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| Ancient Altar |
Do you remember that album I reviewed called Cosmic Purge/Foie Gras?
Well, if you go to Bandcamp, you can get that stuff on vinyl now!
Well, if you go to Bandcamp, you can get that stuff on vinyl now!
So, let's find out what they're listening to besides themselves.
1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me.
What's your favorite one and why?
To be honest, one of my favorite concept albums is a recent one, and it’s an album by good friends of the band. It’s The Filth Element by Trapped Within Burning Machinery.
It’s a concept album related to the film The Fifth Element, and works both on that level, and also as a very well done album that is heavy, emotional, uplifting, and crushing all at the same time.
The Filth Element is really lightning in a bottle in my opinion, and I think that in the future it will be thought of as a classic.
2. My very first album was Live Evil b Black Sabbath. Since then I've had a strong affinity for the live record, even if they're a bit fake. KISS set the bar with Alive!. Surely, it was fake, but it's got the best concert feel of any one.
Tell me about your favorite live record?
Two come to mind immediately: Live After Death by Iron Maiden and Four and More by Miles Davis. Live After Death wasn’t the first Iron Maiden album that I bought as a kid, but it was the first place that I had heard a bunch of their classic tracks.
It’s flawless from beginning to end, and Aces High is one of the best opening songs of all time. Speaking of Four and More, it’s a really interesting piece of Miles Davis’ discography. Tony Williams, still a teenager during the recording, is a maniac on the drum kit, and it features extremely up tempo renditions of what were previously pretty laid back songs.
Hearing this album was a definite “Holy shit” moment for me.
3. There are a great number of records I've turned to for my moods. What do you listen to when you're angry? Sad?
If I wanted to wallow in my sadness I’d probably listen to Merle Haggard. Once when I was sad, I was listening to his song Sing Me Back Home, about inmates on death row.
I remember thinking “Fuck, this isn’t helping” and I turned it off. When I’m angry I generally listen to a no-brainer album that I never get sick of and/or something really energetic to take my mind off of how I feel.
Bad Brains’ self-titled album and Houses of the Unholy by Church of Misery are two examples. They’re both so heavy that I can’t think of anything else except for how I’m loving what I’m listening to.
4. One of my friends laughs at me, routinely, for loving the Misfit Toys of albums by major bands. Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed, Carnival of Souls by Kiss, Diabolous En Musica by Slayer, etc.
What's the strange one that you love?
Chaos and Disorder by Prince. It’s a much-maligned, contractual obligation record that came out to no fanfare, but for some reason I really enjoy it.
It doesn’t even come close to the heights of Prince’s classic material, but it's a fun listen, and comes as close to a straight ahead rock record as anything in the man’s discography.
I don't think I’ve ever met anyone else that likes this one, but every once in a while I pop it on, and every time I do I have a good time listening to it.
5. It's almost fashionable to release live versions of albums or re-record the old ones. King Diamond is releasing a concert with Abigail front to back. Roger Waters has done The Wall twice. Which ones do you have in your collection?
I imagine I have a few, but the first one that comes to mind is the Retrospektïẁ collection by Magma.
Magma are one of my absolute favorite bands, and when they’re good, they’re absolutely transcendent. On this recording, from 1980, Magma performed the bulk of their iconic Theusz Hamtaahk trilogy.
I really can’t overstate how much this band means to me, and how much they’ve informed my tastes and my views on music, and also my approach to what I do.
If ever that was a band that was an acquired taste this would be it, but they will always be amongst my favorites.
Thanks again for allowing me to speak on music I love. That never gets old.
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