What Are You Listening to Now 7.0

[Handley_Page]

Ladyhawke [the Allan Parsons project] exit theme.

 

[Anastasia1999]

Voyager - Daft Punk

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Yellow Magic orchestra - Solid State Survivor

Japanese late 70's synth-pop at its best, the perfect backdrop while I wade through this month's budgets and try and cushion the shorfalls

 

[Anastasia1999]

Unfinished Symphony - Massive Attack

 

[JaxRhapsody]

https://youtu.be/us3pCHd8PLs

Started kinda getting in to Aesop Rock.

 

[Haulover]

...It's Hard to Be Humble

Yes, I know the feeling!

Oh, wait - you're talking about the song? Sorry...

 

[Haulover]

A batch of classical piano pieces - very necessary, on a Friday night after a tough work week!

Ludovico Einaudi - Experience

Chopin - “Aeolian Harp”

Chopin Piano Concertos 1&2

 

[Haulover]

Beethoven: Sonata No.8 in C Minor, Op.13, "Pathétique"

On Youtube, with the sheet music displayed as it's played:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_124D_7KoU

I love watching these!

Despite 5 years of classical piano training, my music-reading skills are pretty damned rusty after 40 years. So this is the lazy man's way of reading music.

 

[Blind_Justice]

ring of Ice
Jennifer Rush. [From her first Album in UK].
I used to play this at high volume in my car, driving round the Derby Ring Road at stupid o'clock, AM.

Oh, that takes me back to Saturday mornings during my childhood, when Dad cranked our stereo way up. Jennifer Rush was one of the few acts he and my Mom could agree on. Her voice is still unique, even after all these years. So much raw power! Too bad I mainly get "I'm Your Lady" on the classics station we listen to - I prefer her faster tracks over the ballads.

I've been on a power metal bender these past few days. Iron Saviour (again), and lots of Helloween, mainly their '80s stuff, and Queensrÿche's "Operation Mindcrime".

The new Deaf Forever was in the mail yesterday. Dani and I are sifting through two months' worth of releases to find something worth listening to.

So far, there's Lunar Shadow with their last album "Wish To Leave" - extremely awesome guitar tone but the vocalist is a very very strange beast. No death growls, but all kinds of slanted notes. Still, a good spin. https://youtu.be/1QF1qaLb-dU

German Doom Metal band Wheel have put out some new music, called "Preserved In Time". That hit my pleasure centers straight on. All kinds of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus nods, plus fantastic, dramatic vocals. https://youtu.be/5Tr0bfbO5hw

 

[litfan10]

Ladyhawke Official Movie Soundtrack

Andrew Powell with the Philharmonia Orchestra and The Alan Parsons Project

It's all HP's fault.

 

[Haulover]

....I've been on a power metal bender these past few days. Iron Saviour (again), and lots of Helloween, mainly their '80s stuff, and Queensrÿche's "Operation Mindcrime".
...

Did you ever make it ro a ProgPower show?

I've only ever made it to one - and it was a blsat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProgPower_USA#2005




IMO - Queensryche is prog metal, not power metal, but that's splitting hairs

Mindcrime was a classic. Mindcrime II was just ... sad

 

[Haulover]

Ladyhawke Official Movie Soundtrack

Andrew Powell with the Philharmonia Orchestra and The Alan Parsons Project

It's all HP's fault.

Is that Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, or someone else?

 

[MindCandie]

Is that Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, or someone else?

Billy Joel

 

[litfan10]

Is that Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, or someone else?

Nope, they are two different people. This Powell was musical Director, conductor and composer for almost all Alan Parsons Project albums, from Tales of Mystery and Imagination to Gaudi.

 

[Haulover]

Nope, they are two different people. This Powell was musical Director, conductor and composer for almost all Alan Parsons Project albums, from Tales of Mystery and Imagination to Gaudi.

Got it - thanks!

On a separate note, Andy Powell (of Wishbone Ash) was excellent. I missed an opportunity to see him about 10 years ago - and I'm still kicking myself.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Did you ever make it ro a ProgPower show?

I've only ever made it to one - and it was a blsat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProgPower_USA#2005

IMO - Queensryche is prog metal, not power metal, but that's splitting hairs

Mindcrime was a classic. Mindcrime II was just ... sad

AFAIK, ProgPower was a US only thing. So... no, didn't make it. Wacken 98/99 were my biggest live experiences. Being able to see Mercyful Fate, Dimmu Borgir, Savatage and Solitude Aeturnus was cool. Having to deal with 40,000 intoxicated metalheads and a horrid mud bath in 99 wasn't.

Agree on your observation in regards to Queensryche. They went downhill HARD after Empire, even though "Promised Land" did have its moments.

 

[Haulover]

AFAIK, ProgPower was a US only thing. So... no, didn't make it. Wacken 98/99 were my biggest live experiences. Being able to see Mercyful Fate, Dimmu Borgir, Savatage and Solitude Aeturnus was cool. Having to deal with 40,000 intoxicated metalheads and a horrid mud bath in 99 wasn't.

Agree on your observation in regards to Queensryche. They went downhill HARD after Empire, even though "Promised Land" did have its moments.

There's also a ProgPower Europe:
https://www.progpowereurope.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProgPower_Europe

The last one was in 2018, but they're planning a comeback next year.

 

[Blind_Justice]

There's also a ProgPower Europe:
https://www.progpowereurope.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProgPower_Europe

The last one was in 2018, but they're planning a comeback next year.

Still too far away.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Wheel - Preserved in Time

This is already shaping up to be a classic.

 

[Haulover]

Brahms piano concertos nos. 1 and 2

 

[Haulover]

IQ : Dark Matter

About which I once wrote:

Don’t ever tell I.Q.’s Martin Orford that his band’s music is “Neo progressive”. You’ll be told in no uncertain terms - as he told me - that the term “Neo” is ‘fallacious’ (his word), there is no such genre, and the “new wave” of prog never really happened. Which is interesting, since along with Marillion, I.Q. has been credited with spearheading a prog revival in the 1980s.

Rightly or wrongly, “Neo” is a sub-genre of prog. The word no longer means “new”, but rather describes particular style of music. And whether I.Q. helped create neo prog or not is frankly moot because Dark Matter doesn’t fit into that genre anyway! This is symphonic progressive rock of the highest order.

Twenty three years of history has given I.Q. a depth and finesse that is very evident in every aspect of this record, most notably in the songwriting. There are just 5 tracks on Dark Matter, but they’re quite long (one is nearly 12 minutes, one is a 25-minute epic). They do not describe a concept nor do they follow a theme, but you’d never say so after listening to it. All 5 pieces share a similar ambience, there are musical themes that recur across the album, and it hangs together beautifully as a single body of work rather than as 5 separate songs.

Like every respectable proggie I’m a sucker for epics, and “Harvest Of Souls” is one of the best I’ve heard in a long time. It meanders through a series of changes and styles, the mood is constantly developing, and the melodies are almost never repeated yet you’ll remember them all. There are mellow acoustic passages, huge walls of sound, militaristic machine-gun staccato sections, and hard rock and soft ballad and more tempo changes and layered textures than you can count. It's been criticized as being derivative of Genesis's "Supper's Ready"which is a fair comparison in terms of both, structure and quality.

Mike Holmes’s guitar work is excellent. There are no guitar virtuoso performances here – this is more reminiscent of the Hackett / Latimer style where every note counts and you can feel the emotion vibrating in the strings. Martin’s keyboards are more evident on this album than on recent I.Q. albums, and the sound achieved is rich and beautifully textured. And is it my imagination, or has Peter Nicholls’s voice picked up a Gabriel / Fish inflection that I didn’t hear before? I’ll have to re-listen to I.Q.’s back catalog. Perhaps I’ll spin the excellent Ever or the even better Subterranea. The comparisons will be valid, because Dark Matter is at least as good as those albums – and probably better.

I.Q. makes no secret – or apology – about its Genesis influences. Their music is certainly not derivative, yet neither is it terribly imaginative. It is simply damned fine music played very well, and it has its slot booked on my best-of-2004 list.

Rating: 5 / 5​

 

[Blind_Justice]

I finally got around to checking out the music of Mariusz Duda (and friends).

Riverside - Out of Myself
Lunatic Soul - Fractured
Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods

Interesting.

 

[SimonDoom]

The sound of light, pre-dawn traffic outside an open window.

 

[Haulover]

I finally got around to checking out the music of Mariusz Duda (and friends).

Riverside - Out of Myself
Lunatic Soul - Fractured
Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods

Interesting.

Riverside's Wasteland was one of the best albums of 2018, IMO.

However, I'm not familiar with Lunatic Soul - I guess that goes into my growing "must research soon" list!

 

[Blind_Justice]

Riverside's Wasteland was one of the best albums of 2018, IMO.

However, I'm not familiar with Lunatic Soul - I guess that goes into my growing "must research soon" list!

From what I've read, LS is Duda's experimental outlet. Less adherence to prog conventions, more "spur of the moment/anything goes"