Finding some recent rehearsal room recordings made me wonder: what was the first time I heard myself playing? Well, to find that out I need to go back a bit.
My first interest in any musical instrument was the piano, my father played it and it was prominently displayed. I can remember him playing, mostly classical and he recorded himself on cassette tapes. He was an avid radio and hifi home builder (maybe I'll dive into that some time, but not now) and so I came to learn that it was even possible to record yourself. I was very young though: my father died when I just turned seven. Those tapes were something tangible he left behind, but honestly everything in the house was like that. So they disappeared over time, that's just how things go.

Back to the recording bit then. I was aware it was possible and I was always experimenting with equipment, up to the point where I recorded the audio of early video tapes, very rudimentary, by simply holding a cassette recorder to the speaker of the television while playing an early Betamax tape of Venom's 7th Date of Hell tape. It wasn't available on LP so I figured, let's do this, so I can hear the music whenever I want and I don't need to occupy the tv set in the living room. I won't recommend anyone trying this, it took a good 60 minutes, with a break in the middle to flip over the tape, of sitting very still and being very quiet. But I managed, that tape I surely held onto for years!

It wasn't long after that, that I tossed the idea of playing a musical instrument. My family at that point being a bit dysfunctional (again perhaps later), thought it would probably be good – it got me out of the house – so I took up drumming lessons. It was there that it dawned on me: I can record myself and listen back what I am doing.
Biggest problem: I had no drumkit. It took a month or 6 before it became clear it wasn't a fluke, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the teacher, a young and aspiring drummer himself, informed my parents I was sort of talented, other than just knowing how to keep time. Fortunately, there was some money on a separate account (aka, the inheritance) that could be turned to and so – with the help of said drum teacher – I purchased a massive (no really massive!) drumkit. It was a Rogers Big R, gloss black, with 2 absurdly 26" bassdrums, 7 toms ranging from 12" to 20" (!!) and a slew of cymbals, mostly Paiste. The best part, if someone asked what it looked like, I could point them to LP cover of Dutch heavy metal band Picture, because it was that kit I bought.
I set it up in the attic and the whole neighbourhood got to enjoy it...



Fast forward a year or so, quickly progressing, I switched schools and ran into a fellow long haired metalhead. Low and behold, he played in a band! And their drummer just left. He wasn't the right fit anyway, being a good 10 years older than the rest and when you're 16 that's a huge age gap. Whether I could let them hear what I did, how was my playing? I knew all the right bands, so it was just down to that.
And that, was when I thought: How the hell am I am going to do that? I need to record myself.
I thought back to everything I knew and had seen and brought up my stereo. It included a tapedeck and somehow I needed to figure out how to make that work. Don't ask me why, or how, but I managed to plug in the homemade headphones from my late father into the mic in, turn the shells inside out and play my heart out. I went as fast as I could, fill after fill, pushing up the pace, bouncing off the walls banging those double bassdrums like a boy possessed. And it worked! I listened to the tape, and again, and again. It actually worked, I had a tape recording of myself playing the drums!
The next day I brought to school, handed it over and impatiently waited. I impressed upon him I wanted that tape back, it was the only one I had plus on the flipside was a demo recording from a local band I had been given.
Over the weekend the other guys had listened and when I returned to school on Monday I was invited to come over the next Sunday evening for an audition. The audition itself is a story for another time, but I got the gig!
This was in October / November 1986 and today still, the guitar player and I are together, making music.

We have recorded so much music over the years, it would be impossible to remember all of that. I do remember most of the recording set ups we used though. I will try and expand upon that in the near future.

Let me end with a link to a song I uploaded some years ago, that was maybe recorded in 2015 or so. Note this is more or less in line with the type of music we are playing currently. It used to be a bit different. But I'll get to that later as well...

For now:
https://lemoncrush1.bandcamp.com/track/100-funeral

There's a Fog Along the Horizon

Memories are funny like that; they take you wherever you had no clue you wanted to go.

I must have been nine years old, sitting next to my cousin, at least 6 years my senior, well abled to travel by himself and to have me tag along. The tram moves with abrupt movements, squeaking every turn it takes. If it was early hours people would wake up from the noise it makes, I am sure of it. My legs dangling, I cannot yet reach the floor sitting with my back leaned against the rest. We on our way, we are going to spend money.

My mother is waiting, with my aunt, the only tangible evidence my paternal family ever existed, giving me the roots I crave. It's midday, sort of, and there's a radio playing. What's popular is playing and I am bound to purchase a seven inch single of "Bright Eyes", the song with the bunnies. The radio dares me and plays something different, something I never heard before and it draws me in and locks my ears. The song is over and the presenter announces who it was, what they do and mostly: what they look like. Supposedly they are it at the moment. What did I just hear? and before I have time to digest we are at our stop and need to get out. A most peculiar spot for a record store: at the beach. Being instructed to not stray I handover the cash, and get the near forgotten desired single, its' cover a black and white exposure of a rabbit in headlights caught. It would take me years to figure out what the song was about, I read a lot of books but I reckon Watership Down was a bit steep for a just turned nine year old.

This is where the recollection ends: there is no trip back, no showing mum what I bought, no ride back home in the car. None of that.

There is a vague recall of playing that single that felt out of place once I had it at home on the turntable.

It's been forty six years, I rarely if ever play Dynasty, there is no reason to. There is so much other music, it would bring me little more than a memory. A lifelike one, the colour of the tram is vivid enough, although memories tend to spruce up everything like a polar opposite Polaroid after all these years, only intensifying the memory.

Maybe I should take it out after all these years.

What? No not Bright eyes! Spare me!

"I Was Made For Lovin' You!"

Not the biggest fan, really like Live Under a blood red sky and that period mostly, but when I came across some live footage from the LV residency they are doing (do NOT look at ticket prices....) I figured it's worth a post.
It is quite something, playing a dome stadium with 360 projection. Yes, it is that impressive. There's no doubt a lot more on YT but I fond this one particularly impressive.

Can't say I'm a big fan, it's more my mums cup of tea but when watching this clip it dawned on me he was 39 when this was filmed.
Times have changed, now that makes me feel old.

I hope he got to sail one last time.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aceaf0

Japanese research suggests there is an object in our solar system 1.5 - 3 x the mass of Earth. From what I gather it is located about 750 billion kilometers from Earth.
Computermodels have indicated as such by the behavior of its surroundings.

Don't think I'll make that if I want to drive there and see it but still, the fact people research this and come up with such results boggles the mind.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06419-4

And so it goes... not unexpected but still. Not that I understand any of the formulas on the 2nd half of this story, but I get the idea.

Neuroscientists managed to sort of extract Another Brick in the Wall from a group of 29 listeners by placing electrodes and measuring brain activity.
Fascinating as it is scary.. 

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002176

Mad Season – Above

Grunge – what was it exactly? Is it still alive? Is Pearl Jam a grunge band?
Well, to start with the latter: No. PJ is a classic rock band that was favoured by the tide in the early '90s and propelled into stardom with a fantastic debut, since then never bettered. I get why they are labelled as such though: the flannel shirts, the (somewhat) tormented lyrics, the more than average serious looks on the band photos...but they are no more grunge than its predecessor Mother Love Bone was. MLB, btw, I'll probably get to another time, because that deserves a thread of its own. Or even Temple of the Dog, the requiem for Andrew Wood, lead singer and influencer Avant la lettre for the entire movement, in more ways than one. Later, later...

Now then, what is grunge exactly? Simply put, it is the punk of hair metal. It is the polar opposite of bands that looked better than your girlfriend – which is a reason for Soundgarden not be grunge, I mean, look at Chris Cornell. Not just beast of a singer, he had male model written all over him.
No, prime examples of grunge would be bands such as Screaming Trees, Mudhoney and of course: Nirvana. Citing Neil Young as their Overlord they would go out of their way to sound as if they were angry and apologizing for doing at it so loudly at the same time. Anti-establishment to the bone while (unwanted?) raking in the almighty Dollar.
Now, is it still alive? Of course not, trends come & dissipate easily. That's not to say there are no bands in the genre left. There's still punk bands, but is their there still a punk phenomenon going on? As soon as the Nirvana shirts ended up on the summer markets, the fashion magazines showed models in flannel shirts and cut-off jeans, it was over. Not an issue though, it left room for the bands and musicians that did not board the hype train, to develop and move on.

So, what is this Mad Season then? Looking at the names of the people involved, it looks to be somewhat of a supergroup, a term easily coined if one or two of the involved are part of more successful outfits. Standout names being Mike McCready of Pearl Jam fame and Layne Staley, the Alice in Chains vocalist. To a lesser extent Barrett Martinn, drummer for Screaming Trees and at the bottom of the foodchain, John Baker Saunders of the less successful outfit The Walkabouts on bass. The story goes some of these members were in a rehab facility at the time, tried their hand at turning their life around and, being musicians, thought this would be the best therapy. Lucky us, however it would be difficult to find any of that in the lyrics, which you'd expect to be more upbeat. Alas, Staley was the Neil Peart of service and well..Staley was not one for rehab.
The album cover has always looked to me as an interpretation of a famous Bela Lugosi image, my very favourite Dracula portrayer on screen. It wasn't, of course, intended as such. It's my imagination getting the better of me. But still, the dark imagery is a prelude to what is on the inside: the music.

Now, this is 1995 and the 'grunge' has turned bands into megastars. Cobain left the building a year before and has left the Seattle scene in turmoil. What had turned 100% mainstream with the "Singles" movie and accompanying soundtrack, is slowly leaving the silver screen now that company execs have lined their pockets and turn their gaze to the new flavour of the month/year. The last left standing can support themselves well enough to not need attention and do what they want.
It is in this climate that the fourpiece record and release an album of tunes meant for healing - or exploring. No matter how you look at it, it was meant to be a one-off, even if they thought they might make a follow up after Staley's death enlisting Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees fame.
(Later re-issues are expanded upon this 10 track collection with bonus tracks some of which were recorded with Lanegan – the band discontinued after Sanders' death from an overdose in '99).

The album opens with "Wake Up", a slow, brooding tune that feels like something designed for late night listening. The lyrics, notably, are all penned by Staley – a first for the vocalist now come songwriter, AiC was more of a team effort with Jerry Cantrell being main contributor. It has been documented Staley was reading Khahlil's "the Prophet" at the time and his writing would be thematically influenced by this. But when I hear him croon:
Wake up, young man, it's time to wake up
Your love affair has got to go
For ten long years
For ten long years, the leaves to rake up
Slow suicide's no way to go
I hear a man tormented, near desperate to leave a life he cannot escape from. Staley's next year appearance on MTV Unplugged with AiC would be one of his last public performances and he looks as fragile as porcelain, near translucent.

Single "River of Deceipt", the most accessible track on here builds up like a cross between Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam, deals with a similar theme:
My pain is self-chosen
At least, so the prophet says
I could either burn
Or cut off my pride and buy some time
A head full of lies is the weight tied to my waist
The gorgeous use of a 12 string, (Jimmy Page Stairway to Heaven) guitar gives the music an openness often heard in Pearl Jam songs. McCready feels to be the songwriter for the majority of the music, making the album somewhat of a must have for fans of his daytime job. While rooted in the Seattle scene 'sound' the album has a very distinct feel to it. It is mellow and rarely the band shifts a gear up.
When Staley croons "ooh-ooh" in 'Artificial Red' over a blues tinged beat and spouts
Is this the way I spend my days In recovery of a fatal disease?
he sounds like he has accepted his coming death.
The Staley of AiC, in full force can be heard on 'Lifeless Dead', one of the shorter tracks that sounds as if to portray the bleak existence of Staley and his mates while drug dependent.
'Long Gone Day', low key lauded with percussion and saxophone sounds like an ill-conceived campfire song. But in a good way, with eyes closed I feel the night vibe creeping up on me, sharing a bottle with friends at the end of a long day. It is not surprising the first sang verse features Mark Lanegan, at this point his voice less sounding like a gravel road, the chorus featuring both him and Staley, complementing voices, after which Staley takes it home in what seems a perfect vocal performance. Meanwhile McCready plucks away at the acoustic accompanied by an upright bass, gorgeously sliding over and under the music. A highlight of the album.
The fiercest track on here is the instrumental Soundgarden influenced seven plus minute 'November Hotel'. It takes a good minute or 2 and a couple gong bashes to get going but when the drums really kick in with heavy laden tom fills, the guitar registers open and it feels like a steamroller is moving through a dark desert road paving the way, relentless and decisive it is driven forward. McCready has a clear path to pull out his best wah-wah geared antics and channels his inner Eddie Hazel.
Closer 'All Alone' is as if the band turns the lamp down low, the light is fading and the darkness that was so prevalent on the album now finally sets foot in the door. A quiet closer, suiting and maybe unknowingly protesting the hair metal days of yonder even – they would leave you with a good kick in the behind to boost the adrenalin.

What we are left with here is an album for the ages, it is a recovery album for some (McCready, Martin), a step out in to the open for others (Staley) and a career highlight (albeit short lived) for yet one more (Baker Saunders).

The band would go on and play some shows of which a live video and album was culled (the entire show was added also to subsequent re-releases of Above' shuffling the track order somewhat and adding John Lennon's 'I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier' to the fold) that is worth finding, it is a great show and shows the power of a band at its peak. Shame that it had to be so short lived.

Staley's demise – well documented – would go on another 7 years after this and the inevitable happened. McCready meanwhile cleaned himself up and continued to be successful with Pearl Jam.

In continuation of my previous post: the '90s, I realized I simply forgot one of my favourite albums of all time.
 

1992 – Faith no More – Angel Dust

Let's see, how did I get here? My wife and I got together in 1990. We had known (of) each other for years through a common hide out, the local place we called 'de Beuk' (birch tree) named after the huge tree that leaned against an old church adjacent building.  Plus we lived very close to each other. I played drums at home, huge Rogers kit in the attic, and apparently everytime she walked by thought to her: 'what if you'd live next to that?'

Fast forward a couple of years and through a mutual acquaintance we got together to make young sparks fly.
We quickly learned we had common musical interests: Guns 'n' Roses, The Almighty (!) and most to the point: Faith no More. We both held 'The Real Thing' very dear, the flopping goldfish was an image on everyone's retina those days. Even though "Epic' was a fantastic song, it was the less easy sounding songs I was intrigued by most. And so when in '92 'Angel Dust' was released onto the world, I was overjoyed. You may not believe it now, but it was quite daunting at the time. It still is one of the weirdest million seller follow up albums to have been released on a major label, and probably any other band would have been dumped right then & there. FNM however, had a trump: they had a knack for writing catchy tunes that sparked record industry executives' interest just enough to keep them going. I am not sure whether they listened well enough to the albums first hit single's lyrics though spouting:
"Go on and wring my neck, Like when a rag gets wet" and "Your menstruating heart, It ain't bleedin' enough for two". Yes, 'Midlife Crisis' was catchy with one hell of a drumbeat, but it was not exactly middle of the road that's-how-the-powers-that-be- like it material.
I mean, nearly 4 minutes mumbling on about being locked in an 'RV' wasting away, contemplating how your parents fucked you up, that's no mainstream material! Lovely concept though...
Some lighter material, musically, 'Everything's Ruined' dealing with the miserable rise and fall of (what seems to be) the Soviet Union. In a similar way 'Love Like Blood' is about the Spanish civil war, never direct. Lovely tune though.
But a song like 'Malpractice' on a major hit album release? Clearly Mike Patton wanted to pave the way for his various musical personas after his Mr. Bungle vehicle took off.
The one sounding most like it belonged on 'The Real Thing' (next to Midlife Crisis) is perhaps 'Kindergarten' but starting the lyrics with: "Return to my own vomit like a dog' must've raised a few eyebrows upon first listen. I would have given an arm and a leg to be in that room when the band played the album for the execs for the first time. Or a pinky for sure then. Especially because it is followed by 'Be Aggressive':
"Malnutrition, my submission
You're the master
And I take it on my knees
Ejaculation
Tribulation
I SWALLOW, I SWALLOW, I SWALLOW, I SWALLOW
Be aggressive
B-e aggressive"
Cheerleaders touting pom-poms while shouting:
B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E.
Fantastic, I loved it, still do. Tough scatting about taking it all, picking up what others leave, swallowing it all intertwined with a cute organ sound and a funky metal sound. And then the church organ, Munsters style.
'A Small Victory' sounding like a welcome piece of easy going music before 'Crack Hitler' (yes that IS the title bursts into the ether. Wah wah intro, funk plucking bassguitar, telephone voice and a throbbing, thriving chorus fist pumping 'Hey Hey!' it is a weird tune all together.
It's almost like I am listening to a soundtrack of the absurd, Patton finding every corner of the immense vocal ability he has. Near operatic, to screamo and like the aforementioned 'RV', crooning. The music meanwhile from what was expected as a follow up to a hit album (opener 'Land of Sunshine' could be a companion piece to 'From out of Nowhere'), to weirder and weirder only to close out with a cover of John Barry's 'Midnight Cowboy' from the movie of the same name. FNM always had a knack for doing great covers though: subsequent pressings of this album had a great version of 'I'm Easy' and just recently when they reunited for a tour, they started proceedings with Peaches & Herb's 'Reunited'. Just to show the bands tongue is firmly in cheek.
Did I miss other album highlights? Well yes, the entire album is a highlight. I have always loved it, but most people I forced it upon have expressed mixed opinions...it's not an easy album to take in 1 go. That's for sure. But it is rewarding, there's so much to discover upon repeated listen that you really should give it a try or tries.
Wikipedia tells me the album has sold over 2,5 million copies...I wonder how many people actually heard the entire album..

Oh and my wife and I?
Still together after 33 years. See? Music is the most important thing ever.

Being born in 1970 my formative years musically speaking are the '80s. It is said between 12 – 16 you are most imprinted, whatever you hear and like at age 15 is meant to last a lifetime. And it's true, even though I do not always appreciate it every now and then I feel the need to put on the likes of Possessed or Slayer and feel like I am a misfit once again. Whether that feeling went away, well, who knows. And to be honest, who cares?

So, one might ask, why is this a '90s story then? Well, while most people stop their musical development somewhere in their 20s (hence the very lively golden oldies stations and shows) and tend to stop there, I keep up. Every day even, which I take great pride in, I find new bands to enjoy. And it struck me that he '90s are a very underappreciated era still. Sure, grunge was huge ironically, it's very roots being a protest against the reigning hair metal trend, it became the million seller Cobain & all so much detested. But it's not necessarily that band I want to write about. I wanted to pick 5 albums, not bands, to bring forward. Well known? Perhaps too some, for sure not to all.

So, will I include Radiohead? No. Not because I don't like them, I love Radiohead, but because I think that ever since the '90s equivalent of Sgt. Peppers (bring on the drama) OK Computer, everyone has heard this album and it is difficult to sing praise to something as praised as that. In the rare event you haven't heard it though: stop reading and listen to it now. And then again and some more. It is everything it pretends to be and a major influence on all music since. Shit, I just did what I said I wouldn't.

So what else is missing? Except for 1, the most obvious ones. So, no Nevermind, Ten or any RHCP album. No Mellon Collie which, in all its brilliance, is actually overlong.

Also, not surprisingly, no Rush. The '90s were not exactly the boys' most shining hour.
No, this is the story of the 5 albums I listened to most upon release and they have earned special place in my heart. So let's start.

In order of release:
1990 – Jane's Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual
1991 – Last Crack – Burning Time
1991 – Mind Funk – Mind Funk
1992 – Saigon Kick – The Lizard
1994 – Jeff Buckley

Yes, I know, one sticks out immediately: Buckley's astonishing debut. I just can't leave that one out of any list. It might even be at top 3 album for me.

So, the '90s, leaving the hedonistic 80s hair metal and poser music behind me, I head-first stormed into the grunge wave. I loved the checkered shirts, toned down sound and introvert lyrics but it wasn't long before I realized Pearl Jam is a classic rock band, Alice in Chains a metal band and Soundgarden, well Soundgarden. Anything but grunge then? Yes and no, the grit brought by the album sounds rubbed of. Gone were the gated snare and tom sounds, the overblown productions and likewise hair. But I kept on feeling like I was missing something. There was nothing fun, nothing to even try & cheer me up. Mind you, I was happy in my hole, but I was an '80s kid, so if I needed music to bring me down, I'd have my pick of the British bands that outdid so many of their US peers. (There's a brilliant Robert Smith clip on YouTube at a red carpet thing that sums it up in about 5 seconds, I'll find it someday). Until one day I ran into an album with a strange name, with an equally weird looking outfit posing on the videos: Jane's Addiction. I fell in love with the opener 'Stop' with its' Spanish intro spoken and funk infused (Dave Navarro) guitars and drums. I was intrigued. Singer Perry Farrell (actually Bernstein, but he took a cue from the word Peripheral for his stage name) was and is not the best singer, but JA's main attraction was the combination of music & shows. Find some footage on Youtube with dancers, trapeze artists and all and you know what I mean. It is a true LA glitter extravaganza. This was so far from grunge, yet so close because of the less than overproduced sound, this had to be fantastic. And it was. If you haven't heard it, just indulge yourself and listen to 'Three Days' off of the afore mentioned album. Highlight of the album and possible JA's career is a near 11 minute tour de force rumoured to describe a 3 day sex, drugs and drink binge Farrell had gone through (and which is reflected in the albums artwork).

Mind you, the rest of the album is just as extravagant with 'Then She Did' and 'Of Course' clocking in over 8 & 7 mins respectively being progressive in song structure an style.

'Been Caught Stealing' was the big single here, reaching top marks in the charts.

Last Crack's Burning Time is cut from a different cloth although similar in its' insistence to be different and equipped with an extraordinary frontman that goes by the name of Buddo. This outfit could be mistaken on initial listening to an era band, but upon repeated listens the album reveals itself as an interesting mix of engaged music rooted in the more alternative scene than in rock. Although the guitars can squeal and sometimes even a metallic edge can be heard it has a different starting point it seems. Rhythmically it is far from metal and vocally even more. It could, in a way, be compared to Tool when it comes to that. Not as heavy or as progressive but more in the sense that the band identifies as more than a one genre band. 'Mini Toboggan' is one of the album highlights with its brooding sphere, waiting to explode and it then never fully does but the fantastic vocal performance of Buddo is the real attention seeker here. The title track was probably the most listened to song at the time with its' fantastic drive and airy illusions. It sounds like it's written for arena's never played to. There's many more song highlights and it saddens me when I have a quick look at the dreaded Spotify it has drawn so little attention... 'Oooh' with it's wailing vocal and piano feels like a long forgotten art: the album closer.
Still a great album after 32 years!

Now, for a bit of fun: Mind Funk's debut (yes they wanted to call themselves Mindfuck...) is a metal funk album still firmly rooted in the tongue in cheek tradition with exceptional musicianship. The big one on here is 'Big House Burning' with its relentless drive that makes you either tap your foot (in company) or completely let go (when alone). Signed by a major label this band was going places...until they didn't. I felt they had it all at the time, but not enough others thought so apparently. Anyway, a lot of fun that takes up 40 minutes of your time, if you have them to spare. Don't forget to enjoy 'Sister Blue', a lovely acoustic ballad that should have cracked the top 10 everywhere.

Then, 'Love is on the Way' was the big hit off of this one: Saigon Kicks' the Lizard. It was this album, well actually the mastermind behind the band (Jason Bieler) that inspired to this write up (see now listening thread). SK was a vessel for his musical antics that ranged from anywhere as popmetal (basis of everything), to acoustic ballads (the afore mention 'Love is on the Way, but also 'God of 42nd Street'), to short blasts of punky music ('My Dog'), and 50's poptune 'Chanel'.

Personal favourites include the super catchy 'Feel the Same Way', funmetal 'Peppermint Tribe' and the titletrack with its grinding riff.
But above all, the fantastic vocal performance of this band with its vocal harmonies always very neatly harmonized is what makes this album stand out among peers.

And then the one 'big one', Jeff Buckley's Grace. I already mentioned I will always find a way to make mention of this album and Buckley's music. It is hard to overstate what this album does to me when I listen to it, it is an emotional listen, his voice probably described countless times, to me is so pure. I have read and heard music is the art form that displays the human emotion the most because it is direct, from mouth or instrument to ear, nothing else that veils the impact it has on you. On me, in this case. Buckley's voice, full of pathos, does more to me than many a full song. 'Hallelujah', a Leonard Cohen cover partly making use of verses not in the original recording, has been covered so many times it could have lost its magic easily, but it hasn't. Not for me, nor should it for anyone else. It is so powerful, yet fragile. And that is maybe the core of this album: every song has something that makes it stand out, makes that it has more than one face. Opener 'Mojo Pin' starts out as if you're drifting in nothingness but the choruses and closing parts seems to grab you by the throat and (yes) pin you down. The title track with its open chord progression beginning turns into a monster of a song: "Wait in the Fire, Wait in the Fire", I will Jeff, I will. 'Last Goodbye', the big break up, the how's and why's, did we come to this are explained, not just thrown out there. And it sounds as Last Goodbye as well. It is a definitive song. The mere mention of 'Corpus Christi Carol', the most traditional song on here (Benjamin Britten as composer) is enough for me to shut up. So volatile it sounds, if something would make me religious, it's this. (And my grandmother, who passed before this album was even released).

I need to stop and turn up the volume now. This album in its core, stripped down to the bare essence is about love and loss, aren't all great works of art just that? It is not for nothing this is extremely successful album that resonates after 30 years still with so many people.

So all in all, the 90's: not bad. Although as with everything, beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder.
 

Ged is 70 today.
Jubilations and all that to him.

End of message.

Such sad news, just 56 years of age

Dutch literary writer Marga Minco has passed away at age 103.

Growing up her 90 page chronicle of Jewish people suffering during WW2 was never far away. Published in 1957 it created quite a shock in Dutch society that til then had shied away from dealing with the aftermath of the war in other terms than rebuilding houses and infrastructure.

I read it in school, it was mandatory, and it is still an impressive read. It is sober in style, near factual and that is where it's power lies. The most famous line in the book is when her father asks her to 'go get the coats' while the Germans are there to pick all of them up. She disappears into the house, goes out the back door and 'closed the garden fence behind me and ran out the street'.
Such is the fine line between life and death. She lived because of this, her entire family was deported and murdered.
The newspaper obituary impressively lists them all:
Her parents were murdered in Sobibor in 1943, het brother in Warsaw in 1944. Her sister, sister in law and brother in law in Auschwitz, september 30th 1943.
When the war ended she had no one left.

I will be re reading her novel, 'het Bittere Kruid' (English translation 'Bitter Herbs').

This time it's 1977.
Not full songs rather snippets but a fun watch nonetheless.

Tool - Lateralus (2001)

It takes about 7 seconds of hearing a tapemachine roll before you know what you have gotten yourself into. Tool's Lateralus, their 2001 third full length, is a progessive continuation of their 1996 AEnima album that already had so much to offer.
If you have never heard (of) Tool you either are not interested in the genre or you have yet to be exposed to it and you in for a treat.
Tool is an American metal band. So far, nothing new, there are manieth bands that play metal and hail from the overseas States of Plenty, but none other like Tool – or at least none that defined the genre as they did. Their metal is of the progressive persuasion with it's knotty & twist rhytmhs and clever use of bass lines and very percussive style of playing.
The bands drummer Danny Carey (widely acknowledged as a giant amongst the drummer population) is more than just the timekeeper. Comparisons to Neil Peart are not far away, such is his defining role in the band musically. It is however, never a display of power just for the sake of it. The expressiveness of his playing always serves a purpose. Sometimes it is to emphasize the guitar part, bass part or (in the case of the title track here) mathematical themed song structure.
You see, this album is a bit of a 'special' one. I can hear you thinking: "well aren't all albums that are great to listen to special? Isn't music in itself a gift that makes the whole experience special?" Well, yes.
However, in Tools' case, the fact they are even creating an releasing full albums is quite a daunting task. These albums are filled to the brim with complex rhythms, super complicated guitarparts, and I haven't even touched the vocal performance.
Mr. Maynard James Keenan. Rumoured to have a healthy dislike of his fans and a bit shy in presentation – unlike other ego trippers he positions himself at the back of the stage when performing live. The vocals performance of this phenomenon is quite unlike anything else in the metal realm. Weaving intricate vocal lines in a clear almost ethereal tone over the heaviest of guitars parts, just to burst into a guttural scream over an ouroborous of a drumpart as if being slain by an ancient monster in the depths of Mordor. The man has a total vocal control and manages to unstructured structured parts with it. Enter: the progressive in progressive metal.
'It is a structural thing', and no I am not talking about a house. It is the way the band manages to make seemingly unlistenable parts work together to create a whole. Sure, it takes some getting used to. When I heard AEnima for the first time in '96 though a pair of headphones in my local record store (remember those?) I could not make out if I liked it or not, however it was clear this was a fabulous display of a well arranged marriage between music and musicianship.

Those 7 seconds of roll tape then – the Grudge, the first track on this albums kicks off and you are immediately exposed to the full potential of the rhythmic passion this band has. When Keenan adds his initial growl and decidedly declares to: "Wear the Grudge like a Crown of Negativity" you get that this is not a Sunday morning album, nor is it a dancefloor filler. The depths of the lyrics, drawn toward the darker sometimes more cerebral part of the singer's existence are part of this bands' DNA (1996's 'Hooker With a Penis' is testament to that). Continuing the song concludes at a generous 8 plus minutes and only then your realise this was only the opening salvo and you have been taken on what is the initial careful tread  of a near 79 minute journey.
What follows is a trip that has no equal in modern metal and the fact alone this band managed to sell millions of copies of this album is mind blowing. From the carefully built up 'the Patient' with its' lyrics of unfulfilled promise, to the strangely catchy 'Schism' where the band tries to fit pieces to a whole juxtaposing guitar, drum and bass parts to forge a beast of a song, the 2 part 'Parabol / Parabola', the spewing with blood and aggression 'Ticks and Leeches' the band reaches the centrepiece, the title song. This 9 and a half minute track, centered around a rhythm that follows the Fibonacco sequence in music and lyrics somehow functions as a resting point while being complicated as hell. The lenghty 'Reflection' and 'Disposition' almost feel like album filler after this type of powerplay but make no mistake: They are well needed for the flow of the album. Instrumental 'Triad' closes what I would call the 'normal' music on the album.
The band recognizes the need for rest and recuperation by adding shorter intermezzos with titles such as "Eon Blue Apocalypse', 'Mantra' and oddball album closer 'Faaip de Oiad', but never fails to leave an impression even then. It really is a trip through the twisted mind of a band that has lifted both the standard of progmetal in general and the veil of their own capabilities to release a burst of artistic and creative outpouring onto the world.
22 years and counting, this masterpiece of the genre should not go unnoticed by anyone. If you think it is too metal for you, think again, listen again, because I believe there is something for everyone here.

Highly recommended – in case that wasn't clear form the above...

Any fans here?

I like reading him in 'batches', 4 or 5 books after each other and then I turn to something else again. I read a fair deal of his output, admittingly, that's auote something already, the man is super prolific.
I started reading him when my mum brought in his books, I must have been 12 or so, first one was I think Christine. Immediately took a liking to his accesible writing and his many references to popular culture.
Mum still reads him, she is now 78 :-) Everytime a new one is published she tells me, she buys it and then passes it on. Lovely tradition.

I am doing a bit of a catch up now, from his latest to 5 titles back that I had lying around. I did Fairytale, Later and now onto If It Bleeds, a collection of 4 stories.

My favourite of his remains The Stand, but Pet Semetary takes me back to the time when Metallica's master of Puppets was released and I read it while playing that album over and over again. 'Til this day I cannot listen to Sanitarium without getting the smell of asphalt in my nose.

Next up is probably the latter day ones: The Outsider, Billy Summers and the Institute. Then I need to read the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and finally, finally do the Dark Tower series that somehow, I never got round reading. Have the books though...
Also really enjoyed The Talisman, with Peter Straub and have a soft spot for The Dead Zone. And cannot do an SK topic without mentioning It, so there I mentioned it.
Most left of field read I enjoyed: Joyland.

Lastly: I am an avid SK movie adaptations viewer, no matter how bad they are - and there are a lot of bad ones out there!

Hadn't seen this before.

Out November 14, announced on Twitter of all places.
OK clearly no clue how to include the image even though I tried...
EDIT: finally managed.

That I spend most of my listening time wading through old jazz heroes finding gems everywhere it does not mean I completely neglect my musical heritage.  So far, in these first 3 months there has been enough to peak my interest. Roughly there's categories I divide the newly released music into:

Bands that do exactly as I expect them to or outperform themselves just a little. So far I have noted:
Katatonia – Sky Void of Stars – everyone's favourite sad willows doing their thing
Enslaved – Heimdal – Norsemen mythology across a backdrop of folky (formerly black) metal, chilling but instantly loveable if you enjoyed their earlier output
The Answer – Sundowners – they are back. Nothing more to be said then that. Well maybe that Neeson's voice is still a thing of beauty.
Riverside ID.Entity – still on the fence, they do what they need ot but I am not feeling it yet

Then there's the category I really enjoy listening to for various reasons but was not expecting that much from:
Earth – Even Hell has it Heroes – a truly magnificent soundtrack of this cult band. If you have the time and the patience for their long woven landscapes that sound like well...Earth itself trying to move mountains, give it a listen.
Acid King – Beyond Vision – fantastic that AK is back with this true gem in the stoner / doom section of the genre. Very good album this one.
Ulthar – Anthronomicon – Helionomicon (2 LPs) – 2 counterparts of albums in the more progressive black metal genre, certainly not for everyone but in its genre top of the line.
Hellripper – Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags – probably the best thrash album so far this year
Westing – Future – Led Zeppelin vault has been emptied, in a good way

And then there's the hors categoire albums:
Liturgy – 93696 – not sure what to think yet, but I recognize extraordinary quality when I hear it. Not for the faint of heart, it is an amalgamation of all things modern metal need and then some. Just go and listen if you're a bit adventurous.
DeWolff – Love, Death & in Between – my fellow countrymen have made the album of the year so far. A super organic and warm sounding album that just welcomes you to listen to over & over.

Most of it can be found on Bandcamp by the way.

https://www.rush.com/signals-40th-anniversary-release/

Right... Bit disappointed. No live material that I can see and single edits well.. I don't care about those. Books and photos I cannot listen to. And picture discs are hideous.

No Bueno.