Trollheart

... And we are back! with more Simpsons song parodies! I love the way the writers manage to take a well-known song and just, er, Simpson it up. Here are some more examples of songs they've, ah, covered over the years.

(Once again I must apologise in advance for the poor sound quality, as these videos, for some reason, are very scarce on YouTube, and many consist of people having literally seemed to have taped them off their TV via a microphone! What is this? The Dark Ages?)

What better way to honour Beethoven than to take his beautiful, timeless masterpiece “Ode to joy” and make it into a song about decaptiating a teacher? Haw haw!


And speaking of classics and masterpieces, wonder what ol' Blue Eyes would have thought of this treatment of “It was a very good year”?


And what parody would be complete without a look-in from Springfield's oldest and crabbiest man? In a stylish take on the “Charles Foster Kane” song from the classic movie, “Citizen Kane”, heeeeeeer's Monty!

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Blarobbarg

Trollheart, I was extremely happy to come to your journal and find a new update of The Meat Grinder. No matter how many you do, I always love them.

And I'm not sure how you're having such bad luck... I went to the Encyclopedia Metallum, his "random band" and within a few hits had a power metal band. Some day you'll write up one of these features and listen to a band you actually enjoy!

Either that, or the continual exposure to extreme metal will brainwash you into enjoying it.

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Trollheart

Episode 01: Like peering into the deepest ocean abyss --- The Deadstation --- 2012


Apparently, this progressive metal band intend that each of their recordings should be released as an episode from a fictional TV programme, of which this is, obviously, the first. It's actually an EP, having only seven full tracks on it, coming in with a total running time of just under 27 minutes. It's the brainchild of Shjon Thomas, who plays guitar, bass and also sings. The band is then made up of two others, lead vocalist and drummer Greg Murphy and guitarist Ryan Mattheu.

It opens with a short intro, called “100 foot drop”, ambient guitar and low, atmospheric keys courtesy of guest keysman Nathaniel Rendon, then drums cut in and the guitar gets more loud and forceful, with the keys setting up a kind of flute melody which is suddenly and violently kicked aside as the drums hit into steamhammer mode and Murphy screams as the guitars go into overdrive and we're into “Subsistence defined”, with a hard progressive metal edge, almost shouted vocals kind of in the vein of LostProphets, then a nice little gentle guitar and keyboard passage with almost strings accompaniment before dark piano takes the melody followed by a screeching guitar solo.

It's certainly clear these guys can play, but the juxtapositioning of hard, angry metal over more melodic and tuneful riffs and almost orchestral ideas is a little jarring and hard to get your head around. Murphy's a decent vocalist, but you tend to listen more to the music than to his singing, as it's a little pushed to the background. Next we're into their epic, the multi-part title track, with its seven-minute hard and heavy opener, “Drugs for pain inside”. There's some quite introspective guitar there, but it's quickly overtaken by hard drumming and sharper riffs, then a really nice little piano run as the thing slows down for a moment, and the vocals come in, though they're really more spoken than sung, and it goes back to rocking out.

Part 2 comes in on a spoken vocal, almost poetic, with deep, throbbing keyboard underlying the narration, as “August 4th, 3:21 AM” gets going with rather surprisingly some very progressive rock keys, the tempo increasing as the song goes along, and I must say I really like this. It cuts off suddenly though, only about three minutes long, but with the main theme continuing in the faster and harder but still very melodic “Anything but this ... anywhere but here”, where the vocals, roared out, become much more audible and discernible. Some great guitar takes over here, as Mattheau pushes himself to see just what he can do on the fretboard, and behind the kit Thomas bashes the skins like a man possessed.

This is also a short track, and leads into the final part of this epic, the acoustic guitar led “I cannot explain myself anymore” with some lovely rippling keyboards accompanying it, then hard guitar chops up the melody as the vocals cut in and the band set off on the climactic ending to what is really a very, very good piece of music. Great guitar solo and some fine keys backing it up, but then it sort of tumbles into a big heavy and rather confused guitar ending, which I think takes from the piece.

The final track is also short. “Slowly, but surely, I'm drowning”, is again taken in on acoustic guitar with slow, echoey drums, and then some jazzy piano counterpointing the tired-sounding, almost whispered vocal, which no doubt is to reflect the title. Very ambient, with a lovely strings-like flowing keyboard melody and ending on a simple guitar line that fades then suddenly cuts off.

When this started I wasn't sure what to think, and now it's over I'm still not sure. There are some great moments on the EP to be sure, but I find it's a little confused, with mad guitar hammerblows punching in seemingly out of nowhere, music cutting off almost in the middle of notes, and some very strange and experimental vocals that really, for a lot of the album, you can't really hear too well.

But do I like it? I'd have to say that on balance, yeah, I do. I don't quite get the TV station idea, nor the episodes of a show thing, but maybe I will on further listenings. Be interesting to see what episode 02 is like, assuming they release it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Hundred foot drop
2. Subsistence defined
3. Like peering into the deepest ocean abyss
(i) Drugs for pain inside
(ii) August 4th --- 3:21 AM
(iii) Anything but this ... anywhere but here
(iv) I cannot explain myself anymore
4. Slowly, but surely, I'm drowning

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Trollheart

Loath though I am to say it, there's even a Marillion album that is in danger of being ruined by one track I consider to be below par. And no, it's not “Somewhere else”! Read on...

These are, as you probably know by now, the tracks that stand out as the usually one bad track, or less good, which can spoil your enjoyment of an album. That's not true, of course: one bad track won't make you less likely to listen to an album if you like it, but these are the tracks that tend to make you wish that they hadn't been included, that sour the overall experience of listening to an otherwise good or even great album. They're the ones that get skipped over, never included on playlists and that we wish just weren't there to detract from the overall enjoyment of the album in question. They are, the


Easy target (Heart) from “Bad animals”, 1987

I've reviewed it some time back, and I stand by what I said, that this is one of Heart's best albums (that I've heard). In fact, it was one of their most commercially successful, giving them the two major hits “Alone” and “Who will you run to”. Shame then that it's spoiled by one by-the-numbers rock song. This is it. Just zero thought put into it, I feel, and even the band sound bored singing it. I know it's certainly one I skip over whenever I play the album. The lyric is awful: ”Open season/ And you were the reason” What? They even rob the main riff from, uh, the Alan Parsons Project!


Ocean cloud (Marillion) from “Marbles”, 2004

Yeah, that's the one. If you're lucky, you may not have heard it, as it only comes on the double-CD version of Marillion's “Marbles” album, but that's the version I have, and let me tell you, it would not be worth paying the extra if it were the only other extra track. Luckily it's not, but it is almost eighteen minutes long! Now, I won't say it's a terrible song, in fact it's an epic in the vein of “This strange engine”, “Grendel” or even “Interior lulu”, but I just find it boring. Well, that's not fair: I don't find it boring, but for a song of this length I find it wanders too much and I just lose interest. Plus, the subject matter is not one close to my heart: I don't really care if someone managed to circumnavigate the world in a boat, or whatever it's about. It's okay, but I really can't stick seventeen minutes plus of it. So sorry guys, but this is one I always hop over when playing this otherwise brilliant album. A real pity, as it would be quite close to perfect without this. Pass.


Teenage idol (Gary Moore) from “Victims of the future”, 1984

Come on now, you've known for some time this was coming, haven't you? I spouted off about it during my Gary Moore anniversary tribute in February, and, well, I'm going to repeat that rant here. Well, not entirely. But although “Victims of the future” is not by any means a perfect record, this is far and away not only the worst track on it, but the worst Gary Moore song I have ever had the displeasure to hear. It's trite, generic, throwaway and just totally uninspiring. The lyric seems to carry the message that all you have to do is jack in your job and pick up a guitar and you'll be a rock idol. Unrealistic at the very least. The music leaves much to be desired too, and it really comes across to me as something Gary threw together in five minutes, not worthy of inclusion on this or any other album, not really even worthy of being a B-side. As the kids say today, I believe, epic fail.

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Unknown Soldier

Page 121-125

Marillion- You've often spoken about this album on several occasions before, so I know just how important it is to you. For my own perspective, it was basically Peter Gabriel era Genesis being transplanted lock, stock and barrel to the 1980s. It was like punk and new-wave never happened, but I do remember that they were a big band in the UK at that time.

Supertramp- I think you're spot on with the Famous Last Words cover, for years the Hodgson and Davies partnership had been on the brink and the album cover says it all. I always thought that Davies needed Hodgson more than Hodgson needed Davies.

Daryl Hall- I've not heard that Daryll Hall album but what I do know they (Hall and Oates) were one of the biggest acts on the planet in the early to mid 1980s, always on the radio, tv and people always talking about them. Then they just seemed to disappear, it was like they went out of fashion and everybody forgot who they were.

I've just seen that you've done a Dio tribute on 125, really looking forward to reading this, will comment on my next post.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Just want to wish all my friends in the US and in the storm's path a safe transition and minimal structural damage, if any. Keep your heads down and be safe, and we'll see you on the other side guys. You have our prayers and good wishes.

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Trollheart

Pick the most unlikely collaboration you can think of. Go on. I'll wait. Got it? Wrong. This is it. Well, of course it's not: I'm sure there are others as outlandish, and the aim of this section from the beginning has, after all, been to find teamups between artistes who would generally never be expected to be seen working with one another, in some cases where the one would not even know the other existed, let alone be willing to collaborate with them. And we've had some good ones: David Bowie and Pat Metheny. Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page, our very first outing. Then there was Cave and Kylie, Eminem and Elton... the list goes on.

But this one is a bit special. Famed as one of the progenitors of the real “new” or “futuristic” music of the early nineties, one of the first bands to ever appear onstage with computers, making Kraftwerk look like Led Zeppelin, the Art of Noise were a whole new proposition in music. Using tons of samples, Fairlights and sequencers, and creating what a lot of musical purists (myself included, at the time) snorted was “not real music at all”, they made a name for themselves as the ultimate avant-garde band of the eighties, defying musical convention and boldly going where (nearly) no musician had gone before.

So of course, it was only a matter of time before they hooked up with Tom Jones, wasn't it?
Kiss --- The Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones


A legend in music, Tom was approaching his forty-eighth birthday when he teamed up with the young futurists. The song was a Prince one, which had done very well for the diminutive purple one, but when AoN and TJ got together, they made it even more successful, smashing the top ten with the biggest hit single for either act in three years. Utilising their trademark sampling technique, the boys slipped in snippets from their other hits, “Close to the edit” and “Peter Gunn”, as well as “Dragnet”, giving the song new life and direction. The song had been a staple of Jones's stage show for some time, but this was a totally different animal.

It's possibly debatable that had Jones released the song on his own he would have had a hit anyway, but the addition of the Art of Noise and their updated treatment of the song really made it something “the kids” were happy to buy, and they wouldn't feel like they were supporting some old fogey's retirement fund, cos, you know, he's just the guy singin', in't e? It's really an Art of Noise song, and those guys are cool!

Well, they were. This seems to have been their last commercial hurrah, as their next album failed to chart and they more or less faded away after that. Tom Jones? You remember “Sex bomb”, dont'cha? That was as we entered the new millennium, and as recently as 2009 he had a number one hit single again. So who exactly is the old fogey again?

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Janszoon

Nice one TH! Not only do I love the Art of Noise/Tom Jones version of "Kiss" and think it's about a million times better than the original, but believe it or not, I can sing it pretty well so it's my go to track whenever I'm somewhere there's karaoke going on.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Trollheart

WOOOOOO! Yeah, it's the witchin' season again, and true to form, we're looking at songs linked by a theme of, well, Halloween, looking at fear, the state of being afraid or things to scare you. BOO! Sorry...

No, we already did “Don't fear the Reaper” last Halloween, so this time we're kicking off with a power rocker from Uriah Heep, this is “Too scared to run”. BOO! Sorry. Again.


You might not equate the Eagles with being afraid, but on their last album, “Long road out of Eden”, they did tackle the subject somewhat, with “Somebody”. Here it is. BOO! Okay, I'll stop now. BOO! Sorrrrryyy...
(Okay, can't find the original online --- Eagles material is almost as restricted as Supertramp! --- so here's a cover version. These guys do a good job, I must say)

Always a favourite at Halloween, mostly due to its being used in the movie “American werewolf in London”, it's Creedence, with “Bad moon rising”.


Mike Oldfield's seemingly-innocuous instrumental has come to signify some of the most creepy, unsettling images ever due to its being recognised as the theme to “The Exorcist”.


The master (or at least, ex-master) of gore and horror, it's Alice Cooper, with words kids may still be daring each other with as the moon hides behind banks of thick dark clouds and the midnight hour strikes: “This house is haunted”. BOO! (Okay, that's definitely the last one. I promise. Would I lie to you?)


And of course tailormade for this occasion, and recently featured in our “Secret life of the album cover”, here are Iron Maiden.


Another duke of the Dark, Nick Cave sings about someone you would not like to meet tonight, at least not alone. Or at all. Watch out for his “Red right hand”...


One I have to include, though I have featured it before, is the eerie “Creepshow” from prog rockers Twelfth Night. It's long, but definitely worth taking the time to listen to. Sends shivers up yer spine...


Whether it's meant to be or not, I always found this piece by ELO seriously scary, with its weird unearthly cries like the wails of damned souls, the sound of whips and flames, spooky choirs and backwards masking, and as it's called “Fire on high”, always assumed it was a vision of Hell.


Finally, expect these tonight until it gets dark. It's Joe Cocker, with “Night calls”. Hey, you could always turn out the light, pretend you're not home, but then, you don't want to be a spoilsport, do ya? BOO! Okay, okay! I'm going...

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Trollheart

Marillion just opened up the whole world of prog to me. As I said in the review, up to then I had considered prog "yesterday's genre", and didn't think anyone was doing it today --- I only got into Pendragon a few years ago --- so at the time it was super-exciting to me. Yes, they do sound like Genesis, and that comparison dogged them their first few years, especially with the "Grendel/Supper's ready" thing, but I think in albums like "Fugazi" and "Misplaced childhood" they stepped out of the shadow of Genesis. Of course, much of that image was down to Fish, and once he left the band kind of reimagined itself under Hogarth, to the point where they slowly moved away from pretty much anything resembling recognisable prog. I still love them though, and "Script" remains one of my all-time favourite albums.

Marillion also made prog, as such, acceptable to the masses with singles like "Assassing", "Market square heroes", "Punch and Judy" and of course later had big hits with "Kayleigh" and "Lavender", not to mention "Sugar mice".


I could talk Marillion all day, but we must move on...
Yeah, whether intentional or not, I always feel this is the case. All of the major hits for Supertramp were written by, and sung by Roger. If you look at the reverse of his debut solo (also reviewed) you'll see him standing in the middle of a storm naked, with a huge look of relief and freedom about him. Even the opening track, "Had a dream", features a big, deep, throaty shout of release. I don't think that was coincidental, although he says there was no friction with the other guys...
H&O another band I "couldn't afford to like" when I was younger, as they seemed wimpish and disco-y, but now I know better I must track down some of their material. Was surprised and impressed by the solo effort from Daryl though, really quite good.
Look forward to it!

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