Classic Rock – 10 Essential 00s Prog Albums
I have been flicking through the February issue (141) of Classic Rock magazine which I picked up on import. This issue has a section which looks back at the 00s and part of this ‘review’ includes a number of ‘essential albums’ lists. Here’s the one for Prog:
- Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
- Porcupine Tree – Deadwing (2005)
- Opeth – Ghost Reveries (2005)
- The Mars Volta – Frances The Mute (2005)
- Van der Graaf Generator – Present (2005)
- Muse – Black Holes And Revelations (2006)
- Rush – Snakes And Arrows (2007)
- Oceansize – Frames (2007)
- Riverside – Rapid Eye Movement (2007)
- Dream Theater – Black Clouds And Silver Linings (2009)
Top Ten Songs About Cars
I’ve just been sorting out a new car today, and looking forward to picking it up Wednesday. So in honour of the big event, and in no particular order, here are my top ten favourite songs about cars/driving:
- Queen – I’m In Love With My Car
- UK Subs – I Live In A Car
- Saxon – Wheels Of Steel
- Adam And The Ants – Car Trouble
- Madness – Driving In My Car
- Elastica – Car Song
- Pulp – Joyriders
- The Cars – Drive
- Gary Numan – Cars
- Buzzcocks – Fast Cars
Finntroll – Nifelvind
Track listing:
- Blodmarsch
- Solsagan
- Den frusna munnen
- Ett norrskensdåd
- I trädens sång
- Tiden utan tid
- Galgasång
- Mot skuggornas värld
- Under bergets rot
- Fornfamnad
- Dråp
- Under Dvärgens Fot" (Boxset-version bonus track)
Reviewed at:
Blistering – http://www.blistering.com/fastpage/fpengine.php/link/1/templateid/18591/tempidx/4/menuid/2
Angry Metal Guy – http://www.angrymetalguy.com/finntroll-nifelvind-review/
Metal Temple – http://www.metal-temple.com/review.asp?id=4266
Sputnik Music – http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review_35079
Genre(s)
- Folk Metal
Similar artists:
Band information:
@Official website – http://www.finntroll.net/
@Twitter – http://twitter.com/finntrollmusic
@MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/officialfinntroll
@Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finntroll/393930475141
@Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finntroll
The Tangent – Down and Out in PARIS and LONDON
Track listing:
- Where Are They Now?
- Paroxetine – 20mg
- Perdu Dans Paris
- The Company Car
- Ethanol Hat Nail (Canterbury Sequence Vol. 2)
- Everyman’s Forgotten Monday (special edition bonus track)
Similar Artists:
Album reviewed at:
- Prognaut – http://www.prognaut.com/reviews/the-tangent4.html
- Sea Of Tranquility – http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=8433
- Disagreement – http://www.disagreement.net/reviews/tangent_downandoutinparisandlondon.html
- Progmeister – http://www.progmeister.com/reviews.php?post=14
Band Information:
@Official Website – http://www.thetangent.org/
@Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tangent
Off Blog: SF Masterworks
Following on from yesterdays post in which I listed all the Fantasy Masterworks series I though it only proper to post the current list for the companion SF Masterworks released by Millennium/Gollancz. I also have a number of books from this series, up to #27.
- Joe Haldeman – The Forever War
- Richard Matheson – I Am Legend
- James Blish – Cities in Flight
- Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Alfred Bester – The Stars My Destination
- Samuel R. Delany – Babel-17
- Roger Zelazny – Lord of Light
- Gene Wolfe – The Fifth Head of Cerberus
- Frederik Pohl – Gateway
- Cordwainer Smith – The Rediscovery of Man
- Olaf Stapledon – Last and First Men
- George.R. Stewart – Earth Abides
- Philip K. Dick – Martian Time-Slip
- Alfred Bester – The Demolished Man
- John Brunner – Stand On Zanzibar
- Ursula Le Guin – The Dispossesed
- J. G. Ballard – The Drowned World (out of print)
- Kurt Vonnegut – The Sirens of Titan
- Jack Vance – Emphyrio
- Philip K. Dick – A Scanner Darkly
- Olaf Stapledon – Star Maker
- Michael Moorcock – Behold the Man
- Robert Silverberg – The Book of Skulls
- The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
- Daniel Keyes – Flowers for Algernon
- Philip K. Dick – Ubik
- Greg Benford – Timescape
- Theodore Sturgeon – More than Human
- Frederik Pohl – Man Plus
- James Blish – A Case of Conscience
- M. John Harrison – The Centauri Device
- Philip K. Dick – Dr Bloodmoney
- Brian Aldiss – Non-Stop
- Arthur C. Clarke – The Fountains of Paradise
- Keith Roberts – Pavane
- Philip K. Dick – Now Wait for Last Year
- Samuel R. Delany – Nova
- H.G. Wells – The First Men in the Moon
- Arthur C. Clarke – The City and the Stars
- Greg Bear – Blood Music
- Frederik Pohl – Jem
- Ward Moore – Bring the Jubilee
- Philip K. Dick – Valis
- Ursula Le Guin – The Lathe of Heaven
- John Sladek – The Complete Roderick
- Philip K. Dick – Flow, My Tears, The Policeman Said
- H. G. Wells – The Invisible Man
- Sheri S. Tepper – Grass
- Arthur C. Clarke – A Fall of Moondust
- Greg Bear – Eon
- Richard Matheson – The Shrinking Man
- Philip K. Dick – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
- Michael Moorcock – The Dancers at the End of Time
- Frederik Pohl, Cyril M. Kornbluth – The Space Merchants
- Philip K. Dick – Time Out of Joint
- Robert Silverberg – Downward to the Earth
- Philip K. Dick – The Simulacra
- Philip K. Dick – The Penultimate Truth
- Robert Silverberg – Dying Inside
- Larry Niven – Ringworld
- Geoff Ryman – The Child Garden
- Hal Clement – Mission of Gravity
- Philip K. Dick – A Maze of Death
- Poul Anderson – Tau Zero
- Arthur C. Clarke – Rendevous with Rama
- Lucius Shepard – Life During Wartime
- Kate Wilhelm – Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
- Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Roadside Picnic
- Walter M. Miller Jr. – Dark Benediction
- Mockingbird – Walter Tevis
- Dune – Frank Herbert
- The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein
- The Man In The High Castle – Philip K. Dick
http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Masterworks-SF-list.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sf_masterworks
So, what albums might I listen to while reading sci-fi. Here is my top 10 favourites:
- Rush – 2112
- Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygene
- Vangelis – Blade Runner
- UFO – UFO 1
- Hawkwind – Space Ritual
- Invasion – Master Alchemist
- Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
- Wendy Carlos – A Clockwork Orange
- Portishead – Dummy
- Explosions In The Sky – The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Off Blog: Fantasy Masterworks
As I continue to rediscover my book collection, after unpacking all of my stuff that arrived from the UK, I pulled out a book from my Fantasy ‘collection’, Time and the Gods by Lord Dunsany. It’s one of a series of ‘Fantasy Masterworks’ published by Millennium (an imprint of Victor Gollancz). The series was intended to create, as the information on the back cover states, ‘a library of some of the greatest, most original, and most influential fantasy ever written’. So, I look forward to finally being able to work my way through through the ones that I brought. I have up to #15 in the series. Here is a list of what has been published so far:
- Gene Wolfe – The Book of the New Sun: Volume 1 Shadow and Claw
- Lord Dunsany – Time and the Gods
- E. R. Eddison – The Worm Ouroboros
- Jack Vance – Tales of the Dying Earth
- John Crowley – Little, Big
- Roger Zelazny – Chronicles of Amber
- M. John Harrison – Viriconium
- Robert E. Howard – The Conan Chronicles: Volume 1 The People of the Black Circle
- Jonathan Carroll – The Land of Laughs
- L Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt – The Compleat Enchanter
- Hope Mirless – Lud-In-The-Mist
- Gene Wolfe – The Book of the New Sun: Volume 2 Sword and Citadel
- George R.R. Martin – Fevre Dream
- Sheri S. Tepper – Beauty
- Lord Dunsany – The King of Elfland’s Daughter
- Robert E. Howard – The Conan Chronicles: Volume 2 Hour of the Dragon
- Michael Moorcock – Elric
- Fritz Leiber – The First Book of Lankhmar
- Patricia A. Mckillip – The Riddle-Master’s Game
- Jack Finney – Time and Again
- E. R. Eddison – Mistress of Mistresses
- Michael Moorcock – Gloriana
- Fletcher Pratt – The Well of the Unicorn (out of print)
- Fritz Leiber – The Second Book of Lankhmar
- Jonathan Carroll – Voice of Our Shadow
- Clark Ashton Smith – The Emperor of Dreams Best Fantasy Tales
- Jack Vance – Lyonesse Suldrun’s Garden
- Gene Wolfe – Peace (out of print)
- John M. Ford – The Dragon Waiting a Mague of History
- Michael Moorcock – Corum the Prince in the Scarlet Robe
- C. L. Moore – Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams
- Poul Anderson – The Broken Sword
- William Hope Hodgson – The House on the Borderland and Other Novels
- Tim Powers – The Drawing of the Dark
- Jack Vance – Lyonesse II The Green Pearl and Madouc
- Michael Moorcock – The History of the Runestaff
- David Lindsay – A Voyage to Arcturus
- Jack Williamson – Darker Than You Think
- Evangeline Walton – The Mabinogion
- Poul Anderson – Three Hearts & Three Lions
- John Gardner – Grendel
- Michael Swanwick – The Iron Dragon’s Daughter
- Geoff Ryman – Was
- Dan Simmons – Song of Kali
- Ken Grimwood – Replay
- Leigh Brackett – Sea-Kings of Mars and Other Worldly Stories
- Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates
- Patricia A. Mckillip – The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
- Ray Bradbury – Something Wicked this Way Comes
- Rudyard Kipling – The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales
‘Fantasy Masterworks’ on Amazon
http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Masterworks-Fiction-list.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Masterworks
Of course, one must have the correct reading music for such an epic task. So, I found in my little black book of music lists, Terrorizer’s True Cult Underground Epic Metal 1980’s list. Here’s the list:
- Manilla Road – Crystal Logic
- Cirith Ungol – King Of The Dead
- Elixir – Son Of Odin
- Medieval Steel – Medieval Steel
- Heavy Load – Death Or Glory
- Mercy – Witchburner
- Omen – Battle Cry
- Exxplorer – Symphonies Of Steel
- Desolation Angels – Desolation Angels
- Grim Reaper – See You In Hell
Sunday Jazz – Nice!
This is my first post since Thursday as my belongings finally arrived at my address in Canada after being shipped from the UK. So I have spent the last 3 days unpacking and setting up the office/studio with all my equipment and books. It is all pretty much done now, just have to sort out some cables and power supplies for my electrical equipment and I will be fully up and running.
I’ve just been chilling out to some Jazz. Here is what I’ve been listening to on Spotify:
- Jon Hassell – Earthquake Island
- Erik Truffazz – Out Of A Dream
- Dave Douglas – Charms Of The Night
- Tomasz Stanko Quartet – Matka Joanna
See you at the Jazz Club.
If you like this, you might like this: Fantome
This is the first of several posts where I will be suggesting 5 to 10 albums that are closely related in some way, either through the sound or generally, due to genre. So, this time around the starting point is the gloom pop/shoegaze band Fantome. Enjoy!
Fantome – Velvet On The Air
Mira – Mira
Tearwave – Tearwave
Ports Of Call – Like Thieves
Con Dolore – Sailor’s Warning
Unfortunately I could not find a video/track on YouTube for this one.
Brit Awards 2010: The Winners Are….
Here are the results for the 2010 Brits:
- BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST – Dizzee Rascal
- BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST – Lily Allen
- BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT – JLS
- BRITISH GROUP – Kasabian
- BRITISH ALBUM – Florence And The Machine, Lungs
- BRITISH SINGLE – Beat Again – JLS
- INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST – Jay-Z
- INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST – Lady Gaga
- INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ACT – Lady Gaga
- INTERNATIONAL ALBUM – The Fame, Lady Gaga
- CRITICS CHOICE – Ellie Goulding
- OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC – Robbie Williams
- BRITS HITS 30 (best performance at the Brits) – Wannabe/Who Do You Think You Are, Spice Girls
- BRITS ALBUM OF 30 YEARS – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/17/brits-2010-who-won-what
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Awards
However, do you remember the Brits in 1992 when the KLF collaborated with grindcore band Extreme Noise Terror to perform a death metal version of the dance song "3 a.m. Eternal"?
The performance ended with Bill Drummond firing blanks from a machine gun over the heads of the audience and KLF publicist Scott Piering stating, "Ladies and gentlemen, The KLF have now left the music business." The band later dumped a dead sheep outside the venue with the message, "I died for ewe — bon appetit", tied around its waist. Now that’s Rock and Roll!
Music Lists: Progressive Rock Albums
I was looking through my little black book of lists and found an interesting Prog Rock list that I wrote down several years ago. I am not too sure where the list came from, but, I think it was from a UK extreme music magazine. I think it works quite well as a broad introduction as there are a wide range of styles included in the list. Although, it is definitely focused on 70’s albums. Here is the list:
- King Crimson – Red (1974)
- Yes – Close To The Edge (1972)
- Rush – A Farewell To Kings (1977)
- Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick (1972)
- Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts (1971)
- Soft Machine – Third (1970)
- Genesis – Foxtrot (1972)
- Atomic Rooster – Death Walks Behind You (1970)
- Pink Floyd – Meddle (1971)
- Hawkwind – Space Ritual (1973)
New Music Excess 
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