The universal language

The Wall Live stablishes new records

2011-09-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Next year Roger Waters will be building and destroying walls all over Oceania and South America. Nothing remarcable there. What is remarcable is the amazing amount of tickets he has sold in Argentina.

So far, he will be playing night times in a row (with some days in the middle to rest) in the Monumental Stadium of Buenos Aires. You must have never heared of this, but in it there´s room for 45.000-50.000 people sitting. This makes some 350.000 spectators that will listen and watch the sufferings of our poor friend Pink.

Apparently, no more dates will be added despite the fact that the last two were sold in less than two days. Given the fact that the brazilean dates had already been re-scheduled in order to make room for more argentinean concerts, we can expect a couple more nights of airplanes crushing in the middle of Buenos Aires.

With this frentic selling (all that happened in 120 hours of opened selling) he has obtain a new record, not only for concerts in Argentina but for his carreer as well. In Argentina, the best selling band was the local Soda Stereo, which filled 6 Monumental during his reunion tour in 2007. Before them, The Rolling Stones had managed to sell out 5 in two different tours (1995 Voodoo Loung Tour and 1998 Bridges to Babylon Tour). We must say that this two bands played with part of the audience standing, which expands the amount of public to 65.000. But still, Waters´ tickets are far more expensive.

As far as his own records are concerned, he had never played 8 times in a row in the same stadium (I think he had played these many times but in a much smaller arena).

Fortunately I got my ticket but only for one night (I was wishing to go to two different concerts to appreciate it better). How I wish it were march…

5 songs of U2 which you have probably never listened to before

2011-09-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

A lot of people (at least a lot of people I know) tend to think that the music of a band or singer is just what they have listened on the radio. HUGE MISTAKE. In my experience, the best songs of most decent musicians are unknown to the vast majority of the public. Most people will just download the most popular songs and that´s it. In this way, ELO is Last Train to London, Pink Floyd is The Wall Part II (are there more parts of it? Wow!!!) and The Beatles are Help.

This is particularly true in the case of U2. A lot of people thinks that they haven´t made anything sublime. Well, you are wrong. U2 have made a lot to generate this believe since in their concerts they dont play much of their best songs. They have become such a monster thanks to their hits that now they have to keep playing the same songs over and over again.

Therefore, I want to present 5 songs of U2 which you have probably never listened to before. I hope you´ll enjoy them.

Zooropa (from Zooropa – 1993)

The beggining of the absolutely unique álbum with the same name. The lyrics are very ingenious and they are a criticism to Europe and what the consumerism have made of it. All the fraces are slogans of companies. The first one is of Audi.

The music itself is marvellous. The changes in the rythems, the sound effects that wraps you, the very Edgy guitar with those eco effects…

Acrobat (from Acthung Baby – 1991)

If someone says that this is the more undervalued song by U2, well, I may agree. I think they never played it after the ZooTV tour. The ambientation is very dramatic, and this is thanks both to the music and the lyrics. Even if you don´t understand english you can tell that something serious is going on. I think that there is a criticism to the media in the lyrics, but that´s my interpretation. Finally, it has a great solo and a great ending. Actually, the beggining is also very well suited for the song. Well, everything is perfect. Fucking listen to it!!!

Fez (from No Line on the Horizon – 2009)

If you want to know what U2 is capable of, listen to Fez. If they would wanted so, they could be an amazing alternative rock band. Fez is the eight song of their last álbum, No Line on the Horizon. It is also a city of Morroco where they recorded this album. It is hard to describe with Word but you can´t argue that it is not a fantastic tune.

Crums From your Table (from How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb - 2004)

Irony again people. Most people take U2 songs literaly but they are wrong. Many of them have a deeper message beneath what may seem a couple quarreling. In this case, Bono talks about the refugee and AIDs camps all over Africa. It talks about political and religious groups that talk about god and life but refuse to give Money to help, that promise relief for this people but never deliver, that speculate with time as if this people could wait.

In addition to this, the music is great. A very catchy tune with a great guitar riff.

Bad (from The Unforgeattable Fire - 1984)

Last but not least, Bad. The music of it caress your ears. It is quite long and it sounds like a very simple tune but at the same time you always find something new to pay attention. Relax, take a deep breath and enjoy music in its absolute purity.

The Sky Moves Sideways - Porcupine Tree

2011-09-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

During the past year I began listening to Porcupine Tree. There are two albums that have striked mea lot and that I listen to regularly. One is Fear of a Blank Planet and the other one is The Sky Moves Sideways. I have already talked a bit about the first one in the post about PT (and surely I will make a post entirely devoted to it in the future) so now I would like to expand on the The Sky.

If you like Pink Floyd and you wonder how they could have sounded like have they begun playing in the ´90s instead of the ´60s, then this is an accurate proxy. Furthermore, the structure of the album is very similar to the one of Wish You Were Here (and for what I understand this has been made on purpose): it has 5 songs and the first and last are two parts of the same one, lasting +18 and +16 minutes each.

This is the case for the Extended Version. Then you have the UK and US versions. The extended one is better because it has both Stars Die and Prepare Yourself. In the UK version you only find Prepare Yourself and in the US version you will listen just to Stars Die. Plus, in the extended version you get this Wish You Were Here structure.

Another pro of the Extended Version is that, since it has 2 CDs, you get more music. Basically this is another version of The Sky Moves Sideways (the two parts together) with some variations in the instrumentation. But there is also a second part of Moonloop which sounds very much like Led Zeppelin. The first part of Moonloop is a jam session by the whole band and it is the only track not composed entirely by Steven Wilson, the leader and main composer of the band. This is GREAT music. You can entertain yourself a lot listening just to this song over and over again because it is so much going on… It begins just with the drums and the rest of the band starts to build up something that wraps you completely.

Another change is that the Extended Version was edited in 2003. I´m not sure and I couldn´t find the info to confirm it. This 2003 edition is remastered and it features Gavin Harrison on the drums (Gavin joined the band in 2002).

The main attraction of the record, however, is the The Sky Moves Sideways. The first part is divided into 4 and it is pretty easy to notice this. Nevertheless, the connection between the parts does not sound artificial and everything is very smooth. The second part is divided into 2 pieces. I can´t describe the entire song so go and listen to it, you wont regret it. It is a great experience.

Then we have Dislocated Day, a song with a very powerful and catchy guitar reef. It is not a complex song but that reef does the trick, at least for me.

The Moon Touches Your Shoulder is a very soft song. You can distinguish an almost magic atmosphere and you can tell that the song is basically a great effort of production put over a rather simple but beautiful base. There is no way a sensitive person will not enjoy this song.

Prepare Yourself is basically an excuse for Wilson to show his craftmanship in the guitar and to introduce the second part of The Sky. It isn´t a regular song but Wilson puts a lot of feeling in it.

Finally we find Stars Die. I have read somewhere that this is the first song Wilson wrote to make it to the radio. Fortunately, this didn´t end up in some fucked up song but in a very nice one. True, it is the most popish of the album but you won´t be disapointed by it.

All in all, for me it is a great record. Some people that have listened to it have told me that is a copy of Pink Floyd. As I said at the beginning you can tell the similarity and even more, Wilson look for it to be like this. However, as a teacher of mine at University told me once “if you are going to copy, copy from the best ones”. In addition, imitating the best is not peace of cake, as I can tell from my college experience. PT did not plagiarize Pink Floyd. They imitated the floydean atmosphere but the songs are completely original. Those who say that it´s the same thing say so because they are not really listening to the music, they are listening to the surface of it.

Coldplay

2011-08-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

Coldplay is a rock band from London. As a matter of fact, they met and start playing together at the University College London. Short after ending up their studies, they got out thier first album. Thier appearance in the world musical scenario got a lot of people really thrilled. However, this emotion has been gradually fading out.
Their first record, Parachutes, showed some resemblance to Radiohead. Nevertheless, it was different. The songs in this CD are closer to pop, even the ones which are not. I don´t know if it is because of the structures used or mainly because of the overall sound of the band. I favor the second option. There is something about Coldplay that makes the listener feels at ease with their music. And they achieve this even in some songs like Clocks, which has an amazing combination of notes which make you feel down or happy, all in one stanza. This first CD is a bit "dark", to say it some way, because of the music, but there are some lyrics that are cheerful. This makes it unique, at least for me.

Afterwards came A rush of blood to the head. EXCELLENT ALBUM. You can definitely note a continuum between this one and Parachutes. The difference is that in A rush we find less songs which may be catalogued as alternative or experimental. In my opinion, this is because every song, being A Whisper the only exception, combine what I mentioned before: some alternative stuff with others that suit most ears. This record shows a more mature band and that is translated into a more composed sound.

Maturity and composure of the band are definitely present in their third album, X&Y. Here we see another step forward in the path of the band´s sound. In their next CD they would change quite a lot, but this third one is in the same line as the previous ones. I have to say this is the Coldplay´s record that I enjoy the most, even when I value more what they did in the first two. Brian Eno work with them in the song by them that I love the most, Low. The influence of Eno is noticeable: the synthesizers began to appear in Coldplay songs at full blast. Another great song is X&Y. There is a shocking accordance between what the music makes you feel and what the lyrics say.

Finally, we find Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. I mentioned Eno before, and Eno has a lot to do with this album. He tried to do what he did with U2 in The Unforgettable Fire but even when the sound of the band did change sensibly, the result was not so successful as the one that U2 had. Despite this, I consider that this is a necessary step and I don’t criticize them so much because of this work. Coldplay is still active and on many occasions some experimentation must be done in order to accomplish an excellent work. Plus, the songs are nice. What made some people disappointed is the fact that they abandoned the sound they had in the first 3 records and took up a more commercial one. But I don’t think the quality is that bad.

Currently, they are working on their new album. Eno is still working with them. There is little to say, though by the only release to date (Every tear drop is a waterfall), it doesn´t look very promising, at least for me. It seems that they are still on the track of Viva la Vida. Let´s hope that they manage to improve the quality and the what they offer in terms of fresh and unique sounds. If you want to surf on YouTube for some tunes that will appear on this record, they have already played some of them in their concerts. Their names are "Hurts like heaven", "Us against the world", "Charlie Brown", "Princess of China" and "Major Minus".

Some tunes:

Charlie Brown (Live at Jimmy Kimmel)

The Scientist (Beautiful song, amazing video)

Christmas Lights (I know, they have better songs, but the video is really cool and original)

X&Y (Live)

Trouble

Band Members:

Chris Martin (leading vocals, piano, keyboards, second guitar)

Jon Buckland (guitar, backing vocals)

Guy Berryman (bass guitar, backing vocals)

Will Champion (drums, percussion, backing vocals)

Discography:

2000 – Parachutes

2002 – A Rush of Blood to the Head

2003 – Live 2003

2005 – X&Y

2008 – Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

2009 - LeftRightLeftRightLeft (Live)
2011 - Mylo Xyloto (???)

You may also want to check their EPs, since there you can find a lot of extra songs.

Sites to learn to play music II

2011-07-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

A month ago I made a post about some useful sites to learn to play an instrument. Today I bring you some more. It´s incredible how many people told me that they wanted to learn to play some instrument but didn´t have the money or time to take lessons with a teacher or assist to an university or a formal school. So, I´m glad this posts are helpful.

Zebra keys:

We know that the piano is one of the most beautiful instruments to listen, but one of the most complex to learn. With this site, the task becomes much simpler, because it is very full and has clear concepts. In total, there are 50 lessons for beginning students, intermediate and advanced. Each level is divided into sections that allow you to learn songs, chords, music theory, improvisation and technique.

Most classes are accompanied with Flash animations and videos, which helps a lot to better understand the concepts. In addition, there is a virtual piano where you can practice playing from the computer keyboard and various tools to train the ear in terms of intervals, notes, scales and chords. A good tip for intermediate students to supplement lessons with Plern Zebra Keys Piano, http://www.plernpiano.com, a great web application that allows you to import MIDI format songs to learn to play. The issue is reproduced in graphic form on screen, with a scheme that allows you to see what keys to press and duration of each note.

Link: http://www.zebrakeys.com/

Musictheory.net

If you want to learn to read and write scores, this is the place to start. A super simple training site divided into three sections: "Lessons", there are animated explanations of staves, clefs, metronome, rhythms, scales and more. In "Exercises ", you can practice identifying notes, keys, intervals and chords, both in writing and by ear. Finally, under "Tools", a whole set of elements such as a calculator to measure intervals or notes and to create online piano melodies.

Link: http://www.musictheory.net/

Justin Guitar:

This guy has over 450 lessons FOR FREE. Most of them are recorded and you can see them on his YouTube channel. The lessons go from the very begining to really advanced ones. It also includes advices and tips to play different styles, from Rock to Jazz. You will also find lessons covering songwriting.

The variety is so wide that almost everyone can find something useful here. I strongly recommend this site.

Link: http://www.justinguitar.com

Porcupine Tree

2011-07-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

In my view, this is one of the most undervalued bands in history. Is not that they are not successful. Up to some extent they are, and at least many know that they exist. But they are SO GOOOOD that more people should take a while to listening to them. And by a while I am actually saying something like 6 months in which this band would have to be your main choice whenever you feel like listening to music.

They are a progressive rock band which began making some music very similar to Pink Floyd. However, they changed into progressive metal, using some pop structures now and then. Their last two CDs are master pieces which combine very well the progressive part and the metal part. The hole atmosphere they have managed to create in this two records is absolutely marvellous.

You may think that I am exagerating a bit but I am not. To begin with, they have composed Fear of a Blank Planet, which is the best CD of the last 30 years or so. The only ones that I would say may compite are OK Computer and Achtung Baby. I personally would choose Fear. This is a record that talks about all the crap that is inside a teenager´s head these days. But what really counts is the music. I want to highlight the third song, called Anesthetize, just because is the best song I have ever heared after Shine on you crazy diamond, Echoes or Innuendo. It lasts about 17 minutes and it´s like three songs into one. The magic thing is that you don´t notice the changes. Everything flows so smoothly and perfectly that you only have to sit down and let yourself be transported through the tension in the song. The first section features a solo by Rush´s guitarrist, Alex Lifeson. The third section is one of the most beautiful things ever produced by a human being. If you consider yourself to be a fan of music YOU HAVE TO LISTEN THIS SONG, and the entire album, of course.

The second reason is named Gavin Harrison. He is the best drummer I´ve ever heared and he redifines what playing drums means. He joined the band in 2002. The former drummer was very good as well, but Gavin is god playing drums.

Third, they have one of the most prolific composers in rock history as a leader. He is also the singer and leading guitar of the band. He works in two more main projects called No-Man and Blackfield, but he has edited some solo works and has been part of other groups. He must be involved in the writing of something like 30 CDs. Plus, he is a distinguish producer. He has worked with Dream Theater and he has been in charge of the remasterization of King Crimson´s CDs that has taken place in the past 5 years. The adjective "genious" falls short to describe him.

Another albums that I would like to recommend are:

- The Sky Moves Sideways. If you like Pink Floyd, you will love this one. Get the 2 CDs special edition from 2006 because they have some extended versions and an extra song.

- Signify: it also has a “floydean” touch but is more different that The Sky. The songs are shorter. It has a more common structure.

- Deadwing: the metal period of the band began with their 2002 album, In Absentia. It is a bit too crude for me. In this one, from 2005, they managed to “control” all the power that metal has and combine it with more of progressive rock, classical rock and even some chords that sound like pop/rock. Being not a metal guy, this record is a good way to get in touch with this music style.

- The Incident: it is their last work. Its really, really, really good. Not as much as Fear or The Sky, but it´s very original, maybe their most unique and distinctive CD. It´s an excellent combination of rock, progressive rock, progressive metal and some pop flavour now and then. The first time you listen to it you may find it difficult to like it, but after a couple of times you will love it.

Some videos:

Dark Matter (from Stupid Dream, Live)

Anesthetize

The Sky Moves Sideways

Band Members:

Steven Wilson (vocals, guitar, synthesisers, piano and many other things. He is a bloody genius)

Richard Barbieri (keyboards, synthesisers and piano)

Gavin Harrison (drums)

Colin Edwin (bass guitar)

John Wesley (guitar and backing vocals on live presentations only)

Former Members:

Chris Maitland (drums)

Discography:

1991 – On the Sunday of Life

1993 – Up the Downstair

1995 – The Sky Moves Sideways

1996 – Signify

1999 – Stupid Dream

2000 – Lightbulb Sun

2002 – In Absentia

2005 – Deadwing

2007 – Fear of a Blank Planet

2009 – The Incident

Depeche Mode

2011-07-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

This is another band which has a very distinctive sound. It´s pretty easy to identify a Depeche Mode´s song when you listen to it for the first time. There are many reasons for it.
To begin with, they are the most successful group of electronic music. But what is important is the reason why this success came in the first place. The explanation I find is that they managed to combine electronic music and all the instrumentation associated with it, with some rock structures. By doing so, they attracted a wide range of public who, otherwise, wouldn´t have been interested in a mere electro/pop band. The changed, which basically came in the 90´s, allowed them to make an evolution and don´t get stuck in what they were doing. This might be what happened to other groups that were in the same movement, such as Erasure. Depeche sound a bit too soft in their first CDs. In this first period they were very associated with Electro Pop and Electro Dance, as I have implied, as long as some New Wave and Rock/Pop.

For me, the best begins with Violator, their most resound record. The 90´s brought the beginning of the Electro Rock “era”. It presents their two greatest hits: Personal Jesus and Enjoy the silence. It also includes some amazing songs such as Policy of truth and The World in my eyes. This last one really shakes your body. Dave Gahan´s voice is sooo powerful. Actually, Dave´s began here to make his voice sound more dramatic, giving some songs a very dark style, which I absolutely love. In my opinion, he is the best rock singer after Freddy Mercury.

Next it came an AMAZING CD, that is not as known as Violator but for me it is better. It´s called Songs of Faith and Devotion. You have to listen to it from the beginning to the end because if you don´t do it this way you will miss a lot of things. The climates of songs changes here and now and this walk you through a path. It doesn’t has the hits that Violator does but the whole is best accomplished. Some moments, such as the part formed by Condemnation and Mercy in You are epic. This two songs are the ones where religion, which is the main theme of the CD, is more visible; they even sound a bit like gospel. Plus, I don´t think that there is a song such as In Your Room in any other Depeche´s record.

Ultra and Exciter still have a rock influence that is quite noticeable. In Playing the Angel there is a return to pop but the dark atmosphere is still there. Their last record is Sound of the Universe and here pop is back again at full speed. I haven´t enjoy it but it is still a Depeche Mode´s record.

Some videos:

Enjoy the silence

In your room

Wrong + Walking in my shoes

Never let me down again

Band Members:

Martin Gore (guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano and many other things. He is the main composer)

Dave Gahan (vocals. He sings like hell!!!!)

Andrew Fletcher (synthesizers, bass, vocals)

Former members:

Alan Wilder

Discography:

1981 – Speak & Spell

1982 – A Broken Frame

1983 – Construction Time Again

1984 – Some Great Reward

1986 – Black Celebration

1987 – Music for the Masses

1990 – Violator

1993 – Songs of Faith and Devotion

1997 – Ultra

2001 – Exciter

2005 – Playing the Angel

2009 – Sounds of the Universe

Playing for Change

2011-06-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Playing for a Change is a Project that uses music in order to get together people from different countries, religions and cultures. The idea is that music doesn´t follow any of these “logics” that are used as excusses for war, hate, etc. This way of understanding music is similar to the one that motivates the name of my blog. Hence, I think is a good idea for me to present you some of the stuff these guys have produced.

The basic concept is gathering street musicians from a lot of countries and play a song together. Of course, they are not at the same place, at least in the videos. The songs are generally about love and peace, as expected. The originality, and what caught my attention from the musical point of view, is that on some occasions you can see people playing intruments which I have never seen in my life. The sound of these instruments tends to be quite different from those used in the original versions, and so, the song ends up having a distinctive flavour.

Besides recording these videos they also tour with a band compose with some of the musicians that appear in them.

The revenues generated by the sell of CDs and DVDs, ticket concerts and donations is used to finance music schools in disadvantaged countries. Again, the whole concept is that a child playing music will have a way to comunicate with another one who speaks a different language.

Some of the videos they have made:

How it began, what it is

Sittin´ on the dock of the bay

Stand by me

Imagine

Back to your roots

Website: http://www.playingforchange.com/

U2

2011-06-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

It´s hard to find a simple description for U2. We could say that they are a band that has composed an enormous amount of hits. Probably, there is not another band which has so many songs known by so many people. Doing this, however, would not be fair to a great deal of songs that are not played on the radio or even by U2 itself in the concerts.

We have CDs like Pop or Zooropa, which have a unique sound. To date, I haven´t been able to find another CD of any other band that is similar to these two. The both have an influence of electronic music an a crude sound. In addition to this, Pop has songs like The playboy mansion or Miami, whose lyrics are an ironic critic to the consumerism culture.

The first CDs of the band are also not so popular. They have a punk influence. As a matter of fact, the style is called post-punk. Boy, the first one, is a bit basic and monotonous. However, by the next year, they got out October, which represents a huge jump forward. The punk influence is still there but you can also find some new-wave here. In War, this style comes to its maximum development. It becomes epic. As a matter of fact, here we find the beggining of the “epicism” that charactericises U2. This CD presents Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year´s Day, two absolut classics. We also have 40, another one of those songs that get 60.000 persons singing along like it was the last time they are doing it.

Even though U2 managed to become one of the most succesfull bands of those days with these 3 CDs, they didn´t remain still and went further, a lot further, with The Unforgettable Fire. Brian Eno worked with U2 for the first time and he managed to change U2´s face. This CD is one of the jewels that people could grasp anytime but don´t. I strongly recommend you listened to it. It´s really, really, really beautiful (I can´t emphasize enough this quality).

Then came The Joshua Tree. The CD begins with Where the streets have no name, continues with I still haven´t found what I´m looking for and follows With or Without you. Period. The only thing that I can say is that you shouldn´t stop here because the juicy part begins with Bullet the Blue Sky, the fourth song. U2 has a tendency to put the hits in the begining of their CDs, leaving the more complex songs to the end. Most people only are aware of these opening songs and so they think that U2 is only about catchy songs. If you sit down and start to listen to the seconds halves of their CDs you will find a totally new U2. This is most noticeable in The Joshua Tree. Running to stand still and One tree hill are so precious... The CD ends with Mothers of the Disappeared, a song about the mothers of young people who was literally disappeared by a militar dictatorship that submitted Argentina from 1976 to 1983. These women protested in an original way: they went every Thursday to the main square of Buenos Aires and walk about the centre of it since if you were sitting in a public space with other people you were arrested. These government left 30.000 people whose whereabouts is still unknown.

In Ruttle and Hum we meet with the same concept that was present in The Joshua Tree. The difference is that the USA country music influence is most noticeable here. In The Joshua Tree is present but in a subtle way. In Ruttle and Hum is more clear, and since I don´t like country music, I don´t like very much this CD.

Probably, the best work singed by U2 is Achtung Baby. This was another move away from “safety”. They changed a lot again. The Cd is more progressive and the use of synthesizers made his appearence in U2. This instrument would define the sound of U2 during the 90´s, since Zooropa and Pop use it as a main element.

Finally, the first decade of the 21^st century represented a return to the bases, as they defined it. They move away from the use of technology and composed the 3 CDs of this period using basically the guitar, the bass and the drums. Keyboards and synthesizers are relegated. All that you can´t leave behind is the CD with most hits ever in the group´s history: Beautiful day, Elevation, Stuck in a Moment, Walk On. Less known are In a little while and Kite, one of my favourites U2´s songs.

Finally, I must say that U2 playing live is an unique experience. These guys really understand the concept of “show business”. Their concerts are a memorable experiencie that no one should miss. Many say that they are the best band in rock history when it comes to playing live at a stadium. In my opinion, they are. The Edge has a particular way of playing the guitar that fills the whole stadium with magnific chordes, while Adam and Larry form a base on which he can stand. Bono, well, everybody knows Bono. He is like the Napoleon of rock: a charismatic short men that gets everyone to do what he wants. He trully represents what a front man should be.

Some videos:

Kite (such a beautiful song)

Ultraviolet (live - It pretty much sums up the 90s U2)

Moment of Surrender (Live at the Rose Bowl 2009)

Bullet the Blue Sky (Live from Paris 1987)

Band members:

Bono (Paul David Hewson) (vocals)

The Edge (David Howell Evans) (guitar, supporting vocals)

Adam Clayton (bass guitar)

Larry Mullen (drums, supporting vocals live)

Discography:

1980 – Boy

1981 – October

1983 – War

1984 – The Unforgettable Fire

1987 – The Joshua Tree

1988 – Rattle and Hum

1991 – Acthung Baby

1993 – Zooropa

1995 – Original Soundtracks

1997 – Pop

2000 – All That You Can´t Leave Behind

2004 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

2009 – No Line on the Horizon

Sites to learn to play music

2011-06-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about some websites where one could fin courses on music. This were formal education courses. Now I bring some sites that are more "practical" since they are aimed at learning some of the fundamentals of music and at learning how to play an instrument. One of them may suit your needs. I´ve been learning to play the guitar for some time now and I have used this webs to get some valuable exercises and advices.

There are a lot more and I will post some of them later on. In this ocassion I leave you this ones:

Zentao.com

There are hundreds of websites to learn guitar, but most tend to be paid or to have just a few lessons for free. This site has a terrible design, because it is very old, but offers a free comprehensive course that progresses from the basics to advanced techniques. It will be very useful and you can supplement it with free video tutorials that offer sites like Ultimate Guitar (excellent tablature source) and Guitar Trice.

Link: http://www.zentao.com/guitar/

Study Bass

Wanting to learn to play the bass on the Internet can be more severe than the sound of the instrument. However, this site has everything you need: step by step lessons are complemented by audio and video, interactive instructions, questions and answers to test acquired knowledge and song samples to analyze and exercise. There are also some very lanyards online tools, such as a printer scales and patterns, and a metronome.

Link: http://www.studybass.com/

Walt Ribeiro

Ribeiro is a 27 years old guitarist and music composer, with jazz and classical formation, who won fame online as the Internet music teacher, giving daily lessons for free via the internet. His YouTube channel has more than 15,000 subscribers and has over 5 million views. But the key is to go to his personal site, where their video tutorials are organized according to an order, from what is a note and a chord or how to read music to recording tricks, tips to know what instrument you should learn or how to squeeze the sound of your guitar. The guy seems to be accelerated by 10 liters of Red Bull but the clips are very useful and fun. You can notice that he really puts effort and passion into this.

Link: http://waltribeiro.net/

Hope they are helpful.

Muse

2011-06-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

To my view, Muse is THE BAND of the last decade. Radiohead and Porcupine Tree have produced better things but of the bands that make their appearance in the 2000s, Muse is clearly the best. No doubt about it. In the years to come they will be the referential band and I´m pretty sure that in 30 years a lot of youngsters will say “fuck, I would have loved to be there to see Muse”. Well, kids, I wasn´t able to see Pink Floyd, so stop crying. Well thought, you haven´t as well, so cry the double.

The front man is Matthew Bellamy, who is one of those human beings who seems to have come from other galaxy. I say this because he plays the guitar extraordinarily, sings very well and has the brain specially designed to compose music. He has some classical formation and in fact this is reflected in his music since many Muse´s songs have a distinctive classic style played by Bellamy in the piano. Even more, in Space dementia, from their second LP Origin of Symmetry, the beginning is a passage from the first piano concerto by Rachmaninov. I´m not sure, but there are many other passages that brings classical music from those years (the early twentieth century) to my mind.

The originality of this band is that they combine this with rock, some punk now and then and a very crude and direct sound that kicks your head, I can assure you. The voice of Bellamy and the way he sings can vary from a rending cry to a sublime interpretation.

The style have changed a bit since the start. At the beginning they were pretty hard, at least for me. They have soften a bit on their last 2 CDs but they still sound sweeping. This happens to many bands: at first, in order to give the listener a good slap, they get quite noisy. But then, when they improve their compositions, this is no longer necessary and the hard-rock part is used as a seasoning and not as the main attraction of the song.

This is very clear on their last CD, The Resistance. Here you can even find some pop fragrance. But the amazing thing of this one is that the last 3 songs are a mini-symphony which I strongly recommend. Bellamy has stated that he had been working in this for almost his entire live. When you listen to it you feel grateful about being able to listen to the effort and inspiration of a fucking genius put into 13 minutes.

Finally I would like to add that I have seen them live 2 months ago for the first time. I must say that what you can picture by listening to their recordings doesn´t pay tribute to what this guys make in live presentations. I have never heard something so beautifully shocking. It were just 8 songs since they played as openers for U2 (yes, I saw U2 and Muse in the same night) but they kick everyone´s asses. The drummer is a beast and together with the bassist form a strong bass on which Bellamy can do his thing. The coordination of the band is remarkable.

Some videos:

Knights of Cydonia (Live at Wembley 2007) – The definition of rock

Starlight

Exogenesis (Complete Symphony)

Sing for absolution (Beautiful and touching song)

Band Members:

Matthew Bellamy (leading vocals, guitar, piano)

Dominic Howard) (drums)

Radiohead

2011-06-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, they are the second best band still active, only after Porcupine Tree. They are very innovative and dare to experiment, never get stuck and have songs that'll blow your head!, Thom Yorke's voice is quite unique and very good, despite what may seem at first impression. Greenwood's guitar is one of the bests these days.

Just listen to songs like Paranoid Android and Jigsaw Falling into Place. If you want to hear something more experimental, Pyramyd or Idioteque are good choices. But for me, the song that really blows my head off and touches me in the deepest places of my soul is Lucky. This is an awesome rock song. That guitar… grrrrrr. I shiver just to think about it.

Looking back, from "Pablo Honey", their first album, which includes the world famous 'Creep', to their last two albums, "In Rainbows" and “The king of limbs”, they all have a common denominator: a remarkable artistic expression and the constant search for something new.

Ok computer is definitely one of the best CDs in rock history. Almost every song has the potential to be a hit but they are not a monotonous and simple combination of chords. This, I must say, is another characteristic of them. Their music is complex (at least much more complex than most of the crap that have been produced in the last 20 years) but you can get it easily. At least that is my case. I think that the reason is that their songs can be listen without paying them much attention and many would say that they are nice tunes. But when you sit down and start listening carefully and looking for the immense amount of details that this guys put in them you can entertain yourself for days and days. However, all this details don´t get in the middle of the bases.

This characteristic has been “optimized” on their last two CDs. They sound extremely basic, without so many sounds, and you can´t avoid thinking that they haven´t put so much effort on it the first time you listen to them. However, you also can´t avoid noticing that something deeper is going on. And the fact is, that it is!!!

Another thing to note is that they are opening a new path for business in the music industry. In rainbows, for example was released on the Internet from a website and people put the price they wanted, so you could downloaded it for free if you wanted. After this period of shock, they released a pack in CD and vinyl version at a specified price. They have made something similar with The king of limbs. One of the best bands in the world has no contracts with any label because they know they are better off without the vampires of the industry. Radiohead does not only leads the way with her artistic offerings, but also as media pioneers.

A curious fact is that all band members have a college degree except for Jonny Greenwood, who begun studying at Oxford but had to quit because the band signed a contract. York studied at the University of Exeter, O´Brien studied economics at the University of Manchester, Colin Greenwood studied English at Peterhouse, Selway got a degree in English and History at Liverpool John Moores University. Actually, education have been an important topic in this band lifes since they all met in their school, the all boys public school Abingdon.

Some videos for you to know them:

Karma Police

Lucky (live in Glastonbury 2003)

Jigsaw falling into place (live in Reading 2009)

Band members:

Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano)

Jonny Greenwood (guitar and pretty much any other instrument on earth)

Ed O'Brien (guitar, vocals)

Colin Greenwood (bass guitar)

Phil Selway (drums, backing vocals)

Discography:

1993 - Pablo Honey

1995 - The Bends

1997 - OK Computer

2000 - Kid A

2001 - Amnesiac

2003 - Hail to the Thief

2007 - In Rainbows

2011 - The King of Limbs

Brian Eno

2011-06-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that there is a link between many of tha bands and musicians that I admire: U2, Bowie, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and, more recently, Coldplay. What do all have in common? They have been influenced directly (in production or participating as a partner) by the great avant-garde music Pop: Brian Eno. This great english artist, like it or not, is responsible for many of our favorite records, no matter how they sound ... bright, distinct, unique.

The most popular work he has made is his contribution as a producer for U2, along with Lanois, but there is a lot more to acknowledge. For instance, we have his work with Bowie's famous Berlin Trilogy discs, Low, Heroes and Lodger. We also have his participation in most of Talking Heads discs.

Talking to people, I´ve come to realize that very few have heard of him. Even fewer have heard any of his own material, despite he is a very prolofic musician. If I had to recommend some of this I would say that you should listen to the 4 discs after leaving Roxy Music. Now if you want something “cooler”, you could listen to the ambient records (I must say that Eno was the creator of the concept of “ambient music”) as "music for airports", "music for films" or "evening star" with Robert Fripp.

Well, for those unfamiliar with some of the huge (and sometimos difficult) work of Brian Eno, here are a gem corresponding the album "Evening Star" done in collaboration with Robert Fripp. The disc is from 1975:

Another little gem of Eno. This cooresponde the album he did with the John Cale (Velvet Underground):

Discography:

1973 (No Pussyfooting) (con Robert Fripp)

1973 Here Come The Warm Jets

1974 Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

1975 Evening Star (con Robert Fripp)

1975 Another Green World

1975 Discreet Music

1978 Before and After Science

1978 Ambient #1 / Music for Airports

1978 Music for Films

1978 After the Heat

1980 Ambient #2 / The Plateaux of Mirror (con Harold Budd)

1981 Ambient #3 / Day of Radiance

1981 My Life In The Bush of Ghosts (con David Byrne)

1981 Empty Landscapes

1982 Ambient #4 / On Land

1983 Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks

1983 Music for Films, Vol. 2

1984 The Pearl (con Harold Budd)

1985 Begegnungen II

1985 Thursday Afternoon

1988 Music for Films, Vol. 3

1989 Textures

1990 Wrong Way Up (con John Cale)

1992 Nerve Net

1992 The Shutov Assembly

1993 Neroli

1993 Robert Sheckley's In a Land of Clear Colours

1994 Headcandy

1995 Spinner (con Jah Wobble)

1997 The Drop

1997 Extracts From Music for White Cube

2001 Drawn From Life (con Peter Schwalm)

2004 The Equatorial Stars (con Robert Fripp)

2005 Another Day on Earth

2008 Corporate Cannibal (con Grace Jones)

2008 Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (con David Byrne)

2009 "The Lovely Bones" soundtrack

2010 "Small Craft on a Milk Sea"

Since his work as a producer has been very important we should list all of his participations in other people´s CDs. But as this would make my post endless, I paste this link in which you will see the hole list of discs in which he has worked:

http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/discog.html

King Crimson

2011-06-02T03:29:00.000-07:00

When we talk about progressive rock we tend to place all groups in the same boat, when in reality there are many glaring differences between Pink Floyd or Genesis. And although it is a type of music that owes its greatest popularity to the group made by Waters and Gilmour, it is also true that, in my opinion, the progressive rock group that has remained more current and has shown throughout his career a constant renewal that sets it apart from its other contemporaries is King Crimson.

King Crimson is a musical entity created in England in 1969 by Robert Fripp and Michael Giles. It has been recognized for its variety of shapes and styles, recreating itself whenever the music needs to be played, always following the guidelines of Fripp. It is one of the most important precursors of progressive rock movement and it is considered by many that the first album of progressive rock is In The Court Of The Crimson King from 1969.

The style of "Krimson" varies from the most stylish symphonic rock of the first days until free structures inspired by the free-jazz albums that mark the most recent, based always on the mathematical perfection Fripp demand to each of the musicians that accompany him.

King Crimson is undoubtedly one of the most influential bands in music history. The band's history has been shaped by constant changes of personnel. Robert Fripp is the only common factor of all disks and all alignments of the group, although he does not consider himself as leader. For him, King Crimson is "a way of doing things" and the constant changes of its members only reflect that view. We should add that King Crimson has had to date, 17 members since its founding in 1968.

However, his music has been relegated to a cult with few listeners. Perhaps due to the fact that they don´t have pleasant and dreamy melodic lines like those we can find in Pink Floyd. In fact, listening to King Crimson often annoys and hurts the ears. And it is not about guitars. It's about taking positions and melodic structures always uncomfortable or unconventional. But if one makes the effort to find you a real beast of rock. "Metallica?" Nirvana? "Iron maiden? ... No, this is really dense and beautifully catastrophical.

Discipline is one of the best progressive albums ever, a sign that the band has nothing to envy to the rest of progressive rock like Floyd or Rush, for example. I've always considered RED as his greatest album, but discipline is not going behind and it is also a beautiful album. Madia has a schizoid thing that reminds me of some tunes from Talking Heads.

Some live performances:

Walking on air - Live at Japan

Red - Live at Japan

Last line-up:

Tony Levin — bass guitars, Chapman Stick, upright bass, synthesiser, backing vocals (1981–1999; 2003–2009-present?)

Gavin Harrison — drums (2007–2009-present?)

Adrian Belew — lead vocals, guitars, guitar synthesiser/MIDI guitar, electronic percussion (1981–2009-present?)

Pat Mastelotto — acoustic and electronic drums and percussion (1994–2009-present?)

Former members:

Greg Lake — bass guitar, vocals and tambourine (1968–1970)

Michael Giles — drums, vocals (1969–1970)

Ian McDonald — saxophone, clarinet, flute, mellotron, vibes, vocals (1969; 1974)

Peter Sinfield — lyrics, synthesiser (1969–1971)

Gordon Haskell — bass guitar, vocals (1970)

Andy McCulloch — drums (1970)

Boz Burrell — bass guitar, vocals (1971–1972)

Ian Wallace — drums, percussion, vocals (1971–1972)

John Wetton — bass guitar, vocals, occasional electric guitar and piano (1972–1974)

Jamie Muir — percussion, allsorts (1972–1973)

Bill Bruford — acoustic and electronic drums and percussion (1972–1998)

David Cross — violin, viola, flute, mellotron, electric piano, keyboards (1972–1974)

Richard Palmer-James — lyrics on Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Starless And Bible Black and Red

Trey Gunn — Warr guitar, Chapman Stick, baritone guitar, Ashbory silicone-string bass, "talker" (1994–2003)

Discography:
Study Albums:
In The Court Of The Crimson King
In the Wake of Poseidon
Lizard
Islands
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Starless and Bible Black
Red
Discipline
Beat
Three of a Perfect Pair
VROOOM
Thrak
The ConstruKction of Light
Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With
The Power to Believe

Live Albums:
Earthbound
USA
B'Boom
THRaKaTTaK
Epitaph
The Night Watch
Ladies of the Road
Absent Lovers
Live in Park West, Chicago
The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson - Volume One
The ProjeKcts
The Great Deceiver

Wikipedia says:

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history (including jazz and folk music, classical and experimental music, psychedelic rock, hard rock and heavy metal, new wave, gamelan, electronica and drum and bass). The band have been influential on many contemporary musical artists, and have gained a large cult following despite garnering little radio or music video airplay.

Though originating in England, the band have had a mixture of English and American personnel since 1981. The band's lineup (centred on guitarist Robert Fripp) has persistently altered throughout their existence, with eighteen musicians and two lyricists passing through the ranks; though a greater degree of stability was achieved later in their history, with Adrian Belew having been a consistent member since 1981 (excluding ProjeKcts).

The debut lineup of the band was influential, but short-lived, lasting for just over one year. Between 1970 and 1971, King Crimson were an unstable band, with many personnel changes and disjunctions between studio and live sound as the band explored elements of jazz, funk and classical chamber music. By 1972 the band had a more stable lineup and developed an improvisational sound mingling hard rock, contemporary classical music, free jazz and jazz fusion before breaking up in 1974. The band re-formed with a new line-up in 1981 for three years (this time influenced by new wave and gamelan music) before breaking up again for around a decade. Since reforming for the second time (in 1994), King Crimson have blended aspects of their 1980s and 1970s sound with influences from more recent musical genres such as industrial rock and grunge. The band’s efforts to blend additional elements into their music have continued into the 21st century, with more recent developments including drum and bass-styled rhythm loops and extensive use of MIDI and guitar synthesis.

King Crimson's existence has been characterised by regular periods of hiatus initiated by Robert Fripp. The current status of the band is ambiguous. Despite online diary posts from Fripp suggesting that he is not interested in working within the King Crimson context, "Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins" has been identified as a King Crimson ProjeKct.

Music online courses

2011-05-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today I bring a different point of view of music, which is, the teaching and learning. Many people tend to think that everyone can just grab a guitar, get together with some friends and have a go at music. But being able to play well an instrument and compose a beautiful tune is more than that. You need to be properly trained and to know the fundamentals of music theory.
However, not everyone has the time or money to attend to an university and get their college degree. In response to this, many universities have develop online classes so as to allow this people to get a good education. This courses are less expensive and allow you to administrate your time as you like.
Here you can find three sites that may make it easier for you to find a course that suits to your needs:

- distance-education.org offers degrees in many fields related to music. This are:
K-12 Music teacher
Music director
Composer
Musical historian
Researcher
Instrument designer
Piano tuner
Band/choir director
Musicologis
So, if you are interested in working in the music field and need a degree which you can obtaing fast, this is a great option.

- elearners.com is another website with a big data base covering different areas, including music. Here you will find a large list of prestigious universities offering courses and degrees related to music.
Link: http://www.elearners.com/online-degrees/music.htm

- Another site with a vast offer in courses is onlinedegrees.org. The web page can be navigated easily and you will find the degrees that could suit you quickly. In case you´re an anxious person, here I leave you the link to the list of music courses:
http://www.onlinedegrees.org/music.htm

- As far as specific universities are concerned, one of the most prestigious is The Boston University School of Music, established in 1872. It has been pioneer in music education in the United States and has produced some of the world's greatest musical minds. Some years ago they have added the possibility to get their degrees by online courses. I have found great reviews and therefore I give you the link:
Link: http://musiceducation.bu.edu/

Electric Light Orchestra

2011-05-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

A group that I love. Sometimes excessive in his arrangements and production but has unforgettable songs. The creative genius was Jeff Lynne. They had a wide range of sounds since their instrumentation was very versatile. This allowed them to jump from progressive rock to pop with a backgrounding classical overtone. This last was basically consisting on strings.

They were one of the most experimental bands during the 70´s and 80´s, specially the 70´s. But during the 80´s they produced some iconic songs that represents very well the sound of that decade. It´s also remarcable that during the 70´s they composed some songs that anticipated what was coming in the 80´s with all the symphonic rock movement and the influenced it had over tens of bands. Along with Genesis, this guys are probably the most important ones in this field.

The CD I have listened the most is ELO 2. I found it to be a very interesting record since they made a pretty much unique combination of styles there. You find progressive rock as the major one but the pop “fragance” appears now and then.
If you are interested in a compilation of the band's career, the dvd "ZOOM LIVE" (2002) would suit you. Highly recommended. In any case, any compilation you see out there is good because they were a great singles group. About a particular disc, I find it difficult for the reason that I gave above. But if I have to choose, I recommend "A New World Record" and "Face the Music”, besides ELO 2.

Some videos of their hits:

Roll over Beethoven

Hold on tight

Last train to London

Band members:

It´s hard to say which were “the band members” since they had people coming in and out from the band all the time and not just a sessionist. Even Lynn didn´t take part during the 80´s I think. Of course we can distinguish some of them as more permanent members. These are:

Jeff Lynne – vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, cello, producer, songwriter, composer, arranger (1970–1983, 1985–1986, 2000–01)

Bev Bevan – drums, percussion, vocals (1970–1983, 1985–1986)

Richard Tandy – keyboards, synthesizers, bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals, arranger (1972–1983, 1985–1986, 2000–01)

Louis Clark – orchestra arranger, conductor (1974–1980, 1983)

Kelly Groucutt – bass guitar, vocals (1975–1983)

Mik Kaminski – violin (1973–1979, 1981–1983, 1986)

Hugh McDowell – cello (1972, 1973–1979)

Other members were:

Roy Wood – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, cello, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, drums, recorder, producer, songwriter, arranger (1970–1972)

Melvyn Gale – cello (1975–1979)

Mike Edwards – cello (1972–1974)

Mike de Albuquerque – bass guitar, vocals (1972–1974)

Wilfred Gibson – violin (1972–1973)

Colin Walker – cello (1972–1973)

Bill Hunt – keyboards, French horn, hunting horn (1970–1972)

Steve Woolam – violin (1970–1971)

Discography:

1971- The Electric Light Orchestra

1973 - ELO 2

1973 - On the Third Day

1974 - Eldorado, A Symphony

1975 - Face the Music

1976 - A New World Record

1978 - Out of the Blue

1979 - Discovery

1980 - Xanadu

1981 - Time

1983 - Secret Messages

1986 - Balance of Power

2001 - Zoom

Wikipedia says:

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) were a British rock group from Birmingham, who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. After Wood's departure following the band's debut record, Lynne wrote and arranged all of the group's original compositions and produced every album.

Despite early singles success in the UK the band were initially more successful in the United States, billed as "The English guys with the big fiddles". They soon gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. By the mid-1970s, they had become one of the biggest selling bands in music. From 1972 to 1986, ELO accumulated 27 Top 40 hit singles in both the UK and the US. The group also scored 20 Top 20 U.K. hit singles, as well as 19 Top 20 hit singles in the U.S. Billboard charts. The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits of any band in US chart history without ever having a number one single.

ELO collected 19 CRIA, 21 RIAA and 38 BPI awards, and sold over 50 million records.

The Police

2011-05-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

I´ve known The Police since very little, since my parents had some compilations of Sting and The Police. I really dig into them when I was about 16 and they quite blew my head. This was due to the fact that even though I knew their hits, I haven´t listened to their studio CDs in which you can find very interesting an unique things. They have some experimental songs in all of their CDs, combined with some classics. For instance, in their first CD, Outlandos d´Amour, they have classics such as Roxanne and Can´t Stand Losing you along with really extrange ones such as the last two, Be my girl and Masoko Tanga.

Another thing that amaze me is that they had a very short, yet fast, carrer. Their first CD is from 1978 and by 1984 they had splitted after recording 5 CDs, all of them, big successes. Another remarcable fact is that of the change in their style. The first two CDs have a clear punk influence with a bit of reggear. But in the third one we find ourselves listening to a good example of New Wave music. Finally, their last CD shows a great maturity regarding their sound and it´s their CD I like the most. With thier discography, they set the path for most of 1980´s rock
Finally, I would like to highlight the quality of them as musicians. Stewart Copeland is one of the greatest drummers in history. He has the characteristic of being able to play really fast and hit lots of things in a matter of seconds, yet remaining simple and not overblown. Andy Summers is a unique guitar player. I haven´t listen many musicians using his effects and his style. Sting is a gifted bass player but a mediocre singer, at least in the period of time in which The Police existed. One curiosity about Sting is that he was a teacher for two years at St. Paul's Middle School, after getting his diploma in Northern Counties College of Education, (which later became part of Northumbria University)
As usual, I leave some videos:

Every breath you take

Message in a bottle (live)

Synchronicity (live)

King of Pain (live)

Band members:

Sting: lead vocals, bass guitar, backing vocals (studio only)
Andy Summers: guitar, backing vocals (live only)
Stewart Copeland: drums, percussion, backing vocals (live only)

Discography:
1978 - Outlandos d´Amour
1979 - Reggatta de Blanc
1980 - Zenyattà Mondatta
1981 - Ghost in the Machine
1983 - Synchronicity

Related sites:
The Police (http://www.thepolice.com/)
Sting (http://www.sting.com/)
Andy Summers (http://www.andysummers.com/)
Stewart Copeland (http://www.stewartcopeland.net/)

Wikipedia says:
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The band consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar, vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums, vocals, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz music. Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, was number one on the UK Album Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over 8,000,000 copies in the US. The group disbanded in 1984, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour lasting until August 2008. The Police have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour.

Pink Floyd

2011-05-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

What can a guy like me say about this HUGE band. No doubt about it: these people took Rock further and higher than anybody else. There´s no one who can be compared to them. Some will say that The Beatles are a bigger band but those who say so haven´t really listen to Pink Floyd. For me, listening to them is like going into a music therapy. Some argue that their music is depressing, but in my case, it helps me to feel better when I´m feeling down.

For me there´s no guitar player like Gilmour. He may not be the most technically gifted but no one can express as many things as David with a single note. His solos are from other galaxy.
And talking about galaxies, no one can create them as Richard Wright with his keyboards and synthetizers. He would transport to places no one else could.
Waters is the big brain behind all these, but without the interpretations of David and Richard, Pink Floyd wouldn´t be what it is.
Finally, I don´t consider Nick Mason to be a great drummer but well, you can´t have the best guitar player, the best composer, one of the greatest keyboard players and the best drummer of all times in the same band, do you?

I´m not really into the Barret era. I prefer the 70´s. Meddle is the first album in which all the experimentation of the previous years begins to settle into more "common" songs. Even though complexity is always there, I think that they manage to work it out and make music that everyone can listen to. The highest point of this album is Echoes (see the video at the bottom).
The dark side of the moon has a completely unimportant record, but at last a record, which is being in my MP3 player ever since I bought it in 2005. The only time in which I erase it was once that I was listening to Pulse and the reason, as you can imagine, is that they played the entire Dark side of the moon in that concert.
Wish you were here has their best song, Shine on you crazy diamond.
Animals has the only prove found so far of the existence of god: the guitar that appears in Dogs in 3:41 and last for the next minute and a 15 seconds. Men, that minute and fisteen seconds should be the definition of music in an acustic encyclopedia.
Finally, The wall, well, this is the summun of conceptual music.
You may say that they set a kind of school in music.

I would like to soy that it was pretty amazing to see the 3 remaining members the other day at London in The Wall presentation by Waters. I would love to have been there, but well, Argentina is a bit far from London. I share some videos of this historic moment.

Confortably Numb - Gilmour joins Waters in his The Wall Tour

Outside the wall - Gilmour, Mason and Waters together

Shine on you crazy diamond

Echoes - Gilmour and Wright showing what can two musicians do after playing for 35 years together.

Basic formation:
Roger Waters (base guitar, vocals, chorus)
David Gilmour (guitar, leading voice)
Richard Wright (keyboards and synthetizers, chorus)
Nick Mason (drum)

Former members:
Syd Barret
Bob Klose

Discography:

5 de agosto de 1967 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
29 de junio de 1968 - A Saucerful of Secrets
27 de julio de 1969 - Music from the Film More
25 de octubre de 1969 - Ummagumma
10 de octubre de 1970 - Atom Heart Mother
30 de octubre de 1971 - Meddle
3 de junio de 1972 - Obscured by Clouds
24 de marzo de 1973 - The Dark Side of the Moon
15 de septiembre de 1975 - Wish You Were Here
23 de enero de 1977 - Animals
30 de noviembre de 1979 - The Wall
23 de marzo de 1983 - The Final Cut
7 de septiembre de 1987 - A Momentary Lapse of Reason
30 de marzo de 1994 - The Division Bell

Related sites:
Pink Floyd (http://www.pinkfloyd.com/)
Roger Waters (http://www.rogerwaters.com/)
David Gilmour (http://www.davidgilmour.com/)

A fans site I check now and then: http://www.pinkfloydz.com/

Wikipedia says:

Pink Floyd were an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially successful and influential rock music groups of all time. They have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million certified units in the United States. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The band originally consisted of university students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. Founded in 1965, they first became popular playing in London's underground music scene in the late 1960s. Under Barrett's leadership they released two charting singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and a successful début album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1968, several months prior to Barrett's departure from the group due to the latter's deteriorating mental health. Following the loss of their principal songwriter, Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Waters became the band's lyricist and conceptual leader, with Gilmour assuming lead guitar and sharing lead vocals. With this lineup Pink Floyd achieved worldwide critical and commercial success with The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

Wright left the group in 1979, and Waters in 1985, but Gilmour and Mason (subsequently joined by Wright) continued to record and tour. Waters resorted to legal means to try to keep them from performing as Pink Floyd, but the dispute was resolved with an out-of-court settlement which allowed Gilmour and Mason to continue, and which also released Waters from his contractual obligations to the band. Two further albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell followed. Following almost two decades of acrimony, the band reunited in 2005 for a single performance, at the charity concert Live 8. Surviving members Waters, Gilmour and Mason reunited for one of Roger Waters' Wall Tour shows on May 12th, 2011 at the O2 Arena in London; Gilmour performed "Comfortably Numb" and the three members performed together for "Outside The Wall".

Soda Stereo

2011-05-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

This is the band I have listened to the most. And it is also the iconic iberoamerican rock band. They generated a revolution in Latin America when they first gave concerts through it in 1987 and influenced decens of bands and musicians, especially in Mexico. Before them, the rock sang in spanish almost didn´t exist, besides for Argentina. But afterwards many people thought that if this argentinean fellas could do it, then they also could.
I began listening to them whem I was 11 and they shaped the way I understand music: for me the guitar is played as Cerati plays it, the bass is played as Zeta does it and the drums, well, you get the picture.
Of course, I have added a lot of other bands and musicians to my "playlist" and nowadays I don´t listen Soda so much. But now and then I put one of their CDs and I discover new details and possible interpretations of their songs. I would add that listening them live is quite amazing. They used to change their old songs to the style of the CD they were presenting. Doing so, they managed to creat 2 or 3 very different versions of most of their songs and also to make an unique experience of each set of gigs.
The band was formed in 1983. Cerati and Zeta knew each other from college. They were both studying advertising and they shared not only a similar taste for music but also for graphic design.
I strongly recommend El Ultimo Concierto and Dynamo. The first one are two CDs with the recordings of their last gigs (not including their 2007 reunion). Even though the relationship between them was bad they managed to remake most of the songs they played with a clear influence from Pink Floyd and an exquisite instrumentation.
The other CD is a master piece. Is a 1992 CD that I consider is at the vanguard of rock in the entire world. The sound is pretty much unique and I haven´t been able to found another band with that style. Many say that Screamadelic is similar but to me the only thing similar is experimentation on some synthetizers used.
In 2007 they got reunited 10 years after their last concert. They made presentations through the entire continent, with 22 gigs (all of them sold out) in 3 months, 6 of which were at River Plate´s stadium in Buenos Aires, surpassing the record that The Rolling Stones had with 5 presentations in a row.
Enjoy it!
I leave you some videos of them playing some of their best songs live. First, En la ciudad de la furia, beautiful and mgnific song. Second, En remolinos, a song from Dynamo. Last but not least, De música Ligera, their most famous song. Everybody knows it in Latin America.

En la ciudad de la furia - Último concierto

En Remolinos - Me verás volver

De música ligera - Último concierto

Basic formation:
Gustavo Cerati (guitar and vocals)
Zeta Bosio (base, chorus)
Charly Alberti (drum and percusion)

Discography:
1984 - Soda Stereo
1985 - Nada Personal
1986 - Signos
1987 - Ruido Blanco (live)
1988 - Doble Vida
1989 - Languis (EP)
1990 - Canción Animal
1991 - Rex Mix (EP)
1992 - Dynamo
1993 - Colores Santos
1994 - 20 Grandes Éxitos (compilation)
1995 - Sueño Stereo
1996 - Confort y música para volar (MTV Unplugged)
1997 - Chau Soda (compilation)
1997 - El Último Concierto (live)
2008 - Me verás volver (live)

Videography:
1988 - Ruido Blanco
1991 - Canción Animada
2004 - Una Parte de la Euforia
2005 - El Último Concierto
2007 - Confort y Música para Volar
2008 - Me Verás Volver

Related websites:
Soda Stereo (http://sodastereo.com/)
Gustavo Cerati (http://www.cerati.com/)
Zeta Bosio (http://www.zetabosio.net/)
Charly Alberti (http://www.charlyalberti.com/)

A fans site I visit to get some knews about the band´s members: http://www.zonadepromesasweb.com.ar/zdpweb/

Wikipedia says:

Soda Stereo were an Argentine rock band from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Were one of the most influential and important rock bands of all time of the hispanic music and of the latin rock. They were a power trio made up of singer-songwriter and guitarist Gustavo Cerati, Hector "Zeta" Bosio on bass, and Carlos Alberto Ficicchia (Charly Alberti) on drums. Their career spanned from 1984–1997, and was followed up by a short comeback tour in 2007-2008. Soda Stereo began as a new wave outfit influenced by The Police, The Specials, Television, The Cure, XTC, and Argentine rock. Their music evolved toward a heavier alternative rock sound throughout the 90’s, eventually drawing influences from classic rock, shoegaze, and Britpop.

Soda Stereo were the first Latin rock group to achieve success throughout the whole of South and Central America, where they have sold more than 7 million copies alone. They helped popularize the musical genres Rock En Español, Ibero-American Rock, and Latin Rock genres to a mainstream audience. The band established what would become the template for many other popular Spanish-speaking rock music groups. Soda Stereo has topped the all time lists in much of Latin America and in their native Argentina, where they set landmarks in record sales and concert attendances. In 2002 Soda Stereo was awarded the Legend Prize by MTV Latin America, the first prize to be awarded of its kind.