Favorite Artists

[Commode]

Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger, and Suburban Legends play here tomorrow night at the NorVA.  I'm thinking about going.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I remember when the first two were still good before RBF went generic ska and Goldfinger went political. IIRC, RBF has no original members anymore except the lead singer. I can't even picture seeing them live without Scott, he was the only one on stage who said anything.

But, uh, you might have a good time. You should go.

[Avaitor]

This is a long read, but it answers everything about the whole Queensryche debacle and their declining quality and following over the years.

It's a really interesting read. And holy shit, are the Tates psychopaths.

[Nel_Annette]

Geoff Tate and Mike Portnoy fighting? Oh, that's a surprise. 

[Avaitor]

And Geoff just replied back.

In one of the comments from the previous article I linked to stated, this is the most interesting Queensryche has been in about 20 years.

[Nel_Annette]

Pretty much. It inspired me to buy a bunch of albums of theirs a few days ago to check out more of their stuff.

And I've been watching videos of the new guy singing. Holy shit. He's pretty much a Tate clone. It's awesome.

[Avaitor]

Jon Lord, the keyboardist of Deep Purple, just died.

A shame. He was a gifted keyboardist. Of course he was a part of MK II, which contains a lot of the songs most people recognize, but he was also in MK III, which is my personal favorite lineup of the band. It still had Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice, but it also added in what I think was the best addition in the band's history- the one-two punch of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

Regardless, it's a big loss.

[Spark Of Spirit]

RIP. Much respect to Deep Purple.

[Avaitor]

There's a lot of Pink Floyd elitism towards Syd Barrett, which I think is silly. He really wasn't that good, people.

[Foggle]

Just finished listening to Death Certificate all the way through. Forgot how utterly fantastic Ice Cube is. One of my favorite records of all time.

[Foggle]

I would like to talk for a minute about one of the greatest bands I've ever heard; one I, unfortunately, only recently discovered: The Fun Lovin' Criminals. Are they rock? Hip hop? Funk? Blues? Lounge? Yes. They combine all of those genres, and it is an utterly beautiful fusion. This is the kind of stuff you listen to when you feel bad, because it lifts your spirits. But it's even better if you're already in a great mood. The musicianship is godlike and their vocalist is one of the best.

Now let's discuss albums, songs, that jazz. They've put out 7 records, and they're all fantastic, outside of their most recent release, which - ironically - is entitled Classic Fantastic. Now, don't get me wrong, it's still a great album, but it feels like the magic is missing at times. We'll get to that in a bit.

So their first album is called Come Find Yourself, and it's a phenomenal debut. Every track is greatness, from opening twangy rock/rap track The Fun Lovin' Criminal - which serves as a cool theme song for the band - to the Tarantino film-sampling single Scooby Snacks - which actually attained a fair amount of popularity in the 90's. It's incredibly solid from beginning to end, but it has some true masterpieces scattered throughout. The Grave And The Constant forever cemented my undying love for these guys, helped along greatly by the one-two punch of I Can't Get With That and King Of New York. Later on, we get some slightly heavier tracks like Bear Hug (an alternate version of the even better Blues For Suckers) and Crime And Punishment, both of which I absolutely adore.

Their second release, 100% Colombian, is better in every way, and that's saying something. It's smoother and more musically accomplished, and the vibes it gives off are far more wonderful. Up On The Hill is lovely, and contains some fantastic sax. Back On The Block is one of my all-time favorite songs. We Are All Very Worried About You is chilled out and beautiful. All For Self is perfect funk rock. And Big Night Out is just loads of fun.

Next came Mimosa, which is pretty sweet for a collection of b-sides. Highlights include their cover of Couldn't Get It Right and the "Circa 1956" version of Bombin' The L, a track from Come Find Yourself. Really wish they did more songs like that second one, because I love it waaaay too much.

Their fourth record, Loco, is a bit odd in that the opener, Where The Bums Go, is fucking awful and (thankfully) sounds nothing like the rest of the album. On the whole, it's a lot faster-paced than their earlier work, but still every bit as classic and groovy. The undeniably cool Swashbucklin' In Brooklyn tells a fairly humorous tale of a guy beating up street punks while dressed as a pirate, and it works on every level. Bump is a super funky, very fun dance track. Microphone Fiend is an even better cover than Couldn't Get It Right, and There Was A Time is simply magnificent despite featuring none of Huey Morgan's suave vocals. My Sin is another great song, and probably the closest in style to their first releases on this CD.

Welcome To Poppy's took a while to grow on me, but eventually I came to love it. Too Hot and Take Me Back are as funky as it gets and seriously fantastic, but the rest of the album is more rock-oriented. And that's totally fine, since it made way for songs as amazing as Living On The Streets, Lost It All, and Running For Cover. The groove is still there, it's just a different kind of groove.

Then there's Livin' In The City. Outside of The Preacher and Will I Be Ready, the latter of which being another of my all-time favorite pieces of music, I just straight-up didn't like this album on first pass. But it really is phenomenal in spite of my initial impressions. Gave Up On God is easily their most powerful track, City Boy is some of the best "city music" I've heard, and Mi Corazon is undeniably infectious.

There was a five year gap between the previous album and their newest, Classic Fantastic. This is apparently because they weren't legally allowed to release music during that period for some reason. It's a decent piece overall, though not especially classic or fantastic. Unlike their past releases, this one is basically a party album, with varying degrees of success. It's definitely good and a lot of fun to listen to, but it feels kind of phoned-in at times, and the only real standouts are Mister Sun and Get Your Coat, the former of which being the lone track to truly approach the quality of their other records. They also put out a truly awesome cover of Right On For The Darkness around the same period of time, and it's much better than any of the tracks on the actual album IMO.

And that seems to be all she wrote for the FLC. From what I hear, Classic Fantastic will probably end up being their final release. Not exactly the best note to end on, but their discography is so amazing that it almost feels greedy to ask for more. I can only pray that I'm fortunate enough to see them live someday.

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HOLY SHIT THAT IS A LOT OF WRITING. I hope you guys enjoyed reading my sophomoric thoughts on what may, in fact, be my favorite band of all time (it's kind of a toss up between them and THD). Please let me know if you liked the music I posted, because I really want to introduce other people to their excellence.

[Avaitor]

I just saw this post. It's really sick, and now I gotta check out their stuff.

[Foggle]

Really hope you enjoy it, man. That post took me way too long to write!

[Avaitor]

So this cover exists

I'm on the fence about it right now. As muh as I love this band and their sound, I think I would have preferred a more traditional-sounding cover for the song. It's a little too out there for me, which I normally like. But here, I dunno.

[Commode]

I like it, they gave it more of a darker sound.  It kind of reminds me of VersaEmerge's cover of "Paint it Black", which is also has a darker sound.