What are you listening to, right now................
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@mariner4life said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@mariner4life said in What are you listening to, right now................:
I had a "holy fuck I'm getting old" moment the other week, Metallica's Black Album turned 30 years old. It wasn't even my first Metallica album
The Black Album cops waaaaay more shit than it deserved. Metallica's old school thrash-head fans saw it as "selling out man" because you know, fuck them for having the money to actually spend on production. It was a huuuuuuge move away from the direction of Justice, which was just 9 really fucking long intricate songs. It's far more accessible, which i guess the thrash heads hated? But that doesn't change the fact that it's consistently excellent (2 filler tracks i reckon) and at times both fast, and heavy as fuck.
They just re-released it, remastered of course, but also with a project where a heap of artists did covers of the various tracks. I don't like most of them, but the flamenco version of Struggle Within is fucking great.
The best part of the re-release is having the Tushino Airfield concert now on Spotify. Metallica have always been an excellent live band, and this is them at the peak of their powers.
yeah, the Black Album isn't heavy at all...
….at least you can hear the bass on this album. Metallica Rule. What a band.
arguably the best band of the 80s and early 90s
Personal opinion or album sales ? Either way Gunners make a compelling case too.
Quite a few personal favourites I’d throw in the mix too but in terms of huge bands hard to go past those two.
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“The Cuervo Gold/The fine Colombian/Make tonight a wonderful thing,” sings the narrator of “Hey Nineteen,” and then he sings it again, as if that’ll make it true. The narrator of the bouncy, Michael McDonald-enhanced “Time Out of Mind” seems to be in a pretty good mood, but it’s only because he knows he’s going to go somewhere later and smoke heroin until L.A. morphs into Lhasa. Everyone’s alone, or together in a way that’s worse than being alone; every lyric is a one-sided dialogue.
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@broughie said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@tim never really looked into the lyrics but that’s a sad state. People together but in their own world. Looks like people on their iPhones. Tasty guitar as always. Typical Steeley Dan number.
You should listen to The Dan’s catalogue again and take the lyrics in. They are usually deeply cynical and often leave you with questions that you’ll never get an answer to. They’re like little slices of life that make you think about what happens before and after.
The song Hey Nineteen seems to be about an older guy who hooks up with a 19 year old then realises he has nothing in common with her. She doesn’t know who Aretha Franklin is. She want to dance and he doesn’t like dancing. The only thing that makes it bearable is that he’s going to get off his face.
The track Gaucho is one of my favourites. It’s hilarious and cringy. I want to know the story of these ridiculous people.
And the musicianship is, for my money, head and shoulders above everything else in rock. If I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life it would be Steely Dan.
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@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
Personal opinion or album sales ?
Reading the avclub.com article on that album of 53 covers that @mariner4life mentioned - one of the things which blew me away was....
Metallica has never sold fewer than a thousand copies a week since it was released 30 years ago.
Which somehow, seems even more impressive than the boring:
certified 16 times platinum, it has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and still remains the best-selling album in the United States ever since Nielsen began its Soundscan tracking in 1991.
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@jc said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@broughie said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@tim never really looked into the lyrics but that’s a sad state. People together but in their own world. Looks like people on their iPhones. Tasty guitar as always. Typical Steeley Dan number.
You should listen to The Dan’s catalogue again and take the lyrics in. They are usually deeply cynical and often leave you with questions that you’ll never get an answer to. They’re like little slices of life that make you think about what happens before and after.
The song Hey Nineteen seems to be about an older guy who hooks up with a 19 year old then realises he has nothing in common with her. She doesn’t know who Aretha Franklin is. She want to dance and he doesn’t like dancing. The only thing that makes it bearable is that he’s going to get off his face.
The track Gaucho is one of my favourites. It’s hilarious and cringy. I want to know the story of these ridiculous people.
And the musicianship is, for my money, head and shoulders above everything else in rock. If I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life it would be Steely Dan.
I like the Dan loads but wouldn’t quite put them on that sort of pedestal, as brilliant as they are. Their concert was great but there was absolutely zero interaction with the crowd, none of the ‘Wellington you’ve been a great audience’ type stuff you usually get.
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@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@jc said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@broughie said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@tim never really looked into the lyrics but that’s a sad state. People together but in their own world. Looks like people on their iPhones. Tasty guitar as always. Typical Steeley Dan number.
You should listen to The Dan’s catalogue again and take the lyrics in. They are usually deeply cynical and often leave you with questions that you’ll never get an answer to. They’re like little slices of life that make you think about what happens before and after.
The song Hey Nineteen seems to be about an older guy who hooks up with a 19 year old then realises he has nothing in common with her. She doesn’t know who Aretha Franklin is. She want to dance and he doesn’t like dancing. The only thing that makes it bearable is that he’s going to get off his face.
The track Gaucho is one of my favourites. It’s hilarious and cringy. I want to know the story of these ridiculous people.
And the musicianship is, for my money, head and shoulders above everything else in rock. If I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life it would be Steely Dan.
I like the Dan loads but wouldn’t quite put them on that sort of pedestal, as brilliant as they are. Their concert was great but there was absolutely zero interaction with the crowd, none of the ‘Wellington you’ve been a great audience’ type stuff you usually get.
Yeah I get where you’re coming from. I saw them once and when I got the opportunity again I turned it down. They were very much a recording band for me. The precision and meticulous planning made for an amazing aural experience that just isn’t possible live. They just didn’t have that control that was central to what they did.
A band that routinely did dozens of takes for a single solo and hundreds for a song obviously wanted a sound that they simply weren’t prepared to compromise on. The chances of any one beginning to end performance reaching those heights must be close to zero. And when they are playing live by definition you only get one shot. It was good, but fans wanted perfect.
Add into that that the people behind that level of fascistic control of the process and those cynical lyrics probably aren’t the most socially adept performers. They came across as a bit strange and detached because that’s exactly what they are IMO.
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@jc said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@jc said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@broughie said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@tim never really looked into the lyrics but that’s a sad state. People together but in their own world. Looks like people on their iPhones. Tasty guitar as always. Typical Steeley Dan number.
You should listen to The Dan’s catalogue again and take the lyrics in. They are usually deeply cynical and often leave you with questions that you’ll never get an answer to. They’re like little slices of life that make you think about what happens before and after.
The song Hey Nineteen seems to be about an older guy who hooks up with a 19 year old then realises he has nothing in common with her. She doesn’t know who Aretha Franklin is. She want to dance and he doesn’t like dancing. The only thing that makes it bearable is that he’s going to get off his face.
The track Gaucho is one of my favourites. It’s hilarious and cringy. I want to know the story of these ridiculous people.
And the musicianship is, for my money, head and shoulders above everything else in rock. If I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life it would be Steely Dan.
I like the Dan loads but wouldn’t quite put them on that sort of pedestal, as brilliant as they are. Their concert was great but there was absolutely zero interaction with the crowd, none of the ‘Wellington you’ve been a great audience’ type stuff you usually get.
Yeah I get where you’re coming from. I saw them once and when I got the opportunity again I turned it down. They were very much a recording band for me. The precision and meticulous planning made for an amazing aural experience that just isn’t possible live. They just didn’t have that control that was central to what they did.
A band that routinely did dozens of takes for a single solo and hundreds for a song obviously wanted a sound that they simply weren’t prepared to compromise on. The chances of any one beginning to end performance reaching those heights must be close to zero. And when they are playing live by definition you only get one shot. It was good, but fans wanted perfect.
Add into that that the people behind that level of fascistic control of the process and those cynical lyrics probably aren’t the most socially adept performers. They came across as a bit strange and detached because that’s exactly what they are IMO.
Peg, Pretzel Logic, Kid Charlemagne and My old school are absolute bangers though.
But yeah I’m not sure if Donald Fagan actually stood up from behind the piano once. One of the backing singers was bloody hot though so it was hard to notice.
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@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
But yeah I’m not sure if Donald Fagan actually stood up from behind the piano once.
I was going to make this point when I saw them in Auckland. Still a very good concert and the crowd was full of well-known musicians, so that tells you something. With Walter Becker dying I doubt you will see Steely Dan live again.
One thing about their albums, they have some of the best production of the era, which backs up @JC's point about being perfectionists.
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A timely reminder why 1991 was the best year of rock, possibly ever ( although 1970 was also incredible with Zep, Purple and Sabbath all dropping amazing albums )
Every track on Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I & II, ranked from worst to best
The public wanted a sequel to Appetite For Destruction: Instead, they got a double double whammy: the sprawling, audacious, over-the-top Use Your Illusion I & II
Guns n Roses and ‘covers’ fills me with dread. I hate their versions of live and let die and knocking on heavens door….but so much else on here is brilliant.
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@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
A timely reminder why 1991 was the best year of rock, possibly ever ( although 1970 was also incredible with Zep, Purple and Sabbath all dropping amazing albums )
Sounds like the bias of nostalgia. 1991 was a year when pop / MOR / AOR ruled. Pearl Jam and Metallica were definite outliers IIRC. I’m not sure how old you were that year but I remember the early 90s as being disappointing and flat, apart from PJ, Metallica, Pixies and a couple of others. 91 was all fluffybunnies like Michael Bolton and T’Pau. And U2 dropped Achtung Baby and we knew then they were done.
1970 was a good year but Led Zeppelin released their least loved album that year. The year before they dropped two all-time classics. 1971 has a better claim, but 1973 was the year to beat I think, probably followed by 1975.
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@jc said in What are you listening to, right now................:
@mn5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:
A timely reminder why 1991 was the best year of rock, possibly ever ( although 1970 was also incredible with Zep, Purple and Sabbath all dropping amazing albums )
Sounds like the bias of nostalgia. 1991 was a year when pop / MOR / AOR ruled. Pearl Jam and Metallica were definite outliers IIRC. I’m not sure how old you were that year but I remember the early 90s as being disappointing and flat, apart from PJ, Metallica, Pixies and a couple of others. 91 was all fluffybunnies like Michael Bolton and T’Pau. And U2 dropped Achtung Baby and we knew then they were done.
1970 was a good year but Led Zeppelin released their least loved album that year. The year before they dropped two all-time classics. 1971 has a better claim, but 1973 was the year to beat I think, probably followed by 1975.
These were all released within a couple of months of eachother in 91. Just saying. In most cases their best albums too ( can’t beat Appetite for Destruction though, also Superunknown is possibly Soundgardens best effort )
