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.
Monday, March 25, 2013
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.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The Worst of Tasks--Editing
Yesterday I started editing Anarchy Veiled. I want to finish a second draft by February 13th. This means that I will probably start to hate everything about this book by about...oh...the end of this week..
The problem lies in the fact that I'm an awful editor. I've never finished getting a story through multiple drafts, nor even finishing a second one. Even my first novel hasn't really taken off into "second draft" territory. I don't know what is good or bad in my writing. When I read what I write, I hate it. I literally can not stand to read what I write. I can't get over the fact that what I write isn't as good as what I read in other people's work. Between the fact that my style is a mess, my grammar is twisted, and my word choices are, at times, awful. Wait, why did I start writing this again?
Oh, to complain about this editing thing.
Anyway, I have to get it done. I need to get to a fourth or fifth draft, and get the opening chapters into beautiful form so that I can start hunting for an agent again. Yes, despite the fact that I feel like my writing is the literary equivalent of a forty-car-pileup, some people tell me that I'm a pretty good writer. Some of these people are being sincere. The others might just be lying. Who cares. I like the stories that I am telling, whether or not I think that the work I've done is miserable. I still want someone to read it. And make money off of it. Yes. Money is an issue. I could write a lot more books if people were paying me money for what I write. And I could quit working in the Pit-O-Retail.
So I'm editing both of my books. Anarchy Veiled is taking priority over that catastrophe of a book I wrote in 2011. I'm in a peculiar spot with AV though, in that I am not finding a whole lot of errors. This might change as I continue with the mark-up of the book, but for now, it's a fairly clean draft. Or I'm blind. Or stupid. Something. Hmmm.
I'm currently about 25 pages into the mark-up, and working a mid-shift today didn't exactly give me a lot of time to scribble in my printed copy of the book. I'm going to get to it after I finish rambling onto this blog thing, which is proving to be an amazing way to procrastinate on the one part of writing which I still can't seem to get a handle on.
I'll ask one question:
How do you know if you've got a good draft on your hands? Really. I need to know this.
Maybe I should read some Kevin J. Anderson Star Wars novels, so I can see that there are (likely) worse sci-fi writers than myself.
Until I find something else to complain about, farewell.
The problem lies in the fact that I'm an awful editor. I've never finished getting a story through multiple drafts, nor even finishing a second one. Even my first novel hasn't really taken off into "second draft" territory. I don't know what is good or bad in my writing. When I read what I write, I hate it. I literally can not stand to read what I write. I can't get over the fact that what I write isn't as good as what I read in other people's work. Between the fact that my style is a mess, my grammar is twisted, and my word choices are, at times, awful. Wait, why did I start writing this again?
Oh, to complain about this editing thing.
Anyway, I have to get it done. I need to get to a fourth or fifth draft, and get the opening chapters into beautiful form so that I can start hunting for an agent again. Yes, despite the fact that I feel like my writing is the literary equivalent of a forty-car-pileup, some people tell me that I'm a pretty good writer. Some of these people are being sincere. The others might just be lying. Who cares. I like the stories that I am telling, whether or not I think that the work I've done is miserable. I still want someone to read it. And make money off of it. Yes. Money is an issue. I could write a lot more books if people were paying me money for what I write. And I could quit working in the Pit-O-Retail.
So I'm editing both of my books. Anarchy Veiled is taking priority over that catastrophe of a book I wrote in 2011. I'm in a peculiar spot with AV though, in that I am not finding a whole lot of errors. This might change as I continue with the mark-up of the book, but for now, it's a fairly clean draft. Or I'm blind. Or stupid. Something. Hmmm.
I'm currently about 25 pages into the mark-up, and working a mid-shift today didn't exactly give me a lot of time to scribble in my printed copy of the book. I'm going to get to it after I finish rambling onto this blog thing, which is proving to be an amazing way to procrastinate on the one part of writing which I still can't seem to get a handle on.
I'll ask one question:
How do you know if you've got a good draft on your hands? Really. I need to know this.
Maybe I should read some Kevin J. Anderson Star Wars novels, so I can see that there are (likely) worse sci-fi writers than myself.
Until I find something else to complain about, farewell.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
2013
Bah, apocalypses. They never seem to pan out, do they? Well, I guess since the world is still turning, and the whole Christmas trip is now passed, it's time to look at 2013, and figure out what I get done. This is more of a list of things that I want to accomplish. I get to look at this at the end of 2013 and see what little I actually finished from it. Let's get to it.
1. Edit Anarchy Veiled.
2. Write a script treatment for Memphistopheles (awful title, cool idea). Write script.
3. Launch the Z-Trigger website, and maintain a workflow of at least two videos per month.
4. Edit Crusader for self-publishing, while designing a cash-free method of marketing.
5. Write drafts of Road to the West (alt. book 2) and the new idea, currently titled 24 Exposures.
6. Outline, and hopefully write, the draft of book three of Alternative.
7. Put together material and possibly a script or two of the TV series I've been concocting.
8. Actually write a short story!
9. Find an agent, escape from retail.
10. Write and possibly shoot a short film. Nothing more than ten minutes long. I have ideas, but no equipment.
This list is shorter than I thought it would be...
Alright, 2013, let's see what happens.
And the first thing I'll have to do is learn to edit.
1. Edit Anarchy Veiled.
2. Write a script treatment for Memphistopheles (awful title, cool idea). Write script.
3. Launch the Z-Trigger website, and maintain a workflow of at least two videos per month.
4. Edit Crusader for self-publishing, while designing a cash-free method of marketing.
5. Write drafts of Road to the West (alt. book 2) and the new idea, currently titled 24 Exposures.
6. Outline, and hopefully write, the draft of book three of Alternative.
7. Put together material and possibly a script or two of the TV series I've been concocting.
8. Actually write a short story!
9. Find an agent, escape from retail.
10. Write and possibly shoot a short film. Nothing more than ten minutes long. I have ideas, but no equipment.
This list is shorter than I thought it would be...
Alright, 2013, let's see what happens.
And the first thing I'll have to do is learn to edit.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
A Word about The Alternative
July 8th, 2008. That's when The Alternative was born. It was after one in the morning. I was stretched out on my bed at my parents house, flipping through channels, occasionally muting to look up full episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures on YouTube.
I was troubled. I was over half-way through my college career, and I couldn't get my mind off of how irritated I was with everything that was going on around me. The writing program was driving me mad, pushing the constraints of "literature" on me, and I was getting nowhere with the film program. I wasn't in school for me. I didn't know why I was there.
That night, I recalled the many attempts I'd made to write sci-fi, crafting worlds, manipulating our own, just doing something to tell a story that wasn't entirely grounded in reality. It'd been several years since I'd last bothered with attempting something in that vein. I'd written about seventy pages of nonsense for a story when I was in high school, over 100 handwritten notebook pages of things that we won't discuss here before that, and dabbled in and out and around these visuals and ideas ever since they'd failed.
It wouldn't hurt to try again, just to do something!
This was when I started to write a story called The Alternative. I wrote about ten pages at first, just rambling through a raging action sequence without direction just because I wanted to. I still have that bit, and the few pages I wrote afterwards. They're terrible. Every line. It was fun! That night, I continued with notes. I'd never written notes for a piece of fiction before. I'd always just gone from a single idea, crafting whatever it was that I was doing along the way. Not a great method, but it had done the trick before.
Those notes are still on my current hard drive, on my back up thumb drive, the netbook in my closet, and the desktop wired into my video game rig around my TV. That document contains some very basic notes about the galaxy I was writing in, some of the worlds, future antagonists, my trio of lead characters, their pasts, and even that lovely spacecraft that I wanted to carry my cast around the galaxy in. Those details are all still incomplete, mind you, and I really need to get to work on a series bible, especially in light of the thing that everyone reading this probably already knows, and will have to deal with reading about again in the later paragraphs of this blog.
Next came a couple of attempts at short fiction, as character origin stories to precede the novel. This turned into a lazy piece of flash fiction, and an ambitious (for me) short story, which I workshopped in my literature-only advanced fiction class in college. Yes, I'm not all that kind to such things as I had forced on me at UNCW. Let's leave that alone, though. Clyde Edgerton, the professor of said class, told me that the story wasn't big enough for everything I was trying to include, that it would make a great novel.
I'm not sure that he had this in mind.
Not long after, I had expanded the concept into a series. This developed into an attempt to write comics, and then back to prose. I found the vision of three origin tales, one for each character, then bringing the cast together over the course of a pair of novels that would send them into combat against a strong intergalactic threat. There were political themes I wanted to tackle, and I wove them into the notes. Let me tell you, if this set of notes were a basket, none of them would be finished, and the whole bloody thing would be rather hard to carry, much less be a proper place to drop your fruit. Wow, I can't tell if that sentence makes sense. I need sleep. ComicCon today, ya see? I'll have to tell you about that later.
After the comic writing plans fell through, due to various things, I knew that I wasn't going to sell a high concept comic book series with pitiful scripting skills as I posses. I returned to prose in late 2011, finally starting down the path to writing the first novel of The Alternative. I had a few new ideas on how to approach the story, and used the completed first story arc from the comic scripts to assist in my efforts. I thought I'd be okay to get rolling in a positive direction, targeting something between sixty and seventy thousand words.
And then I hit my early snags at about eleven thousand words into the story. It was mid-October, and I had other ideas in mind. To distract myself, I decided to give NaNoWriMo a second shot. My first attempt crashed and burned at just over ten thousand words with a pitiful novel attempt in the pipe. I finished the first draft of Crusader on December 3, 2011, reaching the goal for NaNo in time, and wrapping up the short book afterwards. Then I moved to Louisiana, and struggled to find a way to edit the piece. I still haven't finished editing that short piece, but I haven't really given up on it. It's not a great story, and I'm not that confident that I will ever be able to publish it. However, a New York literary agency has had it in their possession to read, so I do know how to pitch it. Well...someday, maybe.
Back to Alt.
I made several attempts to write more short fiction this year, and I only completed one piece of flash fiction. The other unfinished shorts are still in my active queue. I'm really not good at writing short fiction. The Alternative manuscript kept popping up in the word processor, and I wasn't getting a lot done. I set deadlines, and failed to meet them. I was fairly realistic as well, which is why it's pretty sad that I couldn't ever get on track. I can't say that some exterior force played a hand. Sure, I hate my job, and it drained me of my will to function many times, but that should have been even more of a motivator to get this thing written. However, it never really came to pass.
November 1st, over eight thousand words.
To some, this isn't impressive. For me, it was the most I'd ever composed in a single day. I had a lot of dry stretches throughout the month, but I kept pushing forward, grabbing up two days where I wrote over ten thousand words of new content. The novel was completed on November 25th, a day I spent between two different coffee shops, mind and stomach warped by fine espresso. I had a finished manuscript, bearing 90k words. Yes, it was less than my goal, but over the month, I'd figured that I didn't have enough content for the other 15k. I may prove that to be wrong over the editing cycle.
Four years, and six months have passed since I started my journey with The Alternative. I've yet to give up on the crazy thing, despite the challenges that will come with writing a story as big as I think I've conceived. It's no George R.R. Martin creation, and I will say that I'm happy about that. I've started down the path now, and I can't wait to keep going. It's been bizarre and enlightening. Some people seem to be genuinely interested in the mess that I'm making with my laptop these days, and I hope that never ceases.
The strange journey continues with the editing phase of my novel, some time recently coined Anarchy Veiled, a title that I have no idea if it sticks or not. I've yet to successfully edit anything this large, and I don't even know how to. I'm scared, to say the least, that I will find myself hating this book as much as I hate Crusader right now.
But on the other hand, it's a better book than that psychotically bitter piece of Japanese RPG inspired fantasy fiction. It's not perfect, it's not even a great book, but I really enjoy what I've tried to do with the tale, the character, the world that I've been devising. And apparently changed my mind about at least twice over the course of the 450-ish pages that I've written so far. If you are reading this and you have a copy of the manuscript, I hope that you're enjoying it, or that this has made you more interested in what a madman has been obsessed with for over four years. Some of you have been having to hear about it far too much to have only seen this product after all of this time. A couple of you are technically rereading this story, albeit in a much better form.
I'll leave you with this; it's been a blast so far, and I've not had as much fun writing anything in my entire "career" as a writer as I did writing this book. It was constantly challenging, thoroughly exciting, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
Now, I'll get to editing this some time, and we'll see how long it takes for me to tell you the story of the road to getting the second part of this story written!
I was troubled. I was over half-way through my college career, and I couldn't get my mind off of how irritated I was with everything that was going on around me. The writing program was driving me mad, pushing the constraints of "literature" on me, and I was getting nowhere with the film program. I wasn't in school for me. I didn't know why I was there.
That night, I recalled the many attempts I'd made to write sci-fi, crafting worlds, manipulating our own, just doing something to tell a story that wasn't entirely grounded in reality. It'd been several years since I'd last bothered with attempting something in that vein. I'd written about seventy pages of nonsense for a story when I was in high school, over 100 handwritten notebook pages of things that we won't discuss here before that, and dabbled in and out and around these visuals and ideas ever since they'd failed.
It wouldn't hurt to try again, just to do something!
This was when I started to write a story called The Alternative. I wrote about ten pages at first, just rambling through a raging action sequence without direction just because I wanted to. I still have that bit, and the few pages I wrote afterwards. They're terrible. Every line. It was fun! That night, I continued with notes. I'd never written notes for a piece of fiction before. I'd always just gone from a single idea, crafting whatever it was that I was doing along the way. Not a great method, but it had done the trick before.
Those notes are still on my current hard drive, on my back up thumb drive, the netbook in my closet, and the desktop wired into my video game rig around my TV. That document contains some very basic notes about the galaxy I was writing in, some of the worlds, future antagonists, my trio of lead characters, their pasts, and even that lovely spacecraft that I wanted to carry my cast around the galaxy in. Those details are all still incomplete, mind you, and I really need to get to work on a series bible, especially in light of the thing that everyone reading this probably already knows, and will have to deal with reading about again in the later paragraphs of this blog.
Next came a couple of attempts at short fiction, as character origin stories to precede the novel. This turned into a lazy piece of flash fiction, and an ambitious (for me) short story, which I workshopped in my literature-only advanced fiction class in college. Yes, I'm not all that kind to such things as I had forced on me at UNCW. Let's leave that alone, though. Clyde Edgerton, the professor of said class, told me that the story wasn't big enough for everything I was trying to include, that it would make a great novel.
I'm not sure that he had this in mind.
Not long after, I had expanded the concept into a series. This developed into an attempt to write comics, and then back to prose. I found the vision of three origin tales, one for each character, then bringing the cast together over the course of a pair of novels that would send them into combat against a strong intergalactic threat. There were political themes I wanted to tackle, and I wove them into the notes. Let me tell you, if this set of notes were a basket, none of them would be finished, and the whole bloody thing would be rather hard to carry, much less be a proper place to drop your fruit. Wow, I can't tell if that sentence makes sense. I need sleep. ComicCon today, ya see? I'll have to tell you about that later.
After the comic writing plans fell through, due to various things, I knew that I wasn't going to sell a high concept comic book series with pitiful scripting skills as I posses. I returned to prose in late 2011, finally starting down the path to writing the first novel of The Alternative. I had a few new ideas on how to approach the story, and used the completed first story arc from the comic scripts to assist in my efforts. I thought I'd be okay to get rolling in a positive direction, targeting something between sixty and seventy thousand words.
And then I hit my early snags at about eleven thousand words into the story. It was mid-October, and I had other ideas in mind. To distract myself, I decided to give NaNoWriMo a second shot. My first attempt crashed and burned at just over ten thousand words with a pitiful novel attempt in the pipe. I finished the first draft of Crusader on December 3, 2011, reaching the goal for NaNo in time, and wrapping up the short book afterwards. Then I moved to Louisiana, and struggled to find a way to edit the piece. I still haven't finished editing that short piece, but I haven't really given up on it. It's not a great story, and I'm not that confident that I will ever be able to publish it. However, a New York literary agency has had it in their possession to read, so I do know how to pitch it. Well...someday, maybe.
Back to Alt.
I made several attempts to write more short fiction this year, and I only completed one piece of flash fiction. The other unfinished shorts are still in my active queue. I'm really not good at writing short fiction. The Alternative manuscript kept popping up in the word processor, and I wasn't getting a lot done. I set deadlines, and failed to meet them. I was fairly realistic as well, which is why it's pretty sad that I couldn't ever get on track. I can't say that some exterior force played a hand. Sure, I hate my job, and it drained me of my will to function many times, but that should have been even more of a motivator to get this thing written. However, it never really came to pass.
November 1st, over eight thousand words.
To some, this isn't impressive. For me, it was the most I'd ever composed in a single day. I had a lot of dry stretches throughout the month, but I kept pushing forward, grabbing up two days where I wrote over ten thousand words of new content. The novel was completed on November 25th, a day I spent between two different coffee shops, mind and stomach warped by fine espresso. I had a finished manuscript, bearing 90k words. Yes, it was less than my goal, but over the month, I'd figured that I didn't have enough content for the other 15k. I may prove that to be wrong over the editing cycle.
Four years, and six months have passed since I started my journey with The Alternative. I've yet to give up on the crazy thing, despite the challenges that will come with writing a story as big as I think I've conceived. It's no George R.R. Martin creation, and I will say that I'm happy about that. I've started down the path now, and I can't wait to keep going. It's been bizarre and enlightening. Some people seem to be genuinely interested in the mess that I'm making with my laptop these days, and I hope that never ceases.
The strange journey continues with the editing phase of my novel, some time recently coined Anarchy Veiled, a title that I have no idea if it sticks or not. I've yet to successfully edit anything this large, and I don't even know how to. I'm scared, to say the least, that I will find myself hating this book as much as I hate Crusader right now.
But on the other hand, it's a better book than that psychotically bitter piece of Japanese RPG inspired fantasy fiction. It's not perfect, it's not even a great book, but I really enjoy what I've tried to do with the tale, the character, the world that I've been devising. And apparently changed my mind about at least twice over the course of the 450-ish pages that I've written so far. If you are reading this and you have a copy of the manuscript, I hope that you're enjoying it, or that this has made you more interested in what a madman has been obsessed with for over four years. Some of you have been having to hear about it far too much to have only seen this product after all of this time. A couple of you are technically rereading this story, albeit in a much better form.
I'll leave you with this; it's been a blast so far, and I've not had as much fun writing anything in my entire "career" as a writer as I did writing this book. It was constantly challenging, thoroughly exciting, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
Now, I'll get to editing this some time, and we'll see how long it takes for me to tell you the story of the road to getting the second part of this story written!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Z Trigger -- Rollerball Review
At long last, I have produced a video review. I have more coming, all of which will be better than this one.
Hope you enjoy it. Again, more is coming.
Hope you enjoy it. Again, more is coming.
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