Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

Jun 19

Dark Side – Gregorian [#337]

by stegzy

Gregorian_-_The_Dark_SideSpooky hooded monks chanting menacing songs is a nightmare for most people. For others, finding this album lurking about on the bargain bucket of the internet was just the best thing ever. Problem is, with few people to share it with, the amusement is self contained.

I’ve mentioned Gregorian before on the music project but not on their own. At the height of the 90’s fascination with Gregorian chant thanks to Enigma, German music producer and one time Enigma member, Frank Peterson, formed the band Gregorian, comprising
mostly of men in hoods, and did to popular music what James Last and Geoff Love did to classical music.

Dark Side is a unique album in that all the songs are “dark” in some way or other whereas Gregorian’s other work Masters of Chant are not so dark. Just silly. If, for what ever reason, be it medicinal, torture or freewill, you choose to embark on an aural journey beginning with Gregorian, then this is probably the best album to start with. The others are bobbins. Dark Side features covers of Sisters of Mercy, Aphrodite’s Child and even Kylie Minogue.

Gregorian

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Jun 18

Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd [#336]

by stegzy

Dark_Side_of_the_MoonWhen I was 17, the former acquaintance now known as Shitbag said to me:

“Pink Floyd don’t make any CDs anymore. You’ll not find this in HMV so don’t go looking”

So naturally I went looking, opening up a whole new world to me. I’d been aware of Pink Floyd for several years up to that point, but mostly only for their work The Wall. But as we learnt in Animals, there was a lot more to the band. Indeed, much later works like A Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell just proved that there was still a lot to be produced and earlier albums like Atom Heart Mother and A Saucerful of Secrets proved there was a lot more to discover.

Darkside of the Moon was the second Pink Floyd album I bought. At the time a lot was going on in my life. It was also a time when the new millennium was approaching and with it esoteric disaster, spiritual end times and a new age of yogurt weaving, tofu knitting and miso misery was dawning.

There was also a total eclipse of the sun that was to be visible from the British Isles and Cornwall was to be the best spot to view it from. So, to avoid the crowds I planned an excursion to the nearest westerly point my girlfriend and I could reach without breaking the bank. Having bundled the tent and the king size duvet into the Citroen AX, all that was left was to make a mix tape for the car as entertainment.

Driving through rural Wales with the album on the car stereo blaring out in time to every twist, turn, 60mph stretch, open road and chicane it was uncanny. Culminating in coming down the hill into the picturesque village of Aberdaron on the western Llyn Peninsula just as Pink Floyd broke into Eclipse was possibly on of the most inspiring and thought provoking moments of my life. It was as if the album was written for the journey, the experience and the event.

Synchronicity at its best. Although next time I’ll try the whole experience again while watching Wizard of Oz and see how that works out.

I also have Dark Side of the Sky. A live recording of a performance of this album, but I see little point in writing a separate entry for it.

1973 Memories Pink Floyd Roger Waters

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Jun 17

Dark Side of the Moog III: Phantom Heart Brother – Pieter Namlook & Klaus Schulze [#335]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2015-06-13 at 10.14.45Dear God. WTF is this album supposed to be? I guess at some point, someone nipped down to Hell with a sampling machine and a moog and gave the demons down there the job of creating the most painful music ever using the ambient sounds of tortured souls and what’s left of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

This is the album that they produced.

I made similar music when I was 4 making weird noises into a plastic pipe.

Klaus Schulze Peter Namlook

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Jun 16

Dark Passion Play – Nightwish [#334]

by stegzy

Dark_Passion_PlayBy the time this album was released my affair with Scandinavian rocksmiths, Nightwish, was coming to an end. Tarja Tururen had been ejected from the band, the style had shifted and really I was getting too old to keep up to date with band member shiftings. I mean, it’s bad enough when Prog bands shuffle their members without Scandinavian metal bands doing the same.

So with reluctance, after having this album in my collection for nearly seven years unplayed, I popped it on. I managed two tracks. It was like going into a once favourite restaurant only to find it under new management. Sad really. But the way of most things in the modern times.

2007 Nightwish

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Jun 15

Dare to be Stupid – Weird Al Yankovic [#333]

by stegzy

Weird_Al_Yankovic_-_Dare_to_Be_StupidWeird Al eh? What a funny dude.

In case you’re odd, or perhaps you’ve been living as some sort of gimp in a cellar for the past 30 years or so, Weird Al is an American entertainer who takes popular music and turns them into parodies. Sometimes quite well.

Dare to be Stupid is Yankovic’s third studio album.  Unfortunately, as an introduction to Yankovic it’s not a good choice. Nothing innovative or original here, just Yankovic going through the motions, and by motions I mean poo.

1985 Weird Al Yankovic

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Jun 12

Cure for Pain – Morphine [#332]

by stegzy

Morphine-Cure_for_Pain_(album_cover)By the time I became addicted to Morphine, it was too late. Mark Sandman had died of a heart attack and the band had been dissolved. Such a shame.

Read the rest of this entry »

Morphine

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Jun 11

Culture of Ascent – Glass Hammer [#331]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2015-06-07 at 10.39.54During my brief exploration of new prog, I was led to the door of Glass Hammer and their song At the Court of Alkinoos on the album Odyssey. I liked it. So when I was presented with a few of their albums by my university audiences lecturer, I was pleased to plug in and listen. For a short fleeting moment at least.

Gah. Forced. Strained. Prog. Not good. So aside from a few albums, this being the second in this project, I didn’t pursue Glass Hammer too hard.

The band’s tenth studio album, Culture of Ascent does have one saving grace though, Yes’ Jon Anderson in backing vocals and a cover version of Yes’ Southside of the Sky.

2007 Glass Hammer Jon Anderson

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Jun 10

CSI: Ambleside – Half Man Half Biscuit [#330]

by zoefruitcake
CSI Ambleside - Half Man Half BiscuitA man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets
Before I met my beloved I was only vaguely aware of Half man half biscuit, but over the last 7 years I have listened to many hours of their music, usually a captive audience in his car but once live locally.  If you have never heard any of their achingly clever and snortingly funny songs before this album is a great starting point.  Are they punk?  Are they folk? Are they too bloody clever for their own good?  Yes, to all of them.
I can’t claim to get all the references, but then it is handy to have a scouse husband to help out (want one?  you can borrow mine, if you are lucky he’ll have you taking part in his music project).  I had no idea what the ‘roids’ were until he told me, but anyone can appreciate the sentiment of ‘National shite day’ (which is a blinder performed live) even if you have never seen a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets.  I frequently find myself humming ‘Evening of swing’ for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

2008 Half Man Half Biscuit

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Jun 9

Cruel Intentions – Original Soundtrack [#329]

by stegzy

Cruel_Intentions_SoundtrackA film about two well to do toffs, the kind of people that need a good old balaclava wearing slap in the woods, doing bad things to people lower down the socialite spectrum at their school.  Only one of the toffs falls for the lower down socialite and ends up in a pickle.

Serves him right.

Soundtrack is good though. Oh and theres a bit where Sarah Michelle Gellar snogs Selma Blair. But that’s not on the sound track. Instead there are treats from 90s bands like Blur, Aimee Mann and, of course, The Verve.

I liked the film so I downloaded the soundtrack as is my way. Like film = get soundtrack, as you will see through the progress of this music project.

1999 Soundtracks Various Artists

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Jun 8

The Crow – Original Soundtrack [#328]

by stegzy

The_Crow_soundtrack_album_coverI didn’t want to be seen as a scenester or hipster. I didn’t want to be seen as a trend seeker. So I came to the whole thing late. The Crow was always a film I liked though.

It tied in the mid nineties comic book superhero film gold rush which saw films featuring forgotten heroes such as Swamp Thing, Darkman and The Phantom being pushed out on meagre budgets and crappy scripts. But amidst the deluge The Crow took centre stage, mostly due to the tragic loss of the lead actor, the rumours of conspiracy, curses and such like. The dark, brooding pre-emo atmosphere making floppy goth vogue long before sparkly vampires.

The soundtrack featured a number of bands from the perimeters of good taste. The Cure – Because you know, it’s goth.  Pantera, for the angry shouting. Nine Inch Nails because it’s the nineties and they’re in every sound track from Toy Story  to Big Breasted BiBabes from Baltimore. They’re all there. But for me, it was the song It Can’t Rain All the Time performed by Jane Siberry that made the whole soundtrack endurable. That and the realisation, the entire soundtrack wasn’t really goth.

1994 Soundtracks Various Artists

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Jun 4

Cross of Changes – Enigma [#327]

by stegzy

Enigma_The_Cross_of_ChangesI hadn’t listened to this album for many years until I re-listened to it for this music project.

If you are of a certain age, you might remember the fashion for Gregorian chants in music during the late eighties/early nineties. Nearly every “DJ” and “sound engineer” was mixing it into their produce like yogurt and it seemed to pervade every part of contemporary culture.

For a very brief moment in my life I was under the impression that there was something magical about it. In the end I realised there was more magic in Sooty than in anything containing Gregorian chants. But more of that when we get to M.

This is Enigma’s second “studio” album. Further building on the success of their MCMXC a.d Enigma tried the old “It worked once” routine with fairly mixed results. Yes the old magic was still being invoked but the album is clearly one of two parts. Rehashing freshly dug ground in the first half and chucking trendy environmentalist bollocks into second.

Listening to the album again though brought back loads of half forgotten memories. Mostly sitting playing Frontier: Elite II in my crappy bedsit in the 1990s and sitting in parks on nice summer days trying to not look creepy. It also reminded me of how much my musical tastes have changed over the years. Kind of like finding an old diary or something.

Enigma

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Jun 3

Crooked – Kristin Hersh [#326]

by stegzy

Crooked - Kristin HershYou might know Hersh as either half-sister to Tanya Donnelly or lead singer of Throwing Muses. However, Kristin Hersh came into my life through the Uncut: 4AD compilation album and her song Your Ghost. I was later to hear her first solo album Hips and Makers from which the song came but was not too impressed.

Years passed but I still enjoyed Your Ghost. Then along came Learn to Sing Like a Star. Wow what a difference! Like a fine wine or a port or single malt whisky, Hersh had matured. So when I saw Crooked I had to get it.

Crooked is Hersh’s eighth studio album and she plays and sings with a rich style and many of the songs on this album can be heard on the previously project featured live album Cats and Mice. Worth a listen.

4AD Kristin Hersh

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Jun 2

Crone of War – Omnia [#325]

by stegzy

Crone of War - Omnia

More beardy weirdy pagan folk with hurdy-gurdys and that’s folk as in the genre.

Crone of War is not my most favourite Omnia album. It’s more of the same really: beards, hurdygurdys and fae-like guitar playing.

Perhaps after the live compilation album I was spoilt.

Jennifer van der Harten Omnia

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Jun 1

Croix de Bois – Croix de Feu – Le Joyaux de la Princesse [#324]

by stegzy

Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 22.19.08Once more into  the dark recesses of the psyche with the sinister French band Le Joyaux de la Princesse.

We’ve met LJDP before on the music project, way back at the very start of the music project. Cast your mind, or your mouse button, back to their collaboration with Blood Axis (Absinthe), or to one of their dark French history albums Aux Volontaires Croix De Sang or Aux Petits Enfants de France. If you did, and you’re still not scared or scarred by the music they produce, I invite you to turn another corner and enter further into the darkness with Croix de Bois Croix de Feu and remember, I like the atmospherics and not the political references that inspired the band.

And now for some French history: Croix de Bois (Wooden Crosses) is a 1932 film by Raymond Bernard. The film has an anti-war message and draws from the tragedy and horrors of the First World War. A lesson that, a hundred years later, we still have not learned.

Conversely, Croix de Feu was a French political movement with fascist links contributing to the Vichy France. Popular in the years between the two world wars and then for a short time after the second world war, Croix de Feu (cross of fire) became a part of the French Nationalist movement. A dark time for France and Europe. A dark time we must not forget or bury.

The album is the band’s 9th release and leaves not only a nasty taste in the mouth but a nasty feeling of unease and disappointment with the world. It is a powerful band, one that can cause unsettling feelings with music, old recordings of political rallies and no lyrics. I suggest that you only listen to this if you do not suffer from a nervous disposition.

 

Les Joyaux de la Princesse

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May 29

Crisis? What Crisis? – Supertramp [#323]

by zoefruitcake
Supertramp_-_CrisisWhen Stegzy ‘encouraged’ me to write this for him I had a look at the track listing to see what songs I already knew from it. I didn’t really recognise any of them, but when I listened I realised that I did know a few of them after all, especially ‘Another man’s woman’ which I enjoyed most of all on the whole album.
A few years ago they showed a recording of Supertramp live (possibly live in Paris ’79 or in Hammersmith in ’75) on telly and maybe I knew them from that?  Apart from the one song I didn’t really enjoy this as much as other albums.  I didn’t feel I was on an interesting musical journey, I wasn’t held on the path even after listening to it three times on the trot.  Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind? I wanted to like it, but I couldn’t. Even the album art work didn’t grip me. Disappointing.

Supertramp

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May 28

Crises – Mike Oldfield [#322]

by stegzy

Mike_oldfield_crises_album_coverCrises is Oldfield’s eighth studio album. Released in 1983, it arrived in my CD collection in the 90s and was probably about the 5th CD I ever bought.

Three things struck me about Crises.

  1. It features a song with Jon Anderson (Yes)
  2. The title track Crises features a great deal of Oldfield tropes; his distinguishable guitar sound, lyrical references to Virgin and musical themes that would reappear in later albums.
  3. It has the hit single Moonlight Shadow

For me, this album was the start of my theory that the music I like is all interconnected somehow. Something I’m still yet to prove.

 

1983 Jon Anderson Mike Oldfield

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May 27

Crime of the Century – Supertramp [#321]

by zoefruitcake
Supertramp_-_Crime_of_the_CenturyI find it a little amusing that I was introduced to this album by a criminal, who at this very moment is in the process of repaying his debt to society.   Or, as he puts it, sitting on the naughty step.
I’d never listened to this album before we got a copy at work, although I knew Dreamer (big UK hit) and Bloody well right (big hit in the U.S., apparently) the rest were a mystery to me.  After visiting it a few times I know I will listen to this again and again.  This is the classic Supertramp sound I love, and whilst it could never topple my all time favourite  ‘Even in the quietest moments’ from its top spot I can imagine growing very fond of it.

Supertramp

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May 26

Creatures – Clan of Xymox [#320]

by stegzy

Creatures - Clan of XymoxI’ve always been the kind of person that really digs a peculiar name.

When Clan of Xymox appeared on the alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.goth newsgroup back in the noughties I couldn’t resist. Peculiar name. Bound to be excellent.

While such a tactic is destined to end with megabytes of dirge, it turned out not to be the case with this album. Firstly it turned out that Clan of Xymox were originally signed to 4AD. Secondly, Creatures was the band’s 8th studio album and it appeared that they had many many more. Guess what I did? Yep, I downloaded their entire catalogue.

Fortunately, I now only have three Xymox albums. This is the first and probably my most favourite of all Xymox albums. Goth/Darkwave in tone with lots of that guitar sound I really like.

4AD Clan of Xymox

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May 22

Crazy Diamond – Syd Barrett [#319]

by stegzy

CrazyDiamondSticking with bearded half mast corduroy wearing hipsters; there was a time in the noughties when Syd Barrett was cool. Long after the weird guy had left or been ejected from Pink Floyd, albums showcasing some of the never heard before work circulated on the internet and were snaffled by fans of both the band and the tragic genius that was Barrett.

Of course at that time in his life, Barrett was too mad and daft to even know that this was happening. At least that was the story. I recall seeing a picture of Barrett in the press around that time showing him as a Tesco bag carrying, anorak wearing odd ball. Which I thought was sad.

One guy I worked with claimed that he knew more about Barrett than Barrett. Some said he was Barrett’s secret love child. Others whispered about him being a bit weird and how he had a peculiar musty smell that came from the Tesco carry bag he kept his anorak in. I suspect it was he that gave me this album. Whatever the origin of the album, no doubt I gathered it in my Tesco carry bag, put on my anorak and rushed home to listen.

Crazy Diamond is a triple CD comprised of recordings of Barrett from his recording sessions during his moments of clarity. There are lots of out takes and lots of tracks where he is clearly not all there. Outside of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Barrett is not an easy choice to just wander up to and listen to. You have to know about the tragedy, the pain, the madness  and the mythos behind the man and the band. It’s all well and good to approach the album with musical ears and listen, absorb the sounds and the lyrics, but there’s an extra flake to the music. A flake that sticks out like some sort of musical 99 with raspberry topping and nut sprinkles. A flake that people without the knowledge dismiss and thus misinterpret the whole album.

And if that sounds like a load of guff. Maybe it was.

 

1993 Syd Barrett

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May 21

The Crane Wife – The Decemberists [#318]

by stegzy

440px-Decemberists_TheCraneWifeI first came across the Decembrists when I worked at Liverpool University. Someone had left a handful of MP3s of some of their songs on the desktop of a shared PC. So I copied them over to my USB stick and so began my journey with the band.

During my journey, just like most people during the time, I snaffled some albums from the internet. This one being the first and purely because of the tentative and incorrect links to Wicker Man. 

So what about the album? Well, the Crane Wife is the bands fourth album and contains music inspired by the Japanese folk tale The Crane Wife and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. I wouldn’t say it is a great introduction to the band but it does show what they’re capable of. Indeed, it did take several years and car journeys until I became comfortable enough to listen to the album without skipping tracks.

Of course, bearded people who wear half mast corduroy and know all about things before other people knew about the Decembrists before I did and it took me some time to realise that I had actually been working with one such person for some time, without actually knowing.

Decemberists

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May 20

Crackle: The Best of Bauhaus – Bauhaus [#317]

by stegzy

Crackle_–_The_Best_of_Bauhaus_cover_artLong standing readers will recall that I came to the goth scene a little late in my life and in the grand scheme of things. While the majority of my contemporaries were busying themselves with goth, popular music, dad rock and Britpop, I was busy listening to prog. I make no secret of it. When I came to the end of my long draught on the tankard of twiddly, I embarked on the aural adventure of a life time with guidance from Ginger Dreadlocked Chris and his Cassette of Fields of the Nephilim.

Hungry for more goth, I downloaded Dead Can Dance and then began nibbling at the snack boxes of bands I’d heard of in passing. One such band was Bauhaus.

Anyone who’s anyone has heard of Bauhaus’ seminal song Bela Lugosi’s Dead and the band’s association with the Goth culture. Well I hadn’t actually heard the song. I’d heard of it. So I plucked up the courage and snaffled this album for my CD collection. However, at the time, I was unaware that it was a “best of” until a few years later.

It’s a good introduction to the band. It shows that Bauhaus were not always “goth” and that their musical prowess fits my tastes like a tight fitting glove. Hints of prog, hints of medieval and notes of classical music. Even the weird echo guitar sound that I like that reminds me of late nights as a passenger in my dad’s car en route from my nan’s. I just wish I’d heard of them before my thirties.

Bauhaus

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May 19

Courtesy of Choice – Leila [#316]

by stegzy

Courtesy of choice - Leila_-_COCThis album was turned up by a trawl of music newsgroups when looking for artists classified on Last.fm as “New Weird America”.

For a start, Leila is Iranian. Secondly, she’s not American. However she is weird. This is the kind of avant garde nonsense you chaps with the half mast trousers and trendy beard might want to play when trying to come across as quirky.

Seriously though, this is Leila’s “difficult second album”. It shows. Every second is difficult to listen to.

 

Leila

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May 18

Country Life – Roxy Music [#315]

by stegzy

Roxy_Music-Country_LifeBryan Ferry greases his way through 42 minutes of butteresque songs.

This is Roxy Music’s fourth studio album and has a number of memorable tracks that regularly feature on “Best of” and compilation albums.

Probably most noted for the rather raunchy album cover, Country Life has been described as the zenith of British art rock.

Bryan Ferry Roxy Music

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May 15

Country International Music – Sugarplum Fairies [#314]

by stegzy

Country International Music - Sugarplum FairiesBenny Bohm and Sylvia Ryder from sunny Los Angeles do their stuff again. We’ve met Sugarplum Fairies before on the music project so I don’t need to go into the reasons why they’re in my music collection.

What you get with Country International Music is the third album by the band. The rule of thumb is often that the third album is the breakthrough one. The album following the difficult second album.  Sugarplum Fairies have produced consistently good music but even Country International Music didn’t push them into the success they deserve. It’s a shit business is the music business and a cruel master.

I really don’t get it. Country International Music is a really bloody good album. Why it didn’t launch the guys onto the world stage with a bigger fanfare is a mystery to me. A bit like why so many people voted Conservative at the UK general election in 2015 or the disappearance of MH370. However, a number of songs from this album have appeared in popular American TV shows as incidental music. So I guess that’s a start.

Seriously, if you want some quality new music and you’re fond of shoegazery, husky voiced songs about corduroy wearing English teachers littered with clever references to Jules et Jim, get yourself onto iTunes or whatever you use and get some Sugarplum Fairies in your life.

I did.

2006 Sugarplum Fairies

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May 14

Couleurs Sur Paris – Nouvelle Vague [#313]

by stegzy

Couleurs sur Paris - Nouvelle Vague When I was at University the second time round I discovered that I had very similar music tastes to the majority of my tutors.

My journalism tutor liked the same and similar folk bands to me, my audiences and television production tutors enjoyed prog on a higher more enlightened plane than I and the guy who did a bit of lecturing while he was in training to be a teacher, Jason, liked quirky European bands and introduced me to the wonders of Nouvelle Vague.

My adventure with Nouvelle Vague began  listening to their sexy French cover version songs. They knitted a kind of aural sleaze with a cheeky faux-1960s swing style over modern songs like Visage’s Fade to Grey, Joy Division’s Love will Tear us Apart and The Clash’s Guns of Brixton. 

We’ve met Nouvelle Vague previously on the Music Project but I didn’t explain much about them. This album is unusual in that it is mostly French bands they are covering using their imitable style exquisitely. Short of a cover of Vanessa Paradis’ Jo le Taxi this gives French popular music the Nouvelle Vague treatment.

Nouvelle Vague

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