Three Tune Tuesday: My (fairly) recent buys
This post is for the #ThreeTuneTuesday run by @ablaze. I do still buy music on CD and sometimes even on vinyl. I will feature songs from some recent acquisitions.
Steve Wilson: Personal Shopper
Now I know this one may rub @slobberchops up the wrong way. We are both fans of Steven Wilson, but this album (The Future Bites) was a little poppy for our tastes. Mr Wilson is known for prog rock and electronica, but he does have a love of pop too. It came out in 2021, but I bought it recently as it was reduced at HMV in Stevenage. I think there are some good tracks on the album and it has a lot going on. I just know 'chops' does not like the 'Boney M' backing vocals. He can be quite picky about his music. This song riffs on our consumerist culture where we will do whatever it takes to have the latest fashion. It has a guest appearance from Sir Elton John. The video is a little disturbing.
The Fierce and the Dead: Shake the Jar
I have followed TFATD since they started out. They play heavy and complex instrumental rock, but the latest album had vocals from bassist Kev. I pre-ordered the album through their Bandcamp and opted for the premium package with vinyl, a shirt and a handwritten lyric book. My original parcel ended up at the wrong place, but they sent another. I really like this new direction. I was at the album launch gig with @hockney.
Extreme: Rise
Extreme had their moment in the 90s with hits like Get The Funk Out and More Than Words. We saw them play at Wembley Arena back then. They are back with a bang now. Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt seems to have eternal youth and is still an amazing player. We saw them again in December, but missed part of their set as we left early due to issues with the trains. We still enjoyed it and got to see Nuno do his cool solo to this song live. I bought the CD at David's Music in Letchworth.
BONUS TRACK Foo Fighters: The Teacher
Foo Fighters have been through a tough time with the death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl lost his mother too. The latest album has a very subdued look with a cover that almost looks blank. The track list is barely legible on the back. This is their longest studio song and the video has lots of archive footage of Grohl. We have seen them live twice before and will again this year. I bought this at David's at the same time as the Extreme disc.
Does anyone use Last.fm to track their music listening? I have been on there for nearly 20 years with almost 122k songs logged.
Rock on!
An old friend of mine just had the chance to see Extreme live, he said they were very good. I think it was at a festival or some kind of outdoor venue. I was just listening to some Blackfield the other day. I had never heard of them before and thought I would give it a go. I liked pretty much all of it.
Steven Wilson was on some of the Blackfield stuff. I have one of their albums.
That's why I gave them a go.
The less said about 'Personal Shopper' the better. The album has a few decent tracks, but is his worst to date. The last one is an improvement but still not as good as 'Bone', and not even close to what came before that one.
I remember 'More Than Words', but wasn't a fan. I didn't know the band were rockers.
I didn't expect you would have changed your opinion. Some musicians will keep doing 'more of the same' to keep the fans happy, but others do want they want. I wonder how SW's sales figures were for each album.
Extreme had a nice mix of rock and funk. We didn't see the acoustic segment of that last show. They always had good vocal harmonies. Singer Gary Cherone briefly sang with Van Halen.
I see those Fierce dudes have decided to sing, that can only be good. Instrumental bands are going to struggle to be heard, at least in the masses.
You have to decide whether to compromise the music for popularity. A bunch of older guys may never be big stars, but there are loads of acts that don't get played on the radio, but can sell out smaller venues. What you need are a few thousand loyal fans.
Interesting variety of choices.
Extreme is nostalgic for me as I was trying to play some of those Extreme guitars when I was a kid.:)
Nuno is awesome guitar player.
Rock On!!
There seemed to be a lot of Nuno fans at the gig. I suspect a lot of them are guitarists. We had Living Colour play before them, so it was a great night even though we didn't stay until the end.
Time to really enjoy some cool music
Nuno's solo on that one certainly had all the guitarist's on YouTube geeking out!
The songs are so cool
I love the tunes
Thanks for blessing us with lovely tunes