Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 9:16:03 GMT -5
Never heard of these guys, but straight away I'm liking their snazzy duds on that album cover. Musically, judging from the two tracks you posted, this is real throw-back stuff with a very 1930s and 40s Western Swing vibe to it. I like it alot, actually. Especialy that song, "Along the Santa Fe Trail". Might have to see if I can pick up a copy of this. If you've ever watched Toy Story 2, you've heard them singing the Woody's Roundup theme song. Ah, OK...I would've heard that, yes. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 7:48:55 GMT -5
What I noticed on the coloring as I started out, it looks like stuff like gradient backgrounds are a little crisper in the digital style. It doesn't bother me, but I know these details do matter to people considering reprint collections. I was able to do a compare per below where the first 2 side by side are the coloring from the original first issue (left) and the Special Edition reprint a few years later (right) which I didn't realize had been recolored! Then below a picture I took from my book (had to crop a bit, I was having trouble scaling down as the gradient started looking checkered which it doesn't in person). It looks to me like they went back to more the original colors for the omnibus, with some digital enhanced pattern backgrounds/fills, and a little brighter overall. So not perfect for the purist, but again works for me just fine.  New omnibus:  This is a really helpful comparison @kal. I'm a big fan of Bill Mantlo's writing, but I have not read any Micronauts since I was a very, very young lad in the late '70s (it appeared in black & white as a back-up strip in Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly comic in '78 and '79). I'd like to read the at least the early issues, with Michael Golden on art chores, and have been wondering whether to get the omnibus, the Special Edition '80s reprint, or the original issues (which aren't that pricey). This post of yours helps me make a more informed decision. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 7:38:48 GMT -5
R.I.P. guitarist-songwriter-singer Dickey Betts. A co-founder of The Allman Brothers Band, Betts was a vital member of the band and was largely responsible for some of their biggest hits, including "Rambling Man" and "Jessica." He was frequently over-shadowed by Greg and Duane Allman, Betts was absolutely crucial to their success. Real shame this. Dickey Betts was one of my favourite guitarists and one hell of a songwriter too. I love the Allman Brothers Band's classic output from 1969-1981 and, as you say, Betts was absolutely central to their success. Not least because he wrote all of their biggest hits and best known songs, such as "Ramblin' Man", "Jessica", "Crazy Love", "Blue Skies", and "Southbound". His solo albums with his band Great Southern from the mid-to-late '70s are really worth a listen too, though it was with the Allmans that he did his best work. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 7:21:32 GMT -5
#8 - Grace by Jeff Buckley I don't know about the U.S., but here in the UK this album meant absolutely nothing when it came out in 1994. Even though I was really into alternative rock and indie music at this time – and even with Jeff's famous surname to catch my eye – I don't recall hearing anything about him or this album in the music press at the time. The first I heard of Jeff Buckley was when he died in 1997. The ensuing rush to acclaim Grace, his one and only album, as a modern masterpiece immediately turned me off and made me deeply suspicious of his musical worth. That was my loss really because, when I finally heard Grace in around 2001 or so, the beguiling mix of Buckley's sublime vocals and poetic lyrics, along with a good dose of alternative rock angst and an unusual line in cover versions sucked me in completely. Though the album is uniformly strong, there are, of course, some incredible stand out tracks, such as his definitive cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Buckley's own "Mojo Pin", "Last Goodbye", and "Dream Brother". In terms of picking out a track to showcase the album, I'm gonna resist the temptation to choose the, frankly, over-played cover version of "Hallelujah" (fantastic though it is), and instead go for one of Buckley's own compositions, the beautifully dream-like "Mojo Pin"…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 6:58:56 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1994 #8 – Riders in the Sky – Cowboys in Love
Never heard of these guys, but straight away I'm liking their snazzy duds on that album cover. Musically, judging from the two tracks you posted, this is real throw-back stuff with a very 1930s and 40s Western Swing vibe to it. I like it alot, actually. Especialy that song, "Along the Santa Fe Trail". Might have to see if I can pick up a copy of this. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 5:39:17 GMT -5
This is a tough one because even though I'm a die-hard fan of the original Marvel run, I loved a lot of the Dark Horse comics too. Ultimately I voted original Marvel (1977-1987) because at its best I think it was superior to anything published by later licensee holders, but yeah, Dark Horse is a very close second for me.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2024 5:35:24 GMT -5
It feels like the CGC people hold the entire collecting community hostage. there I said it. Just their own niche....others who couldn't give a toss about slabbed books - and the premiums demanded for them - do just fine.
About 4% of my collection is slabbed, so I do play the game sometimes, but I've also told slabbing geeks where they can push their slabs  Rags, just wondering, but do you have a copy of Hulk #181? |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 19, 2024 9:11:16 GMT -5
By the way, I stumbled onto a really good album by an artist with whom I was completely unfamiliar on YouTube (the algorithm apparently recommended it because I was looking for tracks by, e.g., Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Quincy Jones when compiling my 1974 list): What Color is Love (1972) by Terry Callier. I'll admit, that very alluring album cover got me to click the link, but I ended up liking the first track, "Dancing Girl" quite a bit, and gave the whole thing a listen, and ended up listening to it a few times more. It's very nice music, a sort of combination of folk and soul/R&B, with occasional jazzy elements. Oh yeah, Terry Callier is a great songwriter. I mainly know his 1968 debut, The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier. I was introduced to his songs via the Chicago psychedelic band H.P. Lovecraft, who covered two of Callier's songs on their second album. I haven't really explored any of his later work. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 19, 2024 9:08:33 GMT -5
Hey @kal , did you delete a post from the thread? I could've sworn you posted a run down of 1994 albums that incuded Mellow Gold by Beck. How come? Eh...just not feeling this thread, no big reason. But yeah, Mellow Gold is a great album. Love me some Beck. Yeah, I love Beck too. Mellow Gold only just missed my Top 10, as I think it's actually kinda patchy, though utterly brilliant in places. Later albums are much more consistant for me. But that's why I spotted your deleted post, because I thought, "oh great, somebody else has picked Mellow Gold." |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 19, 2024 5:23:31 GMT -5
Hey @kal, did you delete a post from the thread? I could've sworn you posted a run down of 1994 albums that incuded Mellow Gold by Beck. How come?
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 19, 2024 5:19:02 GMT -5
#9 – Lyle Lovett – I Love Everybody
I know Lyle Lovett from a particular song that was popular over here in the UK some years ago -- like, 90s or maybe early 2000s -- but I'm damned if I can figure out what it was. Looking at his discography on Wikipedia, he appears not to have had any hits here, so I'm not sure what song I'm thinking of??? Anyway, regardless, these are a couple of nice songs; I like Lovett's voice, it's world-weary without seeming affected. I could imagine this being a bit of a late night album to listen to after a few drinks. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 19, 2024 4:59:37 GMT -5
#9 - Be a Girl by The Wannadies Swedish band The Wannadies are likely best remembered – if they're remembered at all! – for their track "You and Me Song", which was featured in Baz Luhrmann's film Romeo + Juliet and became a hit as a result. That song is included on the band's third album Be a Girl, but it didn't actually become a hit until 1996, when Luhrmann's film came out. At their heart, the Wannadies are just a great power-pop band, with exuberant, Beatle-esque melodies and raging guitars. Singer-songwriter Pär Wiksten's twee, wide-eyed indie vocal delivery gives a mid-90s Britpop vibe to a collection of songs so sweetly effervescent that they're likely to induce a sugar rush in the listener. Not there isn't occasional darkness in Wiksten's lyrics, mind you, but any melancholy tends to get buried beneath an avalanche of up-tempo guitar exuberance. Stand out tracks would include "Might Be Stars" (a manifesto for aspiring pop stars), "Love in June", "How Does it Feel?", and "Dreamy Wednesdays". But it's the band's biggest hit that I've chosen to showcase the album. "You and Me Song" is a great illustration of the album's appeal; I love its quiet-loud-quiet arrangement, as the song alternates between the cosy, intimate whispered verses and the explosive chorus that joyusly captures the energetic rush of young love.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 18, 2024 12:10:41 GMT -5
I did hate that album cover though. Yeah, "Confederacy chic" hasn't worn well, has it? |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 17, 2024 19:20:27 GMT -5
#10 – Ian Tyson – Eighteen Inches of Rain
I only know Ian Tyson from his early '60s Ian & Sylvia folk recordings. These two tracks are OK, but they sound a bit slick and "safe" production and performance-wise. The songs aren't bad at all, but I think I'd have liked them more if they had a bit more grit to them. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 17, 2024 18:56:55 GMT -5
OK, Top 10 albums of 1994 then. This was a really strong year for albums in my view; several records that I really like didn't make the top 10 because there was just so much competition. Anyway, here we go... #10 - Give Out but Don't Give Up by Primal Scream One of the things I love about Primal Scream is that no two albums of theirs sound the same. That's certainly true about this album, which followed the band's 1991 ecstasy-drenched, dance music masterpiece Screamadelica. For Give Out but Don't Give Up, the band travelled to Ardent Studios in Memphis to record with legendary producer Tom Dowd (and later George Drakoulias) and came back with something that recalled the classic rock swagger of early '70s Rolling Stones or the Faces. Though there had been signposts to this change in musical direction on 1992's Dixie-Narco EP, for most fans it came as a total shock. And the critics hated the album! Still, it reached #2 in the UK charts and hits like "Rocks" and "Jailbird" became '90s classics (at least here in the UK). Myself, I like the album every bit as much as Screamadelica. "Jailbird" is a great, hip-shakin' opener, while the album's other big hit, "Rocks", is an energetic, Stonesy stomper. Other stand out tracks include "Big Jet Plane", which brings to mind prime Allman Brothers Band, and "(I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind", a gentle ballad that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the Faces' early '70s albums. Special mention as well to "Sad and Blue", for being a simply gorgeous slide guitar, harmonica and gospel choir adorned gem, with the Primals at their most down-home, stoned and fatigued. The band hadn't completely abandoned their dance club leanings though: the descriptively named "Funky Jam" invokes the spirit of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective (George Clinton guests on vocals) and was always an "indie disco floor filler" back in the day. The languid, groove-based title track also features Clinton. I'm gonna pick the single "Jailbird" to showcase the album. This is just a kick-ass song – a slinky-sounding, whisky-swiggin' rocker, with a killer guitar riff and a great sing-along chorus featuring totally inappropriate lyrics ("Gimme more of that Jailbird pie"). |
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