Week 44 – Listening and Music Impressions

I thought I should try something new. This is just a brief overview of the Listening and Music Impressions of albums I’ve listened to this week. Some have been rendered into longer reviews but I’m too lazy to write about everything. Every album might not be interesting enough or worth the effort either.

First up was Mötley Crüe’s sophomore album Shout at the Devil. Still their best in my opinion. Nice riffs and nice melodies. Not the most mature lyrics maybe but it’s a lot of nostalgia. Then there was Bill Ward’s (of Black Sabbath) third solo album Accountable Beasts. It was “different” but didn’t really appeal to me. If you’re looking for a Black Sabbath sound, seek elsewhere.

Seum and their album Double Double had a glorious cover art so I had to investigate. But it wasn’t for me at all. The best I can describe it as is slow Death Metal with Stoner influences. Pretty poorly produced. I was also exploring AC/DC with Brian Johnson on vocals. That combo was never a favorite of mine, but I felt like I had to educate myself. I checked out Stiff Upper Lip. It was kind of a mediocre experience. I’m sure there are better albums from AC/DV with Brian Johnson on Vocals but I still prefer Bon Scott.

What would music be without Frank Zappa, you ask? Maybe you didn’t ask but I’ll answer it anyway. It would be more boring. I was checking out the album Finer Moments. I mostly liked it but it was also exactly what I thought it would be, very strange. It was sort of a compilation of songs from the 70s but not released until 2012. I saw a description of it as being ‘odds and ends. That more or less sums it up.

After that, I went on to Buckethead. A virtuoso guitarist who often chooses to do very strange things. As far as I’m concerned, the particular album Pepper’s Ghost was not so strange though. But I really liked it. It was instrumental of course but very interesting music-wise.

Peter Gee and Pilgrim was a soothing experience but didn’t leave me much to think about. It was a fine album to have in the background but I didn’t really take anything with me from it. Hackney Diamonds, the latest album from The Rolling Stones got a review though. It was ok, but nothing that turned me into a fan.

Upsahl Presents: The PHX Tapes was something different though. Nothing I should have even remotely liked. Much too modern pop(ish) for my tastes. But I found it pretty good. Next up was Yxngxr1, try to pronounce that! The Album was a Front Porch and the music was some kind of alternative Pop if I understand the classification right. It was quite boring.

A terrific album was Still Got the Blues with Gary Moore. I must have listened to this hundreds of times but now. It’s a big favorite album of mine. Rise of the Future with the band Distant Past was okay also. Kind of Classic Hardrock.

Erik Ekholm and the instrumental Uprising was quite boring but Nessa Barret and Hell is a Teenage Girl was more interesting. Also, something I shouldn’t really like. But was interesting. It got tiresome after a while though. I guess that’s some kind of alternative too. I’m not too good with genres and subgenres these days. There’s a gazillion of them.

Eric Bibb never disappoints! Both albums Spirit I Am and Field Recording were right up my alley. Sparsly instrumented contemporary blues. Very soothing and mostly acoustic. Quite good albums!

Last for the week. Our Swedish Band Europe’s 1988 album Out of this World. It has a few really good songs and there are really no surprises musically or soundwise. A few good songs, but more songs that really didn’t stand out made it a mediocre experience for me.

That’s all for Listening and Music Impressions this week. Hopefully, I can make this a re-occurring chronicle if you like it? Let me know in the comments. 🙂