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David Meadows Profile
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

Registered: 09-2003
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Re: My personal album chart


quote:

Big J wrote:

quote:

David Meadows wrote:

Terraplane - Black and White (1985)

Album score: 33.9%

While you can see glimmerings of the great band they would become, this effort from proto-Thunder is pretty basic 80s' rock. Gets into my top 20 only because I haven't reviewed 20 albums yet ;-)





Black and White would have been a great album but it's too long and over produced. I Survive is an excellent song but too many 80s production tricks hamper it.




Yes, I think that's a fair assessment. I think it's the sound of the album that puts me off more than anything, the songwriting was actually pretty strong.



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"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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David Meadows Profile
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


According to the plan I should be reviewing Them Crooked Vultures now, but there's a Mostly Autumn concert next weekend so that's all I'm going to be listening to for a while.

When I discovered Mostly Autumn 13 years ago, I told everyone who would listen (and if they didn't listen, I just shouted louder) that here was the best new band for decades. Let's see how that claim holds up to a rigorous examination of their debut album...

Mostly Autumn - For All We Shared (1998)

1 Nowhere to Hide (Close my Eyes) ***
2 Porcupine Rain ***
3 The Last Climb ****
4 Heroes Never Die *****
5 Folklore ****
6 Boundless Ocean ***
7 Shenanigans ****
8 Steal Away ***
9 Out of the Inn ****
10 The Night Sky ****

Album score: 70.8%

Well, it's not a perfect album. There are definitely some weaker songs on there. But that's still a higher average score than anything I've rated since Rainbow. So the claim seems to be holding up. Best new band since 1975. And their best is yet to come...




---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
16/6/2013, 19:37 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Mostly Autumn - The Spirit of Autumn Past (1999)

1 Winter Mountain ****
2 This Great Blue Pearl ****
3 Pieces of Love ****
4 Please ***
5 Evergreen *****
6 Styhead Tarn ****
7 Shindig ****
8 Blakey Ridge / When Waters Meet ****
9 Underneath the Ice ****
10 Through the Window ***
11 The Spirit of Autumn Past (Part I) ****
12 The Spirit of Autumn Past (Part II) ****
13 The Gap is Too Wide *****

Album score: 76.8%

The "difficult second album"? Nope. More of the same, but better. Onwards and upwards...



---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
17/6/2013, 19:47 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Mostly Autumn - The Last Bright Light (2000)

1 ...Just Moving On ****
2 We Come and We Go ****
3 Half the Mountain ****
4 The Eyes of the Forest ****
5 The Dark Before the Dawn ****
6 Hollow ****
7 Prints in the Stone ****
8 The Last Bright Light *****
9 Never the Rainbow ****
10 Shrinking Violet *****
11 Helms Deep ****
12 Which Wood? *****
13 Mother Nature *****

Album score: 83.9%

This was the album that made me fall in love with Mostly Autumn. I have nothing else to add.

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"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
20/6/2013, 20:14 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Mostly Autumn - The Story So Far... (2001)

1 Porcupine Rain ***
2 Nowhere to Hide ****
3 Evergreen *****
4 The Spirit of Autumn Past ****
5 Heroes Never Die *****
6 The Night Sky *****
7 Dark Before the Dawn ****
8 Shrinking Violet *****
9 Never the Rainbow ****
10 Mother Nature *****

Album score: 87.5%

It's hard to be objective about a live album from a concert I was at, when I can still remember every moment of it.

But the whole point of this is that these are my personal rankings, and this recording will always be special to me personally (even if their later live recordings were technically more polished). So I'm quite comfortable giving it a near-perfect score.



And so here's the first major shake-up in my top 5:

1. Rainbow - Live in Germany 1976
2. Mostly Autumn - The Story So Far...
3. Rainbow - Rising
4. Mostly Autumn - The Last Bright Light
5. Rainbow - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

That all feels right. I think I could rank another 50 albums and not see that change much.





---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
20/6/2013, 20:29 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Mostly Autumn - Music Inspired by the Lord of the Rings (2001)

1 Overture - Forge of Sauron ****
2 Greenwood the Great ****
3 Goodbye Alone *****
4 Out of the Inn *****
5 On the Wings of Gwaihir ***
6 At Last to Rivendell ****
7 Journey's Thought ***
8 Caradhras the Cruel ***
9 The Riders of Rohan ****
10 Lothlorien ****
11 The Return of the King ***
12 To the Grey Havens ***

Album score: 68.8%

It's a shame this album tends to get overlooked because it as some great songs on it. It's uneven, but it's not bad by a long shot.

Ok, that's it for Mostly Autumn for a while. Next: Blackmore's Night.




---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
21/6/2013, 19:35 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Blackmore's Night - Shadow of the Moon (1997)

1 Shadow of the Moon ****
2 The Clock Ticks On ****
3 Be Mine Tonight ***
4 Play Minstrel Play ****
5 Ocean Gypsy ***
6 Minstrell Hall ****
7 Magical World ****
8 Writing on the Wall ***
9 Renaissance Faire ****
10 Memmingen ***
11 No Second Chance ***
12 Mond Tanz ****
13 Spirit of the Sea ****
14 Greensleeves ***
15 Wish You Were Here ****

Album score: 65%

When this came out I loved it's fresh approach and would probably have put it as a solid 4 star (75%) album. The freshness has worn off a little with time, I think. Still a respectable score, though.



---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Ok, I've been all over the place with this but I've got a month free of gigs now so I'll try to get back on track. Might as well continue on the "B" shelf as I've just done Blackmore's Night.


Bone Machine - Search and Destroy (1996)

1 Think of You *
2 Life and Times **
3 Missing You **
4 Mrs. Frankenstein *
5 See the Light *
6 Believe in your Heart **
7 Don't Mean !@#$ *
8 Feel It (Bootleg Version) *
9 See the Light (Studio Version) **

Album score: 11.1%

Average American stadium rock played by average musicians, made worse as it's a live album and they're not terribly good live. I suppose it's ok if you like that kind of thing, but this is currently sitting at the bottom of my chart.

The good thing about that is that Eric Roche is no longer in last place. Eric was too good a musician to deserve that so now I feel much better about it. The bottom of the chart looks like this:

19 Det dansende par - Kirstine Sand 50.0
20 Windows to the World - Stuart Smith 39.6
21 Black and White - Terraplane 33.9
22 The Perculator - Eric Roche 29.2
23 Search and Destroy - Bone Machine 11.1






---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
7/7/2013, 19:09 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
David Meadows Profile
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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

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Re: My personal album chart


Track 7 doesn't have five stars, it's got one star but I think the profanity filter tunred !@#$ into stars emoticon

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"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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Big J Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 09-2003
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Re: My personal album chart


quote:

David Meadows wrote:

Bone Machine - Search and Destroy (1996)

Average American stadium rock played by average musicians, made worse as it's a live album and they're not terribly good live.




Errr, why did you buy it? emoticon



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Video clips from various gigs -> http://youtube.com/weissheim
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