March 2008 What's on the player

OK – I did this for February, and here is the March roundup. This is a brief take on what my opinion is on a few albums that I have been listening to recently i.e. the current albums rotating through my player.

Radiohead – In Rainbows

I had this on frequent rotation in February, and still cannot bring myself to remove it from the CD player. I really like this album!

Muse – Black Holes and Revelations

As in my previous posting where I reported on seeing Muse live at the My Coke Fest, I mentioned that I had the Black Holes and Revelations album (my only Muse album) on heavy rotation for the remainder of that weekend, and up until now as well. It is a strong offering that survives repeated listening with ease. At the concert they also played ‘Feelin’ Good’ which really impressed me and I hope to get a copy of that soon. Speaking of which I have ordered a copy of HAARP from Amazon and I expect it to arrive this week (if it arrives at all – over Xmas I ordered some CD’s and books from Amazon that never arrived, some South African Customs employees family members are now grooving to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s new album while reading the complete Michelle Paver ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ series, and I can’t bring myself to buy it all again – so I still haven’t heard the afore-mentioned album). I will provide my thoughts on HAARP in time.

Pearl Jam – Rearviewmirror

This was my first ever digital download of an album bought through the OD service. I must say, I still much prefer buying the physical CD’s. When it comes to Pearl Jam there is even more reason to buy the CD as their packaging is often quite different and fun. Well, what I find interesting about this one is that I seemed to have mellowed a bit since buying it. It has always been an album of two discs, and by that I mean that the first is the ‘heavy’ one and the second more ‘mellow’. When I first got the album I preferred the first disc, now I am tending more towards the second. My view is that the second discs songs are stronger.

Scars (Gary Moore) – Scars

This album is quite a curiosity. It is Gary Moore’s version of the power trio and it works very well. I believe that Mr. Moore should be much more successful than he is – not that he is struggling, but it could be even better. Perhaps he has been missing a constant creative partner much in the way Jagger - Richards or Page - Plant were writing teams. I recently listened to some of his early eighties output and found it quite cringe-worthy. I would call it Cheese-rock i.e. cheesy rock. But compare that to his work with Thin Lizzy, then to his Blues-era material and then to Scars and you can forgive him for that. Scars influences to me are Cream era Clapton, Hendrix and even, now that I think about it, more modern bands such as …..Muse. It is a solid album with strong songs, excellent guitar, and Moore’s vocals sounding strong. I wish he would do another Scars project. By the way one of my favourite DVD’s for a long time has to be ‘Gary Moore and friends – A tribute to Phil Lynott’, if you can get a copy of that grab it I guarantee you will love it. Something else worth mention is the StratPack DVD. This DVD contains a host of very average performances, until Mr. Moore takes the stage. Wow he outclasses everybody else with his version of ‘Red House’.

February 2008 what's on the Jukebox

This is a brief take on what I have been listening to recently and what I think of them i.e. my opinion on the current CD’s rotating through my player.

Jeff Buckley – Grace
I suppose that this does not need much explanation. For me it certainly speaks for itself. I absolutely love this album and can listen to it over and over again, gaining a new appreciation each time. It is no wonder that an author based a whole novel on this album (I read about this in a magazine once, but forget the name of the author, if I can find it I will update this post).

Radiohead – In Rainbows
I hope to post an entire separate review on Radiohead with the aim of selecting my favourite Radiohead album. But so far this one is up there with The Bends, OK Computer and Amnesiac. I am not sure how I am actually going to pick a single ‘winner’ as each album, to me, is so refreshingly different to the last. But let’s take one step at a time. Needless to say I have been listening to In Rainbows repeatedly over the past few months, and keep coming back for more.

Jeff Buckley – Mystery White Boy
I bought both Jeff Buckley albums as a combined double CD pack from Sony BMG. Their premise is to cut down on packaging, therefore bringing the music to the listener cheaper than usual. What they do is package the CD’s in a cardboard ‘slider’ pack, and refer the purchaser to their web-site http://www.musicmadesimple.info/ for details such as liner notes etc. This has not really worked for me as of the two packs I purchased, one was not on their web-site, and the other had no information up-loaded. Anyway, back to the actual album. Like Grace this is also a stunning album. It is a set of recordings of Buckley performing live. What amazes me is how he manages to reproduce the incredible vocal acrobatics done in the studio on stage too. Most of the tracks from Grace are here with only a few ‘new’ songs, but this album is well worth a listen.

Ted Nugent – Craveman
I got this in a bargain bin. The Nuge was with me all through my teenage years, and I felt a strong twinge of nostalgia when I saw the CD lying there all price-slashed. After all it was he who helped me through those troubled teenage years with songs and expressions such as ‘My love is like a tire iron’, ‘when in doubt I whip it out’ and of course ‘pretend my face is a maserati’. I have not paid much attention to the Nuge since then, and on hearing Penetrator in my twenties, was not that impressed. However, Craveman is actually quite a good album. The words in some of the songs are difficult to hear (but then so are they for most Radiohead songs these days), but the sound is great. I like it.

Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
OK it’s quite a leap from Ted Nugent to Midlake, but it works for me. The more I listen to this album, the more I like it. From the opening notes through to the end, this band creates a comforting and warm atmosphere. It’s like having an old friend over when you can open a bottle of wine and catch up on the latest news. I find that there are some key albums that I have come across in my life that I return to time and again, and get something new and positive from each time. This is one of them. The sound is rich and full-bodied, somewhere between the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, but completely their own. Apparently this is a bit of a concept album with all the songs relating to a central theme or thread - something about a guy stuck inside a papier-mache panther mask I think. Believe me it works! I really hope that they can match this in the future.