Topic: The Music Thread

@Voltan Yes we were leaning a lot more into classical music in the 70s, King Crimson were much more interested in jazz than classical imo, though. Still, very astute comparison between Zappa and early 70s British prog in that post, I feel. Some brilliant choices there and I have added all four albums to my Wishlist .I think it was Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth that made me want to take up the electric guitar, on that subject, even though I became a lead guitarist later and he is a rhythm guitarist and songwriter principally. Have you heard any early Iced Earth? Their era with Matt Barlow is probably their best. The solo at the end of this one was also very inspiring at an early age.

And this is probably the best song they have ever produced.

Thoughts?

@TheBrandedSwordsman I even have a picture with Matt Barlow somewhere, we were playing the same festival in 2011
I gotta say I never fully got into Iced Earth though (I do like "Horror Show" a lot) and current developments with Schaffer don't make it easier
Also I saw them again a few years ago (with Stu Block on vocals) and unfortunately found the performance a little boring.

@Voltan Congrats on your photo, Horror Show is an excellent record. Sorry to hear you didn't like performance with Stu Block, but then again, it's hard to compare him to Barlow, anyway, what else have you been listening to recently?

@TheBrandedSwordsman Let's see...
I did listen to the new Liquid Tension Experiment but unfortunately was not impressed. Returning after 20 years but it's not nearly as good as the other 2 albums.
Other than that it's been mostly some Spotify-generated "personal mixes" with the familiar stuff. I didn't have a lot of time to listen to music when I wasn't working - and when I am I don't want it to be too distracting.

Currently waiting for the new Frost* album, coming May 14

@Voltan I'll check out Frost* on Spotify, thanks. Also, "working" does that make you a professional musician or do you do something else for a living?

@TheBrandedSwordsman I'm a software developer actually. I say I'm only able to listen to music while working because I'm either playing games or working on my own music when I'm not

@Voltan Back before Covid and we were actually allowed to go into the computer labs, if I took my headphones out then I could hear about 90 different songs in the background playing at once from people’s headphones while working. It’s interesting that different people listen to different styles of music to concentrate!

@nessisonett Yeah, I know a lot of people who listen to electronic and ambient music for work. I guess it helps to separate them from the surrounding noise while not being too distracting itself.

For me it's really anything from chill piano jazz to occasional extreme death metal, depending on the day

@Voltan Absolutely yeah, I can go from listening to Chopin to Merzbow in the space of one day 😂

@TheBrandedSwordsman

Yeah, huge Zeppelin fan! As for a favorite album, that's tough. I really love them all at different times.

I don't think Robert Plant's voice ever sounded more powerful than it did on the first album, especially in Babe I'm Gonna Leave You. (I can hear it calling me the way it used to...ooOOHHH I CAN HEAR IT CALLING ME BACK HOME!!!) Raw, powerful, awe-inspiring.

Second album was great 'hard' rock, third was more relaxing, soulful and folksy.

Zoso (4) is still maybe my all-time favorite, that or Physical Graffiti. Stairway to Heaven is the only song I've heard over a thousand times and haven't grown sick of. But on 4 you also had Black Dog, When the Levee Breaks, and one of my top 3 Zep songs of all time, The Battle of Evermore.

What came after 4? Houses of the Holy? another varied and fantastic group of songs. Really had a lot of songs that sort of wore a groove in me, liked them better after hearing them a few times than I did initially.

Then Physical Graffiti, double album, double delight. Love this from front to back. After many playthroughs, this is probably my favorite.

And it's weird that they'd follow up my favorite with what's probably my least favorite, Presence. A least favorite Zeppelin album is a lot like a least favorite bj, though, and this still had some fantastic stuff (For your Life, Achilles Last Stand, Nobody's Fault but Mine)

And then what I consider their last album, not counting remasters, greatest hits, etc, In Through the Out Door. In addition to all the great songs that found long life on the radio from this one, I really loved In the Evening. Somehow raw, sad, angry, and triumphant all at once.

What a fantastic group.

Listening to the new Motorpsycho album for the first time now and it’s pretty awesome

@Voltan Was that link meant to be to Kingdom of Oblivion? I looked it up online, it's an interesting album, mixing jazz fusion and metal. What do you reckon of the guitar riffs? As a guitarist, I find them quite interesting myself, all the key changes and whatnot. Fantastic solos lie therein as well. @nessisonett What have you been listening to in your most eclectic taste recently? Got any jazz to recommend? Also what do you think of Tutu and Amandla by Davis?

@Voltan Also, where do you stand on the band Elder's albums from the album Lore to the album Omens? Those are three brilliant prog/psychedelic albums imo. In the vein of Motorpsycho but much better.

@TheBrandedSwordsman yea, that’s a track from Kingdom Of Oblivion

I love Elder’s Reflections of a Floating World - it might be the best album in this style - and I liked Omens too (got the latter on vinyl, probably should look into acquiring the former as well). Somehow I’m not sure I’ve heard Lore so I’ll make sure to fix that tomorrow

@Voltan Yes, Lore is the first in Elder's trilogy of records in a more developed style, what with prog psych elements rather than just doomy stoner rock aka their earlier material.

@Voltan Have you heard of Nerija? A British, mostly female jazz collective, their material is quite impressive.

@TheBrandedSwordsman
You asked a question. I answered. You ignored. Why ask?

@LordSteev I thought your answer was intended to be rhetorical. I'm sorry, thank you for your answer. Just to chip in I will say that I agree with you in the sense that Physical Graffiti is probably their strongest release, but I wouldn't say Presence was the weakest, In Through the Out Door was weaker overall imo, with Jones' keyboard-led compositions taking centre stage over Page's contributions, Page being the principal composer in the band at an earlier point in the band's career.

@Voltan Did you listen to Lore or the Nerija track?

@TheBrandedSwordsman I liked that a lot. I'm adding them to my "things to listen to" list for the near future
I think I've head the name before but not this track for sure.