What are you listening to?

[Savonarola]

I see both Ray Brown and Dave Holland played bass (different numbers), which seems overkill for this kind of project.  Also, the ubiquitous Ry Cooder appears.

Overkill is a good term for it; for a folk album that's quite a band.

[Syt]

Was looking if any interesting bands are coming to Vienna, and came across this ....

[Syt]

I assume some people here will be familiar with Orphaned Land, an Israeli metal band.

One of their more well known songs is Norra El Norra from 2004:

To quote from https://genius.com/Orphaned-land-norra-el-norra-entering-the-ark-lyrics

The lyrics for "Norra El Norra" derive from the Jewish prayer service for the night beginning Yom Kippur, the Jewish "Day of Atonement". Jewish prayers follow the paradigm of what might in other contexts be called "praise service"; on that most holy of nights, the congregation sing praises to God to "soften Him up" before asking Him to forgive their sins. "Norra" is the Hebrew word for "terrible" or "terror-inspiring", and "El" is a form of God's name. "Norra El Norra" is an appellation that translates to "Most Terrifying God", appropriate for prayers on the night on which Jews believe God passes judgement on them for their behavior the preceding year.

In the context of the "Mabool" album, the characters sing this praise to God as the flood rains begin and they enter the ark, to thank Him for sparing them from obliteration.

There's now a ... well, I guess you'd call it remix? Normally not much into such techno/dance stuff, but somehow it reminded me of early 2000s video game soundtracks a bit, like C&C Generals maybe?

[Josephus]

David Gilmour's newest. On first listen, likely his best solo album

[Savonarola]

I've been reading up on Motown.  When they were starting in the late 50's it was just accepted that everyone was going to work for an automotive company.  Smokey Robinson was planning to be an electrical engineer, but took what we would call a "Gap year" in order to try to make it as a musician; which obviously worked out.  Eddie Holland (of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, and a singer in his own right in the early days) was planning on becoming an accountant.

Also in the early days the British record companies viewed Motown as "Race" music who they thought would have limited appeal in the UK (the only radio station that would play them was a shortwave station) however the companies also recognized the quality of the compositions; so a number of artists recorded Motown covers.  This changed after the Beatles recorded three covers on "With the Beatles" (Money, Please Mr. Postman and You Really Got a Hold on Me) and The Rolling Stones covered "Can I get a Witness."

Interestingly enough, all three Motown songs were cut from the US release of "Meet the Beatles," called "With the Beatles;" (to no great loss.  I don't think the Beatles covered Motown very well.)  The Rolling Stones were much better, "Hitch Hike" and "Just My Imagination" are both fine covers.

[Savonarola]

Listening to some of the old Motown songs, I think it's funny that it's the Marvin Gaye estate that's suing people for copying the feel of a song.  Had that rule been around in the 50s and 60s Motown would have been sued out of existence before Gaye released his first single on the label (I'm Afraid the Masquerade is Over.)

Back in the early days Berry Gordy had a rule that if a record was selling within 100 miles of Detroit, Motown would have its own version.  Sometimes the results are dreadful It by Ron and Bill (Ron White and Smokey Robinson) was their attempt to cash in on "Purple People Eater."  Other times they work out My Beloved by the Satintones is the Motown version of "There Goes my Baby" by the Drifters.  Sometimes they're really blatant rip-offs Blibberin' Blabbin' Blues by Gino Parks is obviously "Yakety-Yak" by the Coasters and Popcorn and the Mohawks' Shimmy Gully is a sped up version of The Hully Gully by the Olympics.  (They did actually get sued for Tomorrow and Always by the Satintones (a rip-off of "Will you Still Love Me Tomorrow" by the Shirelles); but they did copy most of the lyrics as well as the tune.)

Fortunately they eventually quit doing that and developed The Motown Sound, but that would take a long time.

[Admiral Yi]

Two more one hit wonders.

Rock Me Gently by Andy Kim.  Dead ringer for Neil Diamond records an eerily Neil Diamond sounding song.

Don't Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds.  Eerily Elvis sounding.

Then Elvis covers it the day after he hears it.

[Tamas]

Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973)

In most ways a step in the right direction from "Greeting from Asbury Park, NJ."  The band is really starting to gel and developing the sound that would define Springsteen for some time to come.  He's moved away from the folk inspiration from the previous album to a more old time Rock and Roll and R&B sound.  The problem is that the compositions aren't quite there.  There's no duds like "Mary Queen of Arkansas" or "Does this Bus Stop at 83 street?" but, other than "Rosalita", there's no gems either (unpolished though they were, the previous album had "Growin' Up," and "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City" as well as hits for Manfred Mann "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirits in the Night.")

Interestingly, his lyric role model moved from Bob Dylan, to Van Morrison; and he creates a romantic look back at suburban New Jersey the way Van Morrison did for Belfast.

I remember from his autobiography (well worth it in audio book format BTW) that the criticism thst hurt him the most about the first album was people thought he was trying too hard to be Dylan with the over-chiseled lyrics so he consciously moved away from that.

[crazy canuck]

Enjoy

https://open.spotify.com/track/3mm6BqYUdVexVflzjym0wl?si=BZHY4CznST665uYAs-eaBg&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A37i9dQZEVXbgtjPoyDqinF

[Savonarola]

Genesis - Selling England by the Pound (1973)

Allmusic describes this as a melding of the hard rock of their previous album, Foxtrot, with the eccentricity of the albums before that.  I thought then Peter Gabriel got the eccentricity in the divorce, Genesis got the hard rock and the prog must have been sold off to pay for the lawyers.

Knowing what would happen you can sort of hear both sides of Genesis melded together; especially the sole single "I Know what I Like, (In your Closet.)"  Most of the album, though, is much more prog than that.  It works on the strength of the groups musicians and Gabriel's imaginative lyrics; but, in my opinion, they were both better off going towards shorter poppier songs.

[Josephus]

Genesis - Selling England by the Pound (1973)

Allmusic describes this as a melding of the hard rock of their previous album, Foxtrot, with the eccentricity of the albums before that.  I thought then Peter Gabriel got the eccentricity in the divorce, Genesis got the hard rock and the prog must have been sold off to pay for the lawyers.

Knowing what would happen you can sort of hear both sides of Genesis melded together; especially the sole single "I Know what I Like, (In your Closet.)"  Most of the album, though, is much more prog than that.  It works on the strength of the groups musicians and Gabriel's imaginative lyrics; but, in my opinion, they were both better off going towards shorter poppier songs.

One of my fave Genesis albums. Cinema Show is a brilliant piece of music.

[Savonarola]

One of my fave Genesis albums. Cinema Show is a brilliant piece of music.

I thought it might be.  I enjoyed it; but I find it so different from what Genesis and Peter Gabriel would become (and more to the point, what I listened to as a teenager) that it's hard for me to make sense of it.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, that was great.  But next time could you not put the year of the Album.  It is a bit jarring to think about how old I, um I mean, it is.

[Savonarola]

I remember from his autobiography (well worth it in audio book format BTW) that the criticism thst hurt him the most about the first album was people thought he was trying too hard to be Dylan with the over-chiseled lyrics so he consciously moved away from that.

I may check that out.  Moving away from Dylan was definitely the right call for him.  His most dylanesque song "Blinded by the Light" is okay because they really sound like they're enjoying themselves.  I dislike the far more serious Manfred Mann version (even if they are singing about feminine hygiene products.)

[Savonarola]

Herbie Hancock - Headhunters (1973)

I'll always prefer Herbie Hancock the pianist to Herbie Hancock the organist and I'm not a big fan of the whistles on "Watermelon Man;" but "Chameleon" is a great jazz-funk fusion and the other two tracks are pretty good.  I think this is the second largest selling jazz album of all times, (behind "Kind of Blue)," so it's quite a bit more accessible than most jazz-fusion.