Stadler - Duran Duran - "The Wild Boys", "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Lonely In Your Nightmare", "Rio"
Early Impression - "This is not really connecting with me yet melodically, but these are some killer bass lines."
Final Summary:
There's quite a lot to like here instrumentally, particularly in the bass department and various other flourishes here and there, though I don't fully connect with the vocals and the songwriting.
Details:
"Hungry Like the Wolf" was a title I immediately recognized, but I couldn't recall quite how it went. Brief skimming of it led me to realize it's another of those songs that I "know", but don't know. And it further strengthens the notion that songs I recognize but haven't really spent any significant time listening to on my own can tend to have a lot of obscured details that are completely lost in more public contexts. In the case of "Hungry", it's all the little synth details, like the phased pads or the bubbly and percussive sequenced synthesizer parts that run throughout the song. There are some similar textures in other songs, such as in "Rio", that are nice but aren't quite as captivating. "Wild Boys" and "Hungry" also have some cool electronic percussion throughout. And then "Rio" further has some really piquant tom work in the intro, though I don't recall it returning later in the song.
The biggest surprise throughout the songs was how great the bass playing was, with a variety of interesting lines, some slap playing, a bit of fretless and such. I also like the sustained guitar countermelody that goes throughout the choruses of "Rio". That song additionally has a saxophone solo, which is a spotlight I'll rarely turn down. The combination of those makes "Rio" the most interesting song from an instrumental perspective.
On the other side, I'm a bit less enthused about the vocals. They're alright, but don't particularly boost the songs. "Wild Boys" really is the only one with vocal melodies that stuck with me, and is the best song of the lot on that front.
Score: 7.5/10
---
Puppies_On_Acid - The Cult - "She Sells Sanctuary", "Sun King", "Fire Woman", "Love Removal Machine"
Early Impression - "It's all your favorite classic rock bands rolled into one! This might be a bit too straightforward for me, though a few songs do have some more intriguing properties."
Final Summary:
Too much of this feels like a lot of standard older rock radio fodder, which I mildly like but don't frequently find thrilling enough, but some of the ornamental guitar textures in spots make it stand out a bit from those types of acts.
Details:
Here we have another band that I've sampled a bit from but never really invested any serious time into. I've definitely listened to a later album, and I feel like I gave Sonic Temple a spin at some point, but if I do I made no record of it nor do I have any recollection about it. Other than that cover, which is pretty legendary.
My listening experience with them this round has been a bit of a roller coaster. The chorused guitars and acoustics early in "She Sells Sanctuary", and the bass intro and wet sustained guitar melodies in the "Sun King" intro were auspicious, as those are all types of sounds I generally like. But then by "Love Removal Machine" it was really starting to feel like generic hard rock. That song in particular feels like a pastiche of the main riff of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" with a more AC/DC feel in the guitar tone and drumming, and then the "baby, baby, baby" bit, which is so obviously a Robert Plant-ism, that I was starting to sour on them. That's all the sort of stock classic rock that I don't hate, but never feel the need to listen to on my own because I've mostly had my fill of it from overexposure culturally for the last few decades.
Although I will say that in a round with mostly lighter music, the rock/metal fan in me nevertheless feels a certain amount of comfort here, as these are some pretty solid guitar tones, energetic tunes, and some of the textural variation I mentioned particularly from the first couple songs, or the 12-string guitar work in "Fire Woman" helps put this at a level above say, KISS from last round. And even the most plain song, "Love Removal", at least has that tempo change near the end to add some verve. Finally, the vocals are competent enough, though I don't find them particularly dazzling, so that's an element that holds it back a bit as well.
Score: 7.5/10
---
Crow - 10cc - "I'm Not In Love"
Early Impression - "So I thought I knew this song, but I didn't actually know it, because it has some lusher details than I realized."
Final Summary:
This is a fairly simple and pleasant song without a whole lot going on instrumentally to note, except that those backing vocals are so ahead of their time and dreamy that it doesn't really matter.
Details:
So I kind of already gave my first thought process on this song early in the round, how it was really the track that convinced me that even some of these other tunes that I was lightly familiar with might be worth revisiting here, where I'm listening with headphones and paying much more close attention than I would be in public settings. And the main reason for that is that while I could instantly hear some of the later melodies in my head just from the intro, I don't think I've ever really heard those lush backing vocals that effectively form a dynamic pad for much of the song. It's fairly rare to hear anything that ethereal in this era before more modern production techniques started emerging.
Reading a bit on the making of the song was rather fascinating. It's a similar but possibly more elaborate version of how the synth intro to Foreigner's "Waiting For a Girl Like You" was created, which is one of my all-time favorite intros, so it seems to be a quite successful studio technique.
And I think this extended version of the song is one that probably never plays on terrestrial radio, but gives a bit more spaciousness for the song to breathe in. It's quite a nice selection with indelible melodies and a comfy phased Rhodes piano underneath. But of course, it's just one song, which makes it more challenging to compete with some of the later entries. Some blurbs were characterizing them as "the British Steely Dan", which piques my curiosity, so I will probably have to check out some of their other material post-roulette.
And interestingly, both this song and ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" are on the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix compilations. Reading what "10cc" is theorized to be a reference to, and well, Star-Lord picking them makes more sense, lol.
Score: 7.75/10
---
Vmadera00 - Steely Dan - "Deacon Blues", "Kid Charlemagne", "Bodhisattva"
Early Impression - "There's stylistic appeal to this merging of genres on paper, and I do like it in practice, but I can't quite put my finger on why I don't love it."
Final Summary:
Certainly one of the most musically interesting entries of the round, the arrangements and instrumental inflections here are quite alluring, though like several earlier entries, the vocals are the weaker point.
Details:
So coming off of 10cc, and speaking of ribald references, I learned a bit about Williams S. Burroughs back some time ago when I was educating myself on industrial music, but I have not read or seen Naked Lunch, and did not know the origin of Steely Dan's name either until this round, lol.
This is another group that I'm probably a bit more familiar with than most other artists in this round. I've always wanted to do a deeper dive on them but could never seem to summon the motivation, so as with a number of previous submissions, sometimes I apparently need that extra push. Late in elementary school I discovered the local smooth jazz station for a period of time, which set me up for the "real" stuff later on, and there were a number of their songs that the DJs seemed to include on their playlists, and my vague recollection is that they would play a few other cuts even more often ("Hey Nineteen" and "Do It Again" come to mind, and "Reelin' In the Years" more on classic rock radio), occasionally spin the first two selections here, though my memory from a few decades ago is a bit foggy at this point.
And the latter two tracks are occasionally discussed in guitar circles (particularly Carlton's solo on "Kid Charlemagne"), so I know I've given them an additional listen from that perspective. Not to mention I have one album of theirs on vinyl and two on CD, all of which I've heard but am not overly familiar with.
Obviously I like a lot of jazz, and I also enjoy a decent amount of pop rock, but too frequently in my listening they're completely separate categories. For whatever reason I've tended to look more into metal that has jazz influences, most of which are a bit too subtle. So Steely Dan tries to merge pop rock with jazz, which has an intriguing intellectual appeal, but I've never quite been able to get them to click. I'm still not sure it has happened in this round either, but I'm definitely a few steps closer to it than I was before.
This is kind of becoming something of a theme this round, but instrumentally, this is easily one of the most compelling entries. I still feel like there are many layers to unravel in these songs, but generally the instrumentation is quite good, with an endless litany of intriguing entrancing chord work and progressions. The horn parts are excellent, as well as the saxophone and guitar solos, or the clavinet in "Kid Charlemagne". The 2-part guitar harmony in the intro of "Bodhisattva" becoming 3-part in later cycles is also a treat, or the guitar/synth duel later on in it. Bernard Purdie's drumming is a bit understated, but there are some nice grooves, and savory fills on "Deacon Blues".
I start feeling like a broken record, but I think I'm pickier about vocals than anything else, and that is the primary culprit for why I didn't take to them enough earlier, and while I can certainly see myself getting into them more now, may still hold them back from ever becoming an absolute favorite band. They're not bad by any means, I've heard actually irritating vocals in other rounds (or even in this one), but they're just a bit weak, and they have a knack for writing melodies that never stick in my head when I'm done listening. I can see why Steely Dan is a musician's delight, and they certainly appeal to that side of me, but my penchant for earworms precludes them quite rising to the top.
Score: 7.75/10
---
Buddyhunter1 - Comus - "The Herald", "Song To Comus"
Early Impression - "This is way more melodic than I remember it being, and with an appealing variety of superb instrumentation, but some of these vocals...um..."
Final Summary:
The array of instrumentation is outstanding, but the male vocalist on "Song To Comus" makes some of the experience a bit bizarre.
Details:
They were one of those cult favorite bands earlier in my explorations that I kept hearing everyone rave about. I especially remember reading that Mikael Åkerfeldt was a huge fan of theirs. I am almost positive I listened to this album back at that time to see what the hype was over. The experience of hearing them in this round seems to belie that idea though, as they are quite different from whatever my imprinted memory of them was. In particular, I seem to recall them being much more dissonant and avant-garde in their melodic sensibilities, which really isn't the case. Much of this is just beautiful music that sounds way ahead of its time, and I can definitely hear why Mikael was inspired by them, with the intricacy of the acoustic guitar work.
I might just not listen to or participate in enough avant-garde music discussion, but it seems without doing further research that they may have also been an inspiration to bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor in how they rub objects near the bridge pickup on higher strings to produce these more warbly astral sounds. Much of the other instrumentation is fantastic as well, with the violin work, flute and oboe musings, sizzling percussion and such. It might get a bit abstract in moments of "The Herald", but it's generally not an issue. I especially love the violin/flute harmony in 3:00 on "Song To Comus". Honestly these two songs might have my favorite instrumentation of the entire round.
But then we are on to the matter of vocals. Bobbie's are pretty great, with a more ethereal delivery. But the male ones are well, kind of distracting. He sounds like a demented forest goblin or gnome, and it makes those moments feel like it's some 70s fantasy B-movie characters breaking out into a musical. The predilection for repeating certain words at the end of some phrases like they're creating their own echo box is also really odd.
It's entirely possible that in the many years since I first heard this that I subconsciously rearranged my memory of the strangeness of the vocals to apply to the whole sound of the band. I feel like I should ding the score more for those vocals given how frequently that happens in general in this roulette, but the 12:00+ song doesn't have them, and there are various instrumental parts even in "Song To Comus", much of which is enrapturing enough that it makes me care a bit less about vocal quibbles. Earlier in my midway evaluations I had this scoring a bit lower, but I suppose also that additional plays made me enjoy the instrumentation even more and I grew begrudgingly a bit more accustomed to the stranger vocals.
Score: 8/10
---
Elite - Jeff Beck - "Beck's Bolero", "Freeway Jam", "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", "Scatterbrain"
Early Impression - "There's a pretty high floor to this sound, but often a relatively lower ceiling, so we'll see how it goes."
Final Summary:
One of the artists I was a bit more familiar with beforehand gets a slight boost with some superb playing.
Details:
And now we have another of the artists in this round that I was already more familiar with, though I've never really gotten over the hump in considering him a favorite. I own a couple albums of his and have heard a couple others, and watched a variety of clips of his over the years, including the whole '09 Ronnie Scott's gig. The two songs of his that really stood out prior to this round were his cover of Stevie Wonder/Syreeta's "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers" (which Dann Huff also has a stellar version of on Youtube)" and "Starcycle", which the Derek Sherinian cover of made me rediscover the original as well. And even of songs in the round, I was more familiar with Charles Mingus's original of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", or again the Sherinian rendition, which sort of makes it another cover of a cover.
Arguably one of the single most influential discoveries for me was Joe Satriani, which led me directly to Dream Theater, but I would also hear often that Jeff Beck was really the first one to make a career out of instrumental rock guitar, so Jeff has long been in my radar, but I've never spent as much time with his work as I'd like to. So this is certainly helpful in that respect.
It is fascinating that we have Jeff and Mark Knopfler in the same round. Both are in ways kind of similar guitarists, who grew to eschew using picks in favor of the greater nuance of their picking fingers directly manipulating the strings, for quite an array of tones and a wide panoply of expression. Jeff's tone doesn't seem to be as consistently good as Mark's, it's at times a bit jagged or brittle, but there is also more power to it, with the fusiony vibe, and more noticeable live in later shows, his dexterity with the whammy bar is quite distinctive. The ring modulator on portions of "Goodbye Pork" is also an arrest effect.
It seems something went wrong in the original recording of "Beck's Bolero", as every version I could find, remastered or otherwise, has this weird and erratic cutting out in the stereo spectrum throughout, that was quite vexing on early listens, though I became somewhat used to it after additional plays. The other three are quite fine though, and are thoroughly enjoyable tunes. Really the only issue is hinted at in my impression, that this style is quite comfortable for me, but the improvisational nature of it means while I tend to love listening to it in the moment for all of the twists and turns and explorations, it's also lighter on melody, which makes me not recall it as well later on and it's harder to rise to absolute favorite levels for me. But it's enough to do pretty well here.
Score: 8/10
---
Lethean - Crimson Glory - "Painted Skies", "In Dark Places", "Burning Bridges"
Early Impression - "In a normal round I'm not sure this would score quite as high, but it might have a better shot here since it reminds me of a couple other contemporary and later bands I like."
Final Summary:
This is a fascinating peek into the underexplored origins of prog metal for me, with strong instrumentation and a classic vibe working fairly well, though I suppose the vocals could be a bit better.
Details:
So in my past explorations of the genesis of prog metal, I think I've probably overlooked them more than most others. I'm pretty sure I've heard at least a song or two at some point, but I'm not sure I ever got around to a full album. So this has been one of the most pleasant surprises of this round. The overall feel of the music to me feels quite a lot like Iced Earth, with the half-step downtuning, the layered acoustic guitar arpeggiations, and the classic darker metal vibe.
But then they have quite spellbinding lead playing, which I was not really anticipating at all. And the vocals are kind of like a lesser version of Geoff Tate, though still competent enough. I suppose that's more or less a fairly typical prog/power vocal template, which they were probably part of the inspiration for later bands. It's not quite my preferred vocal style, and someone more to my taste could propel them even higher (I suppose like Barlow), but here at least it gets the job done.
There's also maybe a hint of Sanctuary, early Stratovarius, and King Diamond in their sound as well in terms of music they remind me of. Additionally, the higher-pitched tom fills are a delicious ornamentation - I can never get enough of those.
Score: 8/10
Topic: LithoJazzoSphere Roulette V1: Variety & Reciprocity (Post-Roulette Playlist) (Read 114816 times)