For our 13th round pick, team Twist/Shout picks Ciudad de las Ideas by Vicente Amigo in the Folk/World/whatever/Flamenco category. (Also sold under the English title City of Ideas.)
If there are ever crimes of musical ignorance, it's that so few people outside the spanish speaking countries even know who this guy is. Sure, he might be one of the most (if not THE most) famous flamenco artists of our time, but that's in my mind isn't nearly the enough.
If you find this stuff interesting, I recommend starting either with this album or Vivencias Imaginadas, which is older and has IMO a slightly more "edgy" feel, which makes it maybe even more accessible to your average western rock fan.
Track listing: (all tracks by Vicente Amigo)
Tres Notas Para Decir Te Quiero
Tarde Es Caramelo (Alegrías)
Ojos de la Alhambra
Compare Manuel (Tangos)
Bolero de Vicente
Tatá
Córdoba (Soleá)
Ciudad de las Ideas
To say that this guy is widely considered to be one of the greatest guitarists alive is not saying enough. I for example have seen a tons of bands, many with musicians that are considered to be among the best, and just three days ago when I first saw him live I realized that I have never before heard what a true virtuoso really sounds like. There really seemed to be no limits to how fast, hard, aggressive, happy, emotional, complicated and beautiful this guy can play. And yet he never once seemed to be reaching for his limits. He was smiling, relaxed and hit every note with not only accuracy, but style.
He is one of the greatest guitarists ever, and a great musician overall.
Wow. Just wow. His concert was one of the better live concerts I've been to, and that's considering that I don't understand a word about the lyrics and there wasn't anything to look at except a bunch of middle-aged guys sitting on chairs. (There was a really good dancer also, but he only danced on two songs.)
You really should check it out. The sounds might be a bit weird first time round, especially the singing, but flamenco in general is a great genre (especially the newer stuff), and this guy is, I dare to say, the best there is. Definitely worth the effort.
I own all his albums, but I picked this one not only because it's one of my favourites, but because it's in my opinion a little more accessible to someone who doesn't know anything about flamenco, and because I found a lot of tracks on YouTube. If you find this impressive, note that he has become significantly better. On these tracks, he looks like he has to concentrate on the harder parts. These days, he plays those same parts twice as fast while looking like he's just jamming a bit for fun. And forget the technique, he can just load even more emotion into the songs.
The videos are from a live concert, but this is a studio album.
Tres notas para decir te Quiero (a nice, catchy track)
La tarde es Caramelo
Ojos de la Alhambra
Ciudad de las Ideas (one of my favourite tracks)
Bolero de Vicente (mellow romantic stuff)
EDIT:
Just for kicks, here's a glimpse of the dancer that currently tours with Amigo. I don't think much of the band on this video (they start at about the halfpoint), but it gives you an idea of how amazingly good the best flamenco dancers are technically. This guy backed by Amigo and a great band literally made me forget breathing for a while. And usually I just don't get dancing
I'll take in the 91-93 category, The Offspring's second - and in my view, best - album. 1993's Ignition.
Prior to the explosion of Smash in 1994, this little-known California band released a gem of metal-inspired punk that would surprise everyone involved, becoming an underground hit and setting the stage for their assault on the mainstream a year later.
Session (NSFW):
Kick 'Em When He's Down:
We Are One:
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Despite never reaching the Billboard 200 (it hit #12 on the Heatseekers chart), The Soft Bulletin reached universal acclaim (85/100) on Metacritic and topped over 60 "Best of 1999" lists[4] with some critics, namely Allmusic and Pitchfork Media, even going so far as to name it as a contender for the best album of the 1990s. Pitchfork Media rated The Soft Bulletin at #3 in their top 100 albums of the 1990s.[5]
That's right kids. Album of the Year. The Flaming Lips. Who knew? Sure, they had some great albums like Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Hit to Death in the Future Head. They also had Zaireeka, a piece of . (And stop with the hate mail, already!) This time, no fat, no filler, no . This is one of those albums people are going to obsess over for many years to come. One of the only albums I can compare it to is Dark Side of the Moon-- a sonic exploration into a bunch of morbid themes that sound extra good when you've been kissing Ol' Lady Bong.
Drummer Steven Drozd gets mad props for his thundering percussion which, for the most part, was recorded on one microphone.
well it has been well over 24 hrs since troutman's pick so I should be good to go.
in the category: Folk/Blues/world (whatever): The Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass
Quote:
Originally Posted by allmusic
The Jayhawks' final record with singer/songwriter Mark Olson, Tomorrow the Green Grass is also the group's finest. While the band's earlier efforts perfected a more traditional brand of country-rock, their fourth record is marvelously eclectic, both musically and emotionally; never before had they rocked as hard as on "Real Light," dug as painfully deep as on "Two Hearts," or hit quite the same peaks of exuberance as on "Miss Williams' Guitar," a tribute to Olson's new wife, neo-folkie Victoria Williams. The addition of keyboardist Karen Grotberg brings rich new layers to the Jayhawks' sound, as does the inclusion of a string section on cuts like "Blue" and "I'd Run Away," a soaring pop song that's quite possibly the best thing the group ever recorded. A fitting legacy, indeed.
I had a little trouble with the Pop category, for myself "pop" music is just popular music... so therefore if it's popular then it's pop music. But for the sake of this draft and the way others have been drafting within this category I thought it would be better to select a record from my collection that I thought fit more within the selections of others picks.... I think I find the perfect selection that I beforehand would have never even entered my thought process.
in the category:
Pop: Sam Brown’s - April Moon
Quote:
Great things have been predicted for British vocalist and keyboardist Sam Brown. Her debut album, "Stop", released in 1987, reached the top four on the British music charts, sold more than two and a half million copies and included two hit singles, "Stop" and "This Feeling". Brown, however, has failed to match the album's success with her subsequent releases-"April Moon", "43 Minutes", "The Kissing Gate" and "Box". The daughter of classical vocalist Vicki Brown, Brown began her musical career at the age of twelve when she sang background vocals on the Small Faces' album, "In The Shade". By the age of twenty, she had sung with Steve Marriott, Sade, Spandau Ballet and Barclay James Harvest. Brown sang harmony on the Pink Floyd album, "The Division Bell", and joined the band on their world tour in 1994. Following her return to England in April 1995, Brown performed with Jools Holland's Big Band. She subsequently performed with Holland's R&B Orchestra in the summer of 1996.
Quote:
Despite the success of her debut album, Brown's problems began with her second album, "April Moon", which yielded no singles. Her mother's death in 1991 left an emotional void that was only filled when she recorded a deeply personal album, "43 Minutes", the following year. When A&M refused to release the album, Brown sued the label for rights to the tapes. Victorious after a long legal battle, Brown released the album in the United Kingdom on her own label, "Pod Music".
In July 1996, Brown played organ on a track for the multi-artist album, "Reaching Out", with proceeds going to the Nordiff-Robbins Music Therapy Center. The following November, she embarked on her first solo tour with her father, Joe Brown, and the Subway Soopa Stringz. ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide
Track listing
1. April Moon (S. Brown)
2. With A Little Love (M. Buchanan, S. Brown)
3. Mindworks (R. Newman, S. Brown)
4. Kissing Gate (S. Brown, P. Brown, S. Jones, T. Warrilow)
5. Where You Are (P. Brown, S. Brown, P. Bangash)
6. Contradictions (D. Schogger, S. Brown)
7. Once In Your Life (S. Brown, G. Sutton)
8. Hypnotised (P. Brown, S. Brown)
9. As One (S. Brown, M. Buchanan)
10. Eye For An Eye (D. Schogger, S. Brown)
11. Troubled Soul (P. Brown, P. Bangash, S. Brown)
12. S'Envoler (E. de la Lubie, S. Brown)
13. Henry (S. Brown, P. Bangash, P. Brown)
14. Pride And Joy (I. Maidman, P. Brown, S. Brown) (*CD only)
15. Now And Forever (P. Brown, M. Seligman, S. Brown) (*CD only)
16. The Way I Love You (R. Shannon) (*CD only).
Once In Your Life
Kissing gate
With A Little Love
Mindworks
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The band's founding members in March 1974 were Chris Difford (guitar, vocals, lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, music), Jools Holland (keyboards), and Paul Gunn (drums). The group played under several names, most frequently "Captain Trundlow's Sky Company" or "Skyco", before selecting the band name "Squeeze" as a facetious tribute to The Velvet Underground's oft-derided 1973 album of the same name.[citation needed]
Squeeze's early career was spent around Deptford in SE London, where they were part of a lively local music scene which included Alternative TV and Dire Straits. The group's early singles and debut EP, 1977's Packet of Three, were released on the Deptford Fun City Label.
Squeeze's first EP and most of its self-titled debut album (1978) were produced by John Cale for A&M Records. However, the debut album's two hit singles ("Take Me I'm Yours" and "Bang Bang") were produced by the band themselves, as the label found Cale's recordings uncommercial.
The band's second album, Cool for Cats (1979), contained the band's two highest charting UK singles in "Cool For Cats" and "Up The Junction", both of which peaked at #2. John Bentley replaced Harry Kakoulli on bass in 1979 following the release of the LP. [2] Argybargy (1980), the band's third album, was also a UK hit. It was additionally a mild breakthrough in North America, as the single "Another Nail In My Heart" was a #56 hit in Canada, and second single "Pulling Mussels From The Shell" received airplay on U.S. rockradio stations.
Keyboardist Jools Holland left the band for a solo career in 1980. Keyboard duties were taken over by highly-rated singer-keyboardist Paul Carrack, a former member of British soul-pop band Ace, who scored a major international hit with the song "How Long." Carrack had also been a member of Roxy Music.
In 1981 the band cut perhaps their best-known album, East Side Story. It was produced by Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian, and featured Carrack's lead vocals on the radio hit "Tempted". Carrack himself left after the release of East Side Story, and was replaced by Don Snow. This line-up recorded the Sweets From A Stranger LP in 1982. Negative reviews, the stresses of touring, and conflict between band members led Difford and Tilbrook to break up the band later that year, after releasing a final single, "Annie Get Your Gun".
In early 2007 it was announced that Difford and Tilbrook would reform Squeeze for a series of shows throughout the latter half of the year, in support of Universal and Warner's re-issuing of the band's back catalogue and the release of a new 'best of' album, Essential Squeeze, on April 30th. Jools Holland and Gilson Lavis were unable to take part in the series of shows, as they were touring under the "Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra" name for most of the year. Instead, John Bentley re-joined on bass for the first time since Squeeze's last reunion show in 1985. The rest of the lineup was fleshed out by members of Tilbrook's touring band, The Fluffers: Stephen Large (keyboards) and Simon Hanson (drums).
On 7 July 2007, at the "Return to the Summer of Love Party," at Hawkhurst, Kent, Difford and Tilbrook, each singing and playing acoustic guitars, played a seven song set. They played, in order, "Take Me I'm Yours," "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)," "Is that Love?," "Tempted," "Labelled with Love," "Cool for Cats," and "Up the Junction." The first actual full-band Squeeze show since 1999 took place a week later at GuilFest 2007. They toured the U.S. in August 2007, supported on various dates by Fountains of Wayne, Will Hoge, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and Cheap Trick.
In November 2007, the band released Five Live: On Tour in America, a liveCD consisting of recordings from the American tour. The title referred to the number of people in the band, not the number of tracks on the 19-song CD.[2] Television appearances and live shows in the U.S. and UK followed throughout 2008, including a headline appearance at Beautiful Days on 15 August. After the success of the 2007/8 tours (and successful sales of re-released Squeeze records and the Five Live: On Tour in America album) it was confirmed that the current Squeeze line-up will record a new album through 2009, where they already have a tour of the States planned.
I saw them on the 2007 tour with Fountains of Wayne in Los Angeles. Great show. Just one of those bands from the 80's (70's) that I loved then and still listen to today.
With our next pick, Better Late Than Never selects in the 2000-2002 (I think that this the category...) Disturbed - The Sickness
A buddy of mine who worked at a record store recommended this disc to me as soon as it came out. Said they were a pretty heavy band that did an AWESOME Tears for Fears cover. Admittedly I have not enjoyed their newer stuff as much, mainly due to radio overplay. It sucks when that happens, you find something new you like, enjoy it for 6 months and then you are inundated with the single on the radio and it turns you off future songs.
1. "Voices"
2. "The Game"
3. "Stupify"
4. "Down with the Sickness"
5. "Violence Fetish"
6. "Fear"
7. "Numb"
8. "Want"
9. "Conflict"
10. "Shout 2000"
11. "Droppin' Plates"
12. "Meaning of Life"
I will youtube tonight.
Wiki stuff:
Quote:
After re-naming the band, Disturbed started to record several demos and played in live shows. The band eventually signed with Giant Records. In 2000, the band released its debut album, titled The Sickness, which launched the band into stardom. The album peaked at number twenty-nine on the Billboard 200[6] and it has sold over four million copies in the United States since its release.[7] The song "Down with the Sickness", a lounge cover version (by Richard Cheese) of which was used in the film Dawn of the Dead, was championed by radio station WXQR-FM (Rock 105) in North Carolina and placed into "heavy rotation" by program director Brian Rickman. The song was quickly added by radio stations such as WAAF in Boston and KROQ-FM in Los Angeles following its success. The song has since become very popular and was later used in many film soundtracks, and still is used a great deal to this day.
Soon after the release of The Sickness, Disturbed released a revamped cover version of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's theme music for WWE, titled "Glass Shatters". Disturbed performed "Glass Shatters" live at WWE New York in October 2000 on the debut episode of MTV Sunday Night Heat.[8][unreliable source?] Disturbed headlined Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest tour in 2001 alongside Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Black Label Society, and Crazy Town. Afterwards, the band started the Music as a Weapon Tour. The bands Adema, Drowning Pool, Stereomud, and Systematic were featured on the tour alongside Disturbed.
Before joining Marilyn Manson's 2001 European tour, Disturbed's bassist Steve Kmak was unable to play with the band due to a shattered ankle. Kmak injured his ankle by falling out of a fire escape outside Disturbed's rehearsal hall in Chicago a few days before Christmas.[9] He took the fire escape to exit the building while the elevator was being used to move their equipment downstairs. After a successful operation, doctors highly recommended that he skip the tour to avoid more severe damage to his foot. But he did perform with the band on January 11 and 12, 2001 at Disturbed's show in Chicago. A bass player named Marty O'Brian was recruited and filled Kmak's spot until Kmak was able to play again.
I will almost definitely be logging in occasionally, but after today, I am out of town for two weeks so you can AK me if/when my turn comes up.
Troutman can just list you when you're up as HabernAK
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Fresh out of a recent hospital stay, I will quickly take Salt N Pepa's Very Necessary in the category of 1991-93.
It produced a number of hits, Shoop, Whatta Man, None of your Business and Heaven or Hell, the last two being my favourites. It was a bit suggestive for me at that time, I was pretty young when it came out but I really liked it. More than likely, I didn't know what it all meant, I was so innocent then...
I'm going to move Tom Petty - "Wildflowers" to the Wildcard spot.
With their 13th selection, in the category of 1994-1996, The Rubes select Weezer - "Weezer" (the Blue Album).
Review from allmusic.com
Quote:
Even if you lived through it, it's hard to fathom exactly why Weezer were disliked, even loathed, when they released their debut album in the spring of 1994. If you grew up in the years after the heyday of grunge, it may even seem absurd that the band were considered poseurs, hair metal refugees passing themselves off as alt-rock by adapting a few tricks from the Pixies and Nirvana songbooks and sold to MTV with stylish videos. Nevertheless, during alt-rock's heyday of 1994, Weezer was second only to Stone Temple Pilots as an object of scorn, bashed by the rock critics and hipsters alike. Time has a way of healing, even erasing, all wounds, and time has been nothing but kind to Weezer's eponymous debut album (which would later be dubbed The Blue Album, due to the blue background of the cover art). At the time of its release, the group's influences were discussed endlessly — the dynamics of the Pixies, the polished production reminiscent of Nevermind, the willful outsider vibe borrowed from indie rock — but few noted how the group, under the direction of singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo, synthesized alt-rock with a strong '70s trash-rock predilection and an unwitting gift for power pop, resulting in something quite distinctive. Although the group wears its influences on its sleeve, Weezer pulls it together in a strikingly original fashion, thanks to Cuomo's urgent melodicism, a fondness for heavy, heavy guitars, a sly sense of humor, and damaged vulnerability, all driven home at a maximum volume. While contemporaries like Pavement were willfully, even gleefully obscure, and skewed toward a more selective audience, Weezer's insecurities were laid bare, and the band's pop culture obsessions tended to be universal, not exclusive. Plus, Cuomo wrote killer hooks and had a band that rocked hard — albeit in an uptight, nerdy fashion — winding up with direct, immediate music that connects on more than one level. It's both clever and vulnerable, but those sensibilities are hidden beneath the loud guitars and catchy hooks. That's why the band had hits with this album — and not just hits, but era-defining singles like the deliberate dissonant crawl of "Undone - The Sweater Song," the postironic love song of "Buddy Holly," the surging "Say It Ain't So" — but could still seem like a cult band to the dedicated fans; it sounded like the group was speaking to an in-crowd, not the mass audience it wound up with. If, as Howard Hawks said, a good movie consists of three great scenes and no bad ones, it could be extrapolated that a good record contains three great songs and no bad ones — in that case, Weezer is a record with at least six or seven great songs and no bad ones. That makes for a great record, but more than that, it's a great record emblematic of its time, standing as one of the defining albums of the '90s.
Tracks:
1 - My Name is Jonas
2 - No One Else
3 - The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
4 - Buddy Holly
5 - Undone - The Sweater Song
6 - Surf Wax America
7 - Say It Ain't So
8 - In the Garage
9 - Holiday
10 - Only in Dreams
"My Name is Jonas"
"Undone - The Sweater Song"
"Say it Ain't So"
"Surf Wax America"
"In the Garage"
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For my thirteenth pick, under Soundtrack, I'll take Jonny Greenwood's awesome score for There Will Be Blood.
1. Open Spaces
2. Future markets
3. Prospectors Arrive
4. Eat Him By His Own Light
5. Henry Plainview
6. There Will Be Blood
7. Oil
8. Proven Lands
9. HW/Hope Of New Fields
10. Smear
I've never been one for movie soundtracks so I've to be honest, I've never listened to this out of the context of the film. But it was so striking while watching - I've never been so amazed by the impact music has had on a movie. It's mezmorizing, foreboding, terrifying stuff.
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