Posts by Witchwood

    Do you have any of those artists whose work you always like when you hear it, yet you never investigate them any further let alone buy any of their stuff? For me, Ride are an example of that. Today I heard Peace Sign on the radio, I think it's a new one. And as usual I thought, oh I like this, who is it? Ahhhhh, Ride, of course... Leading no doubt to my not doing anything about it until I hear another one I like and think the exact same thing.

    City Boy

    Back in my teens, a couple of friends were going off to see this band I'd never heard of and they played me a couple of their albums. There is a song ("Haymaking Time") off their first album which i absolutely love. I have it as an mp3 in a folder of random songs on my desktop. There was another album of theirs my friends played for me called The Day The Earth Caught Fire which I remember thinking was OK.

    But I've never been compelled to go out and buy any of their albums because I suspect most of their music would fall into the realm of bombastic pop (in the vein or Styx or Kansas) which I don't mind but is not really the kind of music I would listen to a lot.

    ...For the journey that lasted about an hour she kept on raving about how good MK was totally overshadowed Dylan ... She went there to see Dylan but came away being a fan of MK...

    Similar experience when I went to see Eric Clapton when he was touring with Mark Knopfler as his guest second guitarist (1988). At the time, I was a greater fan of Clapton but was more impressed with Knopfler. Decided after that I would begin exploring the music of Dire Straits (didn't have any of their albums at the time).


    And I am a great fan of Dylan and I have most of his albums but the one time I saw him live in concert (1989), it was like watching someone doing a comedic caricature of Dylan as the mumbling, indecipherable performer. Except in this instance, it was the real Bob Dylan. Several times during that show, I recall, he’d be halfway through a song before I recognized what he was actually playing. Still a big fan of his studio recordings but never felt the desire to see him in concert ever again after that.

    While I generally like the album overall, this track is far from being one of my favourites. In fact, I've always found it quite curious reading the contrasting views of other fans regarding this song.

    It has a jarring start, continues with this despondent tone, completely lacking of any melodious hook throughout its course and never rewarding the patient listener with anything I would describe as instrumentally adventurous or interesting.

    I find it underwhelming but not unlistenable which is why it gets a 7 from me.

    Here's another scenario that doesn't really fit the question, but which the question calls to mind: The greatest number of band members, that I know about, who were all in the same two very different bands.


    Four members of Renaissance, from their transitional 1970-1972 period, had all been in The Nashville Teens at different times ...

    Four members of Simon Dupree & The Big Sound (the three Shulman brothers and drummer Martin Smith) were among the six who later formed Gentle Giant.

    Dave Cousins, Dave Lambert and Brian Willoughby of the Strawbs released an album in 2001 entitled Baroque & Roll, largely comprised of acoustic versions of previously released Strawbs songs. They called themselves Acoustic Strawbs and periodically toured under that name, with Willoughby sometimes being replaced by Chas Cronk (who like Willoughby was an on-again, off-again member of the Strawbs).


    Cousins and Willoughby also released a pair of albums as a duo. The first one was released before Willoughby had ever played on a Strawbs album, but the second one was released some years after.


    And then Cousins and Rick Wakeman released a studio album together in 2002 entitled Hummingbird, though Wakeman, a former band member, was obviously long-gone from the Strawbs when that album came out.

    ... it's very much in that category of 'Things I Thought Were Good Because You Know, I Was 14' ...

    I can relate in the sense that The Knife and Man Of Our Times were my favourite tracks from their respective albums when I first heard them. They're now either least or second-least favourites.


    Actually, I find more often than not, my feelings move in the opposite direction where I've grown to appreciate tracks that I didn't care for as a teen.

    "Excuse Me" is one from the Genesis camp that immediately comes to mind.

    I like the soothing melody, the adrenaline rush I get from the driving sounds of the synth bass and the quality of Phil's voice combined with this uplifting instilling message of hope conveyed in the lyrics.

    It's my favourite song on the album.

    And while I prefer the extended live version, I'm not overly put off by the abridged studio version.

    ... But as for a 'rock' album, he's a singer-songwriter now, really, and even if he wanted to I don't think he could write a song like Money For Nothing or Solid Rock these days.

    Admittedly, I initially had preconceived notions about what a Mark Knopfler album should sound like and then quickly discovered he had vastly expanded his musical palette since leaving Dire Straits — just as Peter Gabriel had since leaving Genesis.

    Knopfler is a great storyteller and songs like 5:15 A.M., River Towns, Basil, What It Is and Shangri-La are works of understated beauty.

    I would certainly rate any of those songs with the same vigour as any of my favourites of Dire Straits.

    It was a growing fanaticism for Genesis, learning about the band and a desire to get all their albums that naturally led me to want to check out some of the solo albums of the departed members.


    Peter Gabriel only had two albums out at the time and Scratch was the first solo album I bought followed shortly by Car.


    Then I moved on to Steve Hackett, learned that Phil and Mike played on Voyage and that was an added incentive to get that one first. I really enjoyed Voyage and then got the next two albums. I remember initially having mixed feelings about PDT but I really liked Spectral and thought it was the best of the three (still do).


    It must have been 1980 at the time because not long afterwards I recall seeing Defector in the store for the first time and being intrigued by the title, wondering if it had anything to do with his 'defection' from Genesis.

    tbh..having heard the original so many times , i struggle to hear anyone other than Phil singing it. As mentioned earlier, for me one of his best vocals. Did see Steve play it live and unfortunately Gary's vocal just didn't compare...but just my opinion..

    The studio version with Phil is one of the most enchanting songs ever recorded by any band, IMO.


    Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Steve's performance of this song with Gary on lead vocals. Gary's voice, I thought, had a John Wetton-ish quality to it, which I was totally fine with.

    This one is the most challenging because frequently there are instrumental tracks that I might really enjoy while listening to his albums, and even though I read the liner notes, I just don't seem to remember many song titles, particularly on the PP&Ps.

    But here's a few safe bets that would likely make my Top 10, the first three especially:


    Moonshooter

    Paperchase

    Tibetan Yak Music

    Collections

    Now What Have They Done To My Little Friends