BARRACUDA BLUE

DeRank : 4,37 • DeAge™ : 4891 days

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  • Here since 9 february 2012
Rainbow: Rising
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The majesty of this album transforms my attic into an impregnable medieval tower: an extraordinary quintet grappling with a fantasy imagery to be delivered into the annals of Hard Rock history. Blackmore's present can only long for such a pinnacle, a vocalist and a drummer who may only appear in his dreams.
Renaissance: Live at Carnegie Hall
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The best way to approach a one-of-a-kind band. Perfect in reproducing historical tracks with the orchestra to emphasize their magic. With Dunford's farewell, their Thousand and One Nights come to a close forever. A sound remains that no one will ever be able to replicate.
  • hjhhjij
    23 nov 12
    Dunford: (I console myself thinking about the substantial artistic legacy he left us in the '70s. Great band.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    23 nov 12
    The last American dates of last month were all sold out, with some new tracks in the setlist. While waiting for a second round, they returned to England for a break... a stroke while having dinner with his family.
  • hjhhjij
    23 nov 12
    Yes, I saw him yesterday, I’m very sorry. I had stopped at "Songs For All Seasons" with them and I have no intention of delving further, but it was obvious they still had their remarkable following of loyal fans (if they had happened to come here, I would definitely have gone). To me, they are one of the most interesting progressive bands. With Dunford's death, who knows if they will break up... It wouldn't be a huge tragedy, they have left a lot, but if they were to disband this way, god, I feel so sorry for Dunford :(
Renaissance: Renaissance
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The Folk-Pop duo of former Yardbirds Relf and McCarthy transforms into a fantastic quintet filled with a thousand ideas built on a classic piano, that somewhat underrated John Hawken, who is also iconic in the ups and downs of the harpsichord that illuminate Jane Relf's vocalizations in Wanderer. Bullet anticipates certain upcoming German Trip-Jams. A seminal album.
  • Marco Salzano
    31 jul 12
    And Island? How beautiful is it? A fundamental album of progressive music closer to classical.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    31 jul 12
    Even the B-side of the 45 by Island, THE SEA, is an extraordinary song. I have always loved this line-up, preferring it to the subsequent one.
  • Marco Salzano
    31 jul 12
    mmm nice fight. Certainly this Mark I didn't have the same commercial success. Even the Illusion, who came after, made a nice album (OUT OF THE MIST) that has been quite overlooked.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    31 jul 12
    The two albums by Illusion are wonderful, released just at the wrong time. There is also a third one, ENCHANTED CARESS: over 20 years ago, I had the chance to exchange a couple of minutes of chat with Jim McCarthy in a pub in London, surprised that an Italian knew about those albums that were never released here; I still have his autograph on the cover of that newly purchased CD. :-)
  • Marco Salzano
    31 jul 12
    Nice shot :-) However, the first of the Illusion came out in '77, the same year as NOVELLA, which was the best-selling album by Renaissance up to that point (although, if I'm not mistaken, more in the USA than in the UK).
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    31 jul 12
    In '77, Island Records was much more interested in reggae and punk than in an album like Out of the Mist; the subsequent Illusion wasn't even released in the USA, zero promotion... and the band broke up.
Rick Wakeman: The Six Wifes Of Henry VIII
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Rarely has a record managed to evoke a piece of history in such an exemplary way: redundant yet enlightened, the author's flair, supported by members of Yes and Strawbs, portrays six women with different destinies: the majesty of the Pipe Organ in the tragic childbirth of Jane Seymour and the romantic ascent to the gallows of Anne Boleyn frame the best LP of Instrumental-Prog.
Saga: Images at Twilight
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The best response to the decline of classic '70s Prog: Canadian, yet with a European sound through and through, vocal and instrumental technique serving a quirky attitude that blends pop and classicism, hard and fusion into a perfect amalgam. An album from '79 that feels like it was recorded 10 years later, and still enchants today. Blast it through headphones for an amazing experience.
Saint Etienne: Good Humor
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
It's hard to come across an album with 11 potential hit singles, where samples play with real harpsichords, flutes, and mellotrons. Sarah Cracknell takes you for a Vespa ride through late millennium London, with a Mod attitude that never fades and a tone that warmly pays homage to Dusty Springfield. The band's best record, from the heights of '90s British pop.
Sally Oldfield: Water Bearer
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Criminally overshadowed by the looming presence of her brother. Magic and mysticism at the service of an exotic and super sensual vocality, from which Kate Bush and even Enya will draw their cues. The ideal record to fully appreciate the sound of the Glockenspiel.
  • hjhhjij
    7 sep 15
    I've heard a lot of good things about it. Her voice on her brother's records and on "Voyage of the Acolyte" stands out, and from the credits, I saw that she plays a thousand and one instruments as well. I'm interested, I trust the 5 stars.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    7 sep 15
    Knowing your tastes a bit, this is the album you must have. Already with the subsequent Easy, the lady dangerously veers towards an original and high-class Pop, but still Pop, with some of her Folk-Exotica concessions making it just a bit more interesting. Splendid melodies, graceful and insubstantial, had made me purchase all the studio vinyls up to Strange Day in Berlin (1983).
  • hjhhjij
    8 sep 15
    Yes, I think I'll get that, and on CD. Anyway, as for the rest, if you’re talking about original pop and high quality, it shouldn’t disappoint me. I always listen to good pop with great pleasure, I admit it.
  • hjhhjij
    8 sep 15
    And then I'm one of those who also likes the brother's albums from '80 to '83.
Silicon Teens: Music for Parties
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The story of Mute Records begins in '79 with a series of quirky '50s-'60s covers treated with a Casiotone, too beautiful to choose just one, and the few new tracks that Daniel Miller played for the Baby-Depeche to teach them how to do it. A toy-record for toy-boys.
Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Scream
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
'We're not going to explain ourselves any more, we're just going to do what we want and if no one understands that's their problem'..(Siouxsie)
Siouxsie and the Banshees: JuJu
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
Once matured, the apple is picked and bitten into. Siouxsie, like Eve, encourages us to transgress by offering us snapshots of Arab knights, night shifts, and voodoo dolls in a perfect sequence of tracks teetering between esotericism and hypnosis. Here, Halloween is celebrated all year long!
Soft machine: Bundles
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The blend of Karl Jenkins and the fleeting appearance of Allan Holdsworth illuminates the new direction of the band, exemplary in the 5 sections of Hazard Profile, relegating the veteran Mike Ratledge to a faded and disinterested third wheel, a shadow of a past too different to remain. Excellent Jazz Rock for connoisseurs.
  • hjhhjij
    8 mar 15
    It was valid Jazz-Rock. By now it was completely another band, in every way, another band that frankly never captured me as much as the first one.
  • macaco
    8 mar 15
    Holdsworth doesn't sit too well with me. Just this album and with Bruford.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    8 mar 15
    They should have changed their name too, but being musicians is a source of income like any profession, a winning name is not changed, Amon Duul II did the same, and in their own way, so did Renaissance.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    8 mar 15
    Dear Macaco, I would have loved to see Holdsworth in the studio along with that other phenomenon, Ollie Halsall, in Jon Hiseman's Tempest. The two played together for a very brief period, as evidenced by a bootleg I own, "Live in London '74," which has mediocre recordings but fabulous performances. This was shortly before his erratic wandering into Jazz Rock territories without ever finding peace, but at least with Bruford, he would record two splendid albums.
  • R13569920
    8 mar 15
    I really like 'Softs' a lot.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    9 mar 15
    I like it quite a bit too; Jenkins was composing in a state of grace, Etheridge is precise, technical, elegant, but where are those Holdsworth solos? The album is a step down just for this reason.
  • Lao Tze
    9 mar 15
    I could never truly get moved by an Allan's solo, then it also happens that certain sounds appeal to me for a while, but it doesn't really happen that often. The fact remains that the first 'U.K.' is one of the rare cases of albums born from a supergroup that I love wholeheartedly.
SPARKS: Kimono My House
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The most entertaining rock album of the '70s. Ron and Russell Mael, uncontrollable and brilliant. LES FLEURS DU MAEL!
  • Matteo Tarchi
    9 may 12
    I agree. Not to mention the quality of the tracks. "This town ain't big enough..." features one of the most genius and timeless melodies in all of rock, an absolute gem!
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    9 may 12
    I never get tired of hearing it... and then it hits hard!
spring: spring
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
Listen... so give me your hand... I will make you discover the most beautiful time of spring.
  • Lao Tze
    21 mar 13
    those from the great Pick, I assume... but that wasn't the cover!
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    22 mar 13
    I love to remember him as the drummer of the Primitives during their golden period in Italy, unfortunately ending 10 years later in one of rock's great mysteries, but at least he must have made some money. With the Springs, he rightfully entered into legend. The cover is in the DataBaser, and there’s also a review.
Starcastle: Fountains of Light
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Do you want to fool your friends? Let them listen to this record, claiming it's an unreleased album by Yes from their golden period. They'll surely believe you and say it's beautiful... and it really is.
  • hellraiser
    25 nov 14
    Mmmm... what years are they from? Peers of Anderson and company?
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    25 nov 14
    Yes, it’s the most successful clone of rock, zero originality but crazy songwriting and vocal-instrumental technique. After so many years of listening, I can find ideas that even Yes didn’t have, in addition to always keeping it under 10 minutes per piece, avoiding those long abstract drag-outs of Anderson and company.
  • hellraiser
    25 nov 14
    Very interesting, I'll try to find this album, thanks for the tip.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    25 nov 14
    You're welcome. I assure you that the first listen is hilarious, it's hard not to laugh.
Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The American album that made me take a step below everything else, a brief showcase of different and intoxicating styles, an urban and rural sound at the same time, blended to conquer the passing of time. The alternative to rock, jazz, and country, to be savored by igniting the details.
  • Lao Tze
    8 oct 13
    My favorite remains The Royal Scam, followed closely by Aja and Katy Lied, but choosing among so much beauty is almost unnecessary. Rikki Don't Lose That Number has the power to imprint itself in your memory at first listen.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    8 oct 13
    More than in the rest of their discography, here Fagen and Becker strive to maximize the arrangements: in "Through With Buzz," the ideas for a 6-minute song are condensed into a minute and a half, allowing no room for solos or digressions; the vocal bridge brutally arrives right away and is overwhelming. Many tracks are at least five years old, so there was ample time to work on them, also realizing the need to part ways with the collective, such as Jeff Baxter, who surely wanted more performance space.
STEELY DAN: Aja
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
When perfection turns into music...
Steve Hackett: Voyage of the Acolyte
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Today marks 40 years since its release in stores. A splendid forty-year-old and a masterpiece of Classic Prog.
  • hjhhjij
    15 oct 15
    Here, after several years during which it occasionally returns to my headphones or player, the melody of "Shadow of Hierophant" sung by Oldfield is still one of the most beautiful I've ever heard, for me the best ever written by Hackett.
Still Life: Still Life
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
As dated as it may be, it remains a magnificent and sinister cornerstone of the English Dark Sound, melodic as was fitting in 1970, complete with an unstoppable Hammond dusting and a voice from another era. Lost classics like October Witches and Time do not diminish the rest of the tracks. The legendary cover encapsulates its gothic secrets.
Sun Dial: Other Way Out
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Rest your head on the grooves, lie down, close your eyes, and trace your circles in the grain...Sweet is the journey when the record is custom-made!
Supertramp: Crisis? What Crisis?
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
A splendid embroidery of notes, irony, and defeats, an unspoken concept on human existence, from the whistling stroll of Easy Does It to the heart carried in hand in Two Of Us, it’s all a flow of emotions. Vocally and musically at the top. It’s a shame not to fall in love with it.
  • Karter4
    16 oct 12
    an album whose title, modestly, fits the current political/economic situation perfectly
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    16 oct 12
    If that's the case, the cover is even more fitting, the crisis that wishes us good holidays... amidst smog and garbage!
  • Matteo Tarchi
    17 oct 12
    As often happens, the most underrated albums of a band deserve a more attentive listen, because they hide unexpected gems: how can one not mention Another man's woman (a bit in line with I want you by the Beatles?) in a soapbox opera, wonderful? Great album.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    17 oct 12
    Well, there isn't a bad piece, and that's no small thing.
The Chameleons: Script of the Bridge
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The NewProg-style cover doesn’t lie: along with Grace and Twelfth Night, they have blurred the boundary between two genres, and by crossing it, found themselves amidst Sound and Comsat Angels in an ocean of Wave emotions. Second Skin, in its greatness, confirms that being Borderline has never been adequately rewarded.
Psych jewel born from two disturbed and disturbing minds. A trailblazer for the forthcoming Progressive and Hard Rock. FIRE stands as the ultimate blasphemous ritual: HORROR ROCK at full power!
The Durutti Column: Circuses and Bread
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Among the most beautiful guitar phrases I have ever heard, this occupies a special place: stark visions, between golden solitude and glimpses of urban guerrilla, solidify towards the end into a synthetic magma of great suggestion. Vini Reilly, the little great man of Factory Records.
THE GATHERING: mandylion
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
The tradition of Dutch rock vocalists: in the '70s Jerney Kaagman of Earth&Fire, in the '80s Anka Wolbert of Clan of Xymox, and finally Anneke: just joining The Gathering, she makes her mark with power and elegance, in a beautifully crafted album.
The Korgis: Dumb Waiters
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Pop as it should always be: the lesson of the Beatles expanded and corrected, heart-catching melodies and vocal harmonies like a mirror aimed at the sun. Former Stackridge members James Warren and Andy Davis reveal their secrets, and Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime will take you anywhere. Too bad Zucchero has managed to make a mess of it...
  • Marco Salzano
    26 jul 12
    I wonder why I'm not surprised by Adelmo the plagiarist...
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    26 jul 12
    Well, every time I hear High Time We Went by Joe Cocker, I can't help but think: "Glory in the highest...and punish that man of dubious will!".
The Moody Blues: On the Threshold of a Dream
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The man sets foot on the moon, and the Moody Blues, with a skillful touch, celebrate the event: late-beat melodies and folk moods intertwine with gothic bursts of mellotron and spaceships lost in space-time. They will never return to these heights, yet they remain excellent pop craftsmen.
The Nice: The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
1967...London....UFO Club....Light Show....Psych Happening.....Blowing Experience.......Pink Floyd.....Soft Machine......The Nice.
  • hellraiser
    12 dec 14
    This is a really great album, perhaps the only one I like from Emerson's band...
The malevolent version of the Summer of Love, the antithesis of All You Need is Love and Sgt. Pepper's. Accompanied by the anti-media vision as the only defense, it is more than ever the chapter signed by Brian Jones of their Decca Years; Dark-Fucked-Psych sincere as a one-way trip, at 2000 Light Years From Home, with only the casing floating in a macabre pool.
  • imasoulman
    30 oct 15
    Here's a record that deserves quite a bit of post-reflection. Are we really sure it’s a failed birth? That the Stones were just those bastards capable of bastardizing rhythm and blues with rock and roll, but that their technicolor visions are all blurry and blah blah blah? Just to bring out the most entrenched clichés of stuffy criticism...
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    30 oct 15
    Here Ima, you touch on a roundtable topic. My opinion is solidified by time; I will only add that the response to the generalized verb of the supposed rip-off of Sgt. Pepper's is encapsulated in the single We Love You, written in jail to thank the fans for their support, support further extended by Lennon-McCartney to the backing vocals. And what about that wonderful dandelion on the back? I've always sent back the Roots-RockBand's penchant for keeping up with the times, and at their expense.
  • imasoulman
    30 oct 15
    "Dandelion" that might have inspired someone/something?
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    30 oct 15
    The Peel Label, this guy truly loved certain music, a passionate soul like few others, and a collection like no other.
  • SilasLang
    30 oct 15
    I've always adored this album. Now I'll say a heresy: I've always liked it 100 times more than 'Sgt. Pepper'.
The Stranglers: Rattus Norvegicus
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
How to teach the English Punk of '77 that being rebellious, sexist, and perverted isn't just three-chord stuff. A record that responds to No Future with Sometimes I'm going to smack your face, and even better with Making love to the Mersey Tunnel with a sausage… Testosterone at 3000 like a licked and smacked stamp stuck to the foreheads of feminists…
The Strawbs: From the Witchwood
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Five composers, four solo singers, a series of brief yet intense moments between Wakeman's exuberance and Cousins' precious lyrics. One of the most underrated albums of the time, a reference point for other electroacoustic bands (Marsupilami, Decameron, Unicorn), straddling Folk and Progressive.
The Strawbs: Hero and Heroine
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
A splendid example of Progressive Rock devoid of complexity for its own sake, illuminated by an examination of the decaying clichés of the era: the defeat of the Flower Power utopia in favor of a syringe and the illusion of an animalistic romp mistaken for love are just two of the themes challenged by the pen of Dave Cousins, raw and direct like never before.
  • hellraiser
    27 nov 15
    I've been listening to them a lot lately. The Strawbs, BBC Sessions 1, Grave New World, Dragonfly, From the Witchwood. I'm missing this, I'll take care of it. Excellent music indeed...
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    27 nov 15
    Yes Hell, there's really something to listen to, their evolution album after album, a variety of styles, a very underrated band. If you can find it, get Two Weeks Last Summer, the only solo work by Dave Cousins while he was leading the band (1972), a hidden gem, a unique opportunity to enjoy an almost one-of-a-kind line-up, including the rhythm section with Roger Glover and Jon Hiseman.
  • hellraiser
    29 nov 15
    Just hearing Cousins, Glover, and Hiseman mentioned together really excites me, especially in the magical '72... sign, and we'll see, never be pessimistic; things went well with the Andromeda... hello, great Barra!
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    29 nov 15
    And there’s also Wakeman… hello Hell, happy Sunday
Toad: Toad
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
Mega debut of the Italian-Swiss hard rockers: nothing to envy from the names that made the history of the genre, fiery riffs, dizzying rhythm and incursions into Blues and Prog territories with inspired expertise. Vittorio "Vic" Vergeat remains one of the greatest unsung heroes of the six strings, an unstoppable talent.
  • De...Marga...
    31 jan 16
    And the good Vergeat is from Domodossola; seen in concert a few months ago. He still makes an excellent impression.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    31 jan 16
    And I truly believe it, one of the many guitarists of his generation whose life was changed by Hendrix.
  • De...Marga...
    31 jan 16
    And he is a very modest person, even though he has played and collaborated with many musicians of great importance. Hi BARRA, what an incredible album you pointed out!!! I'll grab it tomorrow and listen to it again.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    31 jan 16
    Hello DeM, good evening
From Genesis to eternity. (In the meantime... Baking soda for everyone!!!!)
Tubeway Army: Replicas
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
To fully understand the transition between the '70s and the '80s, this is one of the foundational albums: the half finger of face powder to conceal an emerging acne will unknowingly make him an icon, an untreated mental illness will influence his writing devoid of human relationships. This is the secret of an unavoidable NUMANoid, and even today there are those who compete for it, in the studio and on stage. A historic album.
Twenty Sixty Six and Then: Reflections
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
The English transplanted in Germany in the early '70s are a guarantee: less ambitious than Nektar and almost as muscular as Light Of Darkness, they stand out with a lively sound, featuring nice sax riffs, flute inserts, and a vigorous rhythm, supported by a granite vocalist. Tired of Cosmic Couriers? Here’s your wake-up call, and it even makes you tap your foot.
  • hjhhjij
    13 nov 13
    "Tired of Cosmic Couriers?" Well, no :)
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    13 nov 13
    I don't either, but I like German rock in all its forms... let’s say I don't miss out on anything. ;-)
  • hjhhjij
    13 nov 13
    You did well. Only you served the joke to me on a silver platter, eh eh :)
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    13 nov 13
    A minimum of provocation is needed; otherwise, it feels like I'm talking to a mirror. Anyway, the album is very valid, and it had pleased the DeUtenti years ago... I didn't think there was a review of this piece.
  • hjhhjij
    13 nov 13
    Right now I'm too caught up in America and England in the '60s, but later, like with other things, I'll give it some thought.
  • BARRACUDA BLUE
    13 nov 13
    A couple of oceans to cross.... I’m sure you’ll have a great time ;-))))
Underworld: Dubnobasswithmyheadman
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
The wave bizarre of the hypnotic and unforgettable Doot Doot by Freur transforms 10 years later into a whimsical increase in beats per second. The underground rites of outdoor and indoor dancefloors are baptized to the rhythm of these oblique and enveloping tracks... absolutely seminal.
Uriah Heep: ...Very 'eavy ...Very 'umble
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
Upon the release of the album, a cryptic journalist wrote: "If this band succeeds, I will commit suicide." Well, if I knew where she was buried, I would bring her a flower.
Vangelis: L'Apocalypse des animaux
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
One of the few records that can move me without a hint of anguish... and that makes me feel like a child again.
  • ranofornace
    15 sep 13
    "Apocalypse des animaux" is the place. A cathartic work, centered around an absolute stylistic rigor that suspends it in a space beyond excesses, with a perfect balance between spirituality and nature. Conceived as early as 1970, it opens immeasurable new age horizons. I understand what you are saying.
  • GIANLUIGI67
    15 sep 13
    I've always steered clear of Vangelis... the few things I've heard have made me break out in a cold sweat, I must have drawn the wrong cards... I'll try to listen to this work.
Visage: Visage
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
An exciting debut, Steve Strange and his AllStarsCustomers Ure/Currie/McGeoch/Egan/Formula reinterpret Glam through Kraftwerk, bowing to Punk now infested by worms. Manifesto 1980 of his Blitz Club, where boys in tutus mingled with ladies in pinstriped double-breasted suits.
Wall of Voodoo: Dark Continent
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
The best soundtrack to get lost in the depths of Monument Valley.
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