The irony of this post comes from the fact that nothing that I have ever posted in this blog has seen the editing pen.
Most people, at some point in their lives, have said "I would like to write a book someday"". Well, good for you. This means you have an ounce of ambition in you. Sure, an ounce is not nearly enough to go through the process of writing the first draft of a book, but at least you have that much ambition. As for the rest of you fine people, who actually have more than the ounce, here are some brief tips on how to indulge in your literary desires.
Note, these are all tools for genre writers. I don't understand you literary types, and I don't intend to walk down your depressing tunnel to scholastic enlightenment.
1. Do a Little Bit of Everything:
Suppose you pass a music shop, and see a Telecaster in the window, and you just happen to like playing the guitar. Well, by all means, buy a guitar, and learn to play it. If you have a camera, learn to use it well, and take dozens of pictures. Go hiking. Ride roller coasters. Get in fights with strange people who can't kill you because they're too drunk. Make a short film, and have it laughed clean off of YouTube. Do everything. Everything you do, every person you meet, and every experience that you have will enhance your senses. Painting a world with words is challenging, but crafting a setting brings color to your work, so you'd best have some perspective on how you see the world, clarified by your experiences. Having a greater variety of experiences increases your overall palette.
2. Write Too Much, Reduce Where Necessary
A short novel is over fifty thousand words. If you're new to writing, this isn't a lot. On a day of vast inspiration and coffee flow, I've knocked out over ten thousand words. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of those words were awful, unnecessary, and possibly loaded with incomplete passages, description, etc. While this recommendation may seem like it won't help with this, and really, it won't, it will prevent having to do more when writing the second draft and so forth. If you have painted the picture well, and drawn your world out in every way, then you can decide what is necessary in the second round. And, should you do the right thing and keep your drafts from one round of revisions to the next, you can grab things from that first draft, and place them elsewhere when rewriting.
3. Don't Just Write a Book, Write a History
If you are planning to write a book, then you probably have a cast in mind for the stage of your mind. You might even have a plot. However, the cast and the set aren't everything. Your characters lived before walking onto the page, and just like normal people, their experiences make them whole. They have loved, lost, killed, saved, gotten smashed at bars, and taken up collection at church. They exist. Don't pretend that they aren't real people; because you put them into your world, they do exist. If you put faith in their existence, then you can make their story all the better for it, because the reader can believe in their actions, and their dialogue. When you are preparing to start your book, it helps to spend a lot of time with your cast. I'm not suggesting that every ancillary character needs five thousand words of backstory before you can sit down to write, but your lead characters need to have lived in some capacity before they hit the page. Write a short story, flash fiction, a detailed list of major events in their life; something where they speak, and exist, just so you can get into their mind, and write them all that much easier.
2. Glorify the Hideous, Destroy the Beautiful
This isn't a practice for all occasions, but I still think it's a worthwhile skill. A sense of the grandiose deepens the paint strokes that you drop on your canvas. An ancient courtyard, destroyed by time, can have many distinct characters depending on the scene that you are writing. You can go for beauty by weaving vines and similar flora on the crumbling stone, or you can dirty the dismantled bricks by concealing the patterns in the layout. How the characters relate to the setting can enhance the scene as well. By writing both views in change, based on the character you are focusing on, or if in first person, writing from, you can shift how the reader sees a place. Some people find great beauty in churches lined with marbled stone and stained glass windows. Others will see symbols for manipulation and abuse. Knowing your characters well enough to paint the world accordingly will add a great sense of depth to your setting, and your readers will learn more about the characters as well.
1. When You Write, You Kill. Be at Peace with Homicide.
I can not stress enough how important this is. I may sound like a rambling lunatic, incapable of writing details for any of the previous steps, but by God I assure you that this is one of the most important parts of writing fiction in any capacity, and so many writers ignore such a simple task that is terrifies me.
Stories are built on the idea that a character is either unhappy or in some kind of trouble, and they want to change it. Pain, death, misery, simple discomfort; these are all catalysts for stories in the simplest way. If you aren't ready to hurt your characters, you will not make it as a writer. Conflict drives a story, and conflict is born from some measure of misfortune. I'm not saying that every story that you write will have a body count. Far from it. The dealing of pain is how you must begin a tale.
There might be someone reading this that believes that this whole "be at peace with homicide" thing is going to far. Well, let me introduce you to the concept of believable villains.
A good bad guy believes in what he or she is doing. They would burn the world down for their cause, and nothing will discourage them. I don't know of any story that jumps into the final showdown where the good guy convinces the bad guy that he's simply wrong with a slide show. Sorry, that's now how genre fiction works. If you write about the villain, then you will no doubt start shedding blood with their hands. Make it hurt. Make it so that your cast feels it from miles away, and your reader feels the flesh beneath their fingernails. Subtlety is a great tool as well, but subtlety can bring vast amounts of horror to the table as well.
Indulge in the violence, thrive on the tension, and by God, hurt your cast. If your reader can't feel it, then your cast doesn't either, because the cast has to be the readers link to the story.
Kill, and enjoy it. Kill, and thrive off of the pain you spread. There is a reason why people remember the deaths of their favorite characters. There is a reason why George R.R. Martin has a ridiculous body count. There is a reason why we all wince in pain at the torture scene in Casino Royale. There is a reason why the finale of Seven Samurai strikes such a chord with everyone who watches that movie and has a soul.
If nothing else in this world, all people can relate to pain. Pain makes us human. Loss makes us human. We understand these feelings, and as such, we relate to the characters because they are enduring the most common of all human emotions. Most people are not happy, and while fiction is usually an escapist genre, the character has to endure pain to go on the journey to happiness, as we all do.
I hope this helps someone. Sorry if it's a hair noisy, but, as I said: I don't edit this blog.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
Searching for Titles
The past couple of weeks has brought on its share of fresh frustrations. I could go into details, but let's not dive into such madness. However, now might be the best time to tell everyone that I have a new book concept brewing in my collection of tiny notebooks, and it is coming together...sort of.
I have about half of the character arc details figured out. I have an idea for what the skeleton of the plot pertains to, but it currently makes absolutely no sense by the time that I get it synched up with the second act per the character arcs I've been working with. I'm working on it. It doesn't like me right now, but I am working on it.
Usually when I dive into a project, I have a title, or a project name. Usually I do it for the sake of clean filing on my computer, but having a title to call something that is struggling to come to life makes it easier for me on some level. The book feels more real, even at page zero, if I have a name for my youngest work.
Someone is likely asking "What happened to Road to the West? You were working on that earlier this year?" Well, I haven't dropped that book in the trash, or anything so drastic. In fact, it's still at the top of the queue. Strange things happen in the summer. For whatever reason, it harder for me to focus on a project in the summer, but a flood of ideas hit me all at once during the summer. I've written a lot of little details and the like that I will probably find a home for in time, so its worthwhile for my work in some way. Later in the year, words tend to come a little more cleanly for me. I don't know why. I would like to think that I'm not making excuses, but it really does seem like this is how things work in my head. I'm writing, just not as much as I'd like.
So, back to topic.
I have this project that has no name. It is a near-future cyberpunk themed thing that I am not ready to comment on the plot of just yet. I'm not ready to comment on the plot because the plot doesn't exist in a form that doesn't resemble the innards of a dog toy. There is promise to the concept, however, so I want it to happen. What I do know is that I'd like to publish the piece as a four part serial, featuring a set of fairly short segments that build to a single, hopefully satisfying finale. I may even return to the characters again later, should this work be well recieved.
Given the cyberpunk theme of the book, and some of the puzzle pieces I keep kicking around to bring the story together, I have an idea or two for the set of titles, but I'm not sure how I want to spin it. I don't know if there should be a single title for the arc, or a title for each segment of the story.
And I might just be over thinking this whole titling bit. After, there isn't even a solid plot, and I'm trying to put a proper face on the project. And much like this entry is a mess of pointless ranting, my search for a compelling name is all the same.
-- Spectral Flux --
I think I'm done here for now...
I have about half of the character arc details figured out. I have an idea for what the skeleton of the plot pertains to, but it currently makes absolutely no sense by the time that I get it synched up with the second act per the character arcs I've been working with. I'm working on it. It doesn't like me right now, but I am working on it.
Usually when I dive into a project, I have a title, or a project name. Usually I do it for the sake of clean filing on my computer, but having a title to call something that is struggling to come to life makes it easier for me on some level. The book feels more real, even at page zero, if I have a name for my youngest work.
Someone is likely asking "What happened to Road to the West? You were working on that earlier this year?" Well, I haven't dropped that book in the trash, or anything so drastic. In fact, it's still at the top of the queue. Strange things happen in the summer. For whatever reason, it harder for me to focus on a project in the summer, but a flood of ideas hit me all at once during the summer. I've written a lot of little details and the like that I will probably find a home for in time, so its worthwhile for my work in some way. Later in the year, words tend to come a little more cleanly for me. I don't know why. I would like to think that I'm not making excuses, but it really does seem like this is how things work in my head. I'm writing, just not as much as I'd like.
So, back to topic.
I have this project that has no name. It is a near-future cyberpunk themed thing that I am not ready to comment on the plot of just yet. I'm not ready to comment on the plot because the plot doesn't exist in a form that doesn't resemble the innards of a dog toy. There is promise to the concept, however, so I want it to happen. What I do know is that I'd like to publish the piece as a four part serial, featuring a set of fairly short segments that build to a single, hopefully satisfying finale. I may even return to the characters again later, should this work be well recieved.
Given the cyberpunk theme of the book, and some of the puzzle pieces I keep kicking around to bring the story together, I have an idea or two for the set of titles, but I'm not sure how I want to spin it. I don't know if there should be a single title for the arc, or a title for each segment of the story.
And I might just be over thinking this whole titling bit. After, there isn't even a solid plot, and I'm trying to put a proper face on the project. And much like this entry is a mess of pointless ranting, my search for a compelling name is all the same.
-- Spectral Flux --
I think I'm done here for now...
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
X-Box One and my Theory of the Third Round
Microsoft announced something yesterday. I'm not convinced that it's a game console though. They'll actually have to prove that at E3 in a couple of weeks. Of course, the internet is already ablaze with articles claiming that Microsoft have lost their minds, and have produced something completely worthless. Well...I'm not ready to make that claim, but it's great to drop that as a knee-jerk reaction. After all, the presentation didn't tell me anything more than "you can watch TV and surf the net AT THE SAME TIME", and frankly, I can already do that. I have a Nook Tablet, a Dell XPS laptop, a netbook, a Sony smartphone powered by Android, and I can even browse the net on my WiiU gamepad. Seriously, we've got this covered.
But I don't want to do yet another commentary on how Microsoft has temporarily estranged their users with the announcement of their new console. I want to talk about a pattern present in the history of video games.
It starts in the early 90's, at the end of the 16-bit era.
Throw away consoles like the CD-I and the Jaguar are falling into ashes around Nintendo and Sega, who are still fighting a console war that still overshadows the competition between contemporary consoles. The next generation is on the rise, and everyone knows that both Nintendo and Sega have new hardware coming out. The Playstation is coming as well.
Sega botches the launch of their third home console, the Sega Saturn. A ridiculously high entry price and an emphasis on 2D gaming holds the system back until the system ultimately met its end. There's more to that story, but let's keep it on a surface level. The two graphics chips made development challenging for many studios.
Nintendo launched the Nintendo 64 in 1996, to high praise for its launch titles, followed by a shortage of new titles, and even hardware. The hardware was cartridge based, which meant that many developers weren't interested in trying to shove the next generation of games into such a small space. Less than three hundred games were released for the system in America (I don't have total titles made quickly available).
Ultimately, the Playstation won out over the Saturn and the N64. Everything seemed to fall smoothly into place for Sony, and they followed up with the PS2 in 2000. The PS2 found great success as well.
The Playstation 3 followed the rough start that the X-Box 360 had, boasting that the next generation didn't start until Sony said it did, and other similar absurdities. The extremely expensive hardware and, and architecture that proved hard to develop for were not boons to the fate of the system. The PS3 didn't hit its stride for several years, and sales still lag behind the behemoth that the X-Box 360 proved to be.
Three systems, all following major successes for their respective companies, all met similar fates. Either middling success, or flat out failure. I wouldn't go so far as to call and of these systems bad. In fact, they all have their niche in the market. The N64 was a breeding ground for fantastic 3D platforming titles. The Saturn was unmatched for arcade gaming. The PS3...well, it certainly had some great exclusives, and tried to keep the JRPG relevant to gamers. Let's face it, the PS3 is a console from a time where exclusives are rare, and diversity in gaming is even more so.
All three of these systems weren't quite the follow up that they were hyped to be. Whether the difficulty and cost of development, or any other factor, they weren't the hits that they could have been.
And now we have the X-Box One. We have a console that has three OSs running at the same time within a system that has 8GB of RAM. Okay, that's quite a bit of system resources getting chewed on right at the gate. I could see that being challenging to program, but I don't know for certain because I am not a programmer. The X-Box 360 was a hit. Yes, I'm leaving out parallels, and not divulging a lot of detail here.
The fact is, we don't know enough yet, but it's interesting to think about what's going on. It's Microsoft's third round, which is where Nintendo, Sega, and Sony all had less than stellar runs. It's not a mark of failure, by any measure, but it's a point where the wrong decisions were made, whatever they were. Microsoft might be looking at a long struggle to get back to where they would like to be. They might not even have a problem. It's an issue of speculation more than anything. From this perspective, they might have a terrible era, where they've banked on the concept of a media center, rather than a game console. That, or they'll have a breakout success. It's way too early to say.
It's certainly an interesting thought...
Anyway, this is a just a point with which to indulge in thoughts of Microsofts fate.
But I don't want to do yet another commentary on how Microsoft has temporarily estranged their users with the announcement of their new console. I want to talk about a pattern present in the history of video games.
It starts in the early 90's, at the end of the 16-bit era.
Throw away consoles like the CD-I and the Jaguar are falling into ashes around Nintendo and Sega, who are still fighting a console war that still overshadows the competition between contemporary consoles. The next generation is on the rise, and everyone knows that both Nintendo and Sega have new hardware coming out. The Playstation is coming as well.
Sega botches the launch of their third home console, the Sega Saturn. A ridiculously high entry price and an emphasis on 2D gaming holds the system back until the system ultimately met its end. There's more to that story, but let's keep it on a surface level. The two graphics chips made development challenging for many studios.
Nintendo launched the Nintendo 64 in 1996, to high praise for its launch titles, followed by a shortage of new titles, and even hardware. The hardware was cartridge based, which meant that many developers weren't interested in trying to shove the next generation of games into such a small space. Less than three hundred games were released for the system in America (I don't have total titles made quickly available).
Ultimately, the Playstation won out over the Saturn and the N64. Everything seemed to fall smoothly into place for Sony, and they followed up with the PS2 in 2000. The PS2 found great success as well.
The Playstation 3 followed the rough start that the X-Box 360 had, boasting that the next generation didn't start until Sony said it did, and other similar absurdities. The extremely expensive hardware and, and architecture that proved hard to develop for were not boons to the fate of the system. The PS3 didn't hit its stride for several years, and sales still lag behind the behemoth that the X-Box 360 proved to be.
Three systems, all following major successes for their respective companies, all met similar fates. Either middling success, or flat out failure. I wouldn't go so far as to call and of these systems bad. In fact, they all have their niche in the market. The N64 was a breeding ground for fantastic 3D platforming titles. The Saturn was unmatched for arcade gaming. The PS3...well, it certainly had some great exclusives, and tried to keep the JRPG relevant to gamers. Let's face it, the PS3 is a console from a time where exclusives are rare, and diversity in gaming is even more so.
All three of these systems weren't quite the follow up that they were hyped to be. Whether the difficulty and cost of development, or any other factor, they weren't the hits that they could have been.
And now we have the X-Box One. We have a console that has three OSs running at the same time within a system that has 8GB of RAM. Okay, that's quite a bit of system resources getting chewed on right at the gate. I could see that being challenging to program, but I don't know for certain because I am not a programmer. The X-Box 360 was a hit. Yes, I'm leaving out parallels, and not divulging a lot of detail here.
The fact is, we don't know enough yet, but it's interesting to think about what's going on. It's Microsoft's third round, which is where Nintendo, Sega, and Sony all had less than stellar runs. It's not a mark of failure, by any measure, but it's a point where the wrong decisions were made, whatever they were. Microsoft might be looking at a long struggle to get back to where they would like to be. They might not even have a problem. It's an issue of speculation more than anything. From this perspective, they might have a terrible era, where they've banked on the concept of a media center, rather than a game console. That, or they'll have a breakout success. It's way too early to say.
It's certainly an interesting thought...
Anyway, this is a just a point with which to indulge in thoughts of Microsofts fate.
Monday, April 29, 2013
After The Battle -- A Moment for the JRPG
It's no secret that I've been a fan of this not-really-roleplaying game thing for a long time. I don't know why. The writing usually isn't that great. The characters all fall into some archetype. There are so few truly great entries in the genre that it is quite discouraging to continue to collect games of this variety to play. But I do. And I keep playing them.
I still enjoy them.
It's an odd thing to consider, why I continue to play games that are technically not that good. I logged eighty hours plus on my run of Final Fantasy XIII-2 and it wasn't amazing. It had potential, but it was so far off the mark that most gamers hated it more than the first. Yes, Mog was awful. But that's not the point is it? I still had a pretty good time with the game, and it was my first time getting every achievement for a 360 game. I have Arc Rise Fantasia for the Wii and the script is terrible. I'm still playing it. Wild Arms 2 gets thrown in my Playstation every once and a while, and it is one of the single most poorly balanced games I've ever played.
I guess I'm digging into this rant to ask why these games still pull me in.
Well, the stories are part of it. Yeah, they are cliche-ridden messes of poor translations and B-rate anime fluff, but they are usually positive and upbeat enough to make trudging through mediocre characterizations worthwhile. Well, worthwhile for me anyway. Even when Final Fantasy VII kicked in and made everyone switch to making games with depressive heroes and dark themes, there was still some fun to be had in the complete absurdity of it all. I mean, how seriously can you take a guy with an eight inch tall blonde spike pointing at you during conversation? And I'm just going to throw in that Squall from Final Fantasy VIII wasn't that much of a whiny twat. He was a socially withdrawn teenager with little understanding of what his aspirations for the future should be. Let's face it: Squaresoft knew their audience pretty well.
And that brings us back to the characters. They don't get my vote. Again, 9/10 times they fit into one of the archetypes that bothers me. I don't like the optimistic hero character. I don't like the cutesy jail bait. I don't like the children. I especially don't like the characters who try to be "cool". Some of these characters are more common since the 32-Bit era, but they still bother me. Let's face it, they are the characters who don't really contribute to the plot. You might be wondering: well, who do you like in these games? Well, that's simple. I liked all of the lead cast of Final Fantasy VI, Kid from Chrono Cross, and I could go on, but this was meant to be concise. So...where are we going next...
Oh yeah, the gameplay. This is where the common role playing gamer, who has actually spent time rollling a D20, breaks away. And I don't blame them. The JRPG isn't a game where you normally roleplay. You jump into the shoes of a heroic lead, and tell them what to do in order to kill the bad guy. But there is very little in the way of roleplaying here. And I don't mind. Technically, these were the games that lead me to eventually sitting down and rolling dice with a group of friends, and later running games of my own. However, the JRPG doesn't need the complexity of a real roleplaying experience for me to have a good time. I liken it to watching a movie. Yes, usually a really bad movie, but a movie nonetheless. Exploring the varied settings, taking down colossal monsters, and reequipping my party usually makes for a good time, that is rewarding to me personally. Yes, even the grinding gives me some level of satisfaction. The ability drop Safer Sephiroth in two rounds at the end of Final Fantasy VII, and the final battle with Jenova without pressing X more than once made for an evil grin or two before the credits ran. Frankly, on paper, JRPGs are dead boring, but there is a charm, a quality of its own, that makes them worth playing to people who decide to indulge. I won't pretend that they are for everyone, but I don't see why anyone should be offended by their existence.
So we come to the year 2013, where the JRPG is all but comatose. The western RPG has taken the spotlight, and the few good JRPG experiences that surface every year have shrugged off some of the major stylistic aspects of these games. Every new Final Fantasy is given the cold shoulder by most gamers. The climate is completely different from 1999, the platinum age of the JRPG. Through the PS2 era, the genre has lost all of its strength, and gamers want more in the style of Bioware's games, or the Elder Scrolls saga. They aren't wrong, and I enjoy those games as well. They are actually RPGs. But there is a shrinking group of us who still like waiting for that time bar to fill, so we can choose our attacks, and drop the beasts drawn from various mythologies, and collect our experience points. We will patiently wait for the next Final Fantasy with hopes that Square Enix will finally get it right, and cross our fingers for a Dream Team reunion, and the announcement of the next Chrono game. We will complain until Nintendo gives us more Earthbound, and play a SaGa game despite its obvious flaws. We won't give up hope that these games will thrive as they have in the past. After all, the success of the Western RPG is a trend just like any other, and with time, the JRPG will have a chance to thrive again.
I still enjoy them.
It's an odd thing to consider, why I continue to play games that are technically not that good. I logged eighty hours plus on my run of Final Fantasy XIII-2 and it wasn't amazing. It had potential, but it was so far off the mark that most gamers hated it more than the first. Yes, Mog was awful. But that's not the point is it? I still had a pretty good time with the game, and it was my first time getting every achievement for a 360 game. I have Arc Rise Fantasia for the Wii and the script is terrible. I'm still playing it. Wild Arms 2 gets thrown in my Playstation every once and a while, and it is one of the single most poorly balanced games I've ever played.
I guess I'm digging into this rant to ask why these games still pull me in.
Well, the stories are part of it. Yeah, they are cliche-ridden messes of poor translations and B-rate anime fluff, but they are usually positive and upbeat enough to make trudging through mediocre characterizations worthwhile. Well, worthwhile for me anyway. Even when Final Fantasy VII kicked in and made everyone switch to making games with depressive heroes and dark themes, there was still some fun to be had in the complete absurdity of it all. I mean, how seriously can you take a guy with an eight inch tall blonde spike pointing at you during conversation? And I'm just going to throw in that Squall from Final Fantasy VIII wasn't that much of a whiny twat. He was a socially withdrawn teenager with little understanding of what his aspirations for the future should be. Let's face it: Squaresoft knew their audience pretty well.
And that brings us back to the characters. They don't get my vote. Again, 9/10 times they fit into one of the archetypes that bothers me. I don't like the optimistic hero character. I don't like the cutesy jail bait. I don't like the children. I especially don't like the characters who try to be "cool". Some of these characters are more common since the 32-Bit era, but they still bother me. Let's face it, they are the characters who don't really contribute to the plot. You might be wondering: well, who do you like in these games? Well, that's simple. I liked all of the lead cast of Final Fantasy VI, Kid from Chrono Cross, and I could go on, but this was meant to be concise. So...where are we going next...
Oh yeah, the gameplay. This is where the common role playing gamer, who has actually spent time rollling a D20, breaks away. And I don't blame them. The JRPG isn't a game where you normally roleplay. You jump into the shoes of a heroic lead, and tell them what to do in order to kill the bad guy. But there is very little in the way of roleplaying here. And I don't mind. Technically, these were the games that lead me to eventually sitting down and rolling dice with a group of friends, and later running games of my own. However, the JRPG doesn't need the complexity of a real roleplaying experience for me to have a good time. I liken it to watching a movie. Yes, usually a really bad movie, but a movie nonetheless. Exploring the varied settings, taking down colossal monsters, and reequipping my party usually makes for a good time, that is rewarding to me personally. Yes, even the grinding gives me some level of satisfaction. The ability drop Safer Sephiroth in two rounds at the end of Final Fantasy VII, and the final battle with Jenova without pressing X more than once made for an evil grin or two before the credits ran. Frankly, on paper, JRPGs are dead boring, but there is a charm, a quality of its own, that makes them worth playing to people who decide to indulge. I won't pretend that they are for everyone, but I don't see why anyone should be offended by their existence.
So we come to the year 2013, where the JRPG is all but comatose. The western RPG has taken the spotlight, and the few good JRPG experiences that surface every year have shrugged off some of the major stylistic aspects of these games. Every new Final Fantasy is given the cold shoulder by most gamers. The climate is completely different from 1999, the platinum age of the JRPG. Through the PS2 era, the genre has lost all of its strength, and gamers want more in the style of Bioware's games, or the Elder Scrolls saga. They aren't wrong, and I enjoy those games as well. They are actually RPGs. But there is a shrinking group of us who still like waiting for that time bar to fill, so we can choose our attacks, and drop the beasts drawn from various mythologies, and collect our experience points. We will patiently wait for the next Final Fantasy with hopes that Square Enix will finally get it right, and cross our fingers for a Dream Team reunion, and the announcement of the next Chrono game. We will complain until Nintendo gives us more Earthbound, and play a SaGa game despite its obvious flaws. We won't give up hope that these games will thrive as they have in the past. After all, the success of the Western RPG is a trend just like any other, and with time, the JRPG will have a chance to thrive again.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Fifty Albums Continued...
This time with quicker descriptions, I guess. Sorry for the delay. And the laziness.
26. UFO -- Lights Out
Sharp metal with a collection of melodic rock tunes. Schenker at his finest? Maybe not. Still incredible.
27. Arcturus -- Aspera Heims Symfonia
My very first black metal album, and still one of my favorites. This is also where I learned of Kristoffer Rygg, who we'll be seeing more of a little further down the list.
28. King Crimson -- Red
Prototype heavy metal and prog rock bliss. A must, regardless of your tastes.
29. Kansas -- Point of Know Return
Got into this one late, given how my taste was slanting at this point. However, it's still a great record.
30. Parliament -- Mothership Connection
A love for classic funk kicked off with this Parliament album. Was thrilled when they played Handcuffs when I saw them in Myrtle Beach a few years ago.
31. Anathema -- Eternity
I'd been listening to doom metal for a bit when I heard this one, but Eternity has something special running in its veins. It's a beautiful album, but it's not for people who need sunshine in their music.
32. The Who -- The Who By Numbers
I consider this to be their magnum opus. Listen to Imagine a Man and see if you can find a comparable song from The Who.
33. Blackfield -- II
One of my favorite pop albums, Blackfield II is a melancholy dripping, Simon and Garfunkel - esque collection of songs from two amazing artists. End of the World is still one of my favorite songs, and Christenings is incredible.
34. Savatage -- Streets
A throwback to my love for concept albums, I got into Streets about a year after buying it. It's a shame that Savatage never reached this level again.
35. Frank Zappa -- Lather
This album is something of a cheat. Lather is three discs of pure Zappa, undiluted, completely out of the realm of sanity.
36. Death -- Human
Human finds Chuck Schuldiner moving away from the blood and gore of early Death completely, and features most of Cynic as his band. This makes for an incredible record.
37. Dragonland -- Astronomy
I hate to use the term, but Astronomy really is an epic work of power metal. Eschewing typical lyrics about dragons and other fantasy cliches, Astronomy looks into the self and writes songs about personal empowerment, and then dips into some neoclassical for the fantastic Beethoven's Nightmare.
38. David Bowie -- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
More pitch perfect pop steeped in darkness, Ziggy Stardust is an incredible album that most people still don't understand. The glam rock aesthetics neatly conceal the bitter state of mind that Bowie would be weaving his lyrics around for years to come.
39. Miles Davis -- Seven Steps to Heaven
Yes, Kind of Blue is really good, but this is my personal jazz heaven. I can't say too much about it other than "go listen to the title track!"
40. Todd Rundgren -- Something/Anything
Ambition doesn't usually rear its gorgeous skull into typical pop, but Todd Rundgren did something mostly unheard of with Something/Anything: he recorded a double album of pop songs almost completely by himself. It's a great little record too.
41. Ulver --Shadows of the Sun
And here comes Garm again with the masterful work called Shadows of the Sun. Just listen to it. You should have done so years ago.
42. Jeff Buckley -- Grace
Some people who are reading this might be surprised by the sheer volume of pop music that I've dropped in here, but once they listen, they start to understand. Grace is the sole studio work of a gifted singer/songwriter, who never truly got a chance to spread his wings. Grace stands as a testament to writing amazing music, and pairing it with well written music. Most singer/songwriters can't even get one of these things right.
43. Love -- Forever Changes
A prophetical album that spelled the end of the sixties while most people were immersed in the summer of love, Forever Changes was Love at their best, and at the time, that was saying quite a bit. A must have album.
44. Megadeth -- Rust in Peace
It's kind of typical that I'd choose Rust in Peace as how I represent thrash metal on this list, but really, it is so very great. Marty Friedman slays on this record, and Megadeth never had songwriting as strong as this again. Though I think that The System Has Failed comes pretty close.
45. Ansur -- Warring Factions
All I really need to say is Buckethead playing for the Black Metal version of Rush, and you should already be looking for a copy. Amazing.
46. Jethro Tull -- A Passion Play
While Ian Anderson may not have much nice to say about this record, I love it. It took me years to fall in love with it, but once it happened, I was playing the whole thing on repeat. Only the brave should try this one out.
47. Prince -- Controversy
If you thought Darling Nikki was an offensive song, then you've heard nothing. Controversy is brilliant.
48. Clint Mansell -- The Fountain OST
Post rock blended with the Kronos Quartet, forming a record of immense beauty. Watch the film, and you'll understand.
49. Sonata Arctica -- Silence
This is probably the worst album on this entire list, and I absolutely love it. Cheesy to the point of being painful, and a collection of terrible lyrics...but it's just so very fun.
50. Blue Oyster Cult -- Tyranny and Mvtation
I've been listening to Blue Oyster Cult for a while, but when Tyranny and Mvtation slipped into my collection, I couldn't get enough of it. Slick hard rock textures and some of the darkest lyrics you could find in American rock at the time, BOC released an impressive record that was, in my opinion, the peak of their Black and White period.
26. UFO -- Lights Out
Sharp metal with a collection of melodic rock tunes. Schenker at his finest? Maybe not. Still incredible.
27. Arcturus -- Aspera Heims Symfonia
My very first black metal album, and still one of my favorites. This is also where I learned of Kristoffer Rygg, who we'll be seeing more of a little further down the list.
28. King Crimson -- Red
Prototype heavy metal and prog rock bliss. A must, regardless of your tastes.
29. Kansas -- Point of Know Return
Got into this one late, given how my taste was slanting at this point. However, it's still a great record.
30. Parliament -- Mothership Connection
A love for classic funk kicked off with this Parliament album. Was thrilled when they played Handcuffs when I saw them in Myrtle Beach a few years ago.
31. Anathema -- Eternity
I'd been listening to doom metal for a bit when I heard this one, but Eternity has something special running in its veins. It's a beautiful album, but it's not for people who need sunshine in their music.
32. The Who -- The Who By Numbers
I consider this to be their magnum opus. Listen to Imagine a Man and see if you can find a comparable song from The Who.
33. Blackfield -- II
One of my favorite pop albums, Blackfield II is a melancholy dripping, Simon and Garfunkel - esque collection of songs from two amazing artists. End of the World is still one of my favorite songs, and Christenings is incredible.
34. Savatage -- Streets
A throwback to my love for concept albums, I got into Streets about a year after buying it. It's a shame that Savatage never reached this level again.
35. Frank Zappa -- Lather
This album is something of a cheat. Lather is three discs of pure Zappa, undiluted, completely out of the realm of sanity.
36. Death -- Human
Human finds Chuck Schuldiner moving away from the blood and gore of early Death completely, and features most of Cynic as his band. This makes for an incredible record.
37. Dragonland -- Astronomy
I hate to use the term, but Astronomy really is an epic work of power metal. Eschewing typical lyrics about dragons and other fantasy cliches, Astronomy looks into the self and writes songs about personal empowerment, and then dips into some neoclassical for the fantastic Beethoven's Nightmare.
38. David Bowie -- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
More pitch perfect pop steeped in darkness, Ziggy Stardust is an incredible album that most people still don't understand. The glam rock aesthetics neatly conceal the bitter state of mind that Bowie would be weaving his lyrics around for years to come.
39. Miles Davis -- Seven Steps to Heaven
Yes, Kind of Blue is really good, but this is my personal jazz heaven. I can't say too much about it other than "go listen to the title track!"
40. Todd Rundgren -- Something/Anything
Ambition doesn't usually rear its gorgeous skull into typical pop, but Todd Rundgren did something mostly unheard of with Something/Anything: he recorded a double album of pop songs almost completely by himself. It's a great little record too.
41. Ulver --Shadows of the Sun
And here comes Garm again with the masterful work called Shadows of the Sun. Just listen to it. You should have done so years ago.
42. Jeff Buckley -- Grace
Some people who are reading this might be surprised by the sheer volume of pop music that I've dropped in here, but once they listen, they start to understand. Grace is the sole studio work of a gifted singer/songwriter, who never truly got a chance to spread his wings. Grace stands as a testament to writing amazing music, and pairing it with well written music. Most singer/songwriters can't even get one of these things right.
43. Love -- Forever Changes
A prophetical album that spelled the end of the sixties while most people were immersed in the summer of love, Forever Changes was Love at their best, and at the time, that was saying quite a bit. A must have album.
44. Megadeth -- Rust in Peace
It's kind of typical that I'd choose Rust in Peace as how I represent thrash metal on this list, but really, it is so very great. Marty Friedman slays on this record, and Megadeth never had songwriting as strong as this again. Though I think that The System Has Failed comes pretty close.
45. Ansur -- Warring Factions
All I really need to say is Buckethead playing for the Black Metal version of Rush, and you should already be looking for a copy. Amazing.
46. Jethro Tull -- A Passion Play
While Ian Anderson may not have much nice to say about this record, I love it. It took me years to fall in love with it, but once it happened, I was playing the whole thing on repeat. Only the brave should try this one out.
47. Prince -- Controversy
If you thought Darling Nikki was an offensive song, then you've heard nothing. Controversy is brilliant.
48. Clint Mansell -- The Fountain OST
Post rock blended with the Kronos Quartet, forming a record of immense beauty. Watch the film, and you'll understand.
49. Sonata Arctica -- Silence
This is probably the worst album on this entire list, and I absolutely love it. Cheesy to the point of being painful, and a collection of terrible lyrics...but it's just so very fun.
50. Blue Oyster Cult -- Tyranny and Mvtation
I've been listening to Blue Oyster Cult for a while, but when Tyranny and Mvtation slipped into my collection, I couldn't get enough of it. Slick hard rock textures and some of the darkest lyrics you could find in American rock at the time, BOC released an impressive record that was, in my opinion, the peak of their Black and White period.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Fifty Albums the Created my Musical Interests (Part 1)
Alright, here it is. It's not in order of personal importance, but rather when it came to me as a listener. It's not completely accurate, as I've listened to a lot of music in my time. It's not as varied as it would be for some people, but it's what I like, and when I came to it. I don't really care to explain much more. Here we go.
1. Garth Brooks -- In Pieces
Let's start with something from youth, shall we? Long before I was a nutty prog snob, I listened to then-contemporary country music. Hey, I was a kid, and only knew of country, rock, rap, and classical.. There wasn't a lot of gray area like there is now. This is one that I can still come back to though, even today. Some may know Bela Fleck as the brilliant lead of the Flecktones, but I recall his performance on Callin' Baton Rouge before any other. While this isn't exactly "great country music" like most people consider Johnny Cash, I still get a kick out it.
2. John Williams -- The Empire Strikes Back OST
Music seemed more important than it ever had before around the tenth time I saw the second part of the classic sci-fi series that is Star Wars. I was in elementary school, and the music from Bespin would ring through my head. I didn't actually get a copy of the soundtrack until I'd graduated from college, but it's still part of my history. If you haven't heard music from this flick, then go watch the movie.
3. Billy Joel -- Songs in the Attic
This was the first time I saw the importance of a live album. A collection of not-exactly-hits from a pop rock star who was officially coming down from his wave of decent to great albums, Songs in the Attic introduced me to such songs as Miami 2017 and I've Loved these Days. After this, the best we'd get from Billy Joel was The Nylon Curtain, which was an amazing album in its own right, and is deeply unappreciated amongst his typical fans, as far as I can tell. Great record though, even now.
4. Rush -- A Farewell to Kings
Rush was the beginning of everything. Seriously. I wouldn't have the colossal CD collection I have without Rush getting everything started. While songs from Moving Pictures got me started, and 2112 did everything I'd ever sought for music to do, A Farewell to Kings is my favorite Rush album. Xanadu, the title track, and the closer, Cygnus X-1 represent a huge part of where I've grown as a listener. To me, Rush is still the most important band that has ever graced my ears. They have given me so much, including an introduction to...
5. Dream Theater -- Images and Words
...this positively amazing collection of progressive metal classics from the early nineties. A friend of mine from high school brought me the guitar tab for the song Surrounded, which lead me to listen to the song, and immediately fall for the band. It was at this point that I pretty much gave up all of the other music I'd tried to get into in years previous. The post-grunge pop rock thing from the late nineties was dead to me. Country? Dry, boring. Pop? Plastic and empty. I shut the radio off from here forward. All I needed was progressive music.
6. Ayreon -- The Human Equation
Ayreon came from the post Dream Theater hunt for prog rock that the internet started. The Human Equation wasn't my first time out with Arjen Lucassen, but it is still the most memorable. An amazing lineup of vocalists, and a pretty solid story made for an awesome rock opera.
7. Yes -- Close to the Edge
Fragile is an amazing album. This is something different. Something almost alien. Three tracks, nothing under ten minutes, and every second of it is full of dense melodies. The title track is pitch perfect symphonic prog, but Siberia Khatru has a slick synth lead that is amongst Rick Wakeman's best work with Yes, and great vocal melodies. Such a special album.
8. Steve Vai -- Alien Love Secrets
Passion and Warfare is among the most important instrumental albums ever recorded. Alien Love Secrets is its psychotic and beautiful baby. Seven songs, each showing a different facet of Vai's musical voice. Tender Surrender is among my favorite songs to play on the guitar...in whatever capacity that I can actually toy around with.
9. Yoko Kanno -- Cowboy Bebop OST 1: TANK
Anime poked its oft ugly head into my life late in high school. The best of these, still, is Cowboy Bebop, which borrowed from film noir, science fiction, and spaghetti westerns to create a fairly sweet depiction of the near future. The music of the show borrowed from a little bit of everything, but kept a focus on jazz and blues for the majority of the score. Without the music, the show wouldn't have been as memorable. The first of three soundtracks, TANK offered the purest of the jazz tracks and the slickest blues numbers. TANK, the opening theme of the show, has some particularly amazing saxophone solos, and Space Lion could have been in the soundtrack to Blade Runner. And that's only scratching the surface.
10. Spiral Architect -- A Sceptic's Universe
The same guy who introduced me to Dream Theater took me out to his car to hear a song called Insect. Well, well played, once again, Mr. Johnson, because A Sceptic's Universe is still the best techincal metal album ever recorded as far as I'm concerned. The riffs on this record are unbelievable. Sean Malone from Cynic/Gordian Knot even appears to keep things classy. If you play guitar, or bass, or just dig music that is a bit challenging, check this one out.
11. The Tangent -- The Music that Died Alone
As you can tell, I dig my prog rock. The Music that Died Alone went beyond. A tribute to the Canterbury sound, a requiem for the genre, and one of the best progressive rock albums I've ever heard. If you don't like the title track, you have no remorse for the sad state of the genre.
12. Queensryche -- Operation: Mindcrime
As a fan of the rock opera and the concept album, Operation Mindcrime was something I had to hear as soon as I got into progressive rock. The statements the album makes are relevant today, and the record is still solid. It's a product of the 80's though, so the sound is directly reminiscent of the time. Queensryche has fallen so very far in the years since this one, but people will remember this one regardless. Suite Sister Mary is among the best on the album. It's not for the easily offended though.
13. Iron Maiden -- Live After Death
Yeah, this is a bit of a cop out. Live After Death is in fact one of the greatest live albums ever recorded, but to just chose this one over the albums they'd recorded in the early eighties. I found some of my early favorites from Maiden through this record. Maiden would go on to do some amazing stuff from here, but the early eighties are considered their finest by so many for a reason.
14. Pink Floyd -- The Final Cut
Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, even Animals; all brilliant. The Final Cut does the Waters fronted Floyd sound spectacularly, but it's not really a Pink Floyd album. It's the first Roger Waters solo album, but better than any Waters solo album. The very simple narrative concept on The Final Cut allows for some very solemn songs, and a very human tone following the cold and emotionally wrenching story on The Wall. The Final Cut is the result of those severed ties from The Wall, and in their wake, a simple statement that almost seemed out of place in that age of Floyd, a band whose members hated each other so much that lawsuits and decades of arguing prevented them from even sharing the stage again...
We were all equal, in the end...
15. Strapping Young Lad -- Alien
And following the solemn beauty of The Final Cut comes the nastiest, heaviest, brutally oppressive metal album that I've ever heard in my life. Devin Townsend rolls out what should have been the last SYL album with sheer chaos. There are no song structures to follow, aside from in the sole single Love, and it's probably the weakest tune on the album. Skeksis could shake mountains, and We Ride has energy unequaled by any other speed metal song in existence.
16. Fates Warning -- Awaken the Guardian
Power metal started to reenter my life through Awaken the Guardian. Fates Warning were still trying to have their own sound after borrowing liberally from Iron Maiden on their first two albums. Prelude to Ruin is a special achievement for progressive metals foundation, and the song Guardian is one of my favorite ballads in the history of metal.
17. Godspeed You Black Emperor -- F#A#(infinity)
Post rock seemed like an obvious result of enjoying progressive rock. F#A#(Infinity) holds the song Dead Flag Blues, which opens with one of the most gorgeously ominous monologues ever spoken on an album. I still need to hear their new record...
18. Opeth -- Morningrise
Death metal came slowly to me. The Human Equation started an interest in the genre, due to the performance of Mikael Akerfeldt. Morningrise is their finest. The Night and the Silent Water is one of the most memorable songs for most, but I'm still partial to Black Rose Immortal. The closing track, To Bid You Farewell, is a sign of things to come from this still impressive band. Heritage is awesome, by the way.
19. Van Halen -- Women and Children First
You'd think that I would have heard this one sooner. Well, yeah I'd heard the singles from Women and Children First, but it was actually spinning the complete album that reminded me how great Van Halen could be. Their self titled record is a classic album, but for me, this is the peak of the band. Could This be Magic? and Loss of Control are essential Van Halen tracks.
20. Nevermore -- Dead Heart in a Dead World
I was pretty stubborn to not get into Nevermore, but I'll tell ya, this album was the fast track to getting into the band. Thrash metal ready licks and some of the best vocals in rock music are laid out perfectly on this record. A cover of Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence fills in some space nicely, but its tracks like The Heart Collector and Narcosynthesis that remind me of why metal can be so very amazing.
21. Pain of Salvation -- The Perfect Element Part 1
Now were getting into some "greatest music ever" territory. Pain of Salvation shifts gears a bit with their sound, introducing some rap vocals, and they actually find their own tonal sensibilities for the first time. I love the first two albums, but they nailed it here. The story in the lyrics is touching, heartbreaking even. I'm not going to point out particular songs. Listen to the whole album. All of it. Five times. You'll never regret it...
22. Porcupine Tree -- Stupid Dream
Stupid Dream is far from the best Porcupine Tree album, but it is my personal favorite. It's poppy, melancholic, and steals a bit from Pink Floyd and Radiohead, but without the war focused lyrics of Floyd or the painfully awful voice of Thom Yorke. It's a shame that they don't play much from this record live, because songs like Baby Dream in Cellophane and Piano Lessons are a big part of the reason I dig Porcupine Tree. Steven Wilson seems to be focusing on his solo career right now, so we won't be hearing much from PT for a while...but that's okay.
23. Helloween -- Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1
A power metal classic for a reason. Keeper was a breakout for Helloween, and its the home of so many great songs that its surprising that they could follow up with an equally impressive Keeper 2. While Helloween doesn't have the same stellar sound and songwriting that they had on the Keeper albums, they still tend to impress from time to time. It's just a shame we'll never get songs as catchy as Future World or I'm Alive.
24. Dire Straits -- Love Over Gold
Yeah, there are some really overplayed tunes from Dire Straits. I promise you that they aren't on this album. Opening with the gorgeous Telegraph Road, and rolling into the cynical Industrial Disease, Dire Straits were at the top of their game here. And then they let all of that go to waste after Brothers in Arms, which was a decent record too.
25. Rainbow -- Rising
I'm not going to justify this with an explanation. If you like heavy metal, then you owe Rising every ounce of your attention. This is Dio at his best. Deep Purple didn't get riffs this good from Ritchie Blackmore. Stargazer is one of the best songs ever recorded. The rest of the album? Yeah, it's great too. Listen to this one now.
Okay, I'll have to do the next half tomorrow or something. I've been writing for two hours. It's not been all that detailed or anything, but meh. Get out there and listen to whatever you haven't heard from this list.
The next half gets a bit more interesting. I promise.
1. Garth Brooks -- In Pieces
Let's start with something from youth, shall we? Long before I was a nutty prog snob, I listened to then-contemporary country music. Hey, I was a kid, and only knew of country, rock, rap, and classical.. There wasn't a lot of gray area like there is now. This is one that I can still come back to though, even today. Some may know Bela Fleck as the brilliant lead of the Flecktones, but I recall his performance on Callin' Baton Rouge before any other. While this isn't exactly "great country music" like most people consider Johnny Cash, I still get a kick out it.
2. John Williams -- The Empire Strikes Back OST
Music seemed more important than it ever had before around the tenth time I saw the second part of the classic sci-fi series that is Star Wars. I was in elementary school, and the music from Bespin would ring through my head. I didn't actually get a copy of the soundtrack until I'd graduated from college, but it's still part of my history. If you haven't heard music from this flick, then go watch the movie.
3. Billy Joel -- Songs in the Attic
This was the first time I saw the importance of a live album. A collection of not-exactly-hits from a pop rock star who was officially coming down from his wave of decent to great albums, Songs in the Attic introduced me to such songs as Miami 2017 and I've Loved these Days. After this, the best we'd get from Billy Joel was The Nylon Curtain, which was an amazing album in its own right, and is deeply unappreciated amongst his typical fans, as far as I can tell. Great record though, even now.
4. Rush -- A Farewell to Kings
Rush was the beginning of everything. Seriously. I wouldn't have the colossal CD collection I have without Rush getting everything started. While songs from Moving Pictures got me started, and 2112 did everything I'd ever sought for music to do, A Farewell to Kings is my favorite Rush album. Xanadu, the title track, and the closer, Cygnus X-1 represent a huge part of where I've grown as a listener. To me, Rush is still the most important band that has ever graced my ears. They have given me so much, including an introduction to...
5. Dream Theater -- Images and Words
...this positively amazing collection of progressive metal classics from the early nineties. A friend of mine from high school brought me the guitar tab for the song Surrounded, which lead me to listen to the song, and immediately fall for the band. It was at this point that I pretty much gave up all of the other music I'd tried to get into in years previous. The post-grunge pop rock thing from the late nineties was dead to me. Country? Dry, boring. Pop? Plastic and empty. I shut the radio off from here forward. All I needed was progressive music.
6. Ayreon -- The Human Equation
Ayreon came from the post Dream Theater hunt for prog rock that the internet started. The Human Equation wasn't my first time out with Arjen Lucassen, but it is still the most memorable. An amazing lineup of vocalists, and a pretty solid story made for an awesome rock opera.
7. Yes -- Close to the Edge
Fragile is an amazing album. This is something different. Something almost alien. Three tracks, nothing under ten minutes, and every second of it is full of dense melodies. The title track is pitch perfect symphonic prog, but Siberia Khatru has a slick synth lead that is amongst Rick Wakeman's best work with Yes, and great vocal melodies. Such a special album.
8. Steve Vai -- Alien Love Secrets
Passion and Warfare is among the most important instrumental albums ever recorded. Alien Love Secrets is its psychotic and beautiful baby. Seven songs, each showing a different facet of Vai's musical voice. Tender Surrender is among my favorite songs to play on the guitar...in whatever capacity that I can actually toy around with.
9. Yoko Kanno -- Cowboy Bebop OST 1: TANK
Anime poked its oft ugly head into my life late in high school. The best of these, still, is Cowboy Bebop, which borrowed from film noir, science fiction, and spaghetti westerns to create a fairly sweet depiction of the near future. The music of the show borrowed from a little bit of everything, but kept a focus on jazz and blues for the majority of the score. Without the music, the show wouldn't have been as memorable. The first of three soundtracks, TANK offered the purest of the jazz tracks and the slickest blues numbers. TANK, the opening theme of the show, has some particularly amazing saxophone solos, and Space Lion could have been in the soundtrack to Blade Runner. And that's only scratching the surface.
10. Spiral Architect -- A Sceptic's Universe
The same guy who introduced me to Dream Theater took me out to his car to hear a song called Insect. Well, well played, once again, Mr. Johnson, because A Sceptic's Universe is still the best techincal metal album ever recorded as far as I'm concerned. The riffs on this record are unbelievable. Sean Malone from Cynic/Gordian Knot even appears to keep things classy. If you play guitar, or bass, or just dig music that is a bit challenging, check this one out.
11. The Tangent -- The Music that Died Alone
As you can tell, I dig my prog rock. The Music that Died Alone went beyond. A tribute to the Canterbury sound, a requiem for the genre, and one of the best progressive rock albums I've ever heard. If you don't like the title track, you have no remorse for the sad state of the genre.
12. Queensryche -- Operation: Mindcrime
As a fan of the rock opera and the concept album, Operation Mindcrime was something I had to hear as soon as I got into progressive rock. The statements the album makes are relevant today, and the record is still solid. It's a product of the 80's though, so the sound is directly reminiscent of the time. Queensryche has fallen so very far in the years since this one, but people will remember this one regardless. Suite Sister Mary is among the best on the album. It's not for the easily offended though.
13. Iron Maiden -- Live After Death
Yeah, this is a bit of a cop out. Live After Death is in fact one of the greatest live albums ever recorded, but to just chose this one over the albums they'd recorded in the early eighties. I found some of my early favorites from Maiden through this record. Maiden would go on to do some amazing stuff from here, but the early eighties are considered their finest by so many for a reason.
14. Pink Floyd -- The Final Cut
Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, even Animals; all brilliant. The Final Cut does the Waters fronted Floyd sound spectacularly, but it's not really a Pink Floyd album. It's the first Roger Waters solo album, but better than any Waters solo album. The very simple narrative concept on The Final Cut allows for some very solemn songs, and a very human tone following the cold and emotionally wrenching story on The Wall. The Final Cut is the result of those severed ties from The Wall, and in their wake, a simple statement that almost seemed out of place in that age of Floyd, a band whose members hated each other so much that lawsuits and decades of arguing prevented them from even sharing the stage again...
We were all equal, in the end...
15. Strapping Young Lad -- Alien
And following the solemn beauty of The Final Cut comes the nastiest, heaviest, brutally oppressive metal album that I've ever heard in my life. Devin Townsend rolls out what should have been the last SYL album with sheer chaos. There are no song structures to follow, aside from in the sole single Love, and it's probably the weakest tune on the album. Skeksis could shake mountains, and We Ride has energy unequaled by any other speed metal song in existence.
16. Fates Warning -- Awaken the Guardian
Power metal started to reenter my life through Awaken the Guardian. Fates Warning were still trying to have their own sound after borrowing liberally from Iron Maiden on their first two albums. Prelude to Ruin is a special achievement for progressive metals foundation, and the song Guardian is one of my favorite ballads in the history of metal.
17. Godspeed You Black Emperor -- F#A#(infinity)
Post rock seemed like an obvious result of enjoying progressive rock. F#A#(Infinity) holds the song Dead Flag Blues, which opens with one of the most gorgeously ominous monologues ever spoken on an album. I still need to hear their new record...
18. Opeth -- Morningrise
Death metal came slowly to me. The Human Equation started an interest in the genre, due to the performance of Mikael Akerfeldt. Morningrise is their finest. The Night and the Silent Water is one of the most memorable songs for most, but I'm still partial to Black Rose Immortal. The closing track, To Bid You Farewell, is a sign of things to come from this still impressive band. Heritage is awesome, by the way.
19. Van Halen -- Women and Children First
You'd think that I would have heard this one sooner. Well, yeah I'd heard the singles from Women and Children First, but it was actually spinning the complete album that reminded me how great Van Halen could be. Their self titled record is a classic album, but for me, this is the peak of the band. Could This be Magic? and Loss of Control are essential Van Halen tracks.
20. Nevermore -- Dead Heart in a Dead World
I was pretty stubborn to not get into Nevermore, but I'll tell ya, this album was the fast track to getting into the band. Thrash metal ready licks and some of the best vocals in rock music are laid out perfectly on this record. A cover of Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence fills in some space nicely, but its tracks like The Heart Collector and Narcosynthesis that remind me of why metal can be so very amazing.
21. Pain of Salvation -- The Perfect Element Part 1
Now were getting into some "greatest music ever" territory. Pain of Salvation shifts gears a bit with their sound, introducing some rap vocals, and they actually find their own tonal sensibilities for the first time. I love the first two albums, but they nailed it here. The story in the lyrics is touching, heartbreaking even. I'm not going to point out particular songs. Listen to the whole album. All of it. Five times. You'll never regret it...
22. Porcupine Tree -- Stupid Dream
Stupid Dream is far from the best Porcupine Tree album, but it is my personal favorite. It's poppy, melancholic, and steals a bit from Pink Floyd and Radiohead, but without the war focused lyrics of Floyd or the painfully awful voice of Thom Yorke. It's a shame that they don't play much from this record live, because songs like Baby Dream in Cellophane and Piano Lessons are a big part of the reason I dig Porcupine Tree. Steven Wilson seems to be focusing on his solo career right now, so we won't be hearing much from PT for a while...but that's okay.
23. Helloween -- Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1
A power metal classic for a reason. Keeper was a breakout for Helloween, and its the home of so many great songs that its surprising that they could follow up with an equally impressive Keeper 2. While Helloween doesn't have the same stellar sound and songwriting that they had on the Keeper albums, they still tend to impress from time to time. It's just a shame we'll never get songs as catchy as Future World or I'm Alive.
24. Dire Straits -- Love Over Gold
Yeah, there are some really overplayed tunes from Dire Straits. I promise you that they aren't on this album. Opening with the gorgeous Telegraph Road, and rolling into the cynical Industrial Disease, Dire Straits were at the top of their game here. And then they let all of that go to waste after Brothers in Arms, which was a decent record too.
25. Rainbow -- Rising
I'm not going to justify this with an explanation. If you like heavy metal, then you owe Rising every ounce of your attention. This is Dio at his best. Deep Purple didn't get riffs this good from Ritchie Blackmore. Stargazer is one of the best songs ever recorded. The rest of the album? Yeah, it's great too. Listen to this one now.
Okay, I'll have to do the next half tomorrow or something. I've been writing for two hours. It's not been all that detailed or anything, but meh. Get out there and listen to whatever you haven't heard from this list.
The next half gets a bit more interesting. I promise.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Alternative Scribblings
It's been a while, hasn't it? Yeah, I know. I've spent the past two months or so being more-or-less unproductive. I have been editing novels, and playing far too many video games. Should I tell you about the gaming thing? I figure I'll get around to that at some point. How about some ramblings about The Alternative stuff instead.
I've been working on getting a pitch together, and that's not really going so well. I know what I want to tell people about in regards to the work of fiction that I've been beating up for the past four years, but there isn't really an elegant way to say "giant cast gets swept into interstellar war when what they really want is to steal things, drink coffee, and enjoy each others company" and I know that doesn't sound exciting.
So between editing and screaming at the pitch, I've been getting the ball rolling on the next couple of books. Alt. 2: Road to the West is pretty much planned. It's ready to go into the first draft as soon as I find the heart to jump into that fire again. I'm thinking that April is the time for such chaos, and I've been doing some warm up pre-writing to get ready for it. I think that if I have a rough version of the first two or three chapters, I can start out by rewriting all of that nonsense and get into the stuff I've been wanting to write for years. Seriously. I have been longing to write this book for years, and I know almost every beat of the story, and I'm ready to get Celes onto the page.
Yes, I realize that I made it sound like I'm doing more than I just said. Well, I am. I've been working on getting Book III: The Bookening into shape. I've got a few things in mind, probably inspired by the fact that the last two sci-fi novels I've read have been detective story type ordeals. I have a cast coming together. The problem I seem to be having comes from the fact that I'm spoiling the spoiler spoiler with the spoilering spoiled spoiler! I need someone to shout this plot to that could help me out. It's a giant mess, and I don't know how to fix it.
Another thing that keeps weighing on my mind is the fact that Crusader is still unpublished, and sitting on my coffee table weeping. It's teetering on the edge of third draft, and I don't know how I feel about it right now. I want to like it, because of the things that I tried while writing it, but on the other hand, I completely detest the mess that I made. I don't have an objective enough reader on hand to determine whether its the train wreck I see, or the quality work of fantasy that Jo does.
Oh, and I'm considering a Kickstarter for it.
Yeah, I know everyone is doing that kind of thing these days, but it would help pay for a couple of passes by a professional editor, and I could then e-pub the bloody thing and maybe use it as a method to look better in the view of agents and publishers. Or worse. After all, how many idiots self-publish mediocre novels these days.
But then again, there are enough books in that miserable supernatural romance section at Barnes and Nobel.
What was the purpose of this post again? To remember how much of a failure that I feel like as a writer? Maybe. Perhaps it was to get me typing before I look into my notes for Alternative and consider what I'm going to do next. It's my hope to publish the ten stories I think it will take to tell the story of The Alternative before I die. Here's hoping I get the chance.
I've been working on getting a pitch together, and that's not really going so well. I know what I want to tell people about in regards to the work of fiction that I've been beating up for the past four years, but there isn't really an elegant way to say "giant cast gets swept into interstellar war when what they really want is to steal things, drink coffee, and enjoy each others company" and I know that doesn't sound exciting.
So between editing and screaming at the pitch, I've been getting the ball rolling on the next couple of books. Alt. 2: Road to the West is pretty much planned. It's ready to go into the first draft as soon as I find the heart to jump into that fire again. I'm thinking that April is the time for such chaos, and I've been doing some warm up pre-writing to get ready for it. I think that if I have a rough version of the first two or three chapters, I can start out by rewriting all of that nonsense and get into the stuff I've been wanting to write for years. Seriously. I have been longing to write this book for years, and I know almost every beat of the story, and I'm ready to get Celes onto the page.
Yes, I realize that I made it sound like I'm doing more than I just said. Well, I am. I've been working on getting Book III: The Bookening into shape. I've got a few things in mind, probably inspired by the fact that the last two sci-fi novels I've read have been detective story type ordeals. I have a cast coming together. The problem I seem to be having comes from the fact that I'm spoiling the spoiler spoiler with the spoilering spoiled spoiler! I need someone to shout this plot to that could help me out. It's a giant mess, and I don't know how to fix it.
Another thing that keeps weighing on my mind is the fact that Crusader is still unpublished, and sitting on my coffee table weeping. It's teetering on the edge of third draft, and I don't know how I feel about it right now. I want to like it, because of the things that I tried while writing it, but on the other hand, I completely detest the mess that I made. I don't have an objective enough reader on hand to determine whether its the train wreck I see, or the quality work of fantasy that Jo does.
Oh, and I'm considering a Kickstarter for it.
Yeah, I know everyone is doing that kind of thing these days, but it would help pay for a couple of passes by a professional editor, and I could then e-pub the bloody thing and maybe use it as a method to look better in the view of agents and publishers. Or worse. After all, how many idiots self-publish mediocre novels these days.
But then again, there are enough books in that miserable supernatural romance section at Barnes and Nobel.
What was the purpose of this post again? To remember how much of a failure that I feel like as a writer? Maybe. Perhaps it was to get me typing before I look into my notes for Alternative and consider what I'm going to do next. It's my hope to publish the ten stories I think it will take to tell the story of The Alternative before I die. Here's hoping I get the chance.
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