Music Musings

[motoman]

Ah, WTH, I'll list my 'favs' too....

I'm a child of the 60s, so my 'roots' are firmly there. I like most of the 'big' names like Led Zep, The Who, Moody blues (particular fav), most Floyd (but not all), the Beatles of course, Springsteen, Hendrix, most Clapton, etc, etc.

But there's a lot of groups that get very limited airplay these days if any (and even then, only certain songs) like Procul Harem, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, Steve Miller (his first 5 albums are far better than his later stuff IMO), The Byrds, Yardbirds, John Mayall, Savoy Brown, Youngbloods, Jeff Beck, Them (early Van Morrison), Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Animals (I still love their version of 'CC Rider' the best), the Kinks (besides 'Lola'), Johnny Winter (especially live! Yeah!), Spirit (first two albums which you never hear are great!), It's A Beautiful Day (excellent first album, not one bad song), Jefferson Airplane (besides 'White Rabbit'), early Fleetwood Mac (minus the chicks; I've got a semi-bootleg live version of 'Oh Well' that will blow your socks off!), Country Joe & the Fish ('Electric Music for the Mind and Body' is still one of the best acid-rock albums ever), Tommy James & the Shondells. Big fan of the Grateful Dead (when the band was 'on', their live shows could be transcendent!!), so you what I was doing in those days....

Then there's the more obscure groups and/or one-hit-wonders; the Standells, Billy Thorpe, New Riders of the Purple Sage (semi-country filtered through the Grateful Dead/Jefferson Airplane, before they went 'novelty'. Although their country send-up 'Redneck Mother' is a very funny counterpoint to Merle Haggard's 'Proud to be a Okie' song... LOLOL!!!), Jefferson Starship (before they became just 'Starship'), Zephr, Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen, Butterfield Blues Band ('East-West' should be a 'must have' if you like blues), Tommy Bolin, Al Stewart, Dave Mason, Buffalo Springfield, Traffic, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Hollies, Mitch Ryder, U.F.O., a lot of groups you'll almost never hear on radio. Don't forget the 'surf' groups like Jan & Dean, Chantays, Surfaris...

Newer stuff; U2, INXS, Bush, Pretenders, Del-Lords, Offspring, The Call (their first album is excellent, not one bad song), the Clash, many of the 'grunge' groups like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Candlebox, Everclear.

I've also chased after the local sounds of my youth. Local groups like the Sonics, Kingsmen (of 'Louie, Louie' fame), Merrilee and the Turnabouts (AKA Merrilee Rush after her one hit LOL!), The Viceroys, Don and the Goodtimes (a offshoot of the Kingsmen; when the Kingsmen went on tour for 'Louie, Louie', their drummer couldn't go, his parents wouldn't give permission and he was under age! He formed this group when they left...), and of course Paul Revere and the Raiders. These guys played the dances when I was in junior high/high school....

Not at all a fan of country; it's either too whiney or sounds like bad rock on downers. Just my opinion..... Didn't care for any of the 'hair' bands either, and who in the hell can listen to rap/hip hop? That's not even music IMO.

I like some classical; Bach is good, but I'm partial to Vivaldi. Have to be in the mood though...

All of that , and no mention of ZZ Top!......Your slippin' a bit as that bunch IS a class act live!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the discertation! I've been getting somewhat bored with my same collection of music....despite that I've got over 2000 songs that I "LIKE", I try to find good newer music, so I agree with your list of newer rock/grunge...ie. Pearl Jam, Alice in chains, etc. but it's difficult to try to listen to the New Rock Music Station, I will hop between it and my classic rock station, but then I'll hear a new good song but they won't tell the artist or name of the song?

I've done searches on iTunes, and with their suggestion mode, or showing what other's have bought along with the song/artist that I was previewing has helped me find the newer songs I like.

You've given me a good list to explore on iTunes of artists that I either haven't heard of, or didn't know about certain albums and such, so I check them out, have some Xmas iTunes gift certificates I haven't spent yet.

I also LOATHE Opera, it's sung in Italian or German so I can't understand it anyways. I have heard some opera songs/melodies that I like, and can enjoy the instrumental versions. Many of the classical tunes I'm familiar with were from the Cartoons I watched as a child. Rossini's Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, things like that. I like Melodic classical...ones that have an actual melody or "hook line" that I can follow. I've tried listening to the local PBS classical station, but it all sounds like an unsyncopated cacophany of sound, no real "song" type melody that I can wrap my ears and brain around. There is some Bach I like, but more Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Haydn, Grieg, Mussorgsky, some Wagner, but mostly the stuff "they" put out as Classical Music for people who hate classical music"!

Perhaps "we" can post other songs/artists that are not in the Top 40 type classic rock artists list that we like, so others can possibly find out about and explore. As you stated, the Classic Rock Radio stations have a very narrow limited playlist, and there are lots of good quality songs even from the top40 artists that are worth listening to.

For example, I've listened to some of the earlier Fleetwood Mac albums, circa Bob Welch and aside from Oh Well and Hypnotized, I wasn't impressed!

I'm a ZZTop fan, especially their early albums for both rock and blues, and I do enjoy the non-hits from Tres Hombres, Fandango, Tejas, but they started loosing their originality with their later stuff, especially with their beatbox drumtracks songs.

Okay, I'll shut up now, looking forward to seeing others Rare Cuts/artists that they liked, so I/we can check them out!

T.C.

[crazy steve]

All of that, and no mention of ZZ Top!......Your slippin' a bit as that bunch IS a class act live!

Oh no, I like the Top! Also Van Halen (Roth version), Allman Bros, Creedence, B.T.O., Seger, Bad Company, Deep Purple, the Doors, Grand Funk Railroad, Big Brother & the Holding Co, AC/DC, Neil Young (top of the list for Canadian rock!), S.R.V., Tom Petty, Rory Gallagher, Albert Collins, Dire Straights, Albert King, James Gang/Joe Walsh, and of course the 'Stones!

My top-five list of albums (in order) would be these; these are albums I can listen to the whole thing, liking every song....

1. Grateful Dead double 'Live Dead' (yes, I even like 'Feedback'! LOL!)

2. Steve Miller 'Your Saving Grace' (although I like the order it was in off the 8-track, not the album order..)

3. The Moody Blues 'In Search of the Lost Chord' (tough choice; 'On the Threshold of a Dream' is also excellent!)

4. The Doors 'L. A. Woman'

5. Bob Dylan 'Route 61 Revisited'

More 'complete' albums I really like; 'Beggars Banquet', 'Let it Bleed', 'Their Satanic Majesties Request', 'Aftermath', all by the Stones. Most any Beatle album, although I like 'Revolver' a lot. Led Zep, their first, second albums and 'Presence'. Jimi Hendrix 'Cry of Love' (hard to find; first album released after his death, pulled off the market and it's since been broken up and spread around on others. You'll only find this on vinyl AFAIK) and 'Electric Ladyland'. Frank Zappa/Mothers 'Live at the Fillmore East', 'Sheik Yerbouti' and 'Apostrophe' (OK, Frank's not for everyone, you need a little weirdness to get into him! LOL!). The Pretenders' first two albums. Pink Floyd 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Animals'. Supertramp 'Crime of the Century'. Any of Steve Miller's first five albums (starting with 'Rock Love' and then 'The Joker' he went downhill fast...). Johnny Winter 'The Progressive Blues Experiment' and 'Second Winter'. The first three Youngbloods albums. New Riders of the Purple Sage 'Powerglide'. And there's more.....

Some groups you're better off getting a 'Greatest Hits' collection; Queen comes to mind, the Animals, the Kinks (although 'Low Budget' is very good), Dave Clark Five, Procul Harem, some others. Best way to get the early 'Stones hits. Look for 'compilation' albums; those can be treasure troves of hard-to-find one-hit groups like Smith, the Rivieras, the Trashmen, Sunrays, Outsiders, Argent, David Essex, etc....

I've been seriously working on my music collection since the early 70s and still don't have everything I want. I also recorded almost all the 'live concerts' that they used to broadcast, I've got some killer unreleased stuff on reel tapes still (yes, I need to transcribe these to CD...); Robin Trower, Frampton's Camel (yes, that Frampton), some other stuff. Sound quality isn't always that good, but you can clean it up on the 'puter sometimes...

[bikerphil]

The music I can't stand is that American Idol crap. Talk about ruining songs, letting some losers try to sing them, save it for the F'n shower . Rant over, listening to Django Reinhardt now,

[Crusty Snippets]

Bad songs

Neal Diamond, Barry Manalow, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion.
I can do without all of the above.
I hate wimpy music. Be brave and belt it out like Jerry Lee Lewis or Patsy Cline.
Classic rock or country moves me, some blue grass is cool.
But Max Bruch has some heavy stuff, along with Ludwig von Beethoven.

Unkle Crusty who used to dance with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

[XJfan1]

as far as dislikes anything made since 2000... im more into classic rock. ac/dc metallica guns and roses that sort of thing. btw kid rock was one of the most muscially tallented acts i have ever seen live. he played every instrument on the stage and dabbles in rock country and some rap. not my favorite but quite high on my list

[mack]

Old vinyl

I'm familiar with all bands mentioned Steve, the one that jumped at me was Quick Silver Messanger Service. When I jioned the army in the mid seventies I had two or three records of theirs and loved them. Couldn't take my vinyl with me so I got rid of everything. Since I retired I've been looking all over to replace those alblums and that is the one band I can't find.
I also like classical guitar, slanted more to a spanish flavour mostly but it also fits my ear nicely.

[mack]

Music testing

TC, is there a way you can set up thread or category here where members could post sample artists for members to test their likes or dislikes. Similar to photo's , only for music. I have 300 GB of music on this computer and still have maybe 1500 records yet to record and digitize. I wouldn't be looking to upload that of course but a few standouts in a couple categories.

[Crusty Snippets]

I'm familiar with all bands mentioned Steve, the one that jumped at me was Quick Silver Messanger Service.

Good choice. I saw them live in Vancouver BC.
Kim Campbell could have used their " What you gonna do about me " song in her failed election campaign.
King Crimson was around that time too.

Unkle Crusty

[TopCatGr58]

TC, is there a way you can set up thread or category here where members could post sample artists for members to test their likes or dislikes. Similar to photo's , only for music. I have 300 GB of music on this computer and still have maybe 1500 records yet to record and digitize. I wouldn't be looking to upload that of course but a few standouts in a couple categories.

Hey Mack,

You can start your own THREAD for this easily! But you say "post sample artists", you mean just a LIST, or are you talking about trying to post sample snippets of actual songs?? The latter will be a bit harder for a variety of reasons, copyright infringement being the biggest hurdle, not to mention we don't have file space or allow attachments.

I would welcome a deep cuts or rare music suggestion thread!

T.C.

[DGXSER]

We can always link to a youtube video of the song. A very rare one indeed, made by some local folks to Cincinnati. One hit wonder for sure.

[mack]

music

well... yes I was going to put a list of maybe ten songs so you could listen to them and see what you liked then we could pin point a genre and then send extensive lists of artists and tracks. Guess that won't work so I'm on to plan B.

[crazy steve]

Maybe a list of 'my top ten songs that most people have never heard of or forgotten' would be kind of what you're after...

I keep forgetting that many people now download single songs off I-tunes or wherever, so most people will only buy the ones they recognise. Lost is the joy (or disappointment) of buying an album and finding the 'other' songs that didn't get the radio play for whatever reason. A lot of times, the best album songs didn't get played on the radio because of lyrics or song length. I'll throw some out there, in no particular order....

Song title, then artist, then album..

1. 'Precious' The Pretenders The Pretenders

2. 'Made up my Mind' Savoy Brown A Step Further

3. 'For Love' The Call Let the Day Begin

4. 'Mercenary' Del-Lords Frontier Days

5. 'Death and Destruction' New Riders of the Purple Sage Powerglide

6. 'Hard Charging Woman' Zephyr Zephyr

7. 'Carmelita' Linda Ronstadt Simple Dreams

8. 'Turn on Your Love Light' Grateful Dead Live Dead

9. 'Everything Zen' Bush Sixteen Stone

10. 'The Great Curve' Talking Heads Remain in Light

Now, I've never heard any of these on mainstream radio for years if ever. Some for lyrics/material (1,7,9), some for length (5,6,8). And these are a mix; some newer, some old, some just plain ol' Rock 'n Roll, a couple of 'heavy' tunes, and even one ballad. The three long ones sound best at ear-bleeding volume, but that may be just me...

[slow mo]

natures way by spirit ,,song,,

http://youtu.be/YsTK2LHZKPQ one of my favs ,,its a song for those of you that might like to skip it ! thanks ,,mo

[mack]

Irish Rockabilly?

Not sure what category this is, other than "she's hot"!
http://youtu.be/jxj5wlXY9No