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There is ohh so much to say about Adrian Belew as a guitar player, vocalist, songwriter and I guess as a person as well. Like many others, I presume, I found out about Belew through his work with King Crimson and I instantly took a liking to his way of using his guitar and also how close his voice is to that sound and way of playing. Of course I had to check out what he'd done before and after masterworks as Discipline and Three of a perfect pair. Few people have had the opportunity and skills to play with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking heads/David Byrne and Brian Eno in only one lifetime and I guess that must have had an effect on Belew's soloalbums. Just like the post I wrote about Tom Verlaine yesterday I will not recommend the debut soloalbum or the "biggest" band he played with but instead a later album.
This time I want to say a few words about the 1992 album "Inner Revolution". It's a very easy album to listen to (compared to the 1986 effort Desire caught by the tail which is really mindblowing!) but there is so much to it that only closer listning will reveal. The choice of sounds, both concerning guitars and drums, and the sometimes very deep and sometime VERY shallow lyrics. A very diverse man with thousands of ideas and I guess that is equally likeable in my ears than releasing an album of say 10 amazing but all the same compositions. Don't excpect this to be King Crimson or anything else he has done (excpet maybe for some of the stuff he did with The Bears) just listen with an open mind and try to find what I did: a unique composer with constantly new ideas and experiments. Ok, I admit, an artist and an album needs to have some really enjoyable and altoghether good songs as well and in this case I have to chose the second track "This is what I belive in".
(Your love is precious,
give it to somebody who deserves it)
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This track is for days like this. The days when yesterday seems to be today, when things are very fluid and grey but still feels comfortable in an unhealthy way. Whatever this is just amazing and needs to be heard thousands of times!
I talk about the track Words from the front by the amazing guitarist Tom Verlaine. Find the 1982 album with the sam name "Words from the front" and float into his empire of odd guitarplaying and desperate vocals. A little twist of Television here and there (of course!!! duh), something that feels like Joy Division and something like Talking Heads as well but I guess that's not very far feetched. Nothing more to say... feel this yourself!
/P
(We move in waves,
As if asleep...)
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Something really great today! I want to share my thoughts about the band The Troll and their bloody brilliant song "Spirit of the deep" (or "Werewolf and withcbreath" depending on what pressing you find) from their 1968 album "Animated music". This song has everything you want; cool riffs, fantastic drumming, good singer and eerie lyrics. Expect something between Beatles, Death SS and perhaps a touch of Rozz Williams vocals to that. The album cover is a bit different/strange but it kind of suits the whole album and the diverse feelings you get while listening. I can't tell where to find this old piece of music but I can tell you how to not confuse it with all the other bands and called Troll. Since I don't think someone would ever be upset or try to sue you for downloading this album illegally. The song would certainly be worth a trial to hear! The band would probably be very happy if the word gets around and people regognize them again.
Cirith Ungol made a cool track called The Troll on their last and underrated album Paradise Lost but that doesn't count since it is the name of the track.
The Norwegian black metal act Troll has made some cool stuff at the beginning of their career but I don't understand what they are trying to achieve nowadays.
The other Norwegian black metal act Troll has only released a demo that I really didn't understand if they were serious or not?
There is of course even the Swedish pop-band Troll from 1989 with their horrible hit Jimmy Dean.
If you know more bands with the ridiculous name Troll please tell me!
/P
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As said in my first post i will re-post what I wrote on the myspace blog
"Spotify is one of those new hip trends (or has it already grown too old for you?) and it is certainly amazing how technology is growing and make things easier for us to use. To make something clear from the start I will assure all that I like and support the activity of Spotify even though Bergraven isn't in there. BUT!!!! There is some advertising (No I haven't got a paid for account and that's of course because I love advertising and not because I'm broke) which says that If you upgrade you'll be able to listen to and buy ALL of your favorite music and this is why I call Spotify fake-ish. YOU CAN NOT AT ALL listen to or buy all of your favorite music unless you are a total ignorant human from Tellus listening only to crap music. The main reason for me to get a Spotify account was with the dream to be able to hear all the music the world forgot, but was I fooled! After listening to some good music (among some the amazing Marlene Dietrich) I felt the urge to hear a song "Mijo and the Laying of the Which" by the amazing old heavy prog band Steel Mill but to my disappontment it was not there! After I settled down I realised the obvious fact that Spotify isn't THE library of all music from ancient time up until today. Of course i was only stupid to ever think such a thought or even to be upset about it but while this thought lasted longer I came to think of all the poor bands who will be something of a B-team (Bergraven for one that is haha) just because they aren't on Spotify and all the people who will never hear them. I also realise that Steel mill is a really obscure band but that does not make me less afraid that some bands will be even more forgotten after Spotify has accomplished to make people belive that they offer "all your favorite music" and nothing else exist (It makes me paranoid that they even think they know anything about my favorite music). Ok ok I am a wino but i send out a plea to all you "music freaks"(Quote Fenriz here this is) to never forget about all the good bands that didn't make it to the A-team of Spotify. Do as i should have done hours ago, instead of sitting here listning to Magnum on Spotify, and go find your old Manilla Road Lps (Open the gates is especially good I think) and think about their feelings realising they weren't good enough for Spotify.
I hope Spotify will be better and that more people will use it and force labels to arrange for more and more music to be heard. During my already endless hours with Spoitfy I came to think of an old recomendation of the band The Sonics and how I love to get that feeling down my spine when I hear good music I haven't heard before. So to start my quest to tell the world what my favorite music is (Don't you dare call me messiah) whether its on Spotify or not I'll give you
The Sonics
The thing I like about them is the sound and their way of playing. It gives me the feeling of a 60s rock'n'roll version of Azhubham Haani and how cool isn't that! This happens to be a band that is partially on Spotify so use your account and find "The savage young sonics" and just let yourself dream away to at least the first four songs there. Then you could check out their debut album which is amazing."/P
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Welcome to O.w.l. (Old winds live). A blog created out of pure music addiction.
Purpose and content:
This will be about and contain recommendations of bands, musicians, songs and albums I like.
I will probably also go on about other aspects of music (like the music industry, record collecting and the hunger to find that good old album so obscure noone has ever heard it!) but that comes with the addiction I guess?
The name:
O.w.l. = Old winds live. Something made up in the shower while thinking but not without making sense. Old because most things I like are old (at least not from this decade). I thought about "Other" at first and that could have made sense but old sounds better to my ears. Other winds than the mainstream commercial wind of musical horror blows even today but I prefer to see their connection to the word old rather than the ugly sound of the word new. As you've probably gathered by now everything here will be my subjective point of view but feel free to argue as you like. I should also say that I am from Sweden and that's why my english will suffer lots of errors throughout this blog. The name of the blog should be obvious after a while if you'll continue to read it.
As many people with a huge music interest I also make music myself. My most known activity is probably my work with the band Bergraven (www.myspace.com/Bergraven). A constantly evolving metal band. Outside of this I write music that will someday end up on a "solo-album" with everything from quiet ballads to pretentious overdone guitar masturbation I hope. For news on my musical activities keep an eye open on myspace 'cause this blog will only be about others music!
I know that having this kind of blog is nothing new and the reason for you to read this one will only be up to you. If you're too lazy to search for unheard music and happens to like things I like feel free to stop by and imbibe. I will not make any music available through this blog as some do but if I can I will always say where to find it. I started this idea on my myspace blog for Bergraven but I felt that my music addiction doesn't have that much to do with the band to stay there so this will be the solution. My first post there was just about how to get hold of old/rare music and the happiness/sadness I felt using Spotify the first time. I will add this myspace blog post here to just so that you know my point about it.
Ok, enough with all this introduction stuff and down to business!
/P
The look on my face when I really like what I hear
(In this case the singing of birds)
