• From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Alice Cooper - Road 2023

This is either album 29 or 22, depending whether you count the name or the band, but either way, more than 50 years down the "road" and ol' black eyes is still back on form, probably the best form for a few years. The band is smokin' and Alice has lost none of the vocal power.

This is a loose concept album (aren't they all?) of tour inspired tracks and it made perfect sense for Alice to bring the road band into the studio. The result is loud, tight, rockin' with the usual sharp observances and tongue in cheek. Couple of nice surprises, firstly, Road Rats is resurrected from the [medicore] Lace & Whisky album, and stands well. There's also a cover on the album, maybe Hollywood vampires is crossing over... Alice is no stranger to the odd cover as b-sides or extras, but The Who's Magic Bus earns pride of place as album closer.

With this continued recent resurgence  you'd think he'd sold his soul - Ha! that well past re-mortgaging; the Devil's probably given it back...

Album teaser-trailer  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrTG2W5pbKk
The Big Goodbye - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymnw82ylY-M

Should also say, this edition came with Blu-ray disc of Alice's show at Hellfest 2022 - a roaring 72 minute set maybe stripped of most of the usual stage shenanigans, but great performance including a couple of rare numbers in the set, and Alice whipping out a harmonica and showing a Bluesy side..

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Laurence Jones - Bad Luck & The Blues  (2023)

Album #2 on the Marshall label from Mr Jones which finds him back in "power trio" mode since Bennett Holland has moved onto his own Jube project. And it also sees Laurence in the producer's chair, living the dream.

What we get then is 10 tracks over 38 minutes of Laurence really letting rip on guitar, as promised, direct from the guidebook of Jimi Hendrix and other 1970's luminaries. There's no doubt, Laurence has skill, shops and licks aplenty, beefed up by Jack A Timmis on bass and Ash Sheehan on drums, but... To be frank, there are others doing the same, but better. For me, this is loud because it can be, but there's nothing to make it stand out. Again, it'll probably play brilliantly in a live context, but while Laurence still falls back on his debut Thunder In the Sky as a showcase, it shows that he hasn't grown proportionally as a writer as much as a player. I don't mind so much Laurence going down this "heavier" direction, he flirted with it in his earlier days; it's just that there's not enough light & dark on the album, one track seems to bleed into the next.

Bad Luck & The Blues - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPV_Fc2EAcE
You're Not Alone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1JfdPQFUWA
Lonely Road - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BssNa-yeqy0

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Wow!!! getting caught up on last weekend's TV and I've just been blown away by BBC Proms Northern Soul Night.

For those of you un the US and maybe not in the know, the BBC Proms are usually a a series of Classical music over the summer though in recent years they have been known to let their hair down - on Friday they really did with a concert of Northern Soul music. Now, again for the US, Northern Soul was Soul music that was taken up in the "blue collar" north of England and was built round often lesser known hits and artists of US Soul. Right through the 1980s there were clubs that used to do all night sessions on Fridays and Saturdays, pumping out this music.

Here's a sample; hopefully the links will work; if you can, stream the show via BBC iPlayer or put BBC Prmoms Northern Soul into TouTube, then hang onto something. I've already danced a hole in my lounge carpet...

Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RTS8BNrNoA
The Drifter - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGUrln1uvAs
There's a Ghost In My House - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKtkbpYScZ4
What - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjybqlLnY1A
Better use Your Head - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3HPeyjOL3k
You're Gonna Love My Baby - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXZmr4YZLxE
No One Could Love You More -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sj_XBOLM_E
You're Gonna Make You Love Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS77lR6mKsU
I'm On My Way - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBTzbmmsaos
You Didn't Say a Word - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f-QjS2PJ2I
Temptation Calling My Name - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L3YFouLesk
You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wllJ4Ix8jUA
If That's What You Wanted - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuMPmbMJ0Ts
Long After Tonight Is All Over - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaVjcyorvFo
I Got To Find me Somebody - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjybqlLnY1A
Tainted Love - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byxroSQhkTk

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...

6,916 Reply by Curby

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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

I really enjoyed those vids Mike.  Great shout out indeed.

Tonight I came across a song that could've made that bill on the BBC.  Strangely it will be played on weekend SEC football games on ESPN.  The band is from Birmingham, Alabama, not the workingman town of Birmingham UK.
This band was a fave of my late forum buddy, AHSmith, and I dedicate it to him for all the great music he brought here.

Miss you Tres....

https://youtu.be/KkTACr33Nng?si=_7a4Q5-zrCo6InZX

  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Curby wrote:

I really enjoyed those vids Mike.  Great shout out indeed.

Tonight I came across a song that could've made that bill on the BBC.  Strangely it will be played on weekend SEC football games on ESPN.  The band is from Birmingham, Alabama, not the workingman town of Birmingham UK.
This band was a fave of my late forum buddy, AHSmith, and I dedicate it to him for all the great music he brought here.

Miss you Tres....

https://youtu.be/KkTACr33Nng?si=_7a4Q5-zrCo6InZX

Fitting tribute to a great loss to the forum; R.I.P. Tres.

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Jethro Tull - The Broadsword & The Beast: 40th Anniversary Monster Edition (1982/2023)

I've been eagerly awaiting this re-issue as Broadsword was the album that really cemented my love for 'Tull. And what a reissue set it has turned out to be - 8 discs!

Once again, ol' "magic ears" Steven Wilson provides the remix, and it is far, far superior than the previous attempt back in 2005, which was rather muddy in trying to sort the 1980's "bells & whistles" approach. After the more experimental and disappointing previous album, A, Broadsword was not only a return to more established music themes, but a better marriage between the more established instrumentation and the ever encroaching electronica. Also there was the now ever changing line-up, with Gerry Conway behind the drums for the recording, but not the subsequent tour, and Peter John Vettesse on piano and synthesisers, later to record Ian Anderson's delayed solo album in 1983 (Walk Into Light - wonder if that will get a reissue?)

Broadsword was Tull's first album not to have been released in consecutive years, but in the year's hiatus, the band certainly weren't idle, there's almost 2 other album's worth of material in the box set which has been polished up with equal care as the main feature; certainly a lot I've not heard before. Rounding off the CDs, there's 2 discs of a full German show from 1982, over 110 minutes worth. Sadly, there's no video of this in the 3 DVDs in the set, which is a shame as it means we don't get to see jethro Tull's "Spinal Tap" moment with the Viking Longship stage. (The 2 other DVDs have all the recorded materials in either 5'1 or DTS audio sound.

Once again, sumptuous packaging with a comprehensive and richly illustrated 160+ page booklet, though I have to say, the mechanism holding 6 of the discs seems a bit flimsy and might be cause for concern if you're going to by playing the discs often.

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
  • Registered: 2009-04-29
  • Posts: 443

Re: What song are you listening to right now?

BansheeUK wrote:

Jethro Tull - The broadsword & The Beast: 40th Anniversary Monster Edition (1982/2023)

I've been eagerly awaiting this re-issue as Broadsword was the album that really cemented my love for 'Tull. And what a reissue set it has turned out to be - 8 discs!

Once again, ol' "magic ears" Steven Wilson provides the remix, and it is far, far superior than the previous attempt back in 2005, which was rather muddy in trying to sort the 1980's "bells & whistles" approach. After the more experimental and disappointing previous album, A, Broadsword was not only a return to more established music themes, but a better marriage between the more established instrumentation and the ever encroaching electronica. Also there was the now ever changing line-up, with Gerry Conway behind the drums for the recording, but not the subsequent tour, and Peter John Vettesse on piano and synthesisers, later to record Ian Anderson's delayed solo album in 1983 (Walk Into Light - wonder if that will get a reissue?)

Broadsword was Tull's first album not to have been released in consecutive years, but in the year's hiatus, the band certainly weren't idle, there's almost 2 other album's worth of material in the box set which has been polished up with equal care as the main feature; certainly a lot I've not heard before. Rounding off the CDs, there's 2 discs of a full German show from 1982, over 110 minutes worth. Sadly, there's no video of this in the 3 DVDs in the set, which is a shame as it means we don't get to see jethro Tull's "Spinal Tap" moment with the Viking Longship stage. (The 2 other DVDs have all the recorded materials in either 5'1 or DTS audio sound.

Once again, sumptuous packaging with a comprehensive and richly illustrated 160+ page booklet, though I have to say, the mechanism holding 6 of the discs seems a bit flimsy and might be cause for concern if you're going to by playing the discs often.

It was a bit of a take it or leave it Tull album for me, yet this is fantastic. Not yet got round to the CDs/DVDs yet as I shelled out for the vinyl too and played that first - more money than sense - lots more to listen to and savour over the coming weeks.

  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

The Record Company - 4th Album (2023)

At the end of 2022, The Record Company was facing numerous trials and tribulations including a cancelled tour and being dropped from their record label. On 'The 4th Album,' The Record company see that rejection as a rite of renewal, a way to cleanse themselves, to start over. They head back to their roots: creating the raw, self-produced, blues-based music that in past years earned them multiple Billboard #1 AAA songs, a Grammy nomination and mainstream exposure supporting the likes of Bob Seger and John Mayer.

And what they have done on The 4th Album, (I'd love to have been in the room at the naming discussions...) is gone right back to "dirt-floor" basics as much as they could; working out of an intimate home studio in Beachwood Canyon, they wrote, recorded and self-produced the music.the drum tracks were cut at Sunset Sound Studios (L.A.)

The single Talk To Me features a dancing bass atop a simmering groove, punctuated by tambourine before the guitar kicks back in.  Second single Dance On Mondays features guitar cries through a hypnotically hummable bassline and head-nodding beat.  Other songs on the album include I Found Heaven (In My Darkest Days), Highway Lady, Patterns, Roll With It, Bad Light, Control My Heart Blues, I’m Working and You Made A Mistake. “I’d love for people to hear this record and feel like they’re in the house with us making it,” Alex leaves off. “I want them to feel like they’re part of this unpolished and homemade thing, because that’s what we were trying to get back to.”

And that sums up the album perfectly; it's raw, it's basic and it does sound like it was cut in your front room. There's not one "filler" track on the album and each has it's own catch. I bet there's someone at their previous label either eating crow, or waiting his cards....

Dance On Mondays - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmLByOF_wjg...
Talk To Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XY05F3hDOM&t=2s

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

The Pretenders - Relentless (2023)

Well, wasn't expecting this, although Chrissie Hynde as been touring at a rate over the last year. So, first impressions, the cover looks like a continuation of a 1995 single cover for the [acoustic] reissue of the Kid single: the album within, certainly isn't acoustic, nor does it show The Pretenders treading water. In fact, the album is a real cracker; consolidating the writing partnership between Chrissie and guitarist James Walbourne. This has the energy, crackle and relevance as the band had 40 years back, without slavishly recreating the soundscapes that James Honeyman-Scott created.

Chrissie's voice has hardly diminished over the years, still has that core of restlessness and brutal honesty hidden in the Smokey smoothness. Produced by David Wrench and recorded at Battery Studios in West London, the album’s 12 tracks feature what Chrissie describes as “The Pretenders Collective.” This extended band features James Walbourne (guitars), Kris Sonne (drums), Chris Hill (double bass), Dave Page (bass) and Carwyn Ellis (keyboards and guitars). On any other day, Walbourne, Sonne & Hill make up the psycho-billy rocker, His Lordship, and it's that resless energy they bring alnong to The Pretenders,

RELENTLESS also features a long hoped-for collaboration with the esteemed composer Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead, The Smile), who provides the string arrangement and conducted the 12 Ensemble for the album’s beautiful closing track, "I Think About You Daily. Over soaring strings, Hynde blossoms like a tender bruise; she sings of the destructive nature of time, irrevocable loss and a passion that remains – just like The Pretenders – timeless.

Let The Sun Come In - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocb4KkliFXc
I Think About You Daily - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTLh3oJe7Xc&t=1s

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
  • From: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

The Coral - Sea of Mirrors (2023)
                  Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show (2023)

Hmm, a two-for-one here... One of my favourite "secret" bands, and they've only gone and come up trumps on each album.
Sea of Mirrors come across a Psych-folk-pop-rock soundtrack to an imagined Italian spaghetti western adventure, and even has narration from Cillian Murphy, as if it needed any more kudos. “Sea of Mirrors” is a perfectly crafted collection of songs, from a band who have are still at their peak.

Holy Joe's is a sort of bridge, making a triptych between Sea of Mirrors and the earlier Coral Island; dealing with loneliness, joyriding, bank robbers & murder, lyrically this is the darkest album the Coral has released to date. The album brings James and Ian Skelly's grandad a.k.a The Great Muriarty back into the fold for the narrated post-script to Coral island, one of the band's most successful albums to date. Framed inside a midnight radio show beaming out from a Michelin blimp that hovers somewhere past the piers of Coral Island, '"Holy Joe...' is a love letter to the tradition of the death disc and murder ballad, from Stack-o-Lee to Skeleton Key, and everything in between. Stay up late. Tune in. If you do, who knows? You might end up loving it more than the original."

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...

6,923 Reply by Curby

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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

A recent band I came across and thought I'd share.  Stick around for the solo at the end.  Good stuff.

https://youtu.be/1wgjwIKSQzc?si=FchKuvUGd8hDNYu-

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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Curby wrote:

A recent band I came across and thought I'd share.  Stick around for the solo at the end.  Good stuff.

https://youtu.be/1wgjwIKSQzc?si=FchKuvUGd8hDNYu-

I'm liking what I've heard so far. I see there's an [digital] album from 2018 as well as the more recent [vinyl/digital] EP available. sadly neither format suits me, but once this snowball gets rolling.....

Another Top Shout...

Down To The Devil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scD_XWvDFhc
Georgiana - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnnVjK18FE&t=1s

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Henrik Freischlader - Little Big Beat Live Studio Session (2023)

Got this cracker of an album [double Cd actually] through the post a couple of days ago.
Absolutely bloody brilliant Blues; just like the Hartlepool show I saw this Spring. A 2 disc live session, recorded in front of what could be an invited audience. Henrik on top form; this guy plays Blues like BMW build cars....
Go on, treat yourselves....

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Hawkwind - Choose Your Masques (1982/2010)

"Dodgy past Friday" Josticks burning and revisiting some some old Hawkwind from 1982 - Choose Your Masques (extended 2 disc version).
Bit of a mis-mash; Nik Turner guesting on one song (before the big falling-out); dissatisfaction with drummer Martin Griffiths saw him go (after "contractual obligations") and drum machines in.  Re-worked Silver Machine & Psychedelic Warlords, found Robert Calvert lyrics and Michael Moorcock's lyrics credited to his wife, due to his contractual problems. never ones for an easy life...

If you want a "live" version, look for 2016's Coded Languages

Or, you could go absolutely crazy [man] and wait for the 50th anniversary release of Space Ritual next week...

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

BansheeUK wrote:

Hawkwind - Choose Your Masques (1982/2010)

Or, you could go absolutely crazy [man] and wait for the 50th anniversary release of Space Ritual next week...

Oh I am waiting smile

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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

The Temperance Movement - Self-titled  (2013)

So, picked this up yesterday at a local flea-market for an embarrassingly low-price.

that was the first surprise; the 2nd surprise is how tight and crisp this sounds, what a stormin' debut album. And final surprise, is this really 10 year old????

Only Friend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mGALmFlHOA
Ain't No Telling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtAZTgaog9o
Pride - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPBYT4GY4b4

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Stephen Wilson - The Harmony Codex  (2023)

He keeps sneaking these out, doesn't he? This is Mr Wilson's 7th solo studio outing and after the slightly disappointing The Future Bites, this is a very welcome return to form as a solo artist. The Porcupine Tree reunification of the other year was proof that there's still a creative flame in his diminutive frame, and Harmony Codex proves it's burning bright as ever, even back to the To The Bone and Raven albums;  in fact you can hear motifs from all his previous works. And early influences about too, at times it's like a musical conversation between Mike Oldfield and Jean Michel Jarre and even Plant & Page, with the use of Middle Eastern motifs.

When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons.  Why were the lemons free?  What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...

6,930 Reply by Curby

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Re: What song are you listening to right now?

Been meaning to post this song for some time.  The message really touches me deeply, a lot like those old hippie songs from the 60's that spoke to people of my generation.  Lazer Lloyd "Backstreets".

https://youtu.be/n3PVjvCMFdM?si=vGtfiG-HDX7Cjn4Y