Black Sabbath - Paranoid

YOURZ

Heh, this was the shit when I was a lad.  So bad, in fact, I dared not speak the band's name around my conservative Catholic mother.  Status Quo was fine, AC/DC were okay and even KISS got past her.  But I had to rely on friends copies this classic in order to hear it.  

I remember sitting on the front steps of my mate Mick's place after a long summer afternoon, sharing a sneaky cigarette and listening to music on his Dad's quadraphonic system.  This was one of the LPs we'd listen to then and listening now takes me right back there.  

I love that this record still makes me headbang even though I hardly have the long locks of youth to flay around like I used to do.  It is, without a doubt, my favourite type of metal.  And while there have been so many great bands after them and despite Ozzy parading his tragic family in front of television cameras for the world to see, there will only ever be one Black Sabbath. 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

So, when I was about 15 or so, there was a group of girls I went to school with and we used to get together every couple of weeks to smoke weed.  We'd meet up at Bernie's place, more often than not, because she used to hold for us (plus we were buying the stuff off her brother) and we'd smoke and eat (her mother was the most amazing baker of pies) and play records.  Mostly her brother's records.  So there was Dark Side of the Moon and Kiss and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Then many years later there was a TV show called The Osbournes which both delighted and horrified me.  And now there's re-listening to Paranoid, which made me realise, he had an amazing voice, didn't he?  But apart from War Pigs (nearly eight minutes, that takes balls for an opening number) and Paranoid, I don't really know this album at all.  And it's not really my kind of thing.  But we need this in out collection.  Gives us gravitas, I think.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath but there's a bunch of fan sites, too

Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg

YOURZ

Okay, I'm gonna do my damndest to avoid using any of the cliched descriptions that have been used to describe Wolfmother in the past.  Nope, you won't read that they sound like a cross between Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.  Nor will you see me saying Stockdale takes his vocal cues from a combination of Chris Cornell and Robert Plant, with a little Jack White thrown in the mix.  I won't mention stoner rock, blues rock, Kyuss or Hendrix either.

Now, with all those unmentionables out of the way, lets talk about Cosmic Egg.  Erm...  Well, it rocks like...  ah, nope, can't say that.  They rock out like...  can't say that either.  And Stockdale's voice, well...  Bugger it!

Okay, how about I try it this way.  If you like any of the bands above, in any form, then you will dig Wolfmother.  They are, with a doubt, one of the best revivalist rock bands in the world.  Some of the biggest names in music profess to be fans and they attract an unusal amount of attention from b-list celebrities as well.  But then, I suppose any road to success is a good road.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

I suppose the advent of Wolfmother won't deter any of those boys who want their own version of Led Zeppelin from doing it - but it should.  This is how it should be.

How can I tell?  Because while I was listening to this CD it really didn't matter what volume I used, low or soft, I could clearly hear the lyrics and understand what was being sung, while at the same time enjoying every layer of A-grade rawk accompanying them.  OK, this type of music isn't generally a favourite of mine, but I had no difficulty listening to any of these songs from beginning to end.

It's good music, done well.  Now, will all those other spotty boys trying to do the same thing pay attention?  Probably not.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.wolfmother.com/

Pink Floyd - Echoes

YOURZ 

When we first started this project, I wanted to exclude best of CDs.  Mine argued against it mainly because I couldn't, at the time, come up with a satisfactory reason.  She is a girl who likes to know why, dammit all. (Mine says: I wonder why that is? hee hee)

Well, this CD is the best of reasons.  While the individual tracks are outstanding, their context is completely lost.  And Pink Floyd, for all they're known as, are big on context. Floyd releases weren't just a date, they were an event.  Conceptually one of the most ambitious and successful bands in the world, they continue to delight and inspire generations of fans, like very few others bands can do.

But if I've got to do this review, I'm going to have to talk about my favourite Floyd album.  For most, it's a generational thing.  If you're older, like me, it's Dark Side Of The Moon and if you're younger, not like me, it's The Wall.  But not to be difficult, my favourite is neither of these (although both these albums are in my favourites of all time list).  Mine is Wish You Were Here.

I remember buying the album and playing it non-stop, only pausing to turn it over.  I was living by myself in a single room (at the time I was in the defence services - the less said about that the better).  This music took me to places I'd never been before even though I was straight, sober and very, very green.  I loved this album so much.  I still have that copy even though we don't have a record player.  I will never part with it.

As far as Echoes goes, I will take my lead from Mine.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT and buy the box set

MINE

When the pointy stick landed on this YourZ was a bit surprised to find it in my collection - and I explained it was a radio-industry freebie.  I've mostly ignored this CD because the mere concept of listening to a bunch of Floyd songs NOT in the order they were originally presented - i.e. not on the original albums - seems to me somewhat distasteful.  An opinion I know is shared by the band, whose efforts to stop the single-sale of songs via download has been taking up lots of time in various courts.  I think they won - but who knows?

Anyway, it's kind of strange to listen to Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 when it's not followed by Mother, or to not hear the chinks and chimes of Money following The Great Gig In The Sky.  But what listening to this album made me realise is that I absolutely frakkin' LOVE Pink Floyd.  Me.  The person who turns her nose up at anything remotely prog-rocky in today's music.

Floyd were a large part of my teen years and in fact formed an integral part of my introduction to.... you guessed it... marijuana.  I had a group of friends (Hi Kathy, Joy, Bernie and Cheryl!) and we used to have one afternoon off school each week for sport.  Like we ever raised a sweat.  Anyway our sport consisted of sitting at somebody's house passing the bong, and very often listening to Dark Side Of The Moon.  When we weren't listening to Black Sabbath or Kiss.  Positively stereotypical for the late 70s, don't you think?

But my best Floyd memory is of The Wall and listening to it in the home of a friend (male, not my boyfriend) soon after it was released - late '79.  He put it on the turntable and we lay on his sofa and listened to it.  I think the only thing he said was "Other side?" when side one ended, and all I said was "Yes, please."  I remember walking home afterwards, with the songs reverberating through my head.  So my vote for Echoes shouldn't come as a surprise.

PS I never knew it until we saw a documentary show on the band but Dave Gilmour was a real SORT, wasn't he?  He's aged well, too...

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT and buy the box set

For more information: http://www.pinkfloyd.com/

Audioslave - Audioslave

YOURZ

I had high hopes for Audioslave, both the band and the album, I truly did.  I've been a big fan of Chris Cornell, both as a guitarist and vocalist since his days with the mighty Soundgarden.  (I saw them at the 1994 Big Day Out while standing in the pit between the stage and the audience, thanks to an ex-girlfriend's press pass - hi Leah!).  RATM hasn't had the same impact but I certainly can't deny their appeal.

This self-titled debut has all the bits of both Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine that made both bands something special.  RATM fans would probably disagree with me but Chris' vocals add such a fuckin' huge dimension to the powerhouse trio from Rage, it's hard not to be blown away by the huge sound Audioslave achieve.  At least at the start, anyway.

The reality of what they do, however, is somewhat disappointing.  I wanted it to be more than what it was.  The first few songs teased me into believing it would be.  Cochise is the best song Rage never did and I haven't tired of listening to it.  Show How To Live backs up the promise with brooding intent - Cornell's croon is just superb.  Then Gasoline's groove adds another dimension and had me nearly sold.  But the rest of the album falls over its great, stumbling rock feet and the smash I expected suddenly becomes kind of predictable and, frankly, formulaically boring. (Mine says: what a shock- we agree!)

The best piece of news I've heard in ages is that Soundgarden are getting back together.  Perhaps then Chris can put this behind him and move forward.  As for Audioslave, well, the aforementioned tracks will be making their way on to the iPod but that's about it.   

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

MINE

Does every rock guitarist want to make a Led Zeppelin album?  Really, take a listen to Cochise.  Is that, or is that not, Whole Lotta Love?  A pretty poor version, too.  Quite frankly there's a whole bunch of songs on this album that are either versions of Zep or Black Sabbath or some other shouty-boy music.

I did like Hypnotise, and again this album is well constructed and mixed.  Just boringly derivative for the most part.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.audioslave.com/

Katalyst Presents Dusted - Essential

YOURZ


Welcome to our first compilation review.  In our introductory note way back at the start of this month, we said we'd pick one out of our extensive collection of compilations and review it for your reading pleasure.  For both of us, there was no argument about which compilation we'd pick first.  Katalyst Presents Dusted won hands down. 

So, if you could put together a collection of songs guaranteed to keep a party rockin', who would you put on it?  I think someone must have asked this question of Ashley Anderson, otherwise known as Katalyst, because he has put together quite possibly one of the greatest collections of tracks known to man, deftly mixed together on two discs of pure listening pleasure.  But Dusted is more than a compilation or a mixed tape. Katalyst has seamlessly blended old school, new school and rare grooves into a listing transcending the very idea.

Oh sure, it doesn't have anything approximating hard rock or even medium rock, for that matter, but he does have the original track Eminem sampled to use for My Name Is..., Labi Siffre's I Got The... and some of the world's biggest hip hop luminaries in acts such as A Tribe Called Quest (Check The Rhime), Public Enemy (Burn Hollywood Burn), Wu-Tang Clan (Uzi (Pinky Ring) ) and Run DMC (Down With The King) as well as some classic old school acts like Fred Wesley, The JBs, Roy Ayers, Nina Simone and The Meters.

It's surprising how well this blend of old and new works and this album never fails to inspire and delight.  But it's in his own tracks he really shines, highlighting both his love of hip hop (Let The Music Talk) and funky grooves (Uprock This).  Both are instant classics.

If you've not heard this collection before and you want something 100 percent guaranteed to kick start your party, even if the party is of one, you won't find anything better.  It even makes me wanna dance, something very few recordings can do.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP hit repeat and let 'em dance all night

MINE

Party party party party - this 2-CD album is an essential for an "all back to mine" event.  We saw him - erm "live" - a couple of years ago and he was a-ma-ZING!

As a collection of songs, it works beautifully - from the first strains of California Soul to Run-DMC's Down With the King on CD 2.  My personal favourites are the funky tunes (have I mentioned I like to dance?) especially Cherrystones and I Changed My Mind.

But the rappier and rockier songs work too - showing he's well worth all the gongs he's garnered as a music producer and DJ.  This is the second copy of this album we've owned after the first one walked - and I'm voting for it as one of the CDs I'd buy first if the whole collection vanished tomorrow.  Nothing else to say but...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (invite your best mates over and get the cocktail shaker out)

For more information: http://www.katalystmusic.com.au/

In our collection we also have What's Happening

Fu Manchu - In Search Of

YOURZ

Let's talk about ‘boy’ music, which, according to Mine, is exemplified by Fu Manchu. According to her, ‘boy’ music is big, dumb and loud, the sort of music where the lyrics don’t have much value apart from separating the riffage from the lead breaks. I can’t deny she's pretty much described this Californian quartet perfectly but why she sees this as a bad thing is beyond me.

With 1996’s In Search Of…, Fu Manchu’s manifesto continued to be about the important things in life – skating, fast cars, faster girls and substance-fuelled good times. And the formula must be a good one because they are still at it, having released their tenth studio album, Signs Of Infinite Power, late in 2009.

I was introduced to this band sometime in the mid-90’s. My memories of this period are somewhat hazy but I do remember hanging out at a friend’s place, smoking ridiculous amounts of pot and listening to lots of music, including Fu Manchu. But don’t ask me which album or even which songs. All I remember is stoner rock never sounded better. It still doesn’t.

These days, listening to this music only serves to remind me of how much I’ve forgotten. But man, we had a great time regardless.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP, dude and pass the bong...


MINE

Why bother? That's my first reaction listening to Fu Manchu and it hasn't worn off some days later. I mean, if I wanted to listen to Deep Purple or Black Sabbath circa 1975 or thereabouts, I would.

Not that I would, mind you. I spent entirely too much of the mid-70s listening to those bands because my girlfriends had older brothers who we wanted to hang around with - who wouldn't relinquish stereo rights. So listening to Fu Manchu just made me feel spotty and anxious. And like I wanted a menthol cigarette and to talk on the phone a lot.

But mostly I felt - bored. I mean, why do a bunch of Californian stoner boys want to make music like Thin Lizzy? Their mix is what YourZ calls "lo-fi" and I call "bad" - I can't understand more than about three words in any song because the vocals are buried. No, if I want to hear this sort of music made relevant for the 2000s I'll choose Wolfmother, thank you very much.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT


For more infornation: http://www.fu-manchu.com/

In our collection, we also have The Action Is Go, King Of The Road, Start The Machine and Signs Of Infinite Power

Kate Bush - The Whole Story

MINE

This greatest hits CD misses some of the songs I would have included - but it's damn fine anyway. The Kick Inside and Lionheart were soundtracks to much of my teenage years, and Bush was - and still is - a huge role model for so many women. Not just a singer, a dancer, a songwriter, a musician, amazingly attractive, not a bimbo.... the list goes on. And Wuthering Heights meant so much to me - singing as she did about one of my teenage heroines - Catherine Earnshaw. It finally made sense to be a literature nerd who was into modern dance!

I'd have been happier if the compilation had included Hammer Horror from Lionheart and her duet with Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up. But listening to it has reminded me how classic, and at the same time contemporary her music remains. Samples and covers of her work over the years by artists as varied as Utah Saints and Natalie Cole show how relevant she remains to this day.

And personally - the outfit she wore for the video of Hammer Horror totally informed my dress choice for the end-of-year school dance that year.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


YOURZ

Kate Bush only came to existence in my world from a single, memorable point - the first time I saw the film clip for Babooshka. Oh sure, I remember her first single, the annoyingly catchy Wuthering Heights, but only because it came out around the same time I had to read the book at school. If anything, she saved me from having to read the bloody thing.

At the time, I was more interested in bands like Kiss and Sabbath to pay much more than cursory notice to the woman singing, apart from remembering her prancing around in the moors somewhere. All this changed with Babooshka.

Suddenly, those raging hormones in my 17 year old body stiffened and made it hard for me to even breathe. My hand and I became more than just friends while I took off Kate’s armour again and again and again (well, I was young then).

A number of years later, in my guise as sensitive young man, I cultivated an appreciation of Ms. Bush’s tunes, if only to pursue and conquer a number of more accessible objects of lust. But Ms Bush became one of those creepy commonalities between all the girls I liked and loved, including Mine.

I don’t hate her. How could I hate any one who informed my lust so well. But this is the sort of music that highlights the differences in taste between me and Mine. Viva la difference, I say.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

Click here for more info: http://www.katebush.com/