Kansas - The Best Of Kansas

30/07/10 9:45 pm

I think this is the first time I've reviewed a 'best of' album. No shame in that right? So many of these 70s bands have gigantic discographies, no way I'm listening to that much crap to get to the only three songs that people actually remember.

Aaah, the heady days when it was edgy to name your band after a geopolitical boundary: America, Kansas, Europe...

Anyway, the headlining track here is Carry On Wayward Son, which is a absolutely fantastic classic rock song. This one thing keeps niggling me: it feels Kansas is totally trying to emulate Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody. Consider:

However instead of the operatic vocals, there's a staccato guitar instrumental.

It really strikes me though that this is very much a 70s sound through and through - it lacks the timeless quality of really transcendental music (e.g. Queen). It was like I had accidentally tuned into a baby-boomer nostalgia-rock station on the radio. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't make it bad, just...it feels out of context? They also consistently use reverberated multi-tracked vocals like Auto-tune.

In the end, they're a great performing band, and it's easy listening.

Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood

29/07/10 7:37 pm

Whoa, this is like sooo retro we've gone back to the effing renaissance for lyrical inspiration.

The thing that stands out for me here is the great instrumental arrangement. I mean you've got a flute, heh, but even if you look at all the standard stuff, keyboards, vocal harmonies, guitars e.t.c, they're all audible and distinctive and doing complementary call-and-response things. It's quite orchestral.

My verdict: I like it.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - One Hot Minute

29/07/10 7:28 pm

Not the Chili's most rated album, mostly because it came after the breakout Blood Sugar Sex Magick and there's probably a touch of second album syndrome.

I really like it though. There's huge variety here, from acoustic ballads like My Friends to weird beat-poem stuff in Pea to the frantic Coffee Shop and Deep Kick. They allowed Flea to get out his modulated bass auto-wah in Falling Into Grace. I also quite liked Walkabout.

And of course there's my ultimate all-time favourite RHCP song, Aeroplane.

Alvin Lucier - I Am Sitting In A Room

03/06/10 9:28 pm

I figure there are two kinds of music lovers in this world: those who consider John Cage to be a genius composer of the highest order, and those who consider John Cage a postmodern wanker who generates random noise.

I am of the first camp. Many, in fact let's be honest and say pretty much all of my friends are in the second camp.

So experimental composition can be pretty divisive. This particular experimental composition (listen to an mp3 here) consists of a speech that was recorded, then played back into the same room and re-recorded, then that recording was played back into the same room and re-recorded...e.t.c, e.t.c. What happens is that the sound is distorted each time by the resonance and frequency response of the room, taking it further and further from being a recognisable human voice.

Depending on which camp you are in, what results is either a haunting wash of tones that provoke deep thoughts about the nature of sound, or ten minutes of irritating feedback noises. Your mileage may vary.

(p.s.: check out a video version of the same idea here)

Jeff Buckley - Grace

22/05/10 8:52 pm

Like a true music legend, Jeff Buckley died young, leaving only a single studio album. I found this recording really unnerving to listen to in the car, because unlike so much uber-produced music today, it actually has dynamic range. Reigning in the compressor gives a real intimate feel to the album as well as allowing some wild mood swings.

Let's get this over with: seriously, what a mediocre cover of Hallelujah. I have no idea why that is his definitive work. I mean, you only had to wait for the next track to hear Lover, You Should've Come Over, which is just incredible and blows it out of the water. That's the one I've been listening to over and over.

The arrangement and sound of the album just comes across as really tasteful, restrained, and subtle, and it complements his voice really really well. But at times all the taste and restraint was just...boring, and a bit uniform. That would be the main weakness. Possibly it's a frame of mind thing.

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