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Friday, 9 November 2012

Always look on the bright side of life...

... doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo (can't really whistle in text...)

Feeling much better today, turns out my last entry was just a blip. Unfortunately there isn't really anything to add to that, today consisted of nothing better than gaming and watching some of the football.

However I want to carry on with the regular entries in this blog and leaving it at that seems a little bit wasteful, so I'm going to give you a smorgasbord of entertainment with a music top 8. Why 8 you ask? Well, 8 is the number of pieces of music you are allowed on Desert Island Discs, and it saved me from having 2 choices that were a little more filler than the rest. So, the following 8 songs are from some my favourite albums of all time, although maybe not in order, with a brief explanation as to why. I'll pick my 8 favourite songs for when I pretend I'm actually on the show.

1.) Everlong - The Colour and The Shape by Foo Fighters - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBG7P-K-r1Y
This was an easy choice for me, ever since I heard the band on the radio, I think for a BBC Radio 1 gig from somewhere, I fell in love with them. Then when I started buying my own music this was the first album I bought. Or to be more specific, the 10th Anniversary extended edition, although I could have survived without those extra 8 tracks. To this day it remains my favourite Foo's album, although Wasting Light did push it close.

2.) Lounge Act - Nevermind by Nirvana - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xeasq05zxc
Let's get this album out of the way, it's on every best of list and it's easy to see why. This is the only example I can think of where each track fits perfectly. Smells Like Teen Spirit is a magnificent opener and then each new song follows exactly as necessary. Before I know it I've reached the end of the album (or rather the long silence in the middle of the last track, Something In The Way. A rather ironic title that) and I'm playing it again.

3.) Dance Of Fate - Consign To Oblivion by Epica - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLeflMWMJ8I
The first of my out-there choices, Epica are a symphonic metal band fronted by the gorgeous Simone Simons. I've picked this album more as a collection of enjoyable songs but each one forms a great mix of operatic vocals, orchestral instruments, heavy guitars, loud drumming and the occasional episode of grunting and growling.

4.) Let It Die - Scream by Ozzy Osbourne - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxPbfvG_gH8
Pre-2010 I was never an Ozzy fan, other than the classic that is Crazy Train, but this album changed that. I listened to it after a friend, who like me didn't like early Ozzy stuff, recommended it to me. And then I listened again. And again. Always a sign of a good album.

5.) I Will Dance (When I Walk Away) - A Kiss Before You Go by Katzenjammer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KGDT3dXq3E
Another out-there choice, this time an all female pop-folk band. The last band I went to see (other than local band at uni) is a collection of 4 very talented ladies who can all play multiple instruments. When they played this song live one of them was playing 3 instruments. This is also definitely the 'happiest' of my choices and the only one that isn't rock in any way.

6.) No One Knows - Songs For The Deaf by Queens Of The Stone Age - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s88r_q7oufE
This is the 3rd album on my list to feature a certain Mr Dave Grohl, although whereas he was a main member of Foo Fighters and Nirvana, he makes a guest appearance here to give the drums the bit of oomph that turns this from an average album into a great one. I could talk about the great musicality, but the hook for this album is that amongst all that there a running theme of a radio show with a DJ. It's only a small thing, but it gives it a completeness it would otherwise have lacked.

7.) A Kind Of Magic - Return Of The Champions by Queen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS0T-YHu1zc
I do love me a live album, and this is a great example as to why. No-one can ever replace Freddie Mercury, but Paul Rodgers takes all the songs and puts a new twist on them. Queen have a catalogue of classics anyway, but throw in some Rodgers originals like All Right Now and Wishing Well and there's a couple of hours of air guitar and hand clapping to be had.

8.) Duality - Vol, 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipknot - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fVE8kSM43I
I can't say I have a particular reason for loving this more than any other Slipknot album, let alone any other heavy metal album, but when I was in France without my Rocsoc amigos to listen to all sorts of metal with I generally fell back on this if I wanted a full album. If one of these songs comes up on random I now hear the first few bars of it's successor rather than the song that's come on.


So, there we go. 8 of my favourite (if not necessarily my favourites) albums, with a song from each of them. And as always the song that inspired this entry's title, this time from the timeless Monty Python - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

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