Picked up the last Eagles live DVD the other day. I guess I’m in an Eagles kind of mood.

Eagles: band or brand? The same could be said about Pink Floyd from about Animals onwards — either way, I don’t give a shit. I’m a Star Wars fan, after all. We’re not talking about Britney Spears here, and as long as the product has artistry behind it, it could be wrapped in a McDonalds wrapper for all I care.

In any case, these guys are bloody good musicians who can put on a spectacular show. They sound amazing and obviously work hard. Not everything has to be a wankfest that’ll appeal to five people with arts degrees, yet neither does it have to be soulless inanity that aims squarely for the lowest common denominator. The Eagles manage to strike a good balance between the two extremes.

Pretty much all the hits are here, including some solo tracks (particularly by Don Henley, who is still cool even now). Go out and buy it ASAP!!!

So yesterday I picked up the new Eagles album and it totally rocked my socks off, which is funny since, while I’ve always had a fondness for their stuff, it never went beyond that. (I did develop an interest in Don Henley’s solo work, however.)

This album is great, and it makes me want to re-examine their classic work. I’m currently listening to The Very Best of the Eagles and suddenly it’s grabbing me on a level it never did before. Am I becoming an enemy of The Dude?

My review of the new album (Long Road Out of Eden) can be found here.

Here’s a great interview with Storm Thorgerson, the man who designed some of the greatest album covers of all time, including the cover art for the majority of Pink Floyd’s albums.

Bonus! He slags-off Nickelback:

Sun: Have you ever had anything rejected? Have your dreams turned into a nightmare?

Thorgerson: Oh God yes.

Sun: What was a good example?

Thorgerson: Nickelback are a good example.

Sun: You did a Nickelback cover?

Thorgerson: No we didn’t, because they turned us down.

Sun: Really?

Thorgerson: I’m not very pleased about it.

Sun: They’re from here, actually.

Thorgerson: I know they are. I said this on radio this morning, I’m hoping I bump into them so I can give them a piece of my mind.

More details in the article.

First I dreamt of meeting Robert Fripp, then Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, then Cliff Richard and Jeff Lynne.

Last night I dreamt that I met Gavin Harrison, the drummer for Porcupine Tree — this is possibly the apex of my geeky dreams.

Harrison, I must say, is fast becoming one of my favourite drummers, alongside Bill Bruford (of Yes and King Crimson), Phil Collins (of Genesis and Brand X) and Stewart Copeland (of The Police).

Drummers — really gifted drummers — don’t get the credit they deserve: people all too often think of the drums (along with the bass) as the least interesting part of a rock band, and truth be told, in most cases it is. But a good drummer adds interest and unexpected twists, holding back when need be as well. Have a listen to even something as simple as “Walking on the Moon” by The Police and you’ll hear Copeland’s personality shining through.

Gavin Harrison has been a member of Porcupine Tree since 2002’s In Absentia, and he’s added a lot to their sound. I recommend that anyone interested seek out “The Start of Something Beautiful” from their album Deadwing.

According to Uncut.co.uk, Peter Gabriel has scored the new IMAX film, Sea Monsters.

You can see the trailer at the film’s official site, and it sounds like they’ve used Gabriel’s music in the trailer itself — his style is quite distinctive.

The only thing I thought was cooler than dinosaurs when I was a kid was dinosaurs in the water, so this film looks right up my alley. Hopefully Gabriel will also release his soundtrack on CD, however.

UPDATE: Turns out the soundtrack is a collaboration between Richard Evans, David Rhodes and Gabriel — the other two are excellent musicians who’ve worked with Gabriel for many years, so it’s still very much a project of interest.

Here’s a great interview with Mike Rutherford on the Genesis reunion:

Rutherford has not ruled out Gabriel returning to the fold at some point. Gabriel is currently touring on his own.

“Who knows?” Rutherford said. “It’s a project idea, which is out in the ether. In a sense, no one’s pushing anyone to do it — (that) sort of thing.”

Ah, one can dream…

Anyway, kids, don’t forget that I’m writing for Bleat! as well. Check it out some time.

Patched together partly from tracks dropped from The Wall (1979), The Final Cut (1983) is the logical conclusion to where Pink Floyd had been heading since Animals in 1977: Roger Waters’ creative domination was now absolute, writing all songs and providing vocals for all tracks bar one (i.e. “Not Now John”, itself a duet between Waters and David Gilmour).

I’m not a huge fan of The Wall — while it contains a handful of great tracks (including the sublime “Comfortably Numb”), the album as a whole sounds to me like a collection of underdeveloped musical ideas. Meanwhile, the teenage angst factor is off the charts: the teachers were mean, my father’s dead, my mother was overprotective and suffocating, etc., etc. Overall, it’s just not to my taste.

The Final Cut, on the other hand, is half the length, and the angst is considerably reduced. Furthermore, there’s a welcome return of the saxophone, giving the album a sense of real soul that recalls Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and Wish You Were Here (1975), two of Floyd’s finest albums. This is great stuff — in effect, it’s like a Dark Side of the Moon/Wall hybrid.

Significantly, the 2004 remaster adds “When the Tigers Broke Free” to the mix, a track that initially appeared in the film Pink Floyd The Wall (1982), further reinforcing the perception that The Final Cut is more-or-less a companion piece to the Wall project.

I may not be a fan of The Wall per se, but when combined with The Final Cut, any flaws are easily forgiven. Highly recommended.

I’ve owned Avalon (1982) for years — it’s got some of my favourite songs on it, and the whole album has a lushness to the arrangements that creates an aurally seductive experience. But it ain’t the full story.

I’ve heard some of the early Roxy Music, so I was aware that, as a group featuring Brian Eno, they were a very different beast to what they became. To hear the entirety of their career summarised in 74 minutes, however, is something else, and the compilation The Best of Roxy Music seems to achieve that. (I’ll leave the final verdict to the fans.)

In the tracks on this album, I can hear Talking Heads, Devo, Duran Duran, Icehouse (obviously), and pretty much every development in punk, post-punk, New Wave and New Romantic from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s; Bryan Ferry’s vocals in particular run the gamut from David Bowie to David Byrne. They were true innovators.

Here’s an excellent article on Roxy Music’s incredible influence on the development of rock.

Last week I bought David Bowie’s Low (1977). Okay, it’s 30 years old, but I take my time getting around to these things…

My Bowie collection is rather limited: Station to Station (1976) and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) are the only two studio albums I own of his, and while I certainly enjoy both, I wouldn’t consider either to be favourites of mine. Low, on the other hand, is something different…

The first thing that’s immediately apparent is how clearly demarcated the two vinyl sides are: Side 1 consists of mostly songs, though the lyrics are often sparse and impressionistic, whereas Side 2 features ambient instrumentals with Brian Eno’s involvement written all over them.

Wow, this is a great album. Had I bought Low over Scary Monsters… initially, I might have had more incentive to explore Bowie’s back-catalogue. Both vinyl sides are strong for very different reasons, but as a whole, I find the album to be compelling listening.

Such a wonderful person
But you’ve got problems

It looks like my 30th year is going to be quite busy and active. I’ll return to blogging very soon, but in the meantime, why not have a listen to my playlist?

For the record, The Final Cut by Roger Waters/Pink Floyd is much better than I expected — it sounds like a compilation of the good (but not great) bits of The Wall with none of the bad bits, but slightly less theatrical. I’ll write more about this when I’m not half-asleep…

The CDs I was given for my birthday:

• Law and Order (1981) by Lindsey Buckingham
• H2O (1982) by Hall & Oates
• Long After Dark (1982) by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• The Final Cut (1983) by Pink Floyd
• Building the Perfect Beast (1984) by Don Henley

Expect reviews of each soon!

(Yes, I realise the vintage of these albums is predictable, but… I don’t really care.)

I bought the special edition of Kate Miller-Heidke’s debut LP Little Eve today, only one day after hearing the single “Words” here.

My first impression is quite favourable — I’ll maybe write a review either tomorrow or next week, after I’ve fully digested it. In any case, if there’s any justice in the world, Miller-Heidke will break into the international market.

Yeah, okay, she reminds me of Kate Bush a bit — just look at the promo image above! — but she’s unique enough to deserve attention.