Tag: music

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Tooth And Nail – Dokken

My relationship with Dokken has mostly been down to an album I bought when I was about seventeen, it’s called Beast From The East. I also had the album Back For The Attack in my collection for ages. This particular album is a much later addition to the collection and bought because I really liked the dynamic shift from the live album to the studio version when I got Back For The Attack. I am not sure I’ve played this one in its entirety. It’s on now and the opening song is a short sketch to get us to the title song. After that it’s a mixture of songs that appear on the live album and songs that don’t. It’s classic cock-rock. I do like it. I don’t think there are any particular surprises here, you know, songs that make you go WTF? It’s a solid album.

This is communication 1946 and I’m hoping I might be able to find more “interesting” stuff in the Wikipedia entries than just death and destruction. Mind you, I get to chose what I write within and I think I’ve been focussing on human rights and natural disasters!

  • Project Diana is successful.
  • The republicans filibuster a bill for equal rights for workers.
  • Women vote for the first time in Japan and Italy.
  • The Philippines is granted independence from the USA.
  • A fire at a hotel in Atlanta kills 199.
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To The Capsules – Senser

I like all music by Senser but most of it just happens to play in a shuffle when driving. The first album by them Stacked Up is very hard to beat and because I’ve listened to that one for around thirty years the newer stuff just gets lost in brain-fog. That’s not to say it’s not worth listening to, I think I’m just saying that I’m an old dog and most new music is like new tricks [are?].

This is communication number 1945, here are some things that happened that year:

  • The US executes a US soldier for desertion.
  • Hildesheim is pretty much destroyed in an air raid.
  • Arthur C Clarke puts forward idea of geosynchronous satellite orbits.

Reading through the Wikipedia pages over the last few communications has been pretty fucking depressing. I know I’ve been trying to put things in these lists that are a little different. I don’t want to focus on the things that people probably know, I want to put things that you might read and go “huh?”. I’d like to think that the years following 1945 will be less depressing but I suspect that I’ll still be reading about plenty of murder and killing of people by governments around the world. Jesus, humans are fucking terrible and horrible most of the time.

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Too Fast For Love – Mötley Crüe

This album is pure cock-rock and I love it. It’s got a very raw early 80s metal sound and isn’t too polished like their later albums. Way back when, there was a controversy about Nikki Sixx appearing in Kerrang! magazine where they thought they had proof that he had been replaced by someone else. I think what makes this album good is that it was self-recorded.

  • Live Wire – great opening fast song.
  • Come On And Dance – the opening riff is heavy as fuck. I love it. The cow bell makes me laugh every time.
  • Public Enemy #1 – has some great heavy riffs but overall is a good rock song. Excellent for singing along.
  • Merry-Go-Round – every Crue album has one shit song, almost by definition. This is the one for this album.
  • Take Me To The Top – a good jogging song. Decent plonky bass and excellent sliding harmonics work from Mick Mars. Good chugging guitars too.
  • Piece of Your Action – Slower paced but not terrible. I do have a thing for lead guitars and just bass with no rhythm guitars added. Speeds up halfway through, goes mental.
  • Starry Eyes – A good start but then goes all soppy and I’m not sure I like it!
  • Too Fast For Love – quality song. Excellent riffage and good start-stop stuff. A classic of its time.
  • On With The Show – A good sing along as well. You can imagine this going down well live. Doesn’t quite hit the spot for me but I can see how it is a good song.

This is communication number 1943 so here are some things that happened that year, avoiding all the obvious shit:

  • Shoe rationing goes into effect in the USA.
  • The Paricutin volcano starts to appear in a field in Mexico.
  • A race riot in Detroit kills 34.
  • 2-3 million die in the Bengal Famine.
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This Is What We Are – Fuckshovel

I bought this album because Smith and I were due to see this band at some festival somewhere at some time. I haven’t seen this band. I seem to remember the album being OK. Nothing special but also not terrible.

This is communication number 1938, here are some things that happened in that year:

  • Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
  • The Yellow River flood kills at least 400,000.
  • “I have in my hand a piece of paper”.
  • LSD is first synthesised.
  • Nuclear fission of uranium discovered.
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Third Stage – Boston

I had a Boston phase and their first album still strikes me as utter genius. I’m not saying this one isn’t brilliant I’m just saying that I couldn’t tell you whether this album is good or not. I don’t think I’ve listened to it all the way through and all Boston listens are effectively part of a shuffle. It’s not something I deliberately choose to listen to.

Communication number 1936, here’s some shit that happened in that year:

  • Italy gains victory in Ethiopia.
  • Alan Turing introduces the Turing Machine concept.
  • Stress as a biological condition is first recognised.
  • The Tasmanian Tiger becomes extinct.
  • A levee burst in Japan causes 375 deaths.
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Themes – Vangelis

Not overly sure why I got this! I think I had seen Blade Runner and wanted some nice calming music in the same style. I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ve played it al the way through. Sometimes songs will come on as part of a shuffle and it depends on my mood as to whether I skip or not.

This is communication number 1934. Here are some things that happened that year:

  • The Japanese invaded Manchuria.
  • The Philippines is given some autonomous control from the USA.
  • A typhoon in Japan kills 3036 people.
  • Australian Frontier Wars end.
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The X Factor – Iron Maiden

I am not sure if I’ve ever really listened to this album.

This is communication number 1931. Here’s what happened that year:

  • Oswald Mosely founds the New Party.
  • Porsche is founded.
  • The China floods have deaths between 400,000 and 4,000,000.
  • The Panama Canal is closed for a while due to damage by earthquakes.
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The Wrong Side Of Heaven and the Righteous Side Of Hell – Five Finger Death Punch

I think all I had to say about FFDP I said in the previous communication about them. There seems to be a bit of a dip in quality albums in this area of the alphabet. Or, it’s just that there are a lot of Ts and coupled with my mistake of the “THE” word creates a stretch of albums I’m not fussed about.

This is communication number 1930 and I’m kinda trying to beat my “most in a month” record while at the same time trying to keep the quality up. It’s 19 days into the month and progress is good. I’ve got some ideas for longer communications too so maybe they will get written when I have some more time and freedom? Here are some things that happened in 1930:

  • The existence of Pluto, dwarf planet, is confirmed.
  • Lili Elbe begins sex reassignment surgeries.
  • A fire in the Ohio penitentiary kills 320 people.
  • The last recorded lynching of African Americans in USA.
  • The Pope stresses the sanctity of marriage, the ban on artificial birth control and the church’s view on abortion [what a cunt].
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The Way Of The Fist – Five Finger Death Punch

I got a number of FFDP albums after I saw them at Download and then a location in London. I don’t mind when one of their songs comes on in a shuffle but I am definitely not bothered about playing a complete album. I’m not too fussed by their double bass drumming all the way through complete songs. Chaps, you have to have variation. But then, I’m old so maybe that is the way to go? So, there may be good stuff on here, there may not. I’m also trying to beat one of my previous best communications-per-month totals so that is why I’m publishing a lot this month.

In 1928 some of the following things happened:

  • Frederick Griffith proves the existence of DNA.
  • A dam failed north of LA killing 600.
  • The voting age for women in UK lowers from 30 to 21. Prior to this only women over 30 and with property could vote.
  • Farnsworth demonstrates the first all-electric television system.
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The War Of The Worlds – Jeff Wayne

This is actually a really good album in that late 1970s way. I’m glad Jeff has made a shit-ton of money from this. I like the fact that the first Martians land near Jase’s house, also loads of the place names are places I know. But those two things were more about HG than Mr Wayne. Oh well.

Communication number 1927 so in keeping with recent tradition and recognising this communication feels like a “cheat”, there’s not much to it, here’s what happened in 1927, curated by me:

  • British troops land in Shanghai which is British [apparently].
  • The UK formally becomes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
  • The Mississippi floods and kills 700,000.
  • Iraq gains independence from the UK.
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