Trollheart

Ooh, hard to choose!
Let's see, let's see...
"The good son" was the first I ever heard of Nick, swiftly followed by "Henry's dream", so I would say those two plus perhaps "Let love in" and "Murder ballads"? But then there's "No more shall we part", and the excellent "Boatman's song".... well, I can do all of those for you if you like, or just choose and let me know.
The other stuff I'm into that may or not interest you, briefly...
Asia
Arena
Bon Jovi
Dire Straits
ELO
Pendragon
Mostly Autumn
Rory Gallagher
Supertramp
Genesis
Marillion
Fish
Steve Earle
Nanci Griffith
Kamelot
Journey
Iron Maiden
Alan Parsons Project
Judie Tzuke
Ten
Peter Gabriel
Floyd
Chris Rea
Bruce Springsteen
Bryan Adams
Bob Seger
Vangelis
Gandalf
Tom Waits

That's just a sampling: if there's something you think I might have post or PM me, and if I have it I'll make sure to upload it.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Son of JayJamJah

Album #4: Fight for your mind (1995)
Ben Harper
Genre: Alternative Folk Rock
Dedicated to MB Member: Spike*Spiegel

1. "Oppression"
2. "Ground on Down"
3. "Another Lonely Day"
4. "Please Me Like You Want To"
5. "Gold to Me"
6. "Burn One Down"
7. "Excuse Me Mr."
8. "People Lead"
9. "Fight for Your Mind"
10. "Give a Man a Home"
11. "By My Side"
12. "Power of the Gospel"
13. "God Fearing Man"
14. "One Road to Freedom"

Out of the gates with a steady, mellow reggae influenced number, “Oppression” sets the tone for Harper’s final solo project which is already nearly 15 years old. This album melds all of Harpers musical influences, jazz, soul, gospel, R&B, reggae and rock with his spiritual and political ones and finds a delightfully peaceful balance. The pass jumps up and back down on the next two tracks with the electric “Ground on Down” and the peaceful whispered ballad “Another Lonely Day” The simplicity of his soulful voice and a austere acoustic guitar are undeniable; transporting the listener and filling them with peace and serenity. The cascading guitar rhythm that propels the fourth track is among the albums highlights. Carrying the music along with a barely noticeable bass and drum section; these are the type of Songs that made me a fan for life shortly after seeing Harper live on the San Jose streets in 1993.

Innocent love songs are another signature of Harpers music unparticular his earlier stuff. “Gold to me” is a simple bass and drum driven song with a pure message of adoration of conviction. Including a fun and free performance on the slide guitar for an instrumental outro. The dynamic nature of reggae music is on display within the next two tracks as a light hearted casual song and a political tinged stinger are the next two numbers and both stepped in the Island funk. “Excuse me Mister” features heavy production that gives the vocals a distant but defiant sound to go with the heavy bass and screeching guitars projecting the memory or identity of the melody. “People lead is next” followed by the title track. Both find a place somewhere between electric and acoustic and let the bass take the lead. A couple of energetic songs before the album takes a very melancholy leap.

Rounding out the album are some of my favorite and least favorite tracks. This final third’s inconsistency is the only disconcerting flaw I find in this album. The strongest song on the album and what I feel should be the closing track “Give a Man a Home” is a powerful, morose but hopeful song about unconditional love and faith. The song hits like a wave and momentarily paralyzes you; just the right atmosphere for the message. Next is the country tinged “By my Side” which is solid and strong, but out of place on the tail end of the album. Still its casual country rhythm with gospel piano compliment provides ample reason to enjoy. There are some startlingly brilliant moments throughout the final tracks, but overall it’s a bit heavy handed for a musician like Harper and almost waters down an otherwise cohesive excellent album. It’s not the religious message, quite the contrary, despite being an atheist I love Gospel and enjoy hearing people pour their faith into music. Five combined minutes of intro, six more of outro and repetitive lyrics relegate this to background music, and even if enjoyable it’s a step down from the rest of the album. The finale “One Road to Freedom” sort of gets back to the formula and foreshadows the direction of the music of Harper’s next project his first of what would be many with the Innocent Criminals. This is still my favorite Ben Harper album just ahead of Lifeline and Welcome to the Cruel World. It’s full of hits and has a great flow for the first ¾ and never has an off putting note.

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Me, Myself and I United as One

If you're posting in the music forums make sure to be thoughtful and expressive, if you're posting in the lounge ask yourself "is this something that adds to the conversation?" It's important to remember that a lot of people use each thread. You're probably not as funny or clever as you think, I know I'm not.

My Van Morrison Discography Thread

Son of JayJamJah

Let's try Let Love in and Henry's Dream. I've heard and liked both. I'll probably go buy a few more this week and add them to the PC as well.

If anything else comes up I can't find, I'll dial you up on the PM.

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If you're posting in the music forums make sure to be thoughtful and expressive, if you're posting in the lounge ask yourself "is this something that adds to the conversation?" It's important to remember that a lot of people use each thread. You're probably not as funny or clever as you think, I know I'm not.

My Van Morrison Discography Thread

Urban Hat€monger ?

Nice Beggars Banquet review , easily my favourite Stones album as well.

As for Nick Cave Tender Prey is my favourite album by him.

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Trollheart

Arrgh! It's so long since I played an ACTUAL CD, I'm having trouble finding my Nick Caves! Bear with me....

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

RoemerMW

If you need some more Nick Cave, I have:

From Her to Eternity
The Firstborn Is Dead
Kicking Against the Pricks
Your Funeral ... My Trial
Tender Prey
Henry's Dream
Let Love In
Murder Ballads
The Boatman's Call
No More Shall We Part
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

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My Music Collection

Son of JayJamJah

Can you send me Tender prey and Henry's Dream please.

Anything I can fetch for you in return anytime let me know.

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Me, Myself and I United as One

If you're posting in the music forums make sure to be thoughtful and expressive, if you're posting in the lounge ask yourself "is this something that adds to the conversation?" It's important to remember that a lot of people use each thread. You're probably not as funny or clever as you think, I know I'm not.

My Van Morrison Discography Thread

RoemerMW

No problem, I'm upping them now. I'll send you a PM soon.

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My Music Collection

Son of JayJamJah

Album #5: four (1994)
Blues Traveler
Genre: Jam Rock
Dedicated to MB Member:

1. "Run-Around"
2. "Stand"
3. "Look Around"
4. "Fallible"
5. "The Mountains Win Again"
6. "Freedom"
7. "Crash Burn"
8. "Price to Pay"
9. "Hook"
10. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"
11. "Just Wait"
12. "Brother John"

The second Blues Traveler album I ever heard and the one that made me go to a concert that turned into six straight concerts and made me a fan for life. This is not a great album in the traditional sense. There are several very good songs, like "Run Around", the opening track and one of two major hit singles from the album. The other massiv single "Hook" is very good, as is "Just Wait", "The Mountains Win Again", "Look Around" and a few others. It's always enjoyable and Popper is an undeniable talent, presence and star. If you enjoy the harmonica, this is about as good as it gets. Even the average to bad songs contain great moments like the psychedelic escalating bridge and skat-a-tat-tat outro in "Stand". These particular portions of the song raise it from average to memorable.

The beautiful, touching and moving element of this album, with songs like "Look Around" and "Just Wait" is chilling. These songs demonstrate the often overlooked or under rated force of Poppers powerful vocal prowess. More then anything this is what has made this album last for me. A lot of the music I listened to at this has fallen from my radar, but not Blues Traveler, I still make a point to buy all their new albums and see them whenever they come to town. It's also worth mentioning that "The Mountains Win again" is that song from all those Busch Beer commercials. Don't hold that against it though.

What is clear from this album is that these people are having fun playing this music. It's a talented band and Popper as mentioned above is a phenom. This guy just drives the music with each lyric and breath into that harp. This is why Bob Dylan fans piss me off, this guy is 100 times the singer and harpist that Dylan was and gets half the due for both because of Dylan's song writing and cultural significance. But I digress, I love this album and am glad to add it to my list and introduce it to you.

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Me, Myself and I United as One

If you're posting in the music forums make sure to be thoughtful and expressive, if you're posting in the lounge ask yourself "is this something that adds to the conversation?" It's important to remember that a lot of people use each thread. You're probably not as funny or clever as you think, I know I'm not.

My Van Morrison Discography Thread

Pornographie Nouveau

Funk to funky?