CAF's Circus of Albums: A Listening Topic

Canadian Air Force

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This will probably stick out like a sore thumb in the album reviews topic, but rather than making separate topics for each album review, I thought of dedicating one topic to all of my album reviews. I will be trying out a rating system that I stole from someone else on another forum, basically I will rate each track on an album out of five (5 = near perfect, 3 = average, 1 = bad, no 0.5's), take the average of the score and multiply that by 20.

Rating System
100-95 (5 stars) - Near perfection
94-90 (4.5 stars) - Minor issues, still a beauty though
89-80 (4 stars) - Great work

79-70 (3.5 stars) - Lots of missteps, but a good effort overall
69-60 (3 stars) - Some tracks worth cherry picking, slightly above average
59-50 (2.5 stars) - Mediocre, has a couple of noteworthy songs

49-40 (2 stars) - Poor

Giving out albums worse than 2 stars is very rare for me, the last album that I gave these kind of scores to was the Metallica/Lou Reed album from last year.

Some General Info
-I will try to do 1 album review minimum per day
-Variation (I will review different albums by different artists most of the time, I might do the odd run of albums by the same artist from time to time, I ain't afraid to venture out of my comfort zone either)
-60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000s, 2010s, EP's, compilations, soundtracks, etc.

This topic will or may feature:

New Discoveries/Backlog - I'm new to the album or band. Sometimes it might be an album I've never heard by an artist that I love. May also be an album sitting around that I haven't listened to yet.

Old Favorites - Albums that I've listened to in the past sitting in my collection.

2012 Releases - Keeping up with the joneses.

The Song of the Week - Song that's on my mind at the time. Basic history of the song and other info like the album it was on, etc.

Some Controversial Opinions - We can't all like the same albums

Most of my album reviews will typically look like this:

Band/Arist - Title
Album Art
Tracklist
Personnel

Background: This is where I regurgitate stuff that I read about the band and album on Wikipedia/internet. I may also mention my personal history with the band/artist if they're a favorite.

The Tunes: I'll briefly talk about my favorite songs as well as the stuff I didn't like. Depending on my history with the band/album my writeup will either be short or long, I don't do much lyrical analysis for songs either. Bonus songs will not factor into the album rating even if they're great songs, barring some exceptions of course

Closing Comments / Rating:

The Ratings

Old Favorites
Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979) - 84
 
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Canadian Air Force

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Song of the Week (2/27/2012 - 3/4/2012)

Steely Dan - Deacon Blues
steely-dan-aja-album-cover.jpg
Aja (1977)

first album I will be reviewing is The Wall by Pink Floyd
 

Canadian Air Force

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(Old Favorites) Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
PinkFloydWallCoverOriginalNoText.jpg

Genre: Progressive Rock
Produced by: Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin and James Guthrie

Personnel:
  • David Gilmour - guitars, vocals, synthesisers, clavinet, sound effects
  • Roger Waters - vocals, guitars, synthesiser, sound effects
  • Richard Wright - organ, piano, Rhodes electric piano, synthesisers, bass pedals
  • Nick Mason - percussion

Tracklist (Blue = great, Red = dud)
Disk 1
1. In The Flesh? 3:17
2. The Thin Ice 2:28
3. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) 3:41
4. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives 1:20
5. Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) 3:56
6. Mother 5:32
7. Goodbye Blue Sky 2:48
8. Empty Spaces 2:10
9. Young Lust 3:25
10. One Of My Turns 3:38
11. Don't Leave Me Now 4:22
12. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3) 1:17
13. Goodbye Cruel World 1:05
Disk 2
1. Hey You 4:39
2. Is There Anybody Out There? 2:40
3. Nobody Home 3:25
4. Vera 1:38
5. Bring The Boys Back Home 0:50
6. Comfortably Numb 6:49
7. The Show Must Go On 1:36
8. In The Flesh 4:16
9. Run Like Hell 4:22
10. Waiting For The Worms 3:56
11. Stop 0:34
12. The Trial 5:16
13. Outside The Wall 1:42

Pink Floyd capped off a successful decade with another mammoth, a double album called The Wall. It was second to The Dark Side of the Moon in album sales, and it featured their most recognizable song and biggest hit, Another Brick In the Wall, Part II. The idea for the album started in 1977 during the band's In the Flesh Tour, when Water had an encounter with a fan and spat on him. The Wall was a concept album that explored isolation, suffering and excess. Some say the album's character "Pink" was based on either Roger Waters or former band member Syd Barrett, both Waters and Pink lost their fathers in WWII. James Guthrie and Bob Ezrin who produced successful albums for Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Lou Reed was brought in to help produce the album. A small army of uncredited and credited musicians also helped out with the album, including Bruce Johnston (Beach Boys) and Toni Tennille providing backing vocals for some of the songs. Tensions between the band were quite high at this point with a major riff being formed between Waters and the rest of the band, but sometimes great albums come out of conflict and tension (looking at you Rumours).

There is no denying that this was Roger Water's baby, the bass guitarist wrote a majority of the tracks on the album. The album features a stellar cast of tunes, my favorite being the sleazy, excess filled rocker, "Young Lust" and the more sombre "Mother". Of course I can't ignore the classics like "Another Brick In the Wall, Part II" and "Comfortably Numb" featuring some great solos from David Gilmour. Ezrin made some interesting contributions to the album, including the addition of disco beats to Another Brick In the Wall, much to the chagrin of Gilmour. He also played a role in adding a children's choir to the track, turning the song into a major hit. Everybody was doing disco at the time, why not Pink Floyd?

Like long movies, double albums are quite intimidating for me. Most of the time, I prefer my albums to be in the 30-50 minute range. There's definitely great double albums out there (London Calling, Quadrophenia, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, The White Album, etc.) but even those albums had their share of filler, and The Wall was no exception. Disk 1 is easily my favorite, despite the presence of songs like Comfortably Numb on the second half. This will probably come off as a controversial opinion but to this day, I am still not a fan of "The Trial", lyrically I get the song, but musically it's bizarre and just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. Ezrin did some great things for the album, but "The Trial" was a huge miss in my opinion. I've seen the song appear in tons of Pink Floyd best song lists, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when it comes to that song.

There's no denying the ambition and creativity that went into this record, but like most double albums, it's bloated and has some issues with filler. When it comes to the 70's Floyd albums, I will take Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and Animals any day, but all of those albums are near perfection in my eyes. The Wall was another great entry from Pink Floyd and they capped off the 70's in style.

84/100

I wouldn't mind some feedback on this review, good or bad. Hope you guys liked it.
 
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Canadian Air Force

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(New Discoveries/Backlog) Ted Nugent - Ted Nugent (1975)
TED+NUGENT-TED+NUGENT.jpg

Genre: Hard Rock
Produced By: Tom Werman and Lew Futterman

Main Personnel:
  • Derek St. Holmes - vocals, rhythm guitar, arrangements
  • Ted Nugent - lead and rhythm guitar, vocals, bass, percussion, arrangements
  • Rob Grange - bass
  • Cliff Davies - drums, vibraphone, backing vocals

Tracklist:
1. Stranglehold 8:22
2. Stormtroopin' 3:07
3. Hey Baby 4:00
4. Just What the Doctor Ordered 3:43
5. Snakeskin Cowboys 4:38
6. Motor City Madhouse 4:30
7. Where Have You Been All My Life 4:04
8. You Make Me Feel Right at Home 2:54
9. Queen of the Forest 3:34

Dissatisfied with the way things were going for The Amboy Dukes and the revolving carousel of band members, the band broke up, and Nugent took some time off and returned to the game with his own solo band. He enlisted vocalist and guitar player Derek St. Holmes, Amboy Dukes bass guitarist Rob Grange and a jazz-rock drummer Cliff Davies.

I'm not entirely familiar with Ted Nugent's band, but this album is good old, no-frills hard rock. Stranglehold was an interesting choice to open the album, it's a great song, but most bands open with a quick rocker, luckily Nugent pulled it off. It's easily one of Nugent's most recognizable songs (Cat Scratch Fever included). Just What the Doctor Ordered, Motor City Madhouse and Queen of the Forest complete my list of absolute favorites on the album. My only issues with the album are with the album's single, "Hey Baby", it isn't a bad song though, just doesn't interest me. Another song that disappointed me was "You Make Me Feel Right at Home", it's slower and on the bluesy/jazz side, perhaps Ted was paying homage to his idols and influences. Like "Hey Baby", it ain't a bad song, but it doesn't wow me. Other than that though, Ted Nugent's debut was a great discovery. I may venture further into the man's discography as well as his work with The Amboy Dukes.

87/100
 

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Song of the Week (3/5/2012 - 3/11/2012)

Black Sabbath - Die Young (from the album Heaven and Hell)
black-sabbath-heaven-and-hell.jpg


My favorite Black Sabbath tune from the Dio era :****:
 

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