Years ago I bought the Burning Red album by Machine Head and was impressed with the dark sound. I remember I was living in Brentwood at the time so this was 1999 or so. About a year ago I decided to buy another Machine Head album. I got this one. It’s alright. It sounds the same as the first one I got and is good for a run or winter music.
Black Ice – AC/DC
This album proved to be a return to greatness for the grandfathers of rock. This band have been around for so long and made some less-than-brilliant albums that all hope had been given up. I heard about this album while listening to the Bruce Dickinson rock show on BBC Radio 6 Music. He was raving about how good he thought it was and what a return to form it showed. I was curious. Bruce is a big AC/DC fan and so he couldn’t be wrong.
This is a complete wonder of an album. It doesn’t have the gritty rawness of the Bon Scott albums but it is crafted and written brilliantly. It has everything you could want. Blockbusting riffs, brilliant drums, good lyrics and thundering bass. It’s great.
All the songs are good. Well worth putting on in the car for a summer drive. It’ll cheer you up.
Black Gives Way to Blue – Alice In Chains
This album was part of the “catch up with what bands I used to like have been doing” phase from about a year ago. I had thought that Alice were dead, much like their singer but then this was released in 2009 with a new singer.
I’m amazed at how good his voice sounds and how much like the original he is. It is very much an “Alice” album. Slow, heavy, melodic and haunting. It’ll freak you out. Well done Mr Alice.
Bitter Sweet and Twisted – The Quireboys
This album came along with “A Bit Of What You Fancy” when I downloaded it from iTunes. It really bugs me when joint albums are downloaded. I don’t like them being stored on my phone as one album so I mess with the properties to make them into the original versions.
I’ve not listened to this album.
A Bit of What You Fancy – The Quireboys
At sometime in the sixth form someone saw The Quireboys support another band. That’s all the memory I have about why I would know this band. I bought this album on vinyl and I would classify it as good old fashioned British pub rock and roll. This album is well worth a listen. I like the melodies and the singing. This is definitely a summer album. I can imagine playing this in the garden with the sun glaring down and saturating the whole village in glorious shine.
I listened to this album so much in my formative years that I think all the songs are ingrained. My favourites are:
- 7 O’clock
- Sex Party
- Long Time Comin’
This was a great purchase.
Up
While on my trip to Washington DC I met someone who asked me for my opinion on a bracelet / wrist band thing they had bought. I was worried at first because these things tend to be utter rubbish, woo if you will. There are many performance bands that are supposed to interact with your body’s vibrations and improve your coordination and these are all fraud. They don’t work and they never will. If someone like Powerbalance can show that their bracelet works then we will have to re-write all of modern physics [similarly if ghosts exists then what are they made of? Get me the proof and we’ll develop new physics].
I had just been introduced to the Up by Jawbone wristband. A movement (not position) tracker. It has a gizmo inside that measures how much you move and then you can upload that data to your iPhone or android device. I was so excited by this that I went and bought one from the Apple shop in Georgetown [DC].
The device is easy to use. You wear it on your wrist and then upload the data to your phone app twice a day. You don’t have to upload the data that often but it seems about right.
I have to say I have been really impressed with the data I can collect. The Up band will time and measure the distance of a run, it’ll buzz me when I’ve been inactive. It can tell what sort of sleep I am having and when I got up to look after my boys.
The big question is how to use the data. It’s all very well collecting this stuff but it’s another knowing what to do with it. I have no idea how to use this data to inform what I should do in the future. The walking and running data is fair enough, I know I can aim to move around more but the sleep data? I can only sleep how I sleep. Perhaps I need to search the interweb thing to see if I can find out how to improve my sleep without having to give up alcohol! I love my wristband. I love the information it collects and the graphics it shows me. I’m just not sure what it tells me!
Biohazard – Biohazard
You go through life aware of some bands who really influenced other bands or perhaps they were there at the beginning. Then, you hear a collaboration song by that artist and think, hey, that’ll be good.
It’s ok. I’ve listened to it twice. Probably won’t listen to it again. Not fussed by it.
Bind, Torture, Kill – Suicide Commando
If it is screwed up dance music with a twisted feel then this is the right place to come. Part of my journey into aggrotech, this album was the first Suicide Commando album I downloaded. It’s really good. All the songs have a great beat and excellent melodies. Some might find the content and vocals a little distressing but then perhaps that is what some art is about.
Much like some comedians try to “push” the boundaries and you sometimes find yourself laughing at things you find repulsive I think it’s like that for all art. There are those who like to think they are pushing the boundaries of taste and I guess they do. If you can cause a bit of controversy and get people talking then you have done your job. Can I often see what these people are trying to do? Yes. Do I find it bothersome? Sometimes but then that’s the point isn’t it? I also recognise it for what it is, people trying to shock. I used to think that I didn’t really have limits, but it might be an age thing or it might be that I do have limits but never really recognised them before.
I saw a band recently, Sheep On Drugs, they were ok, but they were also trying to be arty. They burnt paper with words printed on it and also ripped their t-shirts off. The female member of the group had black tape over her nipples and then sprayed black paint on her torso. Did I find it interesting? Not really, more a curiosity. What was she trying to say? Was I shocked? No, not really. Having read the transcripts of the of the COUM TRANSMISSIONS [and they did it 30 years ago!] I don’t often find lightweight stuff like this shocking.
Anyway, back to the music. I like this album. It’s good. It also falls into the category of new and my poor memory doesn’t bring the songs into my head from a list of titles but when I hear them I recognise them. Perhaps that is a problem with listening to things while I run. I can’t see the artist, what the song is called or the cover work. Years ago, I would listen while thoroughly reading and taking in the album artwork. not anymore.
Hey, I like this. OK?
Big Sexyland – Revolting Cocks
The continuance of the transformation started by such electronica bands as Throbbing Gristle. The Revolting Cocks took samples and an industrial sound a little further and produced an album of lovely political songs that challenge perceptions of music.
Personal highlights:
- 38
- Union Carbide
- No Devotion
This band led into Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and todays shouty metal. It’s very good.
The Best Of Tygers of Pan Tang – Tygers of Pan Tang
This is a collection of songs by Tygers of Pan Tang. They were a NWOBHM band and very good. The overall sound is great and just the sort of stuff I like. That’s it.