What Are You Listening To?

[Ruby]

No Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future



A triple live album from 1979 that I have on vinyl, some of which has stood the test of time and some of which has not. A lot has changed in the world since that protest concert, and again, a lot has not! We have since had nuclear accidents, the full impact of which have yet to be counted, and we still have trigger happy powermongers. On and on it goes!
 
I’ve italicised the tracks I like –
 
"Dependin' on You" (Patrick Simmons, Michael McDonald) – The Doobie Brothers
"Runaway" (Del Shannon, Max Crook) – Bonnie Raitt
"Angel from Montgomery" (John Prine) – Bonnie Raitt
"Plutonium is Forever" (John & Johanna Hall) – John Hall
"Power" (John & Johanna Hall) – The Doobie Brothers with John Hall and James Taylor
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" (Bob Dylan) – James Taylor, Carly Simon and Graham Nash
"Cathedral" (Graham Nash) – Graham Nash
"The Crow on the Cradle" (Sydney Carter) – Jackson Browne and Graham Nash
"Before the Deluge" (Jackson Browne) – Jackson Browne
"Lotta Love" (Neil Young) – Nicolette Larson and The Doobie Brothers
"Little Sister" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman) – Ry Cooder
"A Woman" (Connie Brooks, Patricia Johnson) – Sweet Honey in the Rock
"We Almost Lost Detroit" (Gil Scott-Heron) – Gil Scott-Heron
"Get Together" (Chet Powers) – Jesse Colin Young
"You Can't Change That" (Ray Parker, Jr.) – Raydio
"Once You Get Started" (Gavin Christopher) – Chaka Khan
"Captain Jim's Drunken Dream" (James Taylor) – James Taylor
"Honey Don't Leave L.A." (Danny Kortchmar) – James Taylor
"Mockingbird" (Inez and Charlie Foxx) – James Taylor and Carly Simon
"Heart of the Night" (Paul Cotton) – Poco
"Cry to Me" (Bert Berns) – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Stay" (Maurice Williams) – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band with Jackson Browne and Rosemary Butler
"Detroit Medley": "Devil with the Blue Dress" (Shorty Long, Mickey Stevenson), "Good Golly, Miss Molly" (Robert Blackwell, John Marascalco), "Jenny Take a Ride" (Enotris Johnson, Richard Penniman, Bob Crewe) – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
"You Don't Have to Cry" (Stephen Stills) – Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Long Time Gone" (David Crosby) – Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Teach Your Children" (Graham Nash) – Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Takin' It to the Streets" (Michael McDonald) – The Doobie Brothers and James Taylor 

[Music Head]

^^
big seller at the record shop I was working at the time

[Ruby]

^I can imagine it must have been popular.
A bit of a muddly mix IMHO, but the intentions were good.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ALICE COOPER  "killer"  cd,  1971...

the band's fourth....
still hints of psychedelia  in places...
but mostly full of the sounds he is still honing to create the Alice cooper sound...
love this one, my favourite of the first four to date...

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from th album the eght and a half minute semi-pseudo psychedelic rock epic:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ALICE COOPER  "welcome 2 my nightmare"  cd,  2011:

a sequel to the original from the 1970s...
album started out as a sequel to his previous effort "along came a spider"...
Steven was the central character of both of those, and once again he takes centre stage...
this time Steven isn't a serial killer but is looking back on his 'nightmare life' thirty plus years later....
AC's original band appears on several tracks so it has a distinct 1970s sound happening throughout...
apparently, the vinyl version of the album has a track at the end of the album called "flatline" in which
you can hear a heartbeat slowing down and ultimately stopping with people  saying the name Steven in the background
this apparently shows the death of Steven...
the track should have been on the cd also IMO to finalise what was a career spanning journey for him...
back to the album...
this is my all time favourite Alice Cooper album, every song is a cracker, and that includes the novelty track "caffeine"..

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could have picked almost anything off the album to post:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

KID ROCK  "sweet southern sugar"  cd, 2017:

eleventh album...
early ones were hip-hop/rap crap, he ditched the rap crap and moved onto southern Rock/Outlaw Country
in the latter half of his career...
huge fan of the southern rock stuff, hate the rap crap....
he can still be crass and crude at times but his heart is definitely in Dixie even if he is from Detroit...
the Rednecks love him, I love him, guessing i'd have made a good Redneck?
album is not as good as some of his rock albums but its still pretty good, would probably rate a mid range like
if I was still scoring the albums I play.

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from the album, the Redneck side of Kid Rock:

video contains all the stereotypical images of Redneck Hillbillies you know and probably shake your head in disbelief at!

[Ruby]

^^Geez! May not be rap but I noticed a few ho ho ho's.   

What I've been listening to is the polar opposite. Steve Howe and the late Virgil Howe's Nexus. 



Finally got around to listening to the whole album, and I've had it on repeat a few times - that's because it takes a while to settle into. Steve is responsible for the guitars and Virgil everything else. What an awful loss. This could have been the beginning of something quite extraordinary. It's difficult to be objective about the album in terms of criticism, well I find it so anyway - coloured as it is by untimely death. I admire Steve's decision to go ahead and release the album despite such a personal tragedy, so I'm just going to like it and appreciate it for what it is - a collaboration between a father and son who obviously had a special rapport, and in any event, there are some quite lovely pieces here. All instrumental - no voice.

The definition of a nexus is ‘a connection or series of connections linking two or more things’ which really is quite perfectly thought out, and in art terms the cover art takes the form of what is called decalcomania – ‘a blotting process whereby paint is squeezed between two surfaces to create a mirror image’. I only know this latter bit from my own dabblings.
 
The track titles are all space themed, one way or another. “Nick’s Star” is so titled for a friend of Virgil’s who was also taken too young. The world is such a village – turns out some friends of mine’s daughter was at school with Virgil and Nick, and this same friend was also working at Island Records when Yes was first attempting to get signed. Apparently they were totally disorganised – all over the place and stoned out of their brackets most of the time so whoever the head honcho at Island was, Chris Blackwell I expect, was reluctant to take them on. They got their act together eventually, obviously, and signed to Atlantic, but that’s an aside. I have a suspicion that this album will be enjoyed by musicians, more so than mere listeners, Steve has some really shining moments, as one would expect and his son was a talented individual, no question. I would definitely like to add it to my collection.

I've posted this track before somewhere, but anyway - here it is again ... 

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ALICE COOPER  "school's out"  cd,  1972:

the band's fifth studio album...
all rock on this one, no psychedelia....
pretty much "all killer,no filler"...
solid album from the get-go...
the title track is one of those tracks that all artists aspire to write, maybe not the song
itself but that one track where they need never write another song and can live comfortably off
the royalties forever...
album got him noticed just about everywhere...
title track gave him his only UK #1 hit also...
"classic" album IMO

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obvious pick this time round:

[Jerome]

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut - much, much better than The Wall. Superb mixing and production. Spine chilling album.

[SteveO]

I stumbled across this band a couple of days ago ! Tortoise from Chicago. Fascinating instrumental sound encompassing many genres. The album grabbed me because of its' simplicity and relaxing mood! I noticed that the band have six albums released over a period of 25 years or so. Most of them garnered 4 and 5 stars from All Music. A very enjoyable discovery indeed. The five band members take a turn at the instruments so the credits just state their names only. This is an instrumental band and John at the music store said no vocals to get in the way...so very true sometimes! I find my mind wandering in delight like Keith Jarrett's Kohn Concerts ! There is something to be said about good instrumental music...it seems to beg for multiple listens  maybe because the music takes centre stage when vocals are absent!

The album I listened to.....Millions Now Living will Never Die...All Music review - 5 stars !




From the album....