Wordle 1,059 4/6

⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A real struggle today. Twenty minutes. Had to use an incorrect letter on line three just to generate a word. Very fortunate that it gave me another letter.

If they get beaten on the last day, Forest will stay up with 29 points.

Wordle 1,059 5/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

90 seconds

Couldn't decide whether use it for line 3, went another route. Oh well.
2 minutes.

Wordle 1.059 4/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

And todays' release:

1990 - Maiden Voyage - indeed the debut, 4 track demo. not the best soundng, it was transferred from tape. 3 studio tracks, 1 live.
All 4 of them sound rough, a real demo then. A try out. The band would evolve a lot over the years. Still I like the studio tracks. They have a very punky alternative edge to them. Track 4 Blueberry Daydreamshows the bands love for acoustic, and it's already quite an accomplished song, very kuch as the band would remain to sound when doing acoustics with vocal harmonies. Clearly the highlight from this tape.

https://motorpsycho.bandcamp.com/album/maiden-voyage

1998 - Hey Jane
This is one of the singles off of Trust Us and it's a lovely tune. Sitar driven in the verses it's one of the shorter songs on the album.
Mellow Muffin' Stomp and Celestine are eerie or dreamy (depending on when you kisten to them I suppose) songs. I like them a lot, they have a sort of free floating quality about them. Valis is an alternative type of banjo tune, minute and a half and it's over.
The track that actually comes for the album sessions here is The Ballad of Pat & Put, it sounds like a re-worked piece from Blissard but it's good, downtempo. not the cheeriest of EPs, then again not everything's always cheerie now is it?

https://motorpsycho.bandcamp.com/album/hey-jane

I believe the middle photo was the view above my home in the early hours - and I missed it!🙁

Quote from: Matt2112 on May 12, 2024, 07:19:15 PM

Quote from: pxr5 on May 12, 2024, 03:59:34 PMGhostbusters: Frozen Empire  Wow, how could they mess up such a solid movie franchise? Well they did - massively. Extremely disappointing all round. The old guard were there, but mostly unused and the new team were insipid and dull. Awful really 3/10

Oh dear - disappointing to hear this as its predecessor was very good.

I love Ghostbusters and after the decent Afterlife I was really looking forward to this one. Maybe my anticipation was too high, which is why I disliked Frozen Empire so much. Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd are both actors I really like and they seemed wasted in this effort which is a real shame. Of course I may seem over harsh and my wife thought it wasn't as bad as I did. YMMV.

I need to do a deep dive again here. I have the Lifehouse Chronicles boxset Townsend had for sale on his Eel Pie website. It's a 6cd set. It has all the original demos for the project, orchestration and even a radio play. I can imagine it drove him insane..

The album then: it's one of the my all time favourites, a classic example of what Arena rock sounds like.
Moons opening break to Bargain is to me perfection in how to play an opening break. In timing it's only rivaled by the Back in Black riff, but thats guitar..

I don't think Roger ever sounded better than on this album, he is so incredibly powerful it feels like he could full a stadium with his voice alone.

It has only 1 flaw this album: the omission of Pure and Easy. It's on most of the latter day Re releases though.

Who's Next [August 1971]

Although I'd known about Townshend's abandoned (or long-postponed) Lifehouse project for a long time, I didn't realise until I did a bit of background reading that this album had been salvaged from it. It doesn't feel like a concept album, still less a rock opera. Although it flows nicely, it comes across as a collection of songs in the usual manner.

Glyn Johns was brought in to produce it and I think he does a brilliant job, mostly - Daltrey's vocals have a bit of reverb and sound full, powerful and clear. Townshend's trademark powerchords sound great, plenty of attack and gain but musical at the same time. Everything sounds powerful and lush.

Interestingly on Baba O'Riley and Bargain Pete's guitar is a little bit subdued in the mix, it sounds a little bit atmospheric and distant and this works really well to bring the bass and drums to the fore.

I really liked all the tunes on here but the classics are the standouts for sure - Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes - and the brilliant Won't Get Fooled Again where Pete's crashing power chords are much more prominent, emphasising the inherent astringent anger of the song.

If the album has a weak spot, perhaps it's Entwistle's My Wife. It's a spirited ditty that the big man sings himself, but really it's crying out for two things - for Daltrey to sing it instead, and for Pete's guitar to be a bit louder and more in-yer-face. They really could have squeezed more juice out of it.

Here and there the synth parts on the album sound very dated.

I was really interested to hear The Song Is Over, which has a pleasing '80s stadium rock feel to it - definitely ahead of its time.

Surely the most distinctive element of the whole album is the long, hypnotic, repeating intro to Baba O'Riley. It sounds like a sequencer but apparently it's a late '60s Lowrey "home electronic organ" with some sort of auto-note-repeating function built in, hooked up to a synth. Years ago on his Saturday morning show on 5 Live, Danny Baker interviewed Glyn Johns, who described how Pete had recorded it as a demo at his home studio. Glyn was so impressed with it that he didn't attempt to redo it, he just transferred the demo recording to 16-track tape and that's what you hear on the record.

I think it's a good thing that the band put out a relatively straightforward album in the time-honoured format, rather than another concept album. It's a strong selection of powerful, melodic and in some cases brilliant songs, with subtly contrasting styles and plenty of light and shade.

I also listened to some of the bonus tracks that come with the CD edition. There's a live cut called Water that's very good - it's remarkably reminiscent of Led Zeppelin - but the most notable thing is that Townshend is right in the zone, he plays some really tasty blues lead guitar as well as bringing it with the usual crisp power chordage. Jimmy Page would have been proud, and Daltrey clearly tries to channel Robert Plant at one point. Great stuff.

Quote from: pxr5 on May 12, 2024, 03:59:34 PMGhostbusters: Frozen Empire  Wow, how could they mess up such a solid movie franchise? Well they did - massively. Extremely disappointing all round. The old guard were there, but mostly unused and the new team were insipid and dull. Awful really 3/10

Oh dear - disappointing to hear this as its predecessor was very good.