Sanjuro

Very often, communists or hippies who love 70s Prog or Brazilian music (ugh!) or what postmen like (the "post-rock," right? What, does it make you laugh?! Alright, let's move on…). P.S.: it’s not funny 1) I’m not a hippie and I’m not a communist. In fact, I can’t stand the colorful hippies, and my political beliefs don’t exist: A-political (the right to not choose due to the lack of differentiation between parties). BUT including negative references to communists in a review seems like a brainless and sensationalist practice. 2) Brazilian Rhythms… Ever heard of remarkable albums like "Tropicalia" by Caetano Veloso, or perhaps the Brazilian psychedelic fusions of Os Mutantes? 3) What does post ROCK have to do with it?!? One of the few genres that brought fresh air in the '90s, charting a DIFFERENT line in modern music. 4) Reviewing an album by Laura PAUSINI negatively could even be done by a brainless metalhead who can't get out of the "Metallica-Pantera-Sepultura" trifecta. 5) Even songwriters like Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and NiCk Cave use the term "Love"; just using the word isn’t enough to disqualify the author. 6) If you need to tear down an album, why not dedicate yourself to a well-articulated, sober review of a sacred and untouchable record? Obviously, if you think it deserves to be crushed, having a name like The Punisher is already harmful: you must punish it inevitably. 7) Songs are not written with a dictionary in front of you; it’s certainly not by inserting baroque and archaic terms that the song gains artistic value. A flat, dull review with little irony: pointless :)

Prefacing that I have completely emancipated myself from the rock n' roll guitar style of the '70s... Of course, I know Made In Japan very well, Ritchie Blackmore's solo in Highway Star, all beautiful, but Deep Purple lacks that healthy rock n' roll madness that, for example, the early AC/DC had. An Ian Gillan from Deep Purple is comparable to a Brian Johnson from the SECOND AccaDacca, and that’s exactly what I mean: the first Australians from High Voltage to Highway To Hell embodied the spirit, the flesh, the blood of Rock n' Roll; the second, because of Johnson, are a good band but nothing more. Bon Scott was the one who gave shape and life to the chords of the Young brothers... Then the guitar styles of various Blackmore, Young, Page, Frehley are now outdated, and we need to look ahead. They are dinosaurs that should always be listened to, but they are still dinosaurs that have nothing more to say. I listened to '70s hard rock when I was a kid; download Rock For Light by Bad Brains if you can, after that, you’ll find it impossible to listen to the slow and bluesy old rock n' roll...

Well, I judge the album and I really think Ace is an excellent guitarist. You can say whatever you want, but the audition to choose the lead guitarist was done with Deuce... and Ace delivered the solo that you can also hear in the Live, it's a blast. Paul and Gene were the sober and more calculated aspect, while Peter and Ace were the more punk and reckless side... and it all magically worked. The Kiss of the '80s should get 1 out of every album, they're just stratospheric flops; nice in the '90s with Revenge and also the MTV Unplugged, but the Kiss are those of the '70s and that's it. But for me in Beth when Peter Criss is laughing his ass off instead of singing, it drives me crazy; that's what rock should be for, to say "DO YOU WANT ME TO MAKE THE PERFECT SONG PLAYED WELL?! I'LL MAKE IT DIRTY AND DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT, YOU IDIOTS!!" that's how I understand rock, and in their own personal way, more than any other, Kiss, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath managed to do it in the '70s; the proto-punk was also accomplished by the Stooges, the MAGICAL New York Dolls of Thunders, and even the MC5. Then there's punk '77, but that's well known; thumbs down for Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple: beautiful music, but hidden behind refinements that somewhat castrate that healthy RnR spirit of its infancy... Bye:)

Wonderful Kiss!! Besides the fact that they're always unfairly slammed by critics, have they ever seen the shows from the '70s?! It was a unique spectacle, the stage presence of the four was and still is particularly remarkable in the history of rock. Wait...Peter Criss in Hard Luck Woman and Beth or in Hooligan?! I really like his voice... I would have also added a bit more guitar praise for Ace. The songs are really well structured; it’s no coincidence that when people do a cover of the Kiss, faithful to the original, you can really hear it. Alive I is the best, why Love Gun?! And Ace's solo album?! Stupefying... One thing about Gene Simmons: that guy could say that his mother is a lesbian just to get people talking about him. He’s definitely an intelligent and contemplative person, a big brain disguised as a possessed rocker; in the '70s, he said he was curious to know the taste of human flesh: BOOOMMM various newspapers claimed he ate human flesh and all sorts of nonsense: and he brilliantly (as anyone would have done) never denied it to gain more publicity and an air of mystery. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are the Brains - Peter Criss and Ace Frehley are the junkies and drunks. Great!!!

But one thing is not necessarily beautiful just because there wasn’t one like it before, huh. - just like a thing, just because it's innovative, isn’t automatically beautiful. Evolution is a standard, and art is not standard. Graphic: .Art .Art Evolution ------------------------------ -> .Art
The fact of using sounds drawn from about 3542524254 quadrillion bands makes the chances of creating a song definable as "Art" very, very low. In the end, we’ve been moving in the same guitar mush for decades, simply because we’ve inherited guitar, bass, and drums as if they were the only playable instruments available. Ninety-nine percent of the bands using such instruments risk getting sued for plagiarism, because now plagiarism is the only possible outcome with 6 and 4 strings. But the fault isn't with the musicians who simulate or copy other tracks: the fault lies with the guitars that have exhausted every possible new combination. Who could reinvent guitars, play them differently from how they’ve been played so far? I think no one...bye bye Guitar, or at least...to center a song, that doesn't want to seem stale, on a 6-string is pure madness. I agree that there are wonderful tracks (almost all) from the past that use popular classical instruments: THAT IS MUSIC TO ALWAYS LOVE: BUT MUSIC OF YESTERDAY. In 2006, we look forward; we need to invent new instruments for new sounds. The worst off are the scholars of the guitar, resting their greatness on an instrument that is dying and largely serves for firewood and 6 dental floss strings. Bye Bye!!

I have three live videos of Husker Du... all from around the Zen Arcade period. A good de-Gustibus is really necessary; if for some of you the Du have great power (considering the moustached guy I’d rather see at a ska folk concert and the trippy guitar sound), then Fear, Black Flag, Germs, and Bad Brains are the cannons of Navarone for the God-fearing!?! Zen Arcade didn't particularly impress me, even though I’ve listened to it countless times trying to decipher the greatness that drips from every review regarding the album. The lyrics of Husker Du seem quite simple to me, and Nirvana proves to be much more evocative and complete. According to www.allmusic.com, a site I highly recommend: here are some of Nirvana's influences... R.E.M., The Vaselines, Melvins, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Meat Puppets, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Wipers, The Who, Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, AC/DC, The Replacements, Butthole Surfers, Big Star, Flipper, Black Flag, Devo, The Stooges. Not this Cobanian monotheism for Husker Du as is almost always read...

Sorry, I meant to give three out of five to the network, I made a mistake. I'll give it a 4 so it averages out :)

I completely disagree, of course I love the Doors. But this album is unjustly criticized for not being as good as the others; it's different, not necessarily better or worse. Shaman's Blues, Touch Me, The Soft Parade, Do It represent great classics to me. The duo Manzarek Krieger (is it spelled like this? :P) delivers truly wonderful passages and keyboard-guitar duels. The Soft Parade is pure genius. It's an album that deserves a reevaluation... please please listen to the children!!!

Some clarifications from a perfectionist :) De Andrè also did a cover of Giovanna D'Arco (yes, that's Cohen), so the pieces covered by the Genoese singer-songwriter are 3. Doesn't Story Of Isaac narrate about Cohen's father and his religious initiation, complete with the hereditary character vs. the deeply felt and emotional character of the same? "A scheme is not a vision and you have never been tempted by a demon and by a god."
"Bird On The Wire," a kind of mirror-song, whose lyrics revolve around the fundamental verse "I have tried in my own way to be free."
I have tried in my own way to be free... well, if you isolate this verse from the rest of the poetry, it doesn't differ much from the average thought of a teenage fan of Morrison. Much more defining metaphors are the subsequent ones of the worm on the hook or the knight destined for an old and forgotten book. Then, de Gustibus :)

Aridaiè with Nevermind! Superfuzz Bigmuff by Mudhoney, Salt Lick by Tad, Bricks Are Heavy by L7, what about the little Dinosaur?!... always with this Nevermind. Besides the fact that pop is mixed with a decidedly notable Punk component... in my opinion, if this album hadn’t been successful, every pseudo researcher of underground music would consider it more than they do now just because it’s famous. The record is a gem; if we’ve been bombarded with various Hits, that doesn’t take anything away from the songs themselves. Then to define songs like Lounge Act - Territorial Pissings and Breed as Pop... mahhhh! From a musical innovation standpoint, Nirvana probably won’t be among the firsts, but in terms of passion for what they did, they definitely are. And enough with the comparison to Husker Du; it’s true: violent music can be introspective at the same time, but you can find a proto-Nirvana much more in Wipers’ Sage than in the other Trio. And have you ever seen Husker Du live? The dancing moustached guy who looks like he stepped out of a Dirty Harry movie, the chubby guitarist who can barely move... In short, musically Nirvana may have similarities with Husker Du, but they are much more aggressive, impactful, and hold the stage billions of times better than their three predecessors. And if there’s this aura of myth inherited from Mr. Piero Scaruffi on Zen Arcade (a decent album but nothing more), do what you will. And I repeat... Wipers in 1979 (listen to D7 to believe) are much more Nirvanian than Husker Du in 1984...