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Quote: from itoldyouso at 5:34 pm on Oct. 3, 2007

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 Artist: Okkervil River  
 Album: The Stage Names  
 Genre: Alt-country/Folk rock/Indie rock (according to wiki, I never pay attention to genres and I really don't understand these classifications - but oh well.)  

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Oh my God...Okkervil River is so brilliant. That's definitely one of my favorite albums of all time.  

Have you seen them live? They're from my hometown, so I have cause they're always around. Life changing stuff.

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The Spill Canvas - Sunsets And Carcrashes.

Maybe, Acoustic rock.

It's a great album! It's the second album from The Spill Canvas, and In my opinion, is there best so far. Predominantly Acoustic stuff, this album can change your mood completely however you feel before listening to it. Lead singer Nick Thomas Produced and recorded it, though it was written by the whole band.

I think the first single off of this album was acoustic track "The Tide". This song is a song about 3 children that perish, when swepped away by the tide. Another stand out song would be "So Much", i think one of the best ballads i've ever heard. It's hard to fight the temptation to write down maybe 11 of the 12 songs that this album has. The 7 minute 'epic' Black Dresses In The Dirt, is also a great song, brilliant lyrically, and melodically a superb song. The song "3685" is a 'different' song, using piano aswell as acoustic guitar, it's a very upbeat song, with a poppy beat. Title Track "Sunsets and Car Crashes" is a tremendous song, slightly varying from the otherwise 'deep' lyrics on this album, it is one of the Stand-out tracks of this album.

It's hard to write down similar albums, because it is such a great, unique style that this band plays. I honestly cannot think of an album that is similar, or compares to this. The only one i could put down would be One Fell Swoop, also by The spill Canvas, but still this album beats it, hands down.

i think i have to give this album a least a 9/10, sheerly because it is an incredible album. If anyone hasnt heard it yet, they really should!

thanks, yeah?

Post edited at 1:14 pm on July 22, 2008 by BBallAsh23

Artist ~ Rush
Album ~ Snakes & Arrows
Genre ~ Rock, semi-progressive
Overall Review ~
Rush returns once again to deliver their 'gazillionth' album (Geddy Lee said it - not me!). This feels different from any other Rush album - it has an overall much more acoustic feel, whilst still maintaining much of the heaviness of their previous album, Vapor Trails. The result, is quite simply astonishing.
The album explores mainly the themes of religion and war.
Another point of note is the production. Vapor Trails, while a fantastic album, was plagued by bad production. None of that this time around, thanks to Nick 'Boujze' Raskulinecz. His direction brings a very modern feel to the album - it truly does feel 21st century, whilst still maintaining the traditional greatness of Rush.

Track Review ~  

1. Far Cry ~ Pounding drums and growling guitar herald the arrival of the first track, with an intro vaguely reminiscent of 2112. Far Cry - the single for the album - is a rollicking rollercoaster of a ride. A powerful, guitar driven track, exploring how the future can turn out quite different from what we expect it to be - a far cry from the promises of experts. While technology may advance, problems such as famine and war still exist...perhaps humans as a race aren't as high and mighty as we think we are - and it's not likely to change anytime soon.
8/10

2. Armour And Sword ~ Another drum intro, leading into a fairly dynamic song, featuring almost equal amounts of 12-string acoustic and heavy growling guitar. Again, forcefully driven, and possibly my favourite song on the album. This song explores how we are brought up to believe certain things - most notably religion. It explains the concept of how beliefs and religion are taught to us to act as a shield , and how equally these beliefs are used as a sword to attack others.
On the technical side of things, this is classical Rush, with several changes of time signature, but again with a distinctly modern feel to it.  
10/10

3. Workin' Them Angels ~ A slightly different feel here, a song about moving on in life, in spite of past achievements and failures - this resonates with the events in Neil Peart's life back in 1997, with the loss of his wife and daughter, and how he has moved on. Oh yeah, and it has a mandolin solo!  
7/10

4. The Larger Bowl ~ First penned by Neil as he was on a cycling trip across Africa back in the 1990's. It explores the concepts of how people have very different fortunes and fates. For instance, here I am in a warm house with everything I need, reviewing an album for fun, while elsewhere in the world people are living very different lives, living simply from day to day trying to survive.
A very interesting point to note is the way in which this is written. It is written not so much as a song, but as a pantoum - a style of poetry from Malaya. The pantoum is a specific rhythmic style composed of quatrains - worth looking in to.
8/10

5. Spindrift ~ A dark, menacing rocker of a song, contrasting brilliantly with the relatively light grace of The Larger Bowl. This song is, as Neil Peart says "A lover's quarrel with the world". To me, it represents the clash between the West and the extremist elements of the Islamic faith - "As the waves crash in on the western shore, the wind blows fierce from the east"
7/10

6. The Main Monkey Business ~ The first of three instrumentals on the album. No fancy comments on what it's saying - because it's an instrumental. An absolute stonker of a track, driven mainly by Peart, who sits and batters out extremely complex African polyrhythms. Alex Lifeson certainly has his moments here, while Geddy is somewhat more noticeable, although even what he's playing is complex. There is a distinct eastern undercurrent to the song, and many of Alex' guitar phrases borrow heavily from arabic music.
The peculiar title of the song comes from an old saying of Geddy Lee's mother.  
"I think they've been up to some monkey business"
"What monkey business?"
"The MAIN monkey business"
In all, an absolutely stellar performance, and joint favourite on the album - tied with Armour And Sword.
10/10

6. The Way The Wind Blows ~ A song dealing with fighting for a cause, and very specifically the current involvement in the 'war on terror', and George Bush. It compares the current climate of suspicion and fear to that of the Dark Ages. It explores how our leaders give speeches which are not grounded in fact, but merely suit their own agendas.
In particular, the line "It's a plague that resists all science" is very telling of how both sides are being fuelled by their religion, and not rational thought, and how this leaves them blinded to sense.
Also noteworthy, and further clarifying that this is Bush we're talking about he mentions how they "leave no child behind" - referencing the infamous Act.
Musically speaking this has an interesting, almost bluesy feel in places.
9.99/10 - purely for it's massively deep lyrics and thoughts.

7. Hope ~ Relatively simple here, an astonishingly beautiful 12-string solo by Alex Lifeson, almost in the style of Steve Howe. Technically, it was played with a very odd tuning (D-A-D-A-A-D), giving it a truly unique sound.
8/10

8. Faithless ~ We're back to religion again here, and it's wrongs. This song promotes free thought, and promotes us to "quietly resist".
Perhaps the idea of the song would be best expressed by quoting the chorus
"I don't have faith in faith.
I don't beleive in belief.
You can call me faithless
but I still cling to hope.
And I believe in love
and that's faith enough for me."
In the same vein, it tells us how you don't need religion to be an ethical person, and especially where extreme religion is concerned, where I think you'll find a lot less ethics.
"A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky"
8/10

10. Bravest Face ~ Another of my favourites. Again, interesting interplay between quiet acoustic verses, and a loud pounding chorus. Basically, this song is about facing life's challenges head on - grinning and bearing it. It explores how there's an entirely different element inside us which contradicts the rest of us - "In the sweetest child there's a vicious streak / In the strongest man there's a child so weak". The song is about overcoming these adversities, and treasuring what little we have.
9/10

11. Good News First ~ In the same vein as Bravest Face, this deals with life's hardships, but looking at it from a slightly different point of view.
This song focusses on looking on the bright side of life (feel free to whistle along now if you know what I'm on about!) There is also an element of campaigning against Christoextremism here, about how the religious right pay only pay lip service to their "Good News" and generally instead focus on what others are doing 'wrong'.
6.5/10

12. Malignant Narcissism ~ Short. Brutal. LOUD! The last instrumental on the album. Lots and lots of bass here, and especially good parts where you have the bass and the drums playing off against each other. It's pretty frenetic, but also supremely precise. The song features a quote from Team America : World Police, about malignant narcissism - hence where the song gets it's title. The narcissism is in this context the self indulgence of each instrument. Brilliant.
9/10

13. We Hold On ~ The finale to the album, again dealing with how we face hardship in life. It's message is simple  - when we're having a rough time, we do the only thing we can do - we hold on.
"We could be down and gone, but we hold on"
Musically this is a pounding, guitar driven track, and finishes the album the way it should - with the wailing guitar of Lerxst Lifeson...
7/10

Similar Albums ~ Really, not much similar to this. You'd be worth checking out other Rush albums, and venturing deeper into prog-rock, with the likes of Genesis and Yes. You're not going to get the same kind of hard rocking from 'deep prog', but you're bound to journey deeper into some of the more mystical elements. For me, this particular band fills my 'smart-but-rocking' niche.

Rating ~ 9.999999999 (I've already given a 10 - and the rules state only give an album to the best one you've heard.)

Post edited at 5:28 pm on Mar. 7, 2008 by Relayer

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http://relayer2112.deviantart.com

2. Artist-Genesis

3. Album- Nursery Cryme

4. Genre- Progressive Rock/ art rock

5. Overall Review- Genesis' third release expands on the previous work Trespass by bringing in the talent of Steve Hackett on guitar and Phil Collins on drums (this is a good thing here- his drum skills were top-notch). The songs here are more complex than in Trespass, delving into advanced intstrumental interplay while retaining complete palatability. Every song is good, some are great. The overall mood is relaxed with moments of extreme tension and emotional climax.

6. Track Review-
1. The Musical Box- this song takes its time to build with a relaxing interplay between two acoustic guitars and the soothing vocals. It sounds delicate. Then enters the hammond organ and electric guitar. The most important part here is the very modern guitar playing in contrast to the earlier acoustic work. After a long instrumental section, the vocals continue the story (its very weird and complicated- look up the lyrics) and culminate when Gabriel sings "NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!".
2. For Absent Friends- a piece like the intro to the Musical Box with rich acoustic guitar work by Hackett and Rutherford (the bassist who also plays guitar).
3. The Return of the Giant Hogweed- a very fast-tempo electric song that starts with Hackett ripping up the fretboard and then Rutherford's funky and extremely complicated bassline coming in with Banks' Hammond organ. The song continues with a short interlude before more instrumental material. Despite showing off Hackett and Rutherford and masters of their instruments, the song never gets boring or indulgent.
4. Seven Stones- dreamy song featuring the mellotron and bass with an acoustic backdrop. Very relaxing.
5. Harold the Barrel- the "pop" song of the album, still very funky and fun.
6. Harlequin- similar to For Absent Friends- great melodies abound.
7. Fountain of Salmacis- the best song on the album IMO. Starts with emotional mellotron intro followed by grooving bass and drums over the mellotron- the bass is great here (I am a bassist if you can't tell). Then after this extremely pleasing section we enter an instrumental section with Hackett showing off tastefully. Then it returns to that climactic mellotron to end it off.

7. Similar Albums- Any Genesis to 1975, also Yes "Close to the Edge" or Yes "The Yes Album". It's a pretty unique album really.

8. Rating x/10- 8.5/10

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Listen to Penderecki.

6. Track Review

1. Lyudi Invalidi (Intro)-No rating
Not much to say here, just serves as an intro

2. Novaya Model (New Model)-5/5
Beautiful song, the lyrics are a lot more interesting than the English version, and Russian makes it sound a lot prettier.

3. Obezyanka Nol (Monkey Zero)-4.5/5-This song is enjoyable, but something aobut it feels weird. Not my most favourite, but still not bad.

4. Loves Me Not-4/5-Not genrally a fan of their English music, but at least it sounds better than the Dangerous and Moving version.

5. Kosmos (Outer Space)-5/5-Awesome song, and WAY better than the overrated english version. This version sounds way more human, well isn't that true complaring tATu's Russian music to their English? Simple beat, electronic feel, beautiful lyrics, this song has it all.

6. Ti Soglasna (You Agree)-2/5-Too repetitive, not much to say here.

7. Nichya (No One)-4/5-Pretty good song, somewhat reptitive, but passible.

8. Vsya Moya Lyubov-Beyond Rating-Porbably the best song on the album, 6 minutes of your live you'll never regret listening to this song, it's just too good.

9. All About Us-4/5-Overrated song, not my most favourite, but passible.

10. Chto Ne Khvatyet-Beyond Rating-Another song that will blow you away, with it's ambient and ark sound a beautiful lyrics, you couldn't go wrong.

11. Lyudi Invalidi (Full Song)-4/5-Not my most favourite song, but somehow I like it. It ends the  album smoothly and easily, but leaves me wanting more.

7. Similar Albums-Honestly, I dunno if anything is similar.

8. Rating x/10-9.5/10-Great album, completey unforgettable.

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I posed for Playboy, pictures here

Wow, that took a while. Could people please tell me how they think I've done, this is my first attempt at a review of any kind.

Post edited at 1:05 pm on Aug. 15, 2008 by Frubeling

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We're just impulses here.
Another piece of shit in the storm!