MadMan's CD Thread

[Horbgorbler]

No one but Dylan could pull off looking cool in that get-up.

[MadMan]

For the most part I have a great interest in hearing Radiohead's body of work, but I also seem to be warry of them. In part its because so many people hype the band, saying that Radiohead is the best ever and or that they are the best band of the 90s. We shall see about the latter but I highly doubt the former is even remotely true. Still I'll check out the rest of their work anyways, as Hail to the Thief was good if somewhat unspectacular and In Rainbows is awesome.
What I like most about this disc is how it easily veers from the normal to the delightfully eerie, highlighting a viberate world yet masking the strange darkness lying beneath the surface. This I feel is one of the band's strengths and is something they do extremely well, although some of their other songs simply skip the lighter elements altogether. Another thing I really dig about this disc is how some of the songs seem personal, heartfelt and more about tangible things. There's no talk about aliens, computers, going to the moon, or the karma police. Those songs are all well and good but its the band's songs like Creep from one of their earliest albums Pablo Honey and the song Jigsaw Falling Into Place that truly resonate with me.
Thus I must say that while I'm not in love with Radiohead's music quite yet, I'm on the edge. I think that I will find out for certain after I check out some of their 90s works. *** 1/2

Favorite Song: Jigsaw Falling Into Place

[D_Davis]

My favorite Bowie albums are Station to Station and Young Americans. I love the Thin White Duke era.

I also really like Outside - it's one of the scariest and most atmospheric albums I've ever heard. If you could somehow extract the essence out of Blade Runner and Seven, and then convert the essence into music, I imagine it would sound like this album.

[D_Davis]

Really? That's interesting. I didn't know those sort of categories existed. I'm not sure if Coldplay fits into "dad rock," and I'm still unsure of what "mom pop" really refers to. Does it mean its more female in nature then?

...

Why can't people just appreciate solid music, good production, and catchy tunes without having to belittle it with degrading categorization?

Anyways, both my mom and dad have pretty good taste in music, so I guess calling something mom or dad pop isn't all that bad.

[Acapelli]

No one but Dylan could pull off looking cool in that get-up.

I never realized his ridiculous his get-up was until now. Guess that's a testament to Dylan's coolness.

[MadMan]

I never realized his ridiculous his get-up was until now. Guess that's a testament to Dylan's coolness.

I dig the shirt he's wearing on that album cover. Dylan pretty much sported a smaller version of a white 'fro throughout most of his career until he started wearing a cowboy hat later on. I prefer him with the white hat instead.

...

Why can't people just appreciate solid music, good production, and catchy tunes without having to belittle it with degrading categorization?

Anyways, both my mom and dad have pretty good taste in music, so I guess calling something mom or dad pop isn't all that bad.

My dad has always been a big country/classic rock fan and my mom loves 80s and 90s pop music and some of the older stuff. So yeah they've had a bit of an influence on what I listen to.

[MadMan]

Basically after this next disc which I will review here I hit a patch of rather disappointing albums. I guess that's what happens when you start a musical journey and stuff of that nature.




Since I've only gotten into rap over the past 8-9 years, I've had to catch up on what could be called "Old School" rap. The Chronic falls into that category, and its great stuff. Now I'm not saying that gangster rap is good in a moral sense, as it does glorify a lifestyle is both violent and a quick path to either jail or the grave (something that actually Dre and company touch upon in many of their songs). I'm simply measuring musical quality and talent, the latter of which Dr. Dre has in spades.
The beats are fresh and cool, but to me the best aspects here are the lyrics which are poetry in motion. Some of them are funny in a rather crude yet halfway witty style that to me is hard to describe. You just have to hear it for yourself.
The guest rappers on this disc range from well known ones like Snoop Dog to more obscure ones like The D.O.C. They do provide good support, although Dre's skills as a rap artist are more than enough to carry the album. Basically to me this entire disc was a real blast from the past, a relic from the early 90s of my youth, when rap was still coming into the mainstream and rock was king. Its kind of different nowadays I guess. ****

Favorite Song: Seriously I'm not sure. I dug a good many number of tracks here. I guess for now its Lyrical Gangbang

[MadMan]

Okay, I'm back. Not sure what I was going to review after that CD, but only one could possibly guess-I haven't finished going through my backlog.



For the most part, this album is a lot of noise and fury. While there is great fun involved, and the noise is certainly entertaining, this disc offers very little in terms of subsistence. Besides The Sex Pistols weren’t that type of band, and while their punk style lacks the smart political style of The Clash (although they too had their share of aimless songs), they are more on the level of The Ramones, although The Ramones are even more fast paced, and a bit on the party side of the old school punk scene. However, with “Anarchy in the UK” and their rather famous “God Save The Queen,” they showcase an embracing of disregarding the mainstream political system, although I can’t agree that they were incredibly and wholly engaged in politics to the extent The Clash were, either.
Still I really enjoyed this album, and I think it is indeed relatively fast, as the band blazes through hardcore cuts such as the classic “Pretty Vacant,” “Bodies,” and “Holiday in the Sun.” To listen to them is to want to smash something, upset the established boring order, and of course rebel, which explains the fact that punk historically attracts the attention of the authorities, whoever they may be (the stereotypical “THE MAN” comes to mind). And that’s the spirit of punk right there, plan and simple. *** ½ /****

[Skitch]

...Fountains of Wayne...Goddamn man I'm hooked.

Been a fan of these guys for a looooong time.

[MadMan]

Been a fan of these guys for a looooong time.

Awesome. I also must mention that I finally got my hands on Welcome Interstate Managers, and its truly fantastic. One of the best CDs I listened to last year, and it cracked my Top 10 out of 80 CDs overall.

[MadMan]

Considering that I've heard six of their albums, and I own five of them, I guess I can consider myself a pretty big fan of The Black Keys. The first time I listened to them, it was my favorite album from them, Magic Potion, and it was 2008. The flood hit my local home town, but before it did I listened to this disc that was two white guys from Ohio playing the blues and infusing some rock 'n' roll, too. Even though they haven't completely evolved their sound, that doesn't matter considering that The Black Keys' last four albums have all been excellent: Magic Potion, Attack & Release, Brothers, and their latest, El Camino.



Really this is simplistic like much of their other material, but that doesn't matter when not only the song writing continues to be really great but also the guitar, drum work, plus high production values. I'm still amazed that its only two guys (although I'm sure they have some help every once and a while) continuing to endlessly put out high quality albums. At this point they are on my shortlist of bands and artists that I will buy albums from no questions asked, without even bothering to preview the entire disc first, although I had heard their hit single from El Camino titled "Lonely Boy," which is incidentally the first track, too, and is a really guitar crunching piece. Even though Danger Mouse had a hand in producing this album just like Attack & Release, the two are somewhat different since "Release" was more blues oriented and their latest is more faster paced, which is a good thing.

Even though I don't think this is their best effort, its still worth checking out, especially since I consider The Black Keys to be one of the best bands of the past five-six years. What they plan to do next I'm not sure, although I would like them to maybe mix it up a bit. Yet I will admit that changing what works does not always lead to good or better things, it still wouldn't hurt. ****/****

[MadMan]

This is the first Rush album I've ever listened to, although I've heard a decent amount of their material previously. Despite now being a fairly casual fan of the band now when I was younger I didn't see the appeal of Rush at all. This was before I realized that bands headlined by guys who sound like chicks when they are singing are not so weird, after all. Besides Neil Peart is indeed one of the greatest drummers of all time, and Getty Lee is a fantastic lead vocalist/bassist/keyboardist, and of course Alex Lifson is not to be forgotten as he is the third member of the band, also. Yet out of just those three guys comes prog/hard rock that is at times rather mindblowing. According to Barnes and Noble's blurb about Moving Pictures, the album was actually not as well received at the time of its release.



This perhaps due to the album's odd structure and subject matter, which some critics apparently labeled as "Pretentious." This is rather silly, as Moving Pictures's greatness is clearly evident by many of its radical tracks. There is not a single bad song on the entire album, and it opens with the classic Tom Sawyer, and also features one of my favorites, Red Barchetta. Not to be forgotten are Limelight and the sprawling, epic track The Camera Eye. How on earth someone could not dig this album is beyond me, unless of course they are not a fan of prog rock which is a shame since progressive rock has resulted in some truly excellent acts. Rush just might be king among them, or at least near the top.

PS: I actually first heard of this album thanks to Adult Swim's Harvey Birdman. In one episode, Phil Ken Sebben says that the law firm's threat level has been "Raised to Rush's Moving Pictures." A line that I always thought was funny. ****/****

[Ezee E]

Yeah, I like El Camino a lot.

[MadMan]

I actually prefer it over Brothers now, oddly enough. They really need to work with Danger Mouse more often.