The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[Trollheart]

And so into a new month we plunge! Hasn't been exactly a hive of activity this week, and that suits me as I'm late getting this written. Hey, Star Trek Month won't compose itself you know! Let's get to it then.

Anteater gets us underway as he returns for another leg of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html, explaining all about the five variations of Yacht Rock (with examples!)

while Briks believes that http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...seur-cave.html would be better off not taking part in “The Devil's Dancefloor” (didn't you get the memo, Briks? He's shelved it) and is instead reviewing an album by Orthelm while also knocking out some more haiku reviews. Pallbearers? Overrated? Sir, you jest, surely!

Speaking of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ancefloor.html, Justin is looking for a metal album to review. Some suggestions already heading his way

while Ki is listening to some morning music in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-music.html: you know the kind of thing, The Black Keys, Iron Maiden --- sound of needle screeching across record in time-honoured film promotion fashion --- what? Hold the phone! Iron Maiden is good to wake up to? Check out his explanation. Oh, and he'll be looking back at some music from 2012, it would seem.

We all feel Pet_Sounds' pain over the loss of his Great-Aunt Patricia recently, and he's paying tribute to her in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...crap-heap.html, as well as kind of fielding an argument over whether Springsteen is a god or not?

Sidewinder hits 2000 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ar-1965-a.html, with music from Ween, Clinic and Radiohead among his picks.

Again, I've been writing more than posting, so there aren't a slew of updates from me. But in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html there are two more Waits albums, while in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html there's a little more about Star Trek Month, including the now-decided coverage of “Voyager”, as well as no less than three episodes of Supernatural. More to come very soon.

W.A.S.P make an appearance for the first time at 22 in Unknown Soldier's list for 1984 with their self-titled debut and in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html you'll also find Dokken's Tooth and nail at 21.

Closing us up for this week it's a somewhat rare but always welcome salvo from the man whose homeland's greatest claim to fame may be "Bergerac" , and an answer to my mini-thread http://www.musicbanter.com/lounge/80...te-monger.html as http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-stuff.html tells us all about “The best 200 albums I have never heard according to NME”, with Clor and The Buff Medways? Ah, never disappoints, does Urban!

Ah, wait! I was wrong! Almost forgot about our old friend Wpnfire, and just as well I didn't, cos he's put a lot into his latest entries. First, he's listening to, liking, loving, then hating Iron Maiden, then kind of loving them again, though he has some sacrilegious things to say about Number of the Beast and Bruce! There may be a duel yet! He's also listening to Om, Asbestosdeath and the Ramones, plus a rather heated debate --- chaired by Batty – about viking metal. Hmm. You'll find it all going on in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html

Speaking of Wpnfire, his has to be the

How anyone can a) not have heard Maiden then b) like the debut, c) love “Killers” and then d) hate “Number of the Beast” is beyond me, but it certainly earned our friend this slot when he posted this:

Originally Posted by Wpnfire

Number Of the Beast

Genre: Heavy Metal
Released: 1983
Position In Discography: Third album

I already miss the other singer. I am not impressed by anything until the chorus for “Children Of the Damned” which has a cool riff. Nothing else grabs me about that song, or the prior track. Ah, MUCH better. A heavy riff and beat plays for an extended amount of time at the beginning of “The Prisoner.” I was almost concerned that I was not going to like this album.


I spoke too soon.

I am not a fan of Bruce's voice. He is the classic operatic metal singer, and I have mostly bad things to say about those kinds of singers. This album better not be a Time Does Not Heal, otherwise, I may be done listening to Maiden. Again, heavy riffing plays at the beginning of “22 Acacia Avenue,” but the riffing disappears and we are left with Bruce running the show again. What happened to the extended instrumental portions on songs from the prior albums? This is like all singing, which I do not have a problem with, except I do not like Bruce’s voice much.

This album is rapidly approaching the realm of torturous. The title track is playing, and there does not seem to be much hope in sight. I pretty much hate songs that have spoken word samples at any point in the song, that is probably my #1 pet peeve in music, and this album has already done it twice!

That’s it! I can’t take it anymore. I am done with Iron Maiden for now. Bruce’s voice is grating and I find the song writing on this album to be severely lacking compared to the prior album. I am not going to rate this album because I only rate albums I have fully listened to, but this is easily the worst of Maiden’s first three for me.

And would you believe it, he's also the winner of the inaugural

This is a new award I'm giving for the busiest journal each week. That's not to say the most entries by the author, but the one that excites the most comment, gets the most interest, has people debating, arguing, levelling death threats at one another, and generally participating, thanks to something the author wrote. There can be no doubt that the current conversations going on in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html, from the meaning of viking metal to his exploration of Iron Maiden, make Wpnfire the easy choice for this award.

And so, having completed our trip through Unknown Soldier's journal, we begin an entirely new one of the

this week and as mentioned last week, it's this one:
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-obscure.html
Anteater has had about four journals over the years, one of which is currently going very strongly indeed, but back in 2009 he began what I think (though he'll correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure) was his first one, and it kicked off with an intro. This also contained an album index but I'm not going to include that, as Mister Max Character Count is looking over his shoulder at me, and I don't want to have to split this entry up...

Originally Posted by Anteater

Hello friends, food and felons! I am Anteater (or Derek if you prefer). Blue, furry and ferocious, I hope to entertain ye' masses with various rants and obscure/not-so-obscure reviews that may or may not conform to your particular views & tastes in music. If you're open-minded though, perhaps you'll learn to like things you never thought you'd like before. I hope anyway, haha!!

Enjoy the journal, and lets keep it cool & civil. There's no particular timetable for the reviews in question, but it will be updated enough to hold long-term interest. Whether you get something out of this, don't, or are simply baffled by my posts, I hope you are entertained to even the smallest of degrees.

And oh yeah....Welcome to the Anthill everyone. Don't forget the oatmeal!

The first album to fall under his microscope then was Not available by The Residents, followed by Lucifer's Friend's Banquet. That came at the end of January and so February saw Psychillis of a lunatic genius by Pazop, The Vampires of Dartmoore's Dracula's Music Cabinet, then Moon Safari's Blomljud and then the utterly not-obscure Level 42's World machine! Normal (!) service was then resumed with a review of Remedy Lane by Pain of Salvation, Sacrifice by Black Widow and The Tangent's The music that died alone.

This first journal of his is not huge, and I want to stretch it out over a week or two, so I'm going to do it month by month. Therefore this is where we wave goodbye to the insect-eating one for this week, but we'll have more from him in the next update.

That's it then for this week. Keep writing and keep listening, and Wpnfire, watch yer back man!
Till next week,
Toodles!

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Closing us up for this week it's a somewhat rare but always welcome salvo from the man whose homeland's greatest claim to fame may be "Bergerac"

Wrong island, dickhead

[Anteater]

I don't know whether I'm flattered or embarrassed from my first journal being dug up: my writing has come so many lightyears since I've joined MB all those years ago. Most of the music I initially reviewed, however, continues to stick with me.

One of the biggest differences between then and now is that I had so many false preconceptions about various genres back in my teens: instead of exploring stuff on my own, I'd rely sometimes on popular opinion of something in order to form a broad judgement. You'll notice on my Ambrosia post that I pretty much wrote all their other albums off besides the debut even though all their records have good stuff. I fell into the overall dismissal bias of 70's soft rock stuff without having given them a fair shake.

In any case, thanks for the spotlight amigo.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

Wrong island, dickhead

Same group though.
Also, I can't edit my posts here, so would you mind changing the entry on Pet_Sounds' journal from "his grandmother" to his "Great-Aunt Patricia"? Appreciate it.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Same group though.

And about as accurate as me saying to you that you live somewhere famed for the making of Taggart or Eastenders.
Same group of Islands right?

[The Batlord]

Yeah, if you wanna know all the important people from Guernsey, you should check this out.

List of people from Guernsey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They've even got this guy, so this place is clearly happenin'...

Martin Brady (born 1969), world record holder of slowest heart ever recorded in a healthy human.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

And about as accurate as me saying to you that you live somewhere famed for the making of Taggart or Eastenders.
Same group of Islands right?

Hey, we're all island monkeys under the skin, hermano!

[Pet_Sounds]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Yeah, if you wanna know all the important people from Guernsey, you should check this out.

List of people from Guernsey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They've even got this guy, so this place is clearly happenin'...

Sir Isaac Brock? Canada owes you an immeasurable debt, Urban.

[Josef K]

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

Sir Isaac Brock? Canada owes you an immeasurable debt, Urban.

The guy from Modest Mouse? I thought he was from Washington. And when did he get knighted?

[Machine]

Think I'm done with journaling for a while. Maybe I'll do it again, but I don't feel my writing is all that strong yet, and I don't want to be repeating myself a lot in band choices.