Alice Cooper - "School's Out"

Alice Cooper - School's Out
1972, Warner Bros.

1. School's Out
2. Luney Tune
3. Gutter Cats Vs. the Jets
4. Street Fight
5. Blue Turk
6. My Stars
7. Public Animal #9
8. Alma Mater
9. Grand Finale

So what should I find in my mailbox the other day but a package from my buddy Uvulapie! It's had a few CDs in it and School's Out was one of them. He is trying to transform me into a genuine Alice Cooper fan... and to be honest, it's an uphill battle for him. I previously mentioned my work's radio station and when I listen to anything from this era I think of work. It makes me sad. But I bit the bullet and sunk my teeth into this disc. It's actually really good. Excellent even. It makes me sad but only because the general public will only know this album for the title song. It's filled with cool songs - my personal favorites being "My Stars" and "Public Animal #9." Also, the bass work on this album is phenomenal. You know, like it was played by a genuine bass player and not a guitar player who decided to become the bassist after the band was formed.

Useless Fact: If the liner notes are to be believed the Alice Cooper band got their name from a Ouija board reading.

Star One - "Live On Earth"

Star One - Live On Earth
2003, Inside Out

Disc One:
1. Lift Off
2. Set Your Controls
3. High Moon
4. Dreamtime
5. Eyes of Time
6. Songs of the Ocean
7. Dawn Of a Million Souls
8. The Dream Sequencer
9. Into the Black Hole
10. Actual Fantasy
11. Valley of the Queens

Disc Two:
1. Isis and Osiris
2. Amazing Flight in Space
3. Intergalactic Space Crusaders
4. The Castle Hall
5. The Eye of Ra
6. Starchild
7. The Two Gates

What happens when you get real musicians to play live? Actual music. I say this because I watched a Fall Out Boy concert on DVD and wondered why the heck anyone would go see them live. They were awful. Star One on the other hand is chocked full of talent. As a result Live On Earth sounds almost perfect. Nobody misses notes, nobody screws up the lyrics, the crowd is excited. There's a good mix of Star One material along with a considerable amount of Ayreon stuff as well. A pretty good live album if I do say so myself. Thanks Uvulapie!

Useless Fact: This concert was also filmed for a DVD. Everyone wore shiny space-type clothes to match the theme.

Maybe I should reiterate....

....THERE IS NO MUSIC ON THIS BLOG.

There are no links. If you want something on here you will have to do what I did:

1. Visit some of the websites in my links section. They have a lot of great stuff that's out of print for your enjoyment.

OR

2. Comb amazon and find yourself a copy. I've spent years tracking down the music I want and spending money on it. I see no reason why you shouldn't do the same.

Seriously. If you're still confused see A Purpose Statement for this Blog.

Thank you and God bless!

Music Musings: You Kids These Days...

You kids these days... you don't realize how good you have it! You go into one of these new-fangled churches and what do you see? A gull dern rock band! Right on the platform! With drums! Then they play these songs that have actual rhythms and beats and what nots. Youth groups go to these Christian rock festivals, AND IT'S NOT EVEN THE KIDS' IDEA FIRST! It wasn't that way when I was a boy.

When I was your age the only music we had was hymns. There were two instruments - piano and organ. We were only allowed to sing music written between 1750 - 1900. Anything newer was an abomination! We had to listen to SECULAR rock! Where they sang about all manner of sin (my personal favorite was the sex - but that's neither here nor there). Then this Christian rock comes out. Good Christian rock, like what was on the MTV. And by golly, you considered yourself lucky if your pastor only reacted to it with ambivalent suspicion instead of vehement opposition. You had to cajole and convince the youth pastor to drive you to God knows where to see Whitecross. Sometimes you even had to sit down with the pastor and defend the faith of people you didn't even know but had to be investigated if you were to listen to their music.

Now...good gravy. If you tell your pastor you like a certain secular band he'll probably give you a list of Christian bands that just sound just like the one you like.

I tell ya what. You kids have it easy.

Mumford & Sons - "Sigh No More"

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
2010, Glass Note

1. Sigh No More
2. The Cave
3. Winter Winds
4. Roll Away Your Stone
5. White Blank Page
6. I Gave You All
7. Little Lion Man
8. Timshel
9. Thistle & Weeds
10. Awake My Soul
11. Dust Bowl Dance
12. After the Storm

My wife and I got this disc because we really liked "The Cave" and "Little Lion Man." I still like those tunes but I'm kind of ambivalent about this disc. It's good and I like the sound - kind of like a Bluegrass version of Dave Matthews (especially in the vocals). And seriously, props to a band that can make the banjo sound dark, foreboding, and tortured. I just have to be in the right mood to listen to it. Usually afterward I always want to listen to something heavy and ripping.

Useless Fact: One person in the band is indeed named Mumford. No word on whether the other guys are his sons.