kinda weird subject, but again, space truckin', so I guess I can't talk.
10) The Hitman - Whoa, this one hits hard. Heavy metal! It's got good guitar hooks and solos, and the vocals do a good add a good feel to it. If you like harder sounding songs, this is the song to get, I would think.
11) Bijou - Kickin'. The guitar on this is just...it's powerful, it's emotional (haunting, even!), it replaces Freddie's vocals for most of this track and does a more than decent job in its place. Freddie comes in for one verse/the bridge, and then back to the guitar. It's an interesting piece, and it really shines in my opinion.
12) The Show Must Go On - The song you should know from this, I imagine. The chorus is amazing to listen to, and the vocals throughout are exceptional, even for what I expect for Queen. The guitar adds a bit of flair to it, but it's really hard to bump this up any further. Okay, the last half minute of echo is kinda annoying, but still, really good stuff.
Final Verdict: A bit difficult to say. There's certainly nothing bad on here, so I guess a great'un, if it's your scene there's not a single thing worth missing on here. There's nothing that particularly shines stronger than the other stuff to me, they stand ABOUT shoulder to shoulder, although overall I felt the album got better towards the end, but that may have been getting used to it. I don't know.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Steve Howe of Yes plays the flamenco part in Innuendo
-Headlong was a song guitarist Brian May originally wrote for his solo album, but decided to give to the band when he heard Freddie sing it. I Can't Live With You was also written for it, but the band was fond of it so he handed it over as well.
-May had doubts about Freddie's ability to perform The Show Must Go On's intense vocals, but according to Wikipedia, when it came time to record them, 'Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll Bob do it darling!"' That's awesome.
-Apparently I'm on a first name basis with Freddie Mercury? I didn't even realize that until I was writing these notes.
Ugh, I feel this one went terribly review-wise. Not sure if I'm just out of shape or it's Queen's unique approach, but man, painful for me to reread. Good thing that's for saps.
Album: Innuendo
Band: Queen
Year: 1991
Genre (Relative!): Prog(?), (Hard?) Rock, I don't know, let's just say Queen
Number of Tracks: 12
Summary: I really feel like I'm missing a lot in this review, because this is a hard one to tackle. Queen's focus is always on Freddie's voice, which is fair, because it's pretty awesome. I'm told his health showed in the lyrics and videos of this one. There's a few pieces of flair here and there (especially harmonies, which rarely do much for me) that add a nice bit to the song but are generally so short that I just won't note them, so hey, if you like 'em, they'll be nice surprises for you, then.
Track by Track Notes:
1) Innuendo - Starting off with the longest track at six and a half minutes, I'm already having difficulty judging. The overall sound is alright, but it really starts to shine about three minutes in to me, I especially enjoy the flamenco guitar. The harmonies at four minutes and operatic sound build up to a hard rock/metal bridge(?), then returns to its original sound, which is more attractive to me now, perhaps due to added harmonies and guitar coming in.
2) I'm Going Slightly Mad - The keyboard(?) in this is interesting. The song is probably mostly focused on Freddie Mercury's voice, because it is Queen. Overall it's a strong vocal song, songs about madness always get bonus points with me. The guitar solo is interesting, but a bit unattractive at points. That may be the point, but well, so what? Still good.
3) Headlong - This one hooks with the vocals, I think. This is certainly has a glam rock feel to it, which isn't surprising. I mean, it kinda has a generic 80's rock feel overall, but Queen helped make that sound, so that's excusable. The solo towards 3:15 is a good example of this, but it's great fun.
4) I Can't Live With You - Oooh, fun intro. This song really has some fun vocals. The guitar really paints this one (especially the outro), and the drums have some interesting stuff. As with a lot of these songs, there's not much to say, they're good, they're vocally focused, that's a lot of it right there.
5) Don't Try So Hard - Falsetto! Vocally focused (shock!), it's a good'un. The guitar solo in this one probably has the personality I've heard on this album, it just feels very soulful. Again, well, good stuff.
6) Ride the Wild Wind - Duet all night long! The drums and bass set a neat rhythm for this one, but are obviously just there for the background sound (which is good because they can't really last the song). The guitar also adds some fun sound every now and then, as is not rare in Queen songs. Also, fade out during guitar solo? Weak. Anyway.
7) All God's People - Interesting sounds with this, especially vocally, but I mean, Queen. Switches sounds from sorta tribal to sorta bluesy about two minutes in, then switches back later. The last minute probably isn't really needed, but not bad.
8) These Are the Days of Our Lives - Conga! It's a nice, simple song. Like, really simple. I can't really comment on it, it's got a nice message, a simple solo, a simple sound, but it's good. It's good.
9) Delilah - A song about a cat. Okay. It grows on you, I think. Talk box solo! Kickin', let's face it. The guitar is kickin' in this song, it's kinda weird considering the subject. Pretty good song, kinda weird subject, but again, space truckin', so I guess I can't talk.
10) The Hitman - Whoa, this one hits hard. Heavy metal! It's got good guitar hooks and solos, and the vocals do a good add a good feel to it. If you like harder sounding songs, this is the song to get, I would think.
11) Bijou - Kickin'. The guitar on this is just...it's powerful, it's emotional (haunting, even!), it replaces Freddie's vocals for most of this track and does a more than decent job in its place. Freddie comes in for one verse/the bridge, and then back to the guitar. It's an interesting piece, and it really shines in my opinion.
12) The Show Must Go On - The song you should know from this, I imagine. The chorus is amazing to listen to, and the vocals throughout are exceptional, even for what I expect for Queen. The guitar adds a bit of flair to it, but it's really hard to bump this up any further. Okay, the last half minute of echo is kinda annoying, but still, really good stuff.
Final Verdict: A bit difficult to say. There's certainly nothing bad on here, so I guess a great'un, if it's your scene there's not a single thing worth missing on here. There's nothing that particularly shines stronger than the other stuff to me, they stand ABOUT shoulder to shoulder, although overall I felt the album got better towards the end, but that may have been getting used to it. I don't know.
Anything Else I Feel Like Adding Because You Can't Stop Me:
-Steve Howe of Yes plays the flamenco part in Innuendo
-Headlong was a song guitarist Brian May originally wrote for his solo album, but decided to give to the band when he heard Freddie sing it. I Can't Live With You was also written for it, but the band was fond of it so he handed it over as well.
-May had doubts about Freddie's ability to perform The Show Must Go On's intense vocals, but according to Wikipedia, when it came time to record them, 'Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll Bob do it darling!"' That's awesome.
-Apparently I'm on a first name basis with Freddie Mercury? I didn't even realize that until I was writing these notes.
Ugh, I feel this one went terribly review-wise. Not sure if I'm just out of shape or it's Queen's unique approach, but man, painful for me to reread. Good thing that's for saps.
Eh.
-
Karmelo - MC Bat Commander
- Posts: 445
- Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
16 posts
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