AL STEWART - - - Joe the Georgian

As mentioned last Sunday, every Sunday at SEIRENES OF TITAN is a special STELLAR STEWART SUNDAY wherein I will feature my favorite Al tunes from some of my favorite Al albums. But with Maestro Stewart, they ALL tend to be my favorite.

Al is a big BIG student of History and many of his songs feature richly textured historical narratives.
This song 'Joe the Georgian' is a wonderful folkish riff on one of humanity's greatest and most evil butchers: Joseph Stalin. And Al is perfectly correct, "Koba" is certainly roasting in hell right now as I type and as you will soon listen. And, other than Judas, h.s. truman, Mao, W.T. Sherman, and dishonest 'abe,'  Stalin is one of the few personages we can all be sure is being "pitchforked...for a few million years."

The tune at 3:31/2 is the tenth track on Al's thirteenth studio album BETWEEN THE WARS from 1995. The AMAZING LAURENCE JUBER is playing lead guitar. Of all of Al's side axe-men over the years (Tim Renwick, Dave Nachmanoff, and Peter Green included) JUBER is my favorite.
And, truth be told, this might just well be my own FAVORITE album Al Stewart has ever released.

Dance, Dance, Dance mighty Emperor Reliops!
- eugor



LYRICS:
Now I've got my payment for the service that I gave
They've given me my ticket to this place beyond the grave
I suppose it's kind of funny, I suppose it's kind of sad
Thinking back on all the times we had

But it's kind of hot and smoky in this ante-room to Hell
And I won't make up a story 'cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry that we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here, we will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here, we will dance

We all set off together on this sorry ship of state
When the captain took the fever, we were hijacked by the mate
And he steered us through the shadows upon an angry tide
And cast us one by one over the side

(repeat chorus)

There's Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin and the rest
We're sharpening our pitchforks, and we're heating up the ends
We've got a few surprises for the mate when he appears
I hope he likes the next few million years

Saturday's COVER(ed) TIMES THREE: #2

   Today I post for you Space Emperorat Reliops three sharp looking album jackets that have kind of a spacey (side-ways, sort of with the last one) orb-like vehicle schtick goin' on!

 

The first is from the SLOMATICS album Estron. I love the things coming out of the floating rocks opening, plus the creaure on the hill in the foreground. The pinkish brown tint is also nice. The groups music is a blend of Hawkwindish intrumental but with a nice ambient psychedelic stoner vibe. I recommend the song 'Red Dawn.'

 

 

I just love WOLFMOTHER's album art for their sophomore release (2009) Cosmic Egg.   Space-ship or cosmic entity (from the Chicken Planet Cluckovia??) I really like the bleak sky-scape and the water. Check out the person looking up... Now we know where Rhodan comes from :)  This band is from Australia and I do recommend you check out their music; it's a real "throw-back" retro appreciation of Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and other seminal '70s hard rock bands.  Songs to check out are 'White Feather,' 'Sundial,' and 'New Moon Rising.'

 

 

This last album jacket has some real trippy art that also appeals to my tastes.  The bright colors and symmetry make me happy!  The group (duo) Moon Duo play really nice space-music with a heavy tinge of the melodious side of Jefferson Airplane. Ya want some "shades of 1969?"..... play the Youtube clip and enjoy. 

 

Good Old Days, INDEED!!!

   I love silent movies.  My DVD collection grows slowly but surely. Keaton is my favorite comedian of all time and his pictures have brought me great joy. My memories of being introduced to Haroly Lloyd with my Dad are precious. The early Laurel & Hardy silents actually do rival their later "talkies"...which are the bench mark for comedy duos!  The Mary Pickford classic "Sparrows" (1926) is a film for the ages. This list could go on and on.

  Tonight (Feb 28th) Deo volente, I will be attending my fifth opening night of Topeka's KANSAS SILENT FILM FESTIVAL.     This will be the 18th annual event for this august organization. Every year the organizers bring in esteemed national (and local) musical talent to accompany the silents that are being shown. The last few years the Colorado based MONT ALTO MOTION PICTURE ORCHESTRA have been the high-lighters.   http://www.mont-alto.com/  Tonight they will be playing a solid 60 minutes of music to accompany the 1921 Will Rogers classic "Doubling for Romeo." Tomorrow (Saturday) they will play for 75 minutes while accompanying the 1928 gem: "The Patsy" with Marion Davies. It will be
heaven. http://www.kssilentfilmfest.org/kssff2014/program.html 

   As the silent age of cinema moved into the talkies, the great scoring and "cuing" for shorts and feature length films remained at a very high quality.
   The great LeRoy Shields wrote (sadly, uncredited) most of the music for Hal Roach's OUR GANG comedies.  http://www.leroyshield.com/ 

   The "revivalist" Dutch Band/Orchestra THE BEAU HUNKS have as a labor of love released several discs of re-created music of Mr. Shields.  http://www.beauhunks.com/    GOOD OLD DAYS brings back memories that are filled with glee and childhood joy. Enjoy...

Theme One - Schizo Fun Addict

   Just a FUN 2:57 from a band by the cool name of SCHIZO FUN ADDICT.  And, what's not to love about the classic sci-fi movie clips in this video  :D

  For more information visit the Fruits de Mer Records web site at: http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com 

Enjoy o RELIOPS the redundant.
- eugor the eugenically deprived

This Thing has turned into a Runaway Ramble :)

   While it’s fairly clear that I love pretty much all genres of music (except rap and hip-hop for the most part) I usually listen to only one kind of music at a time (intently and almost exclusively). I am currently about three weeks into my Doom Metal/Rock, Stoner, Sludge, Psychedelic, Space-Music “jag.” It got started as I was listening to two of my favorite “old-time” bands Hawkwind and Black Sabbath…and has just mushroomed (pardon the pun ;) ). More on this topic in a future post.

   But one of the genres that almost got re-kickstarted was my love for traditional Country & Western music (by “traditional” I mean Cash, Waylon, Geo. Jones, Willie, Marty Stuart, Dwight Yoakum, Dale Watson, et al)  I had both read a rave review of Roseanne Cash’s new album, as well as had heard from SPACE EMPEROR RELIOPS that said digital-entity was truly worthy.  I would have bought the CD at Hastings had I the cash when I saw it (on sale no less).

   So, as it stands, C&W has not yet de-throned Doom/Sludge/Stoner rock at Agent

Eugor’s hidden lair, but I do want to share the best web-site for traditional Country music in the universe…as well as a YouTube clip of one of my favorite Roseanne songs ever. It’s from her 1987 hit album KING’S RECORD SHOP.  I loved it so much back then that I bought it on vinyl.  I have recently re-bought it on CD…it’s that good of an album.  The song is by the one-and-only (and much lamented: R.I.P. John Stewart.)   Stewart is in my top echelon of singer-songwriters. There’s something in the melody and lyrics that almost brings a tear to my eyes…like much (most) of John Stewart’s gems! I hope you like the song that Ms Cash truly does “justice” to.

The site which I can’t recommend enough is Saving Country Music by the Trigger Man (aka Trigger). It’s simply the “must-go-to” site for all things genuine, real, quality, and solid.  Surf on to it at: http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/  

LOVECRAFT TUESDAY

   Lovecraft themed and inspired music needs no defense or apology (or even much explanation) on this blog, or for either of us Emperor Reliops!

I hoping to share a Lovecraftian song every Tuesday...just cause I can   :)

I discovered Paul Roland and his creepy-cool-vibed music several years back when I was getting into Steam-Punk music (Tom Waits brought me to a lot of clock-work and Verne-inspired goth-tinged music) and really liked what I heard from him on YouTube. But I found very little of his material for sale in hard-copy format (I'm a sucker for the Cd and not so much for the download) so I just kinda forgot about him.  This album (Re-Animator) can be purchased on Amazon.com as an MP3 download: http://www.amazon.com/Re-Animator-Paul-Roland/dp/B00120GOZ2/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1393362856&sr=1-1&keywords=Paul+Roland+reanimator

Roland has a pretty extensive discography of weird music right up your alley.  Then again O mighty Reliops...you have no doubt already discovered him on your own.
I remain your obsequious servant,
Agent Eugor

THE NEXT BIG THING ! ! !

Ever since the Moody Blues became my favorite band in January of 1974 (they are no longer my favorite all-time band but still remain in my top-ten greatest bands) I have been questing for the "next big thing." By that I mean, a band that could produce the musical "highs" and tonal-endorphins in my brain that the Moodies first did as I listened to their complete discography album after album (thanks to a loan of her collection--thanks Patricia :) ).
I have indeed found other "heavy hitters" (Barclay James Harvest, Renaissance, Horslips, Clannad) during the years, and even lately (in the last decade) have discovered those special bands that I missed the first time around (Pink Floyd, Be Bop Deluxe...and especially CAMEL).

I have now found, for me, THE NEXT BIG THING!  I discovered this band from the internet pages of SEA OF TRANQUILITY (a great web-site) as well as from the pages of PROG magazine. After having recently purchased both of their albums from Amazon.com - - they are enshrined already on my top list of favorite all-time bands. Though their first album (THE WEIRDING) is much longer, and maybe even a bit better work, the clip below is from their most recent (second) album THE BLACK CHORD.
When I listen to them I hear a perfect 2014 melding of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, with ASTRA's own flavor and originality. They also evoke Genesis, Yes, and a touch (a second or two's worth) of Black Sabbath (side-ways, sort of).

You can't be a prog-head in my book without trying, and then LOVING: ASTRA!