What are you listening to? (merged)

[dindae]

Dindae - let me just say this: Neil Young's solo material makes CSN(&Y)'s stuff look like tripe. I couldn't more strongly recommend Neil's 2 disc "Decade" collection - a bit of a best of, but leaving off at approximately 198* or thereabouts. As far as his older albums go, Zuma, After the Goldrush and Harvest are absolute musts.

Oh, did I mention that I'm Canadian? I'm obliged to plug Neil Young whenever someone even barely mentions him in passing.

I have Harvest and like it and I will probably pick up Decade at some point but I never liked him as much as CSNY simply because the vocal weren't as strong to me. However I definately feel a strange pull towards Canadian musicians. Rush has always been my #1 favorite band.

[jjreason]

I was listening to Neil today with my kids, we checked out Harvest and After the Gold Rush. Awesome.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I have Harvest and like it and I will probably pick up Decade at some point but I never liked him as much as CSNY simply because the vocal weren't as strong to me. However I definately feel a strange pull towards Canadian musicians. Rush has always been my #1 favorite band.

I wonder if anyone ever went to see Rush Limbaugh speak and yelled "Play Tom Sawyer!" or something like that. I have Chronicles and Moving Pictures, which is one of my all time favorite albums.

Neil's voice certainly is one of those that you like or can't stand. I recall the first time I heard Dinosaur Jr, I thought that it sounded like a Neil Young tape being eaten up. However, I kind of like the sound of it and a lot of the music was good too.

[El Chuxter]

Harvest Moon is my favorite NY album, though I dearly, dearly love Rust Never Sleeps and Living With War (even without the political slant to the latter).

I got The Black Crowes' The Lost Crowes and Elton John's The Captain and the Kid in the mail earlier this week. The Captain is easily Elton's best in over thirty years, and it boggles my mind how the Band album from The Lost Crowes wasn't released in 1997. Both very highly recommended.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

Yeah, the new Elton John is pretty awesome. I did love his last album too; "This Train Don't Stop here anymore" is still a fantastic track all around.

As for right now, i'm listening to some Pearl Jam, one of my favorite albums: 1998's "Yield." It heralds some of their all time best tracks with that ripping guitar in "Brain of J"; the floating rhythms of "Given to Fly" and that part in "Wishlist" when it all comes together, at about the 2:00 minute mark, oh man, PERFECTION. And let's not forget the vicious vocals and lyrics of "Do the Evolution" but still, "Low Light" is GORGEOUS. I have yet to hear it live, but oh day, hopefully, I shall.

[dindae]

I wonder if anyone ever went to see Rush Limbaugh speak and yelled "Play Tom Sawyer!" or something like that.

Ah two of my pet peeves not that I am "blowing up" just commenting on things that used to irritate me that your post reminded me of. I used to were a Rush hat all the time in high school right when Lumbaugh was at his largest (popularity not wieght ). Everyone would joke that I was a conservative or something lame like that. Second having a band that I really like being reduced to one hit even when they are so much better. There are several bands out there that have been great but since the radio doesn't ever go backwards it seems that most bands either get reduced to one or two songs or fade away altogether. Tom Sawyer is the song I hear 95% of the time on the radio. But there are so many other examples out there that get this treatment.

Neil's voice certainly is one of those that you like or can't stand. I recall the first time I heard Dinosaur Jr, I thought that it sounded like a Neil Young tape being eaten up. However, I kind of like the sound of it and a lot of the music was good too.

LOL I had never thought of Dinosaur Jr that way.

As for right now, i'm listening to some Pearl Jam, one of my favorite albums: 1998's "Yield." It heralds some of their all time best tracks with that ripping guitar in "Brain of J"; the floating rhythms of "Given to Fly" and that part in "Wishlist" when it all comes together, at about the 2:00 minute mark, oh man, PERFECTION. And let's not forget the vicious vocals and lyrics of "Do the Evolution" but still, "Low Light" is GORGEOUS. I have yet to hear it live, but oh day, hopefully, I shall.

I got to see them live on their Vs. tour. It was a good show with a lot of energy. I have generally lost intrest in them however. I don't know why really I just can't get into much after Vitalogy. On Yeild I liked "Given to Fly" and "Wishlist" but I really couldn't tell you what else was on the album since I was never inclined to listen to it much. But part of the problem is probably that I never hear anything new by them anywhere so I just here the same 4 songs they play on the radio (see complaint above).

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Second having a band that I really like being reduced to one hit even when they are so much better. There are several bands out there that have been great but since the radio doesn't ever go backwards it seems that most bands either get reduced to one or two songs or fade away altogether. Tom Sawyer is the song I hear 95% of the time on the radio. But there are so many other examples out there that get this treatment.

Agreed. Being a fan of Talking Heads, it's kind of annoying to always hear "Take Me To The River" or "Burning Down the House" all the time when there are so many songs I like better. I think the first Rush I remember might have been "Spirit of the Radio". Then of course there was "Tom Sawyer" and "New World Man". I was never really into them that much, but I did have a taped copy of my brother's Moving Pictures LP. I listened to that one quite a bit. I had Permanent Waves on the other side of the tape. It was many years later when I heard "Working Man" for the first time and I really like that tune.

The thing I like most about my internet radio station is being able to play all those deeper tracks that most people don't get a chance to hear. Since not many listen to my station, most of them still don't get to hear them, but if even a few people tune in and get the chance to discover something new, then that is reward enough for me. I've discovered music in much the same way before.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

listening to the new Tenacious D. Decent album, really really really short: 33 minutes? I just wish they would release another ALBUM, cos they had such a massive set of songs on the HBO show days: Spider-Man? Bigfoot?? Where di they go?!?! And KG is kinda not on this album that much, at least from what I've heard so far. But decent disc, kinda disappointing. I was expecting more.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Bought a bunch from iTunes last week. Twenty songs, a free song, and PJ Harvey - iTunes Originals.

The free song was something outside of what I normally listen to. "Smile" by Lily Allen. A very catchy pop song.

I mentioned that I was looking into songs that were roots of Led Zeppelin tunes. I purchased two: "Dazed and Confused" by Jake Holmes, and "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" by Joan Baez. Both are just guitar and vocals. "Dazed and Confused" also has a bass as well, and there is some sort of precussion that sounds like tapping on the guitar. The song sounds pretty sparse compared to Zeppelin's version, but still packs a powerful punch. Zeppelin just filled in a lot of the spaces and made it even heavier. "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" is a live performance. Her vocals are very high pitched, almost like an opera singer. Once again, sparse compared to Zeppelin. They added the heavy parts between verses to really make it come alive.

Then I got a few early 80's new wave songs. Gary Numan - "Cars", Thomas Dolby - "She Blinded Me With Science", A Flock of Seaguls - "I Ran", Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and Sparks - "Mickey Mouse". I recall seeing that last song performed on SNL. I rarely got to see SNL back then, but I saw that episode with Danny DeVito hosting twice.

Here are a couple tunes that I used to listen to on an old Goofy Greats LP that I have. The Trashmen - "Surfin' Bird" and Piero Umiliani - "Mah Na Mah Na". Another humorous tune is "Happy Boy" by the Beat Farmers. The local rock station used to play this a lot in the mid 90's. A couple other tunes I remember the station playing from that time are "Character Zero" by Phish and "Where's Summer B?" by Ben Folds Five.

A couple of one hit wonders: Ozark Mountain Daredevils - "Jackie Blue" and the instrumental "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams.

A couple of tunes that I had on a compilation tape: "Halo" by The Cure and "Nobody's" by All.

Finally, a few tunes that I had enjoyed from listening to the alternative channel on Music Choice. Keane - "Is It Any Wonder?", The Crystal Method - "Born Too Slow", Starsailor - "Silence Is Easy", and Doves with "Black and White Town".

Right now I'm listening to the PJ Harvey iTunes thing. It has her talking about the songs. The songs are a mixture of studio versions and new versions performed exclusively for this set. One song that I didn't have was "Uh Huh Her". That was the title of her last album, but it was not on there. I have a live version on DVD, but this is the first version I have on CD. Well, it's not on CD yet, but I'll burn it to a CD soon.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

Listening to the Beatles disc, "Love" which is the soundtrack to the Cirque De Soleil show of the same name. It's freakin' awesome. Remixes and new cuts of Beatles tracks all sounding awesome and very well done. This version of "Strawberry Fields Forever" rocks my socks off. This is a definite listen/purchase for every type of beatles fan: crazy one (myself, my folks) and the casual one too. Check it out. oh and the "Blackbird --> Yesterday" mix is FANTASTIC. Well done, George Martin and Co!