Powerstars

I may have to improvise the dim lights, but I think I can do that. And thanks, TH, for helping me make my final decision. You guys will be in for a treat this week

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Powerstars

Well, you people demanded I review a Floyd album, and after asking you, you said Dark Side best represented what was great about the band. Now I could introduce this album. I could go on and on about the process of recording the album, the impact it had on the musical scene, it's continued legacy, and praise this thing to pieces. But no matter what I say, I cannot begin to describe the legacy that this album has built over the years, there's just no possible way to do it justice. With that said, I'm just going to dive face first into it.

1. Speak To Me
We open on the sound of a beating heart, with then adds in more sound effects including a man describing how insane he is and absolutely demented laughter. It's a interestingly eerie way to open an album and I love it. Now, this is the only time I will mention fading into the next song as nearly every track on the album does it, so let's get to...

2. Breathe
Pretty good way to properly open the album. It's chill, has a good beat, and overall, if I did drugs, this would be a good one for that. Gilmour has some cool slidey things going on during the intro, even the bassline is audible and adds to the overall relaxing mood of the song.

3. On The Run
Instrumental segue that shows off some cool synth, reverb, and sound effects. It just has this really cool fast paced energy about it and the synth is really cool, and...I would say flighty, but a lower pitched flighty. I can't really describe it properly.

4. Time
The first song on the album I can actually sing along with and that could stick in my head if I listen to it enough, "Time" is also the first song that really gets you rocking and is just a solid 7 minutes that I'm going to have to listen to more.

5. The Great Gig In The Sky
The quiet piano that starts the song off. The hypnotic vocals by guest Clare Torry. Out of all the songs on the album, after my initial listen, this one stuck with me and haunted me the most. It royally pisses me off that some people can call this album filler. As much as I like the rest of the album, this is the only song that really impacted me in a significant way.

6. Money
One of the biggest hits of the album is known for it's interesting tape loop and unusual time signature. It has an overall catchy melody, with some sweet electric piano which adds to the sweet bluesy feel the entire thing has going.

7. Us And Them
Another really chill, relaxing song that sticks in the head. Obviously, if I'm going to talk about this song, I'm going to talk about Dick Parry's wonderful saxophone solo. It's so smooth and just fits the mood perfectly.

8. Any Colour You Like
Sweet instrumental showcasing some more synth as well as Gilmour's smooth guitar playing. This synth is slightly more "flighty" than "On The Run," but the tune is way more relaxed.

9. Brain Damage
Often mistaken for a title track along with it's sister song "Eclipse," "Brain Damage" is another chill song with some hints of finality to it. Waters's vocals have been smooth all album, but this song is where they shine the most in my opinion. The organ reminds me a bit of The Beatles's "Don't Pass Me By."

10. Eclipse
This defiantly feels like an ending to an album. Most defiantly, this and "Brain Damage" going without one and other would be like The Beatles's "Golden Slumbers" trilogy going without each other, it would just be a travesty. It then ends with the same beating heart that brought us in.

Conclusion: Out of all the "essential" albums I've heard, this was defiantly more interesting. "Sgt. Pepper" was good, but not amazing, "Rumours" was good, but not amazing, and I still have a hard time calling this "amazing," which some of you will no doubt massacre me for. What can I say, the better an album is said to be, the higher my expectations, which no album could live up to. But most certainly, this album, more than "Sgt. Pepper" and "Rumours," impactful as they may have been on the music scene, deserves to be called a classic.

Final Score: 95/100 (Brilliant)

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Powerstars

So my birthday happened recently, and most of what I got was CD's, so I'll be having things to review. Sorry this journal died out for like 2 weeks. xD

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Powerstars

Okay, so I've been dead around here despite saying I wasn't, so I'm going to review the followup to one of my favorite albums of all time. Described by vocalist Brandon Flowers as "the best album made in 20 years," it leans more towards a Springsteen-esque heartland rock style than the synth-drenched rock of their debut "Hot Fuss." Well, let's get into it.

1. Sam's Town
We open with a hard-rocking track. Fantastic opener, very catchy song, and it gets you hyped for the album ahead.

2. Enterlude
Nice little interlude into the album proper, simple, short, and nice.

3. When You Were Young
First song I knew from the album, it just brings me back to 2006. A lovely song, with everything that makes a lead single. And the solo is also pretty cool.

4. Bling (Confession Of A King)
The key this is in just brings the dramatic feel of the song to such a higher level. One of the best songs on the record, with a sing along section at the end ala "All These Things That We've Done" but shorter (And the song is overall less ballady and way more dramatic), it's one of the most heart-wrenching songs on the album.

5. For Reasons Unknown
Note, I said one of. This song was catchy and cool when I didn't know what it meant, but when I found it was about the lead singer's grandfather who has Alzheimer's, I got choked up. The song is still but so hard yet so easy for me to listen to because of just how catchy the melody is. Of special note is the low-harmony vocals at the beginning that add an odd element of creepiness to the song.

6. Read My Mind
The favorite Killers song of vocalist Brandon Flowers, it's hard to argue that this song is as touching as it is catchy. Synth everywhere, it's a pretty good match with "Smile Like You Mean It" from the debut. I particularly enjoy the music video which is The Killers dicking around in Japan. Good stuff.

7. Uncle Jonny
Another solid rocking track about an "uncle" with a cocaine addiction. One person called it the worst track and the album and went on to say it just shows how good the album is. Indeed, one of the album's weaker tracks, but still so strong in it's own right that it can't be faulted.

8. Bones
Well this is weird. The choruses are really catchy and light-hearted, but the verses take on sort of a creepy tone. Considering this is a song about taking a girl to a beach and the overall song is rather creepy, one can't help but draw parallels with "Midnight Show" from the much-mentioned-in-this-entry debut, "Hot Fuss." In that song, the narrator takes a girl to the beach...and drowns her to death.

9. My List
An anthematic track, complete with handclaps. It is the weakest song on the album, but like "Uncle Jonny," it's still a great track in it's own right.

10. This River Is Wild
Faster-tempo track with some cool harmonies. Flowers just gives a particularly amazing vocal on this one (though he'd been doing so on the rest of the album), and you can't help but sing along after you know it.

11. Why Do I Keep Counting?
A song about Flowers' thoughts of suicide, he also holds a particularly touching sustained note near the end of the song. It's a great track to "properly" end the album, but we have one more song left to look at.

12. Exitlude
An extended reprise of "Enterlude." Not much to say except where the original was 40 seconds, this is 2 minutes. Anyways yeah. That was Sam's Town

Conclusion: I have a very difficult time choosing whether I like this album or their first one better. They're both completely different, yet so similar. So yes. Overall, this is an amazing album, and I'd highly recommend it, even if you don't like The Boss.

Final Score: 95/100 (BECAUSE THIS RIVER IS WILD! GOD SPEED, YA BOY!)

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Powerstars

So like, Nirvana got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame last night, and for the first time in years, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Krist Novoselic played some Nirvana songs together.

Joan Jett growled out "Smells Like Teen Spirit" amazingly, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth destroyed "Aneurysm" (But unfortunately, not in a good way), and Annie Clark of St. Vincent did a fantastic job doing "Lithium," but special note must go to Lorde (Who I'm actually not a fan of) doing a great rendition of "All Apologies" with everyone I mentioned as well as the members of Nirvana (With Krist Novoselic, the bassist, playing an accordion). At the very end of the video, Dave Grohl (Drummer) raises his head to the microphone, as if he wanted to sing the final chorus as it was on "In Utero," but he then stops and lowers his head...it's so sad...anyways though, great performances all around, but I wanna put a spotlight on this one:

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Powerstars

Well friends, all things must come to an end. Do I mean this journal? In it's current form, yes. In general, no. What I mean is that the text reviews and articles you have gotten used to seeing will no longer be a part of it. Instead, album reviews will now be presented in video form, and less frequently. So, to ring in this new time in Thought-Filled Barfland, here's a collaborative review of the They Might Be Giants album, John Henry.

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Trollheart

Ok this is an interesting idea. I had a similar thought myself some time back but decided against it. Why? For various reasons, some of which included not wanting anyone to see the secrets contained within my Bedroom of Wonder (!) as well as the fact that I'm an ugly ****er, and not to mention that doing something like this may open you to copyright infringement as you need to use the music as a backdrop. I see you've got around the final point there by using YouTubes, and quite well.

But do I think it will work? I have to say no I don't. Why? Because I think people here in general skim through articles or else read them all the way through, but I would imagine the ratio of people who click YTs as opposed to those who don't is quite low and weighted on the side of the latter. People coming to a journal want to read, not watch; they want to see what your writing style is like and they want to get lost in the review. It's not so easy to do that in a four-minute video.

I could be completely wrong --- and if I am, readers, please tell me because I would love to know this will work for him --- but I think people will check your journal, see a post with one YT and either click it in half interest or move on. Of course, you could be starting a whole new trend here, and it'll certainly be a big feature in this week's update, but I think personally you're going the wrong direction. Podcasts like these are great but I don't believe they suit the music journal format and I would much rather see four columns of text than click one YouTube.

Not to mention that if anyone has YouTube blocked in work or in their country you're excluding them.

Not meaning to put a damper on things; maybe this will work fine. But from my point of view, if this is how you intend things to go for the future, I am disappointed and I have to say I would be unlikely to check any of the videos. I can read your text in half the time it takes to go through your video.

Still, good luck with it. But I would suggest maybe a mixture of the two? Writing and video reviews maybe? Perhaps this is what people want. Time, as they say, will be the judge, not me.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Powerstars

I can defiantly see what you're saying, and I have to thank you for being honest. The truth is, I kind of ran out of motivation to do reviews the way I was doing them, and I don't just mean the format of text. I personally don't want to have to talk about each and every track on the album, even though that's more detailed, because a lot of the time, if there's a forgettable or generic song, I can't really talk about it too much. In this new form, I won't have to.

Another thing with the old format was that if there was a song I really liked, a lot of the time it was hard to put it into words, so with this, I can allow the music to speak for itself a bit. But, I can totally see what you mean about it being risky and less convenient. I think a possible solution to the problem would be having the YouTube review, but including a transcript or summary of what I say about the album below, so those short on time, or without YouTube can easily see what my opinions on the album are.

And probably the main reason I'm trying the YouTube format is because I can reach outside of MusicBanter for an audience. I have a small YouTube channel, but it does have a few viewers, and if I'm to do album reviews on it, more people can give me feedback and tell me how to improve and it'll feel like there are people viewing my content. I've actually wanted to do video reviews for a while, but didn't really know how to approach it until recently.

Again, I have to thank you for stating your honest opinion, and I'm sorry if you're still disappointed. I will admit that there are advantages to the old style of review that don't transcend to video well. Who knows, I may go back to the old style if enough people want me too, I know there are some things I'll miss, but for now, I'm gonna test out the new format and see what the other members think, and if it just gives more of a voice in a different way. Thanks for the post, I was really curious to see what the readers would think.

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Trollheart

Well like you say, try it and see. The only problem feedbackwise I can see is that, well, even in the best journals there is minimum feedback. You could perhaps open a poll in the main section and ask people's opinions? Or see how you YT audience feel.

I get what you say about long reviews though. Sometimes I get bored writing mine, and will occasionally let a track or two slip by without comment if there's nothing I either like or really dislike about it. That's why I tried the "Bitesize" format, sort of like what Briks is now doing too. I know generally people don't read long reviews, apart from a few people like Unknown Soldier and Anteater, so I know much of my stuff probably goes unread. However if I'm enthusiastic enough about the album or indeed series or film I'm looking at I will give it all I have.

You could maybe try doing your video reviews and then a short review in the "Bitesize" style, just getting the main points across. Or you could review in the style of Urban!

Anyway whichever way you decide to do it hope it works for you, and remember if reviews don't keep you interested it's your journal: try something else. Review a sporting event, a movie or maybe a game? Or do something totally different. Surprise yourself, and your readers.

Best of luck as always. I'll keep watching. And reading.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Powerstars

Thanks TH. I may consider trying a bitesize type review, but so far, I do quite enjoy the video reviews. I totally get what you mean about lack of feedback. That's part of why I'm reaching out and getting these reviews to a larger audience. If it doesn't work, I may go back to where I was before or, as I mentioned, try bitesize type reviews. But right now, it's just gonna be very experimental. Not in a hard to swallow way, just a couple reviews of testing the waters.

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