Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

Sep 14

#135 – Beautiful Darkness – SoLaRiS

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-09-07 at 08.57.39Beautiful Darkness – SoLaRiS

Remember those days way back when, when you may have played with a music keyboard for the first time? When you learnt that you could make sequences and layer and loop? And you made some interesting dance songs?

This is an album of when someone did the same.

A little unfair though. This is a little bit more professional than that. SoLaRiS (the capitalisation is important!) are a band who I stumbled across on the fabulous Jamendo website. I’m very keen on bands who use social media and technological opportunities to promote themselves from the crumby garage band practices to the center of public awareness. Jamendo does that. Much like Peoplesound did in the 90s and noughties.

Beautiful Darkness grows on you like a yeast infection and before you know it you’re looking for other stuff by the band.

https://www.jamendo.com/en/list/a43531/beautiful-darkness

SoLaRiS

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Sep 13

Beautiful Creature & Juliana’s Pony: Total System Failure – Juliana Hatfield [#134]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-09-06 at 12.37.42Beautiful Creature & Juliana’s Pony: Total System Failure – Juliana Hatfield

I have always been fascinated by how the bands and artists I like are all interconnected somehow, even though the apparent connections may not be immediately apparent to me.

The Tubes and Chris Isaak or Yes, Vangelis and Mike Oldfield or  Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly and Kristin Hersh for example.

All interconnected either by artistic merit or close personal links to each other. And yet each of these bands and artists I have discovered for myself independently of their connections.

I became aware of Juliana Hatfield when she was part of Ivo Watt’s This Mortal Coil project in the 1990s. Though not really paying attention to who was who, it transpired that my favourite song from the 4AD showcase album Uncut: 4AD (to be featured much later in this project), You & Your Sister, was a duet with Tanya “Belly” Donelly and  Juliana Hatfield. Wow! Especially as I already really liked Tanya Donelly.

Anyway, Beautiful Creature appears here as a joint album with Juliana’s Pony: Total System Failure. No idea why. It just is that way in my collection. Two separate albums combined and presented as one. It has a distinct Belly-esque sound. Angry women with guitars. The stuff Avril Lavigne turned into sickly sweet teen angst more successfully than slightly miffed Generation Xers.

 

Juliana Hatfield

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Sep 12

Beatallica – Beatallica [#133]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-09-06 at 12.14.48 Beatallica – Beatallica

Beatallica chucked out another EP in 2004 with 8 tracks. This is the EP that made people sit up and listen and realise that here was a band with a unique approach to family favourites. Bridging the gap between Granny and Kevin the Angry Teenager.

Unfortunately the joke was already now starting to wear thin.

2004 Beatallica

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Sep 11

#132 – The Beat Goes On – Vanilla Fudge

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-09-06 at 12.03.36

The Beat Goes on – Vanilla Fudge

Vanilla Fudge are one of those artists that you’ve heard of but don’t know you’ve heard of them. The Beat Goes On is their second studio album released in 1968. Much like Randy California’s band, Spirit, Vanilla Fudge are light years ahead of their time. Using sounds and styles that seem out of place for their time and could almost be commonplace in today’s music.

The Fudgers have had a massive influence on today’s artists. If you truly want to be a hipster, this really is a band whose back catalogue you need to own.  If you don’t you can never call yourself hip, cool or whatever. Nor can you comment on anyone elses cred.

Vanilla Fudge

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Sep 10

#131 – The Beast with Two Backs – Inkubus Sukkubus

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-09-06 at 11.37.20The Beast with Two Backs – Inkubus Sukkubus

Back once again with the band that never fails to remind me of the film  Razorblade Smile. I often wonder if the people who perform in bands like this take themselves seriously.

After the first listen to this I want to wear a black trench coat with some sunglasses and do lots of strolling through abandoned hospitals. Or running through ornamental gardens of stately homes wearing frilly cuffs and carrying a musket.

This is an album from 2003 and features a goth version of Kylies Can’t Get you Out of My Head. 

Inkubus Sukkubus

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Sep 9

#130 – The Beach (OST) – Various Artists

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-09-06 at 11.22.16 The Beach (Soundtrack) – Various Artists

After surviving a fate worse than marrying a soggy Kate Winslet and the sinking of a cruise liner, Leonardo Dicaprio swims all the way to Thailand and begins a life of backpacking across Asia.

During his adventures, some drunken sop tells him, in whispered tones, about a beach so beautiful it will melt your brain.

So begins the story of 90’s hedonism and awareness that secrets are best kept to yourself as nobody can be trusted. The film rings true to me especially as how every year people go to my favourite holiday spot, enjoy themselves and tell others to go too. Over the years the area has gone from nice quiet relaxing holiday spot to approaching awful Guardian reading family friendly frightfest.

Only without the drug smuggling, violence and Lord of the Flies inspired committees.

The soundtrack isn’t too bad either. It’s a nice snapshot of the 90’s hedonistic holiday nightclub crap that seemed to flood the radio waves, peoples cars and CD racks of the time. Bands such as Blur, Moby and All Saints feature with summer holiday inspiring tunes to whisk you off to your favourite sandy hot spot with a stylus fall.

2000 Soundtracks Various Artists

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Sep 8

#129 – BBC Sessions 1975-1978 – Renaissance

by stegzy

Renaissance - BBC Sessions BBC Sessions 1975 – 1978 – Renaissance

The third and final BBC sessions album in my collection. This time, Renaissance step up to the microphone.

We’ve seen Annie Haslam and her pals on this project before. This album highlights how popular Renaissance were at their time. Which only adds to the confusion as to why I had never heard of them until I was in my 30s. It was as if they never received any radio airtime during the 80s and 90s to wipe them from collective consciousness.

This is possibly my second favourite Renaissance compilation album. It’s a good showcase of the wide range of talent and output of the band especially to new listeners.

BBC Sessions best of Renaissance

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Sep 7

#128 – BBC Sessions – The Who

by stegzy

BBC Sessions - The WhoBBC Sessions – The Who
Roger Daltrey and his mates perform a variety of their hits on the radio during their peak then release this album some decades later in an effort to boost their pensions.

Most of the classics and favourites are here as are some covers and alternate versions. Missing is Pinball Wizard.

No idea why I have it. Possibly I downloaded it when going through a phase. Or possibly I got it for or from a friend.

 

BBC Sessions Who (The)

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Sep 6

BBC Live – Fields of the Nephilim [#127]

by stegzy

Fields of the NephilimBBC Live Sessions – Fields of the Nephilim

I came to Goth quite late although I was a fan of Strawberry Switchblade when they came out in the early eighties. FON was my late introduction to the Goth genre arriving in my mid to late 20s.

Ginger Chris, a goth friend who dressed in black and sported a fine set of natty dreads, insisted that the best band in the world was Fields of Nephilim and that no Goth would be accepted into the fold without a prior love or experience of Fields of the Nephilim.

So he gave me a cassette with some of their music on.

During a very very dark period of my mid twenties, I broke out the cassette and lowered myself on the express elevator into darkness through the medium of Fields of Nephilim. The compilation tape had all manner of songs on it and many I enjoyed.

When the internet, free downloads and USENET arrived, I immediately took it upon myself to get as much FON as I could. This is the first in the 19 albums I’ve managed to obtain over the years.

More of a bootleg than an official album, this appears to be a fan recording of five songs as performed on the BBC sometime. Possibly in the 1990s. Tracks include: Endemonadia, Love Under Will, Moonchild, Bluewater and Chord of Souls.

1992 BBC Sessions Fields of the Nephilim

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Sep 4

#126 – Bayreuth 1 – Joachim Witt

by stegzy

Bayreuth Eins Bayreuth 1 – Joachim Witt

It’s that German chap again. This time he’s here with his eighth album from 1998.

In the time before Rammstein, when Euro pop was something shunned by Brit landers as mistakenly being akin to the plinky plonky fizzy pop churned out annually during the Eurovision Song Contest, there existed a subculture of hard core Euro rockers who were slowly infiltrating the UK pop scene. Mr Witt led that vanguard with this album.

There are some good tunes on this album but my favourite, and the only reason I have this album, is the Peter Heppner collaboration Die Flut. 

 

 

Joachim Witt

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Sep 3

#125 – Bat Out of Hell (Re-Vamped) – Meatloaf

by stegzy

R-1765376-1323036806 Bat Out of Hell [Re-Vamped] – Meatloaf

Nothing could be more rousing than a fat bloke bellowing out a good old rock song. Especially if that rock song involves motorbikes.

As an impressionable teen, I had Meatloaf served to me by older siblings but, unlike with Prog, Meatloaf did not feature heavily in my music collection. That is not to say it didn’t exist there. It did. I had two cassettes featuring Meatloaf. One was the Bonnie Tyler collaboration Heaven and Hell, a God awful compilation album but I didn’t really know any better then. The other cassette was the Best of Meatloaf. One track was consistent across both cassettes and synonymous with Meatloaf; Bat out of Hell.

If you’ve never heard of the fat boy’s hit Bat Out Of Hell, you’re either under 30 or you’ve been living in a monastery. Also on this album is the far superior Paradise by The Dashboard Light, a tale about why it’s best not to make idle teen promises to get some sex, and that song featuring Cher (Dead Ringer for Love). 

Meatloaf

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Sep 2

#124 – Barretts Revenge – Pink Floyd

by stegzy

Pink Floyd - Barrett's Revenge - Original LP Cover Barretts Revenge – Pink Floyd

Rare recordings of Pink Floyd stuff from when Syd Barrett was steering and some nice bootlegs too.

This is one for the fans.

I am a fan.

 

 

Pink Floyd

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Sep 1

#123 – Barbed Wire Kisses – Jesus and Mary Chain

by stegzy

Barbed Wire Kisses by The Jesus and Mary ChainBarbed Wire Kisses – Jesus and Mary Chain

Those Scottish lads again. This is their B Side and Rarities compilation album.

Anyone would think I am a fan. I’m not.

Into the recycle bin it goes!

 

Jesus & Mary Chain

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Aug 31

#122 – Bang! – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-31 at 18.48.47Bang! – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood were supposed to be the eighties answer to the Beatles. As anyone from Liverpool will tell you, the Beatles put the city on the map. This is what is taught in schools in the Liverpool area.

In fact, I’ll go as far to say, give birth in a Liverpool hospital and you can be assured that the Beatles will be playing in the delivery room just so the wee one can be indoctrinated welcomed into the wonders of the four apostles John Paul George and Ringo.

At the time Frankie surfaced Liverpool was going through a bit of a down patch. Unemployment was high, people were avoiding the city and so was government policy. Then a bright spark, Trevor Horn no less, said “Hey, what Liverpool needs is some more pop music icons like the Beatles. Inject some culture into the place…”. And that’s what he did.

With lyrics screaming with homosexual overtones, shocking banned music videos and drug addled public appearances, Frankie put Liverpool back on the map briefly. Then fizzled away into a poor second album and an iffy solo career for lead singer Holly Johnson.

Bang! is Frankie’s best of album. This is the only Frankie album you need.

 

 

frankie goes to hollywood

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Aug 30

#121- Ballads of Living and Dying – Marissa Nadler

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 18.19.42Ballads of Living and Dying – Marissa Nadler

More New Weird America. Marissa Nadler haunts you with this album from 2005.

Now my hipster friend is convinced that he told me about Marissa Nadler. He’s described in great detail the time he told me about her. Even down to the shirt I was wearing at the time he told me.

Considering I wear black most days, that’s not hard to guess.

Of course, it might be that he told me about her. Which is why I’m not a hipster and he is. Even down to the half mast trousers, stupid beard and stupid shoes.

But I digress.

Nadler has a very haunting voice and seems to like using twiddly acoustic guitars. This is not a bad album.

Marissa Nadler

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Aug 29

#120 – Baja Sessions – Chris Isaak

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 17.46.52Baja Sessions – Chris Isaak

Chris Isaak returns to the project. This time with an unplugged session of some of his better songs and a few covers.

There seemed to have been a movement that passed me by around the mid-90s where bands all started chucking out acoustic and lo-fi versions of their work. I’m not complaining.

This is good stuff. If studio Isaak has you feeling like you should slick your hair back, look aloof and pained yet cool and thoughtful; Lo-fi Isaak will have you wanting to sit on a porch with your dudes and guitar while a stream of girls walk past giving you the eye. Just like they do to Chris.

Of course that’s as likely to happen as the Vatican winning the world cup.

Chris Isaak

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Aug 28

Bad Hair Day – “Weird Al” Yankovic [#119]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 17.42.04Bad Hair Day – “Weird Al” Yankovic

Weird Al returns to the project once more. This time with the 1996 album Bad Hair Day. 

Al does the treatment on U2, Forest Gump and Gangster’s Paradise.

Silly.

 

1996 Weird Al Yankovic

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Aug 27

#118 – Back to Mine: Faithless

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 17.36.28Back to Mine: Faithless – Faithless & Various Artists

Back to Mine, is a series of compilations where musicians remix or perform covers of other peoples music. Because rejigging other peoples work is art. Apparently.

Regardless, it’s lucrative isn’t it? What do I know? I’m not a hipster or in with the yoof.

This particular Back to Mine has 90’s Ibiza faves, Faithless, taking Bomb the Bass, Dido and Adamski back to theirs for a good old record playing session. As my first introduction to the Back to Mine series and the fact that out of the 28 volumes, this is the only one that hasn’t been deleted, it shows that Back to Mine: Faithless  is probably the best of the lot.

Even if it is just someone elses work played a bit faster or jiggered about by playing someone elses work over it.

 

Faithless Mazzy Star Various Artists

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Aug 26

#117 – Back to 19 Mistakes – Gruppo Sportivo

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 17.21.10Back to 19 Mistakes – Gruppo Sportivo

I’ve got no idea how I have this in my collection. This is one of those albums I’ve had for years and years and not heard the whole way through.

Gruppo Sportivo are a Dutch band. The kind that used to plague Eurovision with twee and silly songs.

I’m sorry. I managed 5 tracks before I couldn’t take any more.

Gruppo Sportivo

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Aug 26

Back in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit [#116]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 17.12.47Back in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit

Nope. Not a double posting. There are two DHSS albums by HMHB. This is the first.

This is early HMHB stuff, but still as scathing and well observed. Heavy on the punk side of things, but if you can hear through that, you’ll have a lyrical treat.

 

1985 Half Man Half Biscuit

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Aug 25

Back Again in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit [#115]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 17.05.14Back Again in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit

There is nothing better in life than writing on the sole of a slipper with a biro

Scousers again. Sarky scousers with instruments and lyrics to illustrate the downs and downs of British life no less.

Back Again comes with two of HMHBs popular tracks, Trumpton Riots, All I want for Christmas (Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit) and Dickie Davies Eyes. Listening to the album makes you want to sit in your grotty bedsit and look out at the rain or plod the sodden streets of recession hit Liverpool in the late 1980s trying to find a job.

Good stuff. And I don’t understand football references…

1987 Half Man Half Biscuit

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Aug 24

#114 – Azure d’Or – Renaissance

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 16.44.35Azure d’Or by Renaissance

Annie Haslam and her chums get together one more time before the 1980s comes and bites them all on the bum and sends them into a downward spiral of obscurity.

With the exception of Jekyll and Hyde and Winter Tree, much of the original “wow” of early Renaissance seems to be fading like the memory of Quatro before the approaching onslaught of the anti-Prog movement.

Punk has a lot to answer for musically. It did more damage to creativity and expression than dub step and music factories owned by Pete Waterman and his ilk. Talented musicians were forced to cut short their masterpieces and musical wankery to fit in with the growing hunger for 3 minute pop songs. A bit like how Facebook and Twitter have massacred the blogosphere by reducing the media consumers attention to 140 character text bites.

A shame.

Renaissance

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Aug 23

Ayreonauts Only – Ayreon [#113]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 16.35.34Ayreonauts Only – Ayreon

We talked about Ayreon back at the start of this project. Ayreon is one of those European rock stars that wouldn’t be out of place in one of those Euro Rock bands of the late 1980’s like Poison or Europe.

Except he’s far too good for that.

This album acts as a kind of “I can do better than what I did before” Best of compilation album. A Betterer Of, for want of a better phrase.

If the chugga chugga guitar of Into the Black Hole doesn’t get you fired up, then perhaps Eyes of Time or  Cold Metal will.

I love this album. Again, I have no idea why he’s not as well known in the UK as he is in Europe.

2000 Ayreon

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Aug 22

#112 – Away with the Faeries – Inkubus Sukkubus

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-19 at 16.27.18Away with the Faeries – Inkubus Sukkubus

Us Brits are good at looking like vampires. I suppose it’s because of our pastey looks and how we never seem to smile much. Inkubus Sukkubus are an 80’s goth band complete with Elvira like female lead singer and videos that make Razorblade Smile look like a blockbuster.

Away with the Faeries crams in just over an hour of witchy vampyric music for those eager to mope around in black and look miserable while somehow trying to summon ancient and arcane demons  through the power of an electric guitar.

There’s a nice cover of Paint it Black and a good selection of live tracks just incase you think this type of music isn’t popular…

Inkubus Sukkubus

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Aug 21

#111 – Avalon – Roxy Music

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2014-08-17 at 18.34.49Avalon – Roxy Music

If you survived the brain mashing of the last two Les Joyaux de la Princesse, albums you’ll be pleased to know they won’t resurface until we get to C.

Like a refreshing aural drink, Bryan Ferry oozes cool swarveness through your speakers and leads you into a seedy world of lounge bars, loafers and broken hearts.

I’ve got a thing for Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music work. It just sounds and feels so sophisticated. Like a white suit and black shirt on the morning after a rather sensational party when you have stayed up all night with a bottle of Bolly stinking of tobacco and still not pulled the foxy chick who may or may not be a high class prozzie dressed in a red short dress.

Avalon is no exception. Listen to it, let it seduce you, have its wicked way with you and leave you with a feeling like you’ve just been used by some knob head in a white suit who stinks of cigarettes, has a nasty rash and is carrying a bottle of Bolly with some Asti decanted into it…..

 

Brian Eno Bryan Ferry Roxy Music

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