Bramblethorn
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Draco interdum Vincit
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litfan10
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Status Quo. Fun stuff, thanks!
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Grand Magus - Sword Songs
Oh fuck yes. The essence of Heavy Metal, distilled into an almost painfully raw and pure form. I love the super-rough mix and of course those charming vocals. Not quite convinced Grand Magus needed such on-the-nose lyrics though. But then, a little Manowar worship never hurt no one. Fun times!
Oh fuck yes. The essence of Heavy Metal, distilled into an almost painfully raw and pure form. I love the super-rough mix and of course those charming vocals. Not quite convinced Grand Magus needed such on-the-nose lyrics though. But then, a little Manowar worship never hurt no one. Fun times!
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The Four Horsemen-Aphrodite's Child
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While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose
Tom Philipps' Fates Warning blowjob. A very good one too.
Tom Philipps' Fates Warning blowjob. A very good one too.
Handley_Page
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Rikki Don't Lose That Number-Steely Dan
Handley_Page
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A
AMYJB1972
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Fire - Jimi Hendrix Experience
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Destination Unknown - Missing Persons
Handley_Page
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Jet Harris:-
the man with the golden arm
the man with the golden arm
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Cake by the Ocean - DNCE
Haulover
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I haven't listened to BBT for a long time. I appreciated their earlier releases, but never found myself wanting to spin them again. I have 3 of their recent albums and haven't even spun them yet.
Should I? Have they progressed much..?
Here's what I wrote about one of their earlier releases:
That’s a Spitfire on the cover – see the shape of the wings? So it’s no surprise that Gathering Speed is a concept album about a World War II fighter pilot in the Battle Of Britain.
In their earlier days Big Big Train had a reputation as an also-ran Brit neo band lurking in the shadows of Jadis and IQ. That may have been true of their first few albums, but with Bard the band had a really strong neo progressive rock release which was well received by reviewers and the buying public. Well – here are two surprises:
Firstly, after their previous album Bard, the train nearly derailed itself with announcements of the band’s dissolution due to low sales volumes and other woes. But it completed its journey despite that glitch and thankfully the Big Big Train has arrived at the station modified but essentially unscathed.
Secondly, the train has changed tracks! The new album clearly builds on the band’s past releases and you’ll even hear some of Bard’s themes reprised here, but Gathering Speed is not really what I’d call neo. It shares many of the characteristics of neo progressive rock: a focus on vocals, standard rock band lineup, a strong keyboard presence, big walls of sound and a noticeable Genesis influence. But rather than neo, the sound here is much more symphonic than on Big Big Train’s prior releases. (Symphonic neo?) No I’m not hung up on labels, but in this case they help to describe the ambience of the music.
At first listen the music may sound rather simple – but it is bristling with complexities and interesting progressive elements that will reward repeated listening. The time signatures change continually, there are breaks and reprised themes and solid song structures, and the whole album has a classic progressive sound. You’ll hear multi-layered instrumental passages with nine- and ten-minute song lengths, big two- and three-part vocal harmonies, a blues harp (a kind of harmonica) mellotron, twelve string guitars and dual keyboards. A signature sound on the album is the 12-string guitar, strummed or picked, which yields a pleasing melodic sound.
The long instrumental passages are strong, and are particularly important to this CD because Big Big Train’s new vocalist Sean Filkins uses a sort of whisper-soft voice, that falls below the standard of the instrumentals. You can’t help thinking that a stronger, more spirited delivery would have significantly enhanced the album. The occasional inclusion of Laura Murch’s singing add an important dimension to the music. Listen to track 2, “Fighter Command”, for the Floyd “Gig In The Sky” style female vocals. It’s a pity Murch wasn’t used a lot more.
The song structures and the melodic sounds will keep your interest and it stands the test of multiple replays. But Gathering Speed doesn’t work as a concept album. There isn’t enough passion or variety or storytelling to support the concept. Big Big Train would benefit from a more rebellious nature – they need stop playing it safe, and Filkins needs to put more emotion into it and belt a few songs out at full steam.
As a WW-II concept album it won’t move you in the way albums like The Snow Goose did. But if you separate the music from the concept, it is a very good listen. Not with the doomed pilot’s story driving the songs – but rather with it adding one more layer to the already rich textures of the music.
Rating: 3.75 / 5
In their earlier days Big Big Train had a reputation as an also-ran Brit neo band lurking in the shadows of Jadis and IQ. That may have been true of their first few albums, but with Bard the band had a really strong neo progressive rock release which was well received by reviewers and the buying public. Well – here are two surprises:
Firstly, after their previous album Bard, the train nearly derailed itself with announcements of the band’s dissolution due to low sales volumes and other woes. But it completed its journey despite that glitch and thankfully the Big Big Train has arrived at the station modified but essentially unscathed.
Secondly, the train has changed tracks! The new album clearly builds on the band’s past releases and you’ll even hear some of Bard’s themes reprised here, but Gathering Speed is not really what I’d call neo. It shares many of the characteristics of neo progressive rock: a focus on vocals, standard rock band lineup, a strong keyboard presence, big walls of sound and a noticeable Genesis influence. But rather than neo, the sound here is much more symphonic than on Big Big Train’s prior releases. (Symphonic neo?) No I’m not hung up on labels, but in this case they help to describe the ambience of the music.
At first listen the music may sound rather simple – but it is bristling with complexities and interesting progressive elements that will reward repeated listening. The time signatures change continually, there are breaks and reprised themes and solid song structures, and the whole album has a classic progressive sound. You’ll hear multi-layered instrumental passages with nine- and ten-minute song lengths, big two- and three-part vocal harmonies, a blues harp (a kind of harmonica) mellotron, twelve string guitars and dual keyboards. A signature sound on the album is the 12-string guitar, strummed or picked, which yields a pleasing melodic sound.
The long instrumental passages are strong, and are particularly important to this CD because Big Big Train’s new vocalist Sean Filkins uses a sort of whisper-soft voice, that falls below the standard of the instrumentals. You can’t help thinking that a stronger, more spirited delivery would have significantly enhanced the album. The occasional inclusion of Laura Murch’s singing add an important dimension to the music. Listen to track 2, “Fighter Command”, for the Floyd “Gig In The Sky” style female vocals. It’s a pity Murch wasn’t used a lot more.
The song structures and the melodic sounds will keep your interest and it stands the test of multiple replays. But Gathering Speed doesn’t work as a concept album. There isn’t enough passion or variety or storytelling to support the concept. Big Big Train would benefit from a more rebellious nature – they need stop playing it safe, and Filkins needs to put more emotion into it and belt a few songs out at full steam.
As a WW-II concept album it won’t move you in the way albums like The Snow Goose did. But if you separate the music from the concept, it is a very good listen. Not with the doomed pilot’s story driving the songs – but rather with it adding one more layer to the already rich textures of the music.
Rating: 3.75 / 5
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