Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

Dec 11

Faun at the Pagan Folk Festival – Faun [#463]

by stegzy

Unknown-1Yet another visit from Music Project denizens Faun who’s last appearance was in January 2015.

This is Faun’s 5th album and their 1st live recorded in Utrecht in 2007. I don’t remember ordering this CD but it arrived on my door mat one morning at a time in my life when I was actively listening to the Aural Apocalypse as a way to discover new and interesting bands in the darkwave/neofolk genres. I suspect that I heard them on there first, but then I’m not sure because this live concert also features guest spots by In Gowan Ring and Sieben, both artists that appear on the fabled Looking for Europe Neofolk Compendium.

Regardless, I remember listening to it for the first time only to hear the lead singer proclaim

“Please welcome on stage Mr Matt Howden”

Matt Howden (aka Sieben, Sheffield’s own neofolk superstar) then begins to play his violin along to Rad to much audience satisfaction. Wow. But then, to further turn the album into a squee fest, Faun do a cover of my favourite Sieben song Love’s Promise. Mind. Blown.

It was this album that made me realise that the tight community of internet backed musicians collaborate, much like the old Prog musicians of Yore, making me feel all warm and tingly inside. It also made me realise that Germany and continental Europe have a much more diverse and vibrant musical culture than the UK claims itself has.

 

2008 Faun Sieben

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Dec 10

Fate of a Dreamer – Ambeon [#462]

by stegzy

220px-Ambeon_FOADWho is this Ambeon you talk of? Why does their music sound so hauntingly familiar?

Well, if you’ve been following the Music Project for sometime now, you might be familiar with Dutch metal head, Arjen Lucassen, aka Ayreon. He is the musical equivalent of a polymath in that he is accomplished in numerous instruments (like Mike Oldfield), genres and styles (mostly prog). Lucassen, as you might know, is involved in many musical collaborations and projects and Ambeon, is one such project.

Ambeon serves as a prototype of Stream of Passion, in that it was fronted by a female lead singer, (then 14 year old) Astrid van der Veen. Sadly this is the only album by the project, van der Veen citing musical, personal and other difficulties preventing her continued work with the project.

Fate of a Dreamer is an interesting album in that it features a great deal of reworked and evolving themes present in other Ayreon and Stream of Passion albums which any fan of Ayreon will definitely detect. My favourite track from the album is the song Cold Metal. A sorrowful tune about a girl lying on the railway tracks waiting to be run over by a train. Of course, I didn’t know this to begin with as my old music system wasn’t a great one which often made it difficult to hear what people were singing. I used to think she sang “Cold Cold Badgers”.

2001 Ambeon Ayreon

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Dec 9

Farscape – Klaus Schultz & Lisa Gerrard [#461]

by stegzy

Unknown-2Klaus and Lisa’s first get together.

As I go through my music collection I still find it remarkable how there is a lot of cross over, coincidence and collaboration amongst the artists therein.

Farscape is over two hours of Klaus’ sustained chord changes backed by Lisa’s improvised wailing which is fun if you’re a severe Dead Can Dance fan or you like a bit of wailing with your electronica.

Trufax: I downloaded this in error because I thought I was getting the Farscape soundtrack. Durr.

2008 Klaus Schulze Lisa Gerrard

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Dec 8

Farmer’s Angle (Revised Edition) – Belbury Poly [#460]

by stegzy

Another album of 1960’s government safety film music from Belbury Poly who we’ve also met before on the music project.

This time instead of sounding like the intermission music between programmes for schools and colleges, Belbury Poly manage to pull off a hauntological mixture of samples from Hammer Classic The Devil Rides Out (which in my opinion is the greatest film ever made), unique music to accompany a neo-fascist state’s “Inform on your Family” propaganda film and the theme tune to a Eastern European children’s cartoon about a communist cow.

Marvellous stuff

 

2004 Belbury Poly

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Dec 7

Fallen – Fields of the Nephilim [#459]

by stegzy

Fields of the Nephilim - FallenOften with the music project I come across albums I wasn’t even aware I had. As is the case with Fallen, I often find that I’ve not listened to the albums before either.

Sadly I’m at an age where listening to music on a regular basis is no longer necessarily a possibility. Life styles change as we age and we swap dark clothes and music for peaceful evenings in tweed. Then listening to things that probably would have had your younger self bouncing up and down or wearing out the belt on the turntable now seems like an effort and the content seems trite and an inconsequential and unnecessary re-egging of old pudding.

As we already know from Fields Of the Nephilim‘s previous gracing of the music project, I was quite keen on the band in my younger days with a resurgence during the darker days of midlife crisis. I keep remembering that Carl McCoy is about the same age as my older brother and then I’m often amused by the mental imagery of my older brother growling along to rock songs trying to look dark, sinister, forsaken and undead. And looking like someone’s dad at a bad karaoke.

And that is what Fallen is like. Fallen is FON’s 2003 resurgence album featuring Carl and a whole new bunch of mates. Popular in Europe, popular amongst fan’s thirsty for more after an eleven year hiatus but I found it kind of like a shabby chic kitchen table. Firm, well put together but a shade of its former self. With a chalky coat of paint.

2003 Fields of the Nephilim

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Dec 4

Fallen – Evanescence [#458]

by stegzy

EvFallencover01I believe that the popularity of Evanescence can be linked to American music execs attempting to capture the zeitgeist of female fronted goth rock bands and the increasing popularity of big breasted valkyrien symphonic goth metal from Scandinavia. Their popularity was fuelled by their appearance on a variety of slightly emo-esque movies of the time such as Daredevil only to wane and disperse following rumours of Christian rock leanings.

Initially I was just as keen as most other people. I liked the sorrowful My Immortal and I started to admire their most popular Bring Me to Life until analysing the lyrics had me realise that there was something fishy in the belly of this whale and that there was possibly a leaning towards the insidious proliferation of religion in youth culture by conservatives keen on dulling the growth of the darker shades of popular culture in the shadow of Columbine and the implication of such culture in inspiring those involved in the shootings, with the additional moral panic whipped up by the American hyper-conservative based Murdochian press towards goths.

But that’s just my opinion.

The album Fallen is the bands first album (We’ve already seen their second album, Anywhere But Home, on the music project) and serious fans might suggest their only album (the band split and changed its line up before their third album). It’s presence in my music collection solely because I was fond of two tracks at a time when I should have known better.

2003 Evanescence

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Dec 3

Falco 3 – Falco [#457]

by stegzy

Falco_Falco_3_CD_coverIn 1986 I embarked on a journey to France with my school. An exciting time made more memorable by the purchase of a Sony Walkman clone from the duty free shop on the ferry. One boy did it, then another, and another until the entire school trip had parted with 40 francs for a nice bit of future tech. This was 1986. Jet packs and holidays on Mars were only 14 years away.

Of course, portable personal cassette players were relatively new to us all and, in our haste to become future boys, we’d all over looked one important thing – None of us had anything to play on the cassette players. All that was available was the mixed bag of cassettes in the school minibus mostly consisting of GCSE French lessons, Now That’s What I Call Music compilations, Status Quo and stuff left behind by long forgotten sixth formers.

The bag was passed round and each boy would select two cassettes from the bag at random to borrow and listen to. My selection consisted of a mix tape of eighties hits and Falco 3. The mix tape broke and snarled itself up in the workings of the Walkman clone so Falco it was. And so began a nearly twenty year treasure hunt for the album that kept me company during my trip to France with my school.

In the years following that holiday I tried to get the album on CD but no matter how often I went to the F section of HMV in Liverpool’s Church Street or Virgin Megastore in Clayton Square, I couldn’t find the album. So it wasn’t until the great internet download frenzy of the noughties, that I managed to obtain this piece of aural gold.

Of course, most people will know Falco for his eighties hit Rock Me Amadeus and there their experience of his music ends, but the Austrian had such great talent and there are many many other good songs that he penned.

Sadly Falco’s career was short and ended following a tragic accident with some drugs and his 4×4 in the Dominican Republic in 1999.

1986 Falco

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Dec 2

Fairytales of Slavery – Miranda Sex Garden [#456]

by stegzy

Unknown-3We’ve met Miranda Sex Garden on the music project before; Medieval Baebes’ Katherine Blake’s other band and their weird mix of ethereal a cappella and dark wave. I’m always surprised by how much I enjoy listening to MSG. Often I approach them with a soupçon of trepidation but I always end up having a good old shoegazey shuffle.

Fairytales of Slavery is MSGs penultimate release from 1994. It is not as finely honed as Carnival of Souls and you can almost detect a bit of lethargy in the overall production but it still rewards the listener with an interesting sweep across the dark wave genre brought to you via Blake’s unusual showcase of talent.

Probably very popular with Whitby Goth Festival goers.

1994 Miranda Sex Garden

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Dec 1

Fairyport – Wigwam [#455]

by stegzy

Wigwam_-_FairyportDiscovered while exploring the far corners of progressive rock during the noughties, Wigwam’s 1971 opus Fairyport is a curious album. While not in the same attention winning arena as Bodkin, it does show the roots of the likes of Glass Hammer and perhaps the influence of early Genesis.As an eternal pregnant keen to explore the darkest reaches of Progressive Rock, Fairy Port provides a nice restful stop on the way to King Crimson.

The band themselves hail from the land of Prog, Finland and while in some respect, stylistically similar to their contemporary country fellows in dear old Triumvirat, there are sufficient differences in both to distance their music from each other comfortably. Wigwam managed an impressive ten albums during their career, with the most recent surfacing in 2005 and only had a few minor changes in their line up.

Great if you like a lot of twiddle in your prog sandwich and just as wonderful if you don’t.

1971 Wigwam

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Nov 30

Fairy World 3- Various Artists [#454]

by stegzy

Unknown-2A sampler compilation of a variety of European artists which I received for free when buying some forgettable obscure music during the end of my exploration of the European Darkfolk genre.

Nothing memorable and apart from Collection d’Arnell Andrea appearing, I’ve never heard of any of the other artists.

Disappointing.

2007 Collection d'Arnell Andréa Various Artists

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Nov 27

Fade to Bluegrass – Iron Horse [#453]

by stegzy

Unknown-1Another of my little partialities is covers bands that change the style of the original performer. We’ve already met Beatallica on the Music Project and I may have mentioned Hayseed Dixie
in the past as well as Polka Floyd. But one of the prize albums in my music collection is Fade to Bluegrass by Iron Horse [http://ironhorsebluegrass.com].

Iron Horse are a bluegrass tribute act who have covered the likes of Van Halen, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. However they are probably better known for their multiple tributes to Metallica. Yep, another Metallica tribute act, but this time in bluegrass.

Surprisingly, bluegrass really works with Metallica but unlike Beatallica, the joke doesn’t wear thin. You can really get the feeling that Iron Horse are big Metallica fans who have put a lot of effort into making the sound work but you should also try out their other stuff, most of which is available from Amazon 

2001 Iron Horse

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Nov 26

Faces in the Rocks – Mariee Sioux [#452]

by stegzy

UnknownThe New Weird America (NWA) genre is relatively new to me following being introduced to the wonders of Marissa Nadler by a hipster friend of mine.

It’s easy to trace the allure of NWA from the likes of shoe gazing acts such as Mazzy Star and Talula Gosh to the more recent folksyisation of the shoe gazing genre by the likes of First Aid Kit and the weirding out of the sound by acts like Joanna Newsome. So it is no surprise, with all such acts appearing in the music project, that acts falling into the pigeon hole of NWA would appear too.

Mariee Sioux uses native American Indian influences to present her own unusual hauntological soundscape of wistful longing and sorrow, garnished with nature and laced with bitter resentment for wrongs committed by humans against humans, atypical of psychedelic folk.

 

2007 Mariee Sioux

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Nov 25

Face to Face – The Kinks [#451]

by stegzy

Face_to_Face_(The_Kinks_album)_coverartThe fourth studio album from Brit pop grandfathers, the Kinks and the second album from the band to appear in the music project.

After seeing their Channel 4 film Return to Waterloo in the 1980s I was keen to hear more of their work. However, not being brave enough to waste spend good money on an album I only “might” like and not having any friends who had records by the Kinks, it wasn’t until the music download free for all of the noughties that I was able to actually risk getting some of their works to sample.

To be frank, I’m glad I didn’t spend my money.

 

1966 Kinks (The)

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Nov 24

Face the Music – ELO [#450]

by stegzy

ELO_Face_The_Music_album_coverOut of the Blue aside, having only ever really having listened to best of compilations of ELO I was reluctant to listen to an ELO album for fear I would become tired of the band and look away. However, what I wasn’t expecting was to actually enjoy the album.

Face the Music is ELO’s fifth studio album and features a new line up for the band. There are a fair number of tracks on the album I was unfamiliar with, tracks 3, 4 and 7 being the ones I had heard before. I would be inclined to put the album in to the “country and western” phase pigeon hole but the first and last tracks on the album spin in a different direction entirely.

ELO have been an integral part of my growing up from having the single Diary of a Horace Wimp since I was old enough to turn on a turntable. Following that I developed a rather hefty collection of “Best of” compilations of the band on cassette which kept my Walkman happy when I delivered the Liverpool Echo. In recent years though, the band has taken a back seat in my listening capacity with only popular songs occasionally popping up on random MP3 playlists.

Recently, as is most curious with the music project, ELO had a bit of a revival with Jeff Lynne relaunching the band as Jeff Lynne’s ELO, taking it on tour and appearing on chat shows to promote the new album. Of course, I’m a teeny bit uneasy about revivals and reformations having been stung by bands like Nightwish and Yes in the past. Really good bands, reform under different line-ups or names and then their music becomes a bit shit or unremarkable, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe for example.

1975 ELO

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Nov 23

F#A# Infinity – Godspeed You! Black Emperor [#449]

by stegzy

FsharpAsharpInfinity_vinylFirst of all, many thanks to Steelrattus for covering the Music Project while I was away in Australia. It’s always interesting to read what other people think about the music in my record collection especially when presented with unusual albums. Nothing is more unusual than F#A# Infinity and it would have been interesting to find out what Steelrattus thought of it too.

F#A#Infinity is an entirely instrumental album consisting of three tracks. The apocryphal first track has many people suggesting that it is inspired by the events surrounding 9/11, but as the album was released in 1998, this is highly unlikely. Other tracks add to the foreboding the first with ethereal sounds imitating number stations. Moreover, parts of the album feature in the soundtrack for the zombie flick 28 Days Later.

The album is atypical of other GY!BE works, e
ntirely instrumental with huge dollops of mystery and hauntology to bring the listener to an indescribable soundscape.

Whenever I’m feeling a bit meditative, or if I’m trying to sleep on a plane I’ll pop this album on my music player, close my eyes and drift off to another place. I totally recommend this album if you’ve enjoyed any of the Les Joyaux de la Princesse or the albums by Japanese Mono.

 

1998 Godspeed You! Black Emperor

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Nov 20

Ezio Mix – Ezio [#448]

by steelrattus

Ezio MixHi there! Steelrattus again, on the last day of his 10 day guest stint.

Now I have to tread carefully here, as Ezio is very (very!) much a favourite of Stegzy’s wife; I know that she tries to go to all of their gigs that she can. This album is actually a mix tape made by Stegzy’s wife, for Stegzy I’m assuming. It’s lovely to see the tradition of the “mixtape” alive and well, even if it is all the same band 😉

Ezio are a band named after their lead singer and main songwriter, Ezio Lunedei. There are four other members, including someone called Booga, and you can’t go wrong with someone called Booga. Hailing from Cambridge, they formed in 1990, and have eight studio albums, the most recent of which was released last year. Wikipedia tells me they have a very loyal following, despite not breaking into mainstream music.

Having listened to the handcrafted album… again, it’s not quite my thing. Sorry, this has been the running theme of the last few days. As always, YMMV. I guess I would describe it as light rock… a bit folk-y. Despite it not being quite my thing I can hear the songs are well crafted, and the lyrics are very poetic.

This is a song I liked, lyrically speaking, Accordion Girl…

Back to normal service next week, until next time…

Ezio

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Nov 19

Eye to the Telescope – KT Tunstall [#447]

by steelrattus

Eye to the TelescopeHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 9 of his 10 day guest stint.

Today’s album is KT Tunstall’s Eye to the Telescope. I have blogger’s block at the time of writing this, so apologies if this comes across as me being a bit less involved than usual.

KT Tunstall first came onto the music scene in her 20s, between the late nineties and early noughties. She played in a number of bands, but then released her first solo record (this one) in 2004. She has subsequently released three studio albums, a handful of live and other special albums, and some singles for films.

As mentioned, Eye to the Telescope was released in 2004, although I had Tunstall on a hook that said “hip 90s music that I’m not cool enough to like”. I’m not quite sure what genre I’d put it in, and I couldn’t spot any classification on Wikipedia. It’s kinda folk-y, with a somewhat stripped down sound. The album has pretty good critical reviews. It yo-yo’d around the album charts for months, reaching a peak of No. 3 when Tunstall was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. It sold 1.5 million copies in the UK, and over 2.5 million worldwide.

Again, this album isn’t quite my cup of tea. I wouldn’t be too pained to listen to it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to. I do recognise one of the tracks, which was presumably released as a single, or got some airplay. As always, YMMV.

Here’s the track that’s most familiar to me, Suddenly I See…

2004 KT Tunstall

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Nov 18

Eye of the Hunter – Brendan Perry [#446]

by steelrattus

Eye of the HunterHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 8 of his 10 day guest stint.

I’m not familiar with Brendan Perry, but I am familiar with Dead Can Dance, a band he formed with Lisa Gerrard in 1981, when he was 22. Perry has followed what seems to be the roots of most musicians, that is starting in one genre, and moving to a completely different one. In his case he formed a punk rock band in 1979, before forming the markedly different Dead Can Dance. Dead Can Dance split up in 1998, which is a year before his solo effort Eye of the Hunter was released, although they did reform twice subsequently.

After listening to Eye of the Hunter I would have filed it under alternative 90s Americana. I got the date vaguely right (1999), but Perry’s a Brit – not to say of course he can’t write songs in the genre, although Wikipedia describes it as folk rock, dream pop (?!). The album title comes from a lyric in the second track, Voyage of Bran. The fourth track, Sloth, has featured on a Dead Can Dance compilation album, curiously. The fifth track, I Must Have Been Blind, is a cover of the 1970 Tim Buckley song.

I liked the album in a 3/5 way. Not exactly my favourite genre, and it got rather repetitive for me. As always, YMMV.

Here’s the opening track, Saturday’s Child…

1999 Brendan Perry

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Nov 17

Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques Appliques a la Vie – Les Joyaux de la Princesse [#445]

by steelrattus

Exposition InternationaleHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 7 of his 10 day guest stint.

Just when I thought the album titles couldn’t get any longer… this. Although it seems this album might actually be called Exposition Internationale, if Wikipedia is to be believed. Anyway, Les Joyaux de la Princesse (The Jewels of the Princess) are a French band, if you hadn’t guessed already. They’ve been around since 1986, and their music is a rather odd mixture of ambient and neo-classical, mixed in with samples from both French music and speeches. Their albums are typically limited editions, produced in elaborate box sets.

Exposition Internationale (des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne) is connected to said event, AKA the 1937 Paris Expo, and I’m assuming includes samples from speeches made there (it certainly includes olde-worldy French speeches). This album was released in 1998 though, not 1937. Although there are 10 tracks overall, they clock in at various times, with the opening track at almost 20 minutes in length, versus another that’s only 7 seconds.

When Stegzy handed over the blog baton, he did give me some brief notes on the album titles, and in some cases a one sentence description of the album. For this album said description was, “what is this shite?!”. As required under the terms and condition’s of Stegzy’s Music Project I have listened to the album, in this case probably three times. Technically the first time I listened to it though I had forgotten the MP3 player was on shuffle, on a playlist of all 10 albums. “Hmmm”, I thought, “this is a rather odd mixture, but I like it.” Which goes to show that my music taste probably shouldn’t be trusted. The second time I listened to the album it just didn’t sink in, so I gave it a third listen. As further evidence that my music taste shouldn’t be trusted I kinda liked this album, perhaps because it’s so unusual. The ambient tracks are quite nice and surreal, although not all delicate ambient as it’s quite heavy and military in places. I probably could have done without the French speeches to be honest. I’d give this a solid 3/5, but I’m not quite sure what situation would lend to me listening to it.

Here’s the opening track, which will give you a flavour of the album…

1998 Les Joyaux de la Princesse

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Nov 16

Exposition, Eaux-Fortes et Méandres – Collection d’Arnell Andréa [#444]

by steelrattus

Exposition, Eaux-Fortes et MéandresHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 6 of his 10 day guest stint.

I think today’s album must have the longest title of all those I’m reviewing. Collection d’Arnell Andréa, a French darkwave band, have been around since the mid-80s. Curiously, Pascal Andréa left the band before their first gig, but they kept the name. The band currently consists of 7 members, that play a mix of cello, synths, keyboards, viola, and of course the lead singer. Apparently their live performances are known for featuring much larger ensembles.

Exposition, Eaux-Fortes et Méandres is Collection d’Arnell Andréa’s eighth album, released in 2007. The concept is based on Modest Mussorgsky’s 1874 Pictures at an Exhibition piano suite, which I can’t say I’m familiar with, but apparently contains ten piano tracks. Exposition, Eaux-Fortes et Méandres is mostly based on darkly themed 19th century paintings. The album cover, and title track Les Méandres, are based on a 1999 painting though, by Richard Boutin.

I listened to the album without knowing any of the above, and after making it through a few tracks I thought, “here’s a goth band from the late 80s/early 90s”. OK, so the date was a bit out. It’s definitely all rather dark sounding, against a backdrop of what sound like cheap synths. Not really my sort of thing, but I found it just about listenable to. As always, YMMV.

Here’s the aforementioned title track, Les Méandres…

2007 Collection d'Arnell Andréa

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Nov 13

Exposed – Mike Oldfield [#443]

by steelrattus

Exposed Mike OldfieldHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 5 of his 10 day guest stint on Stegzy’s Music Project.

Today’s album, Mike Oldfield’s Exposed (1979). This is the second of the two that I vaguely know in this 10 day stint. This one is a bit more vague that the previous, Trevor Jones’ Excalibur OST, as I don’t actually own Exposed. Coincidentally I have covered another Mike Oldfield album, Discovery, while guest posting on SMP, and double coincidentally I didn’t own that album either. Call yourself a Mike Oldfield fan?!

Whereas Discovery is a proper studio album, Exposed is one of only two live albums that Oldfield released, with the first being an orchestral version of Tubular Bells. This live album again features Tubular Bells, unsurprisingly with it being his most popular album, and also Incantations. Just to further highlight how much of a rubbish Mike Oldfield fan I am, I don’t seem to own nor do I remember listening to Incantations (1978), which is his fourth studio album. Having listened to the live version perhaps that’s understandable, as I didn’t find it very good. To round off the album there’s a short track called Guilty, which was just a single release, during Oldfield’s disco phase apparently (!). The album was recorded during a European tour in 1979, although apparently the musicians supporting Oldfield on the tour did not know they were being recorded. A DVD was released much later on, in 2005.

I’ve sort of already covered my view of the album. Tubular Bells is fab. I found Incantations rather weak and minimal. Guilty definitely has that Oldfield feel to it, and yes it is oddly disco. Generally speaking I don’t tend to enjoy live albums, as typically they’re somewhat worse versions of a mix of studio tracks. Exposed is pretty much this, but I would listen to it, if stuck on a desert island with nothing else. As always, YMMV.

Here’s Guilty, put on your disco pants!

1979 best of compilations Live Mike Oldfield Soundtracks

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Nov 12

Exile in Guyville – Liz Phair [#442]

by steelrattus

Exile in GuyvilleHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 4 of his 10 day guest stint.

Today’s album is Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair. This is another of the majority albums that I don’t know, so for those in the same boat let me edumacate you. Liz Phair first hit the music scene in 1991, when she was 24, distributing tapes under the name Girly Sound. After a failed disagreement with a label over the style of her music she signed in 1992 with Matador. She began the process of recording, and the album was released in 1993. The album cover is a cropped topless photo of Phair, taken in a photo booth. From what I can understand, Guyville refers to the sort of sexist small towns where men are very much in charge. Phair says she lived in a number of such places, and presumably felt she did not fit in.

I’ve listened to the album, and it’s somewhat reminiscent of Alanis Morissette, Suzanne Vega, Tori Amos etc. Albeit Morissette was first active a couple of years after this. It has a fairly consistent stripped back sound, and therefore sounds pretty similar throughout. It didn’t really hook me though, and bounced somewhere between a 1 and 2/5. The album was critically acclaimed though, and has sold over half a million copies, so YMMV.

Phair didn’t release any singles from the album, so here’s the opening track…

1993 Liz Phair

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Nov 11

Exciter – Depeche Mode [#441]

by steelrattus

exciterdepechemode.pngHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 3 of his 10 day guest stint.

Today’s album is Exciter by Depeche Mode. An album I know nothing about. My research tells me this was released in 2001, and is the tenth album by Depeche Mode. Apparently the picture on the album is an Agave attenuata, and used to produce tequila, although I couldn’t find why this was chosen. It was a popular release, arriving in the Top 10 in both the UK and USA. It consists of 13 tracks, and was re-released in 2007 with some additional tracks.

I don’t know a lot about Depeche Mode full stop, with the exception of being able to recognise their most famous track, Enjoy the Silence. To be fully compliant with the terms and conditions of Stegzy’s Music Project I have listened to the album. It’s kinda dark in places, but also kinda pop-y in places as well. I asked TheWife™, who knows a couple more Depeche Mode tracks than I, if she recognised it and she asked if it was Duran Duran. And it does sound rather Duran Duran in places. Again this is probably a 3/5 album for me, that is listenable to in places, but it didn’t evoke strong feelings for me. As always, YMMV.

Here’s Dream On, which appears to be the highest charting of the singles released from the album…

2001 Depeche Mode

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Nov 10

Excalibur OST – Trevor Jones [#440]

by steelrattus

500px-Eurovision_Song_Contest_2007_logo.svgHi there! Steelrattus again, on day 2 of his 10 day guest stint.

Today’s album is the soundtrack to Excalibur by Trevor Jones. This is the first of the two albums in this 10 day stint that I actually know something about, albeit I’ve never owned it. I first saw Excalibur when it was recommended to me by the lovely UniversityRichard™ – I’ve mentioned UniversityRichard™ previously, as he introduced me to a shit ton of music and film-ery back at… well, university. Excalibur is an odd old thing, filmwise. Whereas most Arthurian films (he says, trying to think of an example… A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court?) paint the legend as rather glamorous and freshly polished, Excalibur has this gritty feel to it. It feels about as real as make believe a legend can be. Aside from having relatively fab productions values, it is also rich with acting talent, including Nicol Williamson’s fantastic portrayal of Merlin (which UniversityRichard™ does a great impression of).

In terms of technical shtuff, the film was released in 1981. The soundtrack sounds rather familiar, because a lot of it is recycled classical tracks, including pieces from Orff’s Carmina Burana and Wagner’s Ring and Tristan und Isolde operas. I can’t seem to find anything on why they didn’t use an entirely original soundtrack though. There are 18 tracks on the album.

A lot of soundtrack albums have that issue of standing apart from the source, assuming that they have to of course. It’s not so bad in Excalibur’s case, because there are some literal classics on there. Jones’ tracks vary from the more medieval in style (think lutes and reed-y things), to the more traditional classical film soundtrack. Do I like it? Well it’s OK, but I can’t say I’d go out of my way to listen to it, which probably explains why I’ve never bought it.

Here is the Jones’ penned track, Igrayne’s Dance…

1981 Soundtracks

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Nov 9

Everything Picture – Ultrasound [#439]

by steelrattus

Screen Shot 2015-11-06 at 06.56.24Hello! 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…

1999 Ultrasound

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