The Rock Thread

Cocteau Twins - "Treasure" (1984)

I've been revisiting some of the early Cocteau Twins releases recently which has seen me remembering & better coming to terms with a difficult part of my life during the mid-1990's. I think their third full-length "Treasure" might be the best of the albums I've heard from them too as it beautifully summarizes both of the group's signature sounds i.e. whispy dream pop & darker ethereal wave. Interestingly (but perhaps not too surprisingly) though, it's the deeper & lesser-known material that really floats my boat with "Aloysius", "Otterley", "Beatrix" & "Donimo" all playing very strong roles in my life at the time. I think "The Spangle Maker" E.P. from earlier that year may be even better than this release in my opinion but there can be no denying that "Treasure" is a beautiful, lush record that you can float around in during moments of introspection. 

For fans of Beach House, Dead Can Dance & Mazzy Star.

4/5

Rainbow - "Live in Germany 1976" (1990)

After checking out this excellent double live album, I'm gonna add it to "On Stage" (my personal favourite) & "Rising" as the Rainbow releases I can see myself returning to in the future. "Live in Germany 1976" is a collection of recordings from that tour with the vast majority of them being drastically extended & littered with creative improvisation & jamming. It really works most of the time though & gives you that true live band feeling. Dio's performance is wonderful as usual but I think this might be the only one of Ronnie's releases where I think he's actually been outdone as Ritchie Blackmore's contribution is spectacular here. How about the sweep-picking in 1976 then!? You can easy tell where Yngwie got his inspiration from. Anyway... this should be essential listening for Rainbow-heads & hard rock fans in general.

For fans of Deep Purple, Dio & Scorpions.

4/5

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Axis: Bold as Love" (1967)

As a guitarist myself, I've always held Jimi Hendrix up as the rarified gem of the rock music world that he was. But that doesn't mean that I simply froth over everything associated with him though as I think people have a tendency to be misled by his iconic stature at times. Jimi's 1967 sophomore album is a pretty good example of that as it's generally regarded as a timeless classic yet the song-writing is a little inconsistent if you examine it in closer detail. There aren't any weak numbers included as such, but there are a number of obviously less significant filler tracks scattered across the release which have a big enough impact on the overall package to see me only finding the strength to award "Axis: Bold as Love" a middling score overall. Sure, "Castles Made of Sand" is an absolute masterpiece & sits amongst my very favourite Jimi pieces while "Little Wing", "If 6 Were 9", "One Rainy Wish" & the title track are all very solid examples of the early psychedelic rock sound. But it would be remiss of me to simply ignore the handful of short, poppy & fairly inconsequential (if still fairly catchy) tunes that fill the space between these more successful creative endeavours & it's for this reason that "Axis: Bold as Love" is the Jimi Hendrix Experience record that I rarely reach for with 1968's "Electric Ladyland" & 1967's "Are You Experienced" (in that order) both being on semi-regular rotation for most of my life.

For fans of Cream, Robin Trower & Funkadelic.

3.5/5

Babasónicos - "Babasónica" (1997)

I usually struggle with clean-sung Spanish vocals (particularly male ones) but I have to admit that the quality of the music produced by this Argentinian rock outfit has won me over in the end. I hadn't heard them previously but, on the evidence here, their sound would seem to sit somewhere between stoner rock & alternative rock with a smattering of more stripped back psychedelic material spread across the thirteen song tracklisting. There are certainly four or five tracks included where I find myself failing to connect (generally where those vocals are at their weakest) but there are more where I've managed to identify the sort of appeal that's seen "Babasónica" being placed on a pedestal by South American audiences over the last couple of decades. I'm not sure I can see myself returning to "Babasónica" in the future but it's been an interesting experience nonetheless.

For fans of Queens of the Stone Age, Los Brujos & El Otro Yo.

3.5/5

The Who - "Live at Leeds" (1970)

This highly praised live release is often spoken of in terms of the greatest live rock records of all time & with good reason too because it simply oozes of electricity & intensity & would go on to influence a whole generation. I've never been a huge The Who fan but it's hard to deny that they really knew what they were doing during the start of the new decade with Roger Daltrey's voice simmering in hard rock integrity & Pete Townshend's guitar crunch making people's hair blow back, not to mention the rock-solid rhythm section of bassist John Entwistle & drummer Keith Moon. I don't like the short, more commercial "Substitute" much but material like opener "Young Man Blues" (my personal favourite), "Shakin' All Over", the "My Generation" medley & closer "The Magic Bus" is both captivating & exhilarating, even if I was probably never likely to reach for my more classic ratings for a release from these guys.

For fans of The Kinks, The Jam & Led Zeppelin.

4/5

Ah bro that album is one of the key representations of its era.  I used to be WAY into them, at least before I got more bothered by their recycling the same BPM and guitar sound in a separate attempt to recreate Behind Blue Eyes five times on Who's Next and Quadrophenia.  Still great albums, but come on.  And I really need to go back on Tommy.

With you saying "opener "Young Man Blues" " I guess this was the original 6-track version. Have you heard the 2-disc special edition of the whole show with a complete performance of Tommy on disc 2? "A Quick One" is a bit embarrassing, but the rest is great and I would recommend it highly.

Colosseum - "Valentyne Suite" (1969)

The 1969 sophomore album from this unique & experimental London-based outfit is a very interesting listen that combines a number of different influences & elements to create a fresh & quite complex sound that sits somewhere between jazz-rock & progressive rock. "Valentyne Suite" also represents my first dalliance with Colosseum who appear to be one of the most widely celebrated members of the English Underground movement of the late 1960's. The first four songs are all fairly enjoyable but it's the seventeen-minute title track that closing the tracklisting that's the real gold here with the progressive rock finally coming to the fore. There's an impressive consistency to all of this material but I just couldn't quite connect with it enough to see me returning to this future in the future, although I've unanimously enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

For fans of Frank Zappa, Soft Machine & The Nice.

3.5/5

Slowdive - "Slowdive" E.P. (1990)

While I've been a long-time fan of their 1993 sophomore album "Souvlaki", I have to admit that I'd never explored any of Slowdive's other releases until this week but boy am I glad I have now because this first-up three-song effort is simply marvelous. Opener "Slowdive" is a very solid piece of shoegaze but it's really the two "Avalyn" tracks that see my interest ballooning & my emotions being dragging unceremoniously into the stratosphere through beautifully whispy dream pop melodics & textured layers of post-rock guitar atmospherics. This one has really taken me off-guard & I have no doubt that I'll be returning to "Slowdive" regularly in the coming years as it's a genuinely classic release that I'm even gonna position a step above "Souvlaki".

For fans of Della Zyr, Antropoceno & Ultracherry Violet.

4.5/5

The Cure - "Faith" (1981)

While I quite enjoy The Cure's 1980 sophomore record "Seventeen Seconds", I don't think they'd really sealed the deal with me until this third full-length which I consider to be their first essential album. Songs like the closing title track & my personal favourite "All Cats Are Grey" sit amongst the English gothic rock superstars' finest work & leave "Faith" competing with The Cure's best records, even eclipsing 1989's excellent "Disintegration" album for me during this revisit.

For fans of The Essence, The Chameleons & Joy Division.

4/5

Nirvana - "Hormoaning" E.P. (1992)

By 1992, Nirvana had pretty much taken over the world as the clear leaders of the Seattle grunge movement. My best mate had gotten me into their 1991 mega-hit sophomore album "Nevermind" well before the landslide of adulation had started to pour in & I'd fallen head over heals in love with it, a feeling that I still maintain to this day. That discovery had led to us also exploring 1989's "Bleach" debut full-length which I also think is very solid. By the time Nirvana finally made their way over to my home country of Australia though, every man & his dog was looking to blow Kurt Cobain & the release of this exclusive Australian tour E.P. did nothing to dull the enthusiasm of the masses. Much to my regret, I chose not to check out the live shows that it was looking to promote but I did spend a lot of time with "Hormoaning", particularly given that my first girlfriend (who I got together with in 1993 during my final year of high school) was a huge grunge & alternative rock fan. Listening back now, I don't think there's anything particularly classic about the six songs included here which is probably why they didn't make it to a proper album but they're all worth hearing with "Aneurysm", "D-7" & "Even in His Youth" (my personal favourite) being the best of them. Despite their inherent catchiness, the other cuts have a more poppy feel to them which is probably why I don't connect with them as strongly. Still... I've found myself reliving a great time in my life while listening to this release this week & it still really floats my boat. In fact, it competes pretty well with "Bleach" these days if I'm being honest.

For fans of Mudhoney, Babes in Toyland & Hole.

4/5

Oh, GOD, you had to say the word "Hormoaning."  I was getting up in Nirvana's grill with all the bootlegs and stuff when I was on my long long grunge binge, even going as far as to create a Wikia for grunge which I haven't updated in years.  Half these tracks appear on Incesticide, which is another A- Nirvana release.

Admittedly, "Incesticide" is missing two of the best tracks from "Hormoaning" in "D-7" & "Even in His Youth".