Tag: Music

The Best Album Of All Times – Number 4

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, English, Music6 Comments

The Best Album Of All Times – Number 4: Sixx A.M. – The Heroin Diaries (2007)

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This is not an album, this is not poetry, this is not a story. This is all of them combined together in an amazing soundtrack, written as the music to the book with the same name, The Heroin Diaries. An album that describes the life as a Heroin addict.

All the tracks on the album represents one month of Nikki Sixx life in the period from December 1986 to December 1987, which truly shows in the lyrics, and was written after Nikki Sixx had done in total six drug overdoses.

Sixx A.M; as Sixx from Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba (currently Gun’s and Roses) and James Michael has put together an epic album with Heroine Diaries. An album that may grow in popularity over the years, and an album that I think is absolutely one of the best albums ever. If the album would’ve been released back in the days when records were solely sold as complete albums, this would’ve been one of the really big ones!

The Music could be described as Musical-inspired Hard Rock.

It’s one of those albums that’s hard to listen to, just track by track. Instead it’s a complete history with all parts of a hard, struggling life well described; happiness, sadness, hope, failing, anxiety…

If the schools should use music as drug awareness, this album would be the best pick.

In my opinion Nikki Sixx is amazing at writing lyrics, and before we’re digging in to the lyrics of Heroin Diaries, I must share these rows from the track “Oh My God”, on the following album “This is Gonna Hurt”

And we sit in our highrise apartments and complain about things that don’t matter,

And we race through this life just to see who can die with as much as we can gather,

And a few blocks away a teenage mother plays Russian Roulette with her daughter,

Is this the best that we can do, is this the best that we can do.

Back to Heroin Diaries:

To fully understand the lyrics, it might be good to know some “drug slang”

blue – Crack Cocaine; depressants; OxyContin

ex – ecstasy

golden eye / Persian – Heroin

My own thoughts about the album, combined with small parts of the lyrics

As I previously wrote, all the tracks on the album represents one month of Nikki Sixx life in the period from December 1986 to December 1987, which also is described on the first track, X-Mas In Hell:

December 25th, 1986 – Van Nuys.

Merry Christmas,

That’s what people say at Christmas, right?

Except normally they have someone to say it to.

They have friends and family,

And they haven’t been crouched naked under a Christmas tree

with a needle in their arm like an insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys.

They’re not out of their minds, they’re not writing in a diary,

And they’re definitely not watching their holiday spirit coagulate in a spoon.

I didn’t speak to a single person today.

I figured why should I ruin their fucking Christmas.

I’ve started a new diary and this time I have a few new reasons.

One, I have no friends left.

Two, so I can read back and remember what I did the day before.

And three, so if I die, at least I leave a nice little suicide note of my life.

If you’re wondering about Van Nuys when you listen to this track, it’s a popular place in California where many celebrities have lived/lives. Link

Van Nuys is also the title of the next track. In this track there seems to be a fragment of fighting spirit starting to grow. Even though it’s still very melancholic.

I don’t want to die out here in the valley

You don’t have to lie, I know that’s what I’ll do

I don’t want my mom to know

That I never loved my life and I sold my soul

Third track, Life Is Beautiful the anxiety over dying and the reflection of life’s beauty is starting to grow, and I guess due to an eye-opener while visiting someone else’s funeral (I will check this while reading the book which I think is a must to fully understand it all and to be able to question comments on the internet).  The music on this track is a little more on the hard side Listen especially to the guitars and arrangements.

Alive

just open your eyes, just open your eyes

And you see that life is beautiful

Will you swear on your life

That no one will cry at my funeral?

Pray for me; the searching for help have started. The anxiety is evident.

Cross your heart and hope

That I won’t die before the best day of my life

Just pray for me tonight

Tomorrow. A sign that the hope has started to grow. The thoughts are more around future plans, a commitment to choose life, and accept what’s been said and done. First track where Nikki Sixx is starting to use words about the future.

Tomorrow we’re gonna have to live with the thing you say

Tomorrow we’ll have to cross bridges that you burn today

Tomorrow everything you do is coming back for you

You’ll never outrun what waits for you tomorrow

The track “Accidents can happen” is a beautiful track about when you slip, and about accepting that we all do make mistakes, and it’s fine that we make them. One of the tracks on this album that works really well by it’s own.

And you know that accidents can happen

And it’s okay, we all fall off the wagon sometimes

It’s not your whole life, it’s only one day

You haven’t thrown everything away

Intermission; the pause

When I first placed my hands

On these diaries, scraps of paper

There were notes and scribbles

And all kinds of shit

A lot of feelings came bubbling up

But mostly this one

‘How the hell am I still alive?’

Dead Man’s ballet is true death anxiety and the question why God have deserted him

Oh God, how could you have let this

Happened to such a lovely young child?

I was their only son and I tried, tried, tried

Heart failure; a track about what it’s like to take drugs, and be a drug addict. For those of you that have followed this series of posts, Mötley Crüe was at place 14. In that post I wrote “Nikki Six was in an academic way dead for two minutes before found by Slash in his hotel room 1987, and the injected with adrenalin in the heart and survived. This was actually the background for the track “Kickstart my heart” on the Dr Feelgood album.”

If I could have a guess, and it isn’t far-fetched, I guess that this song is from that time.

Like I was saying

To look into the eyes of death was intoxicating

Taking it into our lungs, laughing at ourselves

Where a loser’ll probably cry

And more importantly, had probably just died

Since all the tracks reflects one month of his live 1986/1987, the lyrics Heart Failure, Girl With Golden Eyes, Courtesy Call and Permission are closely linked together.

While Heart failure is describing the consequences, Girl with golden eyes is about being in love with Heroin, and how he struggles to get rid of “her”. True signs of hope are starting to show, and the music composition is absolutely beautiful! For those that don’t know what this album is all about this track may pass by as any other love song. Courtesy call is about preparing for the next step, being without drugs…

This is just a courtesy call

This is just a matter of policy

This is just an act of kindness

To let you know that your time is up, up

Permission: He has reached the goal. He’s free, and has to start taking care of what have been, and live a new life, fight against being caught again and just focus.

The album ends with the track “Life After Death”.

So here we are at the end,

And at the same time we’re at the beginning

Of this misadventure.

Why I had to go down a dead end street

At two hundred miles an hour

Screaming for vengeance and embracing death,

That’s still something I’m trying to figure out.

You know a part of me thinks this is some big master plan

To expose the raw nerve endings of dysfunction so I can heal.

But you know addicts, we think everything’s about us, don’t we?

Man it got so convoluted, polluted, and distorted

I ran with the only information I was given

I turned it into my armour, my defence mechanism,

And my weapon of self destruction.

Yeah, I had a fucked up childhood. And I was a troubled teen.

Those are facts.

How I got there? That’s a story told by many voices.

It’s not my job to blame anybody anymore,

I just need to accept the path I was given.

This is, without a doubt,

My life after death.

When I first started making this list. This was one of the albums I really looked forward to penetrate. To have time to really dig into it, and understand it.

I hope you like it as much as I do, and after all. This is not an album, this is not poetry, this is not a story. This is all of them combined together in an amazing soundtrack

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Attachments:

interviews with Lead Vocalist James Michael

Interview with Nikki Sixx about his book Heroin Diaries

Full Album (YouTube playlist):

Spotify playlist

Best Album Of All Times – Number 5

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© Pedro Hansson - The Reason - Own interpretation of the title - Gläntan, Piteå
© Pedro Hansson – The Reason – Own interpretation of the title – Gläntan, Piteå

Best Album Of All Times – Number 5: Hoobastank – The Reason

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Whenever I discuss music with friends and acquaintances about Best Album Ever, this comes up as one of those that should be on the list. With no big dips, and an album that shifts in tempo but still keeps it together as an album. Awesome.

The sound is on the more modern hard-rock style like Tool and Alice in Chains, but I think there’s also some similarities with Green Day, and even though I’m not a big fan of Green Day, I really like their sound. Easy Accessible Modern Hard Rock. This is not an album that will keep you occupied in analyzing the lyrics, and try to think about every single word, or note for that matter. But it’s really good in it’s simplicity and youthfulness.

So why the name Hoobastank and how did they end up together? I found this print-out from an interview where this was discussed:

Purcell: Let me start off with the obvious question, where did the name “Hoobastank” originate?

Lappalainen: Hoobastank was an inside joke between us and now we think there’s no real meaning of it. It’s like Jamiroqui. What is Jamiroqui? What does Jamiroqui mean? We have different interpretations of it. One definition is an ice-skating term for when you try to do a triple axle and fall on your butt. That’s Hoobastank. I heard a couple of kids on ESPN say that it’s two monkeys having sex. It’s up to your own interpretation.

Purcell: Why was the spelling of Hoobastank changed? I noticed it used to be HoobUstank and now it’s HoobAstank. What’s the deal with that?

Lappalainen: The whole thing with the “u” to the “a” was we just kept getting “Hoo-Boo-Stank” and there were totally different spellings of our name. It made it a whole lot easier with HoobAstank.

Purcell: That’s pretty interesting. Where’d you guys meet?

Lappalainen: Dan and I we met in ’92 and we used to be in a band called Idiosyncratic. Then Dan and I went our separate ways. When I left, Dan and Doug got together and started writing music. Then one day I saw Dan’s number in the paper and I called up and said “Hey Dan, what’s going on?” He was like “Ah nothing,” so they both came over to my house. Dan and Doug showed me some of their stuff. I thought “wow this is actually kind of cool.” I showed them my stuff and Dan and I just started clicking again. We found Chris a couple months later in a recycler (a newspaper for musicians). Three months later, Hoobastank was formed.

Source: http://hoobastank.no.sapo.pt/interviews/hoobustank-fan-source.txt

The band (at the year of this album):

Doug Robb – vocals

Dan Estrin – guitar

Markku Lappalainen – bass

Chris Hesse – drums

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Best Album Of All Times – Number 6

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Best Album Of All Times – Number 6: Jellyfish – Bellybutton (1990)

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Ok, so we’re getting close to the absolute top! On 6:th place I’ve put an album that, at the time when it hit the market, sounded like nothing else! This was the time when the grunge had hit the market massively, and the audience weren’t looking for a new amazing pop act.

Influences from Beatles, Queen, pop, folk lore… the list goes on, but still a pop-album. This is an album that sounds like anything else.

So, who are Jellyfish? The band members:

Andy Sturmer – Drums / Vocals / Guitar / Keyboards

Roger Manning Jr – Harpsichord / Keyboards / Piano / Vocals / Backing Vocals

Jason Falkner – Bass / Guitar / Vocals

Even though the band has received some amazing reviews from the critics over the years, they’ve never been a big hit in the wider streams or commercially. But my feeling is that the few that have discovered the album, are all true fans. Even the later Split Milk, which sounds like a true continuation of Bellybutton is a must-hear.

What I really like with every album that’s left on this list, is that they are well kept together. Every song has it’s place, and everything is well collected. This also goes for this amazing album, Bellybutton by Jellyfish.

So, if you haven’t heard them yet (which the most people haven’t) you should check them out, straight away.

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Best Album Of All Times – Number 7

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, English, iPhone-Photography - What I see through my iPhone lens, iPhonepics, Photography3 Comments
@ Pedro Hansson - Joshua Tree - Ulriksdal Solna
© Pedro Hansson – Joshua Tree – Ulriksdal Solna in spring time – iPhone Photography

Best Album Of All Times – Number 7: U2 – Joshua Tree

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Joshua Tree (album of the year 1987) was the first album where I really discovered this supergroup, U2. Many U2-hardcorefans holds their third album – War – higher than this, the fifth – Joshua Tree, but I count this as the best. U2, formed in 1976 was named after a word game with “You Too” as well as the name of a U.S spy aircraft. The name was first not liked by Bono, but slowly accepted.

Musically U2 has its roots in post-punk, but later incorporated more popular music and with this album many other influences (more about that later).

For me U2 is all about a clean crisp sound, but most of all, a clean crisp sound that’s absolute unique. With “The Edge” (David Evans) on guitar, Adam Clayton on his solid base, Larry Mullens drive on the drums, and of course Bono’s (Paul Hewson) voice. Things can’t be much better, and more unique.

During this “Best Album Of All Times”-trip I’ve read quite a lot about the artists, and each album. What I found fascinating with this particular album was that U2, before this album described themselves as root less. Roots that they searched before making this album.

Realising that “U2 had no tradition” and that their knowledge of music from before their childhood was limited, the group delved into American and Irish roots music. Friendships with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards motivated the band to explore blues, folk, and gospel music and focused Bono on his skills as a songwriter and lyricist. U2 interrupted the album sessions in mid-1986 to serve as a headline act on Amnesty International’s A Conspiracy of Hope tour. Rather than being a distraction, the tour added extra intensity and focus to their new material. Later that year, Bono travelled to San Salvador and Nicaragua and saw first-hand the distress of peasants bullied in internal conflicts that were subject to US political intervention. The experience became a central influence on the new music.

Source: Wikipedia

The search for roots is also  described in this interview with The Edge, and the live recordings with the Gospel Choir; for the song With Or Without You (watch video down below)

After releasing the “Joshua Tree” album U2 quickly got two number one singles in U.S: “With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m looking For”. Two epic songs at the time, and still is. The tour after the album Joshua Tree was portrayed in the movie “Rattle and Hum”.

What I truly enjoy with U2 (and many of the best bands) is their strive for perfection, and at the same time passion and honesty for what their music/work is about. I’ve always believed that there are no shortcuts for success. It’s all about hard work, and I think that U2 truly reflects that opinion. I hope you like this album as much as I do.

Rare clip with U2 and Bruce Springsteen – Still Haven’t Found What I Was Looking For

Full album

Interview with U2, 1987


For more parts, click the You-tube link

Best Album Of All Times – Number 8

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Best Album Of All Times – Number 8: Babyface – Babyface Unplugged NYC 1997

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Carole King, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Faith Evans, Al Green, Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Sheena Easton, Toni Braxton, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, Paula Abdul,Eric Clipton, Pebbles, Tevin Campbell, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Tamia, Shola Ama, 3T, Sisqó, Dru Hill, Fall Out Boy, Céline Dion, Honeyz, Katharine McPhee, Mariah Carey, Vanessa L. Williams, Chanté Moore, En Vogue, Kenny G, Kristinia DeBarge, Lil Wayne, Japanese singer Ken Hirai, P!nk, Marc Nelson, TLC, and Phil Collins among others.

That’s not a bad list of experiences for a producer/song writer, and it’s only a part of the “legacy list” of Kenneth Brian “Babyface” Edmonds.

My first experience with Babyface came the first day when I spent some time in New York back in 1997. On the first day of the trip I bought  this CD “Babyface Unplugged NYC 1997” in the largest record store . It was love at first listening. An album that’s so impressive, from start to finish, with a musician line-up that’s absolute top class.

This album is like the finest bottle of red wine. The subtle tones, the power, the different flowers… they are all there.

What I really enjoy with this album is the atmosphere that he manage to set through all the tracks. The small talk between some of the tracks is also a great way to create that special atmosphere.

<- Back to number 9

Best Album Of All Times – Number 10

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© Pedro Hansson - Red Eden - Piteå in summer time
© Pedro Hansson – Personal interpretation of Red Eden – Photo taken in Piteå, summer time

Best Album Of All Times – Number 10: Sara Isaksson – Red Eden

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So, we’re getting close to the top. So far we’ve covered places 40-11, and it’s time to enter top 10. It’s almost impossible to compare the albums so close to the top but I’ll give it a go.

So, this will be an outsider. But an awesome outsider…

First out, in the top 10:s is the album Red Eden, by Sara Isaksson.

If Stephen Simmonds is a well-kept secret internationally in the category male singers, Sara Isaksson is almost an even more kept secret in the female singers category.

The album Red Eden is a quite low-key album where Sara:s incredible voice truly has the ability to shine. This will never be the album to listen to before a night out on town, but a great album to listen to when you get back home.

I guess in some sense it’s an album for musicians, but on the other hand it’s just an easy listening country, singer/song-writer album put together for everyone.

I couldn’t find any YouTube tracks from this particular album so I settle with the Spotify playlist.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

<- Back to number 11

Best Album Of All Times – Number 11

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The album cover – that was all black due to the mourning of late Bon Scott.

Best Album Of All Times – Number 11: AC/DC – Back In Black

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Who could believe that a group, named after Malcolm and Angus sister Margaret had seen the initials AC/DC on a sewing machine, would be one of biggest groups in history? (in Australia they are commonly called Acca Dacca”)

When I started to arrange this top 40-list, it was obvious that AC/DC would end up on the list. A band that have pretty much gone their own way over time, and for instance never have produced a commercially ballad like many other Heavy Metal bands. AC/DC always stays true to their concept, straight on, pub-rock inspired heavy metal, with guitar, bass, drums and vocals.

In my opinion this is their best album (so far?); Back in Black. With over 40-50 million (both figures can be found on internet) records sold this is the second, or fourth most sold album in history (depending on source).

Back in Black was the first album with Brian Johnson on vocals, after the tragic death of Bon Scott (after a tragic night of severe drinking 1980). It’s been said that the band was about to quit at the time, but Bon Scott’s family wanted them to continue.

Various candidates were considered for his replacement, including: Buzz Shearman, ex-Moxy member, who was not able to join because of voice problems, ex-Back Street Crawler vocalist Terry Slesser and then Slade vocalist, Noddy Holder. The remaining AC/DC members finally decided on ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson.

Angus Young later recalled, “I remember the first time I had ever heard Brian’s (Johnson) name was from Bon. Bon had mentioned that he had been in England once touring with a band and he had mentioned that Brian had been in a band called Geordie and Bon had said ‘Brian Johnson, he was a great rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard.’ And that was Bon’s big idol, Little Richard. I think when he saw Brian at that time, to Bon it was ‘Well he’s a guy that knows what rock and roll is all about.’ He mentioned that to us in Australia. I suppose when we decided to continue, Brian was the first name that Malcolm and myself came up with, so we said we should see if we can find him.” For the audition, Johnson sang “Whole Lotta Rosie” from Let There Be Rock and Ike & Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits”. He was hired a few days after the audition.

The album was named Back in black as a sign of mourning, and respect to the late Bon Scott.

Source: Wikipedia and AC/DC fan page

<- Back to number 12

AC/DC Documentary from 1979

AC/DC live at River Plate – Full Concert (HD 1080p)
“We don’t speak very good spanish, but we speak rock n’ roll”

Best Album Of All Times – Number 12

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Unknown source

Best Album Of All Times – Number 12: Michael Jackson – Bad

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This may be the greatest artist that have ever lived, and this album is for sure one of the best albums ever. It’s really impressive to follow the making of the album in the Youtube-clip (attached later in this post). All the details, all the thoughts and Michael Jackson’s amazing touch for everything, together with Quincy Jones as a producer. An unstoppable team.

What was interesting at this time in music history, was the importance of music videos. This may be one of the albums with the most music videos produced from it.

Five of the tracks from the made it to number one in U.S.

  • I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
  • Bad
  • The Way You Make Me Feel
  • Man In The Mirror
  • Dirty Diana (don’t miss out the amazing guitar play on this one)

I will not go into details for every song in this post, since it’s so well described in the documentary. Don’t miss that one, if you haven’t seen it before.

<- Back to number 13                                                                            Continue to number 11 ->

Michael Jackson – Bad, full album

Best album of all times – Number 13

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© Pedro Hansson - Stockholm in Gold
© Pedro Hansson – Stockholm in Black (-nuss), Blue and Gold – Nikon D7000

Best album of all times – Number 13: Blacknuss – Gold (2004)

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Oh, now things are heating up. Thirteen albums left, and I think every one of them are totally awesome. At 13:th place I’ve placed an album, that I think I’ve said in every post, could/would’ve been placed higher up. This album is one of those that I return to every now and then, in short a real goldie, literally; the album Gold from the Swedish Music Collective, Blacknuss.

Blacknuss plays a combination of RnB, Soul and Jazz in a great mix, and among the musicians you find many of the Swedish elite. Only one person have played on all albums, the drummer Martin Jonsson.

I’ve been fortunate to watch Blacknuss live at Mosebacke in Stockholm, and when it comes to rhythmic experiences, and “people just can’t be standing still”-experiences, that’s still my nr. 1.

It’s hard to point out some favorites, since all tracks has its place on this awesome album, but if I should try, you shouldn’t miss Thinking Of You, Rising To The Top (with the amazing Lisa Nilsson on vocals), Dinah, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, It Should Have Been You… or… just listen to the album. This is one of those albums, that after a few plays will stay in your library forever and really hasn’t any big weaknesses.

<- Back to number 14


Best album of all times – Number 14

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© Pedro Hansson - Helter Skelter - Anchor Bar Stockholm
© Pedro Hansson – Helter Skelter – Anchor Bar Stockholm

Best album of all times – Number 14: Mötley Crüe – Shout at the Devil

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Nikki Sixx (Frank Ferrana), Vince Neil (Vince Neil Warton), Mick Mars (Robert Allen Bippus) and Tomme Lee (Tomme Lee Bass) may be the band that have lived the rock’n roll life to its absolute maximum. Success, fame, glam, women and party on one hand. Drugs, jail, trash, crash, burn and even dead band members. Nikki Six was in an academic way dead for two minutes before found by Slash in his hotel room 1987, and the injected with adrenalin in the heart and survived. This was actually the background for the track “Kickstart my heart” on the Dr Feelgood album.

Back to the album. This is after all a “Best album of all times”-list. Shout at Devil was released in 1983 and was Mötley Crües biggest hit at the time. The sound, with its roots in Blues, and old school rock n’ roll, played on speed became part of the beginning of a new era in the hard rock / heavy metal scene;  Glam rock.

Many parents in Sweden were really afraid of Mötley Crüe and other bands at the time (especially W.A.S.P), and even Swedish Television arranged a talk show around this matter (Swedish), and even though Nikki Sixx tried his best to explain the lyrics in a more down to earth way, the parents hated the album, which always is a good reason for the teenagers to do the opposite. “What a crock of shit! There was nothing demonic about Shout at the Devil. All we were saying was that everyone should stand up and shout at those people who are holding them down, whether it’s their parents, their teachers, or their bosses.” Nikki Sixx (source: nikkisixx.tv).

The highlights on the record, except for the title track is, in my mind “Looks that kill”, “Helter Skelter” (Beatles Cover) and “Too young to fall in love”.

I really like the full sound of Mötley Crüe at this stage in their career, with the crisp guitar, the always amazing drums, Nikki Sixx (as the most frequent writer of the tracks) bass lines and of course the falsetto voice of Vince Neil.

Some other facts:

  • Nikki Six played with Slash and Izzy Stradlin (later part of Gun’s n Roses) before forming Mötley Crüe
  • Vince Neil appeared in the MTV-show “The remake of Vince Neil” which was aimed at getting Vince Neil back in form after years of food abuse
  • While Vince Neil was out of Mötley Crüe, John Corabi took his place. Here’s a track with Johan, and a cover of Gun’s n roses Patience 

If you wan’t to discover more from Mötley Crüe, try out these tracks:

<- Back to number 15

Full album:

Best album of all times – Number 15

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© Pedro Hansson - Viva La Vida Loca, featuring Kenneth
© Pedro Hansson – Viva La Vida Loca; featuring a close friend – Swedish Archipelago

Best album of all times – Number 15: Coldplay – Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

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11:th of June 2008, Coldplay released the Brian Eno produced album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”. For me, this album was the first time I really started to enjoy Coldplay. As often when I come across new artists it takes a little while to get used to the sound, the atmosphere and of course the lyrics. What really makes this album complete, is the fulfillment of all those categories.

In short, the album covers the aspects of life, death, war and love. Not the typical “easy going topics”, to say the least.

The album starts off with Life in Technicolor, which is a long intro to the rest of the album. In my opinion this intro works perfectly as an atmosphere leveler.

Cemeteries of London; a typical track about the topics of the album, was recorded in a Barcelona church, and if you listen closely you can hear some spanish “clapping” in the song, while “Bass player Guy Berryman told Entertainment Weekly: When I imagine the song in my head, I see London in 1850. A hell of a lot of rain and men in top hats.” (reference Entertainment Weekly)

Lost! is really well described by “Floridaguy” on song meanings:

This was one of the first songs Coldplay worked on for the record. The band were originally inspired by the song “Sing” by Blur, which they were listening to in their dressing room before performing in a gig in Detroit. They tried to write a song like it and it ended up evolving in various ways with lots of different versions before the final recorded rendering. Chris Martin explained to MTV News: “That’s often how we write, is we listen to something and we think it’s incredible, and we feel stupid for not having anything as good as that, so we go and try to play it. And then, of course, because we don’t know how to do that, we often come up with something new.”

42 is a quite melancholic track with many of the big life questions asked. So far in this review I’ve kept much focus on the lyrics, but the album musically is really amazing. What’s different with this track is that it doesn’t contain a chorus. Instead it’s divided into three parts.

Lovers in Japan. When asked about the development of the song, during a track-by-track reveal, drummer Will Champion said:

We were in a studio in New York, this place called the Magic Shop, and it had this thing called a tack piano there, which sounds like an old honky-tonk piano, where you put little tacks in the hammers, so it sounds like more of a harpsichord almost. And so we wanted to use that kind of sound, but we didn’t have a tack piano, so rather than sample it, we went and bought an old piano from the shop up the road from our studio, and we bought a load of tacks, and me and Guy and Jon spent a couple of hours pushing tacks into the piano hammers. (Source Wikipedia)

Yes: As many of the tracks on this album, this track also have it’s completely own identity. The vocals by Chris Martin are really low.

Viva La Vida is the big top hit from this album reaching the top in both the UK singles chars as  Billboard Hot 100. I guess almost everyone who reads this blog at least have heard the typical strings intro. The lyrics carry many biblical references but seems to be more aimed at the conflict between people and government, and especially around war.

Violet Hill. Also a track about a soldier going into battle. The first rows in the lyrics are truly amazing, and gives the rest of the track its atmosphere.

Was a long and dark December

From the rooftops I remember

There was snow

White snow

I really like the contrast in this song (which I may write about almost all the tracks on this album)

Strawberry Swing is a low-key track with african drums, a guitar melody that almost runs throughout the track as a thread.

The last track, Death And All His Friends somehow share some identity with the Swedish pop band Kent.

In the later part of the track the summarize the album beautifully with the sound of “Life in Technicolor”

As I think I’ve written in all my posts, this album should’ve ended up higher in this list, and I begin to feel that I will have a correction post afterwards where I will rearrange all albums. This album is truly great!
<- Back to Number 16

Full album on Youtube:

Best album of all times – Number 16

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, English, Music, Photography3 Comments
© Pedro Hansson - Wild Frontier - Picture taken at Chinese Wall 2007
© Pedro Hansson – Wild Frontier – Photo taken at Chinese Wall 2007

Best album of all times – Number 16: Gary Moore – Wild Frontier

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Gary Moore (1952-2011), is probably one of the “all greatest guitarists so far”. Maybe not always the fastest, but the combination technical skills, incredible melodies and a 6:th sense to catch an atmosphere has brought him to the absolute top.

As I wrote in the first post in this series – The Best Album of All Times – I will only post one album per artist and I guess that Gary Moore could hold more places than one. The hard part is to choose between the three of them Wild Frontier, After the war and Run for Cover.

In my opinion Wild Frontier is the best when it come to a complete album without any big dips, and oh’boy this album is on the safe side all the way. The difference between this album and the earlier ones are obvious but an interesting detail is the use of a drum machine instead of a human drummer.

The album kicks off with the famous “Over The Hills And Far Away” (later covered by many others for example Nightwish), followed up by the title song “Wild Frontier”. These both songs marks perfectly the change in Gary Moores style after the previous mentioned albums. The Heavy Metal is more popilicious, and the overall sound more friendly.

It continues with “Take A Little Time”. Still a really good song, but a bit after the first two tracks. In my opinion this track get’s a little bit to flirty with the new style and the chorus isn’t  far away from many other Dance-tracks.

The Loner is a true epic track with Moore showing of his rare sensitivity in creating emotions / feelings with a guitar. An awesome track!

The weakest part of this album may be the start of “Friday On My Mind”, and it doesn’t really kick off completely, but still is an okay track.

Strangers In The Darkness is a track that may be influenced by Billy Idol (?). The atmosphere, and even more, the vocals are pretty close.

Thunder Rising; a track with a heavy guitar adrenaline stamina that runs almost through the whole song, a punchy chorus and after approx 3:30 a guitar that almost sounds like a bagpipe.

Johnny Boy; a sad track with beautiful melodies dedicated to his friend Phil Lynnot that passed away 1986.

Don’t miss the last track (since it’s hidden behind a second version of “Over the hills and far away”). I’m not really sure how to comment on this track. This track is really different from the others. Some West Coast influences (?), some pop and a bit of a 70’s sound at the same time. In short, Great track! Don’t miss!

If you want to explore more songs from his previous albums I suggest:

After The War
Led Clones (With Ozzy Osbourne on Vocals)
Military Man
Empty Rooms
Out in the fields

<- Back to number 17 


Best album of all times – Number 18

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, English, iPhone-Photography - What I see through my iPhone lens, iPhonepics, Music, Photography2 Comments
© Pedro Hansson - Out of the cellar (photo from Bormio 2013)
© Pedro Hansson – Out of the cellar (photo from Bormio 2013)
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Best album of all times – Number 18: Ratt – Out Ot The Cellar  (1984)

Ratt, the band with the name that’s a synonym to Steering Wheel in Swedish was one of my big favorites as a teenager, and they still are. Risen from the L.A Glam scene, in competition with bands like Mötley Crüe, Van Halen and its likes, Ratt was a solid contender of the heavy metal scene back in my youth. In Sweden they had a few hits, but my feeling is that the group didn’t get the attention that they deserved, and experienced in other parts of the world.

The guitar sound from this record may be one of the most “cold” guitar sounds ever, and the tempo slow for this kind of music, while the vocals are “slow”; but wow this is a great album from start to finish. An album that’s solid and well-kept together as a whole. This was one of those albums that could’ve ended up on many places in this 40-top list; both higher and lower.

In my opinion Round and Round is the most significant contribution of all songs on this record. The song is almost a summary of the rest of the tracks.

I guess the lyrics won’t be mentioned in the lyrics classes in the 2100:s, but the clean crisp sound may end up in the musical classes.

If you want to explore more music by Ratt, check out the track Lay it down from the “Invasion of your privacy album” (1985), and while you’re at it, their more recent albums.

In my opinion the more recent contributions doesn’t share the same quality as before but still some good music to explore… and yes, they are (as a brand at least) still active with new albums on their way.

Best wishes for a great Tuesday.

<- Back to number 19                                                    Forward to number 17 ->

Best Album of all times – Number 19

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, D7000, English, Music, Photography1 Comment
© Pedro Hansson - Controlled Twitch
© Pedro Hansson – Controlled Twitch

Best Album of all times – Number 19: Aldo Nova – Twitch

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Aldo Nova, a Canadian artist became a huge success in the early-/mid 80:s with his albums “Aldo Nova” and “Subject..”.

Even though the first two albums are really good, I think Twitch is the one that’s the most complete, and keeps a certain atmosphere through the whole album with its 80’s Gary Moore influenced guitars and easy straight rock in the flavor of Bryan Adams, and maybe also Bon Jovi. If I’ve read the facts right this album was not a huge success in the world, but in Sweden it became the most successful one when it was launched in 1985.

As mentioned earlier the album is really solid, and if there is one song that lacks behind it may be the title song – Twitch. Other than that it’s an album that can be kept on replay a number of times.

On the other side it’s harder to pick a favorite, which often is the case with “Best albums”.

Aldo Nova has also been a successful song writer to a number of artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Céline Dion, Blue Öyster Cult, Chantal and Clay Aiken’s “This Is the Night” (co-written with Chris Braide and Gary Burr), which in the U.S. was a number one hit and the best selling single of 2003. (Source: Wikipedia)

<- To number 20                                                                                                       To number 18 ->

Grandma Drummer

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These types of videos almost always contains a child with super skills early in life. This is the opposite, a cool grandma drummer beating the shit out of the drums.

I hope you all have a great weekend finish. Tomorrow, number 19 in the album list, and a photography to go with it.

Best Album of all times – Number 20

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, English, Inspirational, Music1 Comment
© Pedro Hansson - Rage Against The Machine
© Pedro Hansson – Rage Against The Machine

Number 20 –
Rage Against The Machine – Rage Against The Machine

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I will never forget the first time I heard this album. It was, at the time, my svärbror (brother-in-law) who have spotted it and played it loud. For quite a long time I thought he was kidding. NO ONE can like this. So rough, a wicked singer who rap-singed, and a guitar player that made the most strange noises ever.

Then it started to grow…

What an amazing album this is. Full of energy. An awesome guitar player, and a sound that (together with Clawfinger) created a new musical era.

What I didn’t knew at first was that most parts of the music brought political stories. Since I’ve always been a friend of that the human life is sacred, and no other man shall have the right to take another persons life, Killing in the name certainly stroke a chord.

The sound on this album was also at the time unique. It’s almost as RATM is a modern studio version of number 21, Dire Straits. Crisp clear guitars, a bass that sounds like a bass. Dry drums, and as I’ve mentioned a guitar that’s (still) like nothing else recorded before.

Even though I’m not a fanatic political wise I

If I could change history Bulls on parade from the album “Evil empire” also would’ve been included. Otherwise, a great album!

Music – Best albums of all times – First up, those that didn’t make it to top 20

On By saarimnerIn Best Album Of All Times, English, Inspirational, iPhone-Photography - What I see through my iPhone lens, iPhonepics, Music, Photography1 Comment

@ Pedro Hansson - Barcelona 2013 - On Every Street

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Today I started wondering about which albums, no matter the category, that are the best of all times in my opinion. With “best” I don’t necessarily mean the most historic or changing. I just mean, the best albums for me. The albums that I come back to time after time, some of them just for the memories connected to them, and others simply for the amazing music.

It might be good to know that my musical background has its roots in west coast/AOR, old school heavy metal and more instrumental genres, even though I listen to almost everything nowadays. In my music tab you can find my current favorites.

So instead of just posting them all in one post I figured that I’ll split them up in 11 separate posts, and today I begin with those that didn’t make it to the top-20 list and a special around the runner-up for top-20.

Some of my favorite artist would have more than one album on this list, but I’ve chosen to keep just one album from every artist, and mention others worth noticing.

And remember, best album doesn’t mean best two or three songs that are good or maybe even awesome. Best album is “Best album all together”.

So, here we go…

Which albums didn’t make it to the top-20 list? (Spotify linked)

21 Dire Straits – On every street (Special mention Brothers in arms)
22 The Fray – The Fray
23 Metallica – Metallica
24 Adele – 21
25 Top Gun – Motion Picture Soundtrack
26 David Foster
27 Nirvana – Nevermind
28 Peter Gabriel – So
29 Abba – The Album
30 Robert Plant / Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
31 Johnny Hates Jazz – Turn Back The Clock
32 Bruce Hornsby – The Way It is
33 Level 42 – Running in the family
34 Chicago – Chicago 17
35 Marc Cohn – Marc Cohn
36 Richard Marx – Richard Marx
37 Gun’s n Roses – Apetite for Destruction
38 Europe – Wings of Tomorrow
39 Saga – Wildest Dreams
40 Elvis Presley – G.I Blues

P.S I also try to post a photo of my own that I think is connected to each album in some kind of way. D.S

Runner up, Nr 21: Dire Straits – On every street

This album is, as Brothers in Arms one of the albums that are heavily used as a reference album when it comes to demonstrating sound in HiFi-shops. The sound is really clear, and you can separate all the instruments really well, and I guess the subtle music also makes some sense in a public place.

I guess many listeners would’ve voted Brothers in arms as the better album of the two, but I favor this album since I think the feeling / atmosphere as a complete album is more tight. Brothers in arms holds many of Dire Straits top selling hits but the album feels straggly compared to the more collected On every street.

This is maybe not one of the albums that I’ve listened to the most, but it’s an album that I come back to every now and then and the title song, On Every Street is one of my long time favorites.

The high points, except the already mentioned title song, is Iron Hand, Calling Elvis, fade to black and the country inspired The Bug.

Dire Straits in short, from Wikipedia:

Dire Straits were a British rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), his younger brother David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). Dire Straits’ sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest to beat music within the context of rock and roll. Despite the prominence of punk rock during the band’s early years, the band’s stripped-down sound contrasted with punk, demonstrating a more “rootsy” influence that emerged out of pub rock. Many of Dire Straits’ compositions were melancholic.[3] Dire Straits’ biggest selling album, Brothers in Arms, has sold over 30 million copies.[4]

They also became one of the world’s most commercially successful bands, with worldwide album sales of over 120 million.[5] Dire Straits won numerous music awards during their career, including four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards—winning Best British Group twice, and two MTV Video Music Awards.[5] The band’s most popular songs include “Sultans of Swing”, “Lady Writer”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Tunnel of Love”, “Telegraph Road”, “Private Investigations”, “Money for Nothing”, “Walk of Life”, “So Far Away”, “Your Latest Trick” and “Brothers in Arms”.

Dire Straits’ career spanned a combined total of 15 years. The band originally split up in 1988, but reformed in 1991. Dire Straits disbanded for good in 1995 when Mark Knopfler launched his career full time as a solo artist. There were several changes in personnel over both periods, leaving Mark Knopfler and John Illsley as the only two original bandmates who had remained throughout the band’s career.

This is a MUST SEE – Jenny Suk – looping cover of SBTRKT ft Drake & Little Dragon

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What an amazing talent this is! Building a looping cover of SBTRKT ft Drake & Little Dragon, all from the beginning. One of the best videos I’ve seen on Youtube.

Tuesday – Music

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Today this post will include four songs from different genres. Christmas (of course), Pop, soft and some hard rock.

Have a great Tuesday!

Sarah Dawn Finer – Winter Song

First Aid Kit – Wolf

Wall – Something on your mind

This is as intimate as Music gets. Perfect for a slow evening, a dinner ro chat with some friends OR just enjoying music. Lyla Foy’s vocals, in combination with the slow cover of Karen Dalton’s hit “Something on your mind” is a perfect mix.

Saint Deamon – My heart

For me this feels like a combination of Europe and Hammerfall (?). And by that I think you’ve already found out that its old school hard rock. I really like the melodies, and the vocals are great.

Tuesday Song from Phosphorescent, “Song for Zula”

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Brand new song; Phosphorescent – “Song for Zula”

When I look back on this blogs short history I realize that Tuesdays been the day when I’ve posted new music. Don’t know if it’s due to I’m using Mondays to discover them? Anyhow this Tuesday will be the same as many before on this blog.

Yesterday I came about a song I’ve never heard before, and it’s actually been playing since that. It’s not my typical kind of tune but it has something that really traps me. Really like the drums and the bass, the strings in the background, the groove and for some reason the voice (that I think I normally would’ve had a hard time with). It’s still brand new so check it out before all others do 🙂

“Phosphorescent is the working moniker of American singer-songwriter Matthew Houck. Originally from Alabama, Houck began recording and performing under this nom de plume in 2001 in Athens, Georgia. He is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.”
– From Wikipedia

Unfortunately there is no Spotify track available yet

If you want to discover more music from this blog, you’ll find it here

Best wishes for this Tuesday, 13 days before Christmas Eve

Youtab gives you the chords to your Youtube-videos

On By saarimnerIn English, Music1 Comment

Earlier today I found a great service for those who play guitar, Youtab. This great service gives you the chords from youtube-videos. Among all the famous songs I found a great cover of Rihannas “Diamonds”.

http://www.you-tab.com/tabs/Savannah+Outen/Diamonds+Rihanna/15950418-1f8d-41fc-a569-128ee935ae0f#player_open

Youtab

New Page, Music

On By saarimnerIn Music2 Comments

I’ve always loved music and from time to time I’ve posted some tracks on this blog, but to try to keep this blog a little bit more “clean I’ve made a new page on this blog where I try to keep “the best music right now. This page will be updated over time and I hope that I may give you some new Music inspiration over time.

I hope you have a nice evening

Link: https://saarimner.com/my-music/

A year from now you will wish you had started today

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Some quotes for the weekend

“Remembering you are going to die, is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” –Elbert Hubbard

Spotify link: REO Speedwagon – Roll With The Changes

Happy weekend!

Music for Tuesday

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Playlist in Spotify: Tuesday

Songs at Youtube:

Soundtracking for Spotify, iOS and Android – new app to share and discover music, with your Instagram pics attached

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I’ve just logged in to the app Soundtracking on my Spotify account, right after I’ve got the news about this new music and image sharing app. I think the idea behind the app is really good; to instantly and easy share your music among your friends straight from your mobile or from within Spotify and add your own Instagram pics attached to your suggestions.

My user name in the app is (of course 🙂 ) saarimner; so if you wan’t to find your first friend there just add me.

As you might have discovered in the screen capture above I didn’t figure out that I should have deleted the first image from my first choice 🙂

If you’re using Spotify you’ll find the app under the app finder on the left hand side. It’s currently down on 28:th place in the app list, but as it’s featured in the app suggestions so I guess that may change rapidly.

For me it sounded a bit strange at first to mix your music suggestions with your images, but the more I think about it, I guess it’s all about creativity and I think they’ll actually fit quite well together.

Soundtracking – Screen Capture iOS

In the iOS app you find all the functionality you’re searching for easy accesible. If you’re used to use apps like Shazaam for capturing music around you, you’ll find a way to that as well in the app. On the downside, if you don’t have a Spotify account you’ll just have the possibility to listen to previous or buy the songs from iTunes. Other than that I really think that this will be an app that I use quite often to discover and share new music and fitting pics to it.

If you currently are a user, or you try it out for the first time it would be great to hear you thoughts around it.

Take care

Swedish Music / Blacknuss – Titiyo

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This is a Swedish Music colletive called Blacknuss. The group had it’s major period a decade ago but I think many of their songs still are great, as this one.

 

A Girl Steps Up to a Karaoke Machine – And FLOORS Everyone

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This is a video that I came about on Facebook earlier this morning. What an unexpected experience to first see the store interior, and then hear this!

A Girl Steps Up to a Karaoke Machine – And FLOORS Everyone

Image

Some music to get the day moving

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This is a song that was recommended to me from a close person, a while back. I really like the feeling, and what I think is sincerity in the song. The text is also noteworthy, and I think we all once in a while need to remind ourselves that all the days that are passing, is actually our wonderful life.

Take care! Hope you all have a great day!

Link to Spotify: Morcheeba – Enjoy The Ride

Music for a short week – Laleh, Hide Away

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Yesterday, the Swedish series “30 degrees in February” showed the last episode. Though I’m not following TV so much these days, I really enjoyed this series.

In many ways it reflected the Swedish culture (in an exaggerated way) and I think many Swedes liked the earthly touch combined with the Swedes dream of Thai Weather and the Swedish sense. One of the songs featured in the last episode was Laleh’s “Hide Away”.

Hope you enjoy it and have a great week.

(If you have Spotify; this is the link to the song: http://open.spotify.com/track/1bRtqMyKD1n3QIvUUhaEh8

New single from Keane

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One of my all-time favorite groups, Keane, has just released a new single from their upcoming album Strangeland, that’s set to be released on the 7:th of May.