GF music review club

[TheHowieLama]

Well, Opeth was better than I thought it would be.

 

Piano track - nice

Devil track - good opening riff - big Hammond - odd time 2nd riff - god is dead - angular guitary things - there is a nice cool down in this track - then there is another song, well I guess it is the same track but there is no continuity, trying to hit the sing along - not there - decent guitar outro

Classical Guitar Track - like this - almost a vocal hook - then space out ville - nylon comes back and the almost vocal hook - good

Slither -- good riff- big hammond - I get a familiar feel from alot of the close/doubled vocal harmonies - like STP or maybe Alice in Chains - go for baroque at the end lads...

Airy Guitar track - no

Folklore -- like this old school Tull feel for sure - the Ian Anderson effect on vocal - the groove the drumming - good. As has been pointed out - the tune seems to stop halfway through and there is another that starts up, which I dont like as much - but it is one track

Flute thing - tablas - musique concrete attempt - now the piano - riff starts - stops - pianoish - tablas again, flute, new hard riff - none of it feels like the same song - by far the most disjointed effort

Haxprocess -- similarly disjointed but for some reason more enjoyable - I like many of these sections more than the last mess

 

 

 

I might have been out of order here as I listened on the Tube - overall it was pretty good - not something I would have found on my own which is cool. I will echo the sentiment that at times it felt forced, another different section, then another - with nothing (harmony, texture, lyrics) binding them together - the great prog rock of the past told tremendous stories over these types of changes , lyrically this work seems lacking for me.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Thanks for those reviews lads, but I think we've kept the lad waiting long enough...Boss, time for your AOW, whenever you're ready...

[ZonkoVille77]

Heritage - Opeth

 

I initially liked this album very much. Can't argue with the many different styles used, and musicianship is excellent. At first I even liked the fact that a single song could actually sound like 2/3 separate tracks. Eventually, after probably 10 listens I began to get slightly bored, and the 2/3 tracks thing started to grate on me.

 

I think there's a lack of a 'lyrical presence' on the entire record. The only thing that really gripped me and I heard myself hum was the 'God is Dead' line. While I guess this is typically normal on Prog records, it seems a bit more empty than usual on one. In fact there seems to be a fair few 'empty' moments throughout. 

 

Heritage - lovely piano opener. Doesn't prepare you for the rest of the album though. I could imagine Moby taking this and making an Ambient/Techno track out of it.

 

The Devil's Orchard - Some nice riffs. Some great prog keys. I thought the song ended at the 4.30 mark and had to check if it was the same track. Sounds like 2 pieced together. Some excellent guitar playing about the 6 min mark.

 

Slither - It reminds me of something else that I just can't for the life of me put my finger on. Built around a nice riff. Another one that I had to check whether the song had ended. The acoustic guitar part about the 3 min mark is lovely though but doesn't go anywhere. It would have been nice to bring it back full circle with the opening riff played over it perhaps.

 

Nepenthe - Real prog track from the 2.30 mark onwards. Definite Steven Wilson influence here. Bit too sparse though.

 

Haxprocess - take a while to get going but it's excellent when it does. I like the shifting time. Nice acoustic guitar here. But again, fades out too soon and there's too big a gap until the next track.

 

Famine - too much of a slow build up again. Nice riff when it finally opens up. Great drumming here too. Again, sounds like 2/3 tracks joined together. The end riff is too good to last just a fleeting moment.

 

The Lines In My Hand - Best track on the record for me, Clive. Love the drums and bass in this one. It really kicks ass in the last minute or so. Excellent.

 

Folklore - Another good track. The time change is nice when the riff is playing. Yet again, sounds 2/3 songs joined together.

 

Marrow of the Earth - Beautifully melodic. Can't fault it.

 

Pyre - Lovely start to this track. If I had to describe how I think Prog should sound I would choose this track. Bass line is great throughout this. Keys too, and 'hello!'..... vocals and lyrics - very good vocals I may add. Lovely Guitar throughout. One of the strongest tracks on the record.

 

Face in the Snow - I imagined myself in a hotel lobby for the first part of this track, watching some guy in the corner just wanking about on Guitar. Then the 2nd part of the track just never went anywhere.

 

Overall, what I think ruins this is the transition periods from track to track and a lack of strong lyrics throughout. Bit subdued in the end.

5.5/10

[Boss]

My Album of the Week is Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

 

 

Delve into the heartlands of Northern England during Thatchers reign. The sound of the future taking place in a post-Industrial wasteland. A middling punk band pays £400 to record an EP and ends up signed to Factory Records. An emotionally damaged lead singer writes lyrics that perfectly sum up the hopelessness and despair of his life. A young band experiment with brand new musical equipment, courtesy of a drug-addled burgeoning producer who sees himself as the British answer to Phil Spector. The record company, the band and the producer rely on the album being a success. The album fails to chart. 

 

One year later, the singer contacts his friend and fellow musician Genesis P-orridge. He's sobbing down the phone. His friend frantically rings around town trying to get anyone connected to the band to get round to his flat - they all ignore the phone call. Ian Curtis is found hung the next day with a copy of Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot' still playing on the record player. 

 

39 years later, Unknown Pleasures is considered one of the seminal albums in British music history. Posters and stickers adorn every record shop, tweens walk around with the wave form from the front cover printed onto T-Shirts. Endlessly replicated, but very rarely understood. Enjoy. 

 

Youtube link

 

 

Shep, can you do the honours for the Spotify link / playlist? Cheers.

[TheHowieLama]

One of the great musical/graphic works of the last couple decades that cover.

 

 

Do we get into the personalities or just comment on the record? Very little time for Peter tbh.

[Boss]

Do we get into the personalities or just comment on the record? Very little time for Peter tbh.

 

By all means, get into the personalities. As long it's not affecting the objectivity of the review.

[Guest]

Halfway through Opeth's album and it's leaving me torn at the moment. Enjoyment and boredom keep switching sides. Hopefully full review soon...

[Boss]

Heritage by Opeth

 

Heritage  - The album starts with a beautiful sweeping piano intro. It takes me to a castle in Medival England. A great hall with a lone piano playing, a Jacobean fop sitting at the keys.

 

The Devils Orchard - It references the front cover of the album. It seems to be about leading a woman to her vices, corrupting her will and disgarding your faith. I would've liked it to explore the theme more in depth.

 

I Feel The Dark - This song reminds me of Seasons by Chris Cornell but with a guitar riff that sounds like Jose Gonzalez. I really like it. The lyrics conjured a ghosty Medival English town, at night. I've tried to analyse the lyrics here but i'm at a loss. Is it a man and a woman sleeping together and he's going off to war when a greater enemy is coming to take his girl?  

 

Slither - This is about a lie being brought to the light. The girl has betrayed the protagonist. I like the riff but it's far too compressed in the mix. There's no intensity because there's no dynamic range. I like the solo and the outro though.

 

Nepenthe - i like the reverb drenched guitar at the start. It makes way to a bass, shadowed by a sub bass. The layering of the guitars is beautiful. Lyrically it sounds like he's at war but dreaming about his woman - the one he spent his last night with in 'i feel the dark'. Some insanely technical guitar playing on this one, Vai-esque.

 

Haxprocess - A haunted Fender rhodes makes way to a fingerpicked medival guitar. Children laughing. The protaganist is deep in his memories. Love the last verse and the way the bass ushers in the pyschedelic blues guitar outro. The standout track so far.

 

Famine - Love the eerie opening, with the sound of pans being played as drums. The crow like voices and the pitch down demon laughter. The strings create subtle tension in their vibrations. The piano then sits with a distant synth in the background. The riff at the end is powerful.

 

The Line in My Hand - The song gets going in the second verse. It doesn't do anything for me if i'm honest with you.

 

Folklore - Riders on the Storm intro feelings before delving head first into Prog. It jumps around at 100mph. It's similar to that Steve Wilson record in a way. You're like "i like this solo acoustic guitar" and then 3 seconds later it's something else, and then someones shredding a filthy guitar solo in your left ear, while a choir is blasting out of your right.

 

Marrow of the Earth - Class

 

Face in The Snow - Love the lyrics in this one. It sounds like he's been mortally wounded in battle and left in the snow to die. Lost in the memory of a girl, wishing he could come home and see her face again. Best track on the album.

 

It's one of those records that needs to be listened to multiple times to fully digest the lyrical intentions and all the individual musical elements at play here. One gripe was the mixing of the tracks. The producer was far too heavy handed with the compression, which stifled all the dynamics in the aggressive parts and left them feeling flat. I don't know whether Youtube compression is to blame for that as well, but it was too much for my tastes.

[REDTALISKER]

I wondered when or rather if this would happen and finally it comes to pass. I'm pretty sure I have Boss's choice in some sort of form within my collection. My first ever purchase as a manager for Our Price was the Heart and Soul box set way back in, I'm going to say 1997 but don't hold me to it. I'm going to have to also admit that disc 2 of that set gets all the play and while I've have never really checked what is what I don't think this is Unknown Pleasures. That's much more likely be disc 1. Will have a listen to it this evening. 

[cloggypop]

Joy Division are boss. Love Unknown Pleasures myself.

[Boss]

Suicidal Tendencies - The Art of Rebellion

 

Can't Stop - A melodic fingerpicked guitar interplays with a feedbacked guitar in the background, wobbling with vibrato.  The wishy-washy Roger Waters style vocals come in. "And then you make me open my eyes". Boom. The paranoid neurotic vocals start. The guitars are driving the track. The chorus sounds like The Offspring to my ears - you can hear the influence they took from Suicidal Tendencies. Strong opening.

 

Accept my Sacrifice - The guitars on this track are fucking ferocious. Love it. Why is it that the 80's guitar sounds put todays to shame? Anyway, in the words of Joey Diaz "tremendous".

 

Nobody Hears - Okay, I’ve got a big grin on my face now. I'm enjoying this record. Everything about this album is kinetic. It always feels like it's constantly pushing. Everyone's got their lane musically and they hold their lane perfectly.

 

Tap Into The Power -  Fucking hell the guitars on this album, man. The alternate picking on this is making my speakers physically shake. Love the bit where the vocals notch up in pitch. The solo just takes the piss, it sounds like a horse screaming whilst being lit on fire. Outrageous.

 

Monopoly on Sorrow - First acoustic guitar on the record. Not a fan of the chorus effect on it but that was ubiquitous in the 80's. The end is good. "YOUUUU AIN'T GOT A MONOPOLY OF SOOOOORRRRROOOOWWWW".

 

We Call This Mutha Revenge - Wailing Vai-esque guitar intro. I let out an audible "fucks sake" when the guitar riff came in. This album could make you run head first through a brick wall.

 

I Wasn't Meant To Feel This / Asleep At The Wheel - This one is musically very different to the preceding tracks. A weird psychotic intro (and warbling woman’s voice) gives way to a guitar track that's more about open barre chords than palm muted power chords. It's the most poppy track so far. Reminds me of Faith No More. The drummer is brilliant in this.

 

I Gotta Kill Captain Stupid - Okay, we're back to berserker mode. GOT *chug chug chug* TO *chug, chug chug* KILL *chug chug chug* CAPTAIN STUPID. Solo sounds like another horse is on fire, only this time it's running through a field being chased by a monster truck from Mad Max.

 

I'll Hate You Better - This one begins like an opening of a sitcom "In this world without harmony...." then the rhythm guitars come in. The juxtaposition between the poppy verses / pre-chorus and the hard hitting chorus is excellent. One of the more poppy tracks with "I Wasn't Meant To Feel This".

 

Which Way to Free - The bass and drums drive this one. The guitars are a bit scooped for my liking. The guitar tapping on the solo is impressive and the final riff is something Korn clearly took influence from a few decades later for Freak on a Leash.

 

It's Going Down - Another great track. Each of the members yet again, perfectly complimenting each other. Special mention to the guitars at the end which are just ridiculous - they sound like a glitch from a 16 bit video game title screen.

 

Where's The Truth - Okay, there isn't a single weak track on this album. It's quality from start to finish. The chorus is very catchy. The album ends with the lines "Where's the truth? You're lying".

 

This album isn't about mad time signatures or how many different sounds you can cram into one song. The rhythm guitars alternate between furious and furious - with some slight mid range adjustments. The solos all sound the same. The style of the band rarely changes. It's not a concept album. It's a couple of Cholos ripping through their back catalogue with reckless abandon.... and it's brilliant. This is the best Album of the Week pick, for me, so far. 

 

9/10 

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Okay, thanks to Boss for his latest AOW, Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

 

GF Music Collective Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmD81dOULR2dlVx03buDBQ/playlists?view_as=subscriber

 

Unknown Pleasures

 

 

GF Music Collective Spotify playlist : https://open.spotify.com/user/carvalho666/playlist/3k64dON6XvCI1W9GFNH8Gr?si=Vzx3WCK8TEGQF_OglFeMwA

 

Unknown Pleasures Spotify album : https://open.spotify.com/album/0cbpcdI4UySacPh5RCpDfo?si=tAuraRXrRGOKcTxjYWqXog

[Carvalho Diablo]

GF Music Collective Spotify embedded :

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Chuffed that someone really enjoyed my own AOW, Suicidal's Art Of Rebellion, cheers Boss!

 

If you're son inclined I'd heavily recommend that you check out some of ST's other work...

 

 

 

 

..and there's a load of other albums with varying degrees of punkiness / metal edge, but these 3 are probably closest in feel to (the controversial) Art Of Rebellion.

[Carvalho Diablo]

On a more serious note fellas, I might not be around much over the next couple of weeks cos my Ma got rushed into hospital again last night and it's looking pretty serious, so if you could each try and keep our thread bouyant and encourage our less prolific members to drop in a review from time to time then I'd really appreciate you taking some of the responsibility off my shoulders at this time.

 

Regarding Boss' current AOW I am curious, I absolutely fucking loathe Love Will Tear Us Apart so I've always been curious as to why people hold Joy Division in such high regard. Well now it looks as though I'm about to find out.

 

Thanks again lads much appreciated, will see you all kicking around the club soon.

[Mook]

Sorry to hear about your Mum, CD. I hope she's ok.

 

Also excited to see how keeping the thread buoyant whilst listening to Joy Division goes...

[Carvalho Diablo]

Sorry to hear about your Mum, CD. I hope she's ok.

 

Also excited to see how keeping the thread buoyant whilst listening to Joy Division goes...

 

 

Hahaha, yeh good luck with that one!

[ZonkoVille77]

On a more serious note fellas, I might not be around much over the next couple of weeks cos my Ma got rushed into hospital again last night and it's looking pretty serious, so if you could each try and keep our thread bouyant and encourage our less prolific members to drop in a review from time to time then I'd really appreciate you taking some of the responsibility off my shoulders at this time.

 

Regarding Boss' current AOW I am curious, I absolutely fucking loathe Love Will Tear Us Apart so I've always been curious as to why people hold Joy Division in such high regard. Well now it looks as though I'm about to find out.

 

Thanks again lads much appreciated, will see you all kicking around the club soon.

 

Hope she gets well soon, CD.

 

I for one am completely shocked that Bjornebye hasn't contributed since he got his Oasis end away...

[Carvalho Diablo]

Just listened to Skids' AOW Heritage again, what a belting record. The more I listen the more it reveals of itself. Belting album.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Quick note that Howie is next to choose his AOW, due around next Monday, 16th April. We all okay with that?

 

After Howie though and were into the Bermuda Triangle with Chevettehs, Stig, Paul and Winston.

[Guest]

Heritage by Opeth is a really good album. It's so long and some of the songs are of epic proportions which has made it hard for me to put a review up so far. It's seriously good musicianship from members who seem to know exactly what they are doing and how to do it, but most importantly they seem to know exactly how they want their music to sound. 

 

One of the hardest things I think to do in music is to keep changing the tempo of the same song. Biffy Clyro are masters of this, as are Radiohead and Queen were also really good at this and so are this band.

 

It's like I'm listening to a combination of the above bands but perhaps not quite as good as any of them individually but this is certainly no bad thing at all.

 

I'm not able to offer a track by track review for this as it's simply a too complex album for me to do this with but it's been very much enjoyed so far. It's just a bit too long for me to be able to enjoy in one sitting but again this is not necessarily a bad thing, just hard to review per track!

 

8/10!

[Winston Wolf]

I know I've not been on for ages and owe loads of reviews and I'd like to say I'm sorry about that, but I'm not, so fuck you all.

Boss. So. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures is it?

I have to say that I've only heard this album about 1.437 times, give or take and I'll listen to it again just for the sake of protocol.

But I already know it's magnificent.

I've got every release of this album, from the first pressing, to the later pressing, to the Record Store Day pressing on 180 gram vinyl, to the it's Thursday and let's do a barbed wire pressing, to the it was Martin Hannet's Birthday the other week so let's re-release it pressing. Including the limited edition  colured vinyl pressings that will be worth less than you paid for it, shit investment copies.

I'll review it properly later, but have a 10/10 for now.

[ZonkoVille77]

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

 

It's odd that I bring up Moby again within my last few posts on this thread. My first exposure to this album was via Moby who covered New Dawn Fades. A track that I really liked when I first heard it, so I looked up the original and this lead me to Unknown Pleasures.

 

I'll be honest. I struggled to listen to the album, first time around and again now after being selected as an AOW. And it's all because of Ian Curtis' 'singing'. Half of the time he's out of tune and not even singing, just rambling. Baritone? Nope. Monotone more like.

 

I'm sure when this first came out it was seen as somewhat groundbreaking. Musically, it's enjoyable. Bare bones tempos, simplistic rhythms and very little fuss with the arrangements. Great atmospheric effects. Some very good bass lines. Lyrically, it's very bleak but also quite poignant when you consider what eventually happened to Curtis. You can tell that it certainly influenced many of the 80's bands and sounds that were to follow.

 

The crux of it all for me is that it really is such a despairing album. I wouldn't let anyone who is in any way depressed listen to this! Honestly it's just so bleak and not in a good way.

 

Track I most enjoyed was 'She's lost control'. I really like the guitar chord progression on that track. I think I'd prefer all these tracks if they were instrumentals. I'm not going to bother a track by track run down on it. I'm not even going to rate it out of 10 because I just can't.

 

Finally, it bored the shit out of me.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Review

 

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

 

So as I said in an earlier post, I think I've only ever heard Love Will Tear Us Apart by these, and I absolutely fucking hate that song. I know a little about Ian Curtis, the suicidal jobcentre worker. I empathise brother.

 

[presses play]

 

Okay, so Unknown Pleasures starts with the song Disorder and I'm immediately hit by a hideous drum sound, it' super-lowfi and I instantly hate it. Curtis is singing, "I've been waiting for a guy like you to come and take me by the hand". So the lad was gay then or am I totally jumping the shark ?

A nice bass line, especially the dischordant notes. The vocal is earnest, the mix is horrible and frigid, but it sounds of it's time so perhaps not a huge criticism. I'm reminded of Belle and Sebastien. A promising start.

 

I like the bass and guitar intro to Day of The Lords, and how they play off one another. The mix is still horrible. A synth breaks up the gloom, the vocal and drums doing nothing for me. I didn't hate this song though, it has a certain bedroom and basement charm.

 

Candidate fades in with more crushingly reverberating drums. I like the bass riff again but the guitar sounds dreadful and choked. Is that a drum machine with a really nasty sounding snare ?

"There's blood on your fingers, there's blood on my fear." Fuck me this is depressing, have some fun son ffs.

 

Insight. I'm looking forward already to a bright and colourful song, only jet blacks and cold steel greys on display so far, not the greatest colour palette to work from. Again the bass is the star.

"I'm not afraid anymore, I remember." Insight is not my cup of tea.

 

When I was a kid I initally got into music for the fun. A few years later, guitar in hand, then came the imagination and the creativity, but always with the purpose to exhilerate and to make me happy. I accept that different people have different tastes and different reasons for their own personal involvement and what each hopes to give, receive, gain, empart, but how young was this guy at this time ?

I really struggle to connect with something, someone so utterly alien to my sensibilities I'm afraid.

 

The next song is New Dawn Fades and it has easily the best guitar riff yet (maybe the only memorable riff). "A change of scene, a change of style, but no regrets...different colours, different shades." Best song so far easily. Memorable, lighter, some verve and colour. I like it.

The drummer is very stiff, the fills aren't at all fluid, a drum machine ?

 

A snare drum, courtesy of Lars Ulrich's Tuppaware collection, wrestles my attention in She's Lost Control. Fuck me, I feel physically cold listening to this.

Dirty bass is again the best part for me, I can hear the punky descendancies here but this is horrible, a real fucking chore to listen to.

 

Shadowplay is really low-fi, easy to play and would I imagine inspire any grubby kid to pick up a cheap old guitar and write from their bedroom, from the heart. I admire that but I just don't dig the songs here. Another nice riff, one of the better songs I think.

 

Bass guitar is definitely the star of this record, but again Wilderness suffers from far too much reverb making it really hard to make out the vocals. I check Wiki and see that the producer is Martin Hannett, that same tone deaf cunt who ruined Winston's AOW, The Happy Mondays' Bummed.

Hannett's ears must be fucking painted on. Just appalling work.

 

A nice punky guitar riff is refreshing in Interzone, the tambourine is a fucking joke though, adding precisely zero. Interzone is short and very probably far better live.

 

I Remember Nothing. "Violent, violent, his hand rocks the chair, moving reaction then slump in despair." Phew, I can empathise, however I lived to tell the tale.

 

Unknown Pleasures was not for me at all I'm afraid. Curtis' suicide is hardly a surprise at all when listening to and considering this album. I had a hard listen, I mean this is my era, but I wholly failed to connect and identify. [shrug]

[cloggypop]

It's the same producer as that Happy Mondays production that you hated if that helps.

 

I fucking love Unknown Pleasures myself.