Spring Is A Go – A Poem

Spring is a go

Sing as we plow with our hoe

Scattering seeds of life

For back break harvest strife

Baseball games are ah playin’

My mood is a’ liftin’  I am just sayin’

And, in all that we do

Spring has sprung through and through

***** Nil Reccuring by Porcupine Tree – Short, Sweet and Old Fashioned In a Good Way

Porcupine Tree is a very unique band.  They never really hopped on any trendy bandwagons, like it seems all bands do.  For example, Porcupine Tree is not a metal band, but more so than just plain old rock bands they do get heavy.   Also, praise the L-rd, there is no effin’ compressor pedal usage that I can detect on this album.

Steven Wilson understands the need for dynamics in music, and that though he sacrifices radio play for not using a compressor.  (Radios only want music that uses compression, which is an effect that takes all the dynamics out of songs, and it essentially cranks the volume to 10, but really how many times can someone listen to songs all cranked to 10, or whatever the maximum volume is and not get bored.)  Wilson has gained a fairly large following through quality music, like this disc, and not catering to any band wagon.  Frankly, I couldn’t name you another band that plays without compressors or triggered drums in the days of the newest technologies.  This is how music was made back in the day when Led Zeppelin and Hendrix ruled.  All other bands seemed to have cowered in fear of losing audience in favor of using the latest gadgets that end up as toys for toddlers to push a button and have a song come out, but not Porcupine Tree.  Porcupine Tree is old fashioned in a good way.

**** Demanufacture by Fear Factory – An Excellent Work by a Pioneering Band

This is what I grew up listening to, and loving as a teen.  Though I think their first work is better, Demanufacture is a solid album, good song after good song.  Like their first effort, this one has a lot of really good songs.  As song writers, this work is more refined than the first one, and I think that is a minus.  Piss Christ is my favorite song on this album.

*** Obsolete by Fear Factory – Except for the Song Resurrection Fear Factory Lost Their Edge

Okay, I imagine some folks are saying, “What the hell?  This is a great album!”  And, had this been the first Fear Factory album, I would have given it 4 stars.  However, by the time of this album, Fear Factory is still writing good songs, but they just aren’t standing out against the rest of Fear Factory’s catalogue.  For all the ingenuity this band showed, this album doesn’t add anything stylistically.  However, Obsolete contains my favorite Fear Factory song to date, and that is the song Resurrection.  

*****self-titled by Boston – We Will Probably Groove To This Ageless Work for 1,000 Years Or More

I can hardly think of an album that more deserves 5 stars that Boston’s self-titled effort.  There is not any filler at all on this one.  Since its inception across generations, there is no generation that has not embraced this album as being anything but first quality music.  There is something at every moment on Boston’s self-titled that is appreciable for anyone.  Even the greatest musical snob breaks down and admits; this album is first quality. 

***** You Go Now by Chroma Key – Pure Mellow Brilliance

I did not get the impression that the keyboardist/leader of Chroma Key, Kevin Moore, was trying to alienate his audience with this one.  The album title is, “You Go Now,” which by itself can have many meanings, and I wasn’t quite sure what Kevin Moore was trying to get at when he made the album.  I listened to it, and thought it was better than Radio Head’s OK Computer album, which is very similar to this one.  I think I finally figured out what Kevin Moore meant when he called this album, “You Go Now,” when he recorded the follow up album, “Graveyard Mountain Home,” which in my opinion has no redeeming qualities.

My review is a comparison of this with the much more popular album, OK Computer, to which I believe Kevin Moore’s effort is far better.  However, it is possible that the listener will have a difficult time appreciating this album.  I hope that is not the case because You Go Now is in my opinion a classic in its own right.

**** Project by Jordan Rudess and Rod Morgenstein - Possibly The Disc That Put Rudess On The Map

Before this disc you probably wouldn’t have heard of Jordan Rudess, and while that remained true afterward, this effort, Project, was something that probably brought Rudess some much needed attention from the music industry.  The second discs that brought Rudess even further into the spotlight where Liquid Tension Experiment, and Liquid Tension Experiment II.  Suddenly, he was among the leaders in the industry.

In my opinion, Project never reached the greatness of the Liquid Tension Experiment discs, but it is a very good effort on the parts of both musicians.  Of course Jordan Rudess was already playing the part as the Dixie Dregs keyboardist, which was probably his greatest gig to date when he recorded Project, but this disc has original material, and it wasn’t Rod Morgenstein’s effort alone that pushed this disc to greatness.  Jordan Rudess and Rod Morgenstein played their hearts out on this disc and the result is unforgettable.  So, while I won’t go on to give this one 5 stars, I will say that this gig was the stepping stone for Rudess to go on to making 5 star albums with the greatest progressive band ever, Dream Theater.

If you already have some of the prog rock essentials, which are listed in many places on the web, then you might want to think about picking this one up.  It is a great album, and would probably only disappoint someone who is trying to be cool.

2nd Review of ***** The Blessed and The Damned by Iced Earth – The Definitive Collection of Their Work

I am a huge fan of Iced Earth.  Surprisingly, 4 discs of their stuff has gotten me nearly endless hours of happy listening enjoyment .  The other 2 discs are Days of Purgatory.  In the following blog: “50 Great Metal Bands: Maybe Some Are More Deserving, But I Figure This Is a Good List,” I rated Iced Earth number 3.  Also on the following list for www.amazon.com, I rated this work, The Blessed and The Damned of Iced Earth number 3, “40 Great Metal Bands and an Awesome Album by Each.”

Metal has been a defining characteristic of my life and it really started before my time with the Baby Boomer generation’s band Black Sabbath, which has also been a favorite of my generation as well, and may continue to enthrall younger generation for years to come.  So, IMHO, it is probably a good idea to pick up one of the great musical works of our time because I do believe that some of the metal of our time will be remembered as Beethoven and other classical masters will be remembered.

2nd Review of **** Days of Purgatory by Iced Earth – All That Metallica Could Have Been

While Metallica stopped writing music like this, Iced Earth stepped up and filled the void, and did it even better that Metallica had ever done.  Iced Earth packs the punch of Metallica’s heaviest songs like Damage Inc., and for lack of originality I subtracted a star.  However, don’t let that stop you from purchasing this album, as it is a tremendous work of art, and maybe on a different day of the week I would have rated it 5 stars, just depending on the mood that I am in.

I first got into Iced Earth about 14 years ago.  That would be 1999.  Days of Purgatory was my first purchase from this band.  Perhaps, that makes me a dinosaur, but when I put these discs into the player they never disappoint me.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I could listen to this stuff by itself indefinitely without getting tired of it.  The only reason to move on and put different stuff in my player is for the sake of diversifying, not out of getting bored of the songs.