Another very diverse round guys. There’s been a bit of a 1970’s intervention from a few of you and it has met with a mixed response from me , but then you know that I often don’t respond all that well to what the 70’s have to offer in many cases and therefore it should not be a big surprise. I know there is plenty of 70’s out there that I will like , but it’s a bit like a needle in a haystack for me , so I appreciate your efforts there.
1) The Mob : One Track Mind –wolfking Rating = 9I need to decide how many bonus points to award you for the first Winger related song , but for now you you can have a 9.
I definitely checked out this album at the time it was released and I obviously didn’t like too many of the samples or I would have it. But we’re rating individual songs here and , similar to the Black Majesty , you have chosen a good song from a group that I likely won’t enjoy as much across the whole collection of songs. I will revisit the album though.
I’m not normally a big fan of Pinnick but his voice suits the poppy vocal melodies here and his unique tone adds some originality. Beach plays well as usual and the tougher rhythm on the guitar outro elevated the rating a half point beyond what I was thinking up to that point.
2) Big Wreck: I Digress – kingshmegland Rating= 9More modern sounding stuff king........you’re really trying to drag me kicking and screaming out of the 80’s (and current music that sounds like the 80’s) aren’t you ?
I think you’re beginning to get the hang of the sort of catchy ,yet proggy rhythms that I enjoy. You’ve learned to live with my short attention span and are now submitting music that is busier with the melodies and rhythms.
I really enjoy the opening guitar riff – in my previous life as a guitarist of some repute (j/k) I used to really enjoy that style of groove. I don’t know if you hear it king but I detect plenty of Aerosmith influence in there.
On the whole it’s a rather unusual combination of distorted modern sounds , nice clean moments/melodies and a bluesy groove....but it’s a combination that had me tapping the old foot. Nice guitar outro too .
On the whole – fresh enough to be interesting and familiar enough not to jar.
3) Pablo Cruise: Whatcha Gonna Do –splent Rating= 8.5Once again mate you are pushing the musical limits of my wimpiness
This song reminds me of a cross between The Doobie Brothers and The Little River Band (LRB) which is the sort of vibe you were targeting I imagine,given my love for The Doobies.
It started off sounding a bit too much like elevator music with some of those effects but once the song found its groove I quite liked it. Some nice guitar work in there too and the most successful of the 70's interventions.
Is this song fairly representative of their catalogue ?
4) Skid Row : Into Another – jjrock88 Rating = 8.5This is a nice track JJ ,but you can tell they’re on the way out. Everything , incl Baz’s voice is just that bit weaker than on their two classic albums. Being a big fan I really should’ve given Subhuman Race a go and made up my own mind but I was so pissed with the whole scene around this time that when I got the mail about the album and it’s direction I thought “I just don’t wanna know”.
5) Pandora’s Box : It Just Won’t Quit – Bolsters Rating = 8I’ve never taken the time to really get into Meat Loaf but even I can recognise a Jim Steinman production. Just the backing vocals are enough to give it away. This sounds like Heart meets Meat Loaf and that’s not a bad thing. It’s definitely more poppy than my usual taste but it’s a nice ballad with a very strong female vocal performance. Aside from sounding a bit like generic Steinman ,
I really can’t fault this as a commercial ballad , but there’s not enough wow factor there to go beyond a 8/10.6) My Soliloquy : Ascension Pending – TAC Rating =8I really didn’t like this at all on first listen (understatement) but as I got into repeat listens I began to get into it a bit more. You did express some doubt as to whether I could get past the vocals and that was an issue for me....on first listen I enjoyed the opening melody/rhythm and then his voice hit me like a freight train and brought things to a grinding halt. He has that weak , high pitched sound like the guy from Final Frontier/Saga (Rob Moratti) – I often struggle with that guy singing rock ,let alone prog metal. So there was that. I didn’t think the music was anything much good originally but over time the melodies began to gain a lot more traction and I actually grew to tolerate the vocals more. This score is a big upgrade from my initial listen.....grower.
7) Nazareth: Razamanaz – jingle.boy Rating = 7.5I know you disagree Chad but personally I would take Hair Of The Dog over this. I suppose this is good time , bluesy rock and roll with the relatively basic production and guitar playing that I associate with many artists from the era. There are a number of exceptions to that of course -this just isn’t one of them for me.
It has some decent vocal melodies in the chorus although a lot of the lead vocals in the verses ain’t really my style – he sounds like one of the guys with squeaky voices out of the OTT glam metal bands from the 80’s like Tigertailz or Shotgun Messiah .
It’s pretty damn heavy for 1973 I imagine , but I wouldn’t know would I ?
As far as 70’s stuff goes for me 7.5 is a strong mark
8) Orphaned Land: All Is One – Sacul Rating = 7.5I have no issue with the Middle Eastern vibe that bands like this create – it adds an element of originality. I found the guitar riff/sound a bit too one dimensional and also the production a bit too much the “wall of sound” . I thought the instrumental part from 3 mins onwards was the highlight , but that same riff was pretty much constant throughout and I was searching for a bit of variety. This style does have some potential with me and this song had a couple of great elements to it . I just wasn’t blown away by the end result....
9) Steve Wilson : Happy Returns – Evermind Rating = 7.5There were a number of things I really liked about this song , but also one main issue that stopped it from really impressing. Nice piano intro and obviously some well written lyrics about something or other
(I really don’t tend to take much notice of lyrics in most cases) which is all fine. I wouldn’t say his voice is anything special but it’s pleasant enough.
One thing I often don’t like in my music is lengthy sections of vocalising melodies with “too-doo-doo-lada-ladum” and “la-da-da-de-dum” ........it gets on my nerves after a very short while and this song is full of it. The melodies around 3.25 are very simple but very nice with the string backing – it really took the song to another level and I do like my “levels” within songs. But then we go back into the “too-doo-doo” etc.....which makes me wonder whether this is Steve Wilson or Cat Stevens Wilson. A simple but effective guitar outro was really nice too. Just a shame that the one little thing interfered with my enjoyment of the song. I have heard enough here though to suggest that I may like some his other stuff.
10) Mandroid Echostar: Kingdom and the Crown – Lowdz Rating= 7.5As soon as I heard the opening here it reminded me of a noisy Shrapnel production ,so I can see why you like it haha. As the song went on it reminded me of another band that I can’t put my finger on ( a heavier Thank You Scientist without the jazz?) but it has that alternative metal vibe that I’m generally not a big fan of. In the end I found this a bit too busy ,with not enough time allowed for anything to develop that really grabs my ear. Still.......a solid song and a solid score.
11) Yanni: Acroyali/Standing In Motion (live) – Big Hath Rating = 7.5And here I was thinking that Yanni was some sort of Greek version of Julio Iglesias.....shows you how much notice I take of this style of music.
This is a nice sounding live recording and it certainly has some decent melodies in there along with some dramatic elements that could well work in a soundtrack. After one of the more dramatic moments (which I really like) at around 5.20 - 6 mins I wasn’t expecting it to get all bright and happy towards the end again but maybe that’s just me. I was getting a bit tired of it by the end. I would have preferred it to stay in that dramatic vein- so without the “happy ending”, so to speak
Cut it to around the six minute mark and it possibly would’ve rated a point higher.12) Queen : The Prophet’s Song – erwinrafael Rating =6.5Another 70’s intervention here and I must admit I struggled with this. I love Mercury and May in the right song and have generally found that Queen have a lot of music that I like and a lot of music that I don’t......hence why they have been a bit of a Greatest Hits band for me. I am no doubt missing some songs from them that I would love , but just never got around to exploring their catalogue properly. Songs like Bohemian Rhapsody , Tie Your Mother Down and The Show Must Go On are highlights for me , so I suppose I tend to prefer songs that rock a bit either with the guitars and/or a belting vocal performance.
I had a look around the Queen forums and it seems that this song and Bohemian are pretty much even Stevens in a head to head challenge amongst diehard fans, but for me they are not even in the same ballpark.
There is nothing wrong with the vocal quality here of course – it’s Freddie – but the song itself was about 4 minutes too long for me. As some have already found out , I don’t like music that stays still for too long – whether that be meandering proggy rhythms or in this case endless acapella vocals , “la,la,la “ vocalising melodies with weird panning effects on ‘em.
For me the song is nice enough until it pretty much grinds to a halt at the 4 minute mark. Prior to that I liked it enough to maybe give a 7.5-8 , but by the 5 minute mark I was over it. The guitars coming out of this section at 6 mins are really cool but by then it’s too late for me.
STANDINGS
I have updated the standings as before in the list below. And then below the banned artists I have listed the new scores post the Round 5 cull of everybody’s lowest two scores which I have labelled as END OF PRELIM FINAL STANDINGS which you will now carry into Round 6.
Updated Standings: Number of * = number of bonus points used.
Evermind 10.5+9.5+9+8.5+7.5=45*
wolfking 8+8+9.5+9.5+9=44*
jjrock88 10+7.5+ 7.5+10+8.5=43.5*
Bolsters 9+9+8.5+8.5+8=43*
Lowdz 8.5+9.5+9+8+7.5=42.5*
Big Hath 9+9+9+8+7.5=42.5*
erwinrafael 9.5+7+7.5+10+6.5=40.5**
jingle.boy 8.5+7.5+8.5+8.5+7.5=40.5**
kingshmegland 8+7.5+7+8.5+9= 40*
Sacul 9+9+7+7 +7.5=39.5*
TAC 9+6+6.5+8.5+8= 38*
splent 9+5.5+6.5+8 +8.5 = 37.5*
Banned bands
Almah
Anathema
Angelica
Apple Pie
Ayreon
A.C.T
Animals As leaders
Big Wreck
Black Majesty
Blondie
Blind Guardian
Buckethead
Cryonic Temple
Dead End
Death
Down
Haken
Holst
Ice Age
Iron Maiden
Jimi Hendrix
Jon Lord
Karnya
Last Crack
Mandroid Echostar
Mark Knopfler
My Soliloquy
Mystery
Nazareth
Opeth
Orphaned Land
Pablo Cruise
Pain of Salvation
Pandora's Box
Portishead
Primal Fear
Queen
Queensryche
Riverside
Shineback
Sieges Even
Skid Row
Steven Wilson
Stream of Passion
Steely Dan
Steve Vai
The Blitz
The Mob
The Sacrificed
Throne of Chaos (TOC)
UFO
X Japan
Yanni
END OF PRELIM FINAL STANDINGS
Evermind 10.5+9.5+9 = 29
jjrock88 10+10+8.5 = 28.5
wolfking 9.5+9.5+9 = 28
Lowdz 8.5+9.5+9 = 27
Big Hath 9+9+9 = 27
erwinrafael 9.5+7.5+10 =27
Bolsters 9+9+8.5=26.5
splent 9+8+8.5= 25.5
jingle.boy 8.5+8.5+8.5 = 25.5
kingshmegland 8+8.5+9 = 25.5
Sacul 9+9+7.5 = 25.5
TAC 9+8.5+8 = 25.5 Needless to say that some have benefitted more than others from the ability to drop some shocker scores here, but I think the “prelim” idea has worked well and it’s clear that everyone is still in the game and hopefully feeling a bit more informed as to my tastes . Only 3.5 pts (down from 7.5) now separates the pack with 5 rounds to go until we say "Goodnight" to the bottom six. No more hand holding from here though – any horror rounds will be yours to keep
Topic: BL5150 Roulette - Ghost Protocol......GRAND FINAL RESULTS (Read 69603 times)
