The Doors - "Other Voices" (1971) / "Full Circle" (1972)
A two-fer of the pair of albums by The Doors without Jim Morrison, following his death. They don't compare to their work with Morrison, obviously, but they aren't as disappointing as I thought they'd be. There's decent rock music here, but the bar was set so high by their six studio albums with Jim, it's almost inevitable these would be panned at the time of their release and in following years. Admittedly nothing groundbreaking, but not total disasters either....
I'm quite obsessed with Yes thanks to my father introducing them to me. He only has Yesstory though, and I'm snatching up their albums as money allows. So far I've got The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans, and Relayer (on the way via USPS). I can't imagine anything topping Close to the Edge, but can't wait to give Relayer a spin.
A 91 minute two-CD giant of an album. Took me all week to listen to it all going to work in the car. I haven't bought a Maiden album since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988) so I'm noticing Bruce Dickinson's voice is sounding older.
This one's going to take time to assimilate. First impressions are good.
Slayer - Repentless
The bands first without rhythm guitarist Jeff Hanneman who died two years ago. Again, this is a recent renascence of metal for me. However, the changes are not so apparent as with Maiden. This still sounds exactly like the Slayer I remember.
Motorhead - Bad Magic
It's Motorhead. It could only be Motorhead. Lemmy sounds a lot older but the boys have packed this one with thrashing guitar riffs.
Compared to their 80s heydays these bands' albums are only lacking one thing: immediately catchy numbers like Ace of Spades, The Trooper or Angel of Death. I'm hoping this will lead to a deeper level of enjoyment.
I'm trying to get time to listen like I used to. I miss the true appreciation of music I used to have, and the intimate knowledge of every note of the songs I loved.
I really tried to like the new Maiden album but I really just can't stand the vocals. Same thing goes for Slayer. I've never been a huge fan of Maiden mostly because the vocal style doesn't really fit with what I enjoy. That is part of why metal as a genre has a hard time becoming mainstream, there are so many varied styles of metal that it is hard for one person to say they like everything.
I really tried to like the new Maiden album but I really just can't stand the vocals. Same thing goes for Slayer. I've never been a huge fan of Maiden mostly because the vocal style doesn't really fit with what I enjoy. That is part of why metal as a genre has a hard time becoming mainstream, there are so many varied styles of metal that it is hard for one person to say they like everything.
I wouldn't want metal to become mainstream. I've always liked its variety, accepting that there's much in the genre I don't like - Guns 'N Roses and glam metal for example.
Nowadays there are too many sub-genres of metal to keep up with. I'll just stick with the old familiar artists as long as they keep going.
New Deluxe Versions of a-ha's 3rd, 4th and 5th albums arrived this morning. Demos, unreleased tracks, extended mixes and live recordings plus a DVD. Guess what I'll be listening to this weekend
Erasure - Wild! Deacon Blue - When The World Knows Your Name Cock Robin - Cock Robin Freiheit - Romancing In The Dark Act - Laughter, Tears & Rage Alphaville - The Breathtaking Blue Level 42 - World Machine Howard Jones - Action Replay Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight The Truth - Weapons Of Love
