The Listening Booth & New Records

Whew... what a couple of weeks. I scored some pretty sweet deals on vinyl and even some (gasp!) CDs. 

Last weekend, I found myself a selection of cool records at a massive community garage sale (see my previous post about that). I also walked away from an estate sale with a small stack of much-wanted CDs at rock bottom prices. I had to restrain myself from doing more damage to my wallet. Though I try to avoid adding to my already bursting CD shelving units, these discs were so low in price - and some are never going to make it to vinyl - that I couldn't refuse. In fact, several of the CDs are "testers", to see if I might like to explore those bands' music further... on vinyl.

My little CD haul:

Gold, by the Scorpions, a 2-CD compilation
Gold, by Whitesnake, also a double disc comp
Motley Crue's Greatest Hits
Painkiller, by Judas Priest (never checked this out in its entirety before)
Greatest Hits, by ABBA (includes a few tunes not on the vinyl record Hits Vol. 2 I have)
Van Halen II, a remaster upgrade (I'll gift my old copy to a friend)
Women and Children First, by Van Halen, also a remaster upgrade
1984, by Van Halen, again an upgrade, even though I also have the vinyl LP
Love at First Sting, by Scorpions (a re-buy, used to have this years ago... re-lovin' it!)

ln the vinyl department... I snagged a couple of very affordable Kylie Minogue 7-inch singles, "vintage" from 1989 and '90 . I got them mainly for display purposes and to add to my little Kylie collection. Both have nice sleeves bearing photos of the much younger, and always photogenic, Princess of Pop.

A few weeks back, I got a used copy of Taken By Force, by the Scorpions. This 1977 record sounds amazing: here the German band played more of a hard rock, almost funky, almost progressive style, and it really rips. Not as metallic as the Scorps' subsequent albums (Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, Love at First Sting, etc), Taken By Force shows off their chops and songwriting far better. 

And just in, my friendly neighbourhood postal worker delivered to me the brand spankin' new Ghost album, Prequelle... on vinyl. I spun that baby last night, and while I certainly did not dislike the album, I think I need a little more time to decide how I feel about the music. Definitely some strong songs on there that impressed me right away, but others might need extra effort. The single "Rats" really stands out, that's for sure.

Just good clean family fun with Carpathian Forest,

purveyors of the blackest of Black Metal

I did some other listening, all on Youtube, to investigate some other albums, bands, and genres. It was a nice surprise discovering the early 70's music of the Scorpions, albums like Lonesome Crow, Fly to the Rainbow, and In Trance (got my eye on that one, though it's rare and expensive on vinyl).

I also had the itch to try out more Black Metal. From what I'd heard so far, I wasn't over the moon about much from that extreme music genre, but a few years back, I did find something to like about Satyricon, Carpathian Forest, and Agalloch (bleak, creepy acoustic "folk" black metal). Even though I don't love this music, it's fascinating in a dark and hypnotic way. Probably subliminal messages in the songs, right?

For my recent foray, I scanned several Top Black Metal Bands lists online, then tried to hit as many as possible of the key artists in the genre... Behemoth, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Destroyer 666, Emperor, Burzum, Darkthrone, Enslaved, Blut Aus Nord, more Agalloch, Immortal, Dissection, Bathory, Dimmu Borgir, Marduk, Watain, Magoth, more Satyricon, more Carpathian Forest... and a few others. 

I think I covered all the main ones, those that fans agree are among the most talented. Again, while I'm not enamored with the genre, I can appreciate some bands, or at least the odd album by them. I can't really explain what it is I like about Carpathian Forest... they just sound so EVIL... chilling sometimes... and that must appeal to my horror movie fan self. Plus there's a more rock'n'roll feel to some of their stuff - like actually discernible guitar riffs and slightly slower, bashier drums... and dare I say it, Carpathian Forest sounds more musical, almost melodic, than their BM kin. And if it needs to be said, their raspy vocals are far easier on my ears and brain than the "cookie monster" gutteral style of other bands, which is actually far more prevalent in Death Metal. Which explains why I can't stomach much of that genre for any length of time. Yeah, I'm picky about my noise.