Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days
Posts: 4,779
I'm Shaun.
Impossible question for me, I could give you a different answer each day for a month and still be no clearer.
For today I'll say Silver Sun. They're the zenith of powerpop, so if you get a rush from Ramones-y guitar mixed with Beach Boys-y harmonies they're the perfect mix. I wish I'd never heard them just so that I could go through the joy of discovering them all over again. Several great albums await the unfamiliar, and their B-sides are damn good too. Just begin with their 1997 debut and take it from there.
Pete
Assuming that favourite Jazz group is another thread ... it's either Mahavishnu Orchestra or Gentle Giant ... both truly astonishing live bands. So, Gentle Giant it is! On record they could be a bit subdued at times, but live they were like no other band I've ever heard, before or since. Try 'Playing the Fool' for a glimpse of what they were about.
I think that I have two favourite bands. There are bands I love, bands that I get excited about when they have a new album out, but there are two band that I love.
The first is Half Man Half Biscuit. I first got in to the Biscuits when I was in sixth form (via a cooler lad in upper sixth) about the time the second album came out. Now you may think that they're just a comedy turn, and I'd be the first to admit that no one in the band is going to appear in a list of the best guitarist/bassist/drummer/singer in the world, but I keep coming back. Of all the bands I was into in my teens, this is the only one that I still listen to now. They make me smile, and more than once they make me think...
There is nothing better in life
Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro
And you know what? There isn't.
Second greatest time I had
Was when they asked me and my dad
To organise a festival
Along the lines of Donington
We took Chirk Airfield as our site
Booked the bands we thought were right
Received the long-range from the Met
They said it could be very wet
With this in mind, we thought it wise
To call the whole caboodle off
The greatest time I ever had
Was when we didn’t tell the bands
If that doesn't make you laugh, I don't want to go for a pint with you!
I love serious music. I've got lots of Radiohead and Clash and Jethro Tull Queen and British Sea Power and Jack White and Damon Albarn, but every now and again it's just good to listen to someone who can take the piss really, really well.
See also: Sleaford Mods and Mark Wynn.
I'll tell you about the second band I love tomorrow!
I couldn't name just one but all the best were formed before 1980... And what's more I vehemently insist it's not an age thing and music genuinely was MUCH better back then. Even the best and most popular bands of today like The Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, U2 etc etc are not even in the same league as the likes of The Who, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin etc!
And don't even get me started on "Urban", "R&B" etc... So bad I'd literally rather listen to The Bay city Rollers than that shite!!
Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)
Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco
I can't stand The Bay City Rollers so that should tell you how much I detest Urban and R&B!! Unfortunately the yoof of today appear to have zero taste (the non muso ones that is) so there's no escaping the crap on the radio.... I've sometimes listened to it and thought that if I was playing along to this on a guitar I'd have been doing nothing but strumming the same C chord for the last 30 seconds or more!!
Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)
Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco
Theres lots of new bands that are great....well some .....well one, Maybe?
Regards,
Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse
I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work.... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -
Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".
“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”
"You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”
“There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”
***SMILE, BE HAPPY***
Regards,
Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse
I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work.... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -
Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".
“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”
"You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”
“There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”
***SMILE, BE HAPPY***
There is some good stuff but nothing to compare to the greats of the past IMHO. Remember when a new album was all good tracks and no filler as well? Too many times in the last 20 years or so I've bought an album on the strength of a good single and then found the single was the only decent track on it!!
Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)
Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco