spanky debrest

I've still got the second one (red cover). It's a great read as you remember - the enthusiasm surrounding the coming 16bit revolution was so infectious - almost arcade perfect PCEngine (which still looked liked it would see official release) and Megadrive games...the first tantalising shots of the Snes... I mislaid the first one - the 98% review of Ghouls n' Ghosts is something I badly wanna read again (t'was my favouritest game of all time for many, many years).

Melvins - Pigs of the Roman Empire

These are some favourites, though it's been years since I heard some of 'em. Atlantis Cymbals & Crystal Spears Heliocentric worlds Solar Myth Approach Live at Montreaux ('76) Space is the place (Impulse) There's one tape copy of an LP that I loved to pieces - a kind of sinister Monkish chamber suite - which has which has unfortunately always remained nameless. Just thought I'd slip that in for no reason. Disclaimer: A couple of these may require some sort of mental dysfunction on the part of the listener, however.

The great Sun Ra produced stunning albums throughout his long and varied career - problem is that they were often produced for tiny labels that disappeared shortly afterwards. I'd say Space is the Place (the LP on Impulse, not the Film or the OST) is one of the more accessible ones for a Sun Ra beginner. Some of the earlier ones that always stay in print (such as "Heliocentric Worlds") will probably prove a bit much. Whatever, the man was a stone cold genius. One day the average man will know of all modern music's debt to him. I hope.

Yes.

I found B3 exceptionally dull. I wouldn't take it if it was handed out as a freebie.

I don't think it's a patch on the first one. It really sounds like Prince Paul took a step back and let the Automator take full control - the stock musicians mostly reprise their roles from 'Lovage', which a lot of the tracks sound like they're from (not necessarily a bad thing). However, though the inclusion of 'rock' tracks is no surprise bearing in mind Dan the Automator's recent production work but there's no excuse for working with the dullest, most talentless oafs you can find. And that Cullum track is a outright travesty. So basically, two appalling cuts together with Cullums unlistenably bad album closer severly lets the whole thing down. Disappointment.

I think post-Barret Floyd is a bit crap, with Darkside's being the one I can actually get through. I absolutely loathe the Wall. Barret WAS Pink Floyd. They should've changed their name.

No Coracao Dos Deuses / In The Heart Of The Gods (Sepultura) Funny Games (Naked City)

In a year where so many toweringly brilliant people in music have died (Syreeta, Stanley Turrentine, Elvin Jones, Rick James, John Peel to name a handful) none have had me literally welling up as I read tributes about them as I have been with ODB. I'm as close to devestated as I think I can be about someone I never knew.

His first LP remains criminally underrated, even by Wu fans. It's where you'll find some of the rawest and heaviest beats RZA ever put together, as well as the best/funniest examples of Ol' Dirty's lifting classic funk verses and making them his own. Of all his quirks this was the one I loved him most for. Incidentally, the death of Rick James - aside from making me feel profoundly sad in itself - made me wonder whether ODB would be around much longer or not. RIP Big Baby Jesus. You're up there with the greats as far as I'm concerned.

1,900,000+ 1-7 Type 1

1,500,000+ a bit earlier. 1-7. Type 1.

Great thread, that one.

I never thought I'd see this mentioned. Wow. Very cool.

1. Melvins + Lustmord: Pigs of the Roman Empire (Ipecac) 2. Toots & the Maytals: Monkey Man (Trojan) 3. Commodores: Machine Gun (Motown) I'm very, very happy with these. Go Buy.

Is it a new model PS2? I bought one on Saturday and it wouldn't load GTA:SA. Gradius V & Tenchu worked fine (everything brand new) but it acted exactly as you describe with GTA. Obviously I went back and got a new machine but t'was very annoying.

Back when I was in high school I remember listening to C90s on my walkman - I'd deliberately avoid the bus home so's I could listen to a whole album, uninterrupted and loud. I still have a lot of these tapes even though I subsequently bought some of those LPs on vinyl and CD. Cypress Hill's Black Sunday would be the B-side to Sepultura's Arise. Melvins' Houdini would have Onyx's Bacdafucup as it's B-side. NWA's Niggaz4life (my first real hiphop love) shared a reel with Prong's Cleansing. To me, loads of rock and thrash had the same energy as loads of Hip Hop. It was all great music, particularly whilst on the move. To my ears, The first wave Wu (36 Chambers to Iron Man) in terms of quality and originality of beats and rhymes was untouchable. Around '94-'96 I got seriously bored with Hip Hop - the fabulous RZA-produced deluge was the only stuff that mattered. As far as trying to keep this post in some way relevant to the topic my choice Hip Hop related epiphany would probably be when I was first exploring Parliament/Funkadelic in my teens. What I really LOVED about Niggaz4life was the samples. Sure, I loved the unbridled comedic misogyny and Easy's OTT posturing but the soul, man, it was really all about the soul in the music itself. I had no idea that around 80% of the albums beats and sounds all came from 2 or 3 Parliament LPs. When it all came full circle the way it did it damn near blew my mind with joy. Mmmmm.

Too fucking right - this whole thread, that is. Eddie Hazel was such a mother. They've (well, Rhino Handmade) have just released his eBay darling of a solo LP on CD - "Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs" together with a posthumous EP as bonus tracks. The version of California Dreaming is the most soulful version you could imagine largely because of his incredible singing (check "Let Me Be" off Parliament's Chocolate City for another great example of Hazel's lead vocal). Don't overlook the 1st, much overlooked (due to it's ultra-craziness) Parliament LP "Ozmium". The UK version is the finest available due to inclusion of all the B-sides from this fantastic period (when they were a proper cumbustible Billy Bass & Hazel led unit as opposed to a gargantuan pool of musicians). It's definitely one of the greatest black psychedelic rock LPs ever made. Just get it. Glen Goins (the singer who, from 1975 onwards contributed some amazing extra-freaky vocals and guitar, particularly on Mothership & Choc City) deserves a shout out. He's also the guy Clinton gave the Mothership Connection to during the last tour with the original Parliaments (the DVD is of one of those sets). No-one took you to church like Glen. Damn shame he died of Hodgkins disease a short time later, without telling a soul he was ill. Also, and this is a BIG also, don't forget about Bootsy's Rubber Band. From 1976 onwards they put the rest of the P-Funk clan to shame, in the studio and on the road. I've got so many stories and anecdotes about these guys, this crew who left one of the greatest music legacies of all.

Great, great band. Mike Watt is a legend. Double Nickels is their masterpiece. Great, great thread.

With Ernest Ranglin's Sound Dimension and Barrington you can't go wrong. It sounds like a pimptastic mix.

Review by William York (AMG) Violinist/composer Eyvind Kang seems to take his time and try to do something distinct with each album — from the noisy, quick-change collages of 7 NADEs to the mellower, more song-based instrumentals of theater of mineral NADEs — and this CD is something else again. Its centerpiece, "The Story of Iceland," is a five-part, 30-minute suite that brings together elements of minimalism, quietly droning soundscapes, and various world music strains (without any of the "icy" imagery or wind noises one might expect, given the title). It is built on a simple six-note motif that first shows up in "Circle of Fair Karma," a sort of oriental funeral march with tuba, violin, trumpet, martial snare drumming, and Uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes). The theme shows up later in the Indian-flavored "Sweetness of Candy" and again in the marimba/oud/acoustic guitar finale, "Circle of Fair Karma." "The Story of Iceland" is followed by the entirely different-sounding "10:10," a sort of psychedelic rock song with David Bowie-esque singing and swirling cymbal effects; this track repeats the same three-chord progression and main vocal part for the entire ten minutes, meanwhile continually layering other parts on top. The album closes with a short gamelan piece that, while again totally different in terms of style, does in fact tie in with the record's unstated minimalist theme. Like theater of mineral NADEs but unlike 7 NADEs, The Story of Iceland hides its perversity and strangeness underneath a peaceful surface. Also like that album, it maintains, through all of its stylistic detours, a peculiar and unsettling atmosphere that clearly bears Kang's stamp.

Oh dear. I'd advise you to lock this thread before you feel like a victim.

I thought it was well established that Redeye = Rignall.

where's the moderation option gone?