Who recorded Animal Magnetism in 1981?
Ummm, this is pretty wild, but I just found that hip Brooklyn blog-rag, Brooklyn Vegan, is reporting (in multiple posts) about unhip iconic progressive rock band, Yes, in a non-ironic or negative way! The posts are regarding Yes’ 40th Anniversary tour starting this June. Of course half of the comments are negative and as simple and creative in their negativity as ‘NO!’
Check out the Yes posts here and here.
*awesome pic courtesy of Natalie Dee
And in a related story, you absolutely need to hear this new band that’s rockin’ with a progressive bent. They’re Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears and their new Flight of the Knife album is amazing! Here’s a vid for you…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJXBDRE44uw&hl=en]
And as a bonus, here‘s a song from that Flight of the Knife album called “Imitation of the Sky” which will disappear very soon (so listen now…and then support the band and your own good listening habits by picking up the album at Amazon!) Don’t be turned off by the fact that Perez Hilton endorses this band!
Related stories: Positive ELP Review, African Prog
This one is tough, ya’ll…
Shades of Deep Purple [1968]
So I’ve had one of my Best Band features published elsewhere on this here web which extends the whole world wide. The site is called Blog Critics and I’ll be regularly writing pieces for them, but for now I just have one lonely little unpopular piece about a band that the general public doesn’t know sitting over there wishing it would get some clicks. So do it (and me) a favor and click on over there and give ‘er a read and better still, leave some glowing comments!
Well, here’s news that I’m sure will delight all… I’ve had a couple breakthrough moments concerning Radiohead in the last couple days. ‘So what!’ you may scoff, but never do I get any stranger looks on peoples’ faces as when I inform them kindly that I don’t really listen to Radiohead. I think the popular assumption is that everyone does, so that would especially include me. But I’ve never really caught on to their brand of magic, although it certainly must be there (here’s where I’ll avoid saying ‘millions of people can’t be wrong’). I think the biggest factor was that when they were really blowing up after Kid A, it was a time right after I had discovered Krautrock, so when I heard Kid A, it didn’t floor me the way that it floored everyone else the first time they heard it. I had already been listening to way trippy electronica mixed with droning rock guitars. That said, I just kind of missed the wave when it was at it’s crest.
But a couple nights ago, I fell asleep near the beginning of Conan and awoke near the beginning of the musical guests’ live simulcast from England. It was Radiohead (who was the very first musical guest Conan had on Late Night when the show launched in ’93). I was captivated. It sounded beautiful. I must say I didn’t even know the name of the song, but I was in a sleepy trance. Well, I’ve got the full performance for you below. I missed all the stuff at the beginning with the ‘carbon emmissions’ and ‘dedicated to the **** who walked away from the Kyoto agreement’ and was happy to see it all on YouTube.
And before I play the projection for you, the other thing that put Radiohead in a nicer light for me was today when I was reading in Rolling Stone that Radiohead performs (or will perform) a different set list every time they play, so each show is different. I dig that. Anyway, come 2010, I may be headed for becoming a big Radiohead fan ten years after Kid A was released. That would be sort of typical for me… always dabbling in the old sounds!
Dig this…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccAiL6Klo0w&hl=en]
And I’ve got a few more links to throw at you at the start of your weekend, links that will shape your world…
- You must hear and see the new Animal Collective song and video, ‘Water Curses’, which will be the name of the upcoming EP release.
- New Eno/Byrne album and tour coming soon, although I would unpopularly say that My Life In the Bush of Ghosts was not a favorite of mine. The show will be fantastic though, I’m sure!
- Do you have time/interest to read a lot about African music and why white people should be outlawed from playing it? It’s a very well-written and informative piece with lots of great mp3 examples, but I do think Heart on a Stick is missing one very valid point.
- Van Halen is back at it!
- Cool video from the new John Varvatos at CBGB… now that’s punk rock. Or something.
- The 2008 Celebrate Brooklyn schedule is up.
- Daryl Hall in action at Live From Daryl’s House
What else is up?
Brass In Pocket (1979)
The band, Blodwyn Pig (blawd-win) is definitely one of the Best Bands You’ve Never Heard In Your Life. The band formed after original Jethro Tull guitarist, Mick Abrahams left Tull in 1968. It is said that Abrahams and Ian Anderson did not agree on the musical direction of the band, Abrahams preferring the hard blues-rock style and Anderson starting to write in a more progressive rock style. (Who won that feud, would you say?) Blodwyn Pig released two albums, one in 1969 and one in 1970, and this song is from the second album, titled Getting To This. It’s one of the Best Bands You’ve Never Heard In Your Life, Blodwyn Pig with “See My Way”…
And here’s a bonus for ya…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN68LSrPTC0&hl=en]
What Texas band pretended that they were British in 1965?
Who replaced Brian Eno in Roxy Music?
So Trout Mask Replica had you as confounded as it had me when I first checked it out from the library in high school? As is the case with most bands, it seems like the most critically heavily-lauded album is usually not my favorite. It’s even the case with the Beatles…I’d rather have the White Album on a desert island than Sgt. Pepper’s (not to take anything away from Pepper’s, though!) What other examples can you think of?
Anyway, I put together this nice Muxtape to share with you the glory of Beefheart’s bluesier, more psychedelic debut album Safe As Milk from 1967. I feel like there’s almost no way to not love this album. If ya dig, the next logical step in my mind would be Spotlight Kid and/or Clear Spot.
So here’s Safe As Milk for your listening pleasure…nice and listenable! Hope this helps all you Star Room folks give Beefheart another chance. Cheers!
Anybody else have any similar examples of critically-acclaimed albums that are not your favorite?
…East Village Radio