The Official Pop and Rock Music thread

[LSH 969]

Does anybody here like Afro Celt Sound System?

 

For the uninitiated, they are a British ensemble who fuse Gaelic / Celtic with West African and throw it all into some pretty lovely electronica. They've been going since the mid-90s. Massively recommended.

 

Some good stuff to introduce you...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, if you can, see them live... THEY ARE AWESOME.

 

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

R.I.P., Taylor Hawkins.

[Sweeping Strings 2,370]

Seconded. Awful news. 

[Jay 37,414]

I like the cover of Have A Cigar he sang lead vocals on

 

 

[A24 4,351]

On 04/12/2021 at 8:34 PM, AC1 said:

Not sure if Pink Floyd was first with that (Echoes) riff, I think others have used it too, just can't remember who.

 

I finally know which band used the same riff too, Marian.  Buggles!

 

 

Needless to say they didn't come up with it. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

Buggles?

Yes! 

[A24 4,351]

I'm glad you said Buggles and not The Buggles, Richard.

[GerateWohl 4,396]

Tickets arrived today. Looking forward to the concert next Monday.

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,290]

2 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Tickets arrived today. Looking forward to the concert next Monday.

 

Somehow I’ve not booked to see Neil.  I really should get on with it… enjoy!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

Calling all Rush fans! Yes, that means you, @Counterparts

I've been listening to Alex Lifeson's new project, Envy Of None.

I like it.

[GerateWohl 4,396]

Anyone else underwelmed by Eddie Vedder's new solo album?

I was kind of disappointed by the last Pearl Jam album. As If they on purpose set themselves the requirements to do nothing too original and every song must contain the usual classical elements of a rocksong. And no complicated chords or rhythms and such.

Now Vedder's album. I have to admit, the second half of the album is better than the first one. But it doesn't convince me anymore. I used to be a big Pearl Jam fan. But the old swing is gone somehow.

[Thor 7,546]

Sorry, I was never a big fan of grunge, Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. Back in the 90s, I mostly listened to music way before my time -- I was very counter-culture. That being said, I loved his song on BIG FISH.

[GerateWohl 4,396]

Actually, I never saw Pearl Jam as a grunge band like Nirvana or Stone Temple Pilots. But probably they were. 

Vedder's album for Sean Penn's movie Into the Wild is great, like the movie by the way.

 

[Thor 7,546]

Yeah, that was a decent score.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

For me, Vs. is the best Pearl Jam album.  It’s whatever the opposite of a sophomore slump would be called.

[Jay 37,414]

Ten and Vs for me are like tied for first - amazing albums from start to finish with a plethora of bsides just as good

[GerateWohl 4,396]

The Redux version of Ten is amazing. The first time I heard the music of Pearl Jam it was live. So, the original album mix never did justice to the great songs. Redux fixed that.

 

And about Vs., once I declared Animal the greatest piece of rock music, that I ever heard. So cool.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

My 10 most played pop songs released in 1993 according to iTunes.

 

 

Not sure I'd pick "Dissident" as my single favorite track on Vs., but it definitely makes sense as the one most played.

[Jay 37,414]

Escape is never the safest path 

[Holko 9,539]

In an absolutely mad week I decided to go through the entirety of Paul McCartney's discography, having not really known his postpartum output beside obvious singles like Live and Let Die, Ebony and Ivory and Wonderful Christmastime. I instabought RAM, Band on the Run and McCartney II - I felt those were fun or special enough, rose out of what unfortunately felt less and less interesting as it went on. Though that could be partly because of the crazy choice to do it in a couple days I also liked others enough to save them for future relistens: McCartney, Red Rose Speedway, Venus and Mars, Tug of War, Flaming Pie.

 

Will do the same with Lennon and Harrison - obviously tragically less time needed for those

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

TUG OF WAR is excellent (as long as you avoid Ebony And Ivory). Dress Me Up As A Robber is a real undiscovered gem. FLOWERS IN THE DIRT is very good. The co-writing between Macca, and Costello, is fine. WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND, LONDON TOWN, and BACK TO THE EGG don't get enough love.

 

WALLS AND BRIDGES is pretty decent.

 

ALL THINGS MUST PASS speaks for itself.

[A24 4,351]

My personal favorite is: 

 

 

Good recording too, produced by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Ram and Band on the Run are the only two true classic albums, but there are a bunch of very enjoyable well-crafted albums besides.

[Thor 7,546]

The only one I ever had was RED ROSE SPEEDWAY, which I got on a cassette that my dad had copied from someone's record. I remember finding it rather weird, but OK at the time. I was never that much into The Beatles or McCartney's solo stuff.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

10 hours ago, Stu said:

Ram and Band on the Run are the only two true classic albums, but there are a bunch of very enjoyable well-crafted albums besides.

Check out Macca's work as The Fireman.

Absolutely fantastic.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

42 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Check out Macca's work as The Fireman.

Absolutely fantastic.

I know it well!

[Jay 37,414]

Pink Floyd have reunited to record their first new material in 28 years

 

 

[Thor 7,546]

Yup, saw it the other day. Decent song, although there isn't much original material in it -- basically just Gilmour's solo and some arrangements of that Ukrainian song. And of course, without Waters, it isn't really a proper reunion, in many people's eyes. Pink Floyd ended in 2005. All that being said, it's a very worthy cause, and I can understand why he used the bigger Pink Floyd platform to get it out there than just under Gilmour's own name.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

...without Waters, it isn't really a proper reunion, in many people's eyes.

Without Wright, no sort of a reunion, whatsoever. It's just a couple of wrinklies covering an East European folk song.

[Marian Schedenig 8,217]

Well, it's a "reunion" of the two remaining living members who didn't leave the band, so at least a resurrection of the what's left of the band the last time it was active. Which of course was in 2014, when Gilmour and Mason worked with leftover studio sessions (that included Wright) to make The Endless River. Nevertheless, most news articles I read said that this is PF's first reunion in 30 years (a time that spans not only the last album but even a live performance with Waters).

[Thor 7,546]

THE ENDLESS RIVER is leftovers, whichever way you put it. Much like THE FINAL CUT. So while it's a nice enough album, it doesn't count.

 

As I said, Pink Floyd ended in 2005, with the Live8 gig. Since then, Waters and Gilmour have appeared together on-stage some 2-3 times, and Waters also "visited" Mason during one of his SAUCERFUL concerts recently. But with the death of Wright, and Waters being all wonky, no reunion will ever happen, not even with the remaining members. I applaud this recent project, but it's basically Gilmour using the Pink Floyd "platform" to promote a very worthy cause.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

@Thor, have you seen the rather awkward meeting between Waters, and Gilmour and his missus, at Bray Studios?

It's on YouTube, and it's worth a look.

[Thor 7,546]

2 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

@Thor, have you seen the rather awkward meeting between Waters, and Gilmour and his missus, at Bray Studios?

It's on YouTube, and it's worth a look.

 

Yeah, I saw it years ago -- way before the Live8 thingie. As fate would have it, they were recording at the same place. Extremely awkward, but also somehow comforting that they were both "around".

 

After Live8, I remember getting goosebumps at this THE WALL performance at the O2 in 2011:

 

 

I have this bizarre hope that the same thing will happen with Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson.

 

By the way, as long as the opportunity is here, let's get the PF fandom out of the way.

 

Pink Floyd is my third favourite band of all time, and I'm a completist. I have everything they ever did, as well as the solo albums, live recordings and a whole bunch of bootlegs.

 

I've seen them live twice (sorta).

 

First time was in 1994, during their DIVISION BELL tour. They were performing on Valle Hovin Arena in Oslo just before the summer. After school one day, someone had organized a big mini bus as transport (I think an older friend of a classmate had a licence), that picked us up at the school grounds. We drove in (some 4-5 hours at the time), took our place -- not at the "mosh pit", but some 10 meters behind. Fantastic concert, of course, chronicled on the PULSE DVD/Blu-ray. I think maybe we drove back to my hometown during the night, because it was a school day the day after.

 

While the concert amazed, I was always frustrated that there was no Waters.

 

Many years later, in 2007, I was a "celebrity" of sorts. A friend of mine who was also on the same television show had free tickets to a concert with Roger Waters on a football arena in Stavanger on the west coast of Norway. Obviously, I had to say yes and had a great weekend. Waters performed both Pink Floyd songs and stuff from his solo albums.

 

So between these two concerts, I feel like I've seen Pink Floyd live, even though I would desperately have wanted to be in London in 2005.

[GerateWohl 4,396]

I never really was a Pink Floyd fan, but was always surrounded by them. But the same like I like Stones songs often better when the are covered by somebody else, I am usually amazed when Dave Gilmore plays guitar apart from his PF work like for Supertramp, Kate Bush or Sam Brown.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

... I am usually amazed when Dave Gilmore plays guitar apart from his PF work like for Supertramp, Kate Bush or Sam Brown.

...or Propaganda, or Grace Jones.

 

 

3 hours ago, Thor said:

 

So between these two concerts, I feel like I've seen Pink Floyd live, even though I would desperately have wanted to be in London in 2005.

I've seen Peter Gabriel play live twice, but that's not the same as saying "I've seen Genesis"... which I have...twice, once with Peter Gabriel 

 

 

That thing was awkward, but Waters seemed to be the more friendly of the two.

 

 

3 hours ago, Thor said:

 

By the way...

Shouldn't that be "Oh, by the way"? 

[Faleel 5,375]

14 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

I've seen Peter Gabriel play live twice, but that's not the same as saying "I've seen Genesis"... which I have...twice, once with Peter Gabriel 

I have only seen Genesis once: in October for the Last Domino? Tour

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

Nice. Was Collins' voice as weak as YouTube videos seem to indicate?

[Faleel 5,375]

Maybe, but the synths were huge in the room.

[Sweeping Strings 2,370]

The cover of Counterparts brought the cover of this Level 42 album to mind - 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

'80s pop at its very best!

[Thor 7,546]

 

Maybe the most "poppy" of the J&V albums, but still bloody great.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,582]

It's all great, but Horizons is exceptional.

My favourite Jon And Vangelis will always be THE FRIENDS OF MR. CAIRO.

[Thor 7,546]

38 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It's all great, but Horizons is exceptional.

My favourite Jon And Vangelis will always be THE FRIENDS OF MR. CAIRO.

 

Yeah, listening to that now, actually. I love the more prog approach to this. And to hear Jon & Vangelis blues it all out in "Back to School" is a hoot, as if it's early Alice Cooper!

[Holko 9,539]

On 12/04/2022 at 8:50 AM, Holko said:

Will do the same with Lennon and Harrison

Well, obviously there were a lot of highlights (gathering together a "post-partum" playlist from the 4) but I was surprised that I only found one Lennon album as a whole personally appealing enough to buy, Walls and Bridges. Sad that he didn't continue in this direction. From Harrison I bought All Things must Pass and Dark Horse - might be a controversial mix as I understand, or might have been at one point. Also really like Brainwashed, so naturally I can't find it digitally available for purchase.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I loved Imagine (the whole album) when I was a teen but haven't revisited it in years.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

50 years old this week

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

If you're a fan of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, you just have to learn to accept (and maybe even look at with ironic fondness) a lot of sad, embarrassing lows of questionable taste, especially in the late 70s through the 80s.  I'd somehow avoided knowledge of this particular one up until now, a song produced by Brian during the Landy controlled era that was released as a tie-in single for a "California Dream" Barbie doll in 1987.

 

"Hey Barbie, you are yummy like ice cream"

 

You heard this one, @BrotherSound?

[Thor 7,546]

Oh, I woudn't say that. Some fine things in the 80s too. In fact, one of the first original, factory-pressed cassettes I got was STILL CRUISIN' in 1989. It was either a birthday or Christmas present at the time. So I have a fondness for that (even though few others did).

[BrotherSound 2,248]

49 minutes ago, Stu said:

You heard this one, @BrotherSound?

No, can’t say that I have! And I’ve heard both their version of Wipeout with the Fat Boys, and Brian Wilson’s rap song…

 

Yet, gems like ‘Carry Me Home’ languish in the vaults for years. Fingers crossed more of this stuff sees official release.

 

 

[A24 4,351]

Steven Wilson interviews Alan Parsons: