Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

[Mirror Image]

My introduction was Interview, and I still like it. In a Glass House, and Free Hand are most attractive. I heard good things about Octopus and Acquiring the Taste, but both sounded crude to me, not as refined.

The problem I had with Gentle Giant is when they started to refine their sound or streamline it --- everything kind of became so homogenized to the point of predictability. This is why Acquiring the Taste, Three Friends, Octopus and In a Glass House sound so fantastic to my ears. No matter how many times I listen to these albums, the music still surprises me.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

One of my favorite progressive rock bands. Free Hand followed by Interview were really their last "great" albums.

I picked up Free Hand because the YouTube prog-rock guru Pete Pardo ("Sea of Tranquility") said it was their best album to start with, though not necessarily their best album. Well, it certainly worked on me. I do love the medieval and Renaissance sound of some of the songs.

[Mirror Image]

I picked up Free Hand because the YouTube prog-rock guru Pete Pardo ("Sea of Tranquility") said it was their best album to start with, though not necessarily their best album. Well, it certainly worked on me. I do love the medieval and Renaissance sound of some of the songs.

I would say that Free Hand is probably their last truly great album and when I say this, I mean from start to finish. I wouldn't disagree with Pete Pardo when he says Free Hand is a great place to start, but speaking from my own experience, I'm actually thankful that my first exposure to their music was through Octopus, which some classify as "difficult".

I was introduced to them from a guitarist friend of mine who had a cassette tape of Octopus. We were outside one day and he told me to come to his truck as he wanted to play me something. Blasting out of his truck's speakers was The Advent of Panurge and I was completely allured but also a bit disoriented as the music was so strange (or strange to me at that time). I've been a massive fan of their music ever since.

[Todd]

[NumberSix]

Françoise Hardy - Soleil.

Une Reine. Au revoir

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I never knew about the Testament and Lomax albums. Are they good? I tend to like their recordings.

[SimonNZ]

I never knew about the Testament and Lomax albums. Are they good? I tend to like their recordings.

Yes. Very easily recommended. I think the testament selection is compiled from other releases on the label, so may lead to some duplication.

Some Lomax releases require the listener to put on their historians or ethnomusicologists hat, listening which can be "admire rather than love", but that disc plays well start to finish on near mythic characters you'll know from other versions or variations.

[Karl Henning]

Don't know why I've never listened to this before:

Zappa, Trance-Fusion (Live)

Digging Dweezil's solo on "Chunga's Revenge," a chip off the old block.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Une Reine. Au revoir

そう、そのとおり。

[Todd]

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Buckwheat Zydeco: Cryin' in the Streets. A favorite track from Our New Orleans, the superb album released in 2005 as a benefit after Hurricane Katrina.

-Bruce

Don't know that one, but I remember enjoying him perform and have one of his albums.  Will have to give it a listen.

PD

After hearing Audra McDonald in this on Saturday, I found the same song from her January performance at the Kennedy Center. Quite an effective medley, combining Rodgers and Hammerstein's "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" from South Pacific with Sondheim's "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods.

-Bruce

She's an amazing talent.  Hope to listen to your link soon. 

PD

[DavidW]

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Maddy Prior & Tim Hart: Summer Solstice



Obviously, the ideal day to listen to this marvelous traditional folk album.

[brewski]

From May 3 but just uploaded this week, "Berlin Lights," a fun concert with vocalist Ute Lemper and the WDR Funkhausorchester, conducted by Enrico Delamboye.

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

It's a while since I've watched any of Rick Beato's vids, @George ... and I'm not especially drawn to "The real reason why music is getting worse."

[Todd]

[NumberSix]

Bauhaus: Volume One (1979-83)

[Todd]

[SimonNZ]

[brewski]

Gotye: Somebody That I Used to Know (Performed by CDK Company, The Netherlands). Catchy song, inventive choreography.

-Bruce