Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

George · October 23, 2022, 07:33:08 AM

Todd · October 25, 2022, 07:10:27 AM

Debbie Gibson sings Christmas tunes, with duo partners for a couple ditties. Perfectly mediocre.

Todd · October 28, 2022, 07:51:18 AM

Spicy. The inventive and fun instrumentation, high levels of grooviness, and at times discordant lyrics result in the most striking new pop music listening for me since I found Father John Misty. Need to hear me some more Rubblebucket.

Papy Oli · October 28, 2022, 07:59:49 AM

Earlier on today:

Mogwai - Special Moves (Live)

Top Notch. A personal favourite.

Pohjolas Daughter · October 30, 2022, 08:04:58 AM

Finally getting around to listening to my friend's copy of the Cocteau Twins' CD Treasure. Quite interesting! Enjoying the sound world that they are creating.

PD

Todd · November 01, 2022, 07:03:52 AM

Babehoven, Light Moving Time

Todd · November 02, 2022, 07:29:23 AM

71 dB · November 02, 2022, 09:50:41 AM

XL-Recordings: The Third Chapter ∙ Breakbeat House ∙ XLCD-109

71 dB · November 05, 2022, 04:08:26 AM

Roxy Music - Avalon

Produce Like a Pro YT channel did a video about this album. Since this is a group that I know almost nothing about, I listened to the album on Spotify. It is ahead of its time by about 5 years. Very modern production for 1982. The music has a nice nostalgic feel to it. I like it. I'm also planning to check out the other albums. Interesting to hear how much the early stuff differs from this late stuff. Generally I am not into glam rock so I probably dislike it...

...talking about disliking something, the cover art of Roxy Music's albums is among the worst I have seen in a way that it tries to be cool/provoking, but is very much against my taste and does annoy me. I hate the medieval helmet on the cover of Avalon for example and the red "ROXY MUSIC" over the sunset sky looks stupid and cheap. Even the silhuette of the bird looks annoying. I would expect cover art that bad from a third rate Finnish* band operating on near zero budget, not from Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. That said, cover art is just cover art and it is the music that counts.

* Here in the north sunsets really look like that so that kind of aesthetics is quite Finnish and common here. Maybe that's why it looks for banal for me?

Todd · November 05, 2022, 04:24:44 AM

The Car, by Arctic Monkeys (aka, the British version of The Black Keys)

George · November 05, 2022, 05:35:51 PM

71 dB · November 06, 2022, 02:19:23 AM

Roxy Music - Flesh And Blood
Roxy Music - Manifesto

Exploring Roxy Music backwards from Avalon. These two albums pale in comparison to Avalon. The difference in quality is dramatic. Flesh And Blood has got one good song "Oh Yeah!" and "Stronger Through The Years" from Manifesto is nicely funky, but that's it for me...

George · November 06, 2022, 06:08:38 AM

George · November 06, 2022, 07:08:59 AM

This one goes out to my man Andy D!

71 dB · November 06, 2022, 11:51:39 AM

Roxy Music - Siren
Roxy Music - Country Life

Siren is really good! It has also the best (least bad) cover art of the studio albums. Country Life isn't as much to my liking. My current ranking of the last 5 studio albums of Roxy Music:

1. Avalon
2. Siren
3. Manifesto
4. Country Life
5. Flesh And Blood

So far Roxy Music has been much less glam rock-y than I expected. Maybe it is the first three albums then?

Leo K. · November 07, 2022, 07:01:52 AM

Marvelous and love the new mix. A real winner box set.

Todd · November 07, 2022, 07:15:58 AM

A female Nick Drake. That is meant in a positive way.

71 dB · November 07, 2022, 09:17:50 AM

Roxy Music - Stranded
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

Stranded was quite good, especially "side B" meaning the last 4 tracks. I really like "A Song for Europe" for its emotional pathos. For Your Pleasure wasn't as good, but it has one really great track "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", by far the highlight of the album.

Ranking of the albums:

1. Avalon
2. Siren
3. Stranded
4. Manifesto
5. For Your Pleasure
6. Country Life
7. Flesh And Blood

j winter · November 07, 2022, 11:17:17 AM

Quote from: Leo K. on November 07, 2022, 07:01:52 AM

Marvelous and love the new mix. A real winner box set.

Overall I agree it's good, but I'm still on the fence. Remixing Paperback Writer and deciding that it needs *less* of George's guitar seems a bit questionable, for example. But it's one of my top five favorite albums of all time, and at this point I've imprinted so strongly on the original mixes that it's hard to hear it with fresh ears. All the differences stick out to me now; it will take multiple listens for things to settle out a bit.

71 dB · November 08, 2022, 02:09:12 AM

Roxy Music - Roxy Music

The debut was weak in my opinion. Very raw and undevelopped. It felt the most "electronic" and synth-like, but I still didn't care much about it. Roxy Music turned out to be different group than I expected. It is wild to think they are in the Hall of Fame of Rock and Roll. Most of their songs are pretty boring and lacking of musical greatness, but they have moments when they shine too. Very uneven music. My final ranking of the studio albums:

1. Avalon
2. Siren
3. Stranded
4. Manifesto
5. For Your Pleasure
6. Country Life
7. Roxy Music
8. Flesh And Blood

I have just ordered Avalon CD. If that is not enough Roxy Music for me, I might be crazy enough to buy Siren and even Stranded too, but we'll see... ...some people say they only care about the early stuff with Brian Eno, but I didn't feel it that way. Brian Eno is perhaps a visionary, but his music just isn't that interesting in my opinion. He is more about how music is made rather than actually making it. He is a F1 mechanic. He knows the car inside out, but should let real F1 drivers drive.