tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328Sat, 08 Aug 2026 19:34:45 +0000The title says it all.http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Barry)Blogger1250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6461485887226239335Tue, 04 Aug 2026 20:45:37 +00002026-08-04T16:45:37.193-04:00Let’s be real here.  This song is trash.  The fact that it was AI-generated helps explain why the backing track sounds like a parody of karaoke reggae .  The lyrics are clunky and awkward, to put it mildly.  There’s no obvious symbiotic connection between the music and lyrics – why is this a reggae song?  Couldn’t it have been house music, or acoustic pop, or any number http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/08/boy-george-we-will-dance-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2484827078981045808Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:17:26 +00002026-07-27T07:17:26.971-04:00This is a study in contrasts. I could easily have picked another half-dozen conductors for this exercise and called them "polar opposites" in their approach to Brahms. Today, though, we're comparing two examples that I find particularly interesting: Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1951), a classic historical recording, and Harnoncourt with the Berlin Philharmonic (1997), a strikingly http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/07/brahms-1-harnoncourt-vs-toscanini.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-4556992854009753066Sun, 19 Jul 2026 09:57:24 +00002026-07-19T05:57:24.545-04:00It's no secret that AI-generated music has become one of the industry's biggest concerns—or greatest opportunities, depending on whom you ask—over the past few years.  Anecdotally, much of it is still easy to identify as artificial, and commentators such as Rick Beato have spoken about this at length. I think AI music presents a unique challenge because it's far sneakier than AI video. http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/07/def-leppard-live-in-round-in-your-face.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-8039399842301339961Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:25:31 +00002026-06-27T03:25:31.410-04:00These days, most listicles are pseudo-spam, featuring dry, flaccid writing increasingly composed by AI-generated content farms.But this particular list is really good!  The choices are rather narrow, covering mainly British indie rock from a single year (1990), but that happens to be the year that I spent more time listening to the radio than in any other year before or since (by far). http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/06/radio-xs-25-best-indie-albums-of-1990.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1541053280582106936Sun, 17 May 2026 13:54:12 +00002026-05-17T09:54:12.102-04:00The Eurovision final delivered the goods last night: strong performances, an unusually balanced jury vote that left the competition wide open heading into the televote, and a somewhat surprising but certainly deserving winner.   When all the numbers are tallied, I think the fears of disastrous viewership numbers due to this year's "controversies" will be  mostly unfounded.  http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/05/eurovision-2026.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6854046837983499233Sun, 03 May 2026 20:52:00 +00002026-05-03T16:52:48.166-04:00I am completely unqualified to write about this topic, let's get that out of the way now.  However, a potential connection between the Philly soul sound of the 70's and the sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra from the same era feels significant, and it's not something that I can recall reading about in any standard music history accounts.   The Philadelphia International Records http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/05/linking-philadelphia-soul-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-184380311317271618Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:57:00 +00002026-04-20T17:57:54.288-04:00I am extremely proud of my ranking of Sibelius Fifth Symphonies, but it was an exhausting post to write.  I had planned to turn it into a semi-regular series of posts -- next up was Bruckner's Seventh Symphony -- but right now, the investment feels too daunting.   So here's a more manageable alternative: a classical DUEL between two radically different interpretations of a http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/04/bruckner-symphony-no-6-duel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2487647443774959044Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:38:00 +00002026-03-26T09:38:53.066-04:00I had a yen to hear Sonic Youth’s "Total Trash", which quickly spiraled into a YouTube-assembled playlist of late ’80s/early ’90s indie rock—Pixies, Blur, PJ Harvey, Galaxie 500, and more. What can you say, the algorithm knows what it’s doing. It starts with my search (Sonic Youth), pulls in the obvious contemporaries (Pixies), and then folds in the British acts it knows I like. It’s a formula http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/03/90s-nostalgia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-804055241977878935Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:10:00 +00002026-02-26T16:10:10.186-05:00As I alluded to a few weeks ago, I could keep this blog going indefinitely by revisiting and reevaluating CD's from the 90's.For instance, take the series of compilations released by Tresor.  I own numbers 2 through 8, with the exception of number 6.  It's safe to say that Tresor II and 3 are the most well-regarded, most influential, and probably were the biggest sellers of the series. http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/02/various-tresor-4-solid.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-8149898718826418754Sun, 08 Feb 2026 14:55:00 +00002026-02-08T09:56:04.002-05:00I have been thinking a lot about a new format for this blog.  The correct choice seems to be taking the entire thing to a video format on YT or a social media platform.  Would this be in addition to, or instead of the written blog?  I'm not sure.  I feel that writing is more suitable for longer think-pieces and collated musings (which is what I tend to do) and shorter snippetshttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/02/bob-marley-legend.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2714670446814733214Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:08:11 +00002026-01-28T11:11:01.756-05:00I will never catch up with contemporary music ever again, I am checked out on that front. I'm too far behind even with the music released by my all-time favourite acts, so there's zero chance of getting up to speed on recent releases in general.  Case in point, I intended to post a triple review of three new albums by three of my all-time favourite artists -- Moderat's "MORE D4TA", http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2026/01/beach-house-are-still-amazing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6559393606987851775Wed, 31 Dec 2025 16:31:00 +00002025-12-31T11:31:09.391-05:00Every year, the Vienna Philharmonic presents a New Year's Day concert of light music based around Strauss-family waltzes and polkas.  These concerts are legendary and are broadcast worldwide, reaching a viewership around 50 million people annually.   This was essentially an unadvertised concert that didn't appear on their published schedule, with tickets sold to under-35's at a http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/12/israel-philharmonic-presents-little.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-8419505850320531255Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:16:00 +00002025-12-23T16:16:34.089-05:00I used to obsess over my year-end lists, but now, I don't miss them in the least.  Non-listmaking friends and online acquaintances used to claim that lists were simply not their preferred method of judging the music they listened to.  I thought it was a giant cop-out.  If you love music, then you should stick your neck out for the stuff you've been championing all year long.  http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/12/another-year-without-list.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-7338368995668967020Thu, 11 Dec 2025 08:20:00 +00002025-12-11T03:20:57.389-05:00I don't know why I have never written about this album before, seeing as it influenced my buying habits for years afterward.  If memory serves, this was my introduction to Bardo Pond and Low.  I had heard the names of both bands prior to this but had never heard their music.  I had never heard or heard of Flowchart or Transient Waves.  I spent considerable time tracking down http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/12/various-tribute-to-spacemen-3-rocket.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-5930305578591546314Sun, 07 Dec 2025 15:32:00 +00002025-12-07T10:32:36.448-05:00Of course it’s an advertisement for his upcoming world tour, and yes, he surely got a boatload of money from Netflix for doing it. But set the cynicism aside—One Shot is ridiculously fun to watch: a fresh, challenging, and genuinely unique take on the “no camera cuts” concept. They brought in the team behind Adolescence to execute the vision and the logistics, and Sheeran absolutely delivers http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/12/one-shot-with-ed-sheeran.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-739955360168357849Tue, 25 Nov 2025 15:44:00 +00002025-11-25T10:44:40.460-05:00In 1991, Milli Vanilli became the first and still only act to be stripped of a Best New Artist Grammy.  Now, more than three decades later, Fab Morvan has been nominated for Best Audiobook and may finally get the last laugh by winning that elusive Grammy.  It would make for a fascinating acceptance speech if it makes TV (which it probably won't).  Never mind the fact that Rob http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/11/milli-vanilli-grammy-revenge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-7220311597585002251Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:00:00 +00002025-10-28T11:00:38.026-04:00Hard to believe that this album is nearly 30 years old.  At the time, it felt wholly out of place.  Although released on Warp, "Advance" couldn't have been further removed from the "Artifical Intelligence" style of bedroom techno that had dominated the label in the previous few years.  It was too sobering and grounded for the rave scene, and not propulsive or hedonistic enough for http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/10/lfo-advance-1996.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-4232951562222818177Wed, 08 Oct 2025 20:30:00 +00002025-10-08T16:30:17.696-04:00 It's always nice to see a list that covers a subject that hasn't been overdone.  Other than Percy Grainger's "Country Gardens" -- the only piece on the list that I wasn't familiar with, it must be a Brit-centric thing -- each of these pieces has been featured, immortalized, and run full circle into parody.  These are truly famous pieces that have spanned oceans and crossed bordershttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/10/bbc-music-ranks-top-12-classical-pieces.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2217733099299211299Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:42:00 +00002025-09-30T08:42:46.308-04:00Twelve years ago, I saw Shlomo Artzi in concert for the first time and was blown away.  At the time I wrote that "I'm not sure I've ever seen an artist connect with his audience as well as Shlomo Artzi connected with the crowd in Ashdod".  The connection was "almost telepathic", operating on a deeper, more personal, more empathetic level than just about any other artist I've seen -- in http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/09/shlomo-artzi-live-at-park-raanana.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-5740342955613213183Wed, 10 Sep 2025 21:56:00 +00002025-09-10T17:56:02.830-04:00Kelefa Sanneh hit a home run with his excellent piece in the New Yorker, covering the decline of music criticism from acerbic, witty truth telling to the placid, homogenized landscape that we have today.  Additional context comes by way of a video by Dave Hurwitz, and even though he's talking about the classical music industry (his specialty), the sentiment is applicable to other genreshttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-pacification-of-music-criticism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-5653336864479915624Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:57:00 +00002025-08-21T04:57:50.193-04:00I have taken to Sinopoli's recordings as somewhat of a guilty pleasure.  His style certainly isn't for everyone.   Most people value instrumental clarity and individual sonorities when listening to classical music.  Sinopoli didn't care about any of that, he approached the orchestra as if it was a gigantic, people-powered modular synth, with separate components only existing http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/08/dr-guiseppe-and-mr-sinopoli.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2079684092426709177Sat, 05 Jul 2025 22:14:00 +00002025-07-05T18:14:13.953-04:00The Oasis reunion is finally happening and it already feels bigger than any other "reunion" tour in recent years.  In his review of their kick-off concert in Cardiff, The Independent's Mark Beaumont half-heartedly tries being cynical about it, with a slight few backhanded compliments thrown in, but in the end it didn't matter.  He gives them a five star review.   Yes, both http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/07/oasis-2025-90s-comfort-food.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2547776449688747185Tue, 01 Jul 2025 08:49:00 +00002025-07-01T04:49:30.560-04:00I had never heard of this album until it was featured in Melody Maker's "Unknown Pleasures" book in 1995.  A few more years passed before I heard a note of music from it, via the Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits compilation.  After that, more than a decade passed until I heard the full album.  I bought the 2CD reissue, wrote a post about it, and all these years later I mostly agreehttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/07/it-took-me-eight-years-to-get-fleetwood.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-734427399966535177Thu, 26 Jun 2025 19:28:00 +00002025-06-29T16:17:43.604-04:00Along comes another rich guy with Mahlerian dreams of grandeur who lives out his fantasies by paying a princely sum to conduct a leading orchestra.  We've seen this before with Gilbert Kaplan.  Now it's Mandle Cheung "hiring" the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for his own personal vanity project.  Are we supposed to care? OK, enough with the cynicism.  Like Kaplan, Cheung is http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/06/mandle-chung-and-mahler-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-3149736641720971691Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:25:00 +00002025-06-15T07:24:06.132-04:00Here is the first line of Brian Wilson's obit in the NYT: Brian Wilson, who as the leader and chief songwriter of the Beach Boys became rock’s poet laureate of surf-and-sun innocence, but also an embodiment of damaged genius through his struggles with mental illness and drugs, has died.Continuing on, the article presents a balanced picture of his considerable fame and talents, as well as http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/06/brian-wilson-rip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0