November update

There is a lot going on these days that is exciting in terms of music releases.

Digital remastering

In terms of digital remastering, there has been a tremendous amount of activity. The Beatles back catalogue has been released. I bought Abbey Road and love it. Black Sabbath are systematically releasing their old albums and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

I have read that Fleetwood Mac are also looking at some remastering. My guilty pleasure album of all time is Tusk, and I would love to hear a digitally remastered version.

Listening list

As previously commented, I have been listening to The Fray - The Fray. This is a great album. The sound is that of somewhere between Coldplay and Snow Patrol, but with a bit of a better edge to it.

I have also heard the Muse album The Resistance and really love it. This band is one incredible, bombastic and creative unit! The album is a frenzy of creative work, with lots of nods in the direction of Queen and our old classical composers. I would love to see Muse live again.

An old album that I have just discovered is that of the Eels - Souljacker. It is full of really great material. I am definitely going to have to catch up on their back catalogue.

The new Arctic Monkeys album - Humbug, has always appealed to me considering the link to Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal - two of my favourite bands). I can report that it is a real gem.

Coming up

I have read that there is a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release called The Live Anthology. I can't wait to get my hands on this. I have always enjoyed the 'Pack up the Plantations' live album, and have heard that this is way better.

April 2008 what's on the player

The April roundup is a bit delayed, and I blame this excellent web-site: http://www.starwarsorigami.com/. It combines two things I really enjoy, star wars and origami. Have a look, I know it won’t appeal to all rockers out there but maybe some of you will appreciate it.

Back to the music though, and I can report that I finally got the Radiohead CD out of my player although I must admit that I do miss it. I must also point out that I have been listening to Muse HAARP a lot, but will not include it in my summary as my previous posting is dedicated to it.

The summary for the month therefore is as follows:


Paramore – Riot!

Imagine Avril Lavigne as a musically talented individual who can write good songs and sing well. This gets you to imagining what Hayley Williams from Paramore is like. Only she is even better than that. The Paramore album is full of strong rocking tracks that only grow with repeated listening.

Breaking Benjamin - Phobia

In my opinion this is a silly name for a band – it sounds like a boy band. But then, I don’t know, maybe they named it after two obscure blues legends….

However the album really rocks. It is on the heavier side of American type rock with good lyrics and a great overall sound.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Pack up the Plantation: Live.


Listening to Muse – ‘HAARP’ got me thinking about my favourite live albums, which then led me to dusting off my vinyl copy of ‘Pack up the Plantation’ (actually my vinyl does not have much dust on it). I wonder if there is a digitally remastered version of this recording out there – I will have to do some research.

This album, however, is an awesome concert document. Sound quality, crowd participation and band performance are all very strong, and the guest appearance of Stevie Nicks is also truly splendid, especially on the track ‘Insider’.

Queens of the Stone Age – Lullabies to Paralyze
Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) is a truly talented individual, with, a little paradoxically, one of his major strengths being the ability to collaborate. This has lead to great collaborations in his series of ‘Desert Sessions’ albums where he gathers together friends and colleagues (Polly Jean Harvey to name one) and takes them off into the desert somewhere to jam and record. I have got sessions 7&8 and 9&10 and they both rock. Also in his collaboration work, he has recorded with the band Eagles of Death Metal. This is another band with a slightly misleading name. The music is not of the genre death metal – I believe that it is meant to sound like, conceptually, what death metal would sound like if The Eagles played it. I can report that their interpretation of this is some really groovy, funky and skanky sounding boogie rock, with some of the nastiest (and funniest) lyrics around.

Josh Homme is the main member of QOTSA and what underscores all of his projects is the amount of fun he seems to have in doing them. ‘Lullabies to Paralyze’ continues on that theme, with the whole album capturing a unique sound, with plenty of attention to detail given to the tone of guitar sounds. There are immediately lovable songs such as ‘Burn the Witch’ and ‘Little Sister’, as well as songs that really grow with each listen such as ‘Everybody knows that you are insane’.

I love this album, and will try to get hold of their new one too as soon as I can afford it.