Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 7, 2024 4:00:41 GMT -5
Another favourite album of 1984... #9 - Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole And The Commotions  Rattlesnakes is the debut album by Glaswegian rock band Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and includes the British hit single "Perfect Skin". I didn't pick this album up at the time; I found a second-hand copy at a Car Boot Sale in the early '90s. Still, I liked the single "Perfect Skin" enough in 1984 to have taped it off the radio (on my ghetto blaster, Slam  ). These days, I have all three of the band's albums, but Rattlesnakes is by far the best. The Commotions came out of the same Scottish indie scene as Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, and the Bluebells, but the difference was they were signed to Polydor, a major label. This meant that their records received a much bigger promotional push than their contemporaries and had a layer of studio gloss that was missing from those other bands' recordings. Cole is a skilled singer-songwriter, with a nice line in literate and unashamedly romantic lyrics, all sung in his cracked baritone. The songs on Rattlesnakes are either jangling guitar pop, with catchy melodies, or darker, more meditative tracks. Standout songs on the album for me would be "Perfect Skin", "2cv", "Down on Mission Street" and the title-track. That said, not everything on this album works; two or three of the songs are decidedly mediocre, in fact. But when they hit the mark, Cole and the boys create something rather special. Check out the video for the album's hit single, "Perfect Skin"… |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 7, 2024 3:14:24 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1984 #9 - George Strait – Does Fort Worth Every Cross Your Mind
Never heard of George Strait, but that's some very traditional sounding country & western for the 1980s. Those songs wouldn't have sounded out of place in the '60s (and I mean that as a good thing). |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 7, 2024 0:17:29 GMT -5
I read this for the first time last year. I think it's a really fun and enjoyable end to the series. It's probably the best LoEG book since Volume 2. Here are my thoughts on it, which I know you read and responded to at the time... classiccomics.org/post/506499/threadBTW, did you read this in the TPB? I ask because I bought the paperback collection initially and was dismayed to find that the artwork was really f*cked up. It was all slightly pixelated and "fuzzy" looking, like someone has mistakenly scanned Kevin O'Neill's artwork in at 72dpi resolution instead of the standard 300dpi. Did you notice that in your copy? The poor quality artwork reproduction bothered me so much that I sold my TPB version and bought the hardcover instead, which doesn't have that problem. I did not read it in a collection. I bought all six issues as they came out at the comic shop. Gotcha! Yeah, the original issues and the hardcover are both fine, apparently; it's the TPB that has the problem. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 23:10:24 GMT -5
I took a break from my long-term reading projects (Detective Comics and Thor) and I’m now re-reading The Tempest, the six-issue League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series by Moore and O’Neill. I read it when it first came out in 2018 but I haven’t looked at it since then. I’ve been meaning to read it again for a while. I read the first issue a few nights ago. I loved it back in 2018 and I’m finding that I like it as much now as I did then. I read this for the first time last year. I think it's a really fun and enjoyable end to the series. It's probably the best LoEG book since Volume 2. Here are my thoughts on it, which I know you read and responded to at the time... classiccomics.org/post/506499/threadBTW, did you read this in the TPB? I ask because I bought the paperback collection initially and was dismayed to find that the artwork was really f*cked up. It was all slightly pixelated and "fuzzy" looking, like someone has mistakenly scanned Kevin O'Neill's artwork in at 72dpi resolution instead of the standard 300dpi. Did you notice that in your copy? The poor quality artwork reproduction bothered me so much that I sold my TPB version and bought the hardcover instead, which doesn't have that problem. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 22:46:04 GMT -5
Just wanted to share that the cartoonist Tom Scioli has been doing the same thing as you guys for the past year or so. Check it out if you're interested -- linkScrew Tom Scioli, man! If it ain't Thor reviews by our very own Asgardian nerds Hoosier X and Icctrombone, then I don't wanna know!  |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 22:42:57 GMT -5
Looking at that beautiful cover of issue #111, I'm reminded that many of these early Marvel covers -- and I'm not just talking about Thor comics here -- were really subtly coloured, often with slightly muted hues. That beautiful effect is totally ruined by the garish bright colours you see these covers receiving in modern day reprints like the Masterworks and Epic collections.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 22:31:39 GMT -5
I like Nico's solo albums too, the ones I've heard. I considered her album The End for this list. Maybe we should do our "near misses" too, or a few of them. I even found a Maureen Tucker solo cd once in a used record store - but when I got it home it turned out to be damaged in some fashion and unplayable so I never did get to hear what it sounded like.
With Nico, I only know Chelsea Girl and The Marble Index, but I love those. I know that my friend with the signed copy of Fear has some Maureen Tucker albums; he reckons they're better than you might expect! I'm dubious though. It's Only Rock and Roll by the Rolling StonesTheir last album with Mick Taylor and the end of their peak era, for me. They made some very good records after this one (e.g. Black and Blue, Some Girls) but none with the consistency they had in their best years. If I have one criticism, maybe the production isn't as much to my taste as on their previous records, the overall sound feeling a little slick and processed to me. But that's a minor quibble: otherwise this record, a little underrated IMO can stand with their classics. Favourite tracks, probably Time Waits for No One, Till the Next Time, If You really Want to Be My friend, Fingerprint File. I would agree with you that this was the end of the Stones peak era, but for me the last two albums of that era ( Goats Head Soup and It's Only Rock and Roll) were a step down from the glory of the four album run between Beggar's Banquet and Exile on Main Street. There are stand out tracks and classic singles on those last two Mick Taylor era albums for sure, but they're not quite as consistent all the way through as the earlier albums from his tenure in the band IMO. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 18:04:11 GMT -5
moving along, still in 1974: Fear by John CaleI'm a big Velvet Underground, Lou Reed and Nico fan too. And of course I love Cale's stuff with the VU. One of my best friends has a signed copy of Fear from when he got to meet Cale after a gig a year or so back. Post Velvets, Cale's solo output is the ex-member's catalogue I know least well. That said, I have been played various albums on occasion and heard odd tracks. I'm pretty sure I've heard this. I like that "Buffalo Ballet" quite a bit. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 8:08:32 GMT -5
OK, Top 10 albums of 1984. Here we go... #10 - Legend by Clannad This is the eighth album by the Irish folk group Clannad and is a soundtrack to the ITV series Robin of Sherwood, which the band were commissioned to produce. I was a big fan of the TV show when I was a kid – and I still am! – and the mysterious, ethereal, folk-influenced soundtrack music has always been a big part of the show's appeal. My best friend at the time was also a fan of the show and it was he who actually bought this album on cassette tape at the time (I didn't own it 'til I got the CD in the early '90s). I recorded a copy of my friend's tape onto a blank C90 cassette using my newly acquired twin-tape deck ghetto blaster.  The music on Legend is a fascinating blend of Old English-style folk melody and acoustic instrumentation, combined with then-modern mid-80s synthesizers and drums drenched in gated reverb. The show's theme "Robin (The Hooded Man)" is by far the most famous song from this album, but there are many better tracks to be found here IMO. Stand out favourites of mine have always been "Herne", "Together We", "Scarlet Inside", "Battles", and "Darkmere". This is the only Clannad album I've ever owned or ever wanted to own, to be honest. Their other '80s albums are slightly less indebted to English folk and tend to be a bit more "pop", in my experience. Legend is a perennial favourite and an album that I return to pretty often. Here's the song "Together We", which provides a good example of the album's blend of folk melodies, acoustic instrumentation, and 80s synths... |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 6, 2024 6:13:14 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1974
#1-- Past, Present and Future-- Al Stewart That's a great album. By far Al Stewart's best IMHO. But it's a 1973 album, which is why is wasn't on my list (although I see from Wikipedia that it wasn't issued in the States until 1974, so I'll let you off. ). But yeah, fantastic album. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 20:20:59 GMT -5
Aw, hell, 1984 already? Just when I decided to belatedly throw my hat into the ring for 1974. Well, what the hell, here goes... My whole list is jammed into a single post, because a) I’d been slammed with work since late February and didn’t have the time previously think much about this much less do posts one at a time, b) I’m not really knowledgeable enough about the music I like to write intelligently about it at length, and c) I only have the vaguest notion of the release years of various albums and don’t really categorize music in my head in that way (e.g., I had to go look up albums released in 1974 on Wikipedia just draw up this list). Also, this is sort of a combination of my actually favorite albums from that year with a few honorable mentions at the lower end that I thought deserved a shout-out. Of the albums/acts I know from the remainder of your list, these are my brief thoughts... I don't mind David Bowie, but I'm more of a casual, Greatest Hits-type fan, so I don't know Diamond Dogs in its entirety. I don't know that specific Quincy Jones album, but pretty much anything by Jones from this sort of era is worth hearing. Supertramp I have no time for whatsoever, I'm afraid. Great musicians, but their music is too slick, too polished, too middle-of-the-road for me and ultimately I find them a bit boring. I'm not a big prog rock fan, with the exception of early Genesis, so King Crimson are just one of those bands that never really spoke to me. Amazing musicians in that band though -- especially Robert Fripp. Funkadelic and other George Clinton-related bands like Parliament are a huge blind spot for me. I love late 60s/early 70s soul and funk though, so I really need to listen to some of this stuff more. The Doobie Brothers are always a fun listen -- especially in the first half of the 70s -- though for me their peak was a couple of years prior to this with Toulouse Street. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 20:06:39 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1984 #10 - Son Seals - Bad Axe
I can honestly say that I have never heard of Son Seals, which is a little surprising because I'm a big fan of the blues. That said, I do tend to gravitate towards either pre-War blues or '40s, '50s and '60s Chicago blues, rather than anything more recent. I tend to find 80s blues records to be a bit too slick and showy for my tastes, with one or two exceptions. So, I guess that's why the name doesn't ring any bells. That song "Cold Blood" sounds pretty decent, but maybe a bit to "produced" for my tastes, as I say. You can really hear the Albert King and B.B. King influence in his playing and singing though. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 12:15:48 GMT -5
I'm a big Herbie Hancock fan. I tend to avoid jazz albums in this exercise because I, personally have a hard time quantifying where they belong. I also, by and large, prefer my jazz from the 50s and early 60s. That's cool, I'm a jazz fan myself covering a lot of decades. Though some representative favorites would be Herbie, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Joe Pass, and some of Metheny's work. But again I like plenty of older traditional material too. I like Jazz a lot, but I'm very specific about which sub-genres of jazz do it for me. I don't mind the Bebop of the 1940s and '50s (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk etc) or more straight ahead jazz of that period, such as Cab Calloway, Louise Armstrong etc, or even a little bit of British Trad Jazz, like Acker Bilk or Chris Barber. But the two genres I really, really like are late '50s/eary '60s Cool Jazz (The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan etc) or late '60s/early '70s Jazz Funk (Gil Scott-Heron, Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd etc). You should pull a Pat Boone and do a Kynd album with all heavy metal covers. "2 Minutes to Midnight", but played in your style   |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 12:05:54 GMT -5
As far as 1984 is concerned, I like everything about Iron Maiden’s Powerslave, from the album cover to their interpretation of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Is it my favourite Iron Maiden album? If not, it’s close.  Ha! When I was a teenager, a load of my friends were "Metallers" or "Metalheads", so I got to hear lots of this kind of stuff. I really dislike Heavy Metal as a rule, but because I know such 80s and 90s albums as Powerslave reasonably well -- almost through osmosis -- I can actually hold my own in a conversation on the topic. But yeah, I've really never been able to see the appeal myself. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 11:40:15 GMT -5
Well, I'm doing 1984...and 94...and 04...and 14. You're certainly under no obligations. It's just a thing that I've done for a few years now. Yeah, I think I will join in with 1984. Unlike '74, it's a year where I was just about old enough to be buying my own albums (or asking for them for birthdays and Christmas), though my list will absolutely also include records I only discovered years later. Might take me a day or so to get my list together, but I'm in! |
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). These days, I have all three of the band's albums, but Rattlesnakes is by far the best.
