So What Are You Listening To?

[BuyMoreAndSave]

Iconic.

Also this whole Unplugged performance really makes me wonder what Nirvana/Kurt would have done next if not for...well, you know.

Edited August 21, 2019 by BuyMoreAndSave

[WendyCR72]

3 hours ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

Iconic.

Also this whole Unplugged performance really makes me wonder what Nirvana/Kurt would have done next if not for...well, you know.

There were RUMORS that Kurt actually wanted to leave Nirvana and ditch his fame prior to his suicide, but who knows? I find it sort of ironic that both Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley both did an episode of Unplugged with their respective bands before both ended up dead - on the same date - a few years apart.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

1 hour ago, WendyCR72 said:

There were RUMORS that Kurt actually wanted to leave Nirvana and ditch his fame prior to his suicide, but who knows? I find it sort of ironic that both Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley both did an episode of Unplugged with their respective bands before both ended up dead - on the same date - a few years apart.

I heard he wanted to collaborate with Michael Stipe on either the next Nirvana album or some sort of solo album. I also heard Nirvana was probably going to break up either before or after their next album. I think he and Krist Novoselic hated each other by then, or something. But either way I'm sure he would have continued to make music, even if it was more under the radar. I really wonder what he'd be up to today, had he lived. I think he may not have even reached his full potential as a musician!

Yeah for me April 5th is the "Grunge Day of Remembrance." Grunge musician has got to be the most hazardous career out there. Even many of the lesser-known people associated with grunge, like the guy from Gruntruck, and Layne Staley's fiance Demri Parrott, died young. We have to make sure nothing happens to Jerry Cantrell!

[AgentRXS]

1 hour ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

 But either way I'm sure he would have continued to make music, even if it was more under the radar. I really wonder what he'd be up to today, had he lived. I think he may not have even reached his full potential as a musician!

I feel that way about almost every famous musician who died young. So much unrealized potential in so many of them.

I listen to Tupac often and it amazes me even now that he died at only 25. Thinking about song's like "Brenda's Got a Baby", which he wrote at only 20. I can't imagine the stuff he would come up with had he not fell into the gangster stuff and lived long enough to see all the crap that happened in the '00s and today.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Another hidden gem of Abba.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

It's the first day of vaguely autumn-like weather in my area. So, naturally, it's time to break out this album:

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[BuyMoreAndSave]

I've been kind of obsessed with this song lately. Probably Pantera's catchiest song. And that intro!

[janie jones]

On 8/21/2019 at 7:23 PM, WendyCR72 said:

There were RUMORS that Kurt actually wanted to leave Nirvana and ditch his fame prior to his suicide, but who knows?

If the Foo Fighters are any indication, Nirvana would have been fine without Kurt.

[WendyCR72]

1 minute ago, janie jones said:

If the Foo Fighters are any indication, Nirvana would have been fine without Kurt.

But, arguably, Foo Fighters is more...mainstream, where even in the face of fame, Kurt Cobain tried to keep some sort of subversive edge. I think, had Kurt left Nirvana, the band itself would have ended, anyway. It was initially Kurt's "baby". I like the Foos, to be clear, but it is a different animal from Nirvana, IMO.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

On 8/26/2019 at 9:06 PM, janie jones said:

If the Foo Fighters are any indication, Nirvana would have been fine without Kurt.

There couldn't have been Nirvana without Kurt. It would have been something else, but not Nirvana. All three of them were talented but Nirvana was all Kurt's vision, his weird lyrics and drawings, etc. -- it was his inner world come to life.

Anyway I think this song is pretty much the theme song of my life, LOL:

[Vixenstud]

On 8/22/2019 at 1:53 AM, AgentRXS said:

I can't imagine the stuff Tupac would come up with had he not fell into the gangster stuff and lived long enough to see all the crap that happened in the '00s and today.

Aw man.  Yeah, anytime I listen to his songs or see Juice for the hundreth cabillionth time I wonder myself....I think he would have wound up like Dr. Dre or Ice Cube.

Sadly, we'll never know.

[dewelar]

I still buy CD's, mainly used ones from the 90s-00s since I can get them in bunches from SecondSpin for cheap. Thus, Mrs. Dewelar and I listen to 5-6 new CDs a week. If folks are interested, I can post a sample of each one after we listen. Today's choice was Tanita Tikaram's Can't Go Back from 2012. My favorite track is the first one, "All Things to You":

[dewelar]

:( No Tanita Tikaram fans here, eh? A shame, as I think she's one of the more underrated vocalists of the past 30 years, and this was an album I actually bought at full-price. It was a very good album, though I wasn't as much of a fan of the bonus acoustic disc.

Anyway, today's choice was from 2003, Being Somebody by Liberty X. While I do not generally enjoy this style of music, there were a few listenable tracks, including the second single "Jumpin'", "Story of My Life", and my personal favorite, "Let Go":

[dewelar]

Today's new CD was 1987's Raindancing by Alison Moyet. For me, the album was a minor convocation of mid-80s nostalgia. The first track, "Weak in the Presence of Beauty", was one I discovered through, not its original incarnation by Floy Joy, but via Eddie and the Tide. It was part of some kind of competition on MTV to name some kind of Next Big Thing -- the 30-plus-year-old details are fuzzy, but IIRC you voted by phone, and I think the winner got some kind of record deal after [x] weeks. Another track, "Sleep Like Breathing" was written by The Lover Speaks, whose self-titled album was in heavy rotation during my freshman year of college, and featured the duo's vocalist, David Freeman, as the co-lead singer.

Lots of other good tracks on this one, too, but for me the best song was "When I Stay (No Giveaway)". What can I say? I'm a sucker for the more upbeat stuff.

Hope folks are enjoying these posts, even nobody's responding :D !

Edited August 30, 2019 by dewelar
Grammar

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[Sally Chantal Pa]

Recently stumbled upon "Columbiana Tayna Feat. Don Phenom"

[dewelar]

OK, one more, then if nobody responds I'll leave you all alone :) .

Today's selection was Moving Mountains by Justin Hayward, from 1985. I've been a huge Moody Blues fan since the first time I heard the Days of Future Passed album straight through, and own their entire discography (barring perhaps some of their early more blues-oriented stuff) -- unlike some, I enjoy their music no matter the era. I've never been as big on Hayward's solo material, but still generally find it worth a listen or ten. The first track on this one is "Take Your Chances" (well, the first track on the 1989 CD release, since the running order is different than the original), which reminds me a lot of "Sitting at the Wheel" from The Present, the Moodies album that preceded this one. And that, to me anyway, is a good thing :D .

The rest of the album is a bit less interesting to me, but still good music.

Edited August 31, 2019 by dewelar
Clarify

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[dewelar]

No new CD yesterday, but today we listened to 1992's Family Groove by The Neville Brothers. I was a latecomer to the Neville family, being introduced to them through Aaron's son Ivan, whose music I was a big fan of in the late 80s/early 90s. I've never been a fan of Aaron himself -- actually, I kind of hate his voice, but obviously that's subjective -- and this album suffers from a bit too much of his presence, as well as jams that go on a bit too long at the end of some songs. That said, I thought their funky cover of "Fly Like an Eagle" was a good start, and "Let My People Go" was a good funky song (even if it's a bit heavy on the message -- it reminded me a lot of the "Sun City" charity single from a few years earlier). "On the Other Side of Paradise" was also an interesting Caribbean turn, but my favorite track was probably "Line of Fire".

The Nevilles seemed to be at their best on funky songs -- when they slow down, I find myself letting the music slip into the background instead of listening to it. Fortunately, between this song, the aforementioned "Let My People Go", "It Takes More", and a couple others, this album definitely has its share :) .

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[dewelar]

Love this song. Absolutely LOVE this song. My friends and I played the hell out of my 45 of it during my senior year of high school.

[WendyCR72]

3 hours ago, dewelar said:

Love this song. Absolutely LOVE this song. My friends and I played the hell out of my 45 of it during my senior year of high school.

Run, Runaway was fun, too.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Edited September 4, 2019 by One4Sorrow2TooBad
Here you go:)

[janie jones]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:11 PM, WendyCR72 said:

But, arguably, Foo Fighters is more...mainstream, where even in the face of fame, Kurt Cobain tried to keep some sort of subversive edge. I think, had Kurt left Nirvana, the band itself would have ended, anyway. It was initially Kurt's "baby". I like the Foos, to be clear, but it is a different animal from Nirvana, IMO.

On 8/27/2019 at 10:36 PM, BuyMoreAndSave said:

There couldn't have been Nirvana without Kurt. It would have been something else, but not Nirvana. All three of them were talented but Nirvana was all Kurt's vision, his weird lyrics and drawings, etc. -- it was his inner world come to life.

Sorry it wasn't clear that I was making a joke.

[WendyCR72]

7 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Sorry it wasn't clear that I was making a joke.

No, I'm sorry! Tone is so hard to convey in just words sometimes!  🙂

[Jaded]

When I'm feeling kind of down at times I watch/listen to this song from George Michael that was released in 2006 which I seemed to miss back then. I found it on YouTube a few years before George died. The part that really picks me up starts at 3:15. It's a song that still works just as well for current times....
 

[dewelar]

Skipped another day yesterday -- needed some more familiar music while fretting over Dorian -- but we're back in business today! This time, it's 2001's Yola by Eleanor McEvoy. I generally have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to McEvoy, and this album is no exception. I first discovered her via the song "Please Heart, You're Killing Me" from the album before this one, Snapshots. That's still my favorite song of hers, but this album had some good tracks, including the opener "I Got You to See Me Through", "Easy in Love" and "Leaves Me Wondering". My issue with the album is in the mixing -- when present, the bass is way too loud compared to the other instruments, to the point that I skipped some tracks rather than allow my desk to be vibrated into splinters. The worst offender was track 2 "Isn't It a Little Late?", which was downright offensive to the ear. I'm not skilled at manipulating audio files, but this album makes me want to learn more.

Anyway, unlike most of what I listen to, I think my favorite track here was track 4, "Seasoned Love". It's an absolutely beautiful acoustic piece, with lovely piano work by co-producer Brian Connor:

Edited September 5, 2019 by dewelar

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

LOL! Good ol' Amy Pond!

[dewelar]

Sometimes, this happens. Sometimes, there's an album that just doesn't do anything for me, and sometimes it's by an artist that I have otherwise enjoyed. Today, that album is 1993's Mexican Moon by Concrete Blonde. I think Johnette Napolitano has a great, unique voice, and the other two albums of theirs I own are decent, if uneven. Unfortunately, this album has nothing that I'd care to hear again. I am not a fan of songs that drone, and this album has too many of those. I am also not generally a fan of songs with a lot of distortion effects, and this album also has too many of those. It also has a weird Spanish-but-not-proper-Spanish version of the title track that closes the album. If I had to pick a favorite track, it might be track 5, "Rain", as one of the 3-4 I could listen to straight through without wincing:

If anyone else enjoys this album, good on you. It's just not my thing.

Edited September 6, 2019 by dewelar

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Bring it Lisa!

Edited September 6, 2019 by One4Sorrow2TooBad

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Lol ! Cracks me up when he says Uh, take it big boy!

[dewelar]

Today's new CD to us is 2001's Pretty Together by Sloan. Overall, this was a perfectly fine pop-rock album, but I can't say there were many standout tracks. Well, one track did stand out, but not in the right way: track 9, "In Your Eyes", had the potential to be a very good song, but was ruined by poor production. Once again, the bass guitar was the problem -- much too loud compared to the rest of the instrumentation. Strange in that the rest of the album did not have this issue. "If It Feels Good Do It" was a good opening track, but I don't feel like we got anything really good again until "Who You Talkin' To?" at track 10, just a fair bit of nondescript but perfectly cromulent music. Tough call on my favorite track between that one and the one following, but I think I'll go with the latter, "I Love a Long Goodbye":

Still, if you're in the mood for solid Canadian pop-rock, you can do a lot worse than Sloan.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[Jaded]

Anytime this comes up as a recommendation on YT I have to give it another listen. ❤️
 

[27bored]

Tenille Arts - I Hate This

[WendyCR72]

Listening to "When The Sun Rose Again" by post-Layne Staley Alice In Chains from its comeback album, "Black Gives Way To Blue", from 2009 (in which Elton John played piano on the album's title track, a tune about missing Layne.)

However, "When The Sun Rose Again"...the lyrics almost seem a sort of condemnation of Layne Staley, i.e. "selling out for the score" and "seems you prophesized all of this would end". (Apparently, Layne gave an interview not long before his death regretting his drug use but saying he knew he was dying, etc. I know he put the band through a lot. Seems like an album of a bunch of emotions on it. Loss, missing him, yet maybe mad it ended as it did? I don't know.) I have read that Jerry Cantrell denies the song is about Layne Staley, but I don't know...

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

AIC had it so going on in the early 90's with some strong songs,such innovative harmonies. It's  sad that drugs destroyed that too soon.

[27bored]

I agree about AiC. I’ve always thought that an aging Country singer should cover “Nutshell”. I think it could be a hit for them and kind of iconic a la “Hurt” by Johnny Cash.

[Annber03]

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Cute video, see how many 90's movies you can see here.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

[Annber03]

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Love that Motown sound, Ace of Base delivers it.

[Jaded]

[Jaded]

[BuyMoreAndSave]

Funny story: so I say weird things to my husband sometimes to creep him out for my own amusement. Yesterday we were hugging each other and I was like "We're in love and happy now, but one day we will die!" and then I started singing the rest of the lyrics that follow that line. He had never heard of the song and was like "??" Then the funny part is today I was in an Italian restaurant and they were playing this song! Like, what an incongruous song to play in an Italian restaurant! I haven't heard it in like five years either so it's a strange coincidence.

Edited October 4, 2019 by BuyMoreAndSave