SQUIREISGOD

DeRank ™: -0,05

DeAge™ : 6502 days • Here since 20 august 2008

Rick Wakeman The Six Wifes Of Henry VIII

21 aug 08

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If I have to listen to keyboard-only music, I prefer Scarlatti or Liszt, but "Six Wives" is very well done, the medley in the Montreux live show (Yes) is spectacular. Among his other solo releases, "King Arthur" and "Criminal Record" are interesting, while "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" I personally think is awful.

Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols

21 aug 08

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The cultural decline of society starts here. The greats are seen as pompous and pretentious (and what’s even more unbearable is that they are considered gaudy), while four brain-dead punks from the suburbs show up, play, and sing in the worst possible way, and are regarded as milestones in the history of rock, imitated by tens of thousands of young people even today, and who knows for how many more years to come. Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Shame.

The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat

21 aug 08

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I read a review of this enlightening album: "to confirm how useful it is to have taste, even a keyboard solo doesn’t have to be baroque, no matter what someone raised on bread and punk thinks." Congratulations. Meanwhile, someone raised on bread and punk is the last person in the world who can give lessons on taste, and the idea that keyboard solos are kitsch is just a stupid widespread opinion. Who has good taste, the Sex Pistols?

Hatfield and the North The Rotters' Club

21 aug 08

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I saw Hatfield And The North in the spring of 2006 at Gorizia Jazz, a beautiful concert. Musically, the Canterbury bands (Caravan, HATN, National Health) are among the most fascinating in all of progressive rock, but those backing vocalists should really be sent off to do something else, as they ruined the fantastic suite "Mumps" and the first album of National Health; in the first one by Hatfield they sing a bit better, and luckily they are absent in "Of Queues And Cures," perhaps the pinnacle of the genre.

Styx Pieces Of Eight

21 aug 08

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I'd like to pull the ears not of the ladies on the cover but of the author of the book on prog who dismisses Kansas and Styx as "all scene." "Pieces Of Eight" is one of my favorite albums from the second half of the seventies; the title track (on side B) and the entire first side are the highlights. "Equinox," "Crystal Ball," and "The Grand Illusion" are also more interesting than the anonymous "Paradise Theater" (only "The Best Of Times" is really nice).

Tokio Hotel Scream

21 aug 08

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only commercial, but by the end of the nineties there was worse: a boy band called Five, a shittier group than any other.

Yes Yessongs

21 aug 08

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"Yessongs" has been a big disappointment for me; with its legendary reputation, I expected much more. There's no doubt about the musicians' performance, but the audio quality (or production, I'm not an expert) is very poor. Compare it with the Montreux concert from 2003. I will always prefer the studio versions to this live recording, even though some songs are extended at the end and more complete when performed live (for example, "Siberian Khatru," "Starship Trooper").

Yes Drama

21 aug 08

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I will always be grateful to Trevor Horn for producing the splendid "The Lexicon Of Love" by ABC. As a singer, he is not even remotely comparable to Jon Anderson (fortunately he’s only missing here), but at least two songs deserve to be highlighted: "Does It Really Happen?" and especially "Tempus Fugit," musically irresistible both for the keyboards and the bass (it’s no coincidence that it’s part of the medley "White Fish" in concerts). I will NEVER want to hear Trevor sing the classics on the Drama Tour.

Yes 90125

21 aug 08

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After "Going For The One," Yes were never able to compose masterpieces again, but this "90125" is a decent album, re-evaluated by history considering what they concocted in the years that followed, from the modest "Big Generator" (except for the two singles) to the shameful "Union" and "Talk" (the lowest point). My favorite song on this LP is undoubtedly "Our Song," but I find almost all of them pleasant, from "It Can Happen" to the hit single. I don't like "Leave It" at all, inexplicably included in various anthologies. Certainly, Rabin is not Howe, but even Asia, despite a supergroup lineup (Steve, Palmer & Wetton), didn’t achieve much.

Dimmu Borgir Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

21 aug 08

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Superb! The best symphonic black ever conceived, even surpassing the contemporary "Anthems" by Emperor. "Morning Palace," "Spellbound By The Devil," "Prudence Fall," "A Succubus In Rapture," and the sensational "In Death's Embrace," with that incredible piano solo; so many gems that elevate it among the greatest black albums of all time. I only like the new version of "Stormblast."