Verbal reviews his record collection

[VerbalPuke]

7 hours ago, Skummy said:

Wayfaring Stranger is an old folk song - probably mid-19th century, at least. 

There's a lot of incredible versions of it out there, it's an old favourite of mine. I first knew it from Natalie Merchant, but there have been great version by Johnny Cash, Paul Robeson, Tim Buckley and (my personal favourite) Norma Waterson. 

 

Guessing that the next album is "Among The Living" by Anthrax, as I can't think of any other 1980s thrash metal acts beginning with A.

Yeah, I'm sure I've heard older versions and numerous covers. It's a song that has been done well by a lot of groups. 

So, the next album is from a big 4 thrash metal band with a member named Ian. 

Acid Reign - Moshkinstein (Sorry I deliberately mislead everybody. It was just a really happy coincidence that this came out in 87 along with Among the Living. And Wikipedia said they were considered one of the UK's big 4 of thrash metal. Also the bassist's last name is Ian. Weird right?)

That said, I unfortunately do not have any Anthrax, well I do but not the metal band. I have Anthrax from the UK, but that's on a 45 so that comes later. 

I don't have a ton to say about this one, it's a good album but it is pretty bog standard thrash metal. This actually was their first demo and sort of spurned them to bigger success from there. I bought this years ago when I was on a big 80s metal kick, trying to get my hands on anything that was thrash or nwobhm, and saw this cheap on this old site called gemm.com. Figured for the price it was worth having and that opinion hasn't changed, when you want some no shit thrash but don't care who it is this is a good one. They're excellent musicians for sure, nice crunchy guitar riffs, squealing solos, and pounding drums.

If metal just isn't your bag it probably wont do much for you and will probably sound similar to any other 80s thrash band. 

I don't have a top three, but the opener is a fucking banger. It's only six songs and 30 odd minutes as it is.

 

I wont dick you all around this time, next band up is the Adicts. I have a few of their albums so I may do them all in one or separate, haven't decided yet. They're a ton of fun though so looking forward to going through these again. 

[VerbalPuke]

Ok so it's been two months, hi everybody. Sorry, consider this topic to be a long long on going updated whenever sort of thread. Though I do want to remain active, probably right now is a good time before I start school next week. 

So I've debated on if I want to review certain bands/albums all in one post or do their albums separately. Right now I'm going to go for the separate option though it could vary depending on the artist and their catalogue (like you can bet when I get to Motorhead we're going individually, Led Zeppelin on the other hand...). 

Today we discuss The Adicts - Songs of Praise

The Adicts are a lot of fun, they sorta fall between that first wave of punk in the UK but right before the Oi and D-Beat type stuff became more prominent. The sound is pretty straight forward punk rock but it's pretty fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. The band adopted the Clockwork Orange droog look but the lead singer also paints his face like a court jester of sorts. A lot of punk bands have been known to adopt aspects of a Clockwork Orange and implement the thuggish aspects of the characters, where as this isn't the case here. 

Songs of Praise is the bands first effort released in 1981. I really like this album and this band a lot, they're stuff follows the anthemic aspects of punk and is extremely update and danceable. This is definitely pogoing punk and removes itself from the violent aspects of crowd interaction. The album opens up with a peppie number in "England" where Monkey (the singer) tells us he doesn't want to die for England. Neither do I bud. It's a great opener though, like I said, upbeat. 

I really appreciate the simplicity of the rhythm but just how damn catchy this is. For some reason this album is not on Spotify which is lame. 

Anyway, the second song is actually a bit different in some ways as it's got this sorta slowed down moody sound going on. It's called Hurt, it's a bit more subdued and less peppy but man it draws you in. There's parts of the song where the guitar stops and you have just the drums and bass working together, it really sounds great together. It's not even like they're doing anything complex here, just putting together a beautiful rhythm. As a musician (a shitty musician), it speaks to me with how it's can be so simple but effective (to my ears anyway). 

Ok I probably don't have the steam to write about every single song. 

I think this album would actually be a great introduction to punk for somebody uninitiated with punk. Why? Because I think it's accessible to the non-punk fan, it's an upbeat bit of rock and roll, it's not too heavy, it's melodic, the lyrics aren't gross, but it's still definitely balls to the wall punk rock. 

I hear the live shows are a lot of fun, unfortunately I've not seen them live. I do hear that they are pretty raucous affairs with confetti and playing cards tossed from the stage. 

Another great track is Viva La Revolution. Actually, not just great but probably the groups best known song. This is probably them at their best when it comes to fun, upbeat, sing along, etc. etc. I mean you can definitely see where a crowd of people could get going with this one during a show. 

 

Top Three 

England, Tango, Hurt

Next time is The Adicts second album. The Sound of Music. 

[Malenko]

On 01/02/2023 at 16:41, VerbalPuke said:

Well when I count numbers 16 comes after 7. 

So that's how I do it. 

Kinda does explain my Spotify artists numbering. 

Oh well. No more numbers. 

Oh also need to note I don't count the word "The" when alphabeticizing. So there won't be a long series of the bands.

What about The The? Would it be:      ?

 

 

[VerbalPuke]

45 minutes ago, Malenko said:

What about The The? Would it be:      ?

 

 

The The would go in the T section.

I guess. Good thing I don't have any The The.

[VerbalPuke]

Damn, thought I had already reviewed the Sound of Music. 

At this rate I'll finish this thread in about 400 years. '

I posted that video because I've always quite liked it. You get Viva La Revolution and then the best song from Sound of Music, Joker in the Pack. I find the video endearing because you have the band playing Crickett with some kids and the live event these dudes put on looks like a lot of fun. 

Fun is probably the best descriptor for the Adicts and this album in general. I prefer the debut album but this is also a strong entry from them, kicks in with high energy and really doesn't let up. One of my kids favorite songs is on this one is Chinese Takeaway, and it's a song about wanting Chinese Takeaway. It's silly, basically listing different types of takeaway food "Went to the fish shop, went to the burger shop, didn't have a lot of stuff". 

The album really doesn't let up, it'd be a good punk "party" album. I don't think it needs much more critical analysis beyond that, I'd say start with Joker in the Pack and go from there on this one. 

Top three tracks on this are Joker in the Packer, Chinese Takeaway, and Johnny Was a Soldier. 

Next up is the Adicts again, and the album is Smart Alex. 

So I'm gonna do that one right now because 1. I've been slacking and 2. I've got probably over 400 pieces of vinyl to go through, I don't think every album will really need a deep critical analysis. I honestly bought this album because I like the Adicts and I probably found it cheap somewhere. I don't even remember when or where I bought it from. It's not bad but you can tell it's one of those albums where a band tries to deviate from their core sound and depending on your mileage, it's not bad or you hate it. It's a decent album, a few good songs on this one like Smart Alex, Tokyo (This one actually feels like it could be a Stranglers song with its bass work), and Troubador (which those songs 3 songs are in a row so I mean there ya go). 

Ok great, next album is one I'll have a lot to say about. The Adolecents self titled. 

[Lint]

Well that was great!  Never listened to the Adicts before but will listen to more

[Malenko]

6 hours ago, Lint said:

Well that was great!  Never listened to the Adicts before but will listen to more

They're also a lot of fun live and still putting on a great show to this day. Totally recommend checking them out.

 

Anyway, hopefully Adolescents S/T gets a good review. I love it.

[VerbalPuke]

On 04/08/2023 at 02:42, Malenko said:

They're also a lot of fun live and still putting on a great show to this day. Totally recommend checking them out.

 

Anyway, hopefully Adolescents S/T gets a good review. I love it.

Yep, let's just start with the album right here. Will this album get a good review? Yes. Emphatically yes. This album is an important one in musical journey (lol) because the Adolescents were among the first punk bands I discovered. I think I came across them through this old P2P site called audiogalaxy through the "Similar artists" thing with other groups. I always loved this album because it's such high energy from beginning to end, well played and tight, and pure punk. I used to think of them as a hardcore band but I don't think they are. They are fast but I think there is more of an in between so called 77 style and hardcore, but they have that Orange County sorta sound to them much like Agent Orange or Wasted Youth (that kind of aggressive Skate or surf punk that still manages to have great grooves and be melodic even with the aggressive pace). 

The band featured iterations of the Agnew brothers (Rick, Frank, and Alfie), Casey Royer on drums (also a vocalist for D.I.), Tony Adolescent (perfect voice for a band title the Adolescents), and Steve Soto on bass. I would like to note that Rick Agnew is a brilliant guitar player, great style and great tone, a definite influence on my playing style and the sound I try to achieve. He has some very good solo work out there as well as playing bass for the early incarnation of Social Distortion and Christian Death. 

The entire album is a strong one and kicks off with I Hate Children. Not my favorite track of the album but kicks things into high gear and I think is a good introduction on what to expect with this album. I think most people familiar with the Adolescents will recognize the song Amoeba, and maybe others will as well as it's a fairly well known punk anthem (about scientists and such of all things). The middle of the album is probably the strongest giving us Wrecking Crew, L.A. Girl, Self Destruct, Kids of the Blackhole, No Way, Amoeba, and Word Attack. This is just a great stretch for the album, though the rest is pretty good with Democracy and Creatures standing out. 

I always kind of felt like I related to these songs especially stuff like Creatures, Kids of the Black Hole, and No Way. Being a weird kid growing up, this stuff sorta spoke to me because I could identify with being an oddball. These songs sort of made me feel like it was ok to be me and be a bit off the beaten path. 

My favorite three on this album are Kids of the Blackhole (a great tune and could be argued is actually the better choice for an "anthem"), No Way, and L.A. Girl. 

So yeah, I think very highly of this album. I posted the whole thing because it's worth featuring, probably would put this in my top ten, and maybe even top five all time favorite albums. 

Next time we will look at the debut album of a hard, funky grunge band from the early 90s.