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Post by kds on Aug 20, 2021 15:05:45 GMT
Q
Queen. I've gone over their entire catalog in another thread, but I'll select my favorite album of theirs - Queen II. It's heavy with fantasy lyrics, and might even be a pre power metal album, but still has plenty of those Queen hallmarks with melodies and harmonies.
Queensryche are my second pick, and my album is their 1988 concept masterpiece Operation: Mindcrime. I didn't get into this album until my mid 20s, actually not too long before they did Mindcrime II. So, I did have the pleasure of seeing the tour for Mindcrime II where they performed both albums in full. Between performances by Queensryche, and Geoff Tate's band, Operation Mindcrime might be the metal equivalent of Pet Sounds, in that it's probably the album that's been performed front to back more than any other.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 20, 2021 15:18:09 GMT
Hmm. I said Queen the first time around, and I don't know that there's anyone else I really like all that much with a Q. I mean, Robert Quine worked with Lou Reed on a few decent albums in the early '80s, but I don't think it really warrants a call-out as a favorite.
How about a couple Queen songs? I don't mean songs by Queen, but songs with Queen in the title.
One I remember from my early childhood--it came out when I was 8 or so--is Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts." I have very vivid memories of a camping trip, a rare trip in which we had borrowed someone's pop-up camper for a little more convenience along with our tent, so we could access modernity a bit. At night, we would sit at the table in the camper playing a French card game called Mille Bornes (I have no idea whether this was popular? Strange thing for a bunch of rural Minnesotans to be doing to pass the time.) and listening to the radio. Every night, both "Queen of Hearts" and Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night" came on.
As I listen now, it almost sounds like it could've been a Jeff Lynne production. Very Wilburysish, particularly the acoustic guitars. (It was produced by Richard Landis.)
And another is much more recent, the throwback Lemon Twigs's "Queen of My School." Very Big Star. Here is a live-in-studio radio performance.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 21, 2021 14:31:34 GMT
Artist: Jerry Reed - one of the great guitarists!
Songs: "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot", "Guitar Man", and "East Bound And Down" (from Smokey & The Bandit).
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Post by jk on Aug 21, 2021 22:16:39 GMT
My choices for R this time round are two rockin' acts:
The Rockin' Rebels, with one of my all-time favourite instrumentals, "Wild Weekend"...
...and Rockin' Robin Roberts, the unsung hero of "Louie Louie". It was he who for the very first time squeaked "Now let's give it to 'em right now!" in the rock'n'roll version of a song that had begun life as a calypso:
Something needs setting straight here: Six months ago at EH I wrote that the one version to deviate from the 1-2-3, 1-2 riff "is that by Rockin' Robin Roberts and the Wailers, with just two rounds of 1-2-3-4, 1-2 marking the end of the solo". I must have been drunk -- listening to it now, it's clearly 1-2-3-4, 1-2 wherever that riff occurs. (That said, the original by Richard Berry misses off the 4 throughout, Kingsmen style, and Little Bill's pre-Wailers poppy version can't make up its mind.)
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Post by kds on Aug 22, 2021 0:37:56 GMT
R
I'm picking a very popular band that surprising doesn't come up often - The Rolling Stones. I think they have tons of great songs, but not too many great albums. But, I'm going with Let It Bleed. That's a classic.
Second pick is Rush, and I'll go Moving Pictures, a mix of prog, heavy rock, and maybe a dash of new wave.
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Post by carllove on Aug 22, 2021 16:40:41 GMT
I have to pick The Rolling Stones as well. I prefer early Stones to later, so December’s Children (And Everybody’s) is my favorite album of theirs. I can listen to that album all of the way through and enjoy every bit of it. It’s heavy on covers, but dang, they do them so well!
My second pick is the band I’ve seen the most live - R.E.M. and the album is Automatic for the People. Everbody Hurts, Nightswimming and Man on the Moon are all brilliant songs.
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zinczag
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 151
Likes: 90
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Post by zinczag on Aug 22, 2021 17:01:47 GMT
I have to pick The Rolling Stones as well. I prefer early Stones to later, so December’s Children (And Everybody’s) is my favorite album of theirs. I can listen to that album all of the way through and enjoy every bit of it. It’s heavy on covers, but dang, they do them so well! Wow, you really state you like December's Children? Gurrrl. 👍👍 Huge respect! Nobody except me mentioned it as their favorite The RS album. You're so cool❗Yes, they did covers but my favorite ever song by them is "The Singer Not The Song", the original written by Jagger-Richards. It's BEAUTIFUL. I played it many-many times when I played it 1st. Mick sings it beautifully. Beautiful guitars & stuff. Do you like it?✊
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 22, 2021 17:26:44 GMT
Sorry, I've dropped the ball on my second round of Rs. Last time around I went Raspberries and Rubinoos, for some serious power pop.
This time I'll first say Radiohead. I'm not a huge fan, but I do think that from The Bends through Amnesiac, they were really consistently great. One of the few current bands I kept an eye on during the latter half of the '90s and into the early '00s. They drew a lot from the big sounds of U2, but turned them in interesting (and sometimes downright creepy, no pun intended) ways. I still think those four studio albums are fantastic: The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac.
For an under-the-radar second choice, I'll say an obscure Scottish group I only heard of early this year, Randolph's Leap. Fun, funny, really just a good time. Here is their "Serious," from this year's album Spirit Level.
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Post by carllove on Aug 22, 2021 19:11:01 GMT
I have to pick The Rolling Stones as well. I prefer early Stones to later, so December’s Children (And Everybody’s) is my favorite album of theirs. I can listen to that album all of the way through and enjoy every bit of it. It’s heavy on covers, but dang, they do them so well! Wow, you really state you like December's Children? Gurrrl. 👍👍 Huge respect! Nobody except me mentioned it as their favorite The RS album. You're so cool❗Yes, they did covers but my favorite ever song by them is "The Singer Not The Song", the original written by Jagger-Richards. It's BEAUTIFUL. I played it many-many times when I played it 1st. Mick sings it beautifully. Beautiful guitars & stuff. Do you like it?✊ OMG - I LOVE that song! Keith Richard’s vocals are beautiful and a revelation! The guitar parts are lovely as well! I played the heck out of that album when I was in high school. For awhile, due to that album, the Stones were my favorite band. Thanks for the compliment. I like to think I'm cool. I was that chick with the long blond hair who drug Main with the top down in my 67 Camaro convertible listening to an 8 track of Bob Marley and the Wailers Exodus.
My best friend Andrea always told me I had the best taste in music. 🤣 Wish I still had that car though!
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Post by jk on Aug 22, 2021 19:22:59 GMT
I have to pick The Rolling Stones as well. I prefer early Stones to later, so December’s Children (And Everybody’s) is my favorite album of theirs. I can listen to that album all of the way through and enjoy every bit of it. It’s heavy on covers, but dang, they do them so well! My second pick is the band I’ve seen the most live - R.E.M. and the album is Automatic for the People. Everbody Hurts, Nightswimming and Man on the Moon are all brilliant songs. Early Stones for me too. Actually I used to despise them until my * Cheltenham experience* in 2007. I hated Mick Jagger with a vengeance! It was getting (re)acquainted with the incredibly talented if enigmatic Mr Jones that made me reassess them after many decades. Of the later stuff, Exile on Main Street kicks serious @ss. And I recently encountered this stunning live performance of "When The Whip Comes Down": R.E.M. have never really appealed to me (as opposed to not "getting" them). Curiously, the last episode of a UK TV series about gay life in London in the '80s and the first episode of a French TV thriller both featured "Everybody Hurts", to great effect.
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Post by carllove on Aug 22, 2021 19:40:24 GMT
I have to pick The Rolling Stones as well. I prefer early Stones to later, so December’s Children (And Everybody’s) is my favorite album of theirs. I can listen to that album all of the way through and enjoy every bit of it. It’s heavy on covers, but dang, they do them so well! My second pick is the band I’ve seen the most live - R.E.M. and the album is Automatic for the People. Everbody Hurts, Nightswimming and Man on the Moon are all brilliant songs. Early Stones for me too. Actually I used to despise them until my * Cheltenham experience* in 2007. I hated Mick Jagger with a vengeance! It was getting (re)acquainted with the incredibly talented if enigmatic Mr Jones that made me reassess them after many decades. Of the later stuff, Exile on Main Street kicks serious @ss. And I recently encountered this stunning live performance of "When The Whip Comes Down": R.E.M. have never really appealed to me (as opposed to not "getting" them). Curiously, the last episode of a UK TV series about gay life in London in the '80s and the first episode of a French TV thriller both featured "Everybody Hurts", to great effect. Bill Wyman said of Jones, "He formed the band. He chose the members. He named the band. He chose the music we played. He got us gigs. ... he was very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it – highly intelligent – and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away." The way Brian and Keith weaved the guitar parts and leads was unique. I missed that when Mick Taylor replaced him. I still have a fondness for R.E.M. because I started listening to them and saw them almost at their very beginning, when the Chronic Town EP had just been released. Saw them in a fairly small venue at first and then in increasing larger locations. U2 was the same way. It’s fun to see a band that you loved from the start be discovered by the masses. It does take away from the initial intimacy that you had at the beginning though.
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Post by jk on Aug 22, 2021 20:00:51 GMT
Bill Wyman said of Jones, "He formed the band. He chose the members. He named the band. He chose the music we played. He got us gigs. ... he was very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it – highly intelligent – and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away." The way Brian and Keith weaved the guitar parts and leads was unique. I missed that when Mick Taylor replaced him. I still have a fondness for R.E.M. because I started listening to them and saw them almost at their very beginning, when the Chronic Town EP had just been released. Saw them in a fairly small venue at first and then in increasing larger locations. U2 was the same way. It’s fun to see a band that you loved from the start be discovered by the masses. It does take away from the initial intimacy that you had at the beginning though. They say the definitive biography of Jones has still to be written. I read a great book by Graham Rode about Brian's formative years in Cheltenham called Foundation Stone. Ride shared lodgings with Jones and paints a very frank picture of the man. Highly recommended! I had that with Thin Lizzy (1971) and Genesis (1972). Of the two, Genesis were beginning to take off (I saw them at an open-air pollwinners' concert) but Thin Lizzy had just been signed to Decca and were playing to a very small audience.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 22, 2021 20:01:52 GMT
Saw them in a fairly small venue at first and then in increasing larger locations. U2 was the same way. It’s fun to see a band that you loved from the start be discovered by the masses. It does take away from the initial intimacy that you had at the beginning though. That phenomenon is so interesting. I agree with you: it's fun to evangelize your favorites and find a bigger audience receptive ... yet I do also get the "oh, but in the old days..." phenomenon.
Something strange about a certain type of hipster/elitist is they actually seem to dislike their favorites becoming popular! As if they were only good when nobody knew about them.
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Post by carllove on Aug 22, 2021 20:25:36 GMT
Bill Wyman said of Jones, "He formed the band. He chose the members. He named the band. He chose the music we played. He got us gigs. ... he was very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it – highly intelligent – and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away." The way Brian and Keith weaved the guitar parts and leads was unique. I missed that when Mick Taylor replaced him. I still have a fondness for R.E.M. because I started listening to them and saw them almost at their very beginning, when the Chronic Town EP had just been released. Saw them in a fairly small venue at first and then in increasing larger locations. U2 was the same way. It’s fun to see a band that you loved from the start be discovered by the masses. It does take away from the initial intimacy that you had at the beginning though. They say the definitive biography of Jones has still to be written. I read a great book by Graham Rode about Brian's formative years in Cheltenham called Foundation Stone. Ride shared lodgings with Jones and paints a very frank picture of the man. Highly recommended! I had that with Thin Lizzy (1971) and Genesis (1972). Of the two, Genesis were beginning to take off (I saw them at an open-air pollwinners' concert) but Thin Lizzy had just been signed to Decca and were playing to a very small audience. Genesis at the beginning - That must have been magical! I remember seeing pictures of Peter Gabriel in his magnificent costumes in Creem magazine and thinking “I don’t even care what the music sounds like, but I want to see THAT!” Well - the music did not disappoint!
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Post by jk on Aug 22, 2021 20:37:24 GMT
Genesis at the beginning - That must have been magical! I remember seeing pictures of Peter Gabriel in his magnificent costumes in Creem magazine and thinking “I don’t even care what the music sounds like, but I want to see THAT!” Well - the music did not disappoint! It was. I remember Peter vanished at one point. Some minutes later his voice could be heard again and there he was at the back of the stage wearing a dress and a fox's head. What a character! My favourite Genesis album? Selling England by the Pound:
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