SOUNDTRACK: JUDAS PRIEST-Sad Wings of Destiny (1976).
Before Judas Priest were the force behind “Breaking the Law,” they were still pioneers of heavy metal. Except that their metal was tinged with all manner of odd progressive embellishments. Like “Victim of Changes,” an 8 minute (!) multi-sectioned (!) epic. It’s got a great heavy riff and, damn, if Rob Halford’s vocals aren’t the highest-piched in music (I mean, we know he has a powerful voice, but the notes he hits–good grief man!). The middle section is a delicate ballad that mellows out with breathy sighing and with very sixties-era backing vocals until Halford bursts out of that with his piercing wail.
It’s followed by “The Ripper” a classic metal song. The best known version comes from Unleashed in the East, so it’s interesting to hear this earlier version where, for instance, “You’re in for a shock,” is followed by a different person’s scream, not Halford’s wail of the word “shock.” It sounds a little slower but somehow a little more creepy (especially the quiet middle section).
“Dreamer Deceiver” is a creepy quiet song which seems to herald the vocal acrobatics of King Diamond, but this song has a lot more emotion to it, even if it is pretty trippy (like a cooler version of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan,” perhaps). The piano at the end is a really nice touch and leads into the confusingly named “Deceiver,” a very chugga chugga metal song with more great high notes.
“Prelude” opens with more piano (technically this song opened the album when it was on vinyl…the cds all seem to have sides A nd B reversed so now this prelude is in the middle. It’s a dramatic near-orchestral opening (that many bands would imitate much later) to the killer track “Tyrant.” “Tyrant” sounds just as menacing here as it does on the live album except for the backing vocals that sort of slouch through the word “tyyyyyrant”–in the live version Halford crams it all into one breath. It’s followed by “Genocide” a brutal song that has withstood all of these years as an awesome metal track.
Unlike “Epitaph,” which is a completely strange ballad about a dying man. It is all piano, it is quite poetic and is indeed quite sad (especially the final line reveal). But the middle ‘upbeat” section sounds not unlike an Elton John track. It’s quite peculiar, especially when it ends and the chugging riff slowly builds out of the ashes that turns into the stunning “Island of Domination.” This is a disturbing track with really creepy lyrics but with awesome music. The middle section (again with the middle section–did bands just forget about doing cool middle sections in the 80s?) slows the track down with all kinds of echoed vocals.
Although it sounds dated, it still holds up remarkably well as a precursor to later metal albums. It’s one of my favorite Priest releases and one that I come back to time and time again.
[READ: September 8, 2011] The Black Circle
I haven’t read a 39 Clues book in a couple of months. It’s not that I was losing interest, I just had other things that I wanted to read more. But I will admit that a ten-book series (and now a second series) can be a bit daunting. I’d also never read anything by Patrick Carman before, so I wasn’t chomping at the bit to get into the story again. Well, Patrick Carman has completely revived my interest in the series. The first nice thing was that the book is only 168 pages (sometimes a short book can really pick you up). But aside from that, Carman brings all kinds of cool elements into the story and has more than enough intrigue to keep you guessing and turning pages.
But I was initially concerned about reading this book because Carman reintroduces my least favorite nemeses in the book: the boring and doltish Holt family. They are big, tough, meat- heads with ridiculous political first names like Eisenhower, Hamilton and Reagan. And every time we’ve seen them, they’ve been brutish and mean and not terribly clever (and this series is chock full of cleverness, so these guys really stand out like a sore thumb). But Carman does a wonderful thing with the Holts: he forms a (temporary) alliance between Dan and Amy and the Holt family. And although it is an uneasy alliance, about midway through the book, we see Dan and Hamilton (the Holt’s son) bonding over driving big powerful trucks and flying helicopters. It’s nice to see Dan have a “friend,” however tenuous. (more…)
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Sarah suggested that I update my most hated and most favorite Christmas songs list as it has been THREE YEARS (!) since I last posted it. I haven’t changes the list at all, but I have updated the comments (with one retraction!).
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2003).
How do you follow up the fantastic Soft Bulletin? If you’re The Flaming Lips, you simultaneously pull back and push forward. I often thing of Yoshimi as Bulletin part 2 but that’s really not right or fair. Yoshimi has a more Pink Floyd vibe: it’s quite mellow and folky. But nothing the Lips do can be completely commercial, so you get things in every song that add immensely to the sound, yet prevent it from complete accessibility.
I Just Read About That... 