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Albums You've Listened To Today, V.8


Entre_Perpetuo
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8 minutes ago, J2112YYZ said:

 

I don't mind the album too much. I got to see him in 2010 when he dusted off Clones and played that for the first tour in forever. I was the only one in the crowd who knew it though the two times I saw him on that tour 😆

 

I like Dada too. It's amazing Alice came up with something good like that given his constant state of inebriation at that time. Musicians like to talk about how f***ed up they were in recording something but Dada is without a doubt the most messed up on substances recording I have ever heard. You can hear it constantly in his vocals just how messed up he was.

 

 

dada is easily my favorite album from that era, scarlet and sheba + pass the gun around are two of my all-time favorite songs by him, the entire album is good. 

 

special forces would have to be runner-up imo. that one's of similar quality to zipper & flush, but it does have a charm to it for me.

so i guess special forces is to me as flush the fashion is to mick

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Just now, bluefox4000 said:

 

yea i've sampled albums from every decade.  and i love alice but his decade to me was really the 70's that run was great.

 

and i think it's pretty much all i need.

 

Mick

 

 

 

his first two albums from the 60's kind of suck too, even though they could have been good if they were handled with better care. strangely it's because frank zappa did a terrible service in the way he produced their music, the experimentation frank zappa would do didn't necessarily translate to other musicians. i think it's a fun fact that if the alice cooper group stayed with frank and didn't move onto warner bros, they probably wouldn't have ever made it.

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6 minutes ago, bluefox4000 said:

 

yea i've sampled albums from every decade.  and i love alice but his decade to me was really the 70's that run was great.

 

and i think it's pretty much all i need.

 

Mick

 

 

 

Have you listened to The Last Temptation? I think that's top notch Alice. Brutal Planet and Dragontown are great too. Those two albums are Alice at his most metal and probably darkest as well.

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1 minute ago, Mr. Not said:

 

his first two albums from the 60's kind of suck too, even though they could have been good if they were handled with better care. strangely it's because frank zappa did a terrible service in the way he produced their music, the experimentation frank zappa would do didn't necessarily translate to other musicians. i think it's a fun fact that if the alice cooper group stayed with frank and didn't move onto warner bros, they probably wouldn't have ever made it.

 

i've heard Pretties for you didn't like it either.

 

But  the 70's he found his style.  i love everythig put out in that period.  Even muscle of love to me is nowhere near as bad as i've heard some folks say. to me my Alice is Killer all the way to From The inside.  From the Inside is really slick and pop-y some would say but i love it.

 

Mick

 

 

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7 minutes ago, J2112YYZ said:

 

Have you listened to The Last Temptation? I think that's top notch Alice. Brutal Planet and Dragontown are great too. Those two albums are Alice at his most metal and probably darkest as well.

 

 

i really liked Last temptation.  that album actually reccalled  prime 70's alice after such a long dark period.

 

I have to revisit Dragontown and Brutal Planet as i honesty don't remember them, lol

 

but last Temptation was good.  nice catch.

 

Mick

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6 minutes ago, bluefox4000 said:

 

i've heard Pretties for you didn't like it either.

 

But  the 70's he found his style.  i love everythig put out in that period.  Even muscle of love to me is nowhere near as bad as i've heard some folks say. to me my Alice is Killer all the way to From The inside.  From the Inside is really slick and pop-y some would say but i love it.

 

Mick

 

 

 

 

i love both of those albums too, for a while i considered from the inside my favorite out of all his albums. Inmates is such an amazing climax too, Alice is the king of ending albums with grand finales

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2 hours ago, J2112YYZ said:

 

The album is the perfect blend of melodic hooks, musicianship and storytelling. The greatest concept album ever. The absolute standard of what a concept album should be.

 

 

I need to revisit it, but I don't think it's the best concept record ever off the top of my head. Scenes from DT, The Lamb from Genesis, Quadrophenia from The Who, and The Wall from Floyd would all have it beat in my book. As I recall though, O:M is a fantastic album, though I've spent much more time with Empire.

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Queensryche- Operation: Mindcrime

 

I CANNOT STOP PLAYING THIS DAMN ALBUM

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Iced Earth- Plagues Of Babylon 

 

Underrated album.

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Alice Cooper-Schools out(8/10)

 

when you think about it.......a reall oddball follow up to Love it Death

 

Blue Turk (i swear it has the same melody in the hook as Dwight Fry, lol

 

Gutter Cat

Street Fight.

 

Iactually think the 2nd half saves this album.

 

Mick

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14 minutes ago, bluefox4000 said:

 

didn't think you knew any other albums.

 

Mick

LMAO it feels that way!

 

Tore myself away. I don't want to burn out on it. Iced Earth was an excellent choice!

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2 hours ago, bluefox4000 said:

Alice Cooper-Schools out(8/10)

 

when you think about it.......a reall oddball follow up to Love it Death

 

Blue Turk (i swear it has the same melody in the hook as Dwight Fry, lol

 

Gutter Cat

Street Fight.

 

Iactually think the 2nd half saves this album.

 

Mick

 

Killer was the follow up to Love It To Death. Maybe that's why School's Out seems like such an oddball follow up. Honestly, School's Out is an oddball follow up no matter when it was released. Good album but a very strange one.

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Blue Öyster Cult- Secret Treaties

Blue Öyster Cult- Agents Of Fortune

 

Two exceptional albums by one of the most uniquely endearing bands I've ever heard. 

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11 hours ago, Entre_Perpetuo said:

 

 

I need to revisit it, but I don't think it's the best concept record ever off the top of my head. Scenes from DT, The Lamb from Genesis, Quadrophenia from The Who, and The Wall from Floyd would all have it beat in my book. As I recall though, O:M is a fantastic album, though I've spent much more time with Empire.

 

As much as I like Quadrophenia, the story doesn't really do a lot for me. I can enjoy that album without giving a damn either way about the story. Scenes is one of my all time favorite albums but the story does get a bit messy in the way that it's told. The Wall tells a great easy to follow story without too many bumps in the road. But with Mindcrime, it's flawless storytelling that sucks you in and is told in such a way that you are completely immersed in it each time you listen to it. There is not a note out of place on the album. There's nothing that shouldn't be in the exact spot that it's in. As I said, Mindcrime is flawless.

 

What's the concept for Lamb Lies Down? I always figured it was Gabriel showing people the proper way word salad works 😂

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28 minutes ago, J2112YYZ said:

 

As much as I like Quadrophenia, the story doesn't really do a lot for me. I can enjoy that album without giving a damn either way about the story. Scenes is one of my all time favorite albums but the story does get a bit messy in the way that it's told. The Wall tells a great easy to follow story without too many bumps in the road. But with Mindcrime, it's flawless storytelling that sucks you in and is told in such a way that you are completely immersed in it each time you listen to it. There is not a note out of place on the album. There's nothing that shouldn't be in the exact spot that it's in. As I said, Mindcrime is flawless.

 

What's the concept for Lamb Lies Down? I always figured it was Gabriel showing people the proper way word salad works 😂

I may not agree but I do see your points, and that deserves a laugh, lol. 

 

 

I'll try to explain The Lamb, just for the heck of it.

 

The Lamb is both totally about its concept and not at all about the concept. In many ways it's more about the idea of a Genesis concept album, what that would be like, how many words Gabriel can cram into a song that theoretically tell a coherent story.  In truth I can follow the story although it's got the plot of a very long very vivd nightmare, which is to say fantastical stuff just kinda happens and you have to try and work the meaning of it out for yourself. To me, it's a story about the grief and fear of losing your innocence... and also puberty

 

.     A young street rat has just finished spray painting a building when he is startled to see a lamb (cliche but effective symbol for innocent child) lying down in the middle of the street (Broadway of course, because with Gabriel every setting has to be dramatic). Then a cloud of hazy nothingness overtakes both him and the lamb and he's teleported into the first of many increasingly alarming or disturbing scenes out of a nightmare. At first he's a fly, hovering helplessly over a freeway about to be struck by a windshield, then (after Gabriel does just play a bit of word salad like an opening credits montage) he awakes to find he's a  caterpillar in a cocoon, not yet finished changing into whatever the change was meant to be, but this kind of idllic sleepy scenario rapidly transforms into one of the most harrowing passages on the album.  Suddenly Real (Gabriel's character) finds that the cocoon is in fact a cage, and outside of his cage is an endlessly dark and terrifying cavern, stalactites and stalagmites and all. From there his anxiety to get out of the cage frightens him more than any images he may see (or imagine), though at some point he notices his brother (John) is outside the cage. This is only important later. Once Rael's cage nightmare eventually fades away (like a bad acid trip I imagine), he finds himself either a spectator to, or a member of, a strange and hypnotic assembly line for packaging, which may mean something about capitalism and feeling trapped, but also may just be Gabriel playing games with imagery for the heck of it.

 

     Anyway side two (yes, we're only to side 2) opens and it seems after that weird misadventure in the packaging factory, Rael has been returned to New York City! However, instead of being a simple graffiti artist with a skateboard, he's found himself the member of a gang, and a rather cruel one at that. He details his armor of anger and attitude with pride, even as it leads him into committing sexual crimes.  This idea must seem repulsive to some small part of him, as he decides afterwards to do some reading about sex and how to be a good partner, preparing himself for a consensual encounter with a woman.  Gabriel plays this one off as comedy when Rael is apparently unable to please his partner, despite trying to use what he learned from his reading, and returns the book to the library. But now things take a nightmarish turn once again, as next Rael finds himself feeling very small. Indeed he looks up to see the tops of the hairs of the carpet he had stood upon towering over his head, and he relates the scene of masses of bugs trying to make their way to the top, to find some freedom.  I believe he follows them up, but at the top he doesn't find freedom. He finds himself in a room with many many doors (32 to be precise), and many many people trying to tell him which way to go, or asking him for help. He is unsure of who to trust and the anxiety of trying to decide who may be trying to deceive him or use him and who may be trying to help him ends out the side.

 

     Halfway through, Rael makes a quick decision of who to trust when a blind lady (Lillywhite Lillith) asks his help and manages to convince him which way to go.  Of course Lilith turns out to be a deceiver, and the door she leads him through leads only to a waiting room, where nothing of consequence happens in the story (pretty killer instrumental track though).  This room eventually changes into a subway tunnel, and Rael is lying helpless on the tracks.  He has a bit of a philosophical epiphany about life and death (despite having already "died" in this mad nightmare at least once on that windsheild) thinking he's about to be run over by the subway train.  As he waits for death, he's approached by some kind of fairy telling him to be patient, that the "supernatural anesthetist" (i.e. the grim reaper or angel of death or whatever image works for you) will be with him shortly.  The "supernatural anesthatist" does finally arrive, and frankly I'm not really sure what happens here except that Rael is lead to a pool of water (I tend to imagine it as being in a large, dark, cavernous room, void of any other details).  In the pool are three attractive siren-like creatures who introduce themselves as the Lamia. They invite Rael into the pool with them, tempting him with sex. But instead of making love (or possibly while doing so), the Lamia grow sharp teeth and begin to tear into his skin.  As they start to eat his body, it turns out to be poisonous to them, and they wither and die in the pool, but not before claiming to the (somehow) still living protagonist "we all have loved you, Rael." Whatever that means.

 

     Okay, last side. Rael, still alive and well after he should've died at least three times, leaves the pool and eventually finds himself in a strange camp, "the colony of slipper men." I'm not going to describe what they look like as you can easily find pictures of Gabriel's "slipper man" costume online.  That's what they look like.  At any rate, Rael, now having reached a pretty low point in his relationship with and understanding of sex, wants nothing to do with these grotesque, sex addicted creatures (who claim he could be just like them).  He does to the nearest doctor to, erm, have his genitals removed.  That's one solution I guess.  His brother, John, reappears at the doctor, but doesn't really say or do much as this is happening. Then, out of the sky, a raven swoops down and steals what the doctor has removed from Rael's body. John at least has the courtesy here to warn Rael of the raven's danger.  However, Rael has no intent of letting the Raven make off with a piece of him, so he begins chasing after it, wether or not John's willing to help him. He chases the raven all the way to a ravine, but is shocked to see John struggling to stay afloat in the rapids below. He makes a quick decision to dive down into the river to try to save John rather than continue pursuing the raven.  However it's very arduous attempting to catch up to John in the strong current and with all the mud and rocks. At one point Rael sees a passage open before him, a passage with Broadway on the other side.  He has the chance to return home and put this freakish nightmare sequence behind him, but he would have to leave right now and leave his brother to drown. "Hey John!" he says here! This is one of my favorite moments on the album. Rael realizes saving John is more important than getting home, and continues racing after his brother. But when he catches hold of him and turns John's head to face him, he has a Luke Skywalker on Dagohbah moment where, instead of seeing John's face, he sees his own!  From here we fade to white and start scrolling credits, or another interpretation is the whole dream world collapses around Rael upon this revelation and he's left in some kind of undefined space to try to make sense of it. It being the key word. If there's one place on this album that you could easily accuse Gabriel of just throwing words at the page to see what sticks, it's the closing track "It." I do like the tune, and instrumentally it's triumphant and feels like a happy ending. But lyrically Gabriel offers no clear ending to the already very difficult to decipher story, and furthermore it seems he either doesn't want to or is incapable of doing so. He won't even say what "it" is, apart from "knock and know-all."  I suppose many great concept albums are open ended, though they're usually a bit less on the nose about it than this, lol.  My best interpretation of the end is that Gabriel was really trying to relate his own deepest desires and fears and inner worlds throughout the rest of the album, and as he was in a very turbulent moment in his life--being offered a part in a movie that didn't get made, becoming a father, high tensions within the band about not being present at most of the writing sessions leading him to write most of the lyrics after the music had already been written by the other four guys, also feeling very trapped and pigeon holed as an artist in his role in Genesis--Gabriel didn't have the moral of the story worked out yet.  He would need to get through this massive fulcrum point in his life before he could make any sense out of all of the fears and needs and meanings wrapped up in this story.  So instead of offering any real moral or way out, he just comments on the idea of a moral or a way out and what that might sound like if he knew what it was.  After touring this album with Genesis, Gabriel would leave the band, take a break from music for a couple years, and come back to music in 1977 with his first solo album and his first solo hit, Solsbury Hill. In that song he finally finds the answer he had been looking for at the end of The Lamb, which is that he needed to step away from the machine that had trapped him and learn to stand on his own feet. He's even visited by another bird, but it's a productive meeting rather than a destructive one. 

 

Anyway, that is my understanding of The Lamb from a conceptual perspective. It's a fantastic world to get lost in, both lyrically and musically, but ultimately the concept is just a vessel for Gabriel to express his need to leave the band, even to leave music for a while. It's a very weird and oddly shaped vessel though.

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In Flames- Battles 

 

This album gets a lot of hate, but I have always enjoyed it. Great pop metal, by a band that knows how to write killer hooks.

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Pat Benatar- Get Nervous 

 

Terrific singer, fantastic album.

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Blue Öyster Cult- Agents Of Fortune 

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