The Non-Classical 'I'm Currently Listening To...' Topic

Traffic - all the 7 studio albums proper. Great stuff - only the comback album ('Far From Home') from 94 disappoints and that's mainly because it's too long to sustain itself. RIP Jim, Ric, Rebop and Chris.

Listened to Fuzzy, the debut album by Grant Lee Buffalo. Hard to believe it's 17 years old. Still sounds fresh. Also it was one of the first CDs I bought when eventually making the transition from vinyl and tapes.

I'm English yet I 'get' Grand Funk Railroad. Do I win a prize?

Grand Funk Railroad - Closer To Home. Great hairy-assed hard rock from 1970.

samurai said:

For that memorable summer of 1970, when I was getting ready to go into the Army {or so I thought} "I'm Your Captain" from Closer To Home was my anthem. It seemed like the progressive rock station I constantly listened to {WNEW FM in NYC} played it just about every other minute, and I loved it to death! Thanks for that blast from the past. :tiphat:

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Hi, S. Yes, I've read before that this particular song was a favourite with US armed forces personnel especially the 'closer to home' refrain - it seemed to tap into the mood of the times.

Grateful Dead's debut album. Not a bad opening shot - apart from the 'sign of things to come' jam/solo on the albums's closer ('Viola Lee Blues') most of the material is conventionally played almost in a 'garagey'/freakbeat style.

Grand Funk Railroad - live bonus tracks from the E Pluribus Funk album. Not that I particularly want to but it's the only way I can drown out the 'garden party' being held outside the next house where typically one person has to have a braying laugh that is ten times louder than everyone else's.

Charles Mingus - Mingus Oh Yeah. What an opening 1-2 punch: the rollicking 'Hog Callin' Blues' (Roland Kirk's and Booker Irvin's squealing and oinking saxes plus Jimmy Knepper's grunting trombone - absolute killer!) and 'Devil Woman', a showcase for Mingus the rarely-heard (and underrated) blues singer/pianist. Mingus plays piano instead of bass throughout this album - bassist is the tragically short-lived Doug Watkins who dovetails seamlessly into Mingus' arrangements. Fine album all the way through.

A Beatles odyssey today - virtually all the original output from early 65 to their split (minus the semi-duplicative Yellow Submarine soundtrack). I normally listen to their albums in isolation or two at the most but following their incredible creative evolution from the zesty latter-day moptop material of Help! to the triumph-in-the-face-of-adversity masterpiece that was Abbey Road in one fell swoop was a real buzz. Thank you, boys.

Discreetly grooving to Kula Shaker's first two albums. Psychedelic-tinged Brit-Pop with a bit of Hinduism thrown in. Golden Avatar is a STONKER of a track.

Tyranny & Mutation - Blue Oyster Cult's tremendous second album and for me their crowning glory. How could it be anything other than fantastic with song titles like '7 Screaming Diz-Busters' and 'O.D.'d on Life Itself'?

Neil Young - I'm currently going through all of his studio albums from 69 to 78.

Dictators - New York New York Live 1981 (burnt for me by a friend some time back). Very good quality 'close to the action' recording from the band that were the missing link between the rock 'n' roll attitude of the New York Dolls and the punk ramalama of the Dead Boys and Ramones. Group is on fire and needless to say motormouth frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba is on fine crowd-baiting form. Four of the original band (plus drummer Thunderbolt Patterson who has been with them for over 20 years himself now barring a two-year break during the 90s) are still gigging under the Dictators banner when time allows - would love to see them make it to England one day.

I listened to Roxy Music's first two albums today for the first time in a fair while. Although generally labelled as 'art rock/art-glam' I still find it hard to properly categorise the band and the remarkable sounds they made at that stage of their career - there were many different styles fighting for space, often within the same song. Bryan Ferry may have written all the songs but Brian Eno's wild card stardust was sprinkled over every one of them. The debut album - one of only two to feature Eno - still sounds bewilderingly original after 40 years.

Here's something from their debut ('Roxy Music' - 1972):


And something from the follow-up ('For Your Pleasure' - 1973):

www.ych?v=6_G0Yexs4zUoutube.com/wat

It's a warm sunny day (yes, we have them in England, too) and I'm listening to Ry Cooder's first three albums: Ry Cooder, Into the Purple Valley and Boomer's Story. Essentially down-at-home funky and country blues and certainly not as eclectic as some of his later output but these three albums remain my favourites along with Paradise & Lunch and they're perfect for the front porch (which I...er...don't have).

Black Cherry and Supernature by Goldfrapp - the two sexed-up 'electroglam' albums that were a juddering about-turn from the new age-y 'hello birds hello trees' ambience of their debut Felt Mountain. Alison G sounds like she's positively groaning for it here. Hmm...kinky...

violadude said:

Physical Graffiti?

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Do you like the In Through The Out Door album? Apart from In The Evening I've never got on with it at all.

Flamin' Groovies - Yesterday's Numbers. Neat single-disc comp of the rawer, pre-Shake Some Action years.

The Slider by T. Rex - the last of the great quartet of albums released between 1970 and 1972. 1973's Tanx is nearly there but the coke and egotism were beginning to have an evaporating affect on Marc Bolan's creativity.

Gang of Four - Entertainment
The Pop Group - Y

Two prime slabs of late 70s agit-noisenikfunk.