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Post by Kapitan on Jul 22, 2021 14:56:16 GMT
How about two totally different new releases?
First, from Prince's upcoming Welcome 2 America, completed but not released in 2010, is a nice little summertime, almost power pop-meets-surf (those organs!) kind of song, "Hot Summer."
And from Big Red Machine (feat. Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes and Anais Mitchell), a tune apparently inspired by the Band and the Grateful Dead (though I'd say different than either), "Phoenix."
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 23, 2021 20:45:57 GMT
Finally the release of one I've been anticipating (and hearing in progress as a Patreon supporter) for months. Or years. Robert Harrison (ex-Cotton Mather, Future Clouds & Radar) released his solo debut Watching the Kid Come Back. I love it. If he was best known for that mid-60s Dylan meets Beatles sound in the past, this has a more country-influenced feel to it (though it's still probably best described as rock music).
Check it out! Some favorites of mine are the title track, "Battle Royale," "Cool Water Blue Rain," and "Stella Not Too Late."
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Post by kds on Jul 26, 2021 14:14:43 GMT
Yngwie Malmsteen just released a new album this past Friday, Parabellum.
Much like his idol Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie tends to go through singers pretty quickly. On this album, Yngwie decides to take the leads himself. It wasn't uncommon for him to sing an occasional lead here and there, but singing isn't really his strength. But, this album is most instrumental anyway, so it's sort of a non issue.
Although, with the exception of his first album, I think the best Yngwie albums are the ones that are heavy on songs rather than instrumentals. Especially since so many of his more recent instrumentals tend to invoke Deja Vu (and not the song featuring Joe Lynn Turner on vox), and I feel are even more self indulgent than the ones from the past.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 26, 2021 14:38:57 GMT
My favorite Malmsteen tune, on the contrary, is an instrumental from his album Trilogy: "Trilogy Suite Op. 5." It's one of the better neoclassical rock instrumentals I've heard. I love especially the groove that begins at :39, with a walking bass part that is perfect for the classical idiom, but along with the drums really swings hard. Yngwie, of course, is virtuosic.
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Post by kds on Jul 26, 2021 14:50:43 GMT
My favorite Malmsteen tune, on the contrary, is an instrumental from his album Trilogy: "Trilogy Suite Op. 5." It's one of the better neoclassical rock instrumentals I've heard. I love especially the groove that begins at :39, with a walking bass part that is perfect for the classical idiom, but along with the drums really swings hard. Yngwie, of course, is virtuosic.
And I like a lot of his instrumentals from the early days. The first Rising Force album contains 6/8 instrumentals, and it's one of my favorite of his albums. But, I feel like his recent ones leave a bit to be desired. I feel like he tends to show off more now than he did back then.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2021 18:58:35 GMT
Here is an early review from local critic and longtime Prince-watcher Jon Bream of the new Prince album to be released tomorrow, Welcome 2 America.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 30, 2021 13:36:26 GMT
The (terribly named) Silk Sonic band project of Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars finally released another single. (That's two singles across about six months for an album whose release date has yet to be named.) I know the genre isn't everyone's cup of tea, but this is another great little throwback soul tune, "Skate."
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 30, 2021 14:47:17 GMT
One of my favorite songs from Watching the Kid Come Back (and a pretty nice DIY video), a beautiful country-tinged ballad with a lovely vocal harmony duet.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Aug 3, 2021 17:09:04 GMT
The first song from Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's new album has been released:
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 3, 2021 17:20:40 GMT
I don't have much interest in vocal standards in jazz, so this doesn't excite me or anything.
However, it does raise an occasion where I think it's appropriate to compliment Lady Gaga on her talent. I haven't been a fan of the vast majority of what I've heard from her, including the best (or worst, I suppose) example of her performance-art style when she literally vomited and I think might have been vomited on during a (SXSW?) showcase some years back. No thanks. But she's a talented musician, as I really learned when I heard her decent album Joanne back in '16.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Aug 3, 2021 17:29:11 GMT
I wouldn't have much interest either if not for the circumstances surrounding the album. As you said, Lady Gaga is immensely talented and I enjoyed her work on Joanne and A Star is Born, along with a few other songs here and there. Just that fact that she wants to do an album like this is pretty cool. Then there's Tony Bennett, who was 94-95 while recording the album and sounds great so far, despite suffering from Alzheimer's. I've read it's progressed pretty far at this point. This will almost certainly be his last album, and will officially mark the end of the old crooners from long ago. I'm looking forward to it's release.
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Post by kds on Aug 3, 2021 18:46:10 GMT
I never thought I'd say this ten years ago, but I've grown to appreciate Lady Gaga. That might also be due to the bar for pop stars being lowered in recent years.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 3, 2021 19:03:09 GMT
The first song from Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's new album has been released: Thank you for sharing but I don't care for it. I think Gaga tries to show off when she sings these standards. Yeah, she has a great voice, but I think it's better suited to her original music. Also, I struggle a bit to hear/feel the chemistry between her and Tony. I don't know if it's the age difference or what. Actually, Tony sounds better than I expected for a NEW release. He has not been well for the last couple of years due to Alzheimer's Disease. I wonder if this song and the others are outtakes from a few years ago.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 3, 2021 19:55:27 GMT
A Pitchfork news story on it says "Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded Love for Sale at New York’s Electric Lady Studios. According to a press release, Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease by the time of the sessions. (Bennett’s family publicly revealed the diagnosis in a 2021 interview with AARP The Magazine.)"
So it doesn't exactly detail when the sessions happened, but after his diagnosis anyway.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 6, 2021 11:45:37 GMT
The first new Guns 'n' Roses song in over a decade was released last night. "Absurd" is apparently based on a Chinese Democracy outtake called "Silkworms." Per Pitchfork, it's co-produced by Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo (who co-produced CD) and includes former GnR drummer Brain. No details on who else is on the track or did what.
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