Hello! It’s Steelrattus guest posting again, this time on a 10 day (10 DAY!) stint, while Stegzy is away. I should preface this stint with a warning that some of these posts might be a little brief, as trying to juggle work, kids, and daily album reviews might be pushing it. But I’ll try my best, and it will depend on the album.
I can also reveal that I only somewhat know two of the albums out of the ten, so will be coming to most of these fresh.
So, Everything Picture by Ultrasound. For those who don’t know (like me), Ultrasound were a band active for three years at the end of the 1990s, and again from 2010 to present day. The band first released a couple of singles, during their 1990s phase, which were received favourably by the music press. Everything Picture is their first album, but it wasn’t received so favourably, albeit it got to to No. 23 in the UK charts. An acrimonious break up followed, caused by severe tensions in the band. The band reunited in 2010 for a charity concert, and following on from that decided to make a new album, Play for Today released in 2012.
It’s often a bit odd listening to music cold, that is for a purpose other than just the pure listening experience. I’m not sure if it helps you be more objective, or means you have less chance of connecting, or a bit of both. I suspect this will become a theme over the next few days! Everything Picture is an unusual album, in that it has 10 fairly standard length tracks, followed by a final track that’s almost 40 minutes in length (although said track does end after about 20 minutes). I heard similarities to various artists throughout, including The Cure, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd. I would describe the overall genre as rock, but there are some odd flourishes throughout the album that mean it’s not just a straight rock album. Indy Rock is probably a better description. It was an interesting lesson, but I didn’t connect with it.
Here’s the track Stay Young, which was one of four released from the album…



This will be the last week of Music Project entries before a two week hiatus unless someone comes forth offering to write for two weeks while I’m on the other side of the planet.
<sigh> I really could re-use the “Essential/Essentially” gag here too as Essential is, essentially the first Jean Michel Jarre Best of Compilation. But I won’t because re-releasing old material as new stuff is so 1990s it’s unbelievable.
Era are another of those bands jumping on the nu-age Enigma bandwagon complete with choral and world music overtones. Indeed, Era (or +ERA+ as they like to stylise themselves) sit nicely between Enigma and Deep Forest.

First of all, let me thank my good friend Jim Ellis for his contribution to my musical development. It was he who introduced me to the wonders of eighties/nineties big hair stadium rockers Queensryche and their albums Empire and Operation: Mindcrime.
Regular Music Project denizen, Arjen Anthony Lucassen (
I’ve talked about 

Another tragedy, another electric album.
Former Bonzo Ruskin Spear, with his first solo LP.
Despite dying in 1970, Hendrix has this reputation for being an innovation if not the best guitarist in history. I’ve asked several respected musicians the “Who would you invite for dinner?” question and most of them say Jimi Hendrix.


Just to reassure you, I’m not, by any means, channelling John Peel here but we did have similar tastes in music it seems. Anyway, those four lads who shook the Wirral take centre stage on the music project once more. This time with a cheeky little EP and a wink at Granada TV.