"Recently Purchased" Thread

So far this year I've only gotten around to purchasing 2 new releases. Everything has been Spotify recently, just not enough disposable income right now to justify purchases.

I did however get ticket for Steven Wilson in June and Opeth in October, so at least some big live gigs are coming up.

All 3 albums by Nomad Son.

Picked up John Denver's Greatest Hits because it's one of the first musical experiences I can recall (from when I was around 2 or 3). I found it in the 5 dollar bin at Wal-Mart, and strangely enough, listening to it was like reuniting with an old friend. I almost felt like the CD was calling to me, haha, and I felt obligated to pick it up. I'm glad I did.

I've been on a tear recently. I have already bought more CDs in the first half of 2015 than I did in all of 2014. Please don't tell my wife.

Raven - ExtermiNation
Krokus - Original Album Classics set (3 albums - Metal Rendez-vous, Hardware, and One Vice at a Time, in LP replica cardboard sleeves housed in a neat little box)
Rolling Stones - Big Hits (High Tides and Green Grass)
Shotgun Messiah - s/t and Second Coming (Divebomb Recs. reissues)
The Cars - s/t
American Angel - EP '92

MoM, I happen to be a closet Denver fan to the point of knowing must of the hits for guitar and vocal and even going as far as modeling my voice off of his. In fact I usually sing Annie's Song, For Bobby, Jet Plane, Sad Song, This Old Guitar, Poems Prayers Promises, Back Home Again, Country Roads, or Lady for my youngest for bedtime (I sing "baby" instead of "lady" for obvious reasons). He's the reason I switched focus to acoustic guitar in my teens, the reason I started singing, and people may laugh but fuck em. Dude had talent.

In other news that Steven Wilson is album of the year. No contest.

I'd been getting into singer/songwriter and folk music for the past couple of years pretty heavily, so it only made sense for me to finally delve into John Denver seeing as his music was some of the first music to move me as a kid. And you're right, he's definitely a talented dude and a fantastic songwriter.

I could never get into John Denver for some reason but I do like singer/songwriter stuff. I had been singing Simon & Garfunkel tunes at work all last week.

A person's dislike of Denver is really understandable by myself; like James Taylor (surprisingly I'm not a fan) he can get pretty fluffy-saccharine and new age. He's also hit and miss with a tendency to repeat simple phrases and/or grab cheap rhymes--as much as I love Sad Song for its melodic and chordal strengths, the lyrics aren't very impressive, but it still boasts a melancholy vibe that catches on. Anyway, he's no Neil Young or Nick Drake. But at times he hits some strong dynamics and evokes a thematic mood--Back Home Again is a road standard for my job, Leaving on a Jet Plane as well, Country Roads has some wide-eyed imagery, Fly Away puts you right in a 70's-era L.A. condo, Matthew is a rich little biography, and Poems and Prayers and Promises is probably his best--it still leaves me in total reflection of my life. Some songs I absolutely hate--Looking for Space (blegh!), Calypso (too busy), and Dancing with the Mountains (poor ass attempt at disco)--but for the most part it's pleasant indulgence until Autograph. Everything after that album was pretty awful.

My favorite album of his, of course, has always been An Evening with John Denver.

I'll have to check that album out and one thing I like about singer/songwriters is their ability to evoke darkness. I love dark and melancholy stuff and yes it's that fluffy, saccharine vibe John Denver evokes that doesn't do it for me and I really tried liking him due to being a Colorado boy. I thought he'd reach me with songs about a place I know so well but reading your post has compelled me to at least listen to "An Evening With John Denver".

My Mom had a shit ton of John Denver's records when I was growing up...even the Christmas album he did with the Muppets!

Post-birthday purchasing tear continues:

Riot - Fire Down Under (2014 Varese Sarabande reissue)
Prong - Ruining Lives
Sweet & Lynch - Only To Rise

Whitesnake - The Purple Album

AC/DC - The Razors Edge

Thus ends my Post Birthday CD buying frenzy, cuz I used the last of the gift cards I received to buy these two.

Just got this gem and will listen to it later on:

James Gang-Live At Carnegie Hall (5/15/71)

Disc One - 46:37
1. Funk #49
2. Ashtonpark
3. Stop
4. You're Gonna Need Me
5. Take A Look Around
6. Tend My Garden
7. White Man, Black Man
8. Thanks
9. Garden Gate
10. Again
Disc Two - 46:30
1. The Ashes, The Rain, And I
2. Walk Away
3. Woman
4. Lost Woman
5. Johnny B. Goode
6. The Bomber
NOTE: *There is a slight glitch in Ashes, which is on the tape itself.

It's the FULL "Live In Concert" album.

I bought some random mid 90s alternative rock album at Goodwill; Veruca Salt - American Thighs. It's actually pretty solid.

I bought Nickel Creek's album Why Should the Fire Die? today on amazon for a penny. Their mandolin player, Chris Thile, is a fucking prodigy. He also plays in the Punch Brothers, who are worth listening to as well if you like progressive bluegrass.

I'm visiting family in Paducah, KY and the FYE down here had surprisingly nice selection. I picked up the new Alabama Shakes album for my girlfriend, and got myself Van Morrison's Astral Weeks for 5 bucks, and a Classic Albums blu-ray of Peter Gabriel's So and a copy of Gabriel's Live Blood on blu-ray as well.

Oh, and I ordered Secret World: Live by Peter Gabriel on amazon, too.

Not purchased, but I stopped by Ramsey Library on campus at UNCA today and checked out ten CDs. I got:

Moondog - Moondog (1956)
Charles Mingus - The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1956-1961
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color
Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Stephen Sondheim - Into the Woods
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra

I'm stoked to listen to them all.

COOL!

Yeah chew. I was like a kid in a candy store, haha. They've got a bunch of "world music" like afrojazz, classical, dustbowl blues, really old appalachian bluegrass recordings, and pretty much anything else you can think of. I'm gonna be in and out of there a lot.

Metal-On-Metal wrote:

Not purchased, but I stopped by Ramsey Library on campus at UNCA today and checked out ten CDs. I got:

Moondog - Moondog (1956)
Charles Mingus - The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1956-1961
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color
Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Stephen Sondheim - Into the Woods
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra

I'm stoked to listen to them all.

Lots of good stuff in that batch.

I'd only heard a couple of the albums beforehand (Head Hunters, Moondog, and a few of the Mingus albums), and I've really been digging the Wayne Shorter ones. While looking up information about him, I also discovered he did the sax solo on Aja by Steely Dan. Never would've guessed that was him, but I can totally hear it now.

On LP:
Ratt - Invasion of Your Privacy
Ronnie Montrose - Territory (I thought that this was a very cool find on vinyl)
Grant Green - The Main Attraction
Michael Shrieve & David Beal - The Big Picture



Stuff on the way on CD:
OPETH 2CD - Ghost Reveries ( CD + DVD ) EDITION ON DIJIPACK
Quist, Bill - Piano Solos of Erik Satie CD
Billy Oskay And Micheal O Domhnaill - Nightnoise CD

chewie wrote:

Ronnie Montrose - Territory (I thought that this was a very cool find on vinyl)

I dig Montrose's stuff but never heard that one, is it one of his instrumental albums?

Akeldama wrote:

chewie wrote:

Ronnie Montrose - Territory (I thought that this was a very cool find on vinyl)

I dig Montrose's stuff but never heard that one, is it one of his instrumental albums?

For the most part, but there are vocals on two songs.