I don't really get the buzz about Laibach at all. I'm a huge fan of industrial and industrial rock/metal but I can't say I like a single Laibach song. Rammstein is miles ahead as far as I am concerned.
I agree, although it's a bit of apples and oranges thing. Laibach goes out of it's way to be unpopular, complex and provocative, Rammstein not so much.
What I've understood is that they've been very influential in a lot of things that can be filed under the industrial label (with or without metal), especially the visual style. They're kind of like MC5 to me; I love tons of artists who were inspired by MC5, but I just can't get what's so special about MC5 in itself. (Although I actually sort of like Laibach, and they're still pretty unique, unlike MC5.)
I think both are cases where what was really special about the band in it's time just can't really be understood in retrospect.
In my opinion a lot of what Laibach does is more interesting as an idea (like the "Sympathy for the Devil" cover album, where they only cover that one song, over and over), or a commentary on something, than as "just music".
Skip over my guys, computer is f'ed up and having a lot of issues getting it back together.... I was hoping to back up and running before my pick came up
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2022 OHL CHAMPIONS
In the Wild Card category I select Fugazi Repeater.
First full length by these legends. Another album that really needs no introduction unless you haven't heard of them. Ex-members of Minor Threat and Rites of Spring.
With a slight delay yet no less love, Team Goatwar Galore are giddy in choosing the June 6 2000 release Transcendental Blues by Steve Earle.
I had a hard time choosing between this album and his previous release El Corazon. Songwriting and emotion on both are second to none. I think maybe I was tied to this release a bit more due to having seen my first Steve Earle gig just a few weeks prior to the release of Transcendental Blues. I've seen him many times since but that first gig was still magical for me.
For me, Earle has lost his way a bit recently. Too much politics and promotion of his wife maybe. Anyways this album was a bueat. Not your pappy's Steve Earle.
Oddly enough, I have saved one of my favorite bands for this late in the draft.
I could not decide which record to choose, so I will put in a greatest hits sort of album.
It is called "History: The Singles 85-91" and it is by NEW MODEL ARMY.
History doesn't have a very cool cover, so I use my favorite New Model Army album cover, "The Ghost Of Cain". Songs from this record make up a good portion of History.
The band's name is taken from the army formed by Oliver Cromwell.
The band is very popular in Europe and around the world, just not so much in North America. I think they had problems with the US when they tried to film the video for the Anti-US song,"51st State Of America" in and around a US embassy. As recently as 2007 they were not granted entrance visas to the US to tour. Not sure if it related to the 1985-ish incident.
"Put out the lights on the age of reason"
This is a line from "Here Comes The War", kind of sums up New Model Army's view of the disintegration of society, European in particular. They sing about many causes: enviromental, poiltical, and economic.
A line I really like about Europe circa 1989-1994:
"The wall came down in a thousand pieces, now everybody's building thier own."
A comparison of young men in England and former Yugoslavia in early 1990's:
"On a grey morning to the south of here, two young men in makeshift uniforms peer into the misty light...and figures dart behind the trees as a snap of rifle rounds echos out across the fields...well they hardly know their sacred mother tongue...but they know their duty to defend the flag hanging limp and bloody above the village church...while a thousand miles away in a warehouse complex down by the river...young money men play paintball games..."
It is this kind of imagery and storytelling which drew me to the band in the first place. Also what keeps me coming back. The above lines describing for me, the fine line between civility and savagery that exists in Europe is relevant today. The incredible acts of violence perpetrated by all sides in Yugoslavia were shocking; that young men who'd never lived in ---- (insert Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia) would rush back to kill their former neighbors.
Not all their songs are weighty, but they do tend towards issues. Hard economic times in northern England provide fertile ground for their songwriting.
The band is fronted by singer / songwriter Justin Sullivan.
Long time collaborator drummer/songwriter Robert Heaton recently passed away.
The other bands members have come and gone. Sullivan remains the voice and driving force of the band.
There is some interesting electric violin provided by Ed Alleyne-Johnson on several tracks.
I'll now try to link some videos. Thanks to Flizzenflozz who sent me many NMA related links.
This is a great live band.
WARNING: This band is from the 80's, some of the videos are amongst the cheesiest you'll see!!! Try to listen to the words...close your eyes if you have to!
Better post this and add videos after, computer is apt to do something evil soon...
Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix is a 1993 album recorded by various artists in tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The artists were drawn from many genres of popular music. Contributors include his classic rock contemporaries Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, legendary blues man Buddy Guy, classical violinist Nigel Kennedy, alternative pop/rock bands Belly and Spin Doctors, hip hop artists P. M. Dawn, among others. According to the liner notes, the "artists were encouraged to not only record one of their own personal favorites but to also place their stamp on Jimi's songs." Several artists recorded radically different interpretations, particularly, P. M. Dawn, The Cure, Nigel Kennedy and Pat Metheny. Some artists, on the other hand, recorded versions that were rather similar to the originals.
Stone Free by Eric Clapton
Manic Depression by Seal and Jeff Beck
Seal : Vocals
Jeff Beck : Guitar
Pino Palladino : Bass
Jim Copley : Drums
Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun) by M.A.C.C.
M.A.C.C. are Mike McCready & Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam paired with Chris Cornell & Matt Cameron of Soundgarden.
Better Late Than Never, who incidental is late... selects in the Jazz/Blues/Classic category: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Live Art.
I am pretty sure this could count as Jazzy, bluesey awesomeness. If it doesn't it should be its own category. I mean, it has banjo.
Quote:
Live Art was the fifth album released by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and their first non-studio album. It was recorded live at various concerts between 1992 and 1996 and features ten all-star guest musicians.
Special guests include with Sam Bush, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, and Bruce Hornsby.
The British Invasion are pleased to select in the Jazz/Blues category:
Blowin' Like Hell by William Clarke
Track Listing:
1. Lollipop Mama 2. Lonesome Bedroom Blues 3. Gambling For My Bread 4. Greasy Gravy 5. Trying So Hard 6. Cash (Cash Money) 7. Must Be Jelly 8. Sweet Angel's Gone 9. Looking To The Future 10. Drinking By Myself 11. Blowin' Like Hell
With their 8th selection, in the category of 2003-2005, The Rubes select My Morning Jacket - "Z".
Tracks -
1 - Wordless Chorus
2- It Beats 4 U
3 - Gideon
4 - What a Wonderful Man
5 - Off the Record
6 - Into the Woods
7 - Anytime
8 - Lay Low
9 - Knot Comes Loose
10 - Dondante
Review from allmusic.com
Quote:
In 2004, a dreamy cover of "Rocket Man" concluded My Morning Jacket's first volume of rarities. Which was prescient, because it's Elton John that Jim James' songs for 2005's Z first bring to mind. From the wistful recollection of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to Honky Chateau's melodic and genre explorations, John's ability to mesh styles and take detours within his sturdy pop songwriting applies to James here, particularly in the expansive opener, "Wordless Chorus," or the initial happy-go-lucky lilt of "Off the Record." Z is My Morning Jacket's fourth full-length (and second for ATO), and it's the one that might finally jump-start the reaction that James' music has always deserved. It Still Moves from 2003 rightly enjoyed its accolades, but it meandered a little structurally, too, and sometimes got a little lost in its own reverb. On Z, MMJ's traditional influences are present — the folk, blues, and country tones of John, Neil Young, and the Band shaded by contemporaries like Mercury Rev and Mark Kozelek. But songs like "Lay Low" and "It Beats for You" are crafted tighter, their sound-drenched keyboard lines meeting the percussion head on and riding meaningful flourishes of electric guitar. "Gideon" climaxes in James calling out throatily over twinkling piano and big chords borrowed from the Who, and "What a Wonderful Man" is a raucous, crashing tumble of unhinged crash cymbals, barroom piano, and mirthful yelping. Z is intuitive, intensely creative, classicist-minded, nearly flawless. It's music that's extruded from Jim James' id, and that's bearded, too
I don't think there's a band that has more fun with their albums than MMJ (maybe The Flaming Lips). This is a terrific album that doesn't miss a beat, despite the awesomely crazy circus music on "Into the Woods".
Geez, Fan_in_80 is usually all over these things. It had better be a good pick.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
OK, I just took a look through my current Winamp playlist... and my next pick is going to fill the 2006-2008 category... and is sure to win me lots of friends...
Fall Out Boy's Infinity On High!
Quote:
Track Listing
All songs written by Fall Out Boy, except where noted.
1. "Thriller" – 3:29
2. "The Take Over, the Breaks Over" – 3:33
3. "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" – 3:32
4. "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" – 3:31
5. "Hum Hallelujah" – 3:50 (Fall Out Boy, Cohen)
6. "Golden" – 2:32
7. "Thnks fr th Mmrs" – 3:23
8. "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" – 2:51
9. "The (After) Life of the Party" – 3:21
10. "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" – 3:23 (Fall Out Boy, Eisold)
11. "Bang the Doldrums" – 3:31
12. "Fame < Infamy" – 3:06
13. "You're Crashing, But You're No Wave" – 3:42
14. "I've Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers" – 4:06
