100 Disc Changer: Mix for the Start of the 2nd Half of 2013 – Sophisticated Eclectic Jams

These are the cds that are most likely to be among those that I choose for review for the 2nd half of 2013. I realize some of them are already reviewed by me. Every 6 months or so I like to update the list of what cds I have in the 100 disc changer. For the most part, I would recommend most of what ends up in the changer, but there is naturally varying degrees for what I would rate cds. Those ratings appear at www.craig-hamilton-media-review.blogspot.com www.craig-hamilton-guitar-lessons.blogspot.com, and on my Amazon account.

1. Live At Birdland by John Coltrane

2. In the Wake of Magellan, and The Dungeons Are Calling by Savatage

3. Free Fall, and Unsung Heroes by The Dixie Dregs

4. Stand Up, and High Tension Wires by Steve Morse

5. Grace for Drowning Vol. 2 Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye by Steven Wilson

6. What If, and Dregs of Earth by the Dixie Dregs

7. Guitar Battle w/John Petrucci

8. Without A Net First Set by The Grateful Dead

9. Soul Sirkus

10. Kings of Damnation Era by Black Label Society

11. Spontaneous Combustion by Liquid Trio Experiment

12. Back In The World of Adventures by The Flower Kings

13. Hotel Splendido by Al di Meola

14. Greatest Hits: Back to the Beginning by Megadeth

15. Emergent by Gordian Knot

16. …And Justice for All by Metallica

17. Disc 2 of Greatest 1 and Other Cool Songs by Dream Theater

18. Niacin by Niacin

19. My Favorite Things by John Coltrane

20. Night of the Living Dregs, and California Screamin’ by The Dixie Dregs

21. Individual Thought Patterns by Death

22. Bridge Across Atlantic by Transatlantic

23. The Ritual by Testament

24. Light Years by Chick Corea’s Electrik Band

25. Machine Head by Deep Purple

26. I Care Because You Do by Aphex Twin

27. The Odyssey by Symphony X

28. Disc 2 Druqs by Aphex Twin

29. Scenario by Al di Meola

30. The Kindness of Strangers by Spock’s Beard

31. Effigy of The Forgotten by Suffocation

32. Doin’ Something by Soulive

33. End of Silence by Rollins Band

34. The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years

35. Start Today by Gorilla Biscuits

36. Listen by Jordan Rudess

37. Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani

38. Fire Garden by Steve Vai

39. Aenima by Tool

40. A mix of Tony MacAlpine’s Maximum Security and Led Zeppelin

41. III by Chicken Foot

42. Full House by Wes Montgomery

43. Here In The Now Frontier by Queensyrche

44. Deliverance by Opeth

45. Grace for Drowning Vol. 1 Deform To Form A Star by Steven Wilson

46. 1940-47 Retrospective Vol. 2 by Django Reinhardt

47. Secret Story by Pat Metheny

48. Manchild, and Dedication by Herbie Hancock

49. Greatest Disc 1 by the Bee Gees

50. Up All Night by John Scofield Band

51. Self titled, and Mother’s Milk by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

52. The Vibe by Roy Hargrove

53. True by Too Human

54. The Artista Years Disc 2 by the Grateful Dead

55. Dear Old Stockholm by John Coltrane

56. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis

57. Still Life by Opeth

58. This Godless Endeavor by Nevermore

59. Amazing Journey Disc 1

60. Compact Jazz by George Benson, and Idle Moments by Grant Green

61. Industry Standard, and Full Circle by the Dixie Dregs

62. A Show of Hands by Victor Wooten

63. Coast to Coast, and High Tension Wires by Steve Morse

64. Friday Night In San Fransisco by Al di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia

65. Lovecraft by Cradle of Filth

66. Transgression by Fear Factory

67. The Blue Note Years: The Best of Kenny Burrell

68. A Picture of Nectar by Phish

69. Greatest Disc 2 by the Bee Gees

70. Super Hits by Ted Nugent

71. Live from Planet Oz by Planet X

72. Virtuoso #2 by Joe Pass

73. A Dramatic Turn of Events by Dream Theater

74. The Best of Earl Klugh

75. Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera

76. Coda by Led Zeppelin

77. Youthanasia by Megadeth

78. School Days by Stanley Clarke

79. Minds by Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland

80. II Pornograffitti by Extreme

81. Greatest Hits by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble

82. OK Computer by Radiohead

83. Gretchen Goes to Nebraska by King’s X

84. 1947-53 Retrospective Vol. 3 by Django Reinhardt

85. 1934-40 Retrospective Vol. 1 by Django Reinhardt

86. Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell

87. Live by Bill Frisell

88. What Did He Say? by Victor Wooten

89. Can’t remember by Shadows Fall

90. Fusion by Wes Montgomery

91. Born This Way by Lady Gaga

92. When Gravity Fails by Neil Zaza

93. Destroy, Erase, Improve by Meshuggah

94. Character, and Enter Suicide Angels by Dark Tranquility

95. Surrealistic Madness by Candiria

96. Pick Hits Live by John Scofield

97. Notes on a Dream by Jordan Rudess

98. Sex and Religion by Steve Vai

99. Twilight In Olympus by Symphony X

100. First Meditations by John Coltrane

**** Lark’s Tongues in Aspic - Excellent Progressive Rock from One of the Genre’s Founders

Compared to In The Court of the Crimson King, and even In The Wake of Poseidon; Lark’s Tongues definitely measures up.  The band was essentially playing in the style of their earlier hits when they made this one.  If that was their aim, then I would have to say that they accomplished their aim.  Notice that the volume isn’t cranked on this one, and that is the sound of music before we had compressors.  I personally am fed up with the prevalence of compressors.  I think that they take away all the dynamic from music, and spoil it just to be loud.  In my opinion, if I want my music loud, then I’ll just turn up the volume, and there is no need to compress anything.

If you want to know where bands like Dream Theater and so many others got their sonic ideas, bands like King Crimson and Return to Forever were definitely influential to their sound.

Also, you may notice that I essentially wrote the same review for both Lark’s Tongues and Islands.  That is because I felt that the music of both of these cds is very similar.  Which is not to say that these albums are identical, but in my opinion, by the instrumental music alone, one would not be able to tell perhaps an unreleased B-side one of these cds from the other.  They are essentially the same in greatness. 

**** Islands by King Crimson - Excellent Progressive Rock from One of the Genre’s Founders

Compared to In The Court of the Crimson King, and even In The Wake of Poseidon; Islands definitely measures up.  The band was essentially playing in the style of their earlier hits when they made this one.  If that was their aim, then I would have to say that they accomplished their aim.  Notice that the volume isn’t cranked on this one, and that is the sound of music before we had compressors.  I personally am fed up with the prevalence of compressors.  I think that they take away all the dynamic from music, and spoil it just to be loud.  In my opinion, if I want my music loud, then I’ll just turn up the volume, and there is no need to compress anything.

If you want to know where bands like Dream Theater and so many others got their sonic ideas, bands like King Crimson and Return to Forever were definitely influential to their sound.

Also, you may notice that I essentially wrote the same review for both Lark’s Tongues and Islands.  That is because I felt that the music of both of these cds is very similar.  Which is not to say that these albums are identical, but in my opinion, by the instrumental music alone, one would not be able to tell perhaps an unreleased B-side one of these cds from the other.  They are essentially the same in greatness. 

**** The Very Beast of Dio by Dio – Excellent Dark Rock That Speaks to Downtrodden People

If I had to put this in a genre, I would have to call it dark rock.  In the same way, I would not classify Black Sabbath as metal, but as dark rock.  Surely, there is no essential problem to categorizing this music as metal.  This for me is just a personal category.  I believe that this categorization is the reason why my wife could listen to Dio, but not Morbid Angel, for example.  To her there are boundaries in music, and Dio does not cross the line to being a band like Slayer.  I would say that a more modern comparison to of a genre that this belongs in would be similar to Korn which I have heard described best as “Loud Rock.”  I would also call Korn dark rock, in addition to loud rock.

I would definitely recommend DIO to a fan of Korn, especially one who doesn’t mind more primitive production, or definitely to someone who enjoys listening to Black Sabbath, especially when Ozzy sang for them.  Also, fans of the metal band Manowar should definitely check out this album.  I imagine most of them already have.

I’ll also add that part of the reason I gave this cd 4 stars is that it is chock full of good songs.  It was a great cd for my hundred disc changer partly because every song is good and there are a lot of good song on it.

In the song, "Rainbow in the Dark," there is a lyric that says it all, "I cry out for magic."  For some of us, the one's whom have found that Gd has hidden himself, and is not worthy of calling upon, we hope that there can be some sort of magic that will get us through the dark depressive times.

**** Greatest Hit (… and 20 Other Pretty Cool Songs) by Dream Theater – Strikingly Complete

When I first heard Dream Theater was going to put together a greatest hits package, I thought, “That’s impossible because almost all their songs are good.”  I couldn’t even imagine how they were going to pull this one off, but they did!

They put all the songs that in my opinion didn’t fit well on their albums, it seemed as if every album had one extra song, but I was not conscious of this when I thought of what they would do for a greatest hits package.  Well, you may wonder how these songs all fit together; the answer is that the songs are more mild than most of the other stuff on their albums.  It was always as if Dream Theater always had a token slow song, and what’s more they even released that song though usually it would get no attention for radio airplay.

Perhaps, I should have thought otherwise, but because I usually thought the released song was weaker than the rest of the album, it never occurred to me that they would put them all on 2 cds and repackage it.  As far as I know, this album, repackaging all the slow songs together ends up hitting the sonic spot on certain days, and is well worth listening to.  You just have to be in the mood for it.  Even for people that love the heaviest music, I imagine there can come a time when you feel like you need a rest.  Let me tell you, or even warn you, there are many musical rests about on this collection, as this is not the typical busy, hard hitting music I think of most when I think of Dream Theater.