LOVECRAFT TUESDAY # 7

   I really don't know anything about BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE, nor do I own anything by them.  I just discovered them today by random luck as I was perusing one of my many HPL related blogs and sites that I like to frequent.
but

  I really like this tune.  It's a perfect slow, ambient, moody, piece--perfect to read Lovecraft by--up until the 2:35 mark where the smoldering sax comes in. And even a saxophone solo like this works since it too evokes the kind of bistro playing that would have been omnipresent in the more elite speak-easys and absinthe soaked parlours in Rhode Island during the early 30s.

  I give this song, "Midnight Black Earth" two tendrils up!

FORNICATE BELLUM* # 5

   For the second week in a row I "go to" CCR for our anti-war tune.

   The first time I became "aware" of this song was not by actually hearing the song, but by reading an issue of Marvel's "Sgt. Fury & the Howling Commandos."  It must have been around 1969 and I was in Jr. High School.  The songs' title was the title of the issue that I was reading in my bedroom in Wausau, WI. and even then, even reading a "war" comic that ostensibly glorified war I became slightly attuned to the hideous evil of indiscriminate carpet bombing and faceless destruction of real people...

   There is no such thing as collateral damage.  Aggressive foreign wars need to cease.  The people today, as the students did in the 60s, need to mobilize and say to the evil war-pigs who rule at Mordor-on-the-Potamac... enough...You are through!

   We must try and stop the "rain."

STELLAR STEWART SUNDAYS # 7

   This would be worth posting if for no other reason than I always get such a kick out of Maestro Al mis-pronouncing Francis Ford's last name just so it will rhyme  :D

   But on the other hand, it is SUCH a FUN, FUN, FUN, catchy pop/rock tune.  Like almost all of Al's stuff, I could just listen to it over and over, all the while tapping my foot and rapping the steering wheel (I love to listen to my CDs in the car).

   The song, a studio recording was originally released on Al's 1981 album LIVE/INDIAN SUMMER.  But I first heard it (and own it) on the expanded CD version of his album 24 CARROTS, where it appears as one of several bonus tracks.

   so,

   "take another sip of your cola...I'll be Francis Ford Coppola"

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) # 7

   Being out of town most of today (Wichita; burial place of the great actor Sidney Toler/the "penultimate" CHARLIE CHAN)  I am left with little time to put together much proper text to accompany these three stunning album jackets.

 

   The band is BARONESS (more on them in due course) and these are their first three albums.  The music is heavy; a bit doom metal with post-rock/post metal influences gradually giving way to more prog and even folk prog flairs and themes--especially in the last (most recent) album.  I love them!!!

 

   The art is all by their main man, John Dyer Baizley.  In addition to doing the song writing (music and lyrics) and guitar work, Baizley does all the artwork.  The man is a true renaissance man.  He also has provided artwork for other bands.  His style is a mixture (in my own un-educated opinion) of British Pre-Raphaelite style, tinged with American art decco, Maxfield Parish, and even the great British comic-book artist (most famous for his 1970s early run on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian) Barry Wyndsor-Smith.  His art could easily be used in fairy tale books or popularizations of the Greek and Roman myths.  

 

   The three albums are simply titled:  The Red Album;  The Blue Album;  and The Yellow and Green Album.

 

    And as nice as the artwork is (stunning on full vinyl lp releases) the music is even better.

 

- - - Eugor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OPEN-LINE FRIDAY # 3

   Although this freakinginglytastic theme song could also be a post for THURSDAY'S THEMES, I thought (think) it's just so gonzo-weird that it fits perfectly OPEN-LINE FRIDAY.

   MothT (an assistant deep-agent for Eugor) has several seasons of SQUIDBILLIES on DVD and I have become a huge fan of this twisted, demented, and truly "wrong" show.  It's the closest someone can come to dropping acid and watching a David Lynch film as possible.  This late-night "comedy" (my sincerest apologies to all comedies) on Adult Swim [AS] is such a "black comedy" that it makes other "black comedies" look like 'The Sound of Music." 

  Early Cuyler makes Homer Simpson look like Einstein, and Peter Griffin look like Saint Francis of Assisi.

   While the great "Unknown Hinson" does the voice of Early, it is Country Western TITAN & LIVING LEGEND: BILLY JOE SHAVER who actually sings the opening theme!  I don't know who actually wrote the lyrics and music.  I had a chance to see Billy Joe when he came through my town last Fall but was "tapped out" and just couldn't scrounge up the dinero.  Now...I wish I had just sold some of Mrs. rogueevolent's blood for plasma to get the ticket cash...dang!  And though the series opens with only the first verse, supposedly there are a total of 6 verses (stanzas) that I repeat below.

FUN FUN FUN, and
"DON'T TOUCH THE TRIM!"

SQUIBILLIES THEME:

My dreams are all dead and buried.
Sometimes I wish the sun would just explode.
When god comes and calls me to his kingdom,
I'll take all ya sons of bitches when I go!
Let Her Blow!

Some how I got spinal meningitis
Injecting all that hair spray in my spine
Its a super cheap way to party
If you aim to kill some brain cells and some time
(Good luck gettin that child support check from me now)

My oldest son was born an albino
My youngest is covered in hair
The middle one says he's a homosexual
And the other seven are gone, I don't know where
(I raised them right they oughta be fine)

She run off and took our only chicken
When I broke jail the house was burnt and bare
The Japs moved the plant back to Osake
Some days life just don't seem that fair
(I don't care, some days life just don't seem that fair)

I gave all my best years to that woman
All she gave me was mouths to feed
A miracle straight from the loins of Jesus
Since Charlie blew off both my testes
(1969 Cam Ranh Bay, it was a massacre)

Get your Yankee ass off my property
Don't care if the bank gave you a deed
This farm has been ours for generations
Since we fought back those sneaky Japanese
(In the war of 1812, bring our boys home)

THURSDAY THEME SONGS # 5

 

   I have to admit it, I do truly like some Anime.  My initial mistake was thinking that all anime was either "Transformers" (like we used to see on cable tv in the 80s) or crap like Pokemon, Yugio, Card-Catchers, and other trip-- NOT SO!  There is some decent stuff out there; to be sure, the artistic style (the weird ass point tipped noses for example) and crude/choppy animation is not up to classic American animation, BUT...the dark themes and sci-fi motifs of many of the series is engaging.

 

   Without a doubt, my favorite series is COWBOY BEBOP!   I heartily recommend this 26 episode series and urge any viewers to watch it in Japanese with the English subtitles (as I would recommend watching all foreign films). 

 

Yoko Kanno (way cooler than Yoko Ono)

 

   The kick-ass opening theme "Tank" written by Yoko Kanno and performed by the "Seatbelts" is just a magnificent number. It's a groove-jam great with an extensive alto sax solo by Masato Honda.  This big-band jazz piece with a heavy latin infused hard bop is one of the best recent theme songs I've heard...my kind of modern crime-jazz retro 60s kinda music! 

 

   So:   "I think it's time to blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together. Ok, three, two, one let's jam,"

FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 63

    Seeing that I truly believe that you know more about this band than I do, O RELIOPS of melodious stench...I won't pontificate (I know that's hard to believe ;)  )

   I first became aware of this band circa 2004 or so when doing internet searches relating to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.  I have always appreciated musicians (especially rock/pop artists) who wrote music that adapted or was inspired by works of fantasy, science-fiction, and great novels.  I was pleasantly suprised that GLASS HAMMER had two albums that fit this criteria: "Journey of the Dunaden" (1993) and "Perelandra" (1995).  Although I have to this date heard neither of these albums I do recommend to one and all the novel by Lewis, "Perelandra" (the middle novel of his Deep Space Trilogy).   Using Amazon.com maybe for one of the first times, I purchased the "then" current disc of GH entitled "Shadowlands," which is also a reference to the writing of C.S. Lewis.

   It is a magnificent album and I post (below) my favorite track from this 2004 disc.  The vocals of Susie Bogdanowicz over/under & with the male vocalist is ethereal and beautiful...striking in that it's telling the story of a very nasty and brutish war stallion during a crucial cavalry battle.

   I of course have heard other songs by GH (via various sources) but they are notoriously reticent about letting full versions of their songs appear either on Youtube or their own site(s).  I think this is a mistake as the more their music is made readily available the more rabid fans they attract.  They are much beloved neo-prog band (3rd wave) and constantly receive rave reviews on various prog-rock sites.

   They are Eugor's:  FAVORITE ROCK/POP BAND  #  63  GLASS HAMMER

LOVECRAFT TUESDAY # 6

   

   Admitedly this is not one song but a medly from the album BEYOND MADNESS by AKLO.
    This is stunningly unsettling creepy music--PERFECT for reading or contemplating the Elder Ones or for listening to on your Mp3 player while conducting a walking tour of Innsmouth.

    I have known of AKLO for several years now (maybe longer) but have yet to purchase their music since it is not available from either Amazon.com or CD Baby (my two usual go-to sellers for audio purchases of physical media) and I am loathe to buy digital music.
BUT
   AKLO has a Facebook presence at:  https://www.facebook.com/aklomusic
   Their web-site, which is their Bandcamp page is: http://aklo-lovecraftian.bandcamp.com/indexpage wherein you can choose an album and listen to some of the tunes.

Heartily recommended and given a "tendril up" by Eugor

FORNICATE BELLUM* # 4

   Fogerty and his CCR--epic, beloved, and iconic.  Almost everything they recorded is most worthy of myriad replays.
   The "draft" was immoral, insane, and illegal.  SEIRENES of TITAN salutes those who burned their "draft cards," marched, protested and left for Canada rather than destroy the people of Viet Nam...and have themselves detroyed in return.

(* let the reader understand)

STELLAR STEWART SUNDAYS # 6

   Only someone as GREAT as the incredible Maestro AL STEWART could write a super-catchy folk/pop song about President Harding (he of "Tea-Pot Dome" infamy and 'normalcy').  Great guitar work by Tim Renwick and splendid percussion and timpani.  This relatively unknown gem is from Al's 1973 album "Past, Present and Future."  

   And why yes....that is a photo of Marvel's Sorceror Supreme, DR. STRANGE, on the album cover going through one of his mystic dimensional portals (probably to confront the Dreaded Dormammu)

   Cheers!

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) # 6

   For today's album art (oh how I miss the vinyl lp with it's gate-fold and massive size) I have decided to post three of my favorite weird faces.

 

  First up is the 1969 debut album of KING CRIMSON titled "In the Court of the Crimson King." It was arguably the first true progressive rock album as the genre came to be defined.  Although I love the Bary Godber painted cover, I think I like it mostly because the flaired nostrils somehow remind me of Gahan Wilson doing a drawing on a bad acid trip.  Still, it's as striking and as memorable as the music.

 

 

  Next up is (also) the 1970 debut album from GENTLE GIANT titled "Gentle Giant."   The face of said "giant" is maybe only kindly and friendly, BUT... there's a bit of an evil grin and a glint in the eyes that suggests that this giant may not be as gentle as one would hope...and the way the boys played also put that sentiment to rest  :D

 



 

 

 

   And last, AND LEAST, is the (can you guess? the debut) 1991 album of Mike Patton's (though he's listed in the credits as Vlad Drac) MR. BUNGLE.  It's as twisted, sick, and strangely entertaining as the cover art-work is, ahh... "off-puting."  This music makes Zappa sound like Lawrence Welk, as it hits the ear-drums like a David Lynch film put through a blender with evil circus clowns and dead zombie cats.  Just sayin'

  

OPEN-LINE FRIDAY # 2

   I am a BIG BIG fan of Barenaked Ladies, and have been for quite a while now (I have almost all of their discography). 

   I love this song (below, embedded) but even more LOVE the video!!!   It's even got Zombies!
This is the perfect "send-up" and savage criticism of the utter inane-ness and worthlessness of modern television news...especially that "local" news at 10 crap that all American cities are saddled with.  Just one of the most FUN videos in a blue-moon (and yes, the song is a good song).

   I always re-watch this video multiple times because so much is going on in the background (and foreground)...plus, watch it  a whole time through just to read the scrolling ticker-tape   :D
eg:
Vatican says: "pray, pray, pray"....atheists: run, run, run"     double  :D

THURSDAY THEME SONGS # 4

    Unashamedly I admit that the TV series ANGEL is one of my absolute favorite genre series.  I loved BUFFY, and while at the beginning thought David Boreanaz to be a bit wooden, came to appreciate his acting and portrayal of the vampire with a cursed soul seeking redemption.  His own spin-off series in many ways is actually superior to Buffy.

   The opening theme song, while the credits role, is performed by the California band DARLING VIOLETTA.  It's an entrancing and beautifully melodic piece of evocative music: PERIOD.  I am embedding the full version of the song... and oh my that cello.   The drums and synth-keys as well as the guitar all work together with the female vocalise....and did I mention the CELLO     :)

   I love this song...I bought the ANGEL soundtrack wherein is also the other scores and cues of the very talented series composer Christophe Beck.

FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 64

   Because I am just such a sucker for classic 1970's-ish Space Rock (droning, sci-fi related, psychedlia) of the HAWKWIND sort  (I LOVE HAWKWIND!!!)  I stumbled across LITMUS on both my Hawkwind Pandora station as well as on a couple of Space Rock related blogs.  Also, over on the great CD Baby site LITMUS is also listed as a band that lovers of Hawkwind are invited to explore.  This is all absolutely 100% true.  If you love Hawkwind you will love LITMUS.  If not, then not!  I do, and have purchased two of LITMUS' albums.  I own PLANETFALL from which these two song "Destroy The Mothership" and "Tempest" come from.

I just know that a Space Emperor such as you Reliops will be playing LITMUS loud and long in your great star cruiser as you plot the invasion of Planet Earth!   Thus:

EUGOR's Favorite Band  # 64:    LITMUS

LOVECRAFT TUESDAY # 5

   Though I really like this song--it's powerful and very atmospheric, I fully understand the most people I "hang with" (and I'm assuming you too) don't really care that much for 80's "Thrash Metal."
And, of the "BIG FOUR" of that halcyon era (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer) I think Megadeth has proven to be the most consistently solid  Nonetheless this track by METALLICA,  "The Call of Ktulu" (though I wish they'd have spelled it properly per HPL) is perfect for our Tuesday theme.

   I own only two Metallica discs: "Kill Them All" on a burned CD, and their "Black Album."  But simply on the strength of this great instrumental number (see below) I plan on purchasing "Ride the Lightning" some day.

   RAWK ON Abdul Alhazred!  The lost and hidden city of R'lyeh is stirring with ominous, gibbous, ichor!

One of My Favorite "Song-Birds" with My New Favorite Author

  
Kate Bush is one of my favorite femal singer-songwriters ever.  She is amazingly talented.  She should be much better known and appreciated here in the U.S.  Maybe her recent un-retirement from public appearances (after some 30 years) will help.  The song embedded below (via Youtube) is fantastic on it's own, but even better as a bit of a "mash-up" with film clips from the 1957 Dana Andrews motion picture "NIGHT OF THE DEMON."    Kate, has her own images and scenes "inter-cut" with the movie (sort of like Steve Martin did in "DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID" and like Woody Allen did in one of his films; I guess FOREST GUMP does this too though I've never seen that Tom Hanks film).  
Anywho - - -

   The "NIGHT OF THE DEMON" is a modern interpretation of the pheonomenally cool 1911 short story "CASTING THE RUNES" by my new favorite author of the "unsettled" (supernatural weird stories) M.R. JAMES.    I just finished re-reading this story yesterday and, via a podcast, was tipped off to the connection with the Dana Andrews film (which I've always meant to see but have yet to). 

   So this is a marriage made in hades; the fever-swamp of a stunning goddess of melody and timbre AND a creepy atmospheric black and white "classic."

   Couldn't get much better than this.

FORNICATE BELLUM* # 3

   I encountered the great Lemmy around 1977 when I bought my first Hawkwind lp.  Lemmy played Bass for a couple of their albums before getting the "sack."  He's famous world-wide, however, not for his brief tenure with those "Sonic Assassins" of Space Rock but for founding and helming one of the greatest hard-rocking Rock/Metal bands of all time: MOTORHEAD.   I've got a couple MH albums and plan to buy more. 

   Here is a great song for our theme ( see post title and the * [asterix]... "let the reader understand")
MARCH OR DIE.

"March Ör Die"  (I include the lyrics cause that's what this themed series is about)
Lemmy...one great "Bad-Ass"    Salute!

The beast behind our eyes is loose,
The day has come, the day has come,
We march to Armageddon, hungry for the war
I see the hated enemy, I see what I was taught to see

And one of us will bend the knee
We understand the law

The blood lust jerks our legs to march,
Fife and drum, fife and drum
Our eyes are fixed and fearless
Searching for the war
Our statesmen deal in blood and lies
100 million stifled cries, 100 million wasted lives
Already gone before

So March or Die, March or Die
The stench of death is in the sky
We never fail to satisfy
We rend with tooth and claw

Sword and shield and jackboot heel
We love to kill, we love to kill
We love to taste our own blood
Squirm in our own gore

Children weep and widows wail,
Our education systems fail,
To hide our guilt we build more jails,
and we shall build still more
Our forests die, the stranglehold
That we put on the earth for gold
Will yet increase ten thousand fold
And no one knows what for

March and die, March and die
Defecate, despoil and lie
Cheat, dissemble, preach & spy
Build your house of straw

Laugh and cry, laugh and cry
Bloody sunset drowns the sky
For earth the heal then we must die
No-one deserves it more

I tell you we are doomed my friends
Our time is come, our time is come
We live within a charnel house
Rotten to the core
We glorify lust, greed & pain
We drown our hope in poison rain
We point the finger, shift the blame
Ambition makes us whores

March or croak, march or croak
All your lives a cosmic joke
Fill your days with piss and smoke
The wolf waits at your door

Burn and dance, burn and dance
Sex, death, torture, false romance
Whoop and howl, you have no chance
Burn & rise no more

STELLAR STEWART SUNDAYS #5

   I wasn't going to play THIS song (more about it in due course) today
EXCEPT...
   After a week where the temperature got up to 73 degrees one day...I wake up this morning to 20 degrees outside and snow...(just enough to cover the roof-tops, MothT's automobile, and most of the grass.  WHAT THE FREAKIN' DEUCE????   I'm sick of this white stuff...so
ANTARCTICA by Maestro Al!

   To be honest, ANTARCTICA is my FAVORITE AL song period.   Sure, it's not at the same par lyrics wise as most of his historical story-songs, but there's just a magnetic draw that this tune asserts upon me:  "maybe I was snowblind...."  "seduced by this ambition," & "something of my innocence is wandering there still."

   I loved this song SOOO much that I even used it (for a tape or two, maybe more) as my theme introduction to the aborted project of trying to restart the  taping cassettes to you Reliops several years back.

   After reading Lovecraft's THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, and then watching the quite stark and cruelly-beautiful photos that accompany the Youtube video (see below) I can feel chills (no pun intended) up my spine.
   The poetry of Stewart is spendid and my oh my the guitar!!!!  When the killer axe hits at 16 seconds and then is joined by the flute at the 28 second mark-- WOA!

   Listen and be transported. Ponder:
"the hopeless quest of Shackleton and the dream-like death of Scott"

   "THE" brilliant pop/rock masterpiece of the Master Al Stewart.

Saturday's COVER(ed) # 5

   Okay, it's the truth...I have always loved owls...I think they're one of the coolest birds ever.  They (in my fevered brain) sorta combine the best features of both bats (silent swooping creatures of the night) with noble raptors (falcons, hawks & eagles)...plus they're so fluffy and head-spinning  :D

 

   My Mom must have passed down this love for owls, as she had a small collection of porcelain and china owl figurines.  I knew this and therefore one day circa Fall of 1976 as I was perusing the vinyl albums at the DAVID's store in Wichita (DAVID's was like a local K-Mart) I chanced upon a copy of RUSH's sophomore album FLY BY NIGHT.  I wanted it because I was in love with the Canadian trio's fourth lp: 2110 and wanted more of their discography.  So, I bought the album for myself and framed the album jacket for my Mom...CAUSE IT HAD A MONDO COOL painting of an owl.  Yeah, that's what I did (wish I still had it; the framed cover, I still have the album, though now on CD)

 

   But this first piece of art (immediately below) is from a band that I have tried to "get into" but just have not yet warmed up to.  I've been listening almost exclusively to Space Rock & psychedelia (ala Hawkwind and Litmus) as well as doom metal/sludge/stoner rock (ala Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Witchcraft, Orchid etc) for about the last 6 weeks or so.  Somebody recommended the DEFTONES.  I've sorta tried, but just haven't appreciated them (yet).  But still, this cover art for their much lauded 2010 album Diamond Eyes (below) is pretty nifty.

 

 

   I've already told you about this cool art on the 1975 RUSH lp FLY BY NIGHT but you should also be aware that the music is stellar.  'By-tor and the Snow Dog,' 'Rivendell,' and 'Anthem' are great tracks (to accompany the omnipresent 'Fly by Night' which is played too frequently on FM oldies radio).  No self-respecting RUSH fan would miss having this album in his collection (well, actually, since ALL RUSH fans are obsessive about these demi-gods, ALL RUSH albums must be in their collections)

 

 

 

   Last, but not least...in fact the GREATEST album of the three is BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST's 1977 lp GONE TO EARTH.  I will talk specifically about this album a few months from now when I wind down to my FAVORITE Rock/Pop Bands Ever.   BJH is in the top-three (I won't tell you which position they hold...ahhh...suspense)   But nonetheless it's a beautiful painting of an owl swooping down at late afternoon; very pastoral and English countryside-ish.  I include one of John Lees (BJH's guitarist and main song-writers) songs from this wonderful album.

 

OPEN-LINE FRIDAY # 1 Peter Cushing

   A certain fat, stupid, and venal talk show host has a weekly feature called "Open Line" Friday wherein he lets his call-in audience of shyte-heads (excuse me, "ditto heads") pick their own topics and questions.  Not a bad idea all-in-all.  I will be from time to time using Fridays to post songs and tunes that more or less fit the novelty mode, or the "just for the heck of it cause THEY'RE neat" mode. 

   My love for surf music, costumed weird bands (Devo, Residents, Aquabats etc), garage rock, and novelty songs with a monster/macabre/Horror Movie theme, caused me to stumble upon the song "Peter Cushing" by the Surfin' Wombatz (yes, I do think it's spelled with a "z" and that the Youtube poster simply got it wrong).  Fun tune.  Short tune so there's no excuse in not listening to it  :D

   Peter Cushing was 'Da Man!' 

THURSDAY THEME SONGS # 3

   I actually owe my love for the uber-talented J.G. Thirlwell to the scion of Space Emperor Relips ("the Rugged")...young DtR of the Joisey Swamps (though, he is NOT the "Jersey Devil")

   There we were O Reliops, in the Ocean-side city of San Diego...at ComiCon... and the DtR told me to watch VENTURE BROTHERS on our hotel TV (ahhh....Cable)... I did and I was hooked.

   Back in my observation/invasion bunker in the Great Sand Sea of Kansas, I quickly purchaed the first two seasons of VENTURE BROTHERS on DVD and have not looked back.  The great show is even greater because of the theme music and incidental music (score/cues et al) of J. G. Thrilwell.
His music IS pure undiluted 1960's!!!  He has the Crime Jazz cum Library Music sound down pat.  You could see his music fitting everything from Mission Impossible to Mannix to Mod Squad with the Stutz Bearcats thrown in as seasoning.

   When I saw that the CD of Thrilwell's was available from the AdultSwim web-site when Amazon.com DID NOT HAVE IT...I ordered it from them. It's one of my favorite albums and certainly one of my favorite soundtrack discs!

   When I posted one or two of the songs from this album on CHFB (Classic Horror Film Board) they met with full approval of the musical maevens that frequent the music thread.  

   Groove on mi Reliopsoverign.

- - - Eugor the boppin' one

FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 65

   I'm late to everything. I didn't even get a PC until the late fall of 1999.  I'm thinking it was sometime in the Spring or Summer of 2006 that I became aware of Pandora.com.  While constructing a "station" at Pandora for Barclay James Harvest and Camel--two of my favorite bands, I was suggested (by the hocus pocus music genome programs or whatnot of Pandora) the band Nightwish!  (no, not Nightranger..."Sister Christian don't phone home, Motorhead ain't interested")

WOW!  I loved this group so much that I immediately made a "Nightwish" channel and was even introduced to a wonderful Live.365 station which played a lot of their material (that station is still going strong today on Live.365 and is named EPIC ROCK RADIO).   Nightwish introduced me to the whole field of epic, symphonic, orchestral Rock which in many ways is the kit & kin of European Power Metal.  This opened a whole new universe of music for me.  I quickly became enamored with Haggard, Therion, Epica, Kamelot, and other bands that sounded similar to Nightwish.

   For a brief time, Nightwish was the "next big thing" in my musical listening universe, and I quickly purchased five of their albums.  I loved Tarja's voice and the whole grandeur of this Finnish band.
While I listen far less to Power Metal these days then I did in 2006, the music of this band is grand enough to have me proclaim:

EUGOR's FAVORITE MUSICAL BAND  # 65  NIGHTWISH

CONTINUING THE COUNT... ## 65 - - 61

   We move to part three of Eugor's
FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL TIME LIST
with the following batch:

65.  NIGHTWISH
64.  LITMUS
63.  GLASS HAMMER
62.  BARONESS
61.  FLOWER KINGS

   As the cool-guy voice-over announcer used to say for the opening credits/theme of the 1960s television show (a real favorite of mine) STINGRAY....
"ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE NEXT HALF-HOUR...AND PROBABLY WILL!!!"

   Stay Tuned for Nightwish ... same channel, later today...maybe at 11:00 with film   :D

LOVECRAFT TUESDAY # 4

   The reason O Reliops (the "Rugged") that I have yet to post this audio clip (or anything else about this incredible project) is that I just knew that you were already aware of it...you being all-knowing, all-seeing, all-smelled, er..... AND that you frequent (via this inter-net webby thingamabob) the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society web-site even more than I do.  [ http://www.cthulhulives.org/ ]

   But, when I just recently discovered this mega-cool Rock Opera, concept album, based on Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch House" I went ape-shyte!!!!   I went to the stand-alone site (link on the regular homepage of HPLHS) http://witchhouserocks.com/  and perused everything that was posted.  I listened to all the downloaded (or is uploaded) videos they had (even became a fan of guitarist Bruce Kulick); be sure to "click" on the "Forbidden Secrets" tab for access to them!  Mike Dalager is to be saluted and toasted for his vision and entrepreneurship in getting this labor of Lovecraftian love actually recorded.  I do hope that some day it can be performed live on stage.

Anyway, a great introduction to the "album" is the opening tracks "The Confession/Arkham Overture."

CTHULHU IN 2016: Why Settle for the Lesser of Evils

Hoist One...heck, drink down the whole damn keg!!! HAPPY SAINT PADDY'S DAY to ye!

   This is the day to play some loud Irish, or Irish-ish music.  For me and the clan here at Eugor's underground observation cellar...we be a playin' MOVING HEARTS,  THIN LIZZY,  HORSLIPS, CLANNAD,  BOTHY BAND,  SILLY WIZARD,  and of course, America's own two favorite Irish bands of ex-patriates and yanks with green flowin' in their veins:  the DROPKICK MURPHY'S and FLOGGING MOLLY.   I include a Youtube clip of one of the MOLLY's albums which I bought about four or five St. Patrick Day's ago... "Float."    The song is "Man With No Country."  The whole album rocks like a shillelagh...
   So go outside, throw some Irish confetti (i.e. bricks), get into a fight, and puke....

   Seriously, I love Ireland, the Irish, and almost ALL Irish music (genuine and faux)

FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST; # 66

   I knew nothing of the late 60's early 70's super group from New York, MOUNTAIN...other than my first ever girl-friend (well, first girl friend that I dated for a while) Julia liked them and so did her older brother who had a great stereo component system and a mountain (pardon the pun) of heavy rock lps.  My only familiarity with the group was from their hit single, "Mississippi Queen."  I did not orginally like that top of the charts song, but have since come to see it as a classic favorite!

  Two summers ago (the same time I was introduced to TRAFFIC) I was recommended MOUNTAIN's album "Nantucket Sleighride" by a cyber friend ("Steve Zodiak") over at CHFB (Classic Horror Film Board), and, based on Steve's rave review I went to Hastings and purchased a copy!   WHO-HA!!!!!    "Nantucket Sleighride" became a regular auto-rotation disc all through the summer and fall of 2012 for me. 

  The neat, neat song "For Yasgur's Farm" (Youtube video song below) is not from "NS" but from the album "CLIMING" but I play it nonetheless as it is one of my favorite songs of theirs.

  The power guitaring of man-mountain (yes, another pun) Leslie West, along with his soulful singing makes it a standout track on an incredibly great album which I recommend... a solid 9/10.  I will be getting more MOUNTAIN CDs along the way, I hope.

so...

EUGOR's FAVORITE MUSICAL BAND    # 66  MOUNTAIN

STELLAR STEWART SUNDAYS: Al Stewart - Down in the Cellars

   This song, "Down in the Cellars" is a beautiful short chisled diamond of a tune at only 3:12...but it shimmers with the luminosity of wisdom, age, and nostalgia...and it's all about wine (or so it seems)...a love poem to the Fruit of the Vine by vinophile Maestro Al!

   This is the third track on Al's 2000 album DOWN IN THE CELLAR, his 14th studio release. It was one of my first albums to be purchased via Amazon.com and my trusty charge card   :)    I only first got inter-net in the late Fall of 1999  (I'm late/retarded that way).  Of all of Al's later discs this may be his most beautiful and melodic record.  The guitaring of Laurence Juber is sublime.

   I would love to visit Al's wine collection and drink a nice Shiraz with my hero.

Saturday's COVER(ed) TIMES THREE # 4

   This Saturday I don't have an artistic theme for the three album jackets (sigh...smallish CD jackets) other than they're all "Space Rock" (sci-fi, sorta) related.  But the artwork is pretty keen, if I do say so myself.


The first is from the album "3rd From the Sun" by a band named CHROME.  They played a lot of noise rock with some stoner and 70's psychadelic riffs, but in a more industrial noise kind of way.  I've not heard much by them nor do I own any of their material.  But, man o man...what is that a picture of anyway???  a rabid Space Vampire Bat?  coooool.

This next piece of artwork comes from an album by the nifty space rock band FARFLUNG.  The album is "25,000 Feet Per Second."  I don't own any of their albums (yet) either, but have listened to a whole bunch of their tracks on Youtube and like what I've heard.  This art I'm guessing comes from some pulp or SF magazine cover from the 50's, no?   Perry Rhodan call home     :)

The last cover is from the album "PLANET X" by guitarist and space rocker Helios Creed.  With a name like that and with a picture of a lobster with a pair of six-shooters....how can one not LOVE it?
Helios Creed was/is the main guitarist for the above referenced band CHROME.  I include a Youtube video/song of his titled "XL-35," but from a different album (just to get added art that's cool).  :)

GOOD MOVIES WITH GOOD MUSIC

   Friday night fun in Lawrence, Kansas!   Yes, once again I, Agent Eugor (aka: rogue evolent) be-bopped downtown to historic Liberty Hall to watch another installment (they have them about four to five times a year) of KANU (our local NPR affiliated college radio station) and it's RETRO COCKTAIL HOUR host (Darrell Brogdon: the greatest and most melifluous radio voice in the world) do one of their "Cinema A Go-Go" double features. 

   And so I (accompanied by MothT) got to see DESTROY ALL MONTERS and the great noir/crime drama/police procedural cum Slime Monster movie: THE H MAN.

   What a hoot. Plus, I got to hear the stirring score for the Godzilla & friends flick, hitherto an unknown to me, by one of my favorite 20th century films composers: Akira Ifukube.  The second movie, THE H MAN was my favorite but they were both very enjoyable.  It's so civilized to be able to sit in a balcony and drink alcoholic beverages while enjoying genre entertainment of the highest order (HEY!!!!  the 1960s rule! And yes, THE H MAN was made and released in 1958 - - close enough) with a "live" crowd of well over 100 jamokes!

   Both flicks were directed by one of my favorite Japanese film makers, Ishiro Honda, and both movies had the mastermind of Special Effects Eiji Tsuburaya at the helm! 

   What a way to start a weekend!

FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 67 The Marmalade

   The song (below) "Reflections of My Life" was a 1969 top-40 song by The Marmalade.  I'm pretty sure the first time I heard it, in passing, on AM radio when I was in Junior High, it struck me in a powerful way. I've some dim memory of it "choking me up" and affecting me very emotionally...though at that young age I probabaly couldn't have put all of it into words.

   I became re-acquainted with this classic song about two years ago while scouring YouTube for anti-war songs (see my series of posts every Monday entitled: Fornicate Bellum*).  In fact, I may re-post this song next Monday with the accompanying Vietnam Vet pics.  I'm sure that video was put together to honor the fallen soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, but to any thinking soul (not that we should not mourn the loss of these fallen young men...the loss was tragic beyond words...hence the videos and photo tributes cut deep) the video is a damning indictment of war and the monsters (the War Pigs as Ozzy so correctly called them) that fed themselves on the carnage...may they all rot in hell....

   But back to the song....it is one of the most moving and heart-wrenching songs to come out of the rock n roll era.  It still causes me to take a gasp and not to let my tear-ducts get out of hand. I am touched deeply in a way that I still CAN'T quite explain.  There's the sorrow of loss....lost time, lost past, lost friends, family, and experiences.  There's the bitter-sweet recognition of the inevitablilty of old age and death.  It is the one song that demonstrates with heavenly vocals and harmonies the dynamic tension between beauty and pain.  Dean Ford sings like an angel; an angel that knows how the story ends for everyone.  This song is on my all-time favorite list of songs...and for no other reason (although the rest of the catalog of THE MARMALADE is strong!!!) this group ranks on:

EUGOR'S FAVORITE MUSICAL BANDS list at:   #  67  THE MARMALADE.

THURSDAY THEME SONGS # 2: The Ballad of Serenity (Firefly)

   Firefly was a brilliant little show; great acting by a stellar cast; great television-sized SfX; fun stories; and a "little guy against the 'MAN'" overarching story theme.  I, as a Southern Partisan (viz: the War of Northern Invasion 1861-1865) really resonated with the fact that the Firefly protagonist (Mal) was a "Browncoat"/rebel and part of the losing side in a recent war for freedom in the galaxy.  In the Firefly Universe the tyrant (not tyrant lincoln but a distinction without a difference) of EMPIRE kept sticking its lasers and space ships in where they didn't belong.

   Likewise, the great opening theme song has a Southern, rural, infectious "don't tread on me" vibe and is performed well by Sonny Rhodes.

Firefly is the GREATEST show to ever get axed after only one shortened first season.  The show was so good that every time an episode was aired, somewhere in Space Heaven, the young Robert E. Heinlein, (he of the space juveniles), E. E. "Doc" Smith, Edmund Hamilton, Jack Williamson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Gordon Dickson were grinning and nodding their heads.



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FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 68

   Honestly, I don't think I had ever even heard of the GREAT STEVIE WINWOOD prior to sometime in (?) the Spring of 1983 when MTV started playing in rotation his phenomenal song "While You See A Chance."  From that moment on my "radar ears" were up for Mr. Winwood.  My wife also really likes his solo stuff and so we listen to his 1986 BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE album frequently on the car's CD player.  A casual perusal of Wikipedia tells all about Steve Winwood's musical career and numerous accomplishments.

   I don't remember why I was prompted to go to Hastings and buy TRAFFIC's 1971 album THE LOW SPARK OF HIGH HEELED BOYS. But I'm glad I did.  I think I must have read a RAVE review on-line from one of the many very helpful blogs or music sites I frequent.  It became my SUMMER auto "play" album for Summer 2012.  It's a great album and, retrospectively, I affirm its classic and much beloved status.  :D

   The stand-out track is the 11 minute title tune.  Winwood is perfect as guitarist, vocalist, and Hammond organist! And I love Chris Wood's squeakin' sax!  A great chorus floats in & out several times over what is essentially a brilliant proggy Jazz/Rock/Fusion number that has enough long instrumental passages with sufficient vibes and jams to be worthy of the best Allman's or Dead's epics.
A+ album and

EUGOR'S # 68 FAVORITE BAND:  TRAFFIC!


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FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 69

   I had never heard of these guys...
   It was Summer of 1974 and my girl-friend "B" had a friend (MaryLou maybe?) who was dating a guy named "Tony" (??, hey, that's 40 years ago, the names just escape me).  Tony was one of those guys that loved his album collection and delighted in sharing discoveries of good stuff-- which he did.  He pulled out the vinyl album of THE CLIMAX BLUES BAND's 1972
 RICH MAN.  He then played the two tracks which ALSO became my favorite two tracks on the album.  The title track (same as the album) was one of them along witht the Youtube track I share below. 

   I went out in the next couple of days (pretty sure by myself) to SLATEWOOD and bought my own copy. 

  Flash forward to the Spring of 1977 (the beginning of the darkest times of my life  :(    ), what should I hear being played in steady rotation on the Wichita AM radio station(s) but THE CLIMAX BLUSES BAND's hit song: "Couldn't Get It Right" (which is also a GREAT SONG).  I loved that tune and bought a copy of their album GOLD PLATED.

Anyway, the CBB is EUGORS's # 69 fave band.


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LOVECRAFT TUESDAY # 3

   I just like the song (below)... the over-all subject matter/theme IS taken from Lovecraft because composer and head-honcho for SPACE MIRRORS, Alisa Coral SAYS SO!    :D

   I became familiar with SPACE MIRRORS when they were suggested to me as a band that anyone who is a HAWKWIND fan would like.   Count me in on both counts.  Although to be sure, vocalist Martyr Lucifer has a very thick Italian accent to his English delivery, but it somehow amps up the creep vibe when one is singing Lovecraftian tunes, eh?

   The song "Strange High House" is from the SPACE MIRRORS' 2013 album "THE OTHER GODS" which is their second Lovecraft themed disc.

 Alisa's band has a cool web-site (and Facebook pasge too) which has tons of info, worth checking out at:  http://www.spacemirrors.com/ 

   Although the visuals for the embedded video don't really bespeak HPL in my opinion, it's still fun because I think it's from a Georges Milies silent movie from the VERY beginning of cinema.  And, what's not to like about Sea Princesses riding chariots being pulled by marlins    :D


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FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 70

   Sure I heard their greatest hit "I'd Love To Change The World" and liked it...but to be honest, it must have "peaked" in the American AM charts before I really started listening to music.  The song was contained on their 1971 album A SPACE IN TIME.

    I lived a VERY sheltered and conservative musical life before moving to Ft. Wayne in November of 1971.  I owned just a handful of stereo vinyl lps:  Johnny Cash, the Best of;  a Bill Cosby comedy album;  another comedy album that was a compilation of W.C. Field's gags and jokes from his movies;  the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey; and a Royal Guardsmen album (Snoopy vs. the Red Baron Royal Guardsmen).  Most of the music I heard on a regular basis was from my Dad's album collection or from T.V. variety shows.  But I do remember when I did start listening to AM top-40 radio; it was when I recevied a clock-radio for Christmas 1971.  I tuned the thing to WLYV AM in Ft. Wayne and...I've never looked back.  Anyhow........

TEN YEARS AFTER was not a band that ever appeared on my radar until last spring (2013).  Alvin Lee had died and his passing was in all the news stories relating to music (blogs, boards, etc).  I chanced upon "I'd Love To Change The World" and fell in love with this old classic...not so much "all over again," but really "for the first time!"

Lee was an amazing guitar player.  He really starts to shred at a little over the 2:00 minute mark.  He wrote the song and sings it.  It's brilliant!  (aside from the goofy marxist line about taxing the rich).

"....freaks and harries...dykes and fairies..."   Couldn't have said it better myself.

EUGOR's # 70 favorite band:

FORNICATE BELLUM* # 2

   The "Most Evil" (sometimes mistakenly called "the great war" by fools) War is here lamented and remembered with shame by a stunningly well produced heavy metal song "Paschendale" by the immortal band IRON MAIDEN.   This song was on their September 2003 album DANCE OF DEATH.   I remember when it was released because I saw the striking cover art on the Cd's set up at our (then) local BORDERS.   I did not initially purchase it until hearing how great a record it was via the local public library.

   "Paschendale" was written by Steve Harris and Adrian Smith. It is sung by metal god Bruce Dickinson.

   To be sure, monsters such as Haig are in hell, but also Arch-Monsters such as woodrow wilson are also there.  A horrible war made even worse by the infusion of fresh meat when the US entered.  Along with the the French Revolution, no other event s0 shattered Europe and destroyed Western Civilization as did this Most Evil War.

"...never see my friends again..."
"...the sea of dead men overflows..."

CONTINUING THE COUNTDOWN: # 70 - - - 66

   Tomorrow (Monday) we will begin the second installment (of five) of my
 FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL TIME LIST.

  By way of preview here's the next five due up for the coming week:

70)  Ten Years After

69)  Climax Blues Band

68)  Traffic

67)  Marmalade

65)  Mountain

   Lookin' good me "bucky!"
   Put on the head-phones, pour the brew, and get down (America! Vote Howard the Duck....WAUGHHHH!!!!)


- eugor

AL STEWART - - - Fields of France

 

   OUR WEEKLY: STELLAR STEWART SUNDAY continues - - -

  This brief gem (ALL of Al's songs are gems...some are just diamonds or rubies, while others are emeralds or pearls) is only 2:52 but packs a lot of emotion and story line.  Although to be sure, the video (films clips from some WWI war movie; I don't know what it's from...any help?) also puts ones mind into the WWI "dog-fight" mode over "no-man's" land.

   The tune is from Al's 1988 album LAST DAYS OF THE CENTURY.

- eugor the bi-plane lover

Saturday's COVER(ed) TIMES THREE # 3

   The theme for today's great album art (boy here's where one can really miss the old large cardboard jackets for vinyl) is angelic.   I own all three albums and yes, the music on said trio is superb.  Van Halen's 1984 is one of the most fun rock albums to come out of the magnificent 1980s.   Sabbath's Heaven and Hell with the vocals of R.J. DIO may be their finest album after the first four with Ozzy. And lastly, Judas Priest's early magnum opus has just enough touches of progressive metal to make it an interesting and added piece to their necessary discography.

   This SOOO politically incorrect art (and it was non-PC even back in 1984) is titled "Smoking Cherub" and was done by Margo Nahas.  Hey! When you need a "fag" you "need a fag!"  Smoke 'em if you got 'em Cherubim.  The album is chocked full of great and fun tunes. I play this most often of my VH stuff.  And though Sabbath's NEON KNIGHTS was going to be the YouTube play of today...how can I NOT use the MTV video for HOT FOR TEACHER.... maybe the best comedy video ever used by MTV....the "boys" in their light orange suits--priceless!

   This cool picture, also showing angels a "puffing away" is called, appropriately enough "Smoking Angels" and was painted by Lynn Curlee.  No matter how much one loves Ozzy.... DIO is (or was,  RIP  :(  ) a better singer.  This album belongs in every SABB-heads collection.  I need me a Camel short, no filter right about now!

   With a "tip o' the brush" to neo-classical art (maybe a smidgen of the Pre-Raphaelites) the noted fanstasy illustrator Patrick Woodroffe gives us "Fallen Angels" for the cover of Priest's album Sad Wings of Destiny.  Woodroffe also did album jackets for Budgie, Greenslade, and Strawbs (more in due course).  The music is strong and just about "lives up" to the stunning art-work.

   And now, WALDO..... get ready for the 7th grade that you didn't have but wished now you did!

FAVORITE ROCK/POP ALL-TIME LIST # 71

   Well, it's no surprise that the song I would play for AMERICA: my number 71 favorite group would be SANDMAN.   This song has reverberated in my consciousness for four decades plus now....it's a melancholly, brooding, "looking-back-over-memory-lane" sad song...and I've always loved it.   AMERICA is a group that at one time was in my TOP TEN favorite bands...probably at about the time you and I saw them live at the Fort Wayne War-Memorial Coliseum in the Spring of '75 (I'm thinking....was that when it was?  And, who was their opening band/act? I can't remember).  Heck!  Just for their awesome string of AM hits they deserve mega accolades:   Tin Man, Ventura Highway, Horse With No Name, Lonely People, heck, even their version of Muskrat Love    :D....

Because of youthful love lost, I have a hard time even listening to their song Sister Goldenhair...which is a stunningly beautiful and well crafted pop gem.

But's it SANDMAN, baby.... the stark strumming guitar that opens the tune...the chord change at the 15/16 second mark...the tremolo that reverbs at the 26 second point...the chorus.... WOA!

"Ain't the years gone by fast?"  The poignancy and sense of loss in those lyrics hits like a bag of wet cement.

"I suppose you have missed them"  And therein lies the human condition of change, and loss, and regret.

Drink all the beer you can while there's time...cause the Sandman is coming....damn it.

The Music and the Musician That Saved My LIfe - - -

   Well, maybe this post's title line is a tad hyperbolic...and perhaps I am being overly dramatic...hmm...it's possible.

   Still, listen to Govi's "Treasure Bay" for yourself.  Buy one of his albums, open up the windows and get some sun, put on some funky-chicken shorts and a cheap Hawaiian shirt from Wal-mart, grab a Tequila drink of your choice, put on your sunglasses and lay down on the chaise lounge with GOVI turned up....the cares, worries, and sorrows will melt away. I guarantee it.

   The time was late 2002 going into 2003. My, ah, vocation was tanking big-time and I had a band of individuals who were after me with their long bloody knives out of the scabbards. I have NEVER gone through a worse time.  I had such anxiety and inner turmoil I thought I was going to have a heart-attack.   And then, I discovered GOVI by sheer accident at the Lawrence Public Library.  I brought home the disc GUITAR ODYSSEY and plopped it into my CD player.  I literally felt my blood pressure going down.  I felt my life (sure, feelings are subjective Dr. Phil....so sue me) taking a turn out of the blue alley of depression into a sun-lit corridor of secular peace.  I quickly bought most of GOVI's back catalog and began listening to all sorts of so-called "new-age" instrumentalists. The title or label "new-age" is very hurtful and counter-productive, as any music without lyrics can be no more or no less "new-age" than it can be Mayan, Methodist, or Planet Mongo Military marches.  Calling something that has no libretto "new-age" simply because the composer happens to be a follower of some mumbo-jumbo confuses the suclptor with his stautue.  Music as the great Duke Ellington once said is either good or bad. And there is where subjective choices and personal tastes come into play.
   GOVI certainly re-introduced me to my favorite instrument: accoustic guitar. I began once again to listen to Liona Boyd, Segovia, and Phil Keaggy. But GOVI also opened up for me Armik, The California Guitar Trio, Nova Menco, as well as non-guitar based groups such as Cusco, Dagda, Anuna, and Lesiem.   I was even introduced to the incredible Japanese composer Kitaro, as well as re-introduced to both Enya and Clannad (artists that had profoundly moved and nurtured me in the mid 1990s and 1980s respectively).

Milage may (well it DOES) vary, but GOVI's magical musical puts me and my heart/soul/spirit into a place of sun-shine and safety.