Music Nerds - Latest Album Reviews

"Calling All Stations" by Genesis

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:07:39 EST

Written by: NeurotiKca
To many, even some Genesis fans, Calling All Stations is a very difficult album to defend. However, it features a few traits that, pleasant or not, are rather unique for Genesis, or had not surfaced in a long time. Most notable of these is the exceedingly dark atmosphere and brutal dynamics. We Can't Dance had featured louder drumming than previous Genesis albums, and Calling All Stations took this even further, especially when Nir Zidkyahu played ...
1. "Calling All Stations"
On the opening track, Genesis plows forth with its loudest rock performance in a long time — possibly ever ...

2. "Congo"
The album's first single possesses a curious lack of commercial potential compared to earlier Genesis singles; "Congo", opening with a sampled chant over which some percussion and keyboards are played, quickly shoots off to keyboard riffs — harsh, brutal keyboard riffs, again, suitable for ripping apart eardrums ...

3. "Shipwrecked"
Post-Collins Genesis attempts here to prove that it can still be the same Genesis as it was when Collins was in the band ...

4. "Alien Afternoon"
One of the many longer tracks on Calling All Stations, "Alien Afternoon" is slightly more interesting than previous songs on the record ...

5. "Not About Us"
Another love song, this time with a much quieter beat than earlier Zidkyahu performances and driven primarily by acoustic guitars, that could probably have been much better were it played entirely with acoustic guitars ...

6. "If That's What You Need"
Another softer song, this time with Nick d'Vergilio on percussion again. "If That's What You Need" is somewhat more pleasant than "The Dividing Line"
Rising out of the previous quiet songs comes this song, which has almost as much of an epic feel as "Uncertain Weather"
Another softer track, much like "If That's What You Need". It opens with some weird keyboard and percussion sounds, provided by Banks and d'Vergilio ...

9. "Small Talk"
Here, we see Genesis returning to familiar territory. Zidkyahu brings back his typical rhythm, and the keyboards take on a tone like that on the title track of "There Must Be Some Other Way"
As the album winds down, the material gets darker and less accessible. The length of the songs has increased ...

11. "One Man's Fool"
Here we go, the familiar 80s-Genesis elements: an electronic percussion rhythm, poppy keyboards... is that a horn section, too? A big shock, yes, but not bad at all ...

"December's Children (And Everybody's)" by The Rolling Stones

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:09:38 EST

Written by: TTesoro
December's Children continued the policy of releasing different Rolling Stones material in the US and Europe. This album included some new material recorded at RCA Studios but also some older stuff from earlier sessions in the UK. That makes the record a bit uneven. It also means that it is not a "real" album: rather than a collection of new (or newly recorded) songs, it's a compilation album, including some blues and R&B covers, some ballads, and some Jagger and Richards originals ...
1. "She Said Yeah"
The album starts with this driving rocker; its guitar sounds are absolutely great. This is basic rock 'n' roll with two guitars, bass and drums ...

2. "Talking About You"
It wouldn't be a Stones album without a Chuck Berry song! This is one of the not-as-well-known Berry songs, which in no way means it would not be a great tune ...

3. "You Better Move On"
In the beginning of their career the Stones recorded several ballads like this one, Arthur Alexander's hit from 1962 ...

4. "Look What You've Done"
A change of mood again — back to the blues! "Look What You've Done" is a Muddy Waters tune. Basic stuff, the kind the band started their career with and (thank God) never completely gave up ...

5. "The Singer Not the Song"
Previously released as the b-side of the hit single "Get Off Of My Cloud" ...

6. "Route 66 [live version]"
Great song, but previously released on the EP Got Live If You Want It ...

7. "Get Off Of My Cloud"
This was the band's UK and US hit single in the autumn 1965, following the smash hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" ...

8. "I'm Free"
I'm free to do what I want any old time So love me, hold me, love me, hold me I'm free any old time to get what I want Mick sings a kind of 60s anthem ...

9. "As Tears Go By"
This song was a Top Ten hit in the UK for Marianne Faithfull in 1964. The Stones (actually only Mick Jagger on vocals and Keith Richards on guitar, backed by the Mike Leander Orchestra) recorded this version in October 1965 ...

10. "Gotta Get Away"
This Jagger-Richards song was released on the UK version of Out Of Our Heads ...

11. "Blue Turns To Grey"
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (who back then had to write his surname without the 's' because producer Andrew Loog Oldham thought it was "cooler") started writing songs mainly for other artists, because they thought they couldn't write the right kind of material for themselves ...

12. "I'm Movin' On [live]"
The second live track on the album. From the live EP Got Live If You Want It comes Hank Snow's country and western standard that has often been covered by rock bands ...

"A Night at the Opera" by Queen

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:40:43 EST

Written by: ant
I know it ain't hip to like Queen (or at least admit to it), but what the hell! I'll stick my neck out for one of my favourite 'growing up' bands and rely on the fact that — love 'em or hate 'em — they were one of the most successful and influential bands of the 70s and 80s. The facts and figures speak for themselves. Review thirteen, "dedicated to..." Queen. A Night At the Opera was the LP that rocketed them to mega-status, though they'd been steadily honing their craft for several years over three previous albums and with virtually non-stop touring ...
1. "Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)"
Hell hath no fury like a miffed queen, and Mercury certainly doesn't mince his words in this vitriolic condemnation, "dedicated to ...

2. "Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon"
It seems as though we're suddenly enjoying an evening at the Music Hall or an Edwardian pier-show rather than a night at the opera with this quirky little retro-piece ...

3. "I'm In Love With My Car"
Former dental student Roger Taylor cut his composers' teeth with this track, inspired by a 'boy racer' roadie ...

4. "You're My Best Friend"
John Deacon started to show his knack for hit-writing with this perennial Queen favourite, released as a single in '76 ...

5. "'39"
Futuristic folk or sci-fi skiffle? In terms of the melody, it could actually be called "When The (Space) Ship Comes In" ...

6. "Sweet Lady"
Let's rock: "ooh, I like it!" In complete contrast to the previous track (a characteristic feature of the whole album) this one really sizzles ...

7. "Seaside Rendezous"
The artist formerly known as Bulsara camps it up down Memory Lane once again. This time it's a light-hearted jazz number, in the style of the Temperance Seven, Pasadena Rooftop Orchestra, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, or any other group of long-named weirdos who'd include the word 'omnibus' in a lyric ...

8. "The Prophet's Song"
This Brian May composition, which opened Side 2 of the original LP, is undoubtedly the most monumental slab of work on it — and no, I haven't forgotten that it's the album which includes "Love Of My Life"
One of Queen's most enduring ballads and most covered songs. Presumably dedicated to Freddie's first long-term relationship with girlfriend (yes, you read it right!) Mary Austin, from whom he had recently separated, just before emerging fully from the closet ...

10. "Good Company"
May's turn to hit a nostalgia trip, with his 'made-in-Japan Hawaiian ukulele' at the fore (or is that 'Formby'?) ...

11. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
"Mama Mia!" Where do you start on this one? There must be as many words written about it as copies of the single sold ...

12. "God Save The Queen"
How else to end A Night At The Opera but with the National Anthem? Light years from "I'm In Love With My Car [remix]"
Marginally better than the other piece of CD ballast which accompanies it on the American CD issue. At least Mike Shipley attempted to do something a little creative with the track: chopped it up and changed it round a bit; retuned the engine, touched up the paintjob ...

14. "You're My Best Friend [remix]"
Had to hunt this one down to review it. Wish I hadn't bothered! '91 Remix, specially for the US CD release: what could it be? An early hip-hop-house version with heavy samples from the original? No, but that, handled with discretion, would've been better than this! I can no more tell you what the difference is than try to guess what the point was ...

"The Man-Machine" by Kraftwerk

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:53:52 EST

Written by: NeurotiKca
Kraftwerk, since 1974's Autobahn, has been widely hailed as the most influential band for any form of electronic music, but their influence doesn't stop there, not by any means. Listening to most artists who incorporated any kind of electronic equipment — which basically includes, um, nearly every artist that performed in the 1980s at the very least — you can detect some influence. The Man-Machine (or, as it's titled in Germany, Die Mensch-Maschine) was just as influential a record as their previous, but is much easier to get into ...
1. "The Robots"
Okay, for those of you who are searching Kraftwerk's body of work for who they influenced, you can detect in this song sounds that would pop up on a few rock records in the next twenty years; identifiable are the keyboard passages from "Radio Clash" (by "Spacelab"
As with the following song, "Metropolis", and as with the previous, "Metropolis"
A soundscape that evokes the scene of a large city from above quite effortlessly The piece, again, contains few vocals; they consist merely of the title spoken in a deadpan voice, though here they sound distinctly less treated ...

4. "The Model"
Quite a departure from the other songs on the album, this. This song takes on the actual structure of a song, and not a robotic soundscape ...

5. "Neon Lights"
A longer track, but similar again to everything but "The Model" on this album ...

6. "The Man-Machine"
Here we are, the last song of the album, bringing back more of the robotic sounds heard on the first three tracks, and again with heavily-treated vocals ...

"Pornography" by The Cure

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:40:10 EST

Written by: booRadley
Pornography is the fourth album released by the Cure. By this time, fans of the Cure had noticed their sound was becoming darker with each album, and this album pushed in that direction to its limit. Robert Smith admitted the album was intended to be virtually unlistenable, a sort of final scream before the members of the Cure went their separate ways. This certainly is evident to any listener as the album is filled with cold, mournful, epic songs that form a rather vividly disturbing narrative of isolation, pain and delusionary psychosis ...
1. "One Hundred Years"
The album kicks off with one of the most beautifully desperate and desolate songs the Cure had written to that point ...

2. "A Short Term Effect"
By the start of "A Short Term Effect" the prominent place of the drums in the mix becomes evident, driving the song along at an uneasy and unrelenting canter ...

3. "The Hanging Garden"
"The Hanging Garden", somewhat laughably, was the single lifted off the album. It is no surprise it was the only one ...

4. "Siamese Twins"
The tempo drops, the bass and guitar are given much more room to breathe their spell, and the keyboards are used sparingly as sound effects rather than joining in the melody ...

5. "The Figurehead"
"The Figurehead" returns the listener to a slowly-evolving knot of tension as the bass moves to the fore and Robert Smith sways sharp guitar lines over a verse that never quite ends, but just moves from visions of dust-covered figurines to insomniac pleas ...

6. "A Strange Day"
A buzzing keyboard bass line emerges from silence as this song treads a slightly differing path to others on the album ...

7. "Cold"
"Cold" is a powerful and emphatic song — impossibly deep, rumbling bass sounds join a striking drum line, as deadly as the whip from a scorpion's tail ...

8. "Pornography"
The album closes with the title track. A backmasked tape plays slowly, drums drift in, more backing tapes, crowd noises, perhaps from a war movie, pitch shifted voices only just audible underneath it all, distant and dissolute guitar rings out, starts again and stops seemingly randomly throughout the song refusing to fall into line with the beat ...

9. "Break [demo]"
This song kicks off the bonus CD found in the deluxe version of Pornography ...

10. "Demise [demo]"
Another instrumental, the recording is better but again it is over before you really start to fall for its spell ...

11. "Temptation [demo]"
Like the other demos of songs that never made the actual album this is promising yet unfulfilling. I can't help but think, if finished it could have been something other than a curiosity ...

12. "Figurehead [demo]"
The first of the bonus tracks that is a demo of a song actually on the album ...

13. "Hanging Garden [demo]"
An ace in the pack. This version is remarkably different from the album version, almost another song entirely ...

14. "One Hundred Years [demo]"
This studio demo version has some marked differences from the album version ...

15. "Airl1ock: Soundtrack"
Heavy, experimental soundtrack music. Random notes on a piano, flange effects sliding in and out, throat singing, a poorly played flute ...

16. "Cold [live]"
Bootleg territory here. A truly bad recording of a live performance that does little justice to "A Strange Day [live]"
Another bootleg live track. Bass frequencies are totally lost — you can even hear moments of crowd chatter way down in this mix ...

18. "Pornography [live]"
Here is a bootleg live track that transcends the obvious flaws of bootleg recordings. Somehow the drums have more feeling, Roberts'guitar playing sounds great and adds a new dimension to "All Mine [live]"
This track was totally new to me and as such is of more interest that the other live versions found on the bonus disc ...

20. "A Short Term Effect [live]"
If you are expecting anything more than a poor recording of a straight live version of "Siamese Twins [live]"
The sixth and final live recording on this disc really follows along the same unnecessary path. Strictly of interest only to those that must hear every single version of every Cure song ever recorded ...

22. "Temptation Two [demo]"
Closing track for the extended version of this album, and it is a good ending note. An evolution of

"Déjà Vu" by Crosby, Stills, Nash Young

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:41:23 EST

Written by: ant
Chapter Two. Their eponymously titled debut album had been an enormous triumph for Crosby, Stills & Nash, spawning two top-thirty hits and thrusting them to the forefront of the sixties' tail-end scene. It also, however, presented them with a very practical problem: whilst Stephen Stills' multi-instrumentation on the LP had been (and remains) impeccable, he clearly wasn't going to be able to handle guitars, bass and various keyboards in a live context ...
1. "Carry On"
Stephen Stills' ringing acoustic guitar sounds out like a clarion call for the whole album (if not their entire career) ...

2. "Teach Your Children"
This twee country-tinged Graham Nash tune (Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia on pedal steel) was the most successful single from the album, another CSN(Y) hymn for the times ...

3. "Almost Cut My Hair"
The Croz announces that he "shall now proceed to entangle the entire area", and omygod he does! A blazing assault of triple guitars (CSY) opens his impassioned homage to hippiedom, N providing the organ part ...

4. "Helpless"
Neil Young's first contribution to the album remains one of his most enduring themes, effortlessly, if not helplessly, evoking his Canadian childhood ...

5. "Woodstock"
Though not their anthem (it was written by Joni Mitchell, who missed the trip because of a dose of the flu), CSNY rock it up and make it their own ...

6. "Déjà Vu"
You know that 'woooaaah!' wave of weirdness that comes up from your guts and sets your head reeling when you find yourself in the middle of a déjà vu? That indefinable and inexplicable realisation that you've lived this situation before? The offset rhythms and wordless voices in the intro to the album's title track catch it to perfection ...

7. "Our House"
Our House is a very, very very fine house With two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now ev'rything is easy 'cos of you It's another of the band's polaroid snapshots: "Willy" Nash, in this case, describing his lovenest in Laurel Canyon with Joni Mitchell ...

8. "4 + 20"
This dour Stephen Stills composition was originally intended to be held back for his solo album, but got included on Dèjá Vu at his bandmates' insistence, to his great pride ...

9. "Country Girl: Whiskey Boot Hill/Down, Down, Down/Country Girl (I Think You're Pretty)"
Neil Young takes centre-stage once again for the album's penultimate track. Or maybe that should be 'tracks' — a trio of unfinished songs pulled together as the chapters of the same story: or, at least, a beginning, a middle and an end ...

10. "Everybody I Love You"
If you're looking for hippie anthems, you've got the right band, and this — even by their standards — is a superlative example ...

"Crosby, Stills Nash" by Crosby, Stills Nash

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:07:04 EST

Written by: ant
The formation of the band with the name like a law-firm was, to quote the song (albeit out of context), "a long time coming". Crosby and Stills had been hanging out and jamming long since before the Byrd was ousted from the nest. The Croz's inevitable dismissal towards the end of '67 had merely been accelerated by his collaboration with Buffalo Springfield at Monterey (subbing for Neil Young). The very fact that he had to stand in for the gig was also a sure indication that their days as a band were similarly numbered, with Stills and Young clashing on virtually every point (if talking at all) ...
1. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"
Anyone who's been inside a relationship that's stopped working knows what this is all about. All that stuff flying round your head that you want to say, if only you can find the right moment ...

2. "Marrakesh Express"
Graham Nash's former colleagues the Hollies had previously rejected this jolly jaunt, based on an actual trip to Morroco in '66 ...

3. "Guinnevere"
"Guinnevere" is a gentle tale of Courtly Love, the interweaving acoustic guitars and impeccable vocal harmony carrying you effortlessly "through the warm wind down by the bay ...

4. "You Don't Have To Cry"
The song that forced the alliance to be forged. Nash joined in with the other two at a party, and immediately knew he'd found Life without the Hollies ...

5. "Pre-Road Downs"
Nash gets rockier, and Stills' electric guitar sizzles behind him. The organ part is equally immense (Stills again!) ...

6. "Wooden Ships"
This was one of the first songs Crosby and Stills worked out together, stoned out of their brains on the former's sailing boat The Mayan during their period of enforced unemployment, along with "Lady Of The Island"
Dedicated to two ladies on two islands, Graham Nash wouldn't have got this one past the Hollies either: "our bodies were a perfect fit in afterglow ...

8. "Helplessly Hoping"
Once again it's those three-part harmonies which sound like five that dominate this Stephen Stills composition ...

9. "Lone Time Gone"
David Crosby's reaction to Bobby Kennedy's assassination (written the same night) is the most overtly political track on CSN's debut album, but certainly not the last of their ongoing career ...

10. "49 Bye-Byes"
Crosby's warbled snippet of Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen" at the beginning was edited off subsequent releases ...

"Genesis" by Genesis

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:43:08 EST

Written by: NeurotiKca
Genesis, the band's only eponymous album, is an interesting work to say the least. Most people would say that the "prog rock" parts of the group's work ended with Wind and Wuthering, and they're pretty nearly right. Not 100%, mind, but they've mostly stopped playing prog-rock here, with the exception of "Home by the Sea". On the whole, the album is something of a transitional piece, transitioning from the prog of Wind and Wuthering to the prog-pop of "Mama"
This song is the testing ground for people if you want to get into the Genesis represented on this album or on "That's All"
Driven mostly by keyboards and an incessant rhythm, "That's All" is not nearly so forbidding at "Home By The Sea"
Suddenly, the volume shoots way up! Is Genesis trying to be hard-rock again?! Well, maybe. The duology of "Home by the Sea" is probably the closest Genesis would ever get to recording an epic as great as "Second Home By The Sea"
This second part of the "Home by the Sea" duology is probably the less interesting of the two, where we see drum machines get even more prominent ...

5. "Illegal Alien"
Commercial suicide at its best or commercial suicide at its worst? Here, Phil Collins puts on a very dorky accent, meant to sound like, well, an illegal alien ...

6. "Taking It All Too Hard"
"Takin' It All Too Hard" recalls a slower "That's All"; however, where "That's All" only spoke of hopelessness while feeling happy, the aching tones of "Takin' It All Too Hard" sound a bit more hopeless, though the lyrics less so ...

7. "Just A Job To Do"
"Just a Job to Do" is one of the most enjoyable songs on the album, also one the lesser-known ones, and one of the only songs on the album not to appear on a single ...

8. "Silver Rainbow"
A slow, steady rhythm, sharp keys, and a drum machine driving everything are the main traits of this song, probably the least favorable out of all of the tracks on this album — which is hard to say, since some of the songs on this album are pretty trite ...

9. "It's Gonna Get Better"
"It's Gonna Get Better" is another of those songs that the band just up and forgot about almost entirely not long after recording, but that's understandable: this song is something we've seen before, really, and would see again and again from this band in the future ...

"Sandinista!" by The Clash

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:09:50 EST

Written by: hatrack
Fresh on the heels of their third album, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful London Calling, Joe Strummer (rhythm guitar and vocals), Mick Jones (lead guitar and vocals) and Topper Headon (drums) ensconced themselves in the Iroquois Hotel near Times Square on 44th Street in New York City. They had no songs in hand, but were about to make an album that would mystify some people and electrify others, ultimately pointing the way toward the future of popular music ...
1. "The Magnificent Seven"
It starts off with a drum riff, but it only takes a few seconds to realize we're not in "Hitsville U.K."
Mick's girlfriend at the time, Ellen Foley, sings lead on this tune and the effect may be slightly stunning to someone more familiar with the earlier Clash canon ...

3. "Junco Partner"
This reggae number was recorded at Channel One studios in Kingston, Jamaica before the band decided to leave early because of the unsafe conditions in the immediate neighborhood of the studio — unsafe especially for a band from another country presumed to have some money ...

4. "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe"
Most people would call this a disco tune, but to me it's an up-tempo rocker with an irregular beat. No matter, the song has the familiar Clash rhythm section, and by now you might be wondering how one drummer can handle all of these different styles and types of music ...

5. "The Leader"
When I saw this band in early '82 at the Grand Circus Theater in Detroit, this song was the second song they played after "Something About England"
This is a very powerful song. I can't figure out what style of music this is, it might be a ballad, but it's got the rhythm section that was the Clash in their prime ...

7. "Rebel Waltz"
A song that snuck up on me over the years, this is one of my favorite songs. It starts with a wonderfully mellow bass intro that segues into a harpsichord sound with percussion and then the trumpet ...

8. "Look Here"
The Clash do justice to this jazzy jam song written by the legendary Mose Allison. Topper seems at home with this genre and some nice boogie piano complements the unmistakable sound of the beautiful Clash rhythm that Mick Jones was able to coax out of these studio sessions ...

9. "The Crooked Beat"
Paul takes the vocals on this one that some have described as a sequel to "Guns Of Brixton" ...

10. "Somebody Got Murdered"
This Clash rocker and its lyrics meld into one of their best hit-type songs. The beginning slowly builds energy until it explodes with the first lyrics ...

11. "One More Time"
Mikey Dread from Dread at the Controls fame joins the band for this song. The apex of the Clash might just have been reached with this song ...

12. "One More Dub"
This is the background music to the previous song, with a twist, because it is dubbed out ...

13. "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)"
This song starts with a DJ from radio station WBAI in New York talking. Then a caller is put on the air who says, "I'd just like to say, let's have some music now, huh?" ...

14. "Up In Heaven (Not Only Here)"
Mick takes the vocals on this one, another phenomenal song. Hard to categorize the music but it definitely rocks and has a catchy beat and some hard-hitting lyrics relating the plight of the poor living in the slums ...

15. "Corner Soul"
This song has grown on me over the years. There are some cool female backing vocals and a nice accordion sound backing the Clash on this one ...

16. "Lets Go Crazy"
How about a little calypso music? Oh and what a song it is, calypso music with the Clash playing the backing track! The use of steel drum players adds to the Caribbean ambience ...

17. "If Music Could Talk"
A reggae number with some prevalent saxophone throughout, some real soulful sax I might add. Mikey is back on board for this one, and the key here is that Joe delivers the vocals out of each channel separately, so in essence he's alternating vocals with himself, and then he comes together with himself for the chorus — a very cool concept that works ...

18. "The Sound Of Sinners"
Joe Strummer sings gospel! Yes indeed. This song even has a kind of bluegrass feel to my ears as well ...

19. "Police On My Back"
Mick starts off with a guitar lick that mimics a police siren and it's off to Clash heaven we go. "Police On My Back" may just be the best rocker they ever created ...

20. "Midnight Log"
This tune keeps the rhythm flowing, a rockabilly ditty with a hard driving beat. It is a short number, with some haunting harmonica to provide a coda to each of the verses ...

21. "The Equaliser"
The original Rolling Stone review of this album called these next three songs the heart of the album ...

22. "The Call Up"
My college roommate, a Navy veteran of four years, used to wake me up with this song on full blast whenever he didn't want me to miss my early morning class ...

23. "Washington Bullets"
This calypso-tinged work of art was the song whose lyrics spawned the name of the album. A very laid-back musical vibe that is countered by uncompromising lyrics lamenting Joe's disdain of the negative consequences of US, British and even China's influence around the world ...

24. "Broadway"
This song is one of the best they ever created. It has a slow, smoky kind of beat and Joe assumes the guise of a downtrodden bum on the street and delivers the emotional lyrics as if he himself is the bum ...

25. "Lose This Skin"
This is an interesting song from Joe's old busking mate and future Mescalero band member, Tymon Dogg, with the Clash as the backing band ...

26. "Charlie Don't Surf"
Very slow atmospheric buildup on this song, one that I enjoyed from the first time played. A piano gives this an Asian type of vibe and the guitar goes into a helicopter sound that has an Apocalypse Now feel to it ...

27. "Mensforth Hill"
Purportedly, this "song" is just the song "Somewhere In England" played backwards. But there seems to be a lot more going on here than just playing a song backwards ...

28. "Junkie Slip"
The beat fades in and we have the bass and drum that drive this ditty that, in hindsight, is most important to the album ...

29. "Kingston Advice"
This is one of the great Clash rockin' songs. Its sequence on the album is critical in that it brings the band and the album back to the rock 'n' roll sensibility ...

30. "The Street Parade"
Phenomenal song, there's no other way to view it. This one has staying power and sounds as good or better now than it did on my first listen ...

31. "Version City"
This stellar performance is another of the songs on this album that have the train feel. To borrow a lyric from "Living In Fame"
This is the dub version of "If Music Could Talk", with Mikey Dread complementing the band and taking over the vocals ...

33. "Silicone On Sapphire"
This track is the dub version of "Washington Bullets" from earlier in the album ...

34. "Version Pardner"
As if the song "Junco Partner" wasn't dubbed out enough, this is the dub version itself ...

35. "Career Opportunities"
This is a remake of the song from the the Clash's first album ...

36. "Shepherds Delight"
Mikey returns once again to lend the band a hand in closing the album. Nice acoustic guitar work on this one, and a periodic quacking duck type of sound, that begins to sound like a cat after a while ...

"Houses of the Holy" by Led Zeppelin

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:19:17 EST

Written by: milindaledzep
(Produced by Jimmy Page and released on the Atlantic label in 1973. Executive producer Peter Grant and original sleeve artwork by Hypnosis.) This album has a kind of pagan/Celtic feel throughout, from the original artwork through to the tunes, especially "No Quarter", the seventh track. (The number seven in numerology is a mystical number representing other forces at work.) Although the album has a carefree element, it is also for the thinker, as can be seen by a quote from guitarist Jimmy Page: "It's not very easy one-time listening, and that's good ...
1. "The Song Remains The Same"
This first track starts on a very upbeat and uplifting note. Instrumental staccato drums, guitar and keyboard blend together harmoniously, all flowing along beautifully, with even a little Kentucky style guitar here and there ...

2. "The Rain Song"
Plucked mandolin style guitar starts off this gentle tune bringing to mind late summer/autumn. This vision of instrumental keyboards and guitar just coasts along, taking you to a land of romantic utopia ...

3. "Over The Hills And Far Away"
You got the love I need Darling, darling, oh so much! Robert Plant declares his deepest lyrical emotions for another and it is acoustic bliss on the guitar! Along come the drums, trotting along merrily, and you find yourself already swaying to the uplifting tempo of this ditty ...

4. "The Crunge"
You could almost believe this to be a funky — George Benson — number, judging by the guitar and keyboard style, but the vocals soon bring you to the realisation that this is how Led Zeppelin do funk ...

5. "Dancing Days"
Melody, melody, heavenly melody. You will fall in love with this track just as I did. Robert says almost shyly, "Dancing days are here again, summer evenings glow" ...

6. "D'yer Mak'er"
A double drum trill starts it off, the jig of the guitar followed still by pleading lyrics of, "Oh, ho ho ho, you don't have to go" ...

7. "No Quarter"
Prepare yourself, listener. We are entering into the realms of other worldly stuff, touching the gateways of the occult ...

8. "The Ocean"
The last track on this album has guitar and drums in perfect time. Rhythm rules the day here. The guitar backing steps on the notes to bring you part of that special signature tune Jimmy Page is so famous for, while Bonzo's drums follow suit ...