Seven CDs: A Progressive Review

APRIL 13, 2023

CLUB MTV PARTY TO GO, VOLUME ONE - Various Artists

Interesting find, surely. I was drawn by Information Society and Tommy Boy records (due to their association to I.S.), being familiar with not only "Think" but their eponymous debut and a few other songs. "Turn This Mutha Out" and "Personal Jesus" were the two other recognizable tracks for me. It was cool to recognize a few other tracks, including "The Humpty Dance", which called to mind the scene in Nothing But Trouble. I was cleaning and then snuggling with our kitten, so I mostly just listened in the background. \m/, B']

RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL - Jane's Addiction

The same with this one, honestly. I enjoyed "Stop" when I played it on Guitar Hero: Smash Hits back in the day, though I cannot show anywhere near the same affinity for "Been Caught Stealing". The guitar work on "Three Days" just caught my attention, and, to add retroactively, I do enjoy the vocal reverb that was used a good deal. All in all, their style seems to be lightened, sound-wise, to smooth together with Perry Farrell's vocals (but that could be off the mark, as I kind of just let the last few tracks play in the background--though the instrumentation of "Of Course" did have my attention.

STAIN - Living Colour

When I first heard "Cult Of Personality"--

(I just realized the album's second track is "Ignorance Is Bliss"--it's a common saying, sure, but it made me think of the same track from The Ramones' "Brain Drain", which kicks ass...the song, definitely, the album I have enjoyed quite often since hearing it for the first time some weeks and change back)

I believe for the first time while playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas back in the day (back in the day)--I honestly thought the singer was white. Probably because I am, and that was probably my go-to association in my early stages of first imagining what singers actually looked like. The same goes for Hootie & The Blowfish. All part of the journey growing up.

Anyway, I came across their album Vivid some time ago, and it was pretty good. An endearing part of my life has been looking past "commercial hooks" and seeing the albums as integrated pieces, with each and every song of an ultimate syntax by design. Then again, it all comes down to your emotional experiences with songs, regardless of how you approach them. I enjoy connectivity myself, and always laud the surprise mental connections that arise from discovering segues and bonds I never knew existed.

I'd rather you appreciate the albums, but for some specified examples, see:

• Building The Perfect Beast, Tracks 8/9
• 1984, Tracks 1/2
• Purple Rain, Tracks 7/8
• And more, if I could just remember them!

So back to THIS album:

I really enjoyed "Mind Your Own Business". The tempo and vocal shifts were great. I do enjoy Living Colour's instrumentation. Real bangers.

APRIL 14th, 2023

All in all, I enjoyed the album. The outro wasn't quite molded to my own experience of them, but, like I said, I definitely enjoyed it.

BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE - Steve Winwood

This isn't a new one for me, however, it has been a long time since I heard it.

APRIL 15th, 2023

Now back to

BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE - Steve Winwood

This isn't a new one for me, however, yada yada, it has been a long time since I heard it, yada yada yadadidada dada...

Now let's play!

I'm not sure what his background is, but the album production does make me think of a jazz church.

"I could light the night up with my soul on fire. I could make the sun shine from pure desire."

When I first heard "Higher Love" Pure 80's, back in the early 2000's, this really touched me. It was one of my earlier experiences of reach a higher state of feeling--consciousness--perception--what have you. At least, as far as I recall right now. My tastes have really found their calling by now, but things like this remind me of the glory of the journey and the cross-pollination of substance and soul across space and time.

My love may be leavin' me, but the sparks remain, just beyond the veil of darkness that nurtures them on.

US - Peter Gabriel

Now for the one that I've been excited the most about, surely. Since hearing "Red Rain" and tackling So, then "Shock the Monkey" and Security, Peter has stitched his own patchwork into my musical soul.

The beginning of "Come Talk To Me" reminded me of Korn's intro track "Dead" from Issues, due to the bagpipes.

Three songs in so far, and from what I recall offhand, the album seems as regimented and sheened as So, without the perhaps dynamism as Security had in its intensity and breadth. Out in '92, it came out 10 years after Security and 6 after So, so it does make sense in a way that the music would continue to be tightened down for the sake of fluidity/integrity and the nuanced instrumentation.

However...

"Steam" just kicked off a more intense cross-section that gave the album a little more life and verve for me. I think it is still more in line with So than Security, but it is still a marked shift from the previous three tracks.

However...

I'm sure that once I listen to the album on the road, or in headphones--in a space of time where I actually pay complete and utter attention to it, and am enraptured in the burgeoning experience, without distractions--that my appreciation for it will grow, and, ultimately, flourish.

Just recognized the song titled "Digging In The Dirt". I don't know where I heard it, but it is an example of the surprises you'll come across when giving an album a chance, even when the revealed song is simply some never-quite-known, whimsical fragment of the past. Again, it is further proof for me of some divide between this and his earlier works, where this song is intense, but at the same time limited in its ceiling of intensity.

In "Kiss That Frog", his "come on, come on, come on, come on..." and his associated voice formulations reminded me immediately of Billy Idol, in part his actual song "Come On, Come On" from his eponymous debut.

I'm probably talking out of my @&& a little bit, but how could I ever think you'd let me down, Pete? :0]

All in all, it was an ebbing and flowing experience of discovery and numerous other elements that are inherent in my own personal journey. Perhaps the bits and pieces of my writing have transferred the core elements to the [page] here?

No. I'll leave it up to you to find the truth in your own experience. \m/, <3 B']

April 20th, 2023

Not that it would show here, but I'm sorry for taking so long to finish this article. From bussing to server training to , I've had a focused six days. It also doesn't help that in my off time, I just don't feel the need to push for things. After all, it's like tending to a fire that is but a flicker in the distance to other passersby, and a thoughtful glance is the apex of influence. It's very difficult selling fire to those seeking warmth in this day and age, isn't it?

I'm currently listening to the sixth and final album (again, not including the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. CD),

CAN'T FIGHT FATE - Taylor Dayne

Up until finding this album, I had only heard her song "Tell It To My Heart", one which I had played quite often in a certain span of time, as is the case with many songs that really strike me (other such songs include Wall of Voodoo's "Call Box (1-2-3)", Simple Minds' "Colours Fly (And Catherine Wheel)", and Red 7's "Heartbeat" and instrumentals from the Manhunter soundtrack).

I've been distracted by our new kitten while listening so far--she's already growing up so fast--but, again, its been a fine pop background noise. I'd honestly prefer to have come across the album that the above song came from (its eponymous song, evidently), but its no problem at all. The horn section to "You Can't Fight Fate" was a nice surprise, haha.

I enjoy the rapidity of her instrumentation; the keyboard strikes that push the forward drive to inflection. It's like the ebbing and flowing of a musical river[; a tributary that makes its own way through the dense undergrowth.] I'm looking forward to what the last track has to offer. Billy Idol, again, is a solid example for me. His final tracks seem to channel a unique structure that, without saying much more than that, set a sort of precedent for me. \m/,

And so...for the final track...

(In more than one way, isn't it? ;O] ;o] ;[;] )

I did get a hint of completion in a note there...like that sadness you may feel in a moment when the movie is near its end. It's the marriage of expectation and logic, where I suppose we feel the time has come to pack our bags and brace ourselves for the progress calling us beyond. Tributaries falter in time; the ground imbibes; the air sweeps on; and where becomes the mystery.