Anekdoten- Gravity (2003)

I had higher hopes for Anekdoten before I heard this album.  Being a Swedish Prog./Psych/Art Rock group, I figured that they would blow me away; boy was I wrong.  I will say though that the music itself is actually pretty cool, but the vocals, oh man the vocals, suck ass.  I have always been turned off by vocals that seem to not go with the style being played musically, and Anekdoten is a perfect example of that.

Gravity, released in 2003, seems to have some awesome musicians playing, but the vocals are this indie-alternative type sound.  (I use Indie/Alternative in the most negative way for this review)  Honestly, they should have just done an instrumental release.  The music itself has lots of changes throughout the 8 tracks, but with these vocals, I still haven't made it through the 45 minutes worth of music.  If you took a really good modern prog. sound, mix in some cool space rockin' and then through in that off the wall European twist on avant garde music, then you'd have the music they play; but when you add in the 90's alternative rock type vocals, the music is ruined.  I understand that I can be way too harsh when critiquing vocal styles, but these vocals really do suck. 

With a different approach, I will say that there are probably lots of people who would enjoy this.  Anyone who is a fan of early David Bowie, or Jefferson Airplane or even the Grateful Dead or Genesis, will probably like this.  Me myself, I am not a fan of any those groups so take this review as you will.  I want to give props to the musicianship of this album, but like I have repeated throughout this review, the vocals totally kill it for me.  Get it if you want, but if you don't like it, then don't blame me.

Official score-2/5

King Crimson- Live At Summit Studios March 12, 1972 (2000)

I remember 2 of my old roommates introducing King Crimson to me, and I liked them from the first time I heard them; and my appreciation has grown throughout the years.  Years ago I had a chance to see them live, with the same 2 roommates that introduced them to me, but I didn't go; and I still kick myself for not going all these years later.

King Crimson is one of the premier Progressive Rock/Experimental Rock/ Jazz Fusion type bad asses that have graced the music world for the past 40+ years.  The first album that I was introduced to, as far as I can remember, was one of their earlier albums, Lark's Tongue in Aspic, and I was blown away.  I have always enjoyed King Crimson's multi-tempo style of music.  Each and every member is phenomenal on their instrument and they, as a whole and individually, have been influential in the progression of musicians and style of music being played/composed. 

Live At Summit Studios is one of my favorite King Crimson albums of all time.  Recorded live in 1972, in Denver Colorado, these 8 tracks that have a play time of over 70 minutes of sheer live raw early awesomeness.  Jazz meets progressive rock meets highly skilled improvisation.  This is a great King Crimson line up and as you listen to the album, you can tell the live audience is not disappointed in anything they get to hear.  Straight up head nodding rockin' with improvisation, on all instruments, that will make you say "WOW" out loud and make other people wonder what your thinking.  Each track builds on an improv then leads to the song or vise versa; one of the best examples of early progressive rock there is.

I would recommend this album to any/everyone that is a music fan. Whether you like standardly built songs, improv, jazz, early prog rock- this is a quintessential album for everyone's collection.

Official score-4.5/5

The Legendary Pink Dots- The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse (1990)

The Legendary Pink Dots are just that, legendary, but honestly, I have never been a big fan.  The LPD has produced some really cool stuff, and without hearing all of their albums, my opinion is based off of what I have heard.

The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse is an album from 1990, that has some pretty decent psychedelic/goth/progressive rock; if you're into that combination of genres.  This album, 12 tracks and a little over an hour long, pretty much comes in under the radar.  I am not a fan of goth rock, and the majority of the vocals on this album have a strong early goth rock style to it; think Christian Death.  I picked this album to listen to, in order to review, because I do have a digital copy of an old 7-inch split they did some time ago, that was bad ass; but after I heard this, I was not impressed.  I will say though, this album does have some absolutely wonderful experimental/early-industrial sounding rhythms that comprise most tracks.  After each song all I could think was that if they didn't sing, this album would be pretty good.  The LPD do a great job composing these experimental rhythms and you can tell they took their time in order to find the exact sound they wanted to comprise their "drum" track; but that's it.  I was not impressed with the album as a whole; only 4 of the songs do I actually like the music that is being played, and none of the vocals in the album grabbed me. 

I don't want to say that The LPD are a crappy band, because they're not, but their music only speaks to a certain audience, and unfortunately I am not from that crowd.  If your not a fan of Goth Rock or 80's-ish Industrial, then you might not need to seek out anything from The LPD, but if you do like that, you'll probably enjoy.

Official Score- 1.75/5
(I sat here trying to figure out how to rate this, I really liked the rhythms and experimental sounds and contemplated rating it a 2/5, but since I will never listen to this again, figured that 2/5 was just a little too high.)