Stream of Consciousness & Music Reviews

    I know my gushing over ELO may be getting tiring at this point, but it's my blog so stuff it. I love this album. So much, that I want anyone reading this to stop reading and go listen to it right now. Seriously, it's that good; plus I don't want to spoil anything. Read further at your own caution. As you may have guessed, Time is another conceptual album, not unlike one of ELO's other albums, Eldorado. And similarly to Eldorado, this album is a near masterpiece in my opinion. It tells the story of a man from 1981 transported to 2095 and how he struggles with it. The way that it's told, both how it's shown through the music and lyrics and the ambiguity at all turns, works so massively in favor of the theming of the album. Much like with my review of A New World Record, I really can't do this album justice with my own words. Even outside of the narrative, the music is amazing. It features synth more than ever here, which has already proven to pair very wel...

      What the hell did I just listen to? I feel like that sentiment is exactly what the Greek band Aphrodite's Child was trying to convey with End of the World. The album is like a combination of psychedelia rock, prog rock, pop, and metal. This odd concoction sounds like it wouldn't work very well, but it surprisingly does. The constant switching between trippy, excitable moments and slow ballads works really well and I have no idea why. One part might be the vocal performance, which manages to be haunting at times, other times loud and frantic, and sometimes both. I can't really credit a name to it because multiple members of the band are credited with being vocalists but there aren't any specifics past that. All I know is that what they offer goes pretty well with the overall trippy feel of the album. One thing I do know is the keyboard (played definitively by Vangelis Papathanassiou) is easily the best aspect of the music. Much the vocal performance, it's a...

      I said almost  none of them were related. One of my friends said I should listen to this and I figured that I could listen to 2112 and this back to back since I was already planning on listening to the former anyway. And speaking of 2112, Signals feels a bit underwhelming since I'm listening to it hot off the heels of it. While 2112 was wild and high energy excitement for the narrative portion with a slow cool down on the b side, Signals is like low energy practically the whole way through with only a few moments of intensity. Every element of the music is the same, but just feels lesser in a way. Lee's vocal work matches that of it in 2112, but is much less energetic and doesn't have nearly as much dynamic impact. And the same can sort of be said about pretty much all the instruments too. They seemed less involved and sort of melded together. It still had a similar sound and was still distinctly Rush, but it was like an AI tried to replicate their music and wa...

      Where do I even start with this one. I've said it for other albums and I'll say it here too: This album is very highly regarded and for very good reason. It's a goddamn experience listening to this thing. The first track alone could be it's own standalone album and still be amazing. The narrative told by that first track is just so excellent. It touches on some bases of human psychology and society in what it says about authority with the Priests and the  inherent profoundness of music to us. And for me, it seems to have a similar structure and theming to that of Eldorado by ELO, one of my all time favorite albums, as well as Anthem by Ayn Rand, a novella that I adore and highly recommend. Unfortunately, the B side of the album feels underwhelming by comparison. Going from the Grand Finale of 2112 into A Passage to Bangkok feels a bit disappointing. There are good songs in the rest of the album with good stuff in them; it's just a bit of a let do...

     Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all 4 of you who'll read this! I've had a lot on my plate lately and haven't done anything on here for a while despite wanting to. So to make it up to both myself and anyone who cares, I'll be reviewing an album everyday this week as a sort of "Holiday Marathon" or something. I don't really know, I just want to listen to more music. So every weekday there'll be a new review up, and almost none of them are related to each other or Christmas (as far as I know). Anyways, on with the review!        First up this week is the recently released "Power Up" by ACDC. Man, this is a feel good album. It sounds like it was ripped straight from the 80's, with similar styles and performances to something like Back In Black; especially Angus Young, who sounds just as good now as he did back then, if not better. Speaking of elements which are better here, the guitarwork by Angus and Stevie Young is so on ...

    This is just gonna be a rant. I'm not being a character or trying to be satirical, this is genuine frustration. Now, let's talk about why I hate Spotify Voice. Spotify Voice is the implemented voice control for the mobile app for premium users. Why do you think people use voice controls for things like this? Situations when it's inconvenient to use their hands or they just can't. For me, I like to listen to music when I'm driving and showering, two situations where it's very inconvenient for me to pick up my phone to skip a song or change the music, because I'd either have to take my eyes off the road and hands off the wheel when driving or step out of the shower and dry off my whole arm so water doesn't drip onto my phone. The point is, you'd think that voice controls would be implemented so that you would actually, you know, use your voice as the control. Apparently Spotify doesn't think this. The way that you use Spotify Voice is: you go t...

      ACDC's first international album, being made up of songs from their first 2 albums which were exclusive to Australia. I think it's clear that this album marked the band's path for the rest of their discography. The album has a more blues rock feel than the regular hard rock that the band is known for, with the exception of a few songs, those being the hits. Songs that strayed from the softer blues rock mood, like T.N.T and High Voltage, are more popular and more similar to their later work, drawing the connection between popularity and the band's direction. I think that it was definitely the right move too, as the slower and less excited tracks just don't hit as hard as the songs that have that signature ACDC feel to them. Overall it's a fine experience and I'd recommend it, but it's honestly not their finest work. Also, sorry if this sounded like an essay, I've been writing quite a few of those lately.     Highlights: It's a Long Way to th...

      The first EP and latest work by Home, as of the time of writing, and I would say that it's a step up from Falling Into Place. The unique sound from the first two albums are back and they are still good. The songs still experiment with their melodies, which is still a big plus, and has an overall very similar feel to Before the Night. There aren't too many tracks on Hold, and they all sound similar to the tracks on Before the Night, so a lot of what I had to say there also applies here. Other than that though, I really don't have any more to say; it's surprisingly hard to commentate on music without any vocals or theme, even with my small amount of knowledge on music theory.      Highlights: Dusk, Flood, Hold Rating: 4/6

      My first requested album! Not specifically for this blog, just a recommendation from a friend, but why not make a review for it anyway, y'know? Emerson, Lake, And Palmer were a prog rock band, and being a big fan of another prog rock band (ELO) myself, I thought I might be slightly familiar with their music. Not even a little bit. The first track opens with light, intermittent drums developing into a barrage of synthesizers, and it only gets stranger from there. A good portion of the music on this album is instrumental, with large portions of songs having no vocals and a few songs that are purely instrumentally melodic. A lot of the sound here is similar to something you might hear in a waiting room, in the background of a video, or while on hold; what makes it different from those is how energized a lot of it, being fast and exciting as opposed to slower, while still managing to retain that semi-chill feeling that the former examples had. It's also a lot more abstr...

      If you couldn't tell, I like this band, so I decided to just get to their next album now instead of waiting. In Discovery, ELO takes a departure from the style of their previous album, now having a lot of emphasis on disco (Disco-very, get it?). This shift to disco is surprisingly smooth and is able to mesh well with the elements of style that they carried over. Unfortunately, this also means even less orchestral elements than their last few albums, with Don't Bring Me Down being their first song to not have any string section. This shift in sound is similar to the one from their earlier albums to their more recent ones, in relation to when this album was released. But while there I feel like the band improved their craft and found a better spot to be in, I feel like it's a little of the opposite here. Like I said in my Out Of The Blue review, that album was peak ELO sound, with it being what they are at the core; with Discovery having that shift over to a more...

      Home's latest album so far (but not his most recent work) and I have mixed feelings over it. It still has the same atmosphere and synth tone to it, but some parts of the music is different. For example, in this album the tracks are a little more experimental with incorporating more organic and natural sounds, like having the music sound like it's being played by an actual instrument at some points. Along with this the songs are structured a little differently too, seeming a little more formulaic in how they play out and not messing with their melodies as much. I still like what he does here, but it loses that sort of pseudo-ambient feel the last two albums had that are a big part of why I like them. On the other side of the spectrum is when a few of the tracks become too ambient, like Fata Morgana or Burning, and they sound like backing tracks for dialogue or camera shots. And on another note, the general feeling and sound is a tad bit weak. The whole albu...

      After a short hiatus, I'm back, and what a better album to use for a bad play on words than Back In Black. ACDC's most famous album by far with a good amount of hits on it, which is why I decided to listen to this one first instead of one of their earlier albums (some of which I do intend to get to later). Much like Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Back In Black is a tribute to a former band member, the late Bon Scott, and again similar to WYWH, it's a pretty good one. The songs that pay homage to the late singer are really good, in both their imagery and how they portray him, in addition to sounding amazing. Speaking of the sound, it's pure ACDC, exactly what the band is known for, in the style of the instruments (particularly the guitarwork) and the format and pacing of the songs, both of which are fantastic. One gripe I had with a few of the songs was the very overtly sexual themes in them, but that's just me and my weird view of stuff, and I don't ...

 And with my review of "Out of the Blue" the backlog is (almost) completely done! There is one more album that I've already listened to and written a rough draft review for, but I'll post that at a later date; I'll say when I post it and why. Aside from that though, I've gotten through the backlog (and also some more albums added in so that it wasn't just a flood of ELO and a couple other albums). And now that I have, posts might slow down a little, especially writing pieces. I'll still try to post often because I do want to listen to more music and write more stuff, but I do have a life with responsibilities, which means that I don't have all the time in the world, which will slow down posts, especially writing pieces as those take much longer than the reviews.      Here's an explanation to my rating system, since I have some slight worries that it may be a little confusing since it's not what people are used to. Also, I'll say "a...

      Just as the backlog was started with two ELO albums in a row, it'll end with it too. Out of the Blue is ELO's magnum opus, there most important work. I won't say that it's their best (mostly because there are a few of their other albums that I think are better) but it is definitely their most popular album. If someone asks you what ELO is, you show them this. I think that this is a good album to represent ELO as a band because it perfectly encapsulates what the band is, both in the sound and the themeing. The album is one of their longer ones, and thus has a lot more packed in; the third side even tells it's own compressed story in four songs creating "Concerto for a Rainy Day", which is absolutely brilliant. The sound and feel of the music is peak ELO, with the classic combination of rock and orchestral elements, and also nicely integrating some very well fitting pop-rock elements. This is also the album that has Mr. Blue Sky on it, their most popul...

      I'm running out of ways to start my reviews. Regardless, here we have one of ELO's more popular albums and with good reason. This album is extraordinary, and has been my favorite album for a long time now (so you can probably guess what my rating is gonna be). I can already tell that my description won't be enough to really tell you why I love this album so much but I can try. Every song is amazing in one way or another. Some songs are really emotional and impactful (Telephone Line, Mission (A World Record)), some are great songs to rock out to (Rockaria!, Livin Thing, Do TYa), and some are an outstanding combination of the two (Tightrope, Shangri-La). The worst song on the album is, in my opinion, a 5/6; when your worst track is still really good, that's how you know that you have something special. Not to mention to parallels between the songs. Like how Among the Clouds connects it's surrounding songs that otherwise are completely unrelated. Or the direct co...

      Master of Puppets, the second Metallica album that I've listened to, is pretty good. It's really similar to Ride the Lightning in it's sound, which is definitely a good thing. This one felt a little better, although I don't really know why; I liked the guitar more here than in Ride the Lightning, maybe just because it had more higher solos. This album is also a little more stylized in it's presentation, such as more inventive guitar and bass solos and vocal touches like in Damage Inc., helping to set it apart from it's predecessor and in my opinion, makes the album better than it. Maybe part of why I liked this album a little more is because I'm getting more familiar with the genre and the band, who knows. If you liked Ride the Lightning, you'll like this too.      Highlights: Battery, Master of Puppets, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Orion, Damage Inc. Rating: 5/6

      The last of the Pink Floyd albums that I've listened through so far as of writing this, and I saved the best for last. A short tribute to former band member Syd Barrett and a damn great one. Every song is great and unique, yet still obviously apart of the same overall piece of art. Every element is amazing: the vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and the saxophone especially is very on point. In addition, you can tell that the band put everything that they had into it; from the long, contemplative instrumental intro of Shine On You Crazy Diamond (about 8 minutes long) to the emotion packed vocals of Wish You Were Here, you can tell so much passion was poured into the entire album. Also, the way that Shine On You Crazy Diamond begins and ends the album, with each "part" of it being similar yet differing it specific areas, is great, and shows how the difference in feel between the two captures the experience of listening through the album. It's great.      Hig...

Malls were a big part of defining the 2000's for teens and their generation. They were a popular location to hang out, with places to eat, things to buy, and a location away from the home, and thus away from the parents, which allows for more freedom. Through the years, malls have declined in popularity among youth, especially with the rise of online shopping, food delivery services, and ways of communicating online, such as social media and various chatting apps and platforms. And with the coronavirus and quarantine of 2020, it looks like "mall culture" may be officially dead.      There may soon be a replacement, though. "Sewer culture", that being hanging out in sewers and drain pipes in the same vain as mall culture, has the potential to be just as big, if not bigger than mall culture was in the 2000's. It can check off almost all of the same factors that made malls so popular. For starters, it's a place separate from the home, allowing for more free...

      ELO's 5th album. By now, they've comfortably settled into their niche with their sound almost finalized and established. This is also the album where the orchestral elements are started to be subdued a little bit; they're still present and noticeable, but they have much less emphasis here. With this change also comes the consequence of the songs starting to sound more generic, like they're trying to be more "radio hits", and in my opinion it loses a little bit of what's made ELO's music so unique in the past. Because of this the songs are hit or miss for me, with the songs either being great or unmemorable (and in the case of one song, truly awful). The popular songs from this album, like Evil Woman and Strange Magic, are popular for reason, that being that they are really good. The other songs are mostly neutral and not that outstanding, like Waterfall or One Summer Dream. There are a few lesser known songs on here that I like just as much as th...

      Next step in the metal line is Metallica's "Ride the Lightning". I went into this one pretty hesitantly, worrying that it may be another just ok album, especially with how the first track went.  Before listening through these metal albums my impression of metal was pretty much "guitar that sounds like you're just playing the lowest note really fast and screaming", which is why the first track had me a little worried. Thankfully, the album as a whole turned out to be much better than it's introduction. The fast pacing works well for the music, I feel like it wouldn't have worked if it was any slower. The guitar was a little split for me; on one hand you have amazing solos with beautiful string work, and on the other is that sort of "playing low notes fast" thing, although that grew on me as the album progressed. One aspect that I have no doubts about liking, however, are the drums, which I thought stood out enough to be noticed and app...

      Home's second album and it appears to be more of the same. The songs have the same general feel as the first album. It almost feels like it could just be a continuation of the "Odyssey", especially due to how the last track on Odyssey, "On the Way Out", and the first track here, "We're Finally Landing", sort of fit together. Because of how similar the two are, it's harder to come up with new things to say here that I didn't already say in my review of "Odyssey", so a lot of what I said there also applies here. One exception though is the general vibe I got from it; whereas "Odyssey" had a feeling of being lost and slight loneliness, "Before the Night" seems more hopeful and uplifted. Aside from that, the only real difference between the two for me is that I didn't resonate with the songs here as much as I did on "Odyssey".      Highlights: We're Finally Landing, Overflow, Pyxis, Before t...

      Easily Pink Floyd's most well known album, at least the cover art is, it's a little surprising that this is what they're generally known for. It's a good album, no doubt about that, but even the only 2 other albums by them I've heard are both better (review of the 3rd coming soon). This album is way more abstract than The Wall, and thus harder to get into and understand. Because of how abstract it is, with most of the album having little to no lyrics and purely signature Pink Floyd drawn out instrumental solos, it's hard to tell what's happening. I think it's a conceptual album, but I may be wrong. If it is though, I couldn't tell you the story it's telling, not that that's a bad thing; the complexness of this aspect gives the album that mystery that could make it more enjoyable to listen to and figure out. That being said, the longer, slower, more instrument focused sections in this and the next album by them I'll review is definit...

      Eldorado. ELO'S 4th studio album, and one of my personal favorites. Take all of the praise that I had for On the Third Day, and amplify it by ten; this album is that good. For starters, it takes the already brilliant mixture of orchestral and rock elements and is able to weave them together in new and even better ways than before, creating an entirely new and riveting experience. Each track brings something new to the table, each evolving the whole work further and further, and with every song being great in it's own right. Before going any further, I highly recommend that you listen to the album before reading what else I have to say about it. The album has a story told throughout it of a "dreamer" going through various dream worlds. This starts off with a monologue in Eldorado Overture that states this, making the simple process of just falling asleep and dreaming into a majestic, almost fantastical thing that the dreamer does. It also lays out a motif that...

      Next up for my introduction metal is The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, widely acclaimed to be one of, if not the best heavy metal album of all time. I'll be straightforward and say: I don't see it. The majority of the album feels somewhat generic in a way. In my review of Black Sabbath's self titled I said that I'm not usually a fan of satanic and occult imagery in media, which is due to it being generally overdone and/or coming off as just edgy, which is kinda what I feel listening to this. I understand why songs like "The Number of the Beast" use it here, it's just that it doesn't feel as necessary to the tone as it did back in Black Sabbath. Aside from that, a lot of the elements of the songs don't really mesh well with each other, like they're all just present without building off of one another. I will say, the vocals done by Dickinson are great, and the guitar and bass-work is downright amazing, and where a lot of the appeal o...

Before I begin, can we just take a moment to reflect on the war on drugs and how awful it was? Like, D.A.R.E was such a bad program, that it was already getting cut out of public schools by the time that my school introduced my grade to it. That, and pretty much all of the government's efforts, were useless, and if anything, only had adverse effects, making things like recreational marijuana use rise in popularity among high school and college age students (to my knowledge, that may just be my idealistic child-view of the world and I just didn't know how popular it was before I found out it was even a thing). Now, the motivations behind it wasn't entirely bad, a lot of drugs are highly addictive and harmful in both the long and short term, some more than others. Because of this, and how poorly the government tried to deal with it, I have devised a plan to accomplish what they wanted to, but theoretically effectively. The method is simple: create a monopoly.      Befo...

       A part of why I started this site, other than to have one place to put my opinions on the music I listen to, was to introduce myself to new music and expand my horizons. A main focus of this is metal, because a lot of my friends listen to metal and I've never really listened to any except what I've heard them occasionally play when I'm with them. So, I'm (probably) gonna be listening to a good amount of metal in the future to at least expose myself to it, starting here. This and the next few metal albums I review were recommended to me by one of my metal-loving friends, so blame him if this is a bad selection. Also, I found some discrepancies with this album online when preparing to listen to it (specifically between European and North American versions), so for the record, I'm listening to the North American version as it's listed on Spotify. Also, since I have quite literally 0 knowledge of the genre, I think a lot of what I say early on will probably j...

      Ever since hearing a couple of the tracks from this a long time ago and enjoying them more than I thought I would, I've wanted to listen to some of Home's other stuff, but haven't gotten around to it until now, with this site being the major reason why I finally took the plunge. I'm not very experienced in the vaporwave/purely synthetic genre and style of music, so excuse me if my commentary isn't that well informed. As mentioned, all of the songs on Odyssey are, from what I can tell, all completely synthetic and generated with no lyrics. This makes it hard to nail down any real tone or theme in the album, due to the lack of any words or familiar elements (for me). If I had to at least describe how it felt when listening, I'd say that it had a sense of melancholy, nostalgia, and some sort of subtle yearning for... something; I'm not sure, maybe someone else could describe it better or something else entirely, because there's nothing truly solid her...

      As the title implies, it's the third album by ELO, and going chronologically it's the best one produced so far. Jeff Lynne has fully infused his style into the album, integrating classical elements with rock elements much more smoothly than in ELO2, with the two complimenting and working off of each other much better than before. Another effect of Lynne's more prominent influence over the music after Roy Wood's departure is how it goes beyond an orchestral twist, and strays into pop-rock for brief periods, making for an almost Queen-like sound that works greatly in the bands favor. This is where they start to really solidify themselves in their style (which will only be strengthened in the future). They also experiment with synthetic elements, such as synthesizers and moogs that contribute a feel to the songs that they haven't been able to achieve previously, and become a staple of their music from this point on.      Highlights: New World Rising...

      I'm choosing to review The Wall before any other Pink Floyd album because I think that it's a good introduction to the band if you want to get into them. The Wall is a conceptual album, telling the story of a rockstar and his life, outlining the events that have shaped him into who he is and the effects they have on his life. This story told through the songs makes the music easier to grasp, especially since each song, while connecting to everything else on the album, is able to be viewed as self contained, making for a better time experiencing the story and also just listening to the music. The music itself is easier to get into, as it's more what you'd expect out of a classic/prog rock band and less abstract than some of their other work, like Dark Side of the Moon, which was more complex both musically and thematically. The tracks can be divided into 2 categories: more normal rock songs (such as Another Brick in the Wall and One of My Turns), and more conceptua...

We all know about death, it happens all the time. Despite how common it is, I'd be willing to bet that you don't know that much about what actually happens to people who die before they get buried, cremated or whatever happens to them. I didn't either, so I took it upon myself to go undercover as a fake corpse to uncover the secrets being kept from the living public.      First, I had to create a realistic and believable way to disguise myself as a corpse. I started with immediately training my lungs to be able to hold in air for prolonged periods of time, and subsequently lower my heart rate to a near undetectable rate in order to be able to physically imitate a dead person. During this process I started planning how I needed to appear and where I needed to be. About $30 worth of fake blood applicable bruises and cuts would satisfy the former, which just left the location where my "corpse" would be discovered. I wanted it to be in a location where nobody would ...

      The second album by ELO, as well as the first one after Roy Wood's exit from the band. His absence is easily felt in the album through the songs. Despite clocking in at around 40 minutes, there are only 5 songs on the album, one of them being a cover. The songs have a tendency to be either repetitive, forgettable, or both, with a couple exceptions. Wood leaving the band seems to have left the overall tone of the album confused, both in elements and theme. The heavy orchestral emphasis from their first album is still there, this time more integrated with modern rock elements, but unfortunately it isn't that smooth. Aside from that, the themes of the songs is a loose and a little scattered. It'll show you light criticism of industrialism, war, and the process of life, but then also throw in out of place lyrics that don't compliment the other side very well, and can be hard to interpret (see: From the Sun to the World). When put together, the album doesn...

    The Electric Light Orchestra or No Answer (in the UK and US respectively) is the first album by ELO and provides a solid start for the band, if not a little odd. The heavy mixture of rock elements and more classical ones such as a strong emphasis on strings creates an interesting dynamic that sometimes well in it's favor, such as with 10538 overture, and other times not so much. The tracks are split between 2 general feels, which is seen through the front runners of the band at the time, Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. The lighter and more modern sounding songs were produced by Lynne, while the heavier and slower pieces were produced by Wood. This causes a clash of themes within the album, with the listener being taken from an up tempo rock song to a slow classical piece and back again repeatedly. While I like both styles together, some listeners may find it a little jarring if not expecting it. Overall though, the album offers some really good songs in both respects that can com...

       This post is mostly to make sure that site is working how I want it to and is properly able to display posts and let people interact with them. A note about the first few posts I'll make: a good amount of them (namely reviews of albums) will be older and slightly rewritten, because I previously wrote and posted them somewhere else, and just want to get those on here for a solid place to have everything. This site is also just for me, in the way of putting things into writing to get more experience with writing things and developing my style, in addition to sharing my opinion on music. Everything I put on here will probably be pretty messy, especially at the beginning, because I rarely go back to proofread. Also, I typically rate things on a scale of 6 because it's easier for me to see things with that quantification than a 5 or 10 system; shoutout to one of my old high school teachers for introducing it to me.