Hmmm...haven't really listened to anything different lately, other than:

Earth, Wind, and Fire--Greatest Hits

Depeche Mode--101

Depending on finances, I may fork out for the new Dave Matthews Band CD this weekend. I hear it's much better than the last one.

<b>Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA</b> Still the Boss. "I'm Going Down" is one of my favorite Springsteen songs ever.

What I've heard of "The Rising" is pretty interesting. I may hafta buy it.

im listening to the pogues a lot lately. 'the irish rover' may be my favourite song in the entire world right now.

~james

Four words: Fairytale of New York

:)

i love that song. lyrics follow. :) if you havent heard it, i urge you to find it and give it a listen. both songs mentioned, as well as other great ones are on this cd.

fairytale of new york

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

~james

Lets not forget their version of And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

last track on the disc i linked to. my wife cant stand the guys voice, but i find it strangely compelling. i should note that the lyrics i posted above are for a duet, so thats why some of the lines seem odd.

~james

Notably: the woman singer on "Fairytale of New York" is Kirsty MacColl. A remarkable talent, a wonderful voice. Unfortunately she died in 2000 in a SCUBA diving accident.

I'm listening to some standard fare, but you can't say I'm not keeping it diverse:

Earth, Wind, & Fire--Greatest Hits

Depeche Mode--Exciter: This CD is so underrated...man, it's great.

Jamiroquai--Synkronized

System of a Down--Toxicity: I was listening to this on the El this morning. I felt a strong temptation to sing out loud...and loudly...but resisted the urge. :)

Avril Lavigine - Lets go (I feel really, really dirty but there is a couple of good tracks)

Third Eye Blind - anything (truely love them)

Trainspotting soundtrack 1 & 2

Artist: A3
Track: Ain't Goin' to Goa
Album: Exile on Coldharbour Lane


a little country-acid-house

<b>Avril Lavigne - Let Go</b> - Jag fucked up the title but his heart's in the right place. There are actually more than a couple good tracks - really the only one that's intolerable is "Sk8er Boi". Top cuts are "Too Much To Ask", "Naked", "Things I'll Never Say"... best song on the album is easily "Unwanted" and it really should be the one to end the CD, but oh well. Damn fine song.

<b>Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I</b> - "Coma" is a great long song to help the day go by a bit quicker. "Double Talkin' Jive" is <b>always</b> fun to listen to. "Don't Damn Me" fuckin' rules. The whole album is good.

<b>Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction</b> - What can I say? Great album. Easily one of the best albums from the 80's. "Welcome to the Jungle" is a great track to open the album, "Rocket Queen" is a great one to close it and everything in between fits perfectly. Su-fucking-perb.

<b>Metallica - Load</b> - Man did I hate this when it came out, but it grew on me over the years. There are some genuinely good tracks such as "Bleeding Me", "Mama Said" and "Cure". "2x4" is a great song to listen to when testing your speakers' volume. :)

<b>Metallica - Master of Puppets</b> - I probably consider this to be Metallica's strongest effort. Good metal that doesn't waver in strength. The only song that sorta doesn't fit is "Leper Messiah", but the rest makes up for it by far.

<b>Twista - Adrenaline Rush</b> - Twista is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest rapper. Listen to this CD and you'll understand why. The title track is one of the best raps I have ever heard. Do yourself a favor and buy this (but it <b>is</b> hard to find).

Stuff on the Minidiscs at the moment...
Chemical Brothers - Come With Us
Less Than Jake stuff
The Hives
The Flaming Lips
Telefon Tel Aviv
blah blah blah blah
oh and some Rancid (damn that stuff is fun to sing along to )


My minidisc player is better than any mp3 player I've seen. Cheaper, lighter, better battery life (at least better than anything that can hold 3hrs of good quality or more), and it looks nice and fits in pockets easily.

i got the bbcs dramatization of the lord of the rings for my birthday. not technically music, but i guarantee there wont be anything else in my car stereo until ive heard all 13 hours of this. its done really well. ian holm, who plays bilbo in the movies, provides the voice of frodo on this set, and i especially like the portrayal of gollum.

~james

Minidisc is nice, and I strongly considered it... before realizing how superior the iPod was in many ways.

I like to have a wide variety of music with me at any time. I'm also a professional, which means I need to have a stupid amount of things in my pockets - cell phone, PDA, wallet, keys at the very least. I can't keep them in the same pocket because it's too bulky and things will get scratched. What this means is that I can barely fit in a music player, and I definitely couldn't fit in a bunch of minidiscs. Strike 1.

Even if I could fit a bunch of minidiscs, how many would I need to carry around? That's a lot of extra shit to look after. You can get 3 hours onto your average minidisc. Okay. The music I listen to, that's less than 3 albums. But we'll call it 3. Say I feel like carrying around 10 minidiscs, which I never would - that's 30 "CDs" of music. That's a fair amount, but that's way too much to carry. I can put 200 CDs of music on a 10GB iPod. Strike 2.

It's faster to put music onto my iPod. I can grab a thousand songs from my playlist in the morning, drag them onto my iPod, hop in the shower and by the time I'm toweling off my sack, they're all there. I might not listen to a thousand songs in a day, but it gives me a great variety. iPod is, to me, more convenient than minidisc. Strike 3.

The cost of an iPod is what you pay up front - that's it. No extra batteries, no extra discs. Buy it and you've spent all you will.

The battery life is also quite good. I get 12 hours easy on a charge. You might scoff at that, and you'd be mostly right. I can't change the batteries... but I never need to. I go home, plug it in and an hour later, it's back at 80% capacity. It takes 3 hours to charge fully. You should sleep more than 3 hours a night. So there you go. :)

Minidiscs are pretty cool, but I definitely think that there are some serious advantages to hard drive-base MP3 players. My player of choice is the iPod, but others are similar. If the goal is simply "play music anywhere", it's kind of hard to beat it. It's got good battery life, it's light, it looks good and it fits into pockets easily. :)

David Bowie--Outside: Good CD, but it has two flaws. Number one, it's a bit too ambitious, even for Bowie. Number two, Brian Eno. (Though the two could go hand-in-hand)

PM Dawn--Of the Heart, Of the Soul, and Of the Cross: The Utopian Experience: One of the best hip-hop CDs ever, IMO.

Creed--My Own Prison: I really like this CD, but it seems like they've taken the "Big Rock" sound and just run it into the ground with their last 2 releases.

Depeche Mode--Construction Time Again: Great CD, but "Pipeline" is one of the dumbest songs they have ever created.

My CD player only holds one CD at a time(where have I been, I know!), and I am usually to lazy to change discs. But the three things that have been getting some rotation have been:

Los Lobos: "Kiko", and their new release "Good Morning Aztlan". Both discs are amazing, but Good Morning Aztlan takes the prize. I think that this is one of the best records released in the past few years. And the recording is beyond world class.

Sparklehorse: "It's a Wonderful Life"

The Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack

Oops, damn. Ah well you'd dead on with the tracks.

Fat Boy Slim - Live at brighton beach - best mixed cd i've heard in ages, damn sweet stuff, great to work to.

Ben Folds 5 - all, just good old music.

They Might Be Giants - 88 Lines about 44 Women. Hilarious easy listening.

Disturbed - The Game. DOn't ask me, got it off the promo for a moterbike stunt video that got sent to me, no idea why i like it.

Yo Yo Ma - Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor. One of my fav classical piece.

EDIT: I missed Avril - Losing Grip, start of that song rocks.

Hell yeah! Just got 12 brand spanking new CDs in the mail today...enough listening pleasure to keep me entertained for some time...a few weeks at least.

Watch this space.

And here we go...
 

Miles Davis--Kind of Blue and Love Songs: The first is considered one of the greatest jazz recordings of all time, released in 1959, and remastered 3 years ago. The second is a compilation of 9 Miles songs released 3 years ago by Columbia.

I'm sure many of you have had those moments where you have heard a song before, then sometime later, you finally discover the name of the song and who performed it. This was the case with at least 3 of the songs on Kind of Blue. Now some may have disdain for remastering, b/c it takes away some of the "authenticity." But I have to tell you...Sony has done this CD some serious justice. The quality is so crisp, that it makes me feel like I'm hanging out with Miles and Cannonball Adderly at the studio, smoking a ton of weed and shooting up a ton of smack. ;) I think I understand now why this is considered such a classic.

Incidentally, from what I've seen, all of his releases on Columbia were remastered and re-released 3 years ago. (His association with them spanned 30 years, until the mid-80s.) In addition, there are several newer box sets and compilations (i.e. Sony cashing in on the "rediscovery" of Miles that has been going on since his death 10 years ago). Love Songs is one of these compilations, featuring 9 tracks from various releases...I think the CD title says it all.

Stevie Wonder--Songs in the Key of Life: I am a huge fan of music, and very passionate about it. When I hear a gem that I think everyone else should check out, I promote that sucker big time.

So, if you are a fan of music...i.e. you love all kinds of music and it's nothing for you to bounce from Barry White to George Strait to Strauss to Disturbed...You must buy this CD. Quite frankly, this may be in the top 5 of CDs that I own (out of 408). It's 2 CDs, so it'll run you $20 at Best Buy. Well worth it. I've always known that Stevie Wonder was a prolific songwriter, but this CD is just fucking amazing, particularly disc one.

This one was also remastered, and some tracks were added at the end of disc two. Again, the sound is fantastic. The only real problem I have with this set is that the added songs at the end of disc two don't seem to fit with the rest of the CD. They sound like they're from the early 80s, while Songs in the Key of Life was originally released in 1976.

So, buy it, burn it, whatever...you must buy this CD.

Radiohead--Kid A: Okay, I finally got this, after 2 years. It's good...great, even...although admittedly, I don't like it as much as Amnesiac.

Earth, Wind, & Fire--The Best of...Vol 2: Consisting primarily of their hits from 1976-1982, along with a couple of extra tracks. It's good stuff, but truth be told, you're better off buying their Greatest Hits collection. (Of course, don't get this confused with their Super Hits collection...God, Sony is a whore, period. Once you leave one of their labels, they milk the shit out of you. ;) ) But, if you really dig EWF, get the 2 Best Of CDs, then the box set for shits and grins (I don't have that yet...although...).

What are you talking about? One of my fondest memories is playing Tradewars with that song on. In fact, whenever I hear that song, I think Tradewars.

Well, as I mentioned in that post, Pipeline is just a dumb song. And not only is it on one DM CD, but 2 US DM CDs!

Okay, honestly, it's not that bad. It beats most of the songs on Speak and Spell.

Happy now? :)

Very very cool, before he got all freaky fusiony.

I'm really enjoying Beck's Sea Change. Its mellow and trippy, and also...kind of blue. Paper Tiger is a particularly swell tune.

Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days

RATM - Evil Empire

Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk

I haven't listened to any of his 70s-80s stuff in a while. The last time I listened to Decoy (released in '83), I was unimpressed. I really should give that stuff a second listen. I've had his Blue Note "Best Of" collection for some time now (6 or 7 years), which just reeks cool.

Earth, Wind, & Fire--Best Of...Vol. 1: Primarily from the 1974-1976 era.

Funny story: Rho and I were sitting in a McDonald's in Bethesda, MD one day in 2000, and this McDonald's had an audio system that played music in the restaurant. "Got to Get You Into My Life" by the Beatles was playing.

Rho: "I don't like this version."

Syc: "Huh?"

Rho: "I like the original version of this song better."

Syc: "Who did the original version of the song?" *Syc is pretty sure he knows where this is going, but goes along anyway*

Rho: "Oh, it was Earth, Wind, & Fire."

Syc: "Ummm...hon...this version is by the Beatles...THIS is the original version."

Rho: *surprised* "Oh...well, I like Earth, Wind, & Fire's version better."

Marvin Gaye--Greatest Hits: All the old-school Motown jams

Dave Matthews Band--Under the Table and Dreaming: I can't believe it took me 8 years to get this. Strange...

Barry White--All-Time Greatest Hits: I just read last night that he's incredibly ill and needs a kidney transplant. I hope he pulls through alright...many folks born in the 70s owe their creation to him. ;)

I'm listening to Dave Matthews as well--I love him---have any of you heard John Mayer yet? (this might be a stupid question, I'm sure lots of you have, but I'm just wondering what you guys think of him)

I've only heard "Room for Squares" and one other song. From what I've heard, I dig it.

I haven't bought Busted Stuff yet...maybe in the next couple of months.

Busted Stuff is alright--my favorite song off of that album is 'Grace is Gone'. But you can download it off the internet anyway.

I am also looking forward to Tori Amos' new album. (OMG have I revealed that I am female ugh)

<b>Rammstein - Mutter</b> - Holy Shit-a-mole-y. This is one fucking good album. This is probably the best CD I have bought all year. Top tracks - "Mein Herz Brennt", "Sonne", "Feuer Frei!", "Mutter", "Spieluhr". Jesus is this CD good.

Chamber--You and What Army: A guy I work with played guitar in this local band...apparently they broke up a few years ago. Hardcore metal...not bad.

Groove Salad


Ah, how sweet it is. God bless that old curmudgeon Jesse Helms for helping get my internet radio back on the air.

SomaFM - Groove Salad

I've discovered Cross Canadian Ragweed recently. I hadn't heard of them before, discovered them while using Kazaa. Hopefully can get out and find a CD before I head home for Semester Break.

-OZZY-

The new album is pretty cool but to me will never musically top the first few albums that were engineered the old fashioned way, although very pleasing to the ears just in a different way. Musically, it made me think of limp bizkit (:which I sorta' regret:) and fear factory. You know, with all of the digital additives the school kiddies are eating up these days? I hope that I am not the only one who feels this way, and I am not at all saying that this is not a wonderfull cd or that I regret buying it. I am just so spoiled from even recently enjoying the pioneeringly raw musical themes at the time of it's release, as well as the cleverly written lyrics of the "diary" of a madman.

Miles Davis--Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue, Love Songs, and The Best of...The Capitol/Blue Note Years: I have now picked up some "cool" credibility from fellow co-workers. And since I'm in an isolated office, I can listen to my music louder, without anyone bitching about it.

Ozomatli--Ozomatli: I really can't say enough about this CD. If you like Jurassic 5, you really owe it to yourself to buy or burn this. Chali 2na and Cut Chemist from J5 were in Ozo before J5 blew up a few years ago.

Incidentally, that new J5 CD is some good stuff. Now I just need to buy it.

Has anybody seen my Britney Spears notebook?
 

Not to bitch, but she really is a very sweet and uncompromsingly intelligent young woman who also offers a most objectionable ear and opinion about any otherwise questionable matter at hand. Matter of fact, she is way cooler than I had at first or ever thought to suspect. This investigation is way over. I remember why I wanted her to be in the videos and lip syncing to my asphyxiatedly innebriated vocals as a true life gent who once held a crush upon the stage puppet herself. Justin Timberlake is a lip syncer as well.

"Everyday I write the book"-Elvis Costello".

I'd let Eli Manning be the judge of that.

Whatever that means-
 

I merely invented the MTV godess of sorts, and only after falling short of "manly" ideas. I always sing like a woman after getting royaly stoned and in fact, I used to smoke an ounce a week over ten years ago. I don't regret a single moment to this very day. Cheers!!

: )

<b>The Doors - Strange Days</b> - probably not the best of their main releases, but still definitely very good. All the top tracks are classics. "Love Me Two Times" is one of my all-time top tracks.

Bitchin' Camaro-
 

"love me two times, one's for tommorrow/ and one's 'cause I got aids."-Dead Milkmen's rendition aka "bitchin' camaro". Interesting that us yokies in "L.A." couldn't purchase a door's album, much less an eight track until roughly 1976. It simply wasn't available for whatever reason. Another favorite of mine, as far as psychadelia goes is James Marshall Hendrix:)

Quite a few here...

Depeche Mode--Exciter, The Singles 86>98, and Violator

Stevie Wonder--Songs in the Key of Life: Mainly disc 1

Recoil--Unsound Methods: One of the finest collaborative pieces out there (in terms of vocalists mixing it up with Alan Wilder).

Radiohead--Amnesiac: I really like this CD...it's probably my favorite Radiohead CD. It just seems to flow incredibly well from beginning to end.

Outkast--Big Boi & Dre Present...: Their greatest hits collection. I don't like a whole lot of "mainstream" hip-hop these days, but I love the way these guys do it...it doesn't sound like the same shit over and over.

Ozomatli--Embrace the Chaos: Nice sophomore set.

Lard--Pure Chewing Satisfaction: For those not in the know, it's Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys on vocals, and Ministry as the backing band. This is the record Ministry should have released, instead of Dark Side of the Spoon, or even Filth Pig.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion--Acme: Another record that sounds great from start to finish. You "geezers" that like blues might even like this one. ;)

Charles Mingus--Pithecanthropus Erectus: I've been expanding my jazz horizons lately. Purists don't seem to dig Mingus, but this is some dope shit.

That's cool.
 

I've always loved depeche mode and especially their work on "violator", I can't remember the name of the track they incorporated (by sampling I am sure) the base riff from pink floyd's "pillow of winds" into. I remember it was very nice to get high along with it a whole other way. That was so cool.:)

Re: That's cool.
 

You mean to tell me that you're not taking credit for it? Absurd must your middle name!

Re: Re: That's cool.
 

Um, just saying hello.:)

I will not allow Joe to take credit for anything involving DM...I'm drawing the line. Joe may have been Dave's smack supplier, but that's the only thing he might have done for the band. ;)

Miles Davis--Porgy and Bess: Miles working with Gil Evans...outstanding. One of these days, I'll buy their 6 CD box set issued by Columbia.

Wrong again. I believe I was trying very hard to be modest. But I won't allow others to believe something I know just isn't true. You were right about one thing though (and it never was smack), I always did love getting stoned and singing as a woman or a transy. I have written and produced far more work than you could ever possibly concede to allow yourself to credit me for, based upon what I have read from you lately, and so what because a fact is a fact. There was something about the nature of the birth defect that just kinda' made me wig out more than just slightly and it was the most liberating escape from reality I will never regret. I haven't even thought to try it again since I have been somewhat 'fixed', but I think that I'd love to do it again.:)

No hard feelings, Syc.;)

For those of you who enjoy the live electronic music scene:
Plush's One Year Anniversary!
I love going to these things because I get exposed to music that I would never have seen before, and it's relatively cheap. Anyway, the Frankie Bones, Jack Trash (he's local, and the promoter, which is why no one has probably ever heard of him) are what are making the rounds right now.

HARDCORE REASON #9-
 

Who could have ever forgotten the very name "Abe Froeman"? What about "Afroman", and "only because I was stoned"? mmmmm, nnnnn, ooooh, yeahh.;)

I hear ya' talkin'!:)

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy--self-titled debut: Is swing going through a revival again? I saw Brian Setzer an awful lot during Xmas. Good CD here...their performances in the movie Swingers got me hooked.

OutKast--Big Boi & Dre Present...: I was taking the rental car back to the Airport Friday, and had some time to kill, so I took the long way out there, driving through SW Philadelphia. I'm in a nice car, with "Ain't No Thang" blaring out the speakers, rolling along Lindbergh Blvd., not a care in the world. It was just a perfect moment.

Depeche Mode--The Singles: 81>85 and Some Great Reward

Re:"Big Bad Voodoo Daddy"
 

"Performances", yes. And Setzer's really one hell of a nice guy too. DP:)

The Smiths--Singles: All that talk about "How Soon is Now?" made me break this out. "How Soon is Now?" is arguably one of the greatest songs ever created, both musically and lyrically, but my favorite Smiths song on here is probably "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now." How can you not like the lyric "In my life, why do I smile at people that I'd much rather kick in the eye?"

Prog Rock from the 70's...Genesis, Yes, Floyd...I'm experiencing some pretty tough bouts of nostalgia for my misbegotten youth. What is the perfect soundtrack for a major midlife crisis, anyway?

Whoa, I was just thinking about doing a retrospective on all that stuff. I just pulled out a ton of it as I rip all my CDs for mobile MP3 use, and I realized I'm listening to it on better speakers than I've ever previously had, which means that it's kinda new again.

What program are you using to rip, and what bitrate are you using? I hope something higher than 128!

Smiths, eh? I'll see that and raise you a...

Johnny Marr & The Healers "Boomslang"

With some Placebo "Sleeping With Ghosts" on the side.

I've been lame...haven't listened to much of anything other than Moby's I Like to Score, though I will be adding two new CDs to the collection later tonight.

System of a Down...two from them, actually.

Self-titled: I'm gonna have to give this a few more listens...hard to absorb the first time around.

Steal This Album!: Their "new" release, a collection of unreleased stuff from the past couple of years. However, the whole concept behind its release is interesting.

When you go to buy it, you will notice that there is no front cover and no liner notes. There are four different CD faces...one created by each member of the band. (The one created by guitarist Daron Malakian is, ummm, straight out of grade school.) The back of the case has a song listing and tells you to go to a particular section of SOAD's site for lyrics and CD credits.

So, you go to the site, follow the instructions, and it reads your CD to determine that it is indeed the new CD. Then, it opens up the lyrics and credits section. Weird stuff.