Camel - Music inspired by the Snow Goose (1975)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 5:50 AM 0 comments

Camel's classic period started with The Snow Goose, an instrumental concept album based on a novella by Paul Gallico. Although there are no lyrics on the album — two songs feature wordless vocals — the music follows the emotional arc of the novella's story, which is about a lonely man named Rhayader who helps nurse a wounded snow goose back to health with the help of a young girl called Fritha he recently befriended. Once the goose is healed, it is set free, but Fritha no longer visits the man because the goose is gone. Later, Rhayader is killed in battle during the evacuation of Dunkirk. The goose returned during the battle, and it is then named La Princesse Perdue, symbolizing the hopes that can still survive even during the evils of war. With such a complex fable to tell, it is no surprise that Camel keep their improvisational tendencies reigned in, deciding to concentrate on surging, intricate soundscapes that telegraph the emotion of the piece without a single word. And even though The Snow Goose is an instrumental album, it is far more accessible than some of Camel's later work, since it relies on beautiful sonic textures instead of musical experimentation.
Tracks
1.The Great Marsh (2:02)
2.Rhayader (3:01)
3.Rhayader Goes to Town (5:20)
4.Sanctuary (1:05)
5.Fritha (1:19)
6.The Snow Goose (3:12)
7.Friendship (1:43)
8.Migration (2:01)
9.Rhayader Alone (1:50)
10.Flight of the Snow Goose (2:40)
11.Preparation (3:53)
12.Dunkirk (5:25)
13.Epitaph (2:07)
14.Fritha Alone (1:39)
15.La Princesse Perdue (4:45)
16.The Great Marsh (1:19)
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Tipsy - Triptease (1997)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 2:28 AM 0 comments

Brought together by their shared fascination for experimental music and noise, the San Francisco-based lounge-collage duo Tipsy consists of Tim Digulla and David Gardner. Previously, Gardner worked with sonic manipulators like PGR and Big City Orchestra; Digulla began recording noise projects on his walkman while in junior high under the name No One. He continued his experiments in the San Francisco noise scene, through which he connected with Gardner at a warehouse sound event. Interested in the possibilities early easy listening and lounge music presented for tweaking and remixing, the duo formed Tipsy and recorded 1997's Trip Tease at the Bloody Angle Compound, their label Asphodel's recording studio. Trip Tease mixes modern and retro dance beats and the sensibility of '50s and '60s easy listening into a surreal musical confection; three singles, Flying Monkey Fist/Space Golf, Space Golf/Nude on the Moon and Grossenhosen Mit Mr. Excitement were released. In 1998, the band applied their avant-kitsch touch to a remix on Pulp's This Is Hardcore single. After a two-year period out of the spotlight, Tipsy returned in late 2000 with the Hard Petting single, which pointed to a more streamlined, less lounge-inspired sound. This trend continued on their second album, Uh-Oh, which arrived in early 2001. Tipsy's members worked on other projects, including music for commercials, before reconvening in the studio in 2005 for their third album. The group finished recording in fall 2007, but the product of their labor, Buzzz, didn't arrive until a year later on Ipecac Records.
Tracks
1 Mr. Excitement
2 Space Golf
3 Grossenhosen
4 Tuatara
5 Nude On The Moon
6 El Bombo Atomico
7 Liquordelic
8 Cinnabar
9 Fuad Ramses
10 Oops!
11 Ugly Stadium
12 Something Tropical
13 Zenith
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The Monkees - The Birds, The Bees and the Monkees (1968)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:43 AM 0 comments

The year 1968 brought mixed returns for The Monkees. Their television series was cancelled, their first motion picture project, Head, failed at the box office, and in December, Peter Tork left the group. However, The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees was another successful album, yielding the group's sixth million-selling single in "Valleri" and yet another number one in "Daydream Believer", a bittersweet pop song from the pen of former Kingston Trio member John Stewart. Perhaps no other two tracks define Davy Jones as a pop music singer more than these two hits.

After gaining complete artistic control over their musical direction and finally being allowed to play instruments on their own records in early 1967, the monumental success of Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. began to somewhat rebuff the critics who propagated that The Monkees was a band of talentless individuals who were simply lucky enough to gain recognition through their 'manufactured' origins.

The desire and focus, however, to remain as a complete band unit in the studio quickly evaporated after the Pisces album, when, much to the dismay of Tork, each individual band member began to produce his own sessions with his own selected studio musicians, often at entirely different studios around the Los Angeles area. An agreement was made to label all finished efforts as 'Produced by The Monkees', but in reality, beyond a few exceptions, most of the recordings featured on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees revert back to the recording process of the first two albums—less group dynamics—except now each band member was fully in charge of the sessions. Chip Douglas, producer of The Monkees' previous two albums, fully expected to continue as the band's representative in the studio, but found the individual Monkees more interested in exploring their own diverse musical backgrounds with their own friends rather than relying on Douglas as the central figure.

Those diverse musical backgrounds, while making for an interesting mix of styles and sounds on Monkees albums, most likely also contributed to the downfall of The Monkees as a self-contained studio band. Four different musical outlooks resulted in less and less harmony in the recording process after Headquarters, and the results of that fracture are found on this album—Jones' Broadway rock, Michael Nesmith's country and western leanings, and the rock and soul of Micky Dolenz. Unfortunately for Tork, even though several of his compositions were considered for release on Birds, his participation is almost zero on this album; he appears only on "Daydream Believer." He spent the rest of his Monkees tenure struggling to find his footing in the studio now that the band was no longer working organically.

Despite all the intrigue surrounding the sessions that produced The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, several songs stand out as some of their finest recorded work. "Tapioca Tundra", a wildly experimental piece of poetry put to music by Nesmith, charted surprisingly well as the b-side to "Valleri" at #34, perhaps the strangest song to hit American top 40 radio ever[citation needed]. "Auntie's Municipal Court", another Nesmith composition, featured an excellent double lead vocal by Dolenz and Nesmith, and "Zor and Zam" boasts some of the best Dolenz vocals ever recorded. Veteran Monkees tunesmiths Boyce and Hart contribute another classic to the proceedings in the psychedelic "P.O. Box 9847", while Jones submits perhaps his finest composition to date in the orchestral "Dream World".

The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, the fifth album by the band, was also the first Monkees album not to go to number one, instead charting at number three and eventually selling over a million copies.

For record collectors and diehard Monkees fans, the extremely rare U.S. mono album (COM-109), released in a limited quantity as mono albums were being phased out by 1968, has become a highly-sought item for its unique mixes that differ from the common stereo versions (most notably on "Auntie's Municipal Court"). Most foreign mono copies feature the stereo mixes reduced to one channel.
Tracks
01. Dream World
02. Auntie’s Municipal Court
03. We Were Made for Each Other
04. Tapioca Tundra
05. Daydream Believer
06. Writing Wrongs
07. I'll Be Back Up On My Feet
08. The Poster
09. P.O. Box 9847
10. Magnolia Simms
11. Valleri
12. Zor and Zam
Bonus tracks
13. Alvin
14. I’m Gonna Try
15. P.O. Box 9847 (alternate mix)
16. The Girl I Left Behind Me (early version)
17. Lady’s Baby (alternate mix)
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Kaleidoscope - Faintly Blowing (1969)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 5:10 AM 0 comments

For their second album, Kaleidoscope delivered something an awful lot like their debut, a body of pleasant, trippy, spacy raga-rock, with the main difference that they pushed the wattage a little harder on their instruments -- they'd also been performing pretty extensively by the time of their second long-player, and a lot of the music here was material that they'd worked out on-stage in very solid versions. The result is a record just as pretty as their debut but a little punchier and more exciting within each song than their first album. The title track is also one of the more beautiful psychedelic effects pieces of its period, while "A Story from Tom Bitz" is crunchy folk-rock, "(Love Song) For Annie" represents a more lyrical brand of druggy folk-rock, and "If You So Wish" shifts over to Moody Blues-style ballad territory circa late 1968 and early 1969
Tracks
1. Faintly Blowing
2. Poem
3. Snapdragon
4. Story from Tom Bitz
5. (Love Song) For Annie
6. If You So Wish
7. Opinion
8. Bless the Executioner
9. Black Fjord
10. Feathered Tiger
11. I'll Kiss You Once
12. Music
13. Do It Again for Jeffrey
14. Poem [Mono Single Version]
15. Balloon
16. If You So Wish [Mono Single Version)
17. Let the World Wash In [Released as 'I Luv Wight
18. Mediaeval Masquerade [Released as 'I Luv Wight]
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The Coral - The Coral (2002)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 5:17 AM 0 comments

The Coral are an English band formed in 1996 in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside.

The band's music is a mixture of old-fashioned country, 1960s-style psychedelia and folk with modern rock influences. The Coral have released four albums. Their self-titled debut album was nominated for the 2002 Mercury Music Prize and later voted the fourth best album of the year by NME Magazine. It was announced on the 9th January 2008 that Bill Ryder-Jones would be leaving, but the band would continue as a 5-piece
The Coral is the self-titled debut album by The Coral, and was released July 29, 2002 in the United Kingdom on the Deltasonic label, where it debuted at number 5 in the charts, and on March 3, 2003 in the United States on Columbia Records (see 2002 in music). It was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
Tracks
1 Spanish Main 1:53
2 I Remember When 3:38
3 Shadows Fall 3:29
4 Dreaming of You 2:21
5 Simon Diamond 2:28
6 Goodbye 4:02
7 Waiting for the Heartaches 4:03
8 Skeleton Key 3:03
9 Wildfire 2:45
10 Bad Man 3:03
11 Calendars and Clocks 11:56
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Illusion - Out of the mist (1977)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 5:02 AM 0 comments

In 1975, the former members of the original Renaissance lineup converged informally, and kicked about the idea of forming another band. Unfortunately, before they could get the project off the ground, key member Keith Relf tragically died the following year. Despite this loss, drummer Jim McCarty grabbed the reigns and the band pushed onward. McCarty stepped out behind the drum kit for an acoustic guitar and shared vocal duties with Jane Relf (Keith's sister), and the band acquired two new members for support: John Knightsbridge on lead guitar and drummer Eddie McNeil. Having forfeited the Renaissance name some years earlier, the newly constituted band chose the name Illusion, which was the name of their second and final album when they were Renaissance
The album starts with a killer song "Isadora", a very catchy romantic song full of typical Baroque rhythmic piano. Actually, the omnipresent piano constantly flirts with Baroque, catchy & sophisticated airs, like during their early career. I cannot stop to like to be transported by Jane's pleasant & reassuring vocals on "Beautiful Country". The very bottom bass on "Solo Flight" remind you that it is Renaissance that is playing, despite the Yes-Drama like lead vocals.

On side 2, "Everywhere You Go" sounds more acoustic due to the miscellaneous high frequency percussions; it contains some good background orchestral arrangements reminding a bit Renaissance with Annie Haslam. "Face Of Yesterday" is a reprise from their Illusion album made in 1970: it has a richer sound and it is globally more fluid: needless to say I prefer it to the original version. The a bit unexpected last track, "Candles Are Burning", contains a good progressive part full of rhythmic piano and electric guitar solos: unlike the other tracks, it is not really romantic, except for its beautiful & majestic finale: what a great manner to end an album!
Tracks
01 Isadora
02 Roads to Freedom
03 Beautiful Country
04 Solo Flight
05 Everywhere You Go
06 Face of Yesterday
07 Candles Are Burning
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Ill Wind - Flashes (1968)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 1:55 AM 0 comments

Originally known as The Prophets, with a singer called Judy Bradbury, this band were originally from Wellsley, Massachusettes but based themselves in Boston. Clearly, a hippie as opposed to a punk band.Following Capitol Record's decision not to sign the band, Ill Wind was put in contact with producer Tom Wilson through the New York office of William Morris Agency. Wilson was riding high, having produced hit records for Simon and Garfunkle, Bob Dylan, the Animals, the Mothers of Invention and others, and he had just established his own independent production company Rasputin. He had signed a stable of acts and had licensing agreements for release through several labels. Ill Wind's album was to be released on ABC Records.

The album was recorded at Mayfair Studios in New York, during four weeks in February and early March, 1968 using a one-inch 8-track machine. A total of eleven tracks were recorded, of which nine were selected for inclusion on the album. The session engineer was Harry Yarmark and the remix engineer was Gary Kellgren. None of the band members were permitted in the mixing sessions. The album was released in June, 1968 with an initial pressing of 10,000 copies. These were all defective, having a repeated section during High Flying Bird as well as a back cover that was printed so dark as to be illegible. A second pressing of 2,500 copies corrected both faults.
Tracks
01 Walkin' and Singin'
02 Sleep
03 Little Man
04 Dark World
05 L.A.P.D.
06 High Flying Bird
07 Hung Up Chick
08 People of the Night
09 Full Cycle
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Canned Heat - Living the blues (1968)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:49 AM 0 comments

Living the Blues is a 1968 double album by Canned Heat. It was one of the first double albums to place well on album charts. It features Canned Heat's signature song, "Going Up the Country," which would later be used in the Woodstock film. John Mayall appears on piano on "Walking by Myself" and "Bear Wires." Dr. John appears on "Boogie Music". The 20-minute trippy suite "Parthenogenesis" is dwarfed by the album-length "Refried Boogie," recorded live.
Tracks
A1 Pony Blues 3:47
A2 My Mistake 3:21
A3 Sandy's Blues 6:45
A4 Going Up the Country 2:51
A5 Walking by Myself 2:38
A6 Boogie Music 3:13
B1 One Kind Favor 4:44
B2 Parthenogenesis 19:54
i. Nebulosity
ii. Rollin' and Tumblin'
iii. Five Owls
iv. Bear Wires
v. Snooky Flowers
vi. Sunflower Power (RMS IS truth)
vii. Raga Kafi
viii. Icebag
ix. Childhood's End
C Refried Boogie - Part I 20:10
D Refried Boogie - Part II 20:50
Listen 1
Listen 2

A la Ping Pong - Extrem Musik A La Ping Pong Phase 1 (1980)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:31 AM 0 comments

This rare electronic release contains atmospheres ala Manuel Goettsching / Gunther Schickert coupled with Cluster / Harmonia-like touches. A La Ping Pong consisted of Hardy Kukuk (synths, sequencers), Hucky Thoss (drums), Klaus Bloch (guitar, voice, synth) and Karsten Recke (electronic piano, sequencer, electronic drums).
Recorded at Studio Paradiso Feb.-Juli 1980. Mixed in September.
"Nordlaut 1 + 3" are live recordings from Spektakel '80.
Tracks
1 Fanfaren - Waidmannsheil?
2 Nordlaut 1
3 Edelweiß für ....
4 Nordlaut 3
5 Morgenstern-Abendstern
6 Zartbitter
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Tim Buckley - Goodbye and Hello (1967)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:14 AM 0 comments

Before Tim Buckley got carried away with jazz rhythms in the '70s, he made profoundly moving folk-rock albums that showcased his stunning vocal range, thoughtful lyrics, and penchant for occasionally imbuing tracks with surprisingly soulful, non-blue-eyed grooves and infectious jangle-pop melodies. Goodbye and Hello, his second album (recorded in 1967 when he was only 20), runs the gamut. Here Buckley hints at the sensual howl that would blossom in the '70s ("I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain," "Pleasant Street," "Hallucinations"). While he goes into hippie-poet-deep-thinker mode on a few songs, the excellent folk-soul tracks win out.
There's no denying that some of the lyrics on this album apply specifically to the incredible era that was the 1960s - but have the values and beliefs they espoused so vibrantly faded into nonexistence? I don't think so. Emphasis shifts, forms of expression change - but the things about which Tim Buckley sang so eloquently on this recording are eternal: war and peace (both internal and external); love and loneliness; the strife that is born between generations. The 60s era was full of bands and songwriters wrestling with these subjects, striving to help us all deal with them - and more than a few who tagged along for the ride with the hope of making a buck out of the movements that arose around them. Buckley - and his (then-) lyricist Larry Beckett were, as artists, reaching desperately and honestly for something higher, not for any accolades that might come their way as a result, but to latch onto something they could use to pull themselves (and the rest of us) up to a higher level. Tim Buckley succeeded in this more than most of his contemporaries.
The musicianship on the album is superb. Buckley has moved to a 12-string acoustic guitar, the instrument which was soon to become his main choice. Lee Underwood is along on lead guitar - and I can't say too much about Lee's contributions to Tim's music (and his life - he was one of Buckley's closest friends). Carter C. C. Collins makes his first recorded appearance on congas - another musician who would become a close friend to Buckley, as well as a frequent, welcome accompanist. Jim Fielder is along on bass on some of the tracks. Most of the rest of the musicians, while talented, are studio players brought into the recording by producer Jerry Yester - Elektra recognized Tim's potential, and wanted a fairly slick, commercial recording. It turned out pretty good from all angles - but it would be the last bow to commerciality that Buckley would make.

The album begins with a song dealing with the horrors of war - it was, after all, the era of Vietnam - but in the case of `No man can find the war', the lyrics suggest that the real war is not in the jungle, but in the minds of men and women: `Is the war across the sea? Is the war behind the sky? Have you each and all gone blind? Is the war inside your mind?' It is only when we fight - or at least make an attempt to do so - the battles that rage within us that real peace will come. `Carnival song', the next track (written by Buckley alone) speaks to hypocrisy and truth, and does so more directly than many of the more popular tunes of the day that addressed this subject. `Pleasant Street' (also written by Buckley alone) is one of his finest tunes - `Hallucinations' is just that - the melody, lyrics and arrangement combine to produce a gently swirling maelstrom that draws the listener into the images spun by the singer.

The next track, `I never asked to be your mountain', is in my opinion one of the best things Buckley ever wrote. In it, he addresses his first wife, speaking openly and poetically of the forces that pull two people together and drive them apart. His 12-string guitar thunders out the rhythm on this track, drawing the other musicians along with him into one of the most powerful pieces he ever recorded. At the end of the song, the listener aches to hear Tim cry out `...please come home...' over and over - this is piercing music straight from the heart, which is where all of Tim's songs originated.

`Once I was' follows, a song that speaks gently of love and change - a beautiful song. `Phantasmagoria in two' (which Tim and Lee called `The fiddler'), is a deceptively progressive step in Tim's songwriting - giving free rein to the meaning at the heart of the song, Tim abandons completely attempting to force the words into rhyme. The effect is perfect - Tim's lyrics are so moving, combined with his amazing voice and the melody, that it almost goes unnoticed, form being overshadowed (as it should be) by substance. `Knight-errant' is next - a nod to the romantic attitudes of the era that uses the images of a knight and his lady nicely, if a bit naïvely.

`Goodbye and hello' is Larry Becket's magnum opus - at least among the songs he co-wrote with Tim. It's quite a piece of poetry, with two stanzas existing side-by-side in several places (and sung that way by Tim) - the fact that Tim was able to take this challenge up and write the melody for it says a lot about his skills as well as his determination. This is a tune that, due to its complexity, was only performed live on a couple of occasions. It borders on being overwrought - but it stands nevertheless as a valuable document.

`Morning glory' ends the set - this was covered more popularly by Blood Sweat and Tears - a gentle song that is deceptive in its depth, dealing with the romantic notion (held by the `character' who sings it) that simply by asking a hobo about his life, that life can be experienced by the questioner. The hobo makes his point by his refusal to tell his stories to the singer - and Beckett's lyrics make the point as well, that experience is the greatest teacher.

This is an amazingly good album - a wonderful example of Tim's most `accessible' work - and one which will shine for many years to come. Once you've dipped into the rich well that is Tim Buckley's voice, allow yourself to become adventurous and move on into his jazz explorations (on HAPPY SAD and BLUE AFTERNOON), then on to his more experimental works (LORCA and STARSAILOR, which he considered to be his greatest achievement). It's a journey you won't regret. By Larry L Looney
Tracks
1. No Man Can Find the War
2. Carnival Song
3. Pleasant Street
4. Hallucinations
5. I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain
6. Once I Was
7. Phantasmagoria in Two
8. Knight-Errant
9. Goodbye and Hello
10. Morning Glory
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This lesser-known cult favorite is not only one of the most musically ambitious outings of Del Shannon's career, but also one of his most all-around consistent albums. The Further Adventures of Charles Westover finds Shannon embracing psychedelia in a personalized way: Instead of imitating the whimsy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, or the creepy freak-outs of Their Satanic Majesties Request, he uses the cinematic quality of psychedelic pop to provide a vivid backdrop for his songwriting. For instance, "Silver Birch" uses a swirling mass of horns and densely layered backing vocals to add a haunting quality to its tale of an abandoned bride, and "Color Flashing Hair" uses vertiginous string motifs and churning horns to re-create the feelings of obsessive love described in the lyrics. Shannon's work on this album also differs from usual psychedelic fare because it mixes some earthier textures into its sonic brew: "Be My Friend" enhances its lusty plea for feminine companionship with wailing harmonica and gospel-tinged female backing vocals, and "River Cool" laces its swinging beat with some deliciously soulful organ licks. The overall effect is stunning, managing to fit the tag of psychedelic pop but still retaining the haunting, emotional kind of songwriting that distinguished Del Shannon's music.
Tracks
1. Thinkin' It Over
2. Be My Friend
3. Silver Birch
4. I Think I Love You
5. River Cool
6. Colour Flashing Hair
7. Gemini
8. Runnin' on Back
9. Conquer
10. Been So Long
11. Magical Musical Box
12. New Orleans (Mardi Gras)
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Tim Buckley - Tim Buckley (1966)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:26 AM 0 comments

Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American vocalist and musician who went through many distinct phases spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which he incorporated aspects of folk, jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, and avant-garde rock. He died when he was 28 years old, survived by his wife and adopted son Taylor, and his biological son from an earlier marriage, Jeff (who would later become a well-known musician in his own right).
Tim recorded his debut album, Tim Buckley, over three days in Los Angeles in August 1966. Tim later denigrated the album, describing it as "like Disneyland". The album's folk-rock style was largely typical of the time, but critics noted Tim's distinctive voice and tuneful compositions. The tracks featured were written with Larry Beckett while the two were in high school.

The record featured Buckley and a backing band of Orange County friends, as well as Lee Underwood, a former poet and high school English teacher who Tim met in Greenwich Village. Underwood's mix of jazz and country improvisation on a twangy telecaster became a distinctive part of Tim's early sound. Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild's production style and Jack Nitzsche's string arrangements cemented in the record's mid-sixties sound.
Tracks
01 I can't see you
02 Wings
03 Song of teh magician
04 Strange street affair under blue
05 Valentine melody
06 Aren't you the girl
07 Song slowly song
08 It happens every time
09 Song for Janie
10 Grief in my soul
11 She is
12 Understand your man
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Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 5:21 AM 0 comments

After the release of their eponymous debut album in February 1970, Black Sabbath returned to the studio in June that year, again with producer Rodger Bain, to record their second album. The album was recorded at Regent Sound Studios and Island Studios in London, England. The album's eponymous single "Paranoid" was written in the studio at the last minute.

As drummer Bill Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony just played the "Paranoid" guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom." The song was written with no intention of it being a successful hit for the band, only to be a filler on the album.
In comparison with their previous album, the songs on Paranoid were given more focus and direction, with less improvisation. However the lyrical content is equally as dark, exploring themes such as war, mental illness, drug abuse and sci-fi horror. Much of the album could be viewed as a kind of social commentary. Spin magazine wrote that the band "saw heavy rock as a way to emulate the horrors of a fallen world."

The lyrics of the opening song, "War Pigs", discuss war and the absurdities of those who make war without regard for those forced to fight it. It is often viewed as a protest song. Similarly, the lyrics of "Electric Funeral" discuss the horrific aftermath of nuclear warfare. These songs were written in the midst of the Vietnam War and the Cold War, and could be seen as quite representative of the political situation at the time.

The song "Paranoid" is uncharacteristically fast and simplistic for Black Sabbath in their early days. Supposedly the band members intended it only as an interlude or as "filler". Its lyrics concern the stigma of mental illness. In a related way, "Iron Man" is about a time traveller from the future who has been turned to steel. He is outcast by society but eventually takes his revenge on humanity. It is also a reference to Vietnam war veterans, who upon returning from war were outcast by society and had no help re-integrating into normal life or dealing with their post war mental disorders.[citation needed]

The song "Iron Man" is thematically very similar to the Ted Hughes novel, The Iron Man. This book was made into an animated film which was called The Iron Giant.

Three songs on the album appear to concern dreams, hallucinations and drug use. "Planet Caravan" and "Fairies Wear Boots" are quite psychedelic in style and their lyrics are quite abstract.

"Hand of Doom" was written as a message against heroin use (holes are in your skin, caused by deadly pin). The song transitions between slow, soft passages and fast, loud passages as a representation of the drug being injected.
Tracks
1.War Pigs (7:55)
2.Paranoid (2:47)
3.Planet Caravan (4:24)
4.Iron Man (5:53)
5.Electric Funeral (4:47)
6.Hand of Doom (7:07)
7.Rat Salad (2:29)
8.Fairies Wear Boots (6:14)
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You - Electric Day (1979)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 1:30 AM 0 comments

Very nice album of Berlin School electronic music. Harald Grosskopf produced and contributed drum parts under Lhan Gopal pseudonym. Ulrich Weber's guitar and Harald Grosskopf's drums integrate wonderfully with various analog synthesizers and sequencers used here. Music is rooted in Berlin School, but still manages to be original and at times borders on experimental. Subsequent albums are all worthwhile as well.
Tracks
01. Electric Day (5:51)
02. Magooba (6:30)
03. Son Of A True Star (5:03)
04. Sequential Spectrums Part 1 (2:01)
05. Sequential Spectrums Part 2 (0:45)
06. Slow Go (11:56)
07. Zero-Eighty-Four (8:36)
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Thin Lizzy - Vagabonds Of The Western World (1973)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:29 AM 0 comments

VAGABONDS OF THE WESTERN WORLD is not only the last record that Thin Lizzy recorded as a trio, but an album that signaled the band's adoption of a more hard-rock sound and an abandonment of its prior harder-edged prog-rock approach. VAGABONDS also contained Thin Lizzy's breakthrough hit, a modern update of the traditional folk song "Whisky in the Jar."

Once again turning to his Irish heritage, Phil Lynott reaches into Celtic mythology to create a wayfaring fictional character who traverses through a mystical world, a character who appears in the Hendrixian title track, and in the moody "Hero and the Madman." On the later, Lynott's spoken-word intro sounds not unlike something Jim Morrison might have written. When Lynott isn't relying upon magical beings for inspiration, his songs speak from the perspective of the perpetual outsider. Throughout the album, the band demonstrates its mastery of the blues ("Slow Blues," "Broken Dreams"), folk ("A Song For While I'm Away"), waltzes ("Randolph's Tango"), and Faces-like boogie ("Mama Nature Said.") The guitar-driven "Whisky in the Jar" may have been the album's hit, but "The Rocker," an anthem that became a precursor to the later success of JAILBREAK, is as hard-hitting as it gets.

Recorded in 1973, this LP was Thin Lizzy putting all they had into the music and taking risks. Its passionate, high energy and distinctive.
Tracks
01. Mama Nature Said
02. The Hero & The Madman
03. Slow Blues
04. The Rocker
05. Vagabonds Of The Western World
06. Little Girl In Bloom
07. Gonna Creep Up On You
08. A Song While I'm Away
09. Whiskey in the Jar
10. Black Boys on the Corner
11. Randolph's Tango
12. Broken Dreams
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John Philips - John, The wolf king of LA (1970)

Posted by Amelia Swhizzagers On 12:20 AM 0 comments

John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.) is the first solo recording by the Mamas & the Papas leader John Phillips. All songs were Phillips originals, dealing mostly with recent events in Phillips' life, including references to his new girlfriend Geneviève Waïte and longtime friend Ann Marshall ("April Anne").

As John was the backing singer in the Mamas and the Papas, with the other three serving as lead singers, the album mix tends to de-emphasize his lead vocals. Denny Doherty stated that, had the Mamas & the Papas performed this album, it would have been one of their finest, because of the strength of Phillips' songs. The single "Mississippi" reached the US Billboard top 40.
Tracks
01. April Anne – 3:22
02. Topanga Canyon – 3:53
03. Malibu People – 3:41
04. Someone's Sleeping – 2:46
05. Drum – 3:36
06. Captain – 3:25
07. Let It Bleed, Genevieve – 2:53
08. Down the Beach - 2:52
09. Mississippi – 3:36
10. Holland Tunnel – 3:41
bonus tracks
11. Shady - 3:48
12. Lonely Children - 3:44
13. Lady Genevieve - 4:30
14. Black Girl (traditional) - 3:29
15. The Frenchman - 4:03
16. 16mm Baby (Reich) - 2:41
18. Larry, Joe, Hal and Me - 2:25
19. Mississippi [Single Version] - 3:07
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