Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 27, 2024 8:20:50 GMT -5
I think someone here mentioned a Graphic Novel with Black Widow but I'm not sure... This could be referring to the old Golden Age Black Widow (Claire Voyant). In his 2008 mini-series The Twelve, J. Michael Straczinsky retconned her to be a lesbian and there were definitely scenes depicting her kissing another woman. Maybe that was the first time Marvel showed a lesbian kiss? Although 2008 sounds a bit late for that, but then again, maybe not.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2024 18:18:24 GMT -5
This sums up my reaction pretty much every time there was breaking news from around 2015 - 2021. (Spoiler tags for adult language) {Spoiler}{Spoiler: Click to show} Since then, it's been a more low-grade persistent sense of disappointment, but it is unfortunately becoming relevant again. Interesting that you chose to post the BBC News indent there. Do many if you Americans get your news from the BBC?
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2024 14:26:21 GMT -5
Never heard of Alvin before, but I have heard of the Blasters (though never actually heard their music). They were kind of a cowpunk band, right? Of these two tracks you posted, "King of California" is especially nice and wears its Bob Dylan influences very much on its sleeve (I was less impressed with "Fourth of July", I'm afraid). Nice stripped-back '90s engineering and production on both tracks though. I don't know if you're familiar with the American singer-songwriter Willy Mason from the mid-2000s, but based on these two songs I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that he was a fan of Alvin. The Blasters would be at the intersection of Roots Rock and Cowpunk. You definitely should give them a listen. Alvin was with the punk band "X" for a short time before he got his solo record deal. I'm not familiar with Willy Mason, but I'll give him a listen. Yeah, I think I will give the Blasters a listen. I quite like the few cowpunk bands that I do know, like the Beat Farmers and (to a lesser extent) the Long Ryders. It's a fascinating sub-genre seeing punk and new wave energy colliding with country & western.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2024 11:59:34 GMT -5
#3 – Dave Alvin – King of California
Never heard of Alvin before, but I have heard of the Blasters (though never actually heard their music). They were kind of a cowpunk band, right? Of these two tracks you posted, "King of California" is especially nice and wears its Bob Dylan influences very much on its sleeve (I was less impressed with "Fourth of July", I'm afraid). Nice stripped-back '90s engineering and production on both tracks though. I don't know if you're familiar with the American singer-songwriter Willy Mason from the mid-2000s, but based on these two songs I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that he was a fan of Alvin.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2024 9:53:32 GMT -5
More favourite albums of 1994... #3 - MTV Unplugged in New York by NirvanaI'm not generally a fan of live albums, but there are some that really hit the mark and Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York is certainly one of them. Recorded in November 1993, the performance was released as an album in late '94 around 7 months after Kurt Cobain's death. In true Nirvana fashion, the band totally subvert MTV's unplugged formula by playing almost none of their hits ("Come As You Are" would be the only exception), by running Cobain's acoustic guitar through an amplifier and effects pedals to make it sound like an electric guitar on certain songs, and by inviting obscure cowpunk band the Meat Puppets on stage to play three of their songs with Nirvana. Reportedly, MTV's executives were NOT happy about these artistic choices, which is, of course, absolutely brilliant and totally rock 'n' roll. For me, the thing that this album makes explicit is the fact that Nirvana were just this little garage band from Seattle who, because of Cobain's excellent songwriting, became one of the biggest bands in the world. But it was a level of fame that they were never really supposed to achieve; it was a position they were never really meant to be in – and, as well all know, Cobain ultimately paid the price for that. There's poignancy to the idea of this noisy little band with the amazing songs being catapulted to the heights of super-stardom and, ultimately, tragedy – like Icarus flying too close to the sun or something. But there's also an inspiring and empowering component to it as well and both aspects are palpable in these performances. It's hard to pick out highlights from the album, as pretty much every song is a highlight. That said, Nirvana's cover of the Vaselines' "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" is breathtakingly beautiful and more than a little moving. The band's versions of their own "About a Girl" and "Dumb" blow their respective album versions away too. But really, the whole performance is utterly compelling and serves as a requiem to Cobain himself. Here's a video of the band's spine-tingling and harrowing version of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 21:48:21 GMT -5
Unfortunately these issues aren't part of Englehart's run but came immediately afterwards. I just looked them up at comics.org to check and they were written by Marv Wolfman. Ah yes, you are of course quite correct. Englehart's last issue was #18, I believe. But these issues continue the story that Englehart had started -- though not in the way he intended, I'm sure. So, rather than just have the run stop abruptly at issue #18, I decided to get the series up to issue #23 because that looks like a suitable jumping off point. That's why they were on my "wants list" and why in my head I was thinking of them as part of the Englehart run, even though they're not. Thanks for the correction though.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 17:35:20 GMT -5
Myself, I've always had impeccable musical taste. Even the bands I listened to and bought records by as a little kid are great and still get listened to round my house (Adam & The Ants, XTC, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears etc). The first two albums I bought in grade school as a little kid were some early Beatles albums...so I stand by the same statement haha I became weirdly obsessed by the Beatles at a very young age too -- I'm talking, like, 3 or 4-years-old here. This was before I'd even heard their music! I can remember asking my Mum what the band members' names were and trying really hard to memorise them. By around age 7, I had discovered the so-called Red and Blue compilation albums ( 1962-1966 and 1967-1970) in my parents' record collection and had quietly spirited both of those upstairs to my bedroom, where they were on almost constant rotation on my second-hand turntable. For a lot of years I believed or assumed that those two albums represented the Beatles' entire output. I was therefore amazed at age 13 or so, when a class mate at school bought in a cassette tape of the Abbey Road album. I was amazed to see song titles on it that I had never heard of ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "You Never Give Me Your Money", "The End" etc). That was the moment when I realised that there must be other Beatles albums out there that featured untold numbers of songs that I hadn't heard. I went to my local library and in the referance section I found a book called The Beatles Album File and Complete Discography by Jeff Russell. In it, I found details of every Beatles album and I can vividly remember marvelling at exotic song titles like "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Within You Without You", "I'm Looking Through You" and "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey". Starting on my 15th Birthday and Christmas of that year, I began to ask relatives for Beatles LPs as presents, since, on my limited paper round wage, I couldn't afford many records. I was also careful to ask for the albums in strictly chronological order, so that I got to hear Please Please Me first, then With The Beatles, followed by A Hard Day's Night and so on. The reason I did this was because I wanted to experience those albums in the order they were originally released to better appreciate the band's musical development. I guess I was already a bit of a Beatles obsessive by then.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 17:20:59 GMT -5
I'm not sure that Pearl Jam have ever made a bad record. I stopped buying their records after Binaural as I was more into other types of music by then, but they continue to grind out the records and the impression I have of them is that they're a classic American rock band. A lot of that is thanks to Eddie, but one of the things I liked about Pearl Jam is that they let the other members of the band write songs too. They even let the drummer write some songs. For me, Binaural was the first PJ album that didn't blow me away. It still had some very good songs on it, but it felt way patchier than, say, Yield. The first real inessential album in their discography was the follow-up Riot Act. I still own that album, but it's not an album that gets many listens. After that, there was the album with the sliced avocado on the cover, which I think was just called Pearl jam. That really wasn't a good album at all, although I kinda liked the single "World Wide Suicide". But after illegally downloading the avocado album, to try it out before I bought it, I decided that it wasn't good enough to bother purchasing. Another post- Binaural song I really like is "Just Breathe" from Backspacer, though that sounded more like an Eddie Vedder solo record TBH. But like I say, Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield are all pretty much faultless albums in my view.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 16:28:38 GMT -5
Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, on the other hand, were simply something really special. Cobain was one of the best and most unique songwriters of my generation IMO. I can get behind this. I actually appreciate the whole diversity of music during the early 90's, it really did go beyond grunge. My aforementioned love of the acid jazz scene during that time, fresh stuff like Rage Against the Machine...there was so much going on. I agree. The '90s were a very exciting time for popular music generally, I think.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 16:27:36 GMT -5
I reject the idea that the music you listened to as a teenager was shit. It's a special time in the life of a music fan and something that should be embraced. Yet again I find you speak words of wisdom. Myself, I've always had impeccable musical taste. Even the bands I listened to and bought records by as a little kid are great and still get listened to round my house (Adam & The Ants, XTC, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears etc).
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 16:18:24 GMT -5
As far as Grunge goes, it was only Nirvana and Pearl Jam that I was into enough to buy their albums. There was the odd song by other Grunge bands that I liked ("Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden and "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog come to mind), but other than that, I wasn't really into Grunge at all. I was much more into what was going on in the UK indie/alternative rock scene in the '90s (Madchester, Shoegaze, Baggy, Britpop etc). That stuff was much, much more interesting to me than Grunge.
As I noted in my comments on Vitalogy, I reckon Pearl Jam's first 5 albums are pretty faultless. Musically, they were like a classic rock band from the late '60s and early '70s, but it was Eddie Vedder's distinctive vocals and thought-provoking lyrics that really made them interesting, as far as I'm concerned.
Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, on the other hand, were something special. Really, really special. Cobain was one of the best and most unique songwriters and performers of my generation.
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 15:45:10 GMT -5
Got another three mid-70s Doctor Strange issues off of eBay in my quest to complete the Steve Englehart run. These are in decent shape and didn't cost very much.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 11:41:35 GMT -5
#4 – Robert Earl Keen – Gringo Honeymoon
Ha! That "Merry Christmas From the Family" is great! Some very sharp social observation there, but all delivered with genuine affection and not a little nostalgic fondness.
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 11:34:18 GMT -5
#4 - Carnival of Light by RideBetween the years 1990 and 1994, Ride were my favourite current British band. Hailing from Oxford, they had first come to my attention with their early EPs, which were noisy shoegaze affairs: all chainsaw guitars and breathy, ethereal vocals buried low in the mix. But what made Ride special was that beneath the howling guitar squall, there were sublime Beatle-esque melodies, sung in ugly/beautiful harmony by two young men who sounded like choir boys with broken arms. For 1994's Carnival of Light, the band moved away from the noisy dreampop of their earlier career and towards a sound more indebted to late '60s West Coast folk-rock and bands like Pink Floyd, the Creation, and Hawkwind. The results divided fans, with some loving the new direction, while others were disappointed at the lack of that band's signature noisy guitars. Myself, I liked Carnival of Light almost as much as the band's earlier stuff, but I also felt that they had perhaps lost something by moving away from their shoegaze sound. It was maybe all a little too self-consciously retro sounding on this album, but then again, there was plenty of good music to be found here. Stand out tracks would be the weird and wonderful single, "Birdman", along with the Byrdsian jangle of "1000 Miles" and the Hawkwind-esque "Moonlight Medicine" and "From Time to Time". I'm going to choose the song "Only Now" to showcase the album. This is a gorgeously wistful and wasted ballad about the transience and impermanence of life spent travelling and those fleeting, but deeply significant inter-personal relationships you establish and lose along the way…
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 10:50:17 GMT -5
#5 - Parklife by BlurReleased in April '94, Blur's third album was really the first mainstream smash hit album of the Britpop era. For a lot of people, Parklife and its attendant hit singles were the first time that they'd ever heard the band or indie/Britpop music. It was also the album that took the whole Britpop movement from the murky columns of the NME and Melody Maker onto the front pages of the UK's tabloid press. As someone who had been a fan of Blur for a few years by this point, I regarded Parklife as something of a retread of their previous album Modern Life is Rubbish. But having said that, it's definitely a bolder, more confident, and more commercial sounding record than its predecessor, which is why it was such a success, of course. Overall, the album is quite an eclectic mix musically, from the Euro synth-pop of "Girls & Boys", the sophisticated Parisian romance and faux James Bond-theme stylings of "To the End", and the Cockney knees-up sing-along of the title track. Parklife is a very strong album, made by a band at the peak of their powers. I'm gonna pick the bouncy synth-driven smash hit "Girls & Boys" to highlight the album. Its tacky synths, Disco drumming, and '80s-style bass line perfectly captures the hedonistic, flesh market nightclubs of places like Falaraki and Corfu in Greece, or Ibiza, Benidorm or Magaluf in Spain, where young British holidaymakers go to binge-drink, load up on ecstasy pills, and f*ck anything that moves…
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