redwing42

Will the one handed controller co-release with a new DOAX game?

I love this album. It has a certain energy that I really only find from Japanese artists. The closest I can come to describing it is a combination of extreme earnestness and total exuberance for the music. This music is entirely made because a guitar player had a bunch of hot licks and he wanted other people to finish songs over top of them. It might as well be called "Hey, Check This Shit Out." This is great driving music, and my teenage daughter also though it was pretty cool. I'm definitely going to check out the other Samurai Session albums. Favorites were "U.G.L.Y.", "I'm So", and "Get Into My Heart", but it was a pretty consistent level throughout, honestly.

As a side note, and I'm not sure if that is what is happening here sometimes, but often English is used in Japanese songs primarily for the phonic nature of the words, and not for its meaning.

Not to be reductive, but "ditto."

UncleJam and I are different people, but I have very similar feelings on this one. It is pleasant enough to listen too, but the songs that go a bit harder are more enjoyable. I remember an old XMU(indie rock on satellite) station identification that said basically "If it is a girl with a keyboard, we will play it.". That's kind of how I feel about indie rock. This one is more guitars than keyboards, but put it in front of me, and I'll probably listen to it.

I've Seen Footage. That's all I really have to say about this album. None of it really caught my attention, or spoke to me, except I've Seen Footage. For whatever reason, that one grabbed me. Hacker was also ok. But I've Seen Footage is a banger.

For whatever reason, listening to this album made me want to then listen to Genesis Owusu. Probably the similarities in the vocalist's tone.

My favorite type of jazz is the songs that take me on a journey, be it to a Caribbean island, a smoky lounge, or the intro of Cowboy Bebop. While this album was pleasant to listen to, it rarely took that further step to really transport me. "Tio Macaco" was really the closest to this feeling for me. Maybe it was too close to the ensemble jazz that I used to play in my teens (not that I was at all on this level). I saw this as a slightly divergent evolution of the classic ensembles led by Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Different in substance, but a similar foundation. So again, it was pleasant enough, but it just didn't take me away like I want my jazz to do.

For a long time, this was my favorite Genesis album. I'm not going to hand wave away the more commercial sound of 80s Genesis, as songs like ABACAB, Land of Confusion, and Jesus He Knows Me are all catchy enough. But I've always been drawn to the weirdness of the Peter Gabriel years of Genesis. This album has the weirdness mostly contained to a couple songs, which really lets the virtuosity of the rest of the band shine. This is a beautiful sounding album, but moreover, with a heavy dose of mandolins, 12-strings, and flutes, this is a very "British" sounding album to me. Almost reminiscent of a Ren fair at times.

There is not a low point on this album in my mind. The simple word play at the beginning of The Cinema Show always gets me, the piano solo intro in Firth of Fifth is burned into my brain, and More Fool Me is a sad, wistful, beautiful tune. I really do love this album.

I mostly enjoyed this album, though I had a major technical issue with it. There were multiple songs with long outros at a very low volume. While this might be good for listeners with headphones on, I listen to most of my music in the car. That's on me, but it was an issue.

Past that, I enjoyed this album. I'm not much for screaming or growling vocals most of the time (as has been established), so that was nice to get some good technical music with some lyrical accompaniment. I enjoyed both Monochromes and Relapse particularly, but I liked the whole thing enough to give it a second listen.

Court of the Crimson King was also my only previous exposure to King Crimson, but I was also familiar with Belew from his work with David Bowie (and less so with Frank Zappa), as well as his solo album "Young Lions". So while I was maybe expecting the former, I was definitely familiar with what this album actually turned out to be. I can't say I particularly liked this album, though I thought it was fine and had its moments. It did make me want to go back to Young Lions, and though it has probably been a dozen years or so, I still think that is a fun romp.

This album was one of the first cassettes of real music I had as a kid, along with "Business as Usual" by Men At Work and "Eliminator" by ZZ Top. I have not actually revisited any of those albums for a while, but it was very strange when I listened to this that I had very few memories of this album outside the singles. Usually I get pretty big nostalgia hits when I go back to music after years away (e.g. Hang-Ups), but the only song that tripped that for me here was "I'll Wait," which was a single, but one that has certainly fallen by the wayside over the years in comparison to "Jump", "Panama", and "Hot For Teacher". Given the subject matter, that isn't so surprising.

Speaking of said subject matter, this album is short and gets to the point. And that point is David Lee Roth's penis. I don't think there was a more openly horny front man in the 80s, and that totally worked for VH and the early MTV era. I went back to listen to some of VH's other albums after listening to this one (I hadn't listened to any of the other albums in full, though certainly know and like a bunch of the songs), and I was surprised by the general brevity overall. I do think those earlier albums have a bit more cohesion, and are a bit more adventurous as well, but I echo UncleJam's criticism about the lack of structure to the albums. Also, they love The Kinks. I can't disagree.

Favorites: Hot For Teacher, Panama, I'll Wait. Favorite other VH album so far: maybe Diver Down?

I was late to the Fela Kuti party, having just heard of him within the last year or so. I'll say that this is not my favorite of his works (I struggle calling this a "song" at over 28 minutes), but I love it all the same. Discounting the lyrics for a moment, I want this music to be the soundtrack to my life. It is tremendous walking around music. It also gives me flashbacks to Jazzpunk , which makes me smile. I'm also a sucker for a prominent bari sax, of which there is plenty here.

Reading about Fela Kuti's life, I was reminded of Harry Belafonte and what a fascinating person he was. Fela seemed to be turned up a few more notches than Belafonte was, but there are interesting parallels. Fela definitely brought more of his political views into his music, but the blend of musicality and lyrical intent is really fantastic.

I'd definitely recommend looking in to some of his 70's works if this one caught your ear.