Salı 2 May 2006, 18:32
Last week was good because I only worked three days and none of them were consecutive. But because I normally listen to a heap of music at work, I expacted that this would dent my weekly listening a bit. Turns out this wasn't the case at all - although my top 10 are something of a reversion to type after a slightly abnormal week last week.
1. Clutch - 177 plays
There's something about a really good live album that ultimately leads to it dominating studio albums. Perhaps it's because music is meant to be played live? Or perhaps it's the additional intensity of a live setting that results in bands really taking tracks up a notch - so the original just isn't quite the same any more. In any event, Live in Flint got a lot of listens and is rapidly becoming my most-listened Clutch record - much like I've pretty much stopped listening to Pearl Jam's older studio records in favour of the live bootlegs they released. Blast Tyrant also deserves an honourable mention.
2. The Smashing Pumpkins - 51 plays
So I spun Gish for the first time in ages, and remembered how much I love some of the tracks on here. Rhinoceros, Bury Me, Snail, Windowpaine… all great tracks. Anyways that prompted a bit of a rumble through the crates, the highlights of which included Hope (a fairly rare instrumental), Apathy's Last Kiss and Eye.
3. Blackalicious - 32 plays
After jamming Blazing Arrow a lot lately, I instead opted for The Craft and Nia this week. It's incredibly hard to pick a favourite from these three records - Nia has a raw, unproduced charm to it, Blazing Arrow is enthralling from start to finish and The Craft has this awesome groovy, sensual quality to it. Tossing up whether or not to get Gift of Gab's solo record…
4. Sevendust - 30 plays
After discussing the merits of Sevendust with Worked, I was inspired to spin some of their stuff. It sort of ended up being a favourite tracks session, and as such included classics like Denial and Terminator, the acoustic versions of Bitch, Rumble Fish and Too Close to Hate, and newer stuff like Desertion, Hero and Face to Face. It really reminded me why I like these guys - they're an incredibly powerful, cohesive musical unit, and Lajon has one of the best voices in hard rock.
5=. Gil Scott-Heron - 27 plays
Turns out that GSH is both insightful and addictive. Having picked up Evolution (And Flashback) last week, which largely chronicles his more poetic moments, I got hooked. This week I really got into some of the more bluesy stuff on there, particularly The Vulture and The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues. Also deserving a mention is the H20Gate Blues, which has some great poetry in it: "Click. The government you have dialled is inoperative."
5=. Jerry Cantrell - 27 plays
A full listen through Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2 - a great double album. It's well worth tracking down the double CD version if you only have the single disc - some of the extra tracks are brilliant, particularly Pro False Idol and Siddhartha. There has been a lot of talk about a new Alice in Chains lately - although of course AIC really died with Layne (RIP), Jerry, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney have been jamming with a few vocalists, or so I hear. Promising news.
7=. The Flaming Lips - 26 plays
I'm finding At War With The Mystics to be particularly infectious, especially that notorious ode to Pink Floyd that is Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung and The Wizard Turns On. Plus I dug out Clouds Taste Metallic on Wed night too for the first time in a while. Ahhhh how good are Lightning Strikes the Postman and Bad Days?!!!
7=. Queens of the Stone Age - 26 plays
I tend to go through on/off phases with QOTSA, but this week was definitely a thumbs-up. Listened to Songs For The Deaf a bit on the bus - the highlights as usual being the title track, A Song for the Dead and Millionaire. Their live record continues to grow on me too - some very nice versions of A Song For the Dead and No One Knows in particular.
9. Foo Fighters - 25 plays
I never really gave the second disc of In Your Honour much airtime when it came out, so I wanted to revisit it. I've concluded that it's only really worth it for four tracks - Still, Cold Day in the Sun, Virginia Moon and Razor. The rest I'm pretty indifferent to. The first disc is, of course, great though. Plus I went back to the classic self-titled album - I think it's still my favourite Foos record.
10. Pearl Jam - 23 plays
Riot Act got some listening ahead of the release of their self-titled album, which is fantastic and which I expect to fully dominate my charts next week. There were also live tracks here and there - some of their tour bootlegs are just briliant. I'm hoping they tour NZ on their current world tour. Or else I'll just fly to Australia and see them there!!
Top Tracks
Long Road to Glory
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Big News I
Big News II
I Have The Body of John Wilkes Booth