Dream Theater remains the only prog metal band I’ve listened to on the progressive side of the spectrum. And I can’t help but hearing their (massive) influence here, for good or ill. (This includes at least one reference in the lyrics to the only Dream Theater album I know well, and I’m sure there are …
Category: Music
Shaka Zulu (1987) by Ladysmith Black Mombazo
By my rough count, this is Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s 23rd album but, according to much of the world, it’s their first, as it’s the first one produced by a famous (white) singer-songwriter and it’s the first one they released after appearing on his record (as part of Simon’s violation of the apartheid boycott, which is …
Daddy’s Highway (1987) by The Bats
This is my first encounter with the ‘Dunedin Sound’ probably because, like so many music scenes from outside of North America and the UK, it didn’t get much play where I live.
At My Window (1987) by Townes Van Zandt
Though I know of the legend of Townes, I’ve seen the documentary and I’ve heard a fair number of songs through covers, this is only the second album of his I’ve ever managed to get to. And so I cannot evaluate it against his other records,except for the one I’ve heard. That one, his debut, …
Special Beat Service (1982) by The [English] Beat
I know virtually nothing about 2 Tone as a genre – I’ve heard maybe one Specials album in my life – and the only thing I knew about this band going in was “Mirror in the Bathroom.” But I must say I’m impressed.
Milo Goes to College (1982) by Descendents
This is the point where hardcore starts to lose me: where the virtues of the genre are starting to give way to things more common to earlier punk or the later skate punk. It is very clearly the bridge between early hardcore and skate punk/pop punk but I don’t know that this is a thing …
Back from Samoa (1982) by Angray Samoans
I feel like I’ve listened to a fair amount of offensive music in my time but this record is right up there. If you’ve ever wondered where the “piss off at all costs” aesthetic of some bands comes from, it might be from Angry Samoans. Though Gwar and Anal Cunt sound nothing like this band, …
Two Sevens Clash (1977) by Culture
Though I find myself with some vestige of my childhood superstitions – I still knock on wood, unfortunately – I have fought my whole adult life to rid myself and my life of superstitions as much as possible. So I found the Mayan apocalypse stuff to be utterly ridiculous and I find every single fringe …
Police and Thieves (1977) by Junior Murvin
The thing I like more about Junior Murvin’s debut album, Police and Thieves, compared to some other Lee Perry-produced reggae albums from this period (1977 in particular) is that Murvin is more of a songwriter than some of his contemporaries. The songs are more memorable to me, not just because of the hooks – as …
Herat of the Congos (1977)
On account of my podcast, I am finding myself immersed in 1977 reggae right now more than I could ever have imagined. And so I’m learning more about reggae than I have wanted to for some time. (I imagined myself becoming a reggae/dub fan in my early ’20s – what white male young adult doesn’t? …
Equal Rights (1977) by Peter Tosh
Here’s my hot take: Peter Tosh is a way better lyricist than his former band-mate, and much more famous person, Bob Marley. I’ll make a possibly more preposterous claim, based on my ignorance of reggae in general: Tosh is one of the best lyricists in the history of reggae and, to my ears, the only …
Cluster and Eno (1977)
This record definitely finds Eno and Cluster at a sort of middle ground, the kind of middle ground you might imagine if you had heard Cluster’s records and heard Discreet Music, or Eno’s other more electronic stuff. Coming back to this after you’ve heard any of the Ambient series, the music is notable for being …
Neu! (1972)
Neu!’s debut album finds them stuck somewhere between the early electronic explorations of Tangerine Dream – and, I presume, early Kraftwerk, the band Neu! split off from, which I have never heard – and the motorik of CAN and Faust and bands like that. It’s an odd juxtaposition that I might struggle with were it …
You Got My Mind Messed Up (1967) by James Carr
There’s this idea that James Carr’s LP debut (I think it’s his debut) is one of the great underrated soul records of the 1960s, or of any era. I guess that depends upon what you value in your soul.
Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967)
Simone’s second of three albums in 1967 was her first for a new label and one wonders if that had a lot to do with the rather drastic left-turn on this record. As you can tell from the title, this is a blues record, where influence on her sound was rather muted on the previous …
Undestroyed (2016) by Free Salamander Exhibit
Even before listening to this record, the evocation of the former band is perhaps a little too overt. Not only does the artwork of the album recall Sleepytime Gorilla Museum but look at these band names: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Free Salamander Exhibit People as creative as these guys are need to change up the format …
Suicide (1977)
It’s hard to review something when you’ve read too much about it but what you read did not in any way prepare you for what it is. That is the case for me with Suicide’s debut album, which is more minimalist than I ever imagined, as well as featuring much more of a clash between …
ABBA: The Album (1977)
As a young, male, red-blooded rock music fan I absolutely hated ABBA when I was younger. I may have not know what they sounded like outside of their biggest hits, but I knew I hated them, because their songs were so damn catchy, girls like them, and didn’t they win Eurovision?
The Belle Album (1977) by Al Green
Though not an Al Green fan, I have been spending a little bit of time with him over the past few years on account of my podcast. At this point, it’s enough to almost think of myself of an Al Green aficionado, if not an actual fan. (Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great singer, …
Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) by Nilsson
I have been avoiding (Harry) Nilsson since I became aware of him through the Beatles (Lennon and McCartney were big fans). I guess I avoided him because of previous experiences of music the Beatles were fans of. And, well, I knew he was poppy, and for most of my life I have not been into …
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
I was not alive when Leonard Cohen was a minor Canadian poet and not a singer-songwriter so I don’t know what kind of shock it would have been for us Canadians to hear this record. But I can speculate; I suspect it was greeted in some quarters with sneers though it might be hard to …
Wild Honey (1967) by The Beach Boys
I am not sure anything could have prepared me for this record, a bizarre left turn from Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile (and Smile presumably) in terms of ambition and overall sound, but also in some ways a logical follow up to Smiley Smile‘s bizarre lo-fi aesthetic. The first record the rest of the band …
Mr. Fantasy (1967) by Traffic
Traffic is one of those bands I’ve come at bass-ackwards, being way too familiar with their jazz rock reunion iteration and not very familiar with the original psychedelic rock band. It’s a stupid way of approaching any band, but particularly one that changed its identity as much as as Traffic did.
Mi media naranja (1997) by Labradford
This is my first Labradford record and so I have no idea how it compares to their earlier or later work. I hear their earlier work was more electronic, but I have no idea.
Come On Over [Original Version] (1997) by Shania Twain
In Canada we have “Canadian Content” rules that necessitates radio DJs (and music video VJs!) play 35% Canadian music. As a Canadian alive in 1997, I have heard at least 7 of these songs ad nauseum. This album was gigantic in the US, yes, but I’m not sure it was as omnipresent as it was …
Spiceworld (1997) by The Spice Girls
No, I have not seen the movie. (Actually, I may have seen parts of it…)
The Future (1992) by Leonard Cohen
At this point I still haven’t heard much Leonard Cohen. It feels like it’s this gaping hole in my musical knowledge, particularly given that I am also Canadian. Now that he is dead, it feels like I really failed to give him his due in his lifetime, given that he is one of the Great …
The Bodyguard Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992) by Various Artists
No, I have not seen the movie.
Urban Discipline (1992) by Biohazard
Finally some rap metal that actually sounds like metal. That is the virtue of the band, I guess. They are much more recognizable as metal.
White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean (1992) by NOFX
There was a time in my life that I think I would have really liked the sophomoric humour of NOFX. Unfortunately for them, but probably fortunately for me, I was into Oldies and then into prog rock when I was a teenager, so there is no way I would have listened to a record like …