The Anthill 2.0: Albums, Artists & The Chance To Win A Million Dollars!

Anteater · 02-01-2014, 11:28 PM

Nightwalker (1981)

1. Nightwalker (5:07)
2. Seek And You Will Find (4:40)
3. Put The Weight On My Shoulders (4:45)
4. I Believe (4:11)
5. Santa Rosa (4:12)
6. Living Inside Myself (4:23)
7. Stay With Me (4:43)
8. Sally (She Says The Sweetest Things) (4:29)

And so we come to end of our journey of Gino reviews. The first record he would put into play for the 80's was, ironically enough, also the last album he'd do with any real sonic relationship to the synth-laden jazz rock & balladeering that had been catapulting him up the charts over the last seven years or so. There was little hint here of the New Wave/synth-pop direction that would dominate the remainder of the decade for Gino's approach for his next three albums, but that's all for the better: the songs here are superb, plain and simple: no long suites or serious experimentation to be found, but perhaps moreso than any past recording, Nightwalker is so slick on the uptake it could sell snow cones to Eskimos. It's a "yacht rock" record with some hair on its balls, and that applies to the best of Gino's material in general.

The first half of the album in particular is a series of transitions from strength to strength, starting with the prowling bombast of the title track. It's got some generous keyboard work, some cool quiet/loud dynamics juxtaposed against orchestral elements and a BIGGG groove that culminates into a killer climax at the end, segueing without a hitch into 'Seek And You Will Find' where we get a big fat bassline, lots of snazzy backing vocals and even what sounds like a Stratocaster guitar solo about two minutes in. You just gotta love it when an album opens with not one but TWO great up-tempo numbers in a row right? That's what we got here.

But as fun as that stuff is, I think most people who heard this album back in the day remembered it for having the two best ballads Gino ever wrote in one place: 'Put The Weight On My Shoulders' and 'Living Inside Myself', the latter which cracked #5 on the Top 100 in the U.S. The former is a guitar savvy power ballad with a nifty bridge whilst the latter is a soaring manifesto not too unlike 'I Just Wanna Stop', except better in every single way. Cheesy as these sorts of songs are, the melody always makes or breaks them, and this pair are definite winners.

Some of you may wonder where Nightwalker fits quality-wise in the "perfect six album run" I mentioned back when I started this series, and the answer is "right in the middle". It's rock solid: better than Powerful People, more consistent than Storm At Sunup, and perhaps more balanced musically than The Gist Of The Gemini. At the same time though, it doesn't have a song on it that screams progressive awesome wtf-ness like 'Where Am I Going', 'Brother To Brother' or something like The War Suite. In the same way that A Pauper In Paradise was a distillation and focusing the Gino's pure synth approach, Nightwalker is a distillation of Brother To Brother guitar-led AOR into something even more immediate. The question is, was that a bad thing or a good thing?

For our afro'd artiste, it was the opportunity to move on to new pastures. The commercialized jazz-rock approach had gone as far as it could go, and it was time to shift gears. Unfortunately, Gino's period of transition into New Wave over the following five years coincided with major life changes on the personal end (marriage/kids), as well as all sorts of traumatic experiences and inner turmoil which caused him to renounce his Christian faith and become agnostic...the story of which is quite interesting by the way. Curious? Watch the vids below for the full story.

All that being said, that's the end of my classic review series for Gino Vannelli. I hope ya'll dug it! Keep with me into the future as I tackle video games, real life shenanigans, random album reviews, movies and whatever else I can think up. And, of course, I'm always open to review requests.

Anteater · 02-09-2014, 07:18 PM

Bob Drake – What Day Is It? (1994)

Genre: Freaky Acid Folk, Progressive Rock, Americana, Country
Musical Contemporaries: Thinking Plague, Yes, Tim Buckley, Elliott Smith, Damien Youth

It's not very often in any year nor music "scene" where you get a full on synthesis of good ol' fashioned country, darkly lyrical Appalachian folk and Yes-ish progressive rock... but then again, there's only one Bob Drake: accept no substitutes! A singer/songwriter of extraordinarily darksome talent and vision, he's cut quite the illustrious career for himself since the 1980's and beyond. He's produced Tina Turner, designed B-Movie horror soundscapes for low budget films, and was one of the two primary founding members of legendary avant-rockers Thinking Plague. It's a helluva resume, but merely the tip of the iceberg by the time we come to his 1994 debut. There's really nothing else out there like it, a sentiment even the almighty Pitchfork can agree with me on.

See, this is an independent release in every sense of the word. Major labels wouldn't touch it with a 50-foot pole, but it skirts a little too close to those "uncool" prog bands at times for the trendier indie labels to get behind it either. Drake's an ex-pat living in France, so I have no idea how he originally marketed this material, but I'm certain he had his difficulties.

Don't get me wrong though: this is a brilliant album, and one of the few times where the bizarre, normally inaccessible world of Rock In Opposition aestheticism compromised successfully with something resembling a normal pop/rock sensibility. It helps that there's a VERY high level of novelty value to be found too: if you've ever wanted to hear a Jon Anderson soundalike narrate and encapsulate the dread of your favorite Lovecraftian yarns, you'll get your wish on fun yet sinister songs such as 'Rainy' and 'The House', complete with twangy guitars and plenty of self-aware menace.

However, my favorite moments are when the album divorces itself of the Gothic Americana aesthetic that haunts it and makes deliberate shifts into more psychedelic territory, particularly on B-sides like the percussive 'Going Somewhere' and the spine-tingling 'Death Valley'. That moment near the end where Bob's layered vox intones 'the sun remembers a ritual' is about as disquietingly awesome as anything I've run across in other genres.

Of further note: besides production and singing, Drake handles most of the instrumental work here (including guitars, keyboards, violin, bass and drums). I'm always thoroughly impressed by anyone who can really run with a DIY approach to so-called solo material, but this is really in a class of its own. Makes one think we really can do it all ourselves if the stars are right and the material is up to snuff ya know?

As I mentioned earlier, this album is certainly not for everyone. Hell, I don't even think its for that many people in general. But at the same time, there's so much personality shining through these songs that you can't help but be impressed constantly and consistently. It's a strange, twisted and entertaining journey into truly progressive territory..and I can't recommend it enough to the adventurous among ye.

Anteater · 02-16-2014, 09:44 AM

Five Awesome Movies You Can Watch For Free On YouTube Right Now

1. Suspiria (1977)
Among the greatest "giallo" films (an Italian subgenre of suspense horror) of all time, I've always considered this a masterpiece for anyone looking for a top-notch 70's exercise in dread and atmosphere. Watch this one even if you ignore the rest of my picks.

2. Flight Of The Navigator (1986)
Disney was notorious back in the late 70's and 80's for occasionally cooking up weird films that couldn't make up their minds on what kind of audience they wanted...which means kids and adults alike ended up enjoying them. This 1986 film was an intriguing excursion into heavy sci-fi with some unexpected existentialism thrown into the mix, and it still holds up today.

3. Bicentennial Man (1999)
One of Robin Williams more underrated starring roles. It's second half is a tad sentimental, but the movie remains true in spirit to the Isaac Asimov masterpiece it was based upon. Definitely worth atleast one watch!

4. Night Of The Demons (1988)
Late 80's horror gore-schlock at its best. Unless you hate demons, slasher flicks, etc., this one's a lot of fun for a Friday night when everyone at your house is high, drunk, or a combination of the two.

5. The Hitcher (1986)
A nifty thriller that got panned initially but has grown in esteem over time. It's biggest draw is definitely Rutger Hauer of Blade Runner fame's superb acting, so check it out for that if nothing else.

Unknown Soldier · 02-16-2014, 12:37 PM

These are all great films and indeed you can find all kinds of great stuff (complete films etc) on Youtube.

Anteater · 02-20-2014, 09:52 PM

Genre: Power Pop, Heavy/Progressive Metal, Space Rock

Musical Contemporaries: Anthrax, Soundgarden, Faith No More, King's X, Dream Theater, Hawkwind, Jellyfish, Enuff Z'Nuff

Years Active: 1989 - 2000 (With occasional reunion shows)

As a born and raised anteater/man hybrid from Texas, sometimes I like to remind people that, yes, a lot of great bands have come from my state over the years in all sorts of genres, including the realms of heavy metal. That being said, one particularly exemplary Texan act who emerged in the wake of the early 90's alternative metal/grunge/whatever the fuuck it was music explosion brought on by Pantera and Nirvana were the Galactic Cowboys, a bunch of musical astronauts from Houston who formed out of late 80's prog/glam metal hybrid called The Awful Truth before getting picked up by Geffen Records in 1990. This led to the recording of their amazing self-titled debut album in 1991, which to this day remains one of the best metal albums of the first half of the decade. Ever got a hankerin' for three part vocal harmonies, riffs that will crush your balls to powder, catchy choruses and plenty of general weirdness to boot? That's these guys in a nutshell, and they're pretty goddamn good at what they do whilst still managing to sound fairly unique in the metal landscape. Unfortunately, being unique also means its harder to break out commercially in some respects. Or at the very least, record labels in general seem to really have trouble marketing anything remotely interesting to the sedated masses.

In any case, while these guys never did a bad record, I highly recommend the self-titled (1991) and their "breakout commercial" followup Space In Your Face (1993) for your respective collections. Both albums are absolutely stellar and have been criminally forgotten even by diehard fans of awesome heavy metal, so enlighten yourselves today and hear the glory for yourselves!

Unknown Soldier · 02-21-2014, 02:35 AM

I love this band and I always thought that I was the only person on MB that loved them but now you as well, they just had so much energy and the debut is an absolute classic as well. "The Sea of Tranquillity" hell yer!

I didn't know you were from Texas, I thought you were a New Yorker or something! Well I learn something new everyday

Anteater · 02-21-2014, 12:06 PM

A New Yorker? Get outta town. I'd be in constant fear for my life if I was over there, especially since the Mafia have the cabbies under their thumb.

Anteater · 02-27-2014, 11:16 PM

Sometimes I think the most curious aspect about music on the whole isn't why some songs mean so much to some people...but rather, how it starts to reach into you during that brief period of time in adolescence, that two to five year window where music becomes more than just background noise and you start to build a sonic landscape in your head comprised of the sounds that appeal to you on some instinctual level. Before you know it, your natural inclinations have coalesced and the world seems to become far brighter and more compelling than before. Well, at least that was how it was for me.

While there's nothing special about my musical upbringing, I thought I'd do a couple of posts highlighting the "gateway" bands, artists and songs that helped determine my core foundation as a listener. It's my journal, might as well do it here ya know?

Anyway, we'll start with the obvious: Progressive Rock. I promise I'll pick genres the rest of you care about on the next few posts!

After taking a cursory trip back down memory lane, I determined three particular songs that "converted" me per-se into progressive rock, which I consider the first real "genre" of music I ever fell for. And they are as follows-

Gentle Giant
Nothing At All (1970)

People mostly associate this band with the still-bizarre and completely unique Medieval sound they started pushing into with landmark albums like Octopus (which you should check out anyway), but this little opus from their debut was something I ran across on accident during a movie hunt online back in middle school. Needless to say, I was captivated: it sounds completely unlike any other hard rock song in 1970, yet is obviously a big influence on the direction Led Zeppelin would take as they approached their mid 70's peak. GG's first album tends to get overlooked in general by aficionados of the decade, but for me this song was like cracking open the best aural book ever "written" at the time I discovered it, and it definitely was a big factor in settling me in as a "prog rock" fan.

And speaking of the Zepps...

Led Zeppelin
Achilles Last Stand (1976)

At one point this was probably the longest song on the tiny little IPod I got my 13 year old scrub-paws on at a clearance sale. At this point in my life the very concept of a song longer than 4 minutes was foreign, but this tune changed all that. While Gentle Giant clued me into what "progressive rock" was and why it kicked the living shit out of stuff I heard on Top 40 radio, Achilles Last Stand showed me how could take one hell of a riff and turn it into something absolutely monolithic and immediate despite the length. Once you get suckered into the groove, those ten minutes go by like greased lightning. This was the first "long" song I ever really cut my teeth on, and it also made me a more patient listener in general. Most people need a hook within 5 seconds or they change the station: I could go minutes now letting a song sink in and evaluate it on its own merits, so kudos to Led Zeppelin!

And last but not least...

Camel
Ice (1979)

I got into Camel right as I was starting high school back in '04: ITunes had made it possible by this time to start at point A (like Gentle Giant) and start exploring all the great bands who were associated with initial act's "style", so this one was the latest to the party as far as these three songs go. I ended up cherrypicking a bunch of random cuts from different albums, and 'Ice' just happened to be among them. But without a shadow of a doubt, it singlehandedly turned me on to instrumental music. Not just "progressive" stuff, but other styles of lyric-less exploration as well.

The thing's a helluva piece of work. It's guitarist Andy Latimer's greatest moment, somehow managing to be both soaring & contemplative simultaneously. At the time I first sat down with it, I thought it was like the moon: it looks close enough to touch, but you'll never get within spitting distance of it in your entire life unless you became an astronaut.

These are just a few key tracks in just one genre I like...but they're also a big part of why I love writing about music, listening to new things all the time and even being part of a community like MusicBanter. Some people grow up into perfectly functioning adults and feel mostly indifferent about things like music, but if there was one genre that spared me from that less-than-appealing end result, it was progressive rock.

Next time(s): what got me into heavy metal, jazz and even electronic music and soft rock. Keep your eyes peeled...

Anteater · 03-09-2014, 05:59 PM

Part 2: "Art" Pop & Stuff Like That

Funny thing about progressive rock for me back in middle school: it was also a segue way of sorts into certain pop bands and artists. Odd how things work out like that eh? Of course, that's a pretty wide genre umbrella (since "pop" is just another word for anything remotely accessible and catchy), but seeing as I can still distinctly recall specific songs and artists that my (then) newfound musical curiosity was drawn to like flies to meat, I'll go with the five most prominent....

The Flaming Lips
Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell (2002)

Back when the concept of showing eachother music videos online was incredibly novel and mindblowing, the ginger guy in Algebra who I used to cheat off during math tests showed me a live rendition of this paired with some Neon Genesis Evangelion as an AMV on a computer in the lab during lunch break. Whilst the video in question didn't really go with the song all that well, I was utterly mesmerized. This is classic "spacey" Flaming Lips, and as a 12 year old ignoramus who just discovered albums like Dark Side Of The Moon and such, the fact there were 21st century bands doing great, trippy music was a revelation like you wouldn't believe.

The Alan Parsons Project
Days Are Numbers (The Traveller) (1985)

Next to Queensrÿche, I don't think there's a band or artist more influential or ingrained in me than The Alan Parsons Project. My dad had a "Best Of" collection buried under all the post-grunge and heavy metal vinyl he used to own, and it was pretty much love at first listen. They were my gateway to all kinds of things, including 80's pop music, AOR and a lot of "art" rock such as Electric Light Orchestra and Level 42...and I still don't think anyone ever did the crossover concept-oriented album better than they have. Albums like Tales Of Mystery And Imagination or The Turn Of A Friendly Card set and continue to set the bar high for bands attempting to do catchy, classy & lyrically-interesting rock music, and I love 'em to death.

Tears For Fears
Advice For The Young At Heart (1989)

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who dislikes Tears For Fears no matter who you ask, but along with APP they're pretty much the soundtrack to my adolescence. This song randomly came on the radio one evening back in 2003 after 'Bittersweet Symphony' (The Verve) on a local radio station, but the artist/song weren't announced before or after so I ended up having to do some rudimentary online sleuthing just to find that out. And of course, I ended up listening to great songs off Songs From The Big Chair and The Hurting during my hunt, and the rest is history.

However, there was a downside to finding all this great music so early in my teens: I don't think I'll ever escape the 80's for the rest of my life. Thanks a lot Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith!

Lenny Kravitz
If I Could Fall In Love (2001)

It's so weird: I couldn't give two fucks about this guy as of 2014 and none of his albums do a single thing for me...and yet this song is so damn good for what it is that it continues to haunt me from whatever long-dead stereo system my dad used to blare Lenny (the self-titled album) in between software development projects at the house. Is it that stupidly toe-tapping synth-line in the background, or is it the fact Lenny actually sounds better with his voice being muscled through technology than without? I will never know the real answer, but dis shit be dope mon...and it probably spurred me tangentially into looking for more "electronic" oriented stuff as time went on.

Dan Fogelberg
Heart Hotels (1980)

Exposure to this evil, evil song as a child turned me into a man who absolutely devours and ferociously collects obscure soft-rock records when nobody else is looking. I never asked to be an addict for smoove, smoove 70's and 80's L.A. yacht rock gems, but some monkeys just can't be bribed to disembark from my shoulders. That being said, I love stuff like this, and my current favorite repoitoire of artists in this general style (Ambrosia, Boz Scaggs, Stylus, Steely Dan, etc.) can all be owed to ol' Dan here. Cheers!

Trollheart · 03-10-2014, 11:21 AM

Ant, your taste in music never fails to impress! I'm a huge APP fan as you know, and a total Fogelberg fanboy. Great to meet someone who actually knows who he is; totally underrated talent and a real loss to the music world.

03-10-2014, 11:21 AM	#40 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Ant, your taste in music never fails to impress! I'm a huge APP fan as you know, and a total Fogelberg fanboy. Great to meet someone who actually knows who he is; totally underrated talent and a real loss to the music world. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018