Rediscovering an album from an earlier part of your life

[bassist_25]

Don't you just love getting acquainted with an album that you use to listen to "back in the day?" I decided to pop in The Verve Pipe's Villians a little while ago, and I've realized that it's probably one of the last great alternative albums before alternative rock became bland, souless, and predictable. Brian Vanderark is a highly underrated songwriter with lyrics like "Now my lover smells like rain," and "Blind labors the blind." The production is murky and dark, but it just breaths enough to let those little beautiful moments shine in along with enough pop sensibility to make sure that the songs stick with you after the ride is over. The Verve Pipe kind of remind me of a more cynical Tonic.

It's cool rediscovering albums like this. I use to listen to this album when I was like 15, and I thought that the bass line in Freshman was one of the most tasteful things I've heard up until then. Plus, I remember the bass player used a black Thunderbird, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

[Banned]

I thought that the bass line in Freshman was one of the most tasteful things I've heard up until then.

Same here! I also really got into the bass line for John Mayer's "No Such Thing".

[bassist_25]

David LaBruyere is John Mayer's bass player. He's a totally bad ass cat. His one of those players who lays it down tastefully, but you just know he could whip out some serious chops if called upon.

[Big Jim]

A gem from the not-too-distant past for me is Mad Season. It's a shame that we got no more music from them. A cool collection of musicians including Layne Staley & Mike McCready.

[MeYatch]

man, I havn't listened to that album in a long time. I've got it here somewhere, I might give it a listen to.

One of my favorite albums I just rediscovered a year or so ago is Nada Surf High/Low. Once you break past Popular, there's some really great alternative rock guitar riffs and such.

[Killjingle]

Trouble - The Skull

early Trouble made me want to write the heaviest music of all time...

[mjb]

the partidge family, i think the album was called " rubin" some of their darker stuff, but dannys bass just rules all. he really lays it down on this album. when him and chris lock in, it takes my breath away, kieth really came into his own on this album and lived up to his nickname "riff miester" as he was affectionatly called by mom.

[Jim Price]

Thanks Killjingle, now I'll have to throw that album on when I get home from work, because I have "Pray for the Dead" on repeat playback in my head!

Seriously, though, quite a few albums do that for me. Strange and obscure albums, too, such as Manfred Mann's Earth Band's Glorified Magnified (harder and more experimental stuff from before Mann started doing Springsteen covers), City Boy's The Day the Earth Caught Fire (kind of a harder-rocking Supertramp), Nektar's Recycled are albums I've recently had to revisit that I listened to quite a lot in years past. A more recent album that does that to me is Porcupine Tree's In Absentia.

[Baceman Spiff]

Trouble - The Skull

early Trouble made me want to write the heaviest music of all time...

Thats awesome. I had had that on LP! I was just listening to "Pray for the Dead" earlier on myspace. Then I read J.P. has the same song stuck in his head...spooky

I guess for me it was D.R.I. 's Thrash Zone. I pulled my cassette out and dusted it off not long ago. Also from WAY back in the day I listened to Giornesto's Virgin Eater demo, just a few weeks ago. I still have a copy, not all the songs still play though. Ahhh...back in the day.

[FBooth]

City Boy's The Day the Earth Caught Fire (kind of a harder-rocking Supertramp)

Wow JP, I had forgotten about that one. I'll have to dust that piece of vinyl off. I remember a song called "Machines". And was that the one that had "Up The Eighties" on it too?

[Jim Price]

Yep, "Up in the 80's," the title song, "It's Only the End of the World," and the 12-minute epic "Ambition" which closes the album. Damn, there's another album I'm going to have to break out tonight!

[metalchurch]

Here's a few that I 'dusted off' as The Don said. They are all very different in style, but I love every one of them.

Rainbow - Long Live Rock n Roll ('77)
Nuclear Assault - Game Over ('87)
Helmet - Meantime ('92)

[Plastered Bastards]

The Accused- Return Of Martha Splatterhead
OZ- Fire In The Brain (on vinyl)
Voivod- War and Pain

[MoonManTom]

Well each Week I seem to find an old album, that I totally love and listen to,
This week it is

Savatage - Power of the Night!
Criss Olivia was one of my all time favorite guitarist!

Songs Like Warriors, Hard for Love, Power of the Night, Skull Session, Necrophilia! Great Songs!

[Gallowglass]

I too do this pretty frequently. This week its been Metal Church's self titled debut. I've been jammin along with "Beyond the Black" (cool syncopation), and especially "Merciless Onslaught". Another little bit that sticks out to me is the badass little chromatically descending bit in (My Favorite) Nightmare. Great album. It took me back to being a wee metalhead.

On a different note I have also rediscovered Coltrane's Giant Steps. It's a tune that I have always wanted to master playing (yeah right) and recently the bug bit me again to work on it. It's been a couple of years since I seriously listened to the album. Wow. That guy was really something special. I personally think he was the best "musician" of the 20th century.

[Possessed]

I just pulled out my cassettes and I have been listening to
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath, Sepultura - Beneath the Remains, and Sacred Reich - Surf Nicaragua

Don't Break the Oath is my favorite Mercyful Fate album. I discovered it when I was 16 or 17 right after I heard King Diamond's Abigail.
I just asked for it on CD for this Xmas.
All these cassettes got plenty of playing time in my old '73 Plymouth Barracuda. Damn, I wish I still had that car.

[songsmith]

Riot "Live" from '82 or '83, with Rhett Forrester on vox. I flat wore out several copies of the cassette, and it didn't sell all that well, so they're rare now (I have a decent copy). Fuhuhuck, that's a good metal album!

Metal Church "Self-titled" and "The Dark." Heard "Gods of Wrath" on XM, and had to dig that stuff out. They reissued an old live show CD from back in the day a few years ago. Makes you forget about all the hairband stuff that came later.

Judas Priest "British Steel"... what more can you say? It's power and velocity and angst and beauty... the musical equivalent of a Ferrari with a 20mm machine gun mounted on the hood... maybe the perfect example of what metal's about. I don't think they ever really topped it, though they came very close on subsequent records.

Toto "Self-titled" Early Toto was just amazing. They took all the best studio guys, put them together in a studio and let them make what they wanted. "Hold The Line" was the top song of the year in a year that was all about disco, known for it's piano/crunch-guitar rhythm hook, it was a smash hit, though the album didn't sell gangbusters. The album actually has far better songs, like "All Us Boys," and has an almost British feel. I still like the "Turn Back" album best, but this one was in a cut-out bin at a grocery store a few months ago, so I revisited it. (Always look in the cheapo-bins!)

I have no bluegrass records like this, because you never really stop listening to old bluegrass records... you're expected to put at least 2 or 3 old covers on every record, and many are ALL covers. I know that sounds kinda lame, but in BG, it works because it's so traditional.---->JMS

[ZappasXWife]

Some friends and I were listening to King Crimson the other night, Robert Fripp's style at the time was innovative because he was combining prog rock with a little metal....fresh when it was 1970....done so many times since. It sounded great.
Agreed mjb about the Partridge Family. Gallowglass, who in the hell is Coltrane?

[Ron]

who in the hell is Coltrane?

Whaaaa? You're kidding, right?

[Gallowglass]

... Gallowglass, who in the hell is Coltrane?

John Coltrane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane

[MatchstikDrummer]

I pulled out a great metal classic the other day...
Death Angel - Act III
awesome album and I think every drummer wanted to be able to play the beginning of Discontinued

[metalchurch]

Gallowglass,
I was also jammming 'Beyond the Black' and 'Metal Church' yesterday.
I also like 'Gods of Wrath' from that album. I never learned that one though.
The Dark was another good one, but after that I kind of lost interest.
It sucks that David Wayne passed on. Actually it sucks when any musician dies.

Alice in Chains Facelift is another one that I dug out today after all the talk about Layne Staley in another thread. That was probably my fav one.

[Gallowglass]

Gallowglass,
I was also jammming 'Beyond the Black' and 'Metal Church' yesterday.
I also like 'Gods of Wrath' from that album. I never learned that one though.
The Dark was another good one, but after that I kind of lost interest.
It sucks that David Wayne passed on. Actually it sucks when any musician dies...

It seems this has been a popular album recently. "Gods of Wrath" is an awesome tune. I pretty much lost interest after "The Dark" too. It was disheartening to hear of the passing of Davis Wayne.

[ZappasXWife]

ZappasXWife wrote:
... Gallowglass, who in the hell is Coltrane?


John Coltrane.

I was kidding! But not about the Partridges....

[Gallowglass]

ZappasXWife wrote:
... Gallowglass, who in the hell is Coltrane?


John Coltrane.

I was kidding! But not about the Partridges....

I know, it just gave me an opportunity to spread the gospel...

Speaking of which:

http://www.coltranechurch.org/