Visions Of The Country I gave this a very rapid skim through to see whether it would be my thing or not and I was pleasantly surprised, however those vocals are annoying (is he singing while driving on a bumpy road or something?). The instrumental moments are great.
Basho: Visions Never heard Basho, Fahey or Kottke, Flynt, Lang called inaccessible. Basho’s vocals are part of what made Basho…Basho. I luv it. It’s not Hindustani ( Northern Indian) enough, I’d love more drone following the Carnatic (Southern Indian) approach that Flynt and Subramaniam would take around this same time.
378. The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge (1983) Producer: The Chameleons, Colin Richardson Script of the Bridge is the debut studio album by English rock band the Chameleons. It was released on 8 August 1983 by record label Statik. Three singles were released from the album: "Up the Down Escalator", "As High as You Can Go" and "A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days". Reception Upon its release, Sounds wrote in their review: it is a "powerful and rich album whose strength is an intense muscular beat". In his retrospective review, Ned Raggett of AllMusic praised the album, writing, "Script remains a high-water mark of what can generally be called post-punk music; an hour's worth of one amazing song after another", calling it "practically a greatest-hits record on its own". Chris Jenkins, in the book The Rough Guide to Rock, called the album "such an impressive record that The Chameleons would struggle to emulate it". Trouser Press was slightly less favourable, writing that it "isn't a great album", but "has very appealing moments". Legacy Andrew Welsh of Daily Record wrote that "echoes of the Chameleons' distinctive sound can still be heard today in bands as diverse as the Killers (but without the penchant for angst), Editors and even Pigeon Detectives." Critical Reception Allmusic 4/5 Encyclopedia of Popular Music 3/5 MusicHound Rock 3/5 OndaRock 8/10 Record Collector 5/5 Sounds 3.5/5 Record Mirror 4/5 Tracklist
Script of the Bridge By 1983 all the high water-water marks of post-punk music were already behind us. Then we got the Chameleons with a sound that already sounded a bit tired upon release. I found it a rather generic and unremarkable album then and that hasn't changed. Very boring.
Visions of the Country * I gave this three full listens to let it all sink in. * Basho's powerful, rather desolate, semi-operatic ululating, is a highlight. * Whilst technically accomplished, the 'dazzling guitar flights of fancy' are akin to a dog chasing its own tail. Round & round it all goes to no great avail. * Orphans Lament is marvellous. Tack, quavering, piano allied to Basho's mournful vibrato, swelling to anthemic proportions. Effective & affecting. * Leaf In The Wind sticks with the piano, this time cascading & billowing. Fabulously powerhouse whistling from Robbie. Gave me goosebumps. * The LP springs to life halfway through - a more tangential approach adopted - but this doesn't last long enough. * There are parts of the album which are truly riveting, yet too much time is given over to that metaphorical musical tail-chasing mutt. * Miss. Pity. Script of the Bridge File under 'heard it all before'. It's a voluminous tediosity. Miss. Updated list of my (RYM-only) Top 20 'HITs': 1. Les Rallizes Denudes - '77 Live 2. Deep Purple - In Rock 3. Ulver - Bergtatt 4. Shibusashirazu - Shibubashi 5. Exuma - s/t 6. Ramones - It's Alive 7. Tim Buckley - Dream Letter: Live In London 8. Gil Scott Heron - Pieces Of A Man 9. Wipers - Youth Of America 10 Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour '74 11 Astor Piazolla - Tango:Zero Hour 12 King Gizzard - Nonagon Infinity 13 Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun 14 Fugazi - The Argument 15 Siouxsie & The Banshees - Juju 16 Doors - LA Woman 17 Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan 18 Fugazi - Repeater 19 Weakling - Dead As Dreams 20 Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
377. Ennio Morricone - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) Producer: Ennio Morricone The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in 1966 alongside the Western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, directed by Sergio Leone. The score is composed by frequent Leone collaborator Ennio Morricone, whose distinctive original compositions, containing gunfire, whistling, and yodeling permeate the film. The main theme, resembling the howling of a coyote, is a two-note melody that is a frequent motif, and is used for the three main characters, with a different instrument used for each one: flute for Blondie (Man with No Name), arghilofono (ocarina) for Angel Eyes, and human voices for Tuco. Among other elements, the score complements the film's American Civil War scenes, containing the mournful ballad "The Story of a Soldier", which is sung by prisoners as Tuco is being tortured by Angel Eyes. The film's famous climax, a three-way Mexican standoff, begins with the melody of "The Ecstasy of Gold" and is followed by "The Trio". The main theme was a hit in 1968. The soundtrack album was on the charts for more than a year, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard pop album chart and No. 10 on the black album chart. The main theme was also a hit for American musician Hugo Montenegro, whose rendition on the Moog synthesizer was a No. 2 Billboard pop single in 1968. In 2008, the score was featured in the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live. The album was remastered and re-released on Capitol Records on May 18, 2004, which had ten additional musical cues from the film. A European release by GDM music in 2001 contains even more music, with a running time of 59:30. In 2020, a three-disc release presenting the complete score and the original album was issued by the Spanish label Quartet Records. Critical Reception Allmusic 5/5 Blender 5/5 SoundtrackNet 5/5 Music From the Movies 5/5
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Love the movie and the soundtrack is great, but the soundtrack of Once Upon a Time in the West is even better imo. I do have a Morricone comp, but would rather watch the films then listening to the soundtracks.
Script of the Bridge B+ I agree with the comments that, by 1983, some of this ground was already well-trod - and it's not my favorite Chameleons album (that would be 1986's 'Strange Times') - but I still think that this is a very good early-'80s period piece. The album didn't sell particularly well, and I have to think that an album cover that looked a Steve Hackett solo album did not help.
The Good, the Bad & The Ugly N/A I have a hard time applying a rating to film soundtrack music, because there's so little of it that I listen to apart from the film itself. That said, I do have a few CDs of Ennio Morricone soundtracks, and this is one of them. His '60s western music certainly had distinctive character and memorable themes.
376. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band (1970)- (Rolling Stone 500 #85) 375. Natural Snow Buildings - Daughter of Darkness (2009) Natural Snow Buildings is a duo from France, consisting of artists Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte. They play music which can be classified as experimental psychedelic folk with drone elements and ambient influences. Formed in 1998, they have released numerous albums, many of them in extremely limited quantities. Both members of Natural Snow Buildings release music also as solo artists: Mehdi Ameziane as TwinSisterMoon and Solange Gularte as Isengrind. History The beginnings of Natural Snow Buildings can be traced back to 1997, at a Paris university. They met in their school library where a film was playing. Mehdi had been invited to a party that evening but declined and headed to the library instead. After their first meeting, the two saw more of each other. Although Mehdi could play a bit of guitar and Solange was a classically trained musician, the two had not yet begun making music. It was in May 1998 that the two officially started their band and began home recording their music. They self-released two cassettes, Witch-Season and Two Sides of a Horse in 1999 and 2000, and in 2001 recorded Ghost Folks, released in 2003. Then, they self-released a double CD, The Winter Ray, in a limited edition, and, after moving from Paris to Vitré, Brittany in 2004, recorded The Dance of the Moon and the Sun (released in 2006). They then each issued solo material before producing more material as a duo. Most of their albums have only been released in small numbers, often in hand-crafted limited editions. However, since 2012 they have released several records on prominent independent labels such as Ba Da Bing Records, which has also reissued some of their earlier recordings, including Night Coercion Into the Company of Witches and the Isengrind/Twinsistermoon/Natural Snow Buildings split The Snowbringer Cult. Their work has been compared with such bands as Popol Vuh, Flying Saucer Attack, and Tower Recordings. They make many references to the horror film genre in their song titles; for example Santa Sangre (with the track "Santa Sangre Part I & II" on Daughter of Darkness), The Blair Witch Project (The track "Mary Brown" on Dance of the Moon and the Sun is a reference to a character from this film) and director John Carpenter (a track on Dance of the Moon and the Sun).
Daughter Of Darkness Wow, and I thought my copy of 69 Love songs was long! - 6 CDs!! Well, I didn't have the patience to listen to the whole thing, and to be honest I barely had patience to listen to the first disc. It's the kind of music that I expected to see prop up on RYM - gloomy postrock droney experimental stuff. I didn't mind some of it, but it's blatantly overlong and I'm not sure if it really moved me. This kind of music should be able to transport me to places, instead it kind of sounded 'by the numbers' (which is probably doing it a big disservice). I think in the right mood I would've taken more from this album, and I know with this type of music you're rewarded for persevering but the sheer scale and sameness of it all was enough to put me off digging deeper.
374. Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003) Producer: Mark Kozelek Ghosts of the Great Highway is the debut studio album by San Francisco quartet Sun Kil Moon, led by Red House Painters' founder Mark Kozelek, who composed all of the lyrics and music on this album. The other members are Anthony Koutsos (former drummer for Red House Painters), Geoff Stanfield, and Tim Mooney. Three of the album's songs are named after boxers, following on from "Find Me, Rubén Olivares" from Kozelek's debut solo EP Rock 'n' Roll Singer. The band name is also a pun on the Korean boxer Sung-Kil Moon. The opening number is named after Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton. The song "Pancho Villa" is a more luscious arrangement of "Salvador Sanchez". Ghosts of the Great Highway was re-issued as a double CD on February 6, 2007 on Kozelek's own label, Caldo Verde Records. The second disc features 6 bonus tracks, including two versions of Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere," and the instrumental track "Arrival," which was originally recorded for the movie The Girl Next Door. The songs "Carry Me Ohio" and "Lily and Parrots" were featured in the film Shopgirl, in which Kozelek made a cameo appearance. The song "Carry Me Ohio" was listed at #462 on Pitchfork's Top 500 Songs of the 2000s list. Reception Upon its release, Ghosts of the Great Highway received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream critics, the album has received a metascore of 84, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim." Critical Reception Allmusic 4/5 Blender 4/5 Entertainment Weekly A- Mojo 4/5 Pitchfork 8.3/10 Q 4/5 Rolling Stone 3.5/5 Uncut 4/5 Tracklist
Good Bad & Ugly Hauntingly fabulous title track kicks things off. The rest of the album? Pick & mix; sometimes riveting yet sometimes rather boring. Daughter Of Darkness Life's too short........ Ghosts of the Great Highway Almost an hour of whingeing & 'woe is me'. Yuk.
Sorry guys, but I'm traveling and staying with other people all the time for the next couple of weeks, so may not be able to comment on albums much.
373. Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues (1983) Producer: Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues is the fifth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on June 1, 1983, by Sire Records. After their split with producer Brian Eno and a short hiatus, which allowed the individual members to pursue side projects, recording began in 1982. It became the band's commercial breakthrough and produced the band's sole US top-ten hit, "Burning Down the House", which reached No. 9 in the Billboard Chart. The album's tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's 1984 film Stop Making Sense, which generated a live album of the same name. The album also crossed over to the dance charts, where it peaked at number two for six weeks. It is the group's highest-charting album on the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 15. It was also their biggest-selling album in Canada, where it was certified platinum in 1983. Legacy In a retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann said that the album saw the band "open up the dense textures of the music they had developed with Brian Eno", and that they were "rewarded with their most popular album yet." He felt the additional musicians made the sound "more spacious, and the music admitted aspects of gospel," particularly on "Slippery People" and "Swamp". He noted Byrne's "impressionistic, nonlinear lyrics" and lauded the return of his "charming goofiness", calling the music "unusually light and bouncy." In his book on funk music, Rickey Vincent describes Speaking in Tongues as "deeply thumping funk disguised as modern rock." In 1989, Speaking in Tongues was ranked number 54 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed it as the 89th best album of the 1980s. "Burning Down the House" was later covered by Welsh singer Tom Jones with the Cardigans, on his album Reload, reaching number 7 in the UK Charts. It has also been covered by screamo band the Used, pop rock band Walk the Moon, blues singer Bonnie Raitt and R&B singer John Legend. The song has also appeared in the movies Nymphomaniac, 13 Going on 30, and the TV series The Walking Dead. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" has been covered by artists such as folk musicians the Lumineers and Iron & Wine, and indie rock band Arcade Fire. The song was also featured in the movies Wall Street and its sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Crazy, Stupid, Love., He's Just Not That Into You, Lars and the Real Girl, and the TV shows Little Fires Everywhere and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. "Swamp" appears in the movies Risky Business, The King of Comedy and The Simpsons episode 3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage. "Girlfriend Is Better" appeared in an episode of the TV series Entourage. "Slippery People" appeared in the movie American Made and the TV series The Americans. In 2022, the song "Burning Down the House" was used as a sample in the song "Keep It Burning" from Donda 2 by Kanye West, featuring a performance by rapper Future. The song was removed from the album after a day and was released later that year on Future's album I Never Liked You, under the same name, but without the sample. Critical Reception Allmusic 4/5 Chicago Tribune 3.5/4 Mojo 4/5 Pitchfork 8.5/10 Rolling Stone 4.5/5 Rolling Stone Album Guide 4/5 Smash Hits 9/10 Spin 7/10 Uncut 9/10 Village Voice A- Tracklist
"Speaking in Tongues" Not a bad album per se, but definitely for me a big disappointment after the brilliance of the first four albums. Besides, the good songs all sound much better on the live album Stop Making Sense. After this, I lost interest in the band and the rest of their discography is simply sub par to my ears, like Tom Tom Club with David singing.
Speaking in Tongues A Probably my second or third favorite Talking Heads album (behind Remain in Light and probably Fear of Music). Nice to see it on this list. I definitely prefer it to More Songs, which tend to make critics' lists like these.
Speaking In Tongues A really great catchy album with all the rhythm and melody of Remain in Light but less experimental and with a slightly dated '80's' production. While not quite matching the sheer quality of it's predecessor, it's still a fantastic album and it really gets my body moving! Although it's probably the last album of theirs considered as a classic by fans, I still feel like some of their later albums are good too.
Ghosts Of The Great Highway Having been a little critical of the earlier entry on this list by Mark Kozelek's other project I was unsure whether I'd enjoy this one, but I actually rather did. However, similarly to Red House Painters, I find this sounding a little samey, which is somewhat unfair because there is certainly variation. It's hard to put my finger on it, it just has a very rambling samey 'feel' throughout (maybe it's the vocals which never really rise above melodic musing, or maybe it's the lack of memorable hooks?). I can see myself possibly returning to this album in the hope that it might 'click' as I don't believe all great music need be happy and catchy - sometime sad melancholic music simply tick all the right boxes.
Plastic Ono Band (#376) In case anybody was keeping track, this is the first Beatles/Beatles-related album to appear.
372. Lil Ugly Mane - Mista Thug Isolation (2012) Producer: Shawn Kemp Mista Thug Isolation is the debut studio album by rapper Lil Ugly Mane. It was self-released via Bandcamp on February 11, 2012, with a vinyl release by Hundebiss Records. The album is entirely self-produced as Shawn Kemp, with guest appearances from Supa Sortahuman and Denzel Curry. The album attracted attention in the underground hip hop scene for its Memphis rap-inspired sound and would bring Lil Ugly Mane to mainstream popularity after also previously appearing on SpaceGhostPurrp's debut mixtape Blackland Radio 66.6 in 2011. Members of hip hop collective Odd Future Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt showed support for Lil Ugly Mane and the album, specifically the song "Throw Dem Gunz". The songs "Radiation (Lung Pollution)", "Lookin 4 Tha Suckin", and "Twistin" were previously on Lil Ugly Mane's 2012 mixtape Criminal Hypnosis: Unreleased ****. "Twistin" was also released previously on Denzel Curry's 2012 mixtape King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 1. Reception In a retrospective review, Pitchfork's Andy O'Connor gave the album a positive review, stating: "A project such as Isolation has the potential to have 'tourist' written all over it, but the most surprising thing about Miller is that he has serious bars. While he traffics in the same boastfulness rife in hip-hop, he’s got a gift for absurdity with the strangest and catchiest lyricism." Critical Reception Pitchfork 8.2/10 Tracklist
Speaking In Tongues I quite like opener Burning Down The House. Much of the rest though is faux-funk rinse & repeat. Miss. Mista Thug Isolation More aural sewage.
