Music Banter - View Single Post - The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Big Ears · 10-17-2012, 02:57 PM

Well-written reviews on forums stand out like water coolers on Mars and I noticed yours when I first signed here. Here are some observations, for what they are worth, after reading the first six pages or so. If you want a moderator to wipe these, I won't be offended.

1. Night Owl - Anyone who takes the time to review a Gerry Rafferty album, especially the follow-up to City to City instead of the famous record itself, must be worth their salt.
2. Shadow Gallery - A strong alternative to Dream Theater (or should I say stronger when considering Vanden Plas?).
3. A-ha - Another interesting choice. In the mid to late eighties, they were the band that young girls were obsessing over. I heard members of XTC enthusing about the band, when they were reviewing the Living Daylights single, on a radio show, and I nver saw A-ha in the same way again. I bought a secondhand version of the Stay On These Roads album, produced by Alan Tarney, and loved Out of Blue Comes Green. I think Shapes That Go Together (1994) is a great single too.
4. Gary Hughes - I first heard Hughes and Ten on the title track from Spellbound, which included on a free compilation CD attached to a magazine. I would never have heard them otherwise, but was immediately impressed even if they sounded a bit like 1987-era Coverdale.
5. Rainbow Rising. Great album - enough said.
6. Oceanic - I bought this secondhand recently. Used CDs can represent good buys, as this one probably hadn't been played. I'll have to give it another listen.
7. Savatage - I saw them on the Raw Power/ Noisy Mothers TV show in the early nineties and was impressed. I obtained their most highly rated album, Streets - A Rock Opera (1991), but was underwhelmed. Somewhere, I am going wrong with this band.
8. Fish - I can recommend the Internal Exile album, for Credo.
9. The Penny's beginning to drop: shops in Dublin, The Adventures, Divine Comedy and Thin Lizzy. You're Irish aren't you? You can't keep it from me. I always thought Broken Land was a great record. Hoslips, who are from the republic, are one of my favourite groups and among the first I saw live.
10. Fugazi - The analysis of the album cover art is a GREAT idea. I hope you don't mind me copying that idea at some future stage. Re Billboard magazine, Fish was a rock music fan and admitted to recording Alan Freeman's Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio One (which is why he did not object to Marillion boots). There may be no more to this than he read Billboard magazine as a fan.
11. The early frustration at your lack of comments I can empathise with, but a lot of people read without contributing. I know a person that reliably claims never to comment on reviews, although they read them all the time.
12. Interesting that you analysed the lyrics to Fact and Fiction, when I did not try for the record club post. Maybe familiarity brings knowledge of lyrics.

10-17-2012, 02:57 PM	#1545 (permalink)
Big Ears Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 434	Well-written reviews on forums stand out like water coolers on Mars and I noticed yours when I first signed here. Here are some observations, for what they are worth, after reading the first six pages or so. If you want a moderator to wipe these, I won't be offended. 1. Night Owl - Anyone who takes the time to review a Gerry Rafferty album, especially the follow-up to City to City instead of the famous record itself, must be worth their salt. 2. Shadow Gallery - A strong alternative to Dream Theater (or should I say stronger when considering Vanden Plas?). 3. A-ha - Another interesting choice. In the mid to late eighties, they were the band that young girls were obsessing over. I heard members of XTC enthusing about the band, when they were reviewing the Living Daylights single, on a radio show, and I nver saw A-ha in the same way again. I bought a secondhand version of the Stay On These Roads album, produced by Alan Tarney, and loved Out of Blue Comes Green. I think Shapes That Go Together (1994) is a great single too. 4. Gary Hughes - I first heard Hughes and Ten on the title track from Spellbound, which included on a free compilation CD attached to a magazine. I would never have heard them otherwise, but was immediately impressed even if they sounded a bit like 1987-era Coverdale. 5. Rainbow Rising. Great album - enough said. 6. Oceanic - I bought this secondhand recently. Used CDs can represent good buys, as this one probably hadn't been played. I'll have to give it another listen. 7. Savatage - I saw them on the Raw Power/ Noisy Mothers TV show in the early nineties and was impressed. I obtained their most highly rated album, Streets - A Rock Opera (1991), but was underwhelmed. Somewhere, I am going wrong with this band. 8. Fish - I can recommend the Internal Exile album, for Credo. 9. The Penny's beginning to drop: shops in Dublin, The Adventures, Divine Comedy and Thin Lizzy. You're Irish aren't you? You can't keep it from me. I always thought Broken Land was a great record. Hoslips, who are from the republic, are one of my favourite groups and among the first I saw live. 10. Fugazi - The analysis of the album cover art is a GREAT idea. I hope you don't mind me copying that idea at some future stage. Re Billboard magazine, Fish was a rock music fan and admitted to recording Alan Freeman's Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio One (which is why he did not object to Marillion boots). There may be no more to this than he read Billboard magazine as a fan. 11. The early frustration at your lack of comments I can empathise with, but a lot of people read without contributing. I know a person that reliably claims never to comment on reviews, although they read them all the time. 12. Interesting that you analysed the lyrics to Fact and Fiction, when I did not try for the record club post. Maybe familiarity brings knowledge of lyrics. Last edited by Big Ears; 10-18-2012 at 01:54 PM. Reason: Got Internal Exile album and Credo track muddled.