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Wpnfire · 11-14-2014, 01:29 PM

Wpnfire raids his parents' CD collection

One of my education classes is cancelled today, so I drove back to my house in Kansas today for the weekend. My parents are out of town, and I decided to listen to a few of their CDs while they are out.

Well, it is a glam metal CD, and I managed to make it through half the CD already without turning it off, and shockingly, without losing interest. We could be looking at my favorite glam metal album here folks. The first four tracks are really good, and "(Flesh and Blood) Sacrifice" is pretty bad ass for such a catchy song. The middle tracks take a dip in quality before "Come Hell or High Water" brings the CD back to par of the first few tracks.

Overall rating: 3/5

Moving on...

Genesis - A Trick of the Tail

Well, this is a surprise. This is an overwhelming wall-of-space-age--sounding rock music. Unexpected. The guitar riff on this first song KILLS. This is fabulous. I apologize to prog. rock fans, please forgive me for my transgresses against you and your kind. "Entagled" sounds like a complete 180 compared to the previous song, and I like it only slightly less than the prior track. The mellow, synth-fueled ending is okay, but it is a tad too long for me, and it just plods along until the song is over.

We take another turn as we head into "Squonk" as the space-age, ambient sounding guitar riff comes ringing in bright and clear, followed closely by Collins. Those bass pedals are really heavy and distorted. The instrumentation does not always hold my attention, but Phil Collins helps to stave off boredom, for the most part.

I just realized how many instruments are on this album. I do not have any experience with synth, bass pedals, and mellotrons, so I apologize if I get the name of the instrument wrong.

Now "Mad Man Moon" tests my patience a bit. It is just a tad too slow for me. The space age synth returns in "Robbery, Assault and Battery." The combination of the grooving, thumping beat and Collins' singing blends very well. Eh, the second half of this song is also...lackluster. This seems to be a pattern.

Finally, "Ripples" breaks this mold, and has the best part towards the end. I do not care for the first few minutes, but the progressive breakdown around the four-minute mark with the fast cymbals, futuristic synth, and fast melodic piano playing, is highly addicting and sounds very epic and fanciful. Collins meets the rest of the instrumentation perfectly as well. Quite a ballad-esque ending.

"A Trick of the Tail" might be my second favorite track so far. For the most part, there is nothing about it that I dislike. Ooooh! The final track is an instrumental. Intriguing. The spaciest synth yet gets us going before wild congo-type drums propel the song ahead at full-speed, at least before stopping and yielding for a synth solo. The synth riff appears to be a variation of the riff from the opening track. That is a very unique idea to do a variation of a riff from the opening tack for the ending track, and I have only seen it done one one other album that I know of. Really makes the album seem like a huge story instead of just a bunch of tracks. A solid ending track to be sure.

Well, my first real experience listening to a progressive rock album went much better than I thought it would. Better than I hoped it would too. Obviously, I need to listen to more Genesis.

Overall rating: 4/5

Alright Batty, I'm mulling over that Dream Death album, and I shelved Anacrusis to listen to later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Re: your two Springsteen reviews. I would agree that the debut is a weak album, and my own particular favourites from it would be definitely "Lost in the flood" but then "Spirit in the night" and "It's hard to be a saint in the city". It's easily my least favourite Bruce album though. "The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle" was a huge leap forward for the man, and quite a gamble, given that the second side has only three tracks, all of which hit over the seven minute mark.

Moving on to "Born to run", I agree this is one flawless album, though I personally think "Meeting" is a weak track, also "Tenth Avenue freeze out". The rest of the album more than makes up for it though, a total classic through and through and I would agree with the solo on "Jungleland": is there a better sax player than Clarence? The SOUL he put into his playing, man it can bring tears to your eyes!

My own journey began with "Born in the USA" --- specifically, the single "Dancing in the dark" followed by the purchase of the album --- then moved on to "Born to run", "The river" and "Darkness" before I got his lesser albums as it were. After that I was a fan for life.

Good reviews. Watch for one on BTR in my own journal very soon....

RIP Clarence Clemmons.

Thanks for the thoughts TH, I'll keep an eye out for those reviews in your journal.