Música: Rock & Roll/Experimental Rock/Proto Punk
Comentário AM:
One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, Freak Out! was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time. Its four LP sides deconstruct rock conventions right and left, eventually pushing into territory inspired by avant-garde classical composers. Yet the album is sequenced in an accessibly logical progression; the first half is dedicated to catchy, satirical pop/rock songs that question assumptions about pop music, setting the tone for the radical new directions of the second half. Opening with the nonconformist call to arms "Hungry Freaks, Daddy," Freak Out! quickly posits the Mothers of Invention as the antithesis of teen-idol bands, often with sneering mockeries of the teen-romance songs that had long been rock's commercial stock-in-trade. Despite his genuine emotional alienation and dissatisfaction with pop conventions, though, Frank Zappa was actually a skilled pop composer; even with the raw performances and his stinging guitar work, there's a subtle sophistication apparent in his unorthodox arrangements and tight, unpredictable melodicism. After returning to social criticism on the first song of the second half, the perceptive Watts riot protest "Trouble Every Day," Zappa exchanges pop song structure for experiments with musique concrète, amelodic dissonance, shifting time signatures, and studio effects. It's the first salvo in his career-long project of synthesizing popular and art music, high and low culture; while these pieces can meander, they virtually explode the limits of what can appear on a rock album, and effectively illustrate Freak Out!'s underlying principles: acceptance of differences and free individual expression. Zappa would spend much of his career developing and exploring ideas — both musical and conceptual - first put forth here; while his myriad directions often produced more sophisticated work,Freak Out! contains at least the rudiments of almost everything that followed, and few of Zappa's records can match its excitement over its own sense of possibility.
5 
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out! [1966]
em 20 Novembro 2009
Música: Hard Rock/Blues Rock/Rock & Roll/Contemporary Pop Rock
Comentário AM:
The Rolling Stones finally delivered a set of all-original material with this LP, which also did much to define the group as the bad boys of rock & roll with their sneering attitude toward the world in general and the female sex in particular. The borderline misogyny could get a bit juvenile in tunes like "Stupid Girl." But on the other hand the group began incorporating the influences of psychedelia and Dylan into their material with classics like "Paint It Black," an eerily insistent number one hit graced by some of the best use of sitar (played by Brian Jones) on a rock record. Other classics included the jazzy "Under My Thumb," where Jones added exotic accents with his vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan ballad "Lady Jane," where dulcimer can be heard. Some of the material is fairly ho-hum, to be honest, as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were still prone to inconsistent songwriting; "Goin' Home," an 11-minute blues jam, was remarkable more for its barrier-crashing length than its content. Look out for an obscure gem, however, in the brooding, meditative "I Am Waiting."
5
The Rolling Stones - Aftermath [1966]
em 20 Novembro 2009
Música: Hard Rock/Glam Rock/Album Rock/Contemporary Pop Rock
Comentário AM:
This is the perfect companion release to "Hunky Dory", where the band plays with an urgency that is consistent on every tune. The release opens with "Watch That Man" with great crunchy guitar beginning Bowie's recollection of a show business party. The visuals he paints are vivid as the party goers revel in the fiesta. The title song "Aladdin Sane" has off tempo piano with refences to Rogers and Hammerstein, with atonal playing by Mike Garson on piano. "Drive In Saturday" is an interesting pop tune, which has a strong harmonic chorus. "Panic In Detroit" has great drumming and guitar interplay, between Ronson and Woodmansey on another strong rocker. "Cracked Actor" has swinging feel and interesting lyrical work with a racous harmonica. "Time" has amazing flowing piano by Garson, which is joined by strong orchestration which add to the feel and dynamics. "The Prettiest Star" is a cute pop song. There is a cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together" which fits exactly with the style of the covers on "Pin Ups". "The Jean Geanie" is a great rocker, with rattling maracas, cutting power guitar and thumping rhythm section. It is a true Bowie classic. "Lady Grinning Soul" is a well written tune that concludes the release. In all, this one of the great releases of the time period, a must have at a time when Bowie was at his creative Ziggy height. The re-release has some interesting covers that did not appear on the original.
4.5 
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane [1973]
em 20 Novembro 2009
Música: Blues Rock/Soft Rock/Rock & Roll/Contemporary Pop Rock
Comentário AM:
Led by Colin Cooper, the former frontman of the R&B unit the Hipster Image, the Stafford, England-based Climax Chicago Blues Band was one of the leading lights of the late-1960s blues boom. A sextet also comprised of guitarists Derek Holt and Peter Haycock, keyboardist Arthur Wood, bassist Richard Jones and drummer George Newsome, the group debuted in 1969 with a self-titled effort recalling the work of John Mayall.Prior to the release of 1969's Plays On, Jones left the group, prompting Holt to move to bass. In 1970 the Climax Chicago Blues Band moved to the Harvest label, at the same time shifting towards a more rock-oriented sound on the LP A Lot of Bottle.
4 
Climax Blues Band - A Lot of Bottle [1970]
em 20 Novembro 2009
Coil - The Ape of Naples [2005]
Eagles of Death Metal - Peace Love Death Metal [2004]
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West [1997]
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica [2000]
Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News [2004]
The Offspring - Ignition [1993]
Lily Allen - Alright, Still [2006]
Jerry Seinfeld - I'm Telling You for the Last Time [1998]
Apollo 440 - Gettin High on Your Own Supply [1999]
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand [2004]
Ministry - Houses of the Molé [2004]
Massive Attack - Blue Lines [1991]
em 19 Novembro 2009
Música: Heavy Metal/Stoner Metal/Alternative Metal
Comentário AM:
There is little written about Kyuss. They truly were a band ahead of their time. While the grudge scene was at full swing, this record slipped through the cracks of the music scene and entered only into the minds of those who sought for music beyond what was being handed to them by MTV. Blues for the Red Sun is a testament to one of the most underappreciated bands on Earth. The power and feeling of the opening song captures perfectly the sentiment of the whole album: Loud crunching guitars, soothing arrangements, blistering bass and powerful vocals. It was like nothing ever done before, or, dare I say, since. Black Sabbath influences are evident, but to write them off as ripoffs is a gross understatement. Kyuss's second album is a great record because it pulls you in and never lets you go. Even the short instrumentals are worthy of a listen. This is also a great introductory stoner rock album, although that title is misleading. The stoner title refers to just how much this album sucks you in and leaves your senses altered, just like a drug. Seriously, Blues for the Red Sun is great because it has great songs paced evenly throughout the album. Check out the cuts, "Thumb", "50 Million Year Trip", "Allen's Wrench" and "Freedom Run". Afterwards you may question whether you go back to listening to what you were before. By far, one of the best albums of the 90's.
4.5
Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun [1992]
em 18 Novembro 2009
Música: Heavy Metal/Alternative Metal/Progressive Metal/Grindcore
Comentário AM:
Ever since Killswitch Engage lead vocalist Howard Jones began alternating his sung voice with his screamed one, the band's depth and dimension grew exponentially. There's plenty of brutal, pummeling death metal, blastbeats and the like, but there is texture in the attack too. This is a band who has been consistent in their approach, and in delivering the goods,but As Daylight Dies is perhaps their strongest moment so far. The songs are dynamite: check the combination of texture, riffs and melody in "This Is Absolution"; by the time they get to the chorus, it's all over; an anthem. The unbridled chaos of "Unbroken" reveals that they haven't traveled far from their roots; in fact, they've dug deeper, if that's possible, despite becoming better musicians. "Eye of the Storm" is just over the top. This is the sound of both the Apocalypse and the Second Coming rolled into one. The tight, turn on a dime stops and starts in the verse and the all-out roar of the refrains and the guitar break are the stuff of heavy metal legend. If the cynics don't get it by now, they never will. For the rest, this is the album to come into the tent with. Mastodon may have convinced just about everyone with Blood Mountain, but this is a Top Five metal candidate of 2006 for sure.
4.5
Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies [2006]
em 18 Novembro 2009
Música: Christian Metal/Progressive Metal
Comentário AM:
The easy — call it the cop-out — description of Norway's Circus Maximus would be to say that they essentially offer accomplished, melodic prog metal in the Dream Theater vein, only delivered with a distinctly European aesthetic. Of course things are never so simple when discussing the dense and complex array of sounds necessary for sculpting this sort of music; and, therefore, the presence of DT's soaring vocals, heroic guitars, aggressive synthesizers, and a busy rhythm section merely begin to paint the full picture. There's much more here than initially meets the ears: first and foremost being Circus Maximus' clear appreciation of more straightforward AOR and hard rock songwriting hallmarks, which, for all of the band's fleet-fingered displays, ultimately helps sharpen their songwriting. As such, standout tracks like "Sin," "Alive," and "The Prophecy" capture a perfect balance of hooks and shocks, while the lone power ballad, "Silence From Angels Above," fairs somewhat poorly for going a bit over the top — though that too is of course to be expected. Excepting the instrumental "Biosfear," full-fledged technical showboating is surprisingly restrained, all things considered, and perhaps the final endorsement to be made about the group's talents is that monolithic numbers such as the ten-minute "Glory of the Empire" and the 19-minute title track (showing shades of ELP, and numerous other influences) hardly feel any longer than the more conventionally sized offerings. (OK, maybe the last, which, as one might expect, actually contains more than a few songs stitched together — sometimes uncomfortably so.) In any case, it's impossible to categorize The 1st Chapter as anything but an absolute tour de force — particularly considering that it's the first attempt by a new band. Should Circus Maximus be able to replicate such high-caliber results for the second chapter, they could very well become standard-bearers of their generation.
4.5
Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter [2005]
em 18 Novembro 2009
Música: Heavy Metal/Progressive Metal/Neo Classical Metal
Comentário AM:
Symphony X had already established a devoted following prior to the release of The Divine Wings of Tragedy, but it was this release that propelled them to the forefront of progressive metal bands. While often compared to Dream Theater and Yngwie Malmsteen there is enough creative writing and playing to distinguish them from other imitators. Guitarist Michael Romeo usually garnishes most of the praise for his pyrotechnic displays, but keyboardist Michael Pinnella and bassist Thomas Miller are equally competent on their respective instruments. There are many excellent moments here, but Russell Allen's vocals can be a bit grating, often sounding too much like Ronnie James Dio. The 20-minute-plus "The Divine Wings of Tragedy" is based upon Gustav Holst's "Mars: The Bringer of War," which is a piece that lends itself perfectly to this style of music. While this recording may not be quite the classic that it is often heralded to be, it is a noteworthy addition to the annals of progressive metal.
4
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy [1997]
em 18 Novembro 2009
Música: Soundtracks/Original Score/Film Music
Comentário AM:
This is Morricone at the height of his career. Here he created a score as mysterious and ethereal as the jungles and waterfalls depicted in the film "The Mission." Using a combination of flutes, oboes, strings, choral and other odd wind instruments, Morricone created both a unique and haunting experience that will leave you spellbound long after the last notes have faded from the air. The score could almost be classifed as a requiem, in this case a tribute to a people that are gone (the Guarani natives depicted in this film who were long ago driven from their homes) and the Jesuits who gave their lives to protect them. From the opening scene of the film, the score announces itself as the dominant character in the narrative, taking us from the lonely plight of a missionary on a cross, to the streets of colonial Asuncion, to the mist shrouded rain forest above the falls and the fateful mission where lives and beliefs will be tested to the core, combining native motifs with deep and sweeping string movements to fill in the places in the story where actors and the dialogue are silent, allowing the music to bring us down into an intimate place of reflection where we can embrace the sadness and the transformation that this film evokes. The only piece that I can compare this work to is Richard Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration," both works leave me shaken and nearly moved to tears. However, it's a deeply rewarding feeling to come in contact with works as profound as these. Buy "The Mission" and you will find yourself instantly transported to a place as rare as the bygone world the film depcits.
5
Ennio Morricone - The Mission - OST [1986]
em 16 Novembro 2009. Frank Zappa & The Mothers...
. The Rolling Stones - Afte...
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