Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

Dec 22

Final Experiment – Ayreon [#470]

by stegzy

440px-Ayreon_The_Final_Experiment Arjen Anthony Lucassen and his rag tag collection of musicians again this time with his first album under the collective name of Ayreon.

Final Experiment sets the ground work for Ayreon’s later works such as Universal Migrator and 01011001. Far off in the future, the remnants of the human race project telepathic images to a minstrel living in the past with King Arthur and Merlin in an effort to prevent an almighty calamity.

This is it. This is the album that those who like story based concept albums such as War of the Worlds or Spartacus (both Triumvirat’s and Jeff Wayne’s versions) or later unrelated Ayreon works such as Actual Fantasy should like. Yes, you should  like it. I know I know, I take the piss out of endless lists of people who tell me I “should” like some music, but I mean it this time.

Ayreon’s mix of story telling and rock music improve with age and time and it should be remembered that this is the first Ayreon album so things aren’t quite honed to perfection but it is a strong foundation to grow the seedlings of fandom in.

1995 Ayreon

Comments Off on Final Experiment – Ayreon [#470]
Dec 21

Final Cut – Pink Floyd [#469]

by stegzy

FloydFC-Cover01The twelfth studio album by Pink Floyd.

It still amuses me to think about a former acquaintance of mine insisting that the only Pink Floyd album available on CD was Animals and that his copy was a rare limited edition. Yet several visits to HMV  and a brandishing of a fistful of CDs in a face later I was still to hear an apology or admission that he was an idiot.  Still, I like to also imagine that he spent some time in his later life, dropping the soap in the showers at the local penitentiary.

Final Cut often comes across as a Roger Waters solo album and, indeed, legend has it that at this point in the band’s career, the other members of the group couldn’t be arsed had fallen out and eventually Waters was to go his own way leaving Gilmour to ruin or enhance the band depending on your point of view. A concept album about the futility and effects of war on those that are sent out to do the dirty while the privileged stay at home and enjoy their riches.

I really like this album. It always sends me on a journey through bitterness via anger and culminating in a shiver down my spine. I’m also of the opinion that it should be compulsory listening for MPs before voting on whether to go to war. I dream that, come the revolution, my MP, Chris Heaton-Harris (who has me blocked on Twitter), will be forced to listen to this album whilst tied naked to a chair in Daventry Country Park on a cold wet Wednesday in February.

However, the album is divisive amongst fans of the band with four camps forming, those that see it as Waters’ final push to break the band apart and hating it, those that see it as a swan song for the band and love it, and those that don’t feel strong about it either way. I sit firmly in the fourth camp, those that really like it and don’t care. What do you think?

1983 Pink Floyd Progressive Rock

3 Comments »
Dec 18

Filigree & Shadow – This Mortal Coil [#468]

by stegzy

FiligreeandshadowClassic goth moonings brought to the listener by Ivo Watts-Russell’s 4AD label and their rag tag bunch of artists brought together under one banner.

Filigree is TMC’s second offering. Like other TMC offerings, the personnel making up the band are picked from a variety of 4AD artists such as Dead Can Dance (Peter Ulrich) and Cocteau Twins (Simon Raymonde) but while not as popular, well known or groundbreaking as the first, It’ll End in Tears, Filigree does hold its weight with some interesting interpretations of obscurely excellent songs. Originally released as a double album with each side an aural blend, the masterful production was lost on release in CD format and moreso in digital file.

1986 Cocteau Twins Peter Ulrich This Mortal Coil

Comments Off on Filigree & Shadow – This Mortal Coil [#468]
Dec 17

Fifth Sun – Lycia [#467]

by stegzy

Lycia_-_Fifth_SunTechnically an EP but notable as Lycia is the band that David Galas plays for when he’s not doing his solo stuff. Only this album is from a time when David was out doing his own thing and Tara and Mike were continuing Lycia without David.

Galas’ absence is audible in this release (though an extra few tracks featuring Galas are on the later re-release) and Tara’s vocals make a noticeable change from previous releases (see/hear The Burning Circle then Dust).

2010 Lycia

Comments Off on Fifth Sun – Lycia [#467]
Dec 16

Feast of Silence – Vas [#466]

by stegzy

440px-VAS_-_Feast_of_Silence_AlbumcoverBack in the days of the Download Free For All Fest of the early noughties, some fans of fringe bands tried to hoodwink fans of other more mainstream bands into thinking that their obscure shite was a long lost recordings of said mainstream band.

Such is the case with Vas who, during this time, someone thought it would be a wicked jape to pretend Vas was some forgotten rare recording of gothic misery meisters Dead Can Dance. Had me going for about an hour. But it’s easy to hear how similar both bands are stylistically. Like with Love is Colder Than Death, Vas hold their own in a unique Dead Can Dance meets Ordo Equituum Solis blend.

Like DCD, the band use ethereal vocals and a mix of modern and traditional instruments. Like OES, the band use pining lyrics and ethereal vocals. Like LCTD and DCD, Vas use World Music influences extensively. Indeed, Vas are one of those talented bands who, had they had the backing of a good media machine, might have made it into more people’s record collections. A true gem formed of Persian vocalist Azam Ali and American percussionist Greg Ellis. Feast of Silence is the bands last album and was released in 2004 before they gave up and did other things.

2004 Vas

Comments Off on Feast of Silence – Vas [#466]
Dec 15

Fear of Fours – Lamb [#465]

by stegzy

440px-Cover-fearoffoursAs if in contrast with the previous entry, Fear of Fours is an album by a band that I was told I “should” like.

“All the cool people and those that know about culture and shit like Lamb. Lamb were doing shit before shit was shit and yadayadayada” said the cool proto-hipster to me one evening over a jam jar of poncey Euro-lager. Of course he was being ironic and Lamb are actually shite. Never the less, just in case I am mistaken by my conjecture, I have continued to hold this album in my collection just in case some Road to Damascus moment strikes me and I alight the staircase to eternal coolness.

Complete with beard and half-mast trousers.

 

1999 Lamb

Comments Off on Fear of Fours – Lamb [#465]
Dec 14

Fear of a Blank Planet – Porcupine Tree [#464]

by stegzy

Fear_of_a_blank_planetPorcupine Tree are another band that surprise me by hiding their albums of consistently good music in my collection. A prog band with more facets than a box of jigsaw pieces. Blank Planet is their ninth studio album with guests Robert Fripp (King Crimson) and Alex Lifeson (Rush).

In the last days of my degree, I was a mature student so this was quite recently, my television production lecturer and I bonded over our similar music tastes. I guess it was refreshing for him to have a student that understood prog and one who appreciated him getting Bill Bruford in to give us a lecture about media and drumming. So after an obscure prog band swap, he told me about Porcupine Tree. He told me I “should” like them. Now, long term readers of this project will recall how me “should liking” a band usually ends with “no I don’t”, but this is one of those rare occasions were they’re actually growing on me. I have now listened to this album for a grand total of 5 times and yes, it is growing on me.

In true prog tradition, Fear of a Blank Planet is a concept album based on the book Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis but with the twist being sung from the viewpoint of the child of the books protagonist. It’s suitably dark in tone with an apocryphal tale to tell about the growing reliance on technology amongst the youth.

2007 King Crimson Porcupine Tree

Comments Off on Fear of a Blank Planet – Porcupine Tree [#464]
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

Comments Off on Faun at the Pagan Folk Festival – Faun [#463]
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

Comments Off on Fate of a Dreamer – Ambeon [#462]
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

Comments Off on Farscape – Klaus Schultz & Lisa Gerrard [#461]
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

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

Comments Off on Fallen – Fields of the Nephilim [#459]
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

Comments Off on Fallen – Evanescence [#458]
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

2 Comments »
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

Comments Off on Fairytales of Slavery – Miranda Sex Garden [#456]
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

Comments Off on Fairyport – Wigwam [#455]
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

Comments Off on Fairy World 3- Various Artists [#454]
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

Comments Off on Fade to Bluegrass – Iron Horse [#453]
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

Comments Off on Faces in the Rocks – Mariee Sioux [#452]
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)

Comments Off on Face to Face – The Kinks [#451]
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

2 Comments »
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

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

Comments Off on Ezio Mix – Ezio [#448]
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

Comments Off on Eye to the Telescope – KT Tunstall [#447]
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

Comments Off on Eye of the Hunter – Brendan Perry [#446]
«Older Entries
Newer Entries »
Blog at WordPress.com.