Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

[71 dB]

SPOTIFY:

Vangelis - Chariots of Fire (1981)

The first track was familiar to me. I have it on a compilation CD of Olympic music including John Williams' music for Atlanta 1996 Games. I liked the second track "Five Circles" a lot. I was surprised this soundtrack also contains Parry's "Jerusalem" (orc. Harry Rabinowitz). I have the work orchestrated my Elgar. I have not seen this movie, but the soundtrack is very good.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

Jungle, Happy Hardcore, Breakbeat, Hardcore... ...here one sample song:

It's fun to revisit these 30 years old CDs. I hate the World as it is today, so "living in the past" listening to old music is cool. 

TD:

Steve Roach - Structures From Silence

Around 1995 someone gave me a gift certificate to a record store and on a whim I bought a compilation on the Moonshine label. That was a mistake. Music to induce epileptic fits.

But yes, I too basically stopped listening to new music after the turn of the century.

[SimonNZ]

[71 dB]

Around 1995 someone gave me a gift certificate to a record store and on a whim I bought a compilation on the Moonshine label. That was a mistake. Music to induce epileptic fits.

Anything can happen when you buy music on a whim.

But yes, I too basically stopped listening to new music after the turn of the century.

You misunderstood me. I don't have an issue with new music (there's always been good and bad music and when it comes to particularly electronic dance music, early 90s rule.). There's is plenty of 21st Century music I enjoy. 90s music just takes me mentally back to the days when the World just felt better to me (a lot of it might have been due to my ignorance of the problems in the World, but as they say ignorance is bliss).

[ShineyMcShineShine]

Anything can happen when you buy music on a whim.

I think the best purchase I ever made on a whim was the Complete Stax/Volt Singles box.

[71 dB]

I think the best purchase I ever made on a whim was the Complete Stax/Volt Singles box.

In 1993 I bought Autechre CD Incunabula on a whim because the cover art looked so cool. I was blown away by it and Autechre became one of my favorite electronic acts. 

[SimonNZ]

CD1 (of 6)

[steve ridgway]

(Brian) Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets



I'm revisiting the music of 50 years ago, haven't heard some of it for a while.

This is an interesting album produced by a rather avant garde methodology. Eno assembled a group of musicians he felt were musically incompatible, directed them by verbal suggestions, body language and dancing, then did a lot of mixing work on the results. I think it turned out well; one might have expected unlistenable noise to have come out of all this but the songs are actually quite varied and tuneful.

[AnotherSpin]

(Brian) Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets



I'm revisiting the music of 50 years ago, haven't heard some of it for a while.

This is an interesting album produced by a rather avant garde methodology. Eno assembled a group of musicians he felt were musically incompatible, directed them by verbal suggestions, body language and dancing, then did a lot of mixing work on the results. I think it turned out well; one might have expected unlistenable noise to have come out of all this but the songs are actually quite varied and tuneful.

I haven't listened to it since those years either. Back then, I only knew Eno as a member of Roxy Music, and the album didn't seem memorable. It was later that Eno established himself as a proponent of ambient music, and as the producer of some of the most famous albums of the time. Bowie's albums of 70s, collaborations with David Byrne (Remain in Light, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts). Time has passed, ambient music no longer seems interesting, and U2 and the rest of his projects have grown quite tiresome. Maybe I should listen to the Warm Jets again.

[steve ridgway]

Deep Purple: Burn



Another 50 year old album. I hadn't heard this before, having regarded the group at the time as boring heavy rock, but have since found pleasure in the 1960s Deep Purple and Made In Japan. This one however is the standard heavy rock I used to expect, nothing experimental in it although I did find myself admiring the playing and production.

[AnotherSpin]

Deep Purple: Burn



Another 50 year old album. I hadn't heard this before, having regarded the group at the time as boring heavy rock, but have since found pleasure in the 1960s Deep Purple and Made In Japan. This one however is the standard heavy rock I used to expect, nothing experimental in it although I did find myself admiring the playing and production.

In my childhood, I was a big fan of the Burn album... It was probably one of my three favorite albums by the band at the time, along with In Rock and Machine Head. Back then, in early 70s, everyone was divided into two camps: one half put Deep Purple in first place, while the other half worshiped Uriah Heep. All other bands were left behind, even Led Zeppelin. I used to listen to the best songs from these bands on Voice of America broadcasts on shortwave, pressing my ear to the radio set — my parents didn't approve of either the source of the broadcast or the style of music, it was the USSR...

[steve ridgway]

In my childhood, I was a big fan of the Burn album... It was probably one of my three favorite albums by the band at the time, along with In Rock and Machine Head. Back then, in early 70s, everyone was divided into two camps: one half put Deep Purple in first place, while the other half worshiped Uriah Heep. All other bands were left behind, even Led Zeppelin. I used to listen to the best songs from these bands on Voice of America broadcasts on shortwave, pressing my ear to the radio set — my parents didn't approve of either the source of the broadcast or the style of music, it was the USSR...

Interesting. I only really got into music when I was 12, in 1974, listening to the latest pop music on BBC Radio 1 and TV, and found glam rock very exciting. Roxy Music, Sparks, Cockney Rebel, Mott The Hoople, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Sweet. These shows only played the current chart hits and it took years to discover some of the earlier classics.

The BBC are believed to have censored the Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" in 1977 by falsifying the sales chart to claim it never reached the Number 1 spot, thus excusing them from having to play it on radio or TV .

[71 dB]

SPOTIFY:

Vangelis - Antarctica (1983)

I liked this one.

[AnotherSpin]

Interesting. I only really got into music when I was 12, in 1974, listening to the latest pop music on BBC Radio 1 and TV, and found glam rock very exciting. Roxy Music, Sparks, Cockney Rebel, Mott The Hoople, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Sweet. These shows only played the current chart hits and it took years to discover some of the earlier classics.

The BBC are believed to have censored the Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" in 1977 by falsifying the sales chart to claim it never reached the Number 1 spot, thus excusing them from having to play it on radio or TV .

By the mid-70s, I had already transitioned to Yes, Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann Earth Band. Later, Genesis and King Crimson. Glam wasn't particularly popular with us. Neither was punk. For a while, by the late 70s, I listened to BBC World Service on shortwave, they had 20-30 minutes popular music programs, John Peel's, the charts also. Among those who left a deep impression were The Police, The Beat, The Specials, The Clash, Joy Division, Gary Numan, Ultravox, et al.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

Back then, in early 70s, everyone was divided into two camps: one half put Deep Purple in first place, while the other half worshiped Uriah Heep. All other bands were left behind, even Led Zeppelin.

LOL. Everywhere else the two camps were Deep Purple vs. Led Zeppelin. Uriah Heep didn't wasn't even in the running.

[NumberSix]

Eric Clapton: Blues

Disc 2, the live recordings.

[steve ridgway]

By the mid-70s, I had already transitioned to Yes, Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann Earth Band. Later, Genesis and King Crimson. Glam wasn't particularly popular with us. Neither was punk. For a while, by the late 70s, I listened to BBC World Service on shortwave, they had 20-30 minutes popular music programs, John Peel's, the charts also. Among those who left a deep impression were The Police, The Beat, The Specials, The Clash, Joy Division, Gary Numan, Ultravox, et al.

I enjoy things from those prog rock groups but only recently heard a bit of Manfred Mann Earth Band on our internet radio, sounds OK. Still like Joy Division and early Ultravox! with John Foxx - Ha!Ha!Ha! stands out.

Now playing Sparks: Kimono My House. One of my favourites at the time, it still sounds fresh and lively and the lyrics are hilarious .

[AnotherSpin]

I enjoy things from those prog rock groups but only recently heard a bit of Manfred Mann Earth Band on our internet radio, sounds OK. Still like Joy Division and early Ultravox! with John Foxx - Ha!Ha!Ha! stands out.

Now playing Sparks: Kimono My House. One of my favourites at the time, it still sounds fresh and lively and the lyrics are hilarious .

Sparks were quite well-known here. One thing to keep in mind is that most fans of Western popular music in the USSR had a very limited understanding or no understanding at all of the lyrics. People listened to the music without comprehending the words. Of course, in the case of, for example, Yes, it didn't matter at all..

[71 dB]

By the mid-70s, I had already transitioned to Yes, Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann Earth Band. Later, Genesis and King Crimson. Glam wasn't particularly popular with us. Neither was punk. For a while, by the late 70s, I listened to BBC World Service on shortwave, they had 20-30 minutes popular music programs, John Peel's, the charts also. Among those who left a deep impression were The Police, The Beat, The Specials, The Clash, Joy Division, Gary Numan, Ultravox, et al.

By the mid 70s? How did people get into all this music in the 70s, especially in a country like Soviet Union? Didn't they play mostly Russian songs/artists on radio? Didn't they have black lists of western music that is capitalistic propaganda? I didn't listen to radio as a child (I didn't even have one. My father had decent Pioneer hi-fi system with radio, but didn't listen to it. Instead he played his jazz vinyl records). I heard music passively on TV programs and some other places, but almost none of it interested me at all, because I had of course very underdeveloped music taste and a lot of the music I heard was poor quality mainstream music. Maybe 70 % of the music I heard was Finnish music, Finnish artists (e.g. Juice Leskinen).

Was it really possible to buy the albums of these bands in Soviet Union at that time? Hard to believe. How did you hear the music then? Radio? But radio plays only the "hit songs", not entire albums and that can give very wrong picture of an artist. I am exploring Vangelis at the moment and even the "best of" compilation CD I have owned gives very incomplete picture of his art. In 2024 I can actually explore Vangelis thanks to Spotify, but there was no way to do it (without buying the music) just 20 years ago let alone 40 years ago!

I didn't understand how much music has to offer because of most of it being kept "hidden." As I have told many times how I got hooked on music when I discovered acid house in 1988. That's when I realized there is much more interesting music "behind" the "dull" stuff I hear everywhere. It is not all Abba, Kiss, Madonna or A-ha. There is also completely different kind of music genres such as acid house. At this point I was in high-school and I was able to earn some money to buy a SHARP boombox with radio. That opened the World of music for me a little bit. Late 90's changed things a lot. Not only did I get into classical music, but there was the internet. I could surf online and find out what music has to offer! Of course that didn't solve the problem of filtering out the stuff I don't like from the stuff I do like. For me it is very slow process to find music I like. Sometimes years go by without success.

That's why I am surprised how people tell how they had their favorites sorted out before they were 15 years old! I played with Legos as a child! How does anyone even relate to adult rock type of music at young age? You don't even understand the lyrics unless you speak English...  ...how to listen to BBC in Ukraine?!?

[steve ridgway]

That's why I am surprised how people tell how they had their favorites sorted out before they were 15 years old! I played with Legos as a child! How does anyone even relate to adult rock type of music at young age?

It was just pop hits on TV and radio for me, then some of my friends bought (or were given) a few singles and albums. I didn't buy anything myself until Tangerine Dream's Ricochet (on cassette) after the BBC broadcast Live At Coventry Cathedral 1975 (i.e. audio extracts of Ricochet) on TV in October 1976, when I was 14.