Gotan Project - La Revancha Del Tango (France 2003)

Roddus Album Of The Day

01 Queremos Paz
02 Época
03 Chunga's Revenge
04 Tríptico
05 Santa María (Del Buen Ayre)
06 Una Música Brutal
07 El Capitalismo Foráneo
08 Last Tango In Paris
09 La Del Ruso
10 Vuelvo Al Sur 

 Today's selection is brought to you by the letter G and the number 10,000,000. G being the first letter in the phrase" Go jump in the lake", which is what this current Government of New Zealand can do if  they go ahead with their proposals to mine our national parks and drill for oil off our coast among other things they want to do that involve the non renewable exploitation of  our beautiful country and 10,000,000 being the amount of money I would be quite happy to win on the lottery so I didn't have to work to survive and I could spend my time blogging and fighting exploitative governments and corporations.
And today, apart from meeting our Prime Minister at a local opening ceremony I got to listen to this album in patches through the day. Euro ethnic, electro jazz with a Gypsy feel and quite a groove to boot, this hugely successful album has been admired by both myself and Mrs Roddus over the last few years since I picked up the Cd and although I didn't get much of a chance to really connect with it today, listening to it now, sitting in the chair pictured above  while I type and absorbing it through my headphones, reminds me why it is such a good album.Toe tappingly good in places and more laid back in others and pretty exotic to these "Rock N Blues" ears. Well crafted, intricately detailed and very accessible music, the sort of stuff you might find on A "Buddah bar" compilation. My Rating 4/5

Listen Here

Chimaira - This Present Darkness (USA 2000)

Roddus Album Of The Day

01. Lend a Hand
02. Painting The White To Grey
03. Divination
04. Sphere
05. Empty
06. Satan's Wizard
07. Silence
08. This Present Darkness

Nu Metal and Metalcore are two of the phrases I have seen used to describe this music, which didn't survive much past morning tea on my ipod today. Think linkin Park without the quiet bits and less melody. Screamed lyrics and processed voice, relentless guitar riffing heavy and ultimately boring after two of three songs. There is so much of this type of music and variants thereof out there that it all gets to sound the same, unless your a total Metalhead and would properly think this is F***ing awesome. There are only a very small percentage of Metal albums that are worth listning to and this is not one of them. Technically good and I am not totally adverse to the type of sound here but I am unmoved by this and Have heard better from this particular group. My rating 1.5/5

listen to this wall of noise Here

The Residents - The Commercial Album (USA 1980)

Roddus Album Of The Day

 1. Easter Woman
2. Perfect Love
3. Picnic Boy
4. End of Home
5. Amber
6. Japanese Watercolor
7. Secrets
8. Die in Terror
9. Red Rider
10. My Second Wife
11. Floyd
12. Suburban Bathers
13. Dimples and Toes
14. The Nameless Souls
15. Love Leaks Out
16. Act of Being Polite
17. Medicine Man
18. Tragic Bells
19. Loss of Innocence
20. Simple Song
21. Ups and Downs
22. Possessions
23. Give It to Someone Else
24. Phantom
25. Less Not More
26. My Work Is So Behind
27. Birds in the Trees
28. Handful of Desire
29. Moisture
30. Love Is…
31. Troubled Man
32. La La
33. Loneliness
34. Nice Old Man
35. The Talk of Creatures
36. Fingertips
37. In Between Dreams
38. Margaret Freeman
39. The Coming of the Crow
40. When We Were Young 

This slab of one minute weirdness from this legendarily bazaar American outfit didn't sit too well on my ipod today, the strangeness of the little ditties contained within started to grate on me as my day grew more stressful and by lunch time I was glad to move onto something else. Forty tracks, all just a smidgen over one minute long, were suppose to be Representative of advertising jingles a-la the Residents. Petty strange electronic sounds and weird vocals comprise pretty much all of this album, with touches of  Zappa and a even more weird Devo. The songs do have melody and one or two are almost catchy but it starts to all merge into a bit of a blur. Some interesting sound effects are employed to keep it a little bit interesting, but I find it hard to stay interested even on closer inspection at the end of my day. I guess the Residents are a bit of an acquired taste and I can one rate this 2/5.

Listen to this very weird LP Here

Gasper Lawal - Abiosunni (Nigeria 1985)

Roddus Album Of The Day No.1

1. Kokoroko 1 (6:46)
2. Witch-Dance 1 (7:39)
3. Omi Leniyon 1 (6:42)
4. Abio'sun ni 1 (6:15)
5. Kai Anibaba 1 (5:11)
6. Ija Oyewa 1 (7:07)

Here is the first of the albums I have had on my ipod since Friday night and have tried to listen to them over the weekend for reviewing.
 Gasper Lawal has made two of my favorite African albums so far,  and this one kicks of with the very excellent and poppy "Kokoroko" with great rhythms and vocal Melody's with a cool piano piece and sax in the background. This album grooves throughout and Gasper has made a beautiful album with many different shades and influences and rewards the attentive listener with many pleasant moments. It is a very smooth album and goes just as well in the background with coffee ans a book or with moments that make  you want to dance. This album has captured my imagination since I first heard it in late 08 and it is very hard to find much info about Gasper or this album. With its moments of funk, Jazz, fusion, tribal, and pop to massage your ears and groove your soul, I highly recommend checking out this  superb album. My Rating 4.5/5

Listen Here

Gasper Lawal - Ajomase (Nigeria 1980)

Roddus Album Of The Day No.2

  

01. Jekajose (0:57)
02. Kita-Kita (3:41)
03. Eronu (6:04)
04. Ajomase (5:47)
05. Awon-Ojse-Oluwa (6:21)
06. Oro-Moro (6:33)
07. Saikoskro (5:04)

And here is the other Gasper album I also really like and this one is also rare as hens teeth. An earlier effort than the first one reviewed and a bit more afrofunky, but overall these albums are very similar even considering the time between them. This is not a bad thing and all of the positive things I said about "Abiosunni" also apply to this LP, not to mention the effortless playing of the musicians and the sound quality of the recording, which enables the careful listener to pick out all the subtle shades interwoven into this music. Another highly recommended platter. My Rating 4.5/5.

Listen Here

Miles From India - A Celebration Of The Music Of Miles Davis Various Artists 2008

Roddus Album of The Day No.3

Disc 1

01. Spanish Key (19:46)
02. All Blues (9:23)
03. IFE (Fast) (8:43)
04. In A Silent Way (2:33)
05. It's About That Time (10:02)
06. Jean Pierre(11:39)

Disc 2

01. So What (8:09)
02. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (9:03)
03. Blue In Green (13:07)
04. Great Expectations (8:39)
05. IFE (Slow) (14:11)
06. Miles From India (6:53)

Just a quick note here on this last album from my weekends listening while I worked. This excellent and interesting compilation of a large mix of many musicians doing excellent versions of Miles Davis pieces from across the large spectrum of his career with an Indian slant.Imagine Miles reinterpreted with tabula and sitar and Indian style vocals, as well as some great Keith Jarrett Style piano and plenty of fusion guitar noodling among other things. This double disc set holds up very well throughout and only looses the plot for me on a couple of the extended pieces where there isn't much flow to the music and it seems to loose it's self for a time. Overall. the playing is suburb and the music stays interesting and I strongly suggest purchasing this to any Davis Fan. My rating 4/5

Listen to this here

Hound Dog Taylor And The Houserockers - Hound Dog Taylor And The Houserockers (USA 1971)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. She's Gone
2. Walking The Ceiling
3. Held My Baby Last Night
4. Taylor's Rock
5. It's Alright
6. Philip's Theme
7. Wild About You Baby
8. I Just Can't Make It
9. It Hurts Me Too
10. 44 Blues
11. Give Me Back My Wig
12. 55th Street Boogie

This wasn't to be my original choice for my latest quick review, but I worked  all weekend and had three albums on the ipod, but haven't really absorbed them enough to do them justice, but this one I know well and use to have it on vinyl many moons ago.

The legendary Hound Dog Taylor, the man and his band that inspired  Bruce Iglauer to start the also legendary Alligator records, just so he could release this record. This raw and dirty blues monster is a must have for any serious blues collector. Think Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup on steroids and George Thorogood with heaps more soul( I stopped listening to George after I first heard this LP). Mostly mid tempo 50s style Chicago amplified blues with Hound Dogs simple ,but excellent guitar style, a real rocking sound, with a few slower numbers for good measure. Some absolute classics included here, such as, "She's Gone", Give Me Back My Wig" , "Taylors Boogie" and 55th Street Boogie".I think I was as blown away by this Debut album by the then 50 something Taylor,when I first heard it over 20 years ago, as was Bruce when he first saw them jamming at Florence’s Lounge on Chicago’s South Side in 1970. My Rating 4.5/5

Listen to this here  Then Buy it.

Juicy Lucy - Juicy lucy 1969 & Lie Back And Enjoy It 1970 (UK)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1 Mississippi Woman
2 Who Do You Love?
3 She's Mine/She's Yours
4 Just One Time
5 Chicago North-Western
6 Train
7 Nadine
8 Are You Satisfied 

Listen Here

01 - Thinking Of My Life 04:26
02 - Built For Comfort 06:04
03 - Pretty Woman 03:15
04 - Whisky In My Jar 04:02
05 - Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham 04:14
06 - Changed My Mind 03:07
07 - That Woman's Got Something 02:53
08 - Willie The Pimp 05:39
09 - Lie Back & Enjoy It 01:41

 Listen Here
  

Back again to the late 60s with this very good pop/rock outfit from the UK, who were originally active up till 1972. Moderately successful with these first two albums, before constant lineup changes undermined their quality and they disbanded to become a footnote in the annals of UK rock. I am reviewing these two albums as one, as the version I have is the 1995 Cd  reissue, of both albums on the same disc. Overall, these are great albums with a mix of originals with some very good and interesting covers, like a cool rendition of "Who Do You Love", with its wonderful guitaring and also the old Howlin' Wolf number "Built for Comfort" with an excellent Sax break. "Willie The Pimp" shows off their hipness as well as other slight Zappa inflections in one or two tracks, not to mention a dose of soul here and there too. There is plenty of diversity on both these records and an apparent fascination with Americana throughout. Both albums are fairly uniform in quality and go well together on one release. They have aged very well and if you didn't already know, you might have difficulty pinpointing  their period of release.I have had a very enjoyable day listening to these albums and I give them an overall rating of 4/5.

Buddy Guy - Buddy's Blues: The Best Of The JSP Sessions 1979-82 (USA 1998)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. She Suits Me To A T (4:32)
2. Have You Ever Been Lonesome? (6:22)
3. Tell Me What's Inside Of You (9:26)
4. Girl You're Nice & Clean (4:40)
5. She Winked Her Eye (5:05)
6. Me & My Guitar (5:04)
7. DJ Play My Blues (5:22)
8. Buddy's Blues Part 1 (4:03)
9. The Dollar Done Fell (6:39)
10.Breaking Out On Top (7:24)
11.Comin' On (2:44)

Phew, hellofa day today and wasn't sure if I was gonna get a chance to post today, but here I am with a quick review of today's album. Fortunately, as I'm tight for time, there ain't too much to say about this album except that it is a pretty average sort of affair culled from 3 albums Buddy released  on  JPS during the time specified in the title. Plenty of Guitar pyrotechnics ,of course, amongst this selection of live and studio tracks and a not bad mix of blues styles from this master of the blues. Nothing here to get real excited about but still not too bad a listen. My rating 2.5/5.

Raveonettes - Pretty In Black (Denmark 2005)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Woohoo, first up I want to welcome my 2nd follower of this here wee blog, welcome aboard Bob.

Now this recent dose of what, in the main, I guess we could refer to as Indie Pop, unfortunately, hasn't had a fair listen today as my day was fairly stressful and I didn' get to listen to it as much as I would have liked. Saying that though I have heard enough to give a quick comment here.

As I said a slab of pretty good indie pop here from this Male/Female duo and what makes this a bit more interesting than some of the other indie pop, is,as usual, the mix of different styles infused into their songs, some electronica, some americana, some 50s pop, and all done quite tastefully. This album has grown on me over this busy day and as I listen to it again as I type, I know I do appreciate it more than I did early this morning. There is a similarity to another recent duo I reviewed, I wounder if any one can pick it up. "Love in a Trashcan" is defiantly the best track and "Twilight" is another little ripper. Indie pop is not my most favorite form of music and so much of it is pretty derivative and boring, but this one is up there with the few worthwhile ones that have been released over the last few years. My Rating 3.5/5

Listent Here

Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out Of Season (UK 2002)

Roddus Album Of The Day

  

 1. Mysteries (4:39)
2. Tom The Model (3:41)
3. Show (4:26)
4. Romance (5:09)
5. Sand River (3:48)
6. Spider Monkey (4:10)
7. Resolve (2:51)
8. Drake (3:54)
9. Funny Time Of Year (6:48)
10.Rustin Man (4:20)

This debut platter from Portished chanteuse Beth Gibbons deserves more attention than I have been able to give it today and any Portished fans will, (contrary to others opinions) feel some affinity with this music as I have. Sure its not Trip-hop, there is more at work here, but I detect  definite Portishedisms throughout . A partly acoustic affair but with some nice strings like on  the skewered pop of "Tom The Modal", plenty of jazz influences as well as a slight country feel to one track among other styles. Beth's silky smooth but sultry vocals excel through out and although mostly familiar, there are times where she tries something different but to not quite the best effect. As I mentioned earlier this record deserves more fuller inspection for a deeper appreciation of it's finer qualities. my Rating 3.5/5

Listen to this here

Avolonto Honore & Poly-Rythmo - La Mort n'a pas de Date Fixe (Benin1981)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. Gné M'Bléo (8:41)
2. Na Mi Do Gbé Hué Nu (6:59)
3. La Mort N'a Pas De Date Fixe (6:53)
4. Azo Wé Gni Gbèto (6:10)
5. Hin A Yi Ha (5:03)

Off to Africa again this time, with this album by Avolonto Honore teamed up with the mighty and apparently very prolific Poly-Rythmo. I am a little disappointed with this LP, it didn't really fire my soul like some African stuff I have been getting into lately. It's not too bad an album with excellent playing , the usual complex poly-rhythms with some brass and keyboards and some nice guitar picking.. " Na Mi Do Gbé Hué Nu" is an OK slab of pure afrofunk and title track has that Cuban inflection found in a lot of African music. As I said, this record doesn't really get me grooving so I can only give it 2.5/5.

Listen Here for the link just click on oro just above the cover picture.

Cephas & Wiggains - Cool Down (USA 1995)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. Action Man
2. Man Without A Future
3. Screaming And Crying
4. No Ice In My Bourbon
5. The Blues Will Do Your Heart Good
6. Caroline In The Morning
7. Backwater Blues
8. Going To The River
9. Cool Down
10. Special Rider
11. Hard Liquor
12. Nine Pound Hammer
13. Right Of Way Blues
14. Twelve Gates To The City

Even though I got to go tramping today, I still managed to get a listen or 3 to my album for today. but it Will have to be a very quick review.
 Cephas and Wiggins "Cool Down" is another release I brought because it was released on the "Alligator" label and mostly you cant go wrong for quality blues releases from them. This is a very well played and well recorded acoustic blues album with Guitar and Harp and a bit of piano.and other instruments on some tracks. Mostly in the old country style and more the Piedmont than Delta blues that I prefer. A mix of originals and covers of old time blues luminaries such as Fuller, Jefferson, and Skip James among others. Its good to hear this old style of blues recorded on modern equipment to give us a  better understanding of what it sounded like in the flesh, than the scratchy old recordings from the 20s and 30s that we usually hear. These guys really are also following in the footsteps of Sonny Terry and Brownie MaGee. A very laid back sound and great for a Sunday in the hammock with this playing on the stereo.My Rating 3.5/5.

Listen to this Here

Red Hill 23rd May 2010

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary:Tramp No. 91
 Red Hill 23rd May 2010

Wohoo, finally got out tramping again. A word of warning, the photos, for a while, will be of a lessor quality as I dropped my normal camera onto the floor here in the office and damaged the lens, which the shop has informed me is uneconomical to fix, so until I can get a new one I have to put up with this shitty little freebie I acquired some time ago, also the weather on today's trip didn't leave us with too many decent photo opportunities.

 Red hill is tucked in out the back of Lake Lyndon, just over Porters pass. Because the weather was so crappy last weekend, I decided to stay at home, but this weekend I needed to get out no matter what. Unfortunately the forecast wasn't the brightest, after the excellent day we had yesterday, with the possibility of snow and low clouds etc... Anyhow 14 Christchurch Tramping Club members and prospective members set off from the lake around 9:45am in light drizzle and followed the cattle track up onto the saddle. About half the group had decided to do a more extended version and so broke off and went up to Mt Lyndon and would reconnect with the rest of us at point 1494. Our group reached point 1494 before them but didn't have to wait long for them to materialise out of the mist. Rendezvous completed we set off for point 1488 where lunch was had. Next we continued on in light snow along the ridge in low visibility up onto Red Hill where we didn't linger long as the views were almost nonexistent and it was pretty cold. A bit of scree dropped us quickly down to point 1321 and it stopped snowing, and then continued on past 1249 and back down to the valley floor back over the saddle in light rain and back to the cars. A nice walk, will have to do it again when the visibility is a bit better and also would be a nice winter trip in the snow.

 Ready to start off from Lake Lyndon

  Looking down into the valley from the first saddle.

The Boys racing up the hill to point 1244

  

  Looking up to where we gotta go next.

  Lunch.

I think we were trespassing on his patch.

Heading down the scree.

Below the scree.

Are we there yet?

  

 Looking across the valley back towards the saddle.

Various Artists - White lace & Strange:Heavy Psych and Power Fuzz From The USA 1968-72 (USA 2008)

Roddus Album Of The Day

  

1. Persecution - Third Power
2. White Lace & Strange - Thunder and Roses
3. Dimples - Hook
4. It Could't Be Me - Power of Zeus,
5. John Doe - Banchee 

6. Steel Dog Man - Brother Fox & The Tar Baby
7. Hideaway of Your Love - Lemonade Charade
8. Angeline - Genesis
9. Loveless Lives - Blue Mountain Eagle
10. Someone Else's Games - Mount Rushmore
11. Get in the Wind - Illinois Speed Press,
12. Bide My Time - Fields
13. Spaceship Earth - Road
14. Knocked Out - Eden's Children
15. I Think You'd Cry - T.I.M.E. (Trust in Men Everywhere)
16. Darkness - The Underbeats
17. I'm a Man - Yellow Payges
18. Time Has Come, Gonna Die - Lincoln Street Exitt
19. My Babe - The Uniques
20. Seventh Is Death - The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump

I had made an unwritten policy that I wasn't going to review any of  my various artists compilations on this blog until I had got through a large portion of my single artist releases, which meant for quite some time, but when this came up last night I couldn't resist, knowing I would get to listen to it throughout the day as I was wiring a rather large new house for work. This excellent balls out hard rocking heavy psych compilation was assembled by an obviously groovy guy from The Bevis Frond named Nick Saloman, along with some other great comps along the same lines that he also compiled. If you love late 60s, early 70s Hendrix/Cream inspired heavy fuzz blooze based rock with great melodies and incendiary guitar, then this comp comes very highly recommended. Considering how obscure much of this is, the quality is outstanding and the sound is also top notch and as I get more familiar with each track it is becoming obvious that many of these tracks will become classics for me.I mined this comp for a track or two on my most excellent and popular "Psyched Out" sampler recently and it now appears that I should have mined it more substantially , My Rating 4.5/5

Listen Here

The Wallflower Complexion - The Wallflower Complexion/When I'm Far From You. (USA 1966/1967)

Another Roddus Album Of The Day

1.  Open up your door (2:34)
2.  All it is (2:45)
3.  Empty heart (3:00)
4.  Tell me (3:27)
5.  Chris's B's (3:28)
6.  Blue bells (1:51)
7.  La Bamba (3:03)
8.  From Head To Toe (2:40)
9.  Needles & Pins (2:22)
10. Blue turns to grey (2:29)
11. Long Tall Shorty (2:23)
12. Jack The Ripper (2:18)
13. Santa Marta (2:53)
14. Baby Please Don't Go (2:22)
15. Route 66 (2:26)
16. When I'm Far From You (3:01)
17. Not Fade Away (2:46)
18. El Caiman (2:23)
19. Last time (3:08)
20. Hanky Panky (2:27)
21. Sapphire (3:42)
22. Gloria (2:37)
23. She Belongs To Me (3:20)

 This was gonna  be my album of the day for tomorrow, but as I was  listening to it tonight to start familiarising myself with it I quickly decided that I couldn't be bothered listening to this for a large part of tomorrow while I am working. This version of this bands music looks like it came from the CD reissue of the two ultra rare albums they put out in 66' & 67' and I think I must have found it on this Blog because I cant find it any where else, and I can't find very much info at all about this lot except that they were a teenage garage band and they certainly sound like it. Plenty of pretty poor covers of the songs of the time and very lo-fi. These two albums are impossibly rare and original copy's apparently go for over US$2000 and frankly I'd be very disappointed if I was silly enough  to folk out that much dough for these records. I searched them out for a listen because they were listed in "Record collectors dreams" and the author had rated them very highly musically and the guy at the above highlighted blog link thinks so too. I have heard many far Superior garage bands than this one. Saying that though there are one or three good tracks which would stand up well on a quality 60s Garage compilation, so I will separate them out from the rest of this drivel to  keep them. My Ratting 1.5/5.

Jody Grind - One Step On (UK 1969)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. One Step On (18:47)
- a. In My Mind
- b. Nothing At All
- c. Interaction
- d. Paint It Black
2. Little Message (4:42)
3. Night Today (5:04)
4. U.S.A. (6:41)
5. Rock 'n' Roll Man (4:31)

 

Another obscure find somewhere in blogland, some time ago and this is the first time I have actually got round to listening to it. Slightly above average English blues and jazz influenced organ driven progressive rock, with plenty of good guitaring throughout. Mostly extended jamming with some not so strong singing. Album opens with the overblown and over long 18 minute song suit "One Step On" and although ok, it meanders a bit and is hard to stay interesting  the "Paint It Black" part is indeed  a cover of The Rolling  Stones track. "Rock 'n' Roll Man " is about Chuck Berry but sung to his Johnny B Goode, the weakest track.  "Night Today" and "Little Message" are the two highlights here and would be welcome in conclusions in any Prog collections, although the Jazzy "Night Today" is let down by the vocals. "Little Messages" has an excellent organ intro and great guitaring as well as so soulful brass giving it a slight Mowtown feel.

There is plenty to enjoy about this album and I am rating it 3/5.

 

Listen Here

The Guess Who - American Woman (Canada 1970)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. American Woman (5:10)
2. No Time (3:49)
3. Talisman (5:09)
4. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature (4:54)
5. 969 (The Oldest Man) [Instrumental] (2:59)
6. When Friends Fall Out (3:03)
7. 8:15 (3:30)
8. Proper Stranger (4:05)
9. Humpty's Blues/American Woman (Epilogue) (6:11)
10.Got to Find Another Way [#][*] (2:50)

 A bit late on this one as I had to go to town last night and didn't get home in time to do my daily review, so today we get a double whammy and also I got to listen to this fantastic album for two days in a row. Now the other day when reviewing the Masters Of Reality album, I talked about what makes a great "Rock" album. Well this classic little beauty certainly fits into that category. 

 Anybody serious about 70s rock will probably know and have this breakthrough album from The Guess Who and the rest of us would have to have been living on Mars, not to be familiar at least with the title track "American Woman".  This album doesn't let up from start to finish with brilliant Pop/Rock tracks with obvious jazz and blues influences through out , not to mention a hefty dose of folk like on "Talisman". "Humpty Blues" is a very strong white man blues and one of my favorites which I included in one of my samplers recently. This album has no weaknesses and is defiantly one of the all time greats. my rating 5+/5

Rudimentary Peni - Archaic EP (UK 2004)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. One And All

2. Suffer

3. In Crematorium Flame

4. Lost

5. Rain

6. Mercy Of Slumber

7. Curse

8. Enlightened Dreamer

9. XN.H.S.

10. Farewell Tomorrow

11. House Of The Void

12. Rehearsal For Mortality

 Not exactly an album this one but an EP, clocking in just over 15 minutes but with 12 songs, so you get very short bursts of sonic intensity . An interesting experience to listen to this band again after all these years and a surprise that they are still releasing music after all those years. I had a vinyl copy of their  1983 "Death Church" LP which I was ecstatic to score from my favorite record store on import way back then. Anarcho-Punk (think Crass, Flux of Pink Indians), I thought wasn't a long lasting branch of the British punk scene  and I am pleasantly surprised that these guys are still producing music of almost exactly the same type as they were 20 years before and even more surprising is that they can still make it interesting. I have been listening to this several times today as well as tonight and it hasn't yet got tiring. Some good riffing on these short tracks and I almost find myself humming  along. Someone once said to me when I was about 19, that I would grow out of this type of music. I am glad to say I have't and even more glad to say neither have Rudimentary Peni. My Rating 3.5/5.

 Listen here

Masters Of Reality - Masters Of Reality (USA 1988)

Roddus Album of the Month

01. Theme For The Scientist of the Invisible (1:33)
02. Domino (3:46)
03. The Blue Garden (4:23)
04. Gettin' High (3:09)
05. The Candy Song (3:29)
06. Magical Spell (5:01)
07. The Eyes Of Texas (3:23)
08. Sleep Walkin' (3:29)
09. Lookin' To Get Rite (3:07)
10. John Brown (3:38)
11. Kill The King (7:36)

 Well, I'm on a roll tonight and it's rant time again with this great and brilliant "Rock" album from the late 80s.
With Mrs. Roddus away in the city tonight, I get to blast some music without headphones and this came to mind as the perfect album to blast with.
"ROCK!' What makes a great "Rock" album? For me, it's great full on guitar riffing with breaks and solos, excellent melody, catchy up beat numbers and quality slower ones, variety, not just a lot of good tracks that all sound similar, but subtle differences, a nice piano break or intro, sometimes a bit of brass and keyboards to flesh a track out and add detail etc.The Beatles defined it, Led Zep mastered it and took it to new heights and Masters of  Reality produced a Classic "Rock" album on their first attempt.
I originally has this on vinyl when it first came out in 88' and though I remember really enjoying it at the time I had forgotten just how truly awesome this actually is , after I had sold my original. with the rest of my vinyl collection. It hasn't been  all that freely available on CD for quite some time, which is why I hadn't acquired another copy of it, but I did manage to find a copy in cyberspace just last year and oh what a blissful experience that was after all those years to get to hear this masterpiece again.
Think  a bit of Van Halen, Think a bit of The Cult, throw in the obligatory blues influence and a great dollop of the afore mentioned Led Zep, will give you some idea with what we are dealing with here. A truly monumental record with no weak tracks and so many strong ones that it's difficult to choose a stand out, but "Kill the King" comes close with "John Brown" not far behind. The above cover and track list is from the original vinyl release and the 1990 Cd reissue had a different running order, which was disappointing but had a totally brilliant extra track by the name of "Doraldin's Prophicies".
So I totally and fully endorse checking out this "Best Rock album" that never appears on any best of lists, except mine. Listen to it Here . My Rating 5+/5