len(songs)

To 5 more years of not not being not :cheers: ...

But trust for fun: Nose Sawyer Red Nose-chetta YYNoZe Noselight The Camera Nose Nose Hunt Vital Nose

...This is just going to turn into Peeps II: The Nasal Passages Which is to say, it's going to fade away under all the clutter :) ...Wait, didn't that happen once already? OneLittleVictory

Fixed

I think there are a few species of Flora and Fauna native to the Hallowed Hall. I expect he's looking round with his explorers hat on right now. I got lost in the swamps of New Guinea searching for the megasquid. http://www.therushfo...60#entry3121583 Clearly not lost enough to fill up notification feeds ;)

My CP/T4E CD: 1. Animate 2. Cut To The Chase 3. Between Sun & Moon 4. Alien Shore 5. Double Agent 6. Leave That Thing Alone 7. Test For Echo 8. Driven 9. Time & Motion 10. Totem 11. Virtuality 12. Resist

I would rather have Ladder than 2112, but if LVS was out I would say no.

There's a great EP hiding somewhere in Counterparts... it's a shame that there's such a quantity of filler clogging it up. I've put about half of CP and half of T4E on a CD, and it's much better than any of their post-HYF releases bar VTR...

Emerson Lake and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery (1973) Jerusalem: 10/15 Toccata: 13/15 Still... You Turn Me On: 11/15 <Benny The Bouncer>: 10/15 Karn Evil 9: *First Impression*: 15/15 Second Impression: 13/15 Third Impression: 13/15 (Average: 12.14) Overall rating: C (Very Good/Great) Hmmm... What to say about Brain Salad Surgery? One of prog's most infamous albums, and certainly ELP's most well-known work... It may not be my favorite ELP album, but it's certainly close. It opens with Jerusalem, a performance of a British hymn that I basically like but find somewhat pointless (especially since they didn't really do anything creative with the arrangement). Next up is Toccata, an adaptation of a Ginastera piece which has a firm hold as my second favorite on the album. It may seem overly "weird" and "experimental" at first, and while those do certainly apply to it I find it immensely enjoyable nonetheless. Next up is Lake's sole composition credit on the album, Still... You Turn Me On, a well-constructed ballad somewhat marred by an out-of-place wah-wah guitar in the chorus (not to mention featuring one of the worst lines EVER in "every day a little sadder, a little madder, someone get me a ladder" among otherwise decent lyrics) but which I still like. After this is the amusing Benny The Bouncer, a continuation of the ELP tradition of shorter, more "lightweight" songs such as Jeremy Bender and The Sheriff. I find it the weakest song on the album personally, but it's still enjoyable and the lyrics are a hoot, so it can stay. Besides, Karn Evil 9 is up next, and while it's not my very favorite ELP song (Tarkus, anyone?), it's certainly "up there". Part 1, or the "First Impression", is easily my favorite, with GREAT playing by Emerson and an energetic vocal performance by Lake, featuring the infamous "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" going into the second half (which was released as a single for whatever reason). The Second Impression is a multi-part Emerson showcase, and while I don't find it as great as the first I enjoy it nonetheless. It doesn't really get boring (to me at least) in its 8 minutes, as Emerson varies his approach enough to keep it interesting, and it is amusing to hear Emerson's sped up voice saying "Daddy, let's go see the carnival!" about two minutes in. Now, the third impression is a bit of an enigma for me: the music is great, perhaps on par with the first part, but the lyrics are somewhat stupid, as they try to tell a sci-fi story but honestly cause me to cringe every time they start going into a "dialogue" between the humans and the computers. Honestly, those lyrics are probably the only reason that Karn Evil 9 is my second favorite (rather than favorite) ELP track, as Tarkus is musically on par with it but the lyrics never really irritate me. However, despite this, I like the piece, and the whole album is easily my second favorite by the band.

Happy birthday Hilda! :cheerleader:

:7up: :cheerleader: Happy birthday, hilda! :cheerleader: :yay: The Eternal Flame must keep on burning... Come back!

"Rochelle him skill"?

:clap:

Best: MP, PeW, CP Worst: VT (duh), CA (double duh), Rush (always thought that the production was overly "raw" without much separation)

Anthem 526, Beneath, Between, and Behind 246, Fly By Night 28 Lakeside Park 32, Fountain of Lamneth 722

Happy anniversary fellow TOST-er :cheers: A half decade? And only 4500 posts? You need to pick up the pace my friend :P

80's Half of the songs sound like that could have been on that one and only stupendous epic masterpiece Hemispheres. So, I would say it is an half and half album - half seventies/half eighties. That's actually probably closer to how I feel, but that wasn't an option ;)

80's

Yes - Magnification (2001) *Magnification*: 13/15 Spirit Of Survival: 11/15 Don't Go: 12/15 Give Love Each Day: 13/15 Can You Imagine?: 11/15 We Agree: 12/15 <Soft As A Dove>: 6/15 Dreamtime: 13/15 In The Presence Of: 10/15 Time Is Time: 10/15 Overall rating: B (Very Good) The second album of Yes's "comeback" period is also the second to utilize a full orchestra, after Time And A Word, and to be honest I was not thrilled about this, mostly because, on Time And A Word, the orchestra (for the most part) replaced the guitar and keys rather than augmenting them, which drowned out Banks's and Kaye's parts and muddled up the sound considerably. However, they do not fall into this trap here, and the orchestra is fully integrated into the arrangements, often taking precendence over the band but just as often acting as texture to support the "main" instruments. It also doesn't hurt that the songwriting is at a high, too; one song on here, Soft As A Dove, is "mediocre" or worse (though to be fair it is pretty awful), and only two others fail to reach "very good", one of them a pleasant but somewhat aimless "epic" track (In The Presence Of) and one of which is the good, but slightly pointless-seeming two minute closer "Time Is Time" (though it was GREAT as part of their acoustic set). As for the rest of the tracks: Magnification is a GREAT opener and probably the best song on the album, with a short "band" opening before the orchestra comes in for the verse, going into a neat "skipping" bassline and eventually coming to the wonderful "Magnification" chorus. The song eventually progresses to a huge "wall of sound", with a bunch of guitars piled on (and a banjo for some reason) until Day In The Life-style orchestrations come in to take us to the next track... Spirit Of Survival, segueing out of Magnification, does bear some slight resemblance to the (absolutely awful) Big Generator title track, but it manages to be magnitudes better than that pile of crap due to the intense verses (with lyrics about careless youth driving) and the bombastic, almost James Bond-like orchestrations that come in from time to time. Don't Go is a song which I dismissed at first as "pop crap", but which I have come to REALLY like, particularly the main guitar line (which isn't doing anything that interesting but which nonetheless manages to get caught in my head regularly) and the megaphone bridge Give Love Each Day is simply great, with an orchestral opening that may seem tacked-on at first but which does provide some interesting "context" for the rest of the song, which happens to absolutely RULE. The verses work wonderfully, with the orchestra providing the "base" while the band chimes in at just the right times, while the soaring chorus provides interesting contrast (which is not to say that that is the only good thing about it) We Agree has a great acoustic foundation and lyrics about refugees... unusually dark for Anderson, isn't it . My only real complaint is that they don't revisit or develop some of the different sections enough, but the song still rules regardless. Dreamline is the better of the two "epic" tracks on here, and incidentally my second favorite song on the album, with energetic orchestrations interacting with the "band" playing. In theory I should be annoyed by the occasional references to On The Silent Wings Of The Freedom, since I don't like that track much at all, but they never really seem forced, so it's OK. My favorite part is probably the percussion (marimba?) below the verse parts ("Take me up..."), but really it all rules, so why bother picking a "favorite part"? There is just enough to annoy me on this album to keep it from a higher grade, but for a band this late into their recording career a B is pretty good (the only other example I can think of is Rush with Vapor Trails Remixed, though I'd probably call it an A now), so what can I say but "If you like Yes, buy this album today"?

There's a full review at the rating thread, but here are just my ratings: Rush - Counterparts (1993) *Animate*: 14/15 Stick It Out: 7/15 Cut To The Chase: 11/15 Nobody's Hero: 8/15 Between Sun & Moon: 12/15 Alien Shore: 11/15 <The Speed Of Love>: 3/15 Double Agent: 10/15 Leave That Thing Alone: 12/15 Cold Fire: 5/15 Everyday Glory: 6/15 Overall rating: 7 (Mediocre/Good)

Rush - Counterparts (1993) *Animate*: 14/15 Stick It Out: 7/15 Cut To The Chase: 11/15 Nobody's Hero: 8/15 Between Sun & Moon: 12/15 Alien Shore: 11/15 <The Speed Of Love>: 3/15 Double Agent: 10/15 Leave That Thing Alone: 12/15 Cold Fire: 5/15 Everyday Glory: 6/15 Overall rating: 7 (Mediocre/Good) Well, it's better than RTB... Counterparts shows Rush incorporating, of all things, grunge into their sound, and as a result this album is their heaviest since, erm, Hemispheres... However, heaviness does not in this case correlate with quality, and the result is a record that is better than anything surrounding it but worse than nearly everything else in their catalog. Three gems can be picked out of this release: Animate, one of the greatest Rush songs, with a great verse groove, wonderful chorus and a great hypnotic bridge. The others are a great instrumental with a driving (occasionally polyrhythmic) groove (Leave That Thing Alone) and a wonderful Who imitation (Between Sun and Moon). Cut To The Chase, while not on the level of those three, is still a good, driving hard rock song with a GREAT solo, while Alien Shore has a good groove (in the intro) and an interesting verse somewhat marred by a slightly cringeworthy chorus (There are much better ways to adress race and gender issues than "Sex is not a definition") and a bridge with the lyric "We'd elect each other president"... eww. The last good song is really barely a song at all: Double Agent is a ridiculous hodge-podge of different disparate parts that manage to be entertaining enough to endure it a "good" grade, even if it's not as good as the rest on the EP... Wait, this isn't an EP! No, there may only be an EP's worth of good material on here, but this is 1993 and they need to fill a full CD. So we get tracks like Nobody's Hero with its somewhat clumsy verses and cringe-inducing TV chorus (though a few nice solos keep it from being as awful as it could have been) and Stick It Out, which manages to turn a decent heavy riff into something... quite mediocre. The rest are barely worth mentioning, other than that The Speed Of Love may well be the second worst Rush song (in competition with Neurotica) and Cold Fire is a ridiculously overrated attempt at a Dire Straits imitation... Bleh. If these 5 tracks were cut off of the album, it could probably garner an A or even a B; as it is, it barely gets a 7. There's a great (though quite long for 1 side) EP hiding in here somewhere, but ultimately the filler drags it down enough that it easily gets a place in by bottom 5 Rush albums.

Signals is better than anything after GuP.

Respectfully, No. It's not bad. Not by any stretch. However: FBN, 2112, Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals, GUP, Power Windows, HYF (Yes, I said it), Presto, and Counterparts are better IMO. I would say that CoS, (maybe) 2112, Kings, Hemispheres, PeW, MP, Signals, GUP, PoW, HYF, and VTR are better. That means it's out of the top 10.

Who am the only bore?