Well this was a good round guys and I am already really enjoying the experience of listening to your selections.............I’m a lot more used to being the pimp-er rather than the pimpee.
I spent a lot more time listening than I originally intended (6-8 listens each) in an effort to get the ratings consistent across some quite varied music. The good news is that nobody did worse than 8 after bonus points , so maybe I'm going soft with these ratings in my old age. We'll do something about that in Rd 2 perhaps now that I have settled in
Your bravery and loyalty to the DTF Faves was more successful in some cases than others ,as you’ll see below. And presumably there must be some sort of Hall of Fame spot now for TAC and Big Hath as likely the first and only people in DTF history to have the honour of submitting Rush in a DTF roulette.
For those of you who did well here it’s a great start ,but for those who lagged a bit there’s no need to even worry about this score if you can ace 3 of the next 4 rounds. Hopefully the write ups in these prelims give some worthwhile guidance as to my taste for when things get more serious. Round 2 submissions are open and I am hoping to start listening as early in the new week as I can.
Without further ado.......and in no particular order..
1) Rush : La Villa Strangiato - TAC Rating: 8 + 1 bonus point = 9The first of 5 DTF Fave interventions and the first of two Rush submissions. Tim was obviously paying attention when I posted this a while back:
My favourite track on Moving Pictures was YYZ 'cos Geddy kept quiet Some very cool bass playing in there.
So a risk was taken with Rush but an educated risk given it’s an instrumental. But then I am also known to be a bit hard to please when it comes to 70’s rock and also very picky when it comes to epic length tracks and at 9:39 this song really need to produce the goods throughout to hold my attention. In the end I wasn’t hitting Skip but I also wasn’t Rush-ing to replay it. It certainly has its strong points – aside from Van Halen’s debut it sounds about as good as just about anything from around that time. The rhythm section is great , with the drumming being a stand out. The main guitar riff is fine and I totally appreciate the writing involved but the melody to prog ratio is a little bit low for my liking. The lead guitar work is nice enough but for my taste he doesn't inject enough memorable melodies to carry a track almost 10 mins. Funnily enough my favourite part could well be the atmospheric bit around 5.15. with the slow arpeggios and keyboard background.
So........solid track but not enough to convert me to the Rush fan club just yet.
Having said that it was a bit of a grower and got bumped up a point on my final listen.
2) Karnya: Silver - Bolsters Rating: 9Well there’s no shortage of stuff going on in this song.....the first minute or so was just okay but from there it’s quite an interesting song. I mentioned in my OP how I can struggle with proggy music that meanders around and whenever this song threatened to go that way a change in pace occurred that relieved any chance of boredom. Another good thing with this song is that when it wasn’t particularly melodic , it compensated for it with some really catchy , often funky rhythms. Nice work Bolsters – a pick that does a good job of proving that I am not averse to a progressive recipe when the flavours (melody/progginess) are balanced right.
3) A.C.T. – A Truly Gifted Man – kingshmegland Rating 8 I found this a hard one to mark. In the past I have found that the songs I have sampled from A.C.T have been half killer/half filler.........and that’s within the one song and this is similar. I find it hard to rate a song really highly when I’m iffy about the vocalist and I did struggle a little with this. The vocals over the main (almost calypso) rhythm are just a bit too wimpy for me and that covers much of the first half of the song – it’s like like Joseph Williams took singing lessons from Michael Jackson at his most feminine
There’s a definite Toto flavour in there though with the rhythm stuff that I find quite appealing. At 3.30 the music gets a lot more lush and the vocals take a break for a minute and this is my favourite part of the song.....great stuff.......same at around 5.20.
Nothing wrong with the music king – some of it I really love - but all of my favourite vocalists in this style (say Williams, Kimball, Cetera, Champlin) all have that bit of extra power/gravitas that is missing here.
Like a few other songs I gave this ranking a boost very late in the piece - in this case because of my appreciation for the instrumental sections which are really nice.
4) Steely Dan – Rikki Don’t Lose That Number –splent Rating = 9As soon as I heard this begin I was taken back – so it’s a song I know from my childhood via the radio and the band are one of those I have been meaning to check out more for some time. I think they are one of those bands where there may be another couple of songs I know without even knowing it’s Steely Dan. There’s also the Doobie Bros connection with Michael McDonald that most likely was my initial heads up in terms of the band name.
Good classic rock and harmonies that aren’t too dissimilar to Aussies The Little River Band , who I have always liked , or even Player. Not a style I listen to much these days but good stuff and an example of some relaxing classic rock that I would certainly enjoy from time to time.
5) Primal Fear – Iron Fist In Velvet Glove - jjrock88 Rating = 10Imagine my utter shock when I received a Primal Fear submission from jj.......floored me it did ,God's honest troof.
Primal Fear and other bands featuring Scheepers on vocals have tended to produce albums where I love one or two killer tracks and am not fussed at all about the rest. So I was a little nervous here , but I needn’t have been as it’s heavy, melodic with great guitar work and one of Ralfy’s better vocal performaces. Hopefully the album in question isn’t another one hit wonder but this track is a ripper. Simple but very effective ......sometimes the K.I.S.S. principle works. It took me back to the days before I knew what prog metal was. I’m still not 100% sure if I like the wailing underneath the gang vocals in the chorus or not ,but aside from that very minor doubt this is a perfect example of melodic metal and could well be a long term favourite. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and bestow my first 10/10.
6) Rush – Half The World – Big Hath Rating 8 + 1 bonus =9This is a pleasant song and it’s nice to be able to hear some bass in a song like this and feel it adds plenty. It’s probably one of the the least annoying Rush songs I have heard in terms of Geddy’s vocals and so that’s a plus too. I still can’t say I am a convert but it’s a solid , commercial Rush song.
7) Throne of Chaos (TOC): The Window – Sacul Rating= 9This is probably the surprise of the round – on initial review I was under the impression that I had never heard of them but then I found one of their older albums on my hard drive. It’s apparently melodeath so I have no idea what’s up with that. Anyway ,for this album they’ve mellowed a bit and it’s some nice melodic metal with some proggy touches. The main lick that drives the song is simple but a bit of an earworm and does a good job of distracting me from the more dirty “modernish” rhythm sound which would normally be a turn off ,all things being equal. The mellow 70’s style/psychedelic midsection followed by a more aggressive rhythm that kicks in under the solo is a highlight too. Good stuff Sacul.
8) Mystery : Travel To The Night – Lowdz Rating=8.5The initial groove here sounds to me like a Rush/Toto mix that I quite like – the vocals aren’t unlike Geddy either but have that extra bit of low end that makes them more appealing to my ears. In the end I liked the song well enough but the main riff/idea is repeated a bit too much over the course of 8 mins+ for my liking. Still – I enjoyed the listen and it’s certainly enough to convince me that I was right to have them down as a band I need to spend more time on. I already have one of their albums but never got around to listening properly.
9) Pain of Salvation : Iter Impius – Evermind Rating = 9.5 +1 bonus =10.5There are parallels for me with Pain of Salvation and Rush – I own one album (Remedy Lane/Moving Pictures) and my favourite track on each by far is the instrumental
. Thankfully this PoS track isn’t a PoS at all.
It’s quite a well structured effort with plenty going for it – a nice mellow beginning that builds and builds with an unexpectedly nice solo (not a band I have associated with great guitar work) and plenty of emotion in the vocal....He’s not the most naturally gifted vocalist I have heard but he extracts the maximum from himself here. I have no idea about the concept – which is obviously there – but this song stands alone quite nicely and this is what I hope for from a great concept album. So R........it appears I do appreciate “the truth” and you have given me a reason to persist a bit more with the band in general.
10) Steve Vai : Whispering A Prayer - erwinrafael Rating = 8.5 + 1 bonus = 9.5 So I was a huge Vai fan back in the day and THE two classic guitar albums around the time I was really getting into my own guitar playing were Surfing With The Alien and Passion and Warfare. I started to drift off a bit after Fire Garden ...........Alien Love Secrets was a bit more straight forward and up my alley but it got to the point where his weirdness was dominating just a bit too much for my taste. I was also all over his stuff with DLR and Whitesnake.
I suppose that’s a good thing and a bad thing for someone who submits Vai – you already know I appreciate his playing but I am also aware of his very best work which sets a very high bar. This track is nice and melodic but not quite up there in the stratosphere of his best work IMHO. Having said that it's a really nice piece and got a much higher rating after 5 or 6 listens than it had initially. I don’t know if you know Joe Satriani’s The Extremist erwin but it almost sounds like some of the softer material on that – similar vibe.
11) Ayreon: Day 10 (Memories)/Day 11(Love) – jingle.boy Rating= 7.5+ 1 bonus = 8.5This was another brave submission after the warnings about my frequent lack of appreciation for concept albums and needing concept album songs to stand very much on their own two feet. You put a lot of effort into explaining the context of the songs and for that I'm grateful. I really tried hard with this but in the end the songs aren't begging to be replayed.
I can totally see the talent in terms of Arjen’s concepts and lyrics but I am yet to hear a song from him that fully connects with me and seriously impresses from start to finish in terms of memorable melody or musicianship . These songs at times (mostly Day 11) have a folky sort of vibe which isn't something I generally like - the harmonies make pleasant listening but the overall songs aren't really wowing me. I can see a lot of parallels here between this and SFAM - I never connected to that the way most DT fans did and it's this serious lack of appreciation I have for concepts where I don't love the songs on their own individual merit. It seems to me that the real strengths of Arjen are in areas (concept/lyrics) that I don't place as much weight on as everyone else.
Even if I had wanted to I can't rate these songs "within concept" as I am not listening to the lot. So I have to rate the songs as just that.........individual songs and how much I want to listen to the music.
I have really tried to like Ayreon but I still can't say I am there yet.
My initial rating was quite a bit lower and I struggled to settle on a score but we finished at the highest I got . It took 5 or 6 listens though and I normally wouldn't have persisted that long
My least favourite parts are actually JLB's folky verses in Day Eleven........ "Friday night , I had a few" - sounds like he just came out of the Blue Oyster Bar
- but the harmonies in the rest of the song do lift it to a higher level.
12) Ayreon: Into The Black Hole – wolfking Rating = 7 +1 = 8Another Arjen intervention and Kade has perhaps been even more brave with a 10min+ entry. To me this is a solid song at times but a bit of a plodder at others - there’s just not enough going on musically to fill up 10 mins+ for me,despite a very strong vocal from Brucey.
So it’s 1 for 3 from the DTF faves. Pain of Salvation got high marks (although how representative that is of how I will view their other material I am doubtful) , Rush got respect but not much more and Ayreon .......well I haven’t changed my mind.
Standings: number of *= number of bonus points used (those who have not used bonus pts are ranked higher where score is tied)
Evermind 10.5*
jjrock 10
erwinrafael 9.5*
Sacul 9
Bolsters 9
splent 9
TAC 9*
Big Hath 9*
Lowdz 8.5
jingle.boy 8.5*
kingshmegland 8
wolfking 8*
Banned:
Ayreon
A.C.T
Karnya
Mystery
Pain of Salvation
Primal Fear
Rush
Steely Dan
Steve Vai
Throne of Chaos (TOC)Track of the round for pure headbanging enjoyment goes to jj.
Back to jingly listening for a day or two.