52: Babylon - Skindred

Wow, this one kicked my ass! Yes the donkey he was not pleased.

Seriously this is a top album. Heavy, aggressive, powerful and... yeah!

51: Late Night John - John Martyn

Well, half of this sounds like a guy who is drunk telling a girl how much he loves her... Shame that my drunken "I love you baby, I do, I love you, like the bestist thing in the world I love you..." doesn't attract the same accolade as his.

I enjoyed some of the music. I can see what people say about him... But to be honest it didn't stir anything great in me.

50: Band Of Joy - Robert Plant

A good album from Planty!

I enjoyed this one. "Falling In Love Again" is a track that I'm hanging on to. Love the lyrics.

49: Hellbilly deluxe 2 - Rob Zombie

A rockin album with some catchy and tongue in cheek tunes. Good stuff

48: Santogold - Santogold

A nice voice, didn't excite me.

47: Pot Of Gold - Alice Russell

Alice Russell has a beautiful voice and this is an enjoyable album. The only thing was that for me it lacked grit. I'm aware I'm a grumpy old school rock fan and while I can appreciate and enjoy this album... The sole music is a little to laid back for most of my listening.

In the same week (thanks to a long drive) I have covered "The hardest way to make an easy living" by "The Streets", who are becoming something of a guilty pleasure on long drives.

46: Good Times, Bad Times, Ten Years Of Godsmack - Godsmack

I saw this band open for Metallica in 2002 (I think). And they rocked. They were good, very good. The group I was with were all blown away by just how good the "I stand alone" band were.

This album doesn't do them justice. I enjoyed them live. While there was nothing wrong with this collection... It was missing the raw and exciting sound I remember.

45: Horses - Patti Smith

Old school punk at its best. I enjoyed this a lot. Some of it felt a little esoteric for me to fully appreciate in the car while driving but very good all the same.

44: A Grand Doesn't Come For Free - The Streets

Since I have been returning to "Original Pirate material" many times I figured I'd give no. 2 a go.

It took 3 plays to get into this one. A long time and perseverance. But I'm glad I did. A concept album which tells a story. It was like enjoying a film while I drove.

I did so many miles that I ended up also listening to "Everything Is Borrowed" which is actually album 4 (oops). I didn't hear a full story going on through it but it was more up beat (I suppose the result of being successful with music) with a more positive stance on things.

43: The Very Best Of - Nina Simone

I enjoyed this, it added a little more to my "Blues" knowledge and sounds very good too.

Not much more to say on it than that. I recommend it. I'll be returning to it.

42: I Speak Because I Can - Laura Marling

This album has a nice sound to it and personal songs by a talented singer songwriter. I was not able to get into the album like I did with "Alas I Cannot Swim" which I took to quickly. But I am going to continue to play it from time to time as it does have a nice sound.

41: Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards - Joe Satriani

This wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. It sounded more generic Joe than the exciting, over the top, egotistical, self indulgent and masturbatory tracks of previous albums. Still good but Id recommend The Extremist or Flying in a Blue Dream.
It was good but not his best.

40: Shark Bites And Dog Fights - Skindred

Enjoyed this a lot. Saw them play sonisphere and they rock. So knew this would be a good one.

The cover of "Electric Avenue" is a lot of fun.

39: Oyster - Heather Nova

I found out about this one from my last.fm recommendations. I'm glad I did, It isn't an all time classic but I did enjoy it a lot. The track "Sugar" wasn't on the original release but was added to later editions and is worth it.

38: In Silico - Pendulum

After Immersion I thought this would also excite me. Sadly to me it felt like my expectation for Immersion (Every song having that "pendulum" sound). I enjoy immersion when driving but this one failed to get me in the same way. It quickly got to all sound the same to me (I'm aware that to a person who isn't a rock fan all rock can sound very much the same).

37: Asylum - Disturbed

Very good. I still rate their first album the highest but this is good. "Never Again" Is clearly a deeply personal song and is very powerful.
Looking forward to seeing them live :)

36: Blues & Roots - Charlie Mingus

Good musically but didn't excite me. I could appreciate it deeply but it didn't "turn me on".

35: The Odyssey - Symphony X

The Odyssey by Symphony X is best described as "Scandinavian heavy prog rock".

I didn't get into the fantasy stuff as much as I should have. I think I'll leave hat for big fantasy fans. For some reason I have always loved fantasy (I'm talking Dwarves, Orks, Magic, Swords, Space, Weird West etc... ad infinitum). However, I didn't go bonkers for Lord Of The Rings, the Narnia films and everything else fantasy. I don't know why. I should drool over Tolkien, but I don't. Perhaps my own personal fantasies as a child have overflowed me.

Either way the fantasy (while I enjoyed it) didn't grip me. The pretence was a bit much. Part of me loves the idea of 24 minute song. Again, not quite there. I'm still listening to this one so preying that since I'm having a long week it's making the album slower.

34: Last Look At Eden - Europe

Last Look At Eden from Europe Is an exceptional album from the band most people know of for "It's the final count down da da da da darrrrr! de de de de deeeeee!"

This album was good, this album was quite something. There was something fun about it. I found myself singing along to "Run With The Angels" in the car. But the whole album was good. OK so I obviously like rock still (I was getting worried). But this album does have a slightly less serious feel to it than the other two recent rock offerings.

A big thank you to Andrew for recommending this one, sorry it took so long to get round to listening to it.

33: The Final Frontier - Iron Maiden

The Final Frontier by Iron Maiden is the latest album from Iron Maiden. I'm a big fan of Maiden, so when I say that this album didn't grab me like I had hoped I'm being honest.

It is more prog than previous offerings (I like prog), and I love maiden. They don't appear in my regular listening because after seeing them live several times (I'm too tired to count now) I find listening to their CDs (and the LPs I have) a little empty in comparison. So in general perhaps my not enjoying this album is to do with it being a Maiden recorded album rather than the album not being so good. After all I enjoyed hearing them play sonisphere.

Another heavy rock album that I'm not quite getting the point with. Hmmmmmm

32: Forever Never & Aporia - Forever Never

Forever Never and Aporia by Forever Never. Yes I tried two albums in a week. Hard work. And to be honest these were given to me by a friend. And assuming by the signatures, she will want them back.

Another heavy rock album that hasn't quite got me going. Not sure if I'm just picky with my rock or getting less into it as the years roll by.

31: Beyond Skin - Nitin Sawhney

Beyond Skin by Nitin Sawhney is different, very different from my usual listening. A recommendation from a friend of mine at work. After lamenting about Jeff Beck it was pointed out to me that Nadia (on the You Had It Coming album) was a cover. And this album had the original.

Nitin Sawhney is a local boy (to me) in the garden of England. I didn't realise it till I did some reading.

So my thoughts on the album.... Hmmmm Different, in a good way. I'm not going to deny that Jeff Beck still wins with me. But I'm glad I listened to this album. It makes a nice change and made me think a little (the whole point of why I'm doing this).

It was also perfect for after a weekend of loud heavy rock.

30: The Singles Collection - Skinny Puppy

The Singles Collection by Skinny Puppy was hyped a little to me by a friend. I had known the name but never the music. So on a recommendation I got the album.

I just didn't get into this one. I'm sorry, I didn't get any groove from it, the horror film sound segments made me feel uncomfortable as one would play while I was at traffic lights.

I didn't find anything categorically wrong with the album or music. Just didn't get it, into it or feel anything from it.

On the other hand I was listening to other stuff and had a whole weekend of rock at Sonisphere. What a weekend.

29: Immersion - Pendulum

Immersion by Pendulum in all honesty I was expecting to hear "that pendulum sound", an entire album of the drum and bass equivalent to a ministry of sound night (I went to one years ago and to me it was like playing one song all night long). I pressed play, intro track. Track two started to play and I thought "yep here we go" then on to track 3 'Watercolour', OK this is different. I like this.

And from there on I enjoyed the album. It bet my scepticism and negativity. It also helped me get to a dental appointment on time despite running late. So I was fired up and excited when I saw them open for the prodigy at Milten Keynes warriors dance festival. Now that was a good day (except for the too long queues at the bar). Dirty dancing and Pounding Pounding techno music! Pounding Pounding techno music! (ahem).

So yeah, In Silico is on my wish list now.

28: The Definitive - Alice Cooper

The Definitive Alice Cooper was just what I needed. Something I was familiar with so didn't require too much "getting into". I have seen Alice a few times and obviously listened to lots of tracks all over the place. But surprisingly Don't have (on CD) any albums. So I figured this would fill that gap.

Nothing on this album from Brutal Planet which in my opinion is the best recent offering from an artist who continues to delight audiences on stage. The man is in his 60s and still puts on a world class show.

If you listen to his breakfast show (I'm not kidding, look up planet rock, he is their breakfast show DJ) you will also find out that he is insightful and interesting.

This was a good reminder of his work as he is headlining Friday at the Sonisphere festival at the end of this month.

27: Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da - Rammstein

Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da - Rammstein didn't excite me like I had hoped. They have a good back catalogue and some top tunes. This album... Isn't their best.

I would recommend Live Aus Berlin (live at Berlin). It is a good live album and one I play quite often. This is one of my previously mentioned "10 albums I tend to listen to a lot". As I am seeing the band soon I wanted to listen to their new album.

26: The Libertines - The Libertines

The Libertines Debut (self titled) album was a gift (late birthday). I have to say this is another album I enjoyed that I didn't think I would.

It didn't excite me like some others have done but I did enjoy it. These posts are getting so short as my time diminishes.

Now I'm up to date for this week, I'll just say that my next (or current) album is: Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da - Rammstein.

25: The Definitive Collection 2002 - Stevie Wonder

The Definitive Collection 2002 by Stevie Wonder I didn't listen to enough in all honesty. I was fitting it in before hard rock calling.

I enjoyed it and want to revisit the album for a better listen when the summer festival season is over (I'm craming in stuff for Sonisphere now.

Oh and hard rock calling rocked. Lots of hot sun and cider in the park with top music.

24: Original Pirate Material - The Streets

Original Pirate Material by The Streets Was recommended to me. The only song I knew of by them was "Dry your eyes mate". Which had caused me to comment to my friends "Awwww chavs have feelings too".

In all honesty this album was a LOT better than I thought it would be. It opened my eyes a little. After Paul Oakenfold I was having a nice line of new stuff. Anyway I'm looking forward to listening to the other three albums from them in the future.

23: Greatest Hits & Remixes - Paul Oakenfold

Greatest Hits & Remixes - Paul Oakenfold I enjoyed this. It is different from the usual rock that I play and I enjoyed it.

Obviously not the most 100% original music (samples some good tunes I know or had heard some place before). But actually good for driving and I have been playing it again and again since.

Fitted it in round Rage Against The Machine and Bon Jovi gigs so it was a balance. I know I'm coming back to this one.

Spotify had going:

• Steve Earle - Copperhead Road
• Steve Earle - Guitar Town
• Steve Earle - Train a Commin'

22: No Guts, No Glory - Airbourne

No Guts, No Glory - Airbourne

This enjoyable classic rock sound riot from Airbourne sits in with all the other classic rock sound albums I have had this year. Enjoyable, some nice points but failing to ultimately satisfy something deeper. Perhaps I'm just getting tired of the classic rock sound.

I liked it but in a busy week it didn't make much impact on me.

Other stuff I have listened to (thanks to spoitfy):

• Astrocreep 2000 - Rob Zombie
• Singles 1968 - 1971 - The rolling stones
• Ritual Noise - Covenant
• This Left Feels Right - Bon Jovi

21: Manifesto Of - Lacuna Coil

Manifesto Of - Lacuna Coil, a best of from a band I like. After my joy with Shallow Life I was a little disappointed with this. I had previously enjoyed the Karmacode album. Perhaps they are a band that (for the most part) has matured. Or perhaps it was a very busy week and I just didn't get into it.

20: Slash - Slash

Slash by Slash Is a good album. Another contender for Album of the year. OK so in my mind Jeff is still ahead on this but still! This cooks, this rocks.

This album is a whos who of rock singers. And rather than making them sing a slash song... Slash plays a song closer to the singers style in most cases. It is very good. I can't stop playing it.

One warning. I don't recommend listening to this one while driving, unless you can control the throttle. I caught myself creeping over the limit with this one.

Yeah this rocks!

19: Valleys Of Neptune - Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix releases an album. Yes a man who died on September 18, 1970 has recorded a new album!

OK so a corpse didn't play guitar and sing after being exhumed nearly 40 years after his death... This is more "previously unreleased material". Something that usually is only for the die hard fan. Lets face it, there is usually a good reason why materiel isn't previously released.

In all honesty, this isn't anything to get over excited over. It is good, I did enjoy it. Although it didn't get me like the woodstock recording (still sends shivers down my spine) or any of the many best of albums available.

The more blues version of red house and hey jo were good. But other than that, I didn't get that into it.

18: The Collection - Howlin' Wolf

The Collection by Howlin' Wolf is a good collection of more delta blues. I liked little red rooster and the original (I think) "Back door man" most famously performed by the doors (Who I rate highly).

Not much to say about this one, Nice blues. I enjoyed it and will play it again some time. But like the Muddy waters, it feels a little academic to me now. While its good music etc... I'm a little more tuned to highly produced rock.

Still a good collection and something that I think people should listen to. How will we know where we are going if we don't know where we came from.

17: Klassics - Kiss

Klassics by Kiss is a bonus "Best of" on the Sonic Boom album. I figured it was essential listening before I saw them play Wembley Arena in London.

To be honest I was a little let down by this album. It is a poor best of. Perhaps to encourage sales of their other albums. Still I supplemented it with Alive III which I got from Spotify. Well I made it a play list, I didn't pay. Well I have paid, the premium is worth it.

This pair made my Kiss Experience complete. My only complaint is that this "Best of" wasn't the best of them. Alive 3 is as close as you can get to a best of live recording.

16: Emotion & Commotion - Jeff Beck

Emotion & Commotion - Jeff Beck

Stop everything!

Stop RIGHT NOW!

WOW!

This album is incredible! This album ROCKS!

Imelda May and Joss Stone feature on here, Two incredible voices. Jeff works the guitar creating complex sounds with an ease that is not of this world. I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad, this is possibly going to be my top album of 2010 and the year isn't half way through.

I'm sure I already raved about "Put a spell on you" feat Joss stone, I wish I had gone to both nights at the O2 as "Lilac Wine" is a beautiful song and Imelda May joined him on stage for that one. But driving down the motorway and all of a sudden I'm surrounded by Joss passionately wailing with serious emotion while Jeffs guitar franticly keeps up (good composition) for "There's no other me". The slower tracks are beautiful too. This album is a must have if you like rock and want to hear something a little different that is very good.

Can you tell I like this album a lot?

15: Sonic Boom - KISS

Sonic Boom - KISS Is impressive for a new album from an old band. Very often a band or artist will have success with a new album purely because they have a lot of fans who will buy (almost) anything. KISS are famous for cashing in. If you can think of it you can probably buy it with the word "KISS" on it.

But this album is good, if cringe worthy at times. A good example is the lyrics to "Danger Us" listening to that I thought to myself "He didn't just say THAT did he?":
Danger you
Danger me
Danger us (pronounced/heard dangerous)

But a catchy album and I'm looking forward to seeing them. A surprisingly strong album in my collection.

14: God And Guns - Lynyrd Skynyrd

God And Guns by Lynyrd Skynyrd Is an entertaining album. Packed with political punches which aren't too subtle.

In short half the songs are saying that 'God' and 'Guns' are an important part of America and that they should not be tampered with etc...

While I'm not a big supporter of fire arms and I do believe in religious freedom I did find this message repeated all too often. Also entertaining is the fact that there isn't much of the original band on this recording.

However there are some (as one would expect) very catchy riffs and energetic songs on this album which I have enjoyed. I don't think its going to be as classic as the original offerings but it isn't bad.

One last note... My brother agrees with me that many of the tracks on this album sound like they could have been recorded by Nickleback

13: Black Rock - Joe Bonamassa

Black Rock - Joe Bonamassa was a serious let down for me. I have many of his albums and this one didn't grab me at all. I'm aware that I have been very busy and that didn't help me get into it at all.

I will try again with this album at some time. But it didn't get me in the same way others have. And I'm quite a fan of Mr Bonamassa.

12: Mick And Caroline - Latin Quarter

Mick And Caroline - Latin Quarter Did not excite me like the previous Modern Times Can you tell I liked Latin Quarters first album?

I think part of why this album didn't grab me is how busy I have been. Not had the chance to listen to it properly. I am going to have to return to it.

That is an interesting point. I have been doing this for 12 weeks now! and Still going and still getting a lot out of it. I am nolonger listening to the small array of music I had found myself listening to before the new year. So success on the front of the plan. I am acheaving exactly what I set out to.

So what albums have I returned to since I started doing this (Note I have been playing other stuff too)?

• Shallow Life-Lacuna Coil
  
• Meanest Of Times - Dropkick Murphys
  
• You Had It Coming - Jeff Beck Not an actual Album of the week but one I picked up and play a lot in the car

And when not listening to these CDs in my car or on my mp3 player I have been using Last.fm Which when I'm using something plugged into it records what I listen to. So yeah, while not every album has been a success (I never thought it would). The project IS!

Oh and next couple of weeks:

• 13: Black Rock - Joe Bonamassa
  
• 14: God And Guns - Lynyrd Skynyrd
  
• 15: Sonic Boom - Kiss (plus bonus 'best of' CD)

11: Feel The Steel - Steel Panther

Feel The Steel - Steel Panther Loud and funny rock. I enjoyed this. Although it very quickly lost its novelty and to be honest... I felt embarrassed that someone I knew (Who didn't like classic sounding rock) would hear it coming out my car.

A good album. One I'm happy to have in my collection but, didn't excite me like I thought it would.

Still More time on Latin Quarter.

10: Sing Like An Angel - Mitch Benn

Wow! I have been busy this month.

Sing like an angel. It made me laugh a few times. Just what I'd expect from a comedy/novelty album. But I know now that I won't be hurrying to buy more.

In all honesty, I can hear the songs once or twice on I player (or you tube) But to me they aren't worth buying. I can live my life without getting them from you tube if I had to.

I was introduced to him from the now show (BBC Radio 4, get it on the iPlayer). And I enjoyed his songs on Auto Erotic Asphyxiation and the Behave Yourself (Iron Maiden story) song.

But yeah, it gave me a lot of time for the masterpiece of Modern Times by Latin Quarter. Which isn't a new album to me. I can't say enough good stuff about this album nobody knows of.

9: The Meanest of Times - Dropkick Murphys

The shouting Celtic American Punks are angry and loud. The Meanest of Times by the Dropkick Murphys is a bouncy frantic work.

Strongly recommended by a friend. This isn't a easy listening album or a work of great cultural significance or even musical excellence. But god is there something about driving along trying to keep up with the beat of (F)Lanigan's Ball. One also feels riotous almost spitting the lyrics about The State Of Massachusetts.

Not an album to encourage one to stick to the speed limit.

While I haven't finished this album I'm enjoying it a lot and looking forward to moving on to:

• 10: Sing Like An Angel - Mitch Benn
• 11: Feel The Steel - Steel Panther
• 12: Mick And Caroline - Latin Quarter

8: Greatest Hits [Original recording remastered] - Joan Baez

Joan Baez, such beautiful and personal songs. I still find Diamonds and rust an incredible song given that it is very intimate about Joan and her relationship with Bob Dylan.

I discovered Joan from the Woodstock Diaries DVD which I would recommend to many who are fans of or interested in some of the older rock/pop music out there. It tells a remarkable story and has some infamous recordings from a great many artists. This is a big favourite in my music film collection along side the Monterey Pop Festival DVD.

On the whole I enjoyed the album. I was surprised to find that it felt like a selection of mainly more recent offerings from her in comparison to the Woodstock recording that I have which introduced me to her. She is an artist who while never in the main stream has lead an interesting life and produced some very interesting music with a sole that is rare these days.

My future offerings are:

• 9: The Meanest of Times - Dropkick Murphys
• 10: Sing Like An Angel - Mitch Benn
• 11: Feel The Steel - Steel Panther
• 12: Mick And Caroline - Latin Quarter

The Latin Quarter offering stems from a discussion I had with someone who knew of the Modern Times album. This I purchased and will write more about in a future entry. But it will suffice to say that I'm excited about listening to an album that I think is one of the best of all time despite nobody (until I heard someone singing a song from it) else knew of.

7: Tubular Bells Vol.1: Remastered [Original recording remastered] - Mike Oldfield

Theme from the Exorcist starts this one. For the most part this recording sounded a little "Academic" to me. It had enjoyable parts and some nice relaxing music. Combined with some interesting progressions. However for the most part I found it slow moving and the only having two tracks (I'm guessing originally "side 1" and "side 2") made it difficult to move back over interesting parts.

I enjoyed it but don't see myself revisiting the recording often. I guess that's why it is a record featuring in many collections but rarely played except in soundtracks (abridged of course). I'm glad I found out "what all the fuss was about".

Now on with: 8: Greatest Hits [Original recording remastered] - Joan Baez

6: The Best Of - Jeff Beck

One thing I'm doing here is keeping track of the weeks. No more:

SELECT WEEK(cdListenStartDate) FROM albums

Anyway, back to things music.

Jeff Beck - The best of


This was similar to the Yardbirds which I enjoyed but felt it was missing something. The performance with Jeff and Eric was one of my top gigs of my life. WOW is all I can say. And Joss Stone joining Jeff... I'm getting his new album when it is released.

This one didn't inspire me the way I thought it should. Like the yardbirds most of this was "early" material. I'd recommend anyone looking for a more contemporary (and more like he played at the gig) sound from Jeff to listen to: You Had It Coming
You Had It Coming is a far more invigorating recording and (in my opinion) made for driving to. Not that I didn't enjoy his best of, just that it didn't excite me like "You Had It Coming".

5: Shallow Life - Lacuna Coil

This was a must listen to before I saw them at the end of the week. Yes I was under a time constraint.

Thank god I got into it fairly quickly, from the get go it got me (perhaps I was just in the need of RAAAAWWWWWWWK!). I got to track 4 "I'm not afraid" fairly quickly and then stayed there. This is the first time that has happened with one of my albums.

It also wasn't long that in my car I was calling out (while flying along the motorway) "I've been burnt so bad but I still play with fire" something that appeals to me. A powerful line from "I won't tell You".

This album unlike everything else I have listened to isn't one of those "must hear before you die" or "Top 50 albums of all time" entries. Sorry Lacuna Coil, I like you, the gig was awesome! This just happens to be a very good heavy rock album. No boundaries are being pushed, no political upheaval, no virtuoso guitar. Just plain good heavy rock, emotive, invigorating, bouncy and fun. Given the busy few weeks I have been having just what I needed.

Will be playing this again and again. In fact this week it went back on in the car as I needed something to fit the fact that I wasn't in a jolly mood Tuesday.

4: Ultimate - Yardbirds

It looks like I haven't kept up doesn't it... Well I have :-) I managed to listen to the music but didn't have the time to blog about it.

Sadly this is going to have to be a quick one. Another busy evening ahead (This may include some computer games). I have given up with the links. Google will do just as well for anyone who cares.

This was another 2 CD monolith A lot of tracks to get through. In nature of the fact that I'm seeing two of the Yardbirds on Feb 13th

In all honesty, this wasn't the awe inspiring album I thought it was going to be. There is a lot of nice stuff, a lot of interesting stuff and a lot of clever stuff. Bucket loads! The development of music and artists progressing. Big names growing infront of your ears...

I can't find anything wrong with it. Truly I enjoyed it. It just didn't grab me like some other albums have or inspire me like I had been looking for.

The one thing I'm sure of is that I'll keep coming back to it as it is interesting. Some good Bass lines. Funky guitar and Jeff Beck knocking out some nice slide guitar.

3: Work 1989 - 2002 - Orbital

Detail links:

• Orbital website
• Orbital - Work on wikipedia
• Orbital wikipedia
• Orbital - Work on Amazon
  

A far jump from the blues of the Mississippi delta, Work 1989 - 2002 is a good mix of 90s pop/techno. This album was one I got into very quickly during a drive from Leicester back to Kent.

In comparison to the two CD monolith for the previous week and this week (I'm now onto the Yardbirds - Ultimate) it was a shorter piece which was simple and enjoyable. The only track that I was familiar wit from the album being "Satan" Which I can remember blasting from the radio while I retyped my GCSE coursework after a hard disk failure... remember kids, always make regular backups. I hadn't listened to this track since it was on the radio when it was in the charts (Note: not a good track when trying to stick to the speed limit). The only thing it missed from my radio 1 listening days was the intro:

Daddy, what does regret mean?
Well son, the funny thing about regret is,
It's better to regret something you have done,
Than to regret something you haven't done.
And by the way, if you see your mom this weekend,
Be sure and tell her, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN!!!

But that asside it's still a good pounding tune with attidtude, pace and Metallica's Kirk Hammett (remixed/recorded for the movie Spawn). A large chunk of the album (like many "dance" tracks & albums) I found repetatice and missing some development/intricacy. But that is very much my own opionon. Not necaserily a bad thing (I do like the albuma and I do like a lot of "dance" music). This partly made it very accesible as less "listening" was required to get into the album.

"Impact" was another track that stood out for two reasons:

1. The second half is an enjoyable techno sound which somehow goot a good vibe going with me.
2. The first half has a sample which sounds a little like a horn (from a car) which is mildly offputting when driving.

The voice samples of quotes with political and profound statements... At the same time as describing them as that, their level reminds me of a HHGTTG quote:

"Very deep," said Arthur, "you should send that in to the Reader's Digest. They've got a page for people like you."

While profound, not quite insigtful.

In all I enjoyed the album. It's not a "masterpiece" or article of great historic musical documentation. But One I did enjoy.

My next few albums are already worked out:
4: Ultimate - Yardbirds (I am seeing Eric and Jeff soon)
5: Shallow Life - Lacuna Coil (Seeing them at the end of this week)
6: The Best Of - Jeff Beck (Seeing him and Eric at the end of this week)

2: Anthology - Muddy Waters

Detail links:

• Muddy Waters "Official" website
  
• Muddy Waters - Anthology on Amazon
  
• Muddy Waters wikipedia entry

A deep leap into the Mississippi delta. This is a far jump from the polished and highly stylised Rhythm and blues from the states of the early part of this millennium. Yet in some way there are some interesting links and similarities. Subject matter of many of the songs is very much like contemporary R&B, however musically you can hear that the blues had a baby and they called it rock n' role.
I have been a big fan of the roadhouse podcast for some time, so I'm now no stranger to the blues. In fact I quite enjoy it. I do feel I don't know enough about it but my weekly hour of the finest blues I've never heard (roadhouse tag line) is working me towards a rudimentary education.
Anyone who has listened to anything by Muddy or in fact seen the film goodfellas will be familiar with "Manish Boy" [sic]. A song which oozes all the things stereotypical about blues (with a rock leaning), those destictive 12 bars and base line. And I'm sure everyone has listened to various incarnations of "Rollin and Tumblin" which also features on this album.
I found this two disk collection of music a lot of work for one week (note to self: No double CD anthologies of people with big back catalogues). But a long drive did help.
I liked the music a lot. Although i did find it difficult to listen to any of it for a long period.
On a side note this recording was good background music for a small dinner party.
I do plan on returning to the blues after trying some other things out. As a big rock fan I know that a lot of my top bands have a history of influences which lead back to the blues.
Next weeks album is something a little more modern. Work 1989 - 2002 - Orbital

1: Hits - Joni Mitchell

Detail links:

• Joni Mitchell official website
  
• Hits - Joni Mitchell on Amazon
• Joni Mitchell on wikipedia
• Hits on wikipedia

So here I am, album no. 1 on my list. Christmas present (thanks mummy).

Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson; November 7, 1943) is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and painter.^[1]

An artist I have been told many good things about over the years. I knew the "Woodstock" song from before... OK and "Big Yellow Taxi" also but didn't know it was her (or what it was called).

I found out about her (or at least was inspired to get this album) from a BBC documentary on music from California.

I like this album, I love her voice. The top song on the album has to be "Woodstock" sublime, love it. Straightforward and simple lyrics. Tells a story of a festival like no other.

Big yellow taxi. I never listened to the lyrics much before. But they do make a lot of sense. You don't know what you've got till its gone. And how often is paradise covered in concrete for cars to drive in and out for capitalism.

After my "anti capitalist" comments were pointed out to me I was reminded that I hate going places with insufficient parking... I'm a "hippie crit".

Next week: The Anthology - Muddy Waters

A New Album Every Week For 2010

So here it is 2010 and my new resolution is "I want to acquire and listen to a new album each week of 2010".

The idea is not a new one... Just one I have decided that the start of a new year is an ideal opportunity to kick off. So here I am in Ernest.

My aim and desire is to listen to more music. Too often I get stuck listening to the same albums (and too much the same genre "Rock"). So I want to:
1: Listen to new music.
2: Listen to music I haven't listened to before.

To make this achievable I'm going to clarify my definition of "Acquire and listen to a new album a week" :
1: "Acquire" means I can get the album on any medium I chose. CD, Vinyl, mp3 download. I aim to get them all legitimately (making up for the imbalance in the force caused by illegal music downloads).
2: "Listen to" means to play while paying attention 2 or more times.
3: "album" means a CD that is not classified as a "single" (we can stick with the music industry definition here. If the "album" is a double (or more) CD "Best of..." or "anthology" then I reserve the right to count it as multiple (one for each disk) albums and spread it over multiple weeks (If I have the requirement) so that I can do multiple lots of 60 mins justice. I want to listen to albums and music, I don't want this to be a chore.
4: "A week" depicts a period of roughly 7 days. This can overlap, this can over run and this can start on any day of the week. However 52 albums need to be "acquired" and "listen to"ed to over the year Jan 1st 2010 - Dec 31st 2010. And the listening to of these albums is to be done evenly spread.

So there we have it. Feel free to recommend me an album or artist to listen to.

To kick myself of I have got:

1: Hits - Joni Mitchel
2: Anthology - Muddy Waters