Album of the Day: Tim Buckley's Blue Afternoon

   As I listened to "Blue Afternoon" by Tim Buckley, I forgot something very important - the he is the father of Jeff Buckley.   I was struck with the similarity in their voice and singing style, and immediately face palmed myself when I looked it up.  

  There was something about Buckley's voice that kept me listening to each track, despite this albums striped down nature.  Though his song style is different from his son's(Jeff Buckley), I found myself feeling hat familiar twinge of the surreal and sadness that I got from the latter.

   This album was recommended to me from my good friend and songwriter, Andy Jones.  I could hear a connection and passion for this album, and called him up right away when I was done listening to it.   It was a good conversation that as usual covered a wide range of topics - as he tries to get to watch films scored by Sergei Prokofiev.  Though I also noticed a similarity between Andy's songs, and the style of songs on this album, the same vocal inflections, as well as the stripped down folksy nature.   To hear Andy Jones visit https://www.facebook.com/musicbyandyjones

   Listening to this album allowed me to enjoy the social parts of music,hearing Andy talk about this album, the passion as he was telling me about Buckley, allowed me to enjoy the album, from his perspective.   This is something that is sometimes missing when just looking for new music on Pandora or Spotify.   Though, those programs have allowed me to easily find music I could only dream existed.   

   Our conversation drifted from Buckley, to metal, to film, and ended on star wars.   That is the gift that this album gave me, a good conversation with a better friend, and for that I am grateful.

I am always looking for suggestions.   Please feel free to leave some album suggestions in the comments below.

   

Album of the Day - Dream Theater

   This album was suggested to me by my roommate, and at first I was a little leery.   Not having been the biggest fan of metal, I had usually dismissed the genre, and if that is a cliche thought then the next one will be even more so - Dream Theater's music is nothing but solos with pathetic attempts at songs holding them together.    Though harsh, this sums up how I felt about the band for years.    In the past couple years, they had changed drummers, and maybe it was time for me to give them another shot...

Dream Theater's 2013 self-titled album.

 This album(Dream Theater's Dream Theater) was full of energy, and most of the criticisms I had about the band had been addressed.   Most of these songs are short, or at least shorter then standard Dream Theater songs.   Most lasting around four to six minutes.   Being a classical musician, it may seem odd to complain about longer songs, but sometimes you don't have time to sit down and listen to an entire symphony, and in the case of contemporary music, most of them are not built around the complex structures found in some classical works.   Normally a couple songs in I would have felt an urge to change over to and head bang to Tchaikovsky - don't judge, it has happened before - I wanted to hear all this album had to offer, and even more surprisingly felt that I would need to listen to it several more times to fully appreciate what it has to offer.

And now....Mozart!

 I dig Mike Mangini on Drums, and he brings something to the band that I very much enjoy, and brings a very melodic approach.   What is also amazing is despite his amazing technical ability he does not try to over shadow the other members of the band.   This album, as well as their previous album in 2011 have made me fans of Dream Theater.    

 On a side note, I love all the technology that keyboardist, Jordan Ruddess continues to use.   Making full use of a keyboard, as well as ipad.   I have seen some of the other instruments that he is part of the development(Seaboard) and has opened me up to using more technology as a musician.

 The album ends in a twenty-two minute epic, Illumination Theory, and by this point in the album I was ready for something big, and complex.   It did not dissapoint, as each instrument got its time to shine, guitar solos, kickin' bass lines, and even some great piano lines working their way in.

I am looking for suggestions of albums to do for "Album of the Day," in any genre, I will listen and write about my thoughts on the album, whether I like it or not.    I am compiling a list, please leave suggstions in the comments below.

Distractions

Upon taking a small break from being productive, I find myself in and interesting position. The battle to not be wooed away from the piano...









If you had the complete Robotech saga in front of you on DVD you might find yourself in a similar battle. For a long time I have enjoyed this sci fi epic. The story of love and war, and how all is fair is alluring. It has been several years since I watched the series, and I am about due for another viewing. Now of course with EXTRA FEATURES!!!

I was born a few years after Robotech first aired in the United States, which in this new year has me feeling very lucky. Robotech, like with most of the music I listen to is from past cultures, and sometimes not always the most relevant for me. I will not argue how argue how relevant Beethoven is today, as I would be extremely biased, but I do feel his music maintains his relevance by performers like myself getting to choose to play it. There were times in the past where as a musician I would have had to spend a majority of my time on my own material. I live in a time that I have a huge variety of choices as to what I feel is relevant. So in this new year here is to enjoyed music, or cheesy science fiction from any time!

That is just my two cents on the subject, my nonsense is free...








Now back to work.