This Saturday some rock album essentials will be played once again.
Here are the estimated starting times for the albums (GMT+2):
12:00 Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin II
12:40 Black Sabbath — Paranoid
13:25 Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here
14:10 The Velvet Underground — The Velvet Underground & Nico
15:00 The Beatles — Help!
15:30 Emerson, Lake & Palmer — Brain Salad Surgery
Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Framed
★★☆
The tracks work together pretty well, which makes the album sound quite decent despite of the songs being poor and unchallenging.
Tindersticks – Curtains
★★★
Hypnotic pop. If you want something relaxing to roll on a calm Saturday evening, then you might as well pick this.
David Bowie – Outside
–
Partially unlistened
Tito & Tarantula – Tarantism
★★★☆
Tito & Tarantula’s Angry Cockroaches is a rather nice composition. Other songs tend to have their good and bad moments.
Scorpions – Taken By Force
★★★
The songs are simple, but well performed technically, possessing an “epic” sound slightly lesser to the one of Rainbow. The A-side has good melodies and wailing guitar solos that are a worthy listen. The B-side gets worse.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Solar Fire
★★★★
A delightful listen after all the pop albums that came before this, I must say. The progressive space rock theme and cheesy guitar notes are just what I needed. From Pluto through the Solar Fire…
Partially unlistened due to FIN—USA hockey game.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Nightingales & Bombers
–
Partially unlistened. Please understand, ice hockey is sacred here in Finland.
5–0! Finland wins bronze in the olympics 2014. What a match!
Starcastle — Fountains of Light
★★★★
This album has a more refined sound than their first production. The peak point — the transition from Dawning Of The Day to Silver Winds — is alone enough a reason to give Fountains of Light a listen or two.
Starcastle — Starcastle (album)
★★★☆
A solid prog rock debut album from 1976. This band has an unmistakable Yes sound, which is a good thing.
The album cover art is also very nice.
This is a suggestion week. Next week all the albums will be put to vote. The 10 albums with most votes will be chosen to play on Saturday 22.2. 12pm-18pm.
To suggest an album, write the name of the album as well as the name of the band into the answer box (which follows the word “other”) and press the “vote” button.
The voting has been closed. I received exactly 10 album suggestions (2 of the answers were tests of mine), all of which will be played next Saturday.
Here are the suggestions I received with the estimated starting times (GMT+2):
12:00 Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Framed
12:45 Tindersticks – Curtains
13:45 David Bowie – Outside
15:00 Tito & Tarantula – Tarantism
15:45 Scorpions – Taken By Force
16:25 Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Solar Fire
16:55 Rainbow – Rising
17:30 Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Nightingales & Bombers
18:10 Rush – 2112
Blackfeather – At the mountains of madness — unfortunally can’t be found on Grooveshark, so it won’t be played.
Captain Beefheart – Safe as Milk
★★★
Interesting themes and ideas brought to life. Sometimes a nice, surrealistic setting comes short by returning to the conventional blues rock scheme. An album worth listening to.
Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
★★★★★
By mixing together jazz, blues and a piece of his own soul, Tom Waits has truly found a music niche of his own. Enter it for an ultimate chillout.
The Monks – Black Monk Time
★★★★
A clear “stomping” beat that fuses the whole album works well. Blast off with The Monks!
Os Mutantes – Mutantes
★★★★☆
A Brazilian psychedelic rock jewel, extremely rich with ideas. The Spanish language doesn’t disturb, but on the contrary sounds funny and leads on to a mental equilibrium.
The Mothers of Invention – Freak Out!
–
Partially unlistened
The Godz – Contact High with the Godz
–
Partially unlistened
If I should compare Faust with anything, then it is basically Revolution n.9 taken much further. This record came from another plane, yet is harmonic musically.
David Bowie – “Heroes”
★★★
Beaty and the Beast as well as the ambient tracks on the B-side of the album are nice, but overall the album failed to impress me.
They’ve got an incredible momentum in this live performance.
Blues Creation – Blues Creation
★★★
A quite enjoyable album by this Japanese band. Steppin’ Out is very well performed.
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers – Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton
★★★★☆
Contains many exceptional tracks and the feeling is just right. A definite listening experience.
Ten Years After – Ssssh
★★★★
The groovy and somewhat dire sound of the organ combined with the amazing guitar skills of Alvin Lee won’t leave anyone unsatisfied.
The Animals – Animalism
★★★☆
Eric Burdon sure could sing, and each song makes it very clear to the listener. The band also variates the loudness of the tracks with great succession, which time to time creates a hypnotic, almost magical effect.
Skillful playing and the wholeness of the album leads to an uninterrupted flow of blues.
The Allman Brothers Band – Idlewild South
★★★☆
With its gentle heartland touch, this an album that rocks the background. The real deal comes with the live recording In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and the cover of Hoochie Coochie Man.
George Thorogood and the Destroyers – George Thorogood and the Destroyers
–
partially unlistened
Derek and the Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
★★★☆
My mind is torn apart between the sweet guitar solos and the overall sound, which is often too pop for my taste. However, the album gradually improves towards the end, and is crowned by the masterpiece Layla.
