***** The Best of by Earl Klugh by Earl Klugh – Really Good If Smooth Jazz Is Your Thing

If smooth jazz is not your thing, then this one is not for you.  End of story.  Don’t argue with me.  I don’t want to hear it.  This is the rating.  This is as good as it gets for the smooth jazz genre.  This belongs right next to Kenny G, a musician who has been tremendously popular, so far as jazz is concerned.  It is very likely that if you have heard of Kenny G, then you may or may not have heard of Earl Klugh.  Earl Klugh never achieved the popularity of Kenny G, and by many people’s standards Kenny G is fairly obscure.  I rate Earl Klugh higher than someone like Kenny G because he is obscure.  I root for the underdog even though this is genre is not my particular taste.

Most jazz musicians will admit that they didn’t get in to music to play on their instruments in that way that they could just totally fall into the background at a party, and nobody would really notice the musicians there, but that the party goes on as the ladies sip Zinfandel, Riesling, or some other dessert wine, while cracking into some lobsters and getting a tan in the evening sun at an expensive restaurant or beach house.  That is the niche of the Earl Klugh band.  Primarily, that is what this disc consists of; music that is semi-sophisticated background music.

I am pretty sure that this is the only smooth jazz cd in my collection.  I purchased it because I wanted to know what Earl Klugh sounded like as I am a guitarist, and I play and listen to jazz.  I’ll take a chance on most any artist.  In my opinion, though I don’t think all jazz is good, I do believe some of it is better than others.  This just happens accomplish its goal.  It mixed in well with my 100 disc changer for the time that I had it in the mix, but now it is time to move on.

While I won’t say this cd lacks chops at all, he is not playing as fast as Yngwie Malmsteen and for some people that is a good thing and for others it is not.  I would venture to say that most folk would think that this is a good thing.  However, I just think that it is a thing, and that it is what it is, nothing more, and nothing less.  

**** Listen By Jordan Rudess – Excellent, But Not Jordan’s Best

If you like Marillion, then chances are that you will like “Listen” by Jordan Rudess. My guess would be that if you have heard of and listened to Marillion before looking for this more obscure work, as it is his first album, predating his more famous work with Dream Theater, but times are a changin’, and Jordan Rudess has achieved super star popularity in the band Dream Theater, far more popularity than Marillion ever had.

If you are looking for something that reminds you of Dream Theater, while this music is still quite technical, I would have to urge you to look somewhere else. This album has hardly any resemblance to Dream Theater. If you are interested in collecting all of Dream Theater’s and their members solo projects, then this one might be a good one to own in the way that James LaBrie’s Winter Rose is worth owning (both of these pre Dream Theater efforts are really good.) I do have to admit, though the rest of the band does not remind me of Dream Theater at all, by the time Jordan produced Listen, a good deal of his technical style, which so far as I know was uniquely developed by him is possibly a result to the musical doors that had been unlocked to him through keyboard technology. Some people find this technical stuff, sounds that only could be produced by a keyboard played with what seems like high precision randomness to be annoying, others, like me, love it.

This album is not a 5 star work though. It is not an essential album in any way. It is the music of a serious young musician, someone well on the path toward being virtuoso, if not even a virtuoso by this album. I can’t quite put my finger on why this work falls short of 5 stars from a technical point of view. Dare I say that it is the song craft that makes this a 4 star album; I think so. That’s it. If you believe this is a 5 star album, I understand if you disagree with me, however.

***** …And Justice for All by Metallica – Trailblazing Metal Innovation

I think I was in 4th grade when this album was released. I vaguely remember that Metallica had been nominated for a Grammy or some other award, and that at the show they were to perform a song. However, I don’t remember much more than that.

Metallica was really just starting to gain in popularity with this one. This was when they still had something to prove. In my opinion, they proved themselves to world fully with the black album. After that, there was nothing left to say. Load and Reload where after the fact, superfluous and not necessary. Over Metallica’s first 5 albums they proved they play beyond a reasonable doubt. They proved that their names belonged to the ranks of musicians that have influenced the world in the same way Beethoven has, even though there are bands that are better than Metallica.

S&M was a silly little ditty, though that is generally considered to have bridged the gap between metal and classical music, I, personally, find that idea hilarious. If you are a classical musician, and can’t hear the talent on Metallica’s early albums like this one, then I would question your credentials.

First, and foremost, if you don’t like most metal, I might suggest that you give this album a try. It is really one of those albums that almost anyone should be able to appreciate. For example, try listening to the song, “One.” You shouldn’t need any help from a lyric sheet. Sure the vocals do have some rasp, but only to the extent of adding flavor in a tasteful way.

***** Emergent by Gordian Knot – Obscure But Awesome

It should be no surprise that this album is tremendous.  Look at the names of the players.  They are the names most progressive rockers should know.  For example, Jim Matheos (Fates Warning, OSI) plays on this one.  If you want a really good album by him, pick up either this one (Emergent) or Office of Strategic Influence by OSI.  Fates Warning also has some darned good albums.  Also, I recognize the name Bill Bruford, a guru on his instrument, (King Crimson) who plays on Emergent.

Apparently this incarnation of Gordian Knot has all the original members of Cynic.  I remember listening to Cynic at college and not finding the music to be that great.  However, my tastes have changed radically since college, so that doesn’t mean anything.  Cynic was at one time considered one of the best progressive heavy metal bands, along with bands like Fates Warning.  However, over time so far as I know Cynic has fallen into obscurity.  I never hear anyone talking about the new Cynic album, or if Cynic is going on tour.
Really, it is a shame that Gordian Knot’s Emergent didn’t take off.  To date the band has 2 albums, the first of which had John Myung on it.  Apparently, John Myung’s name was not enough to carry this band to a level where they might play small clubs.  Gordian Knot is essentially unknown.  The world is upside down.  Most musicians in popular bands deserve to bow before these musicians.

What’s In My 100 Disc Changer 2014: Good Stuff in Time for Day After Thanksgiving Christmas Shopping!

Firstly, I may have reviewed a few of these albums already, elsewhere. I find that occasionally, and by accident, I review an album twice, but often both reviews are very similar. However, the vast majority of these albums are in my 100 disc changer because I plan to review them someday, and of course because I love to listen to them.

These albums are that which is in my player. I can vouch for this: I have already listened to some of each of these albums and each does seem to be quite good.

To be less confusing to those who might be interested in purchasing any of these albums, only the name of the album is given, and not disc 1 or disc 2, even if each separate disc has a name, such that I don’t arrive at the number 100 in the list, as labeling which disc is in my player for multi-disc sets, especially when they aren’t even near each other in the player, is of no assistance to a potential buyer. For instance, with Steven Wilson, though both Grace for Drowning cds are in the player; I do not label each of the Grace for Drowning cds that are in the player, meaning that there is only one entry for Grace for Drowning though the set has 2 discs.

1. Dregs of Earth and What If by the Dixie Dregs

2. Grace for Drowning by Steven Wilson

3. In Absentia by Porcupine Tree

4. Free Fall and Unsung Heroes by the Dixie Dregs

5. The Wake of Magellan and The Dungeons Are Calling by Savatage

6. Live at Birdland by John Coltrane

7. Back in the World of Adventures by The Flower Kings

8. Spontaneous Combustion by The Liquid Trio Experiment

9. Soul Sirkus

10. Kings of Damnation Era by Black Label Society

11. Without a Net by the Grateful Dead

12. Metatonia by Porcupine Tree

13. Self-titled by Niacin

14. III Sides to Every Story by Extreme

15. …And Justice For All by Metallica

16. Emergent by Gordian Knot

17. United Abominations by Megadeth

18. Stardust We Are by the Flower Kings

19. The Ritual by Testament

20. Bridge Across Forever by Transatlantic

21. Individual Thought Patterns by Death

22. Live at Budokan by Dream Theater

23. The Kindness of Strangers by Spock’s Beard

24. Drukqs by Aphex Twin

25. The Odyssey by Symphony X

26. Machine Head by Deep Purple

27. The Raven That Refused to Sing and other stories by Steven Wilson

28. Listen by Jordan Rudess

29. Start Today by The Gorilla Biscuits

30. The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years

31. The End of Silence by Rollins Band

32. Doin’ Something by Soulive

33. Effigy of the Forgotten by Suffocation

34. Toxicity by System of a Down

35. Scenario by Al di Meola

36. Led Zeppelin and Tony MacAlpine mix cd

37. Aenima by Tool

38. Fire Garden by Steve Vai

39. Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani

40. Secret Story by Pat Metheny

41. Retrospective by Django Reinhardt

42. Deadwing by Porcupine Tree

43. Here In the Now Frontier by Queensryche

44. Full House by Wes Montgomery

45. Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree

46. The Vibe by Roy Hargrove

47. Empyrean Isles by Herbie Hancock

48. Up All Night by John Scofield

49. Greatest by Bee Gees

50. Lightbulb Sun by Porcupine Tree

51. Amazing Journey w/Mike Portnoy

52. The Rainmaker by The Flower Kings

53. Coma Divine by Porcupine Tree

54. The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd by Charlie Byrd

55. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and The Abbey Road EP by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

56. The Blue Note Years: The Best of Kenny Burrell by Kenny Burrell

57. Transgression by Fear Factory

58. Impressions by John Coltrane

59. Birds of Fire by The Mahavishnu Orchestra

60. Coast to Coast and High Tension Wires by Steve Morse

61. Industry Standard and Full Circle by the Dixie Dregs

62. Retropolis by The Flower Kings

63. The Best of Earl Klugh by Earl Klugh

64. First Meditations by John Coltrane

65. Virtuoso #2 by Joe Pass

66. Space Revolver by The Flower Kings

67. Super Hit by Ted Nugent

68. Eat a Peach by Phish

69. II Pornograffitti by Extreme

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

71. School Days by Stanley Clarke

72. Youthenasia by Megadeth

73. Coda by Led Zeppelin

74. Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera

75. Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell

76. Gretchen Goes to Nebraska by King’s X

77. Ok Computer by Radiohead

78. Greatest Hits by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble

79. Freaky Styley and The Abbey Road EP by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

80. Born This Way by Lady Gaga

81. Fusion by Wes Montgomery

82. Shadows Fall

83. What Did He Say? by Victor Wooten

84. Live by Bill Frisell

85. A Dramatic Turn of Events by Dream Theater

86. Pork Soda by Primus

87. Twilight in Olympus by Symphony X

88. Sex and Religion by Steve Vai

89. Notes on a Dream by Jordan Rudess

90. Pick Hits Live by John Scofield

91. Surrealistic Madness by Candiria

92. Enter Suicide Angles and Character by Dark Tranquility

***** My Favorite Things by John Coltrane – Tasteful Excellence for Anyone and Everyone

My Favorite Things gets my highest recommendation. It is a timeless classic. You could pull this cd out 1,000 years or more later, and this cd would still be cherished by listeners, both tone deaf and those with perfect pitch, and everyone in between. From start to finish, everything about My Favorite Things, the compact disc, remade from the original, is every bit as worthy of cherishing. If someone said, “I’m interested in jazz. Where should I start?” This would be one of probably the top 10 cds I would recommend.  I would say, “If you are looking for jazz, My Favorite Things won’t let you down, and if it does then you might consider yourself as some sort of new species, other than human.”

I actually purchased this disc a long time ago, back when I was at college and in my John Coltrane phase. That would be roughly the year 2001. That disc, the original, got scratched. However, I had burned a copy of it for the car, and that disc, the one I am reviewing, has no scratches. The original got tossed in the trash. That brings me to an important issue. The issue of duplicating cds, which I believe is completely okay to do in the same way people duplicated cassette tapes back in the day. Having a back up is an important thing! I currently have at least one cd in my 100 disc changer that can’t be duplicated for whatever reason, such that if I try to burn a copy, computer won’t comply. If that had been the case with My Favorite Things by John Coltrane, I wouldn’t have been able to have even a copy to write a review, all these years later, because the original would have been scratched. That’s just food for thought, and really almost aside from the review of this cd.

This disc is definitely one of my favorites by Coltrane tied with discs such as, Giant Steps, that are among my favorite discs. This disc is among my favorite things. I love music, and My Favorite Things is a sonic jazz treasure. However, it didn’t spend that much time in my 100 disc changer this time, not because I don’t like it anymore, but because I have much of it memorized. I don’t like to listen to the same thing over and over, and I tend to favor music that does not have a lot of repetition, as I could definitely say I am not sick of this disc. It is just to say that it is time to move one.

Much if not all of this music is in the Real Book. Honestly, I can’t quite remember if everything from this disc made it in. I often overlook the local jazz musicians, who have not composed their own music, and continually play the same stuff from the “Real Books,” as opposed to Fake Books, where it is thought that what makes a Fake Book, “fake,” is that somehow the original has been perverted just a little bit, such that copyright infringement has not occurred.

When it comes to jazz, there is no danger in writing a Real Book, because of the nature of jazz. Jazz is not supposed to be played the same way, and also to argue before a tone deaf jury of tone deaf walkers that the Real Book was indeed copyright infringement would probably be impossible, as there is just simply not enough information about the songs in the Real Books, because it is jazz, that one could arrive at the original completely through just copying the music.

Jazz is a music that by nature must have improvisation. The Real Book provides what is called the “head,” of the song, which is sort of like the theme of the song, almost like a chorus, though perhaps it is only played only once, twice, or thrice during a song.

**** I Care Because You Do by Aphex Twin – As With All His Works; You Love It or Hate It

Firstly, I like artsy fartsy music, so it should come to no surprise to the reader that I really like this cd.  Every song is weird in its own strange way.  Be prepared for some very unusual music if you should buy this cd.  Mostly, I like this though because it is music.  As far as I know, in the techno genre Aphex Twin was the original artist that tried to make music via computer that was also skillful and thought provoking, appealing to college students, and even geeks like me that don’t like any other techno artist.  Maybe there are other good techno artists by now, but Aphex is the original, and probably the best.  The reason I don’t give this 5 stars is that I don’t believe that it is timeless.  Computer technology will likely evolve and I Care Because You Do will probably become dated, in favor of better written music.  Though I love them, these songs just aren’t 5 star quality.

*** Greatest Hits: Back to the Start by Megadeth – Just Okay Because Some of Remakes Are Sub-Par

Let me tell you something. I have been a fan of Megadeth for a heck of a long time. One of the first compact discs I ever got was Countdown to Extinction back when it was brand new in 1993. That was back when compact discs used to come with extra cardboard paper packaging artwork. I put my picture of Vic in my Trapper Keeper notebook, as a proud statement that I was a fan of Megadeth, who for most of my life I have thought are one of the coolest bands on earth. I have seen Megadeth live twice. Really, Megadeth is one of my favorite bands of all time, along with Dream Theater. I even loved Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good.

So, by now you must be wondering, where did Megadeth go wrong on “Back to the Start?” That answer is entirely in the mix. I loved all the original mixes, and I detect that in this remake they tried to make the album sound better through doing a tad of things such as adding the effect, compression. I hate compression, probably, because it seems as if everyone uses it these days. Sure, the kids probably won’t know the difference, and maybe even will like it better, but Dave you’ve got to admit that you sold your soul to the devil on this one.

Of course, some of the tracks that were originally released with compression like Skin O’ My Teeth rock hard. It is just that I don’t like the touch ups on what I considered to be the old classic Megadeth albums. They didn’t need touch ups.

Additionally, while I don’t like this record mixed in with other discs, as I crave the original sound not the remix, as a whole the album mixes better with the touch ups. For example, Hanger 18 sounds hideous in this collection. Megadeth has been around for so long that technologies have changed, some for good, some for bad. What this means is that when listening to a bunch of music the technology on each album usually varies, and this hits package seems to try to overcome that, and it does so with a moderate amount of success.

**** Greatest Hit (...and 21 other pretty cool songs) by Dream Theater - Great for Fans of Mellow DT

Though I would give most every Dream Theater album 5 stars, it always seemed that on every album there was one song that stuck out like a sore thumb. These songs where often released as singles for some reason, as they never gave the band any popularity.

Most of Dream Theater’s fans like it complex, heavy, and fast. Most of the songs on songs on this album have a modest amount of complexity, but no heaviness or speed, and when I say heaviness I mean strictly slammin’ riffs, and not emotional heaviness, as one could perhaps conclude that these songs are in fact heavier than the others, according to personal taste.

Prior to this album, however, these songs were not among my favorites by DT. In fact, they were my least favorite prior, as I liked the more complex and heavy side of Dream Theater. However, the mix on these songs sounds like they have been redone, rerecorded, and that the general quality of the music was increased.

What I can say for this album is that in an amazingly coherent and well put together way, these kinds of songs on the albums that seemed as loners fit together very well. And, frankly I was surprised at this, but Dream Theater usually does surprise me. I was surprised because when I heard that when Dream Theater said that they were going to come out with a greatest hit like package, I had no clue what that would consist of, as to me every song on most every album belonged in that a package.

Also, it is worthy to note that finally the song, “To Live Forever,” made its way onto a major album, as prior to this release it had been kicked around and reworked several times on bootlegs prior to this release.