Ride – Nowhere
This is an important album involved in the shoegaze(er) movement coming out of the UK during the late 80s/early 90s. Chasing after the psychedelic/wall of sound that Phil Specter had created in the 60s. I picked this album up a couple of years ago and never gave it much of a chance because I was listening to My Bloody Valentine (MBV) – Loveless at the time. I knew that I liked the album but was giving my time to MBV at the time. Recently, Rhino Records repressed the album on vinyl. I couldn’t say no to that. I think that this genre of music needs to be listened to on an analog format. It gives it that nice warm feeling that the creators of this genre intended I think. In the few weeks that I was waiting for the album I started listening to it in heavy rotation. I fell in love with it as much as I like the MBV albums. It is a very perfect album. It is cool to hear a shoegaze(er) album with male vocals instead of the more popular female vocals. It is easier to get lost in the music this way in my opinion, although, both are really great. It is really cool to have a large picture to see. The cover picture is that of calm water with a slight wave rolling across it in a slight S shape. The small cover on the CD is really not detailed enough for me. As an extra bonus the cover is embossed with the group name and album name as opposed to printed as it is on the CD. The LP also came with a reprinting of the original inner sleeve. The LP itself was in a separate audiophile inner sleeve. Thank you Rhino Records! Keep repressing those records to keep the integrity of the originals. The record itself sounds fantastic too.
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
I picked this up as a repressing a couple years ago now along with their first one Isn’t Anything. Those who are into the Shoegaz(er) movement call this album the crowning glory of the genre. They are also hoping for another album from the group. I don’t personally think that this will happen because it has been over 10 years since this album was released. But, here’s to hoping. I will say that having listened to a lot of shoegaz(er) music over the past couple of years that this is defiantly the best album to come from that genre. There is no gap in the sound at all. It is by all definitions a wall of sound. It is brilliant. Upon the first note you are lost in a sea of sound, warm and fuzzy, just lovely. I will say that this is not for everybody. It is something that you have to want to hear. The cover is a red tinged (pink, red and black), blurry picture of a guitar being played. The cover is nothing special but instantly recognizable as the album cover to many who know the genre or the band. The group is a rock band and only have drums guitar and vocals but you could swear that you hear other instruments being played. It is really amazing how they can create sounds through the standard rock instruments that sound like other instruments that are not even used in the group. I think that is the main thing that really gets me. Me being a musician I am always wondering how they did that or made that particular sound. I can only guess that it is a layering of sounds and the use of different pedals that combine to create some of these wonderful musical pieces. I do wish that the group would create a new album especially with the new crop of psychadelia/shoegaz(er) bands that are popping up. Then again it would be really hard to top something that fans love and adore so much.
Tapes ‘n Tapes – Outside
They are a Minnesota group. The new album just came out a week or so ago. I went out to see them at an in-store appearance at The Electric Fetus. I missed the performance but I did get to see the group. I bought the new LP and brought with me the covers for the first 2 albums. The guys in the group happily signed all three. I was so excited. We also got a limited edition poster because we bought the album. I was not expecting that at all. I also found out that you could have bought the album on cassette tape. I thought that was cute considering the band name. I couldn’t afford to get both the tape and the LP though. I totally would have if I had enough money to do it but I only planned on buying the LP. It isn’t that big of a deal really. The music on this album is not so intense. It is actually very catchy. I like it more than the first two albums, a lot more. There is one song in particular that really gets me. It is called One In The World. It is a simple catchy guitar riff with a poly sound. I have been getting into the poly sounding music lately with the likes of The Dodos and Vampire Weekend. So, this just fits in with that sound. The cover also fits in with what is going on with this sound. Some random realistic 35mm photo of a group of people walking on grass at night. It is a very casual picture and is very fitting for a slightly relaxed album from the group. The picture does not show any faces. It is kind of a waist down picture of some young adults walking. I like the nondescript photo. There is something about it that puts you at ease.
Jonsi – Go Live
I have talked about this guy a lot last year. He has also put out a live album of the songs from go. It is a CD/DVD combo. It is a great album that comes with a couple songs that are not on the studio album including a live version of the track that is on the end credits for How To Train Your Dragon called Sticks And Stones. There are 14 tracks on this live album as opposed to the 9 tracks on the studio album. Those extra tracks are good enough that they should have been included on Go but he probably wanted to keep it a bit on the light side for acceptance sake. The DVD is just as good. It really does justice to the concert that I saw last spring. Granted you are only watching it from the TV but it does show what I saw at the concert, and that is the important part. There is a problem with the DVD in that not all players will play the DVD properly. It was apparently converted from PAL and some players will have problems with this. My Blu-Ray player is one of them apparently. My DVD player doesn’t have any problems with it though. This is slightly annoying because the DVD player is not a part of the home theater setup currently. I will tell you this though. When I go shopping for a new disc player I will be bringing this with as a test disc to be sure that I can play it in the home theatre in the future. The packaging was simple enough. A CD sized slip case to house the two discs together. It is all in paper with plastic disc trays. There is also a booklet with some great pictures of Jonsi and his support band throughout the tour. If you are a fan you probably already have this. If you are not a fan I encourage you to get it. It is absolutely better than the studio album. I am not a fan of live albums but this is a good one.
T. Rex – Electric Warrior
I have found myself getting into the whole Glam Rock genre of the early 70s. I got a copy of this album for Christmas. It is a Rhino re-pressing and, like the album from Ride, it came with a re-printing of the original inner sleeve too. This is a really fantastic re-pressing. It is crystal clear. There are no skips or pops in my recording and the digital noise that is associated with digital recording is at a minimum too. This means that the stamper that was used was exceptionally clean for my pressing at least. The cover I love. It is so simple but explains what they wanted to say right off the bat. This music for me is very easy to listen to. I could fall asleep to it until the last song comes on any way. The last song is called Rip Off and is the most rockin’est song on the album. The reason that I wanted this album was that Jim and Greg of Sound Opinions did a dissection of this album at some point last year on its anniversary. I loved what I heard and I loved what was said about the time that the album was recorded. It was interested in what I was hearing and I recognized most of the tracks that were talked about on the show. As it turns out I only know a few of the tracks on the album but I recognized a lot of the rhythms in the music that I have been listening to from the current years of indie music. That should tell you a lot about current music. Any way, I really like the album and I am happy that I have it.
There will be for sure more to come, but, that is all for now...
I posted a comment and now it is gone! I asked what shoegaz(ers) are? bands that look at their shoes?
ReplyDeleteThe guitarists in shoegazer bands look like they are staring at their shoes on stage but they are really messing with their guitar pedals to get the right sounds during the songs as they are being played.
ReplyDelete