Moot_Geeza wrote:

XOMuggins wrote:

My favourite version of Visions of Johanna is on the "Albert Hall" concert. Magical stuff. My top 5 would probably be: 1. Blood on the Tracks 2. Blonde on Blonde 3. Infidels 4. John Wesley Harding 5. Love & Theft.

That's a great version, but the Blonde on Blonde take hits everything for me. 

Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing really nothing to turn off
(*lovelybass*)

Shocked to see Infidels so high, but I vaguely remember you saying you wouldn't be able to find space for Blind Willie McTell on it - madness to me, so you must love the album as is to bits.

Liveinadive wrote:

I still need to see Zootropolis.
Controversial but Gibley has never really done anything for me.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

XOMuggins wrote:

My favourite version of Visions of Johanna is on the "Albert Hall" concert. Magical stuff. My top 5 would probably be: 1. Blood on the Tracks 2. Blonde on Blonde 3. Infidels 4. John Wesley Harding 5. Love & Theft.

That's a great version, but the Blonde on Blonde take hits everything for me.  Lights flicker from the opposite loft In this room the heat pipes just cough The country music station plays soft But there's nothing really nothing to turn off (*lovelybass*) Shocked to see Infidels so high, but I vaguely remember you saying you wouldn't be able to find space for Blind Willie McTell on it - madness to me, so you must love the album as is to bits.

XOMuggins wrote:

Thanks for all the stories friends. Here is a little post about something else I love, even though I already mentioned it. Blood on the Tracks was given to me by my father. It was his very favourite Bob Dylan album, even though Blonde on Blonde was very close in rank. He felt - as I feel - that Bob was at his best not when he was hyped up on amphetamines and booze. What makes Blood on the Tracks so very special is that it details a period in his life which was particularly difficult. That is, the separation between him and his wife. The album as released is a masterpiece. It is lyrically as interesting as anything he has done and as musically satisfying as the Wall of Sound Blonde on Blonde recordings. It is the personal nature of the songs that make them so moving. Listening to the original cut of the album is revealing as all hell. Anyone who has even a modicum of interest in Bob Dylan should seek out these unreleased recordings immediately. They show a development of hopelessness and bitter anger. Take the song Idiot Wind for example. On the released album it is a big blustering fuck you, full of rage and finger pointing. On the New York version it is still sad yes, but mostly it is mournful for a life that had escaped him through his own fault. There are similar changes to Tangled Up In Blue, You're a Big Girl Now and If You See Her, Say Hello. Perhaps the greatest cut on the original LP is however Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. As released the song is just a caper and holds no great meaning. In its original form it is slow, steady and insightful. The problems of good and bad luck and missed opportunities is what Blood on the Tracks is really all about. Anyone who wants to hear the original album, do a google and find that sucker. It's easy to locate.

regmcfly wrote:

I completely adore the Manic Street Preachers. I'm aware they're overly politicised, I'm aware at times they can come off as snide or patronising, I'm aware sometimes they've veered into mildly shit territory (hello Lifeblood.) For me, they have one of the all time great frontmen, and I'd argue one of the greatest living guitarists in James Dean Bradford - that Wire is kind of perfunctory in bass and Moore a capable drummer only serves to amplify his talents, basically shit like No Surface All Feeling or Autumnsong is being led by JDB. There's the usual 'I liked em up until Richey disappeared/THB' snobbery about them - in fact, one of my very good friends, who came to see them do THB at the Barrowlands with tempy refused to listen to anything post TIMTTMY until I told him I was driving front edinburgh to Glasgow and it was my choice of what went on in the car. I made specially curated mixes of old stuff and things from more recent albums that I knew he'd like, and threw a few oddballs in there too. Sure enough, he's now fully into more recent outputs, especially JFPL and Tigers. I've spent more time than I would care to admit on a Manics forum (yes, this is not my only love) and have read a bunch of biographies about them. When I lived in the states I dissected the lyrics of Kevin Carter in my AP English class who had never heard of them. My yearbook quote (class of 2002 woooo) was 'I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing'. Eternally wanky, I know, but they're a band intrinsically tied up in my own maturing. I essentially learned the guitar so I could do the ADFL lines. Turns out playing Roses in the Hospital is much more fun. I got into them aged 11 in 1996 when my older sister bought EMG on cassette and took it on holiday in France. I had got bored of my Parklife cassette and swapped her so popped that in my Walkman. I didn't quite get removables or small black flowers at the time, but the rest was storming. We went to Sydney in 1999 and I grabbed TIMTTMY, complete with manics sticker (proudly stuck on the bumper of my first car.) then I discovered they'd had 3 albums beforehand and they were... different. It was GATS that I got into first, then GT, and finally THB. By 2000 I was utterly hooked and obsessed. First time I got to see them was when I returned to the UK in 2002 and they were doing the Forever Delayed tour. Queued for 6 hours to get front row, something I've never done since. I've met them a couple of times, fleetingly, at signing events. Have a Lipstick Traces signed by Sean Moore made out to 'Love Rocket' which was a whole thing. I'm constantly fascinated with what they do next, as they seem to have peaks and troughs of creative output - 4 years between lifeblood and SATT, but Rewind the Film and Futurology released almost back to back. I've probably listened to more B Sides and alt versions than any other band (you want a guy to play and sing Patrick Bateman at your wedding? Right here.) and I constantly sit and reran albums and songs that I love. At the minute I'm of the impression that Send Away the Tigers is their best and tightest album, but tomorrow it'll probably be Everything Must Go again. Anyway, unashamedly love them, lipgloss, boas, leopard skin, 4 REAL, Welsh Football Team Antheming nutters that they are.

regmcfly wrote:

James Dean Bradford

Facewon wrote:

Queen were my growing up band. Certainly from a purely musical perspective, they had a major effect on me just checking out many a genre. my best mate (guitarist) was also obsessed, I started playing drums.  They're still the template I use for how live shows should be structured.