Hi there BE and welcome to my journal! Thanks so much for posting: it really means a lot. Here are my, er, comments on your comments, as it were... don't know why you thought I might want them wiped, nothing wrong with a single one, and all very well thought out.
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Originally Posted by Big Ears
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.
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I've always been a big Gerry fan, though I'd be lying if I said my interest predated "Baker Street". I heard that and just had to have more. Think I got "Night owl" second hand, but I love that album. It's not perfect, but for a Gerry record it comes pretty damn close. Another great one from him is "North and south", and although I don't totally rate it, "Sleepwalking" has some decent tracks on it, especially the opener and closer. You'll find a review of "Snakes and ladders" a LONG way into my journal, if you get that far, and a tribute to him, too, on the anniversary of his death. What a sad loss to music.
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2. Shadow Gallery - A strong alternative to Dream Theater (or should I say stronger when considering Vanden Plas?).
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The first time I heard SG I was just completely wiped off the face of the Earth. It was "Room V" and I loved it. Got all their albums and, aside from their somewhat shaky debut, love them all. One of my favourite bands in that subgenre, along with Threshold.
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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.
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I used to take great pleasure laughing at my sister's infatuation with Morton Harkett, till I started REALLY listening to their albums. I think I got "Scoundrel days" second hand and cheap and was just amazed by how brilliant it was. I got their next one, "Stay on these roads", but didn't think it was as good. I more or less stopped then, but had a recent resurgence in interest in a-ha and got all their albums. They're not all perfect, but many of them are so much better than generally people give them credit for. I do an in-depth profile on them later in the journal too.
(Have to say, I've never heard of that single: it's not from an album, is it? I don't recognise the title..)
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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.
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Like many of the bands I got into, Ten came about from a recommendation from a then-grey-area-illegal album download website who would provide "if you liked that you may also be interested in these" service, and Ten's album "Far beyond this world" was there. I downloaded, listened, loved it and Ten became another of my favourite bands that, sadly, few people even know of. I wasn't that impressed with their latest though, as you'll see later on...
As for Gary, I loved "Once and future king" (as you surely read) but other albums of his have been VERY hit-and-miss. I wouldn't mind hearing some new material though. The guy can certainly write one hell of a ballad.
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5. Rainbow Rising. Great album - enough said.
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Indeed. Total classic.
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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.
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You definitely should listen to this; it's perfect to relax to.
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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.
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Yeah, the jury's kind of still out on them. Other than the one reviewed I haven't heard much else by them, though I'm impressed by TSO, who have a new album due out soon.
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8. Fish - I can recommend the Credo album.
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This is one I'm not familiar with. I thought I had all Fish's stuff?
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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.
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Yes, I am indeed Irish. Born in, and lived in Dublin all my life.
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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.
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Sure. We'll work out some sort of partnership deal...
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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.
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This I came to understand. It was annoying at first, thinking I'm doing all this work but is anyone reading? Comment, damn you all! Then one day I happened to glance at the "views" count and saw that people obviously WERE reading, just not commenting. Now I don't worry; I know people read what I write. If I get comments that's a bonus now, but I at least know I'm not wasting my time. Plus my journal has been praised in other sections of the forum, so I'm definitely not preaching to an empty church!
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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.
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Yeah I often do that. I like to know what a song means, the ideas behind it, and especially if it's a prog rock one. They're the most interesting of all. I started a section called "More than words" which looks at the meanings of certain songs, and another favourite of mine, Tom Waits, has his own section of something similar, called "The Word according to Waits."
Again, thanks for taking the time to comment, and it's great to see your own journal doing so well. It'll certainly be mentioned in this week's update thread!
TH
10-18-2012, 12:31 PM
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