TRIUMPH

TRIUMPH
ALLIED FORCES (1981)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Canadian hard rockers Triumph released their fifth album Allied Forces in the summer of 1981.
The band which consisted of singer/guitarist Rik Emmett, singer/drummer Gil Moore and bass player Mike Levine were a band that would have given fellow Canadian power trio Rush a run for their money.
Over the years, critics labeled Triumph various names like "a poor man's Rush" and "mutant hoseheads" among other unflattering names. Yet, because of the success of Rush's Moving Pictures in 1981, Triumph earned their first US Top 30 album with Allied Forces peaking at #23 on the Billboard album chart and was the band's first US Platinum seller, which deserved the success it got because the material was strong and had the band on top of its game.
Here is a synopsis of the tracks.
Gil Moore has two lead vocals on this album which were the opening rocker "Fool For Your Love" which he had the honor of doing every opening track on every Triumph album (save 1987's Surveillance) and he also did the lead vocal on the album's awesome title cut which would become a concert staple for the rest of the band's career.
Rik does the rest of the vocals on the album including the album's two biggest rock radio staples which are "Magic Power" and "Fight the Good Fight" which are the major reasons why Allied did well. The former is a rocker about the power that music has in music listener's lives and the latter is a great song which has somewhat of a spiritual overtone and was lyrically inspired by Emmett's aunt who was losing her battle with cancer but kept a brave face until the very end. Fight the Good Fight is a song telling you to keep your spirits and faith up no matter how bad things get. "Ordinary Man" is the album's second epic which is arguably the album's other great classic. Then there are the rockers "Hot Time in This City Tonight" and the closing "Say Goodbye" which are great songs and featured Rik's killer guitar and vocal work.
Also, this album has two instrumentals "Air Raid" which was an intro to the title cut and "Petite Etude" was a classical guitar workout from Rik.
Highly recommended!

1. Fool For Your Love
2. Magic Power
3. Air Raid
4. Allied Forces
5. Hot Time (In This City Tonight)
6. Fight The Good Fight
7. Ordinary Man
8. Petite Etude
9. Say Goodbye

NEVER SURRENDER (1983)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

To follow up an album like Allied Forces is for sure not an easy task, and Triumph did its best. Unfortunately, Never Surrender just wasn't the same commercial success as Allied Forces and it missed the mark.
The album starts off strong. With the furious rocker "Too Much Thinking" followed by "A World Of Fantasy," things really get rolling. Unfortunately, the second half of the album has a more tedious feel to it, which is hard to swallow.
Also included are several impressive instrumentals that showcase Rik's guitar talent, and Gil's drumming. Although the album did have some good songs, it just didn't seem to fit together as well as Allied Forces did. Still, it's efficient and entertaining enough to give it a few spins.

1. Too Much Thinking
2. A World Of Fantasy
3. A Minor Prelude
4. All The Way
5. Battle Cry
6. Overture (Procession)
7. Never Surrender
8. When The Lights Go Down
9. Writing On The Wall
10. Epilogue (Resolution)

DEEP PURPLE

DEEP PURPLE
STORMBRINGER (1974)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Stormbringer falls short of the excellence of Machine Head and Who Do We Think We Are, but nonetheless boasts some definite classics — including the fiery "Lady Double Dealer," the ominous title song (a goth metal treasure), the sweaty "High Ball Shooter," and the melancholy ballad "Soldier of Fortune." Most of the other songs on the decent, if uneven, Stormbringer (which Metal Blade reissued on CD in the early '90s) are not essential. Like Come Taste the Band, Stormbringer will be of interest to Deep Purple's more enthusiastic fans, rather than casual listeners who would be much better off starting out with either of the above-mentioned studio projects or the live Made in Japan.

1. Stormbringer
2. Love Dont Mean A Thing
3. Holy Man
4. Hold On
5. Lady Double Dealer
6. You Cant Do It Right
7. High Ball Shooter
8. The Gypsy
9. Soldier Of Fortune
Bonus Tracks
10. Holy Man (Glenn Hughes remix)
11. You Cant Do It Right (Glenn Hughes remix)
12. Love Dont Mean A Thing (Glenn Hughes remix)
13. Hold On (Glenn Hughes remix)
14. Soldier Of Fortune (Glenn Hughes remix)
15. High Ball Shooter (instrumental)

ZU

ZU
CARBONIFEROUS (2009)
320 KBPS

Zu have never been an easy listen, and their 14th release, Carboniferous, once again documents the band's exploration of crazed jazz, noise rock, and metal. Connecting with Ipecac Records has played a large role in enhancing their sound with a bigger production and shaping them into a more metal mold — be it a very avant-garde, Ipecac take on metal. Compared to prior outings, their Zorn-like freewheeling spirit has been toned back and songs feel more like actual "songs" with defined structure and greater emphasis on the individuality of the performers and the negative space surrounding them. In a minimal state, Jurassic bass riffs, the squawking sax trills, and the magnitude of the drum blasts seem more powerful than ever. As usual, collaborations are an important aspect of what makes Zu evolve from one record to the next. They're masters at adapting to their guests' musical backgrounds, whether those guests are from Can, Sonic Youth, or the Stooges. Here, the decade-old lineup (drummer Jacopo Battaglia, bassist Massimo Pupillo, and saxophonist Luca T. Mai) buddies up with two icons of the alt-metal world, King Buzzo and Mike Patton, to make the once heavy affair even heavier. On the album's biggest departure and most interesting track, "Soulympics," Patton delivers swampy growls, presumably through the same circuit-bent microphone apparatus that he used for Tomahawk's first two records. It's the perfect vehicle for the Fantômas/Bungle frontman, giving him full freedom to run amuck and rifle through his Rolodex of voices (and a new one: the maniacal gobbling turkey) over thudding bass and constantly changing time signatures. Buzzo's appearance is just as flavorful as the band throbs powerfully but non-intrusively behind him, giving the big-haired Melvin the opportunity to rage center stage and cut sharp harmonics on a severely overdriven guitar. On songs like "Chthonian," the script is flipped between outlandish brown-note noise intervals and minimalist hushes, leaving the listener to wait and grimace in fear of the next explosion. These parts are simply savage. When Zu in fact let loose and unleash the fury, combining power metal and raging drum'n'bass syncopation, as they do in "Axion," "Erinys," and Mimosa Hostilis," if you overlook the horn licks, Lightning Bolt is the obvious comparison. But these guys differ in their Italian heritage, which brings influences like Ennio Morricone to the table to add sparse, mood-driven creepy lulls to that enhanced element of danger — i.e., the darkness before the tornado touches down.

1. Ostia
2. Chthonian
3. Carbon
4. Beata Viscera
5. Erinys
6. Soulympics
7. Axion
8. Mimosa Hostilis
9. Obsidian
10. Orc

SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD

SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD
KNEELING AT THE SHRINE (1991)
320 KBPS

A collaboration between guitarist Robert Fripp and his wife, vocalist Toyah Wilcox, Sunday All Over the World is an arty, ambitious project that attempts to push the boundaries of pop music. Much of Kneeling At the Shrine is indeed intriguing. Wilcox is a daring, gifted singer, posessing a graceful, soaring soprano. Fripp proves that his reputation as one of rock's most challenging and inventive guitarists is well-earned, as he creates endless layers of highly texture soundscapes. Along with Trey Gunn (playing a Chapman Stick) and drummer Paul Beavis, the duo has created an album that is fiercely cerebral, inventive and intriguing. It is also a bit of a difficult listen, especially for listeners accustomed to regular pop and rock but those willing to put some time in, Kneeling At the Shrine can yield some unique rewards.

1. Sunday All over the World
2. Blood Bruise Tattoo
3. Kneeling at the Shrine
4. Don't Take It Away
5. Transient Joy
6. Open Air
7. Strange Girls
8. If I Were a Man
9. Answered With a Smile
10. Storm Angel
11. Freedom

JAYNE CORTEZ & THE FIRESPITTERS

JAYNE CORTEZ & THE FIRESPITTERS
TAKING THE BLUES BACK HOME (1996)
320 KBPS

NOW THIS IS AN ALBUM YOU CAN'T MISS. I, for one, just fell in love with this record.

This is an album i discovered through Spotify (which is nice), when following recommendations for artists similar to Gil Scott-Heron. The link here is that both could be categorized in the Black poetry/spoken word genre. This album is quite different from anything by Scott-Heron, though.
So what does it sound like? Well, a blend of jazz and blues and some African influences (Cortez lives in NYC and Dakar). It's quite hard to describe. Here is what it's not: boring “poetry” on down-tempo jazzy background music. Here is what it is instead: powerful texts with a sense of humor, clear voice, fast-paced music that either supports or challenges Cortez's voice.
(Disclaimer: i suck at music genres.)

About Jayne Cortez: “A visionary and socially conscious poetess with feminist leanings, Cortez is as wise a person as is out there. She was married to Ornette Coleman.” says All Music Guide. More on Wikipedia.

1. Taking The Blues Back Home
2. Bumblebee, You Saw Big Mama
3. Mojo 96
4. Cultural Operations
5. The Guitars I Used To Know
6. Talk To Me (For Don Cherry)
7. I Have Been Searching
8. Global Inequalities
9. Blues Bop For Diz
10. You Can Be
11. Endangered Species List Blues
12. Nobody Knows A Thing

Highlights: nearly everything, including Taking The Blues Back Home, Mojo 96, Blues Bop For Diz.
Request: i'd kill for more Jayne Cortez goodness.

BLONDE REDHEAD

BLONDE REDHEAD
MISERY IS A BUTTERFLY (2004)
320 KBPS

Blonde Redhead: two Italian-Canadian jazz-studying twin brothers and two Japanese art students form a band after a chance encounter in a Italian restaurant in 1993. Now that is an artsy cosmopolitan bunch, quite fitting for the New York alt rock scene. The band quickly ends up as a trio formed by Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace.

People on the Web (read: Wikipedia/Last.fm) say that their first albums are noisy alt rock that drew comparisons to Sonic Youth, but later productions (such as this album) are quite different.

What to expect here: baroque pop, lush production and arrangements, Kazu Makino's eerie voice, plus male vocals too, and err... music?, and horses.

1. Elephant Woman
2. Messenger
3. Melody
4. Doll is Mine
5. Misery is a Butterfly
6. Falling Man
7. Anticipation
8. Maddening Cloud
9. Magic Mountain
10. Pink Love
11. Equus

My favorite songs in the album: Elephant Woman, Doll is Mine, Maddening Cloud, Equus.

On a side note: this is my first post as a guest on New Moodswings. I owe half of my music taste to Mr Moodswings, so I thought I could contribute part of the other half. ;)

THE ROBOCOP KRAUS

THE ROBOCOP KRAUS
TIGER (2001)
320 KBPS

Coming from Germany, The Robocop Kraus mixes punkish rythm'n'blues (Make Up), straight up rock'n'roll (The Rolling Stones) with hints of emo. Tiger is their second album of six released to this day and probably my favorite. There is not a single bad song on the 14 featured on Tiger, it's catchy, melodic, powerful. Whatsmore, the band has mastered here a sound that made them even more unique than on their nice self-titled debut. If you want rock'n'roll, look no further, this is the real deal!

1. Boy Frank
2. The Dead Serious
3. Postmodernism Has Won This Time
4. Shaking The High Towers
5. The Man Who Made Eastwood Look So Fine
6. The Big Money
7. Rumors In The Coconut Bar
8. You Make The Boys Shy
9. Modern Attraction
10. Kiss Me, I'm Italian
11. Quiet Days In Cliche
12. Tell The Kids That It's Alright
13. Gestures Of Slight Grandeur
14. I Paid The Ferryman

RAINBOW

RAINBOW
DOWN TO EARTH (1979)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

The departure of Ronnie James Dio gave Ritchie Blackmore a chance to reinvent Rainbow, which he does to a certain extent on Down to Earth. Adding former Deep Purple colleague Roger Glover as bassist and Graham Bonnet as vocalist, Blackmore tones down some of the excess of the Dio years, particularly in terms of fantastical lyrics, and turns to straight-ahead hard rock, only occasionally adorned by prominent synthesizers. In general, their material is fairly solid, and "Since You Been Gone" easily ranks among the band's best songs, but overall the record is a little generic and sounds very much of its time — namely, the late '70s, when album rock still ruled the arenas. Nevertheless, Rainbow has a distinct idea, primarily through the guitar artistry and mystical sensibility of Ritchie Blackmore. He sounds invigorated on the album, turning in muscular performances and strong solos on each cut; clearly, the reunion has revitalized him. Unfortunately, Bonnet tends to oversell his vocals, screaming a little bit too often, but he doesn't distract from the fact that Blackmore, Glover, and drummer Cozy Powell turn Down to Earth into a fine hard rock platter. It might not offer anything unique, but it delivers the goods.

1. All Night Long
2. Eyes Of The World
3. No Time To Lose
4. Makin Love
5. Since You Been Gone
6. Love's No Friend
7. Danger Zone
8. Lost In Hollywood

ARNO

ARNO
A LA FRANCAISE (1995)
320 KBPS

Fans of Belgian singer-songwriter Arno had been waiting for this one for a long time. On "A la Française", Arno delivers his more chanson oriented album. All the songs are in French and the influence of Brel has never been so evident than on this one. This is a beautiful album every French chanson should try.

1. Depuis Ce Jour-La
2. Les Yeux De Ma Mere
3. Laisse-Moi Danser
4. Elle Pense A Lui
5. Marie Tu M'As
6. La Danseuse De Java
7. T'Inquiete Pas
8. Le Bon Dieu
9. ... Tu Sais
10. Je Ne Veux Pas Etre Grand
11. Seul
12. Oui, La-Bas
13. Comme A Ostende

CONCERT A LA FRANCAISE (1997)
320 KBPS

The live counterpart to "A la Française" delivers a slightly rockier version of version of most of the song featured on the studio version. A few more tracks serve to spice it up the lot a bit such as TC Matic's (Arno's band before going solo) hit "Putain Putain". A sweet live and the perfect companion to the studio album.

1. Depuis Ce Jour La
2. Je Ne Veux Pas Etre Grand
3. Patchoulie
4. Le Bon Dieu
5. Laisse Moi Danser
6. T'Inquiete Pas
7. Comme A Ostende
8. La Danseuse De Java
9. Les Yeux De Ma Mere
10. Marie Tu M'As
11. Mon Sissoyen
12. Les Filles Du Bord De Mere
13. Elle Adore Le Noir
14. Putain Putain
15. La Paloma

MUSE

MUSE
HAARP:
LIVE FROM WEMBLEY STADIUM (2008)
320 KBPS

Whether you view them as dynamic rock & roll rulers or overblown Radiohead knock-offs, it's hard to contend with Muse's strength as a live act. H.A.A.R.P. shows the band strutting its stuff in front of a sold-out audience at Wembley Stadium, with a set list that relies heavily on 2006's Black Holes and Revelations but still dips into the band's back catalog. The accompanying DVD gives a flashy, glitzy face to the music, and the refreshing lack of lightning-fast camera editing helps boost it above the band's previous CD/DVD combo, Hullabaloo Soundtrack. Still, the audio disc holds up quite well on its own, both for its crystal clear sound quality as well as the band's confident performance. Muse's intricate, electronics-laced material isn't the easiest thing to replicate in a live setting, but H.A.A.R.P. sounds as sharp as the band's studio albums, with Matthew Bellamy often adding different guitar flourishes (a brand new riff here, an extended solo there) to make these live renditions unique. And even if a small handful of songs sound nearly identical to their studio counterparts, it's nice to hear a song like "Starlight" — a tune that has always sounded like it was consciously created for arena-sized crowds — finally get the proper Wembley Stadium treatment.

1. Knights Of Cydonia
2. Hysteria
3. Supermassive Black Hole
4. Map Of The Problematique
5. Butterflies And Hurricanes
6. Invincible
7. Starlight
8. Time Is Running Out
9. New Born
10. Unintended
11. Microcuts
12. Stockholm Syndrome
13. Take A Bow