Stairway to Eleven Episode #21: 2001 - The Millenium Falconer

00:00:00There's a podcast that's sure

00:00:03All that rocks hard is gold

00:00:06And they're climbing the stairway to 11

00:00:12When they get to there they know

00:00:16The record stores are all closed

00:00:20But online they can get what they came for

00:00:56from the year 2001.

00:00:59For some of us, that seems like only yesterday, but 24 years.

00:01:05Good grief.

00:01:05It sure does seem like yesterday.

00:01:08Yeah.

00:01:09Sadly.

00:01:10Time flies.

00:01:13Yes, it does.

00:01:14That's hard to believe.

00:01:16Yeah.

00:01:1724 years.

00:01:19Pivotal year for me though, musically.

00:01:21I don't know about you guys, but it was a big year, I thought.

00:01:24I left out a lot of metal because I'm like, but not all metal. There's a couple in here. But I wanted to focus on rock music mostly because this is the stuff that I don't get to talk about on Metalhead's podcast. So. Yeah. And I was completely out of rock at this point. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, mine's all progressive rock. No. Regular. Standard rock. Hard rock. Almost non-exempt. There really wasn't a whole lot. Right. That I was interested in. Yeah.

00:01:53So I'm interested, George, to hear what you have to bring up because maybe I missed stuff. There's a couple of bands that I'd forgotten all about because it's been 24 years. And I was like, oh, I want to listen to this again. And so I did. Yeah. So I will, I would say the further we get closer to our current time, I feel like there's less and less just rock and roll to talk about or rock or hard rock to talk about. I think it gets thinner and thinner.

00:02:23In my opinion, I could be 100% wrong about that. So a lot of these bands maybe any of our listeners may have heard of, may not have heard of, there's a good chance to explore if you're looking for something coming out of the 90s where everyone said certain types of music were dead and they weren't, they were just more underground. I think now some of these bands, at least some of the ones I mentioned, are bands that start to come forward. And the landscape changes at this point anyway. I think you guys would admit, altogether, from you,

00:02:54The 2000s is when things start to change. There's no more superstars anymore, it seems. New superstars. Non-pop superstars. No, there's no more Metallicas. Or for that matter, Slayer was still a pretty big band. On the metal side, I'm saying no more Maidens, no more Priest. Right. For that stuff, that's what I mean. No more Soundgarden or Pearl Jams. Like new bands coming up that are epically large. Yeah.

00:03:23Those are the only and then you have that yeah George you bring up a point there's a lot of those bands now but there's no new hard rock or metal bands that will ever reach that status like those bands ever again nobody not at least not I shouldn't say that there are like a couple I wouldn't consider Lincoln Park to be a metal band but they they're they were big yeah they were they were huge but there's just no more stuff that we listen to at this point that becomes exceptionally big.

00:03:52We are old, decrepit, and no longer needed by the world. That and the internet starts to spread everything thin. Yeah. At least that's how I see it. Streaming is peeking its head out a little bit. CDs are still prominent, but they're... Vinyl's non-existent at this point. Just for hardcore fans. MP3's on the horizon. Yeah.

00:04:24I think I don't know if iTunes was not yet but it's getting close yeah it's getting close cell phones are still kind of block yeah format blocks yeah and was myspace around yet I think it was yes I think so yeah yeah yeah which we can laugh about myspace all we want but it was a really good tool to I met so many people because of it I remember live journal you remember that no no that was another thing I did I met a

00:04:58A-Morphous.

00:05:22Why don't you kick us off? Oh, I'm kicking us off? Why not? You kick it. Kick it. Oh, sorry. Not. That's an 80s. So I have a tough decision to make on where to go first. Because apparently my list has been freed up. And I didn't think it would be. So I'm going to go with a band that I discovered for the first time ever. At this point in 2001, I first learned about them at Prog Power.

00:05:52in Atlanta, which at that point, this was only the second one I was at, which it was also just number two at that point. Yeah. But still it's, it's hard to believe, you know, thinking back now. Yeah. But that's, that was, yeah, that was the beginning. Yeah. Number two dose 2.0, which is funny because it actually was 2.0 because the first two prog powers were in the same year, one in February and then one in November. So one in February, two in November.

00:06:23So I learned about, I'm pretty sure this is the year I learned about this guy and I bought the album because I think it was somebody from Century Media was there with a merch stand. And you guys have been to Prog Power and it was then at Center Stage in Atlanta. And you guys know the lobby, right? Where they have the bars. Yeah. Defending was out against the wall where people line up, you know, do signing sessions. Defending was there. Everything was in the lobby. It was.

00:06:52Just crazy. Right? And I was talking to the guy from Century Media. And I said, what's the deal with this artist? And all he said was, he's a fucking genius. Like that to me. Fine, I'll buy it. And that artist was, I'll give you a hint. He's from Canada. He's Heavy Devi. Heavy Devi. Devin Townsend's Terrier album, which came out in 2001.

00:07:22Obviously, we're doing 2001. And I got it. And that's just back when I had my mobile battery-powered CD player. Yes. Plugged it in at the airport, waiting to go home. I put it on, put my headphones in, and I was just like, what is this? And then I've been a devotee. A Debbie-O-T. Yeah, a Debbie-O-T since then, since 2001. I was greeted by incredible

00:07:53of progressive metal. And it's a little post-medally at times, you know, with this big massive wall of sound. I mean, this is like Motorhead for progressive metal. If you think about it, if you're a Motorhead fan, I know George, you like Motorhead. I like Motorhead. Not as much as you and not as much as Jay, but I like Motorhead a lot. I've seen them, I don't know how many times live. They were awesome live. Always had fun at their shows. I always knew this is going to sound the same for an hour and a half.

00:08:22and it's gonna be amazing and it always was and this is like the equivalent of that but on the

00:08:27progressive metal side i knew nothing about devin townsend i didn't even know he played with steve i

00:08:33early in 1993 on sex and religion i had no idea who he was and i had never listened to strapping

00:08:38on lad which was his first big band and i was instantly hooked by this album it's his fifth release

00:08:46and it's my entry point like i said it's also probably his first true progressive metal album george

00:08:51I'm guessing you knew Devin Townsend and you knew

00:08:54Strapping at that point. I knew

00:08:56Debbie when he sang for Vi.

00:08:58Right. I didn't know

00:09:00anything about him, but

00:09:02when the Vi album came out, I was like, who's

00:09:04that little bald dork with

00:09:06the topknot thing going on

00:09:08back there? I was like, I don't know,

00:09:10but he can sing.

00:09:12I'll tell you.

00:09:14People could say what they want. He really does have

00:09:16a great voice. He really does.

00:09:18And then when I made the connection

00:09:20between that and strapping young lag, I was like, what? Who I've grown to love over the years. Yeah. I just love the insanity of that band. And plus me and Gene's in the band, Gene Hoagland. Yeah. I got cities when that came out too. Yeah. So good. Um, so I, I gather now being such a big fan, this is probably his first true album. He wrote with a progressive metal type direction.

00:09:50Even though he's always been that, I think this is the first one, because even his Ocean Machine album, progressive metal, it's just not what you would expect from that type of music in 97. And this album, it just spoke to me. It's bombastic. It's large. Like I said, that big wall sound, but it's melodic. It's angst driven. You could hear it in his vocals. It's emotionally driven. It's melancholic at times. And then you have this guy who looks insane with his skullet, you know, and it's just,

00:10:20these crazy eyes and he gets so animated which he's much more cerebral now as he is in his 50s and it's just so much intensity with this music it's i got hooked immediately because of it just songs like earth day in canada the fluke even the song stagnant which i know some people aren't a fan of just the lyrics to it alone are just what grabbed me and you could almost feel the angst that he was trying to portray

00:10:50in the song, whether it was intentional or not, you'd feel like you were there. And so I opened with this album because it's to this day still one of my favorite albums. He's got 452 albums he's released. It seems like he puts something out every 20 minutes. It does, doesn't it? Every 21 minutes, JR, give the guy a break, right? All right. Yeah. All right. But I will say, of all his releases, this definitely is, on any given day, it's one of my favorites, if not one of my top three of his. I think he's got, I don't know.

00:11:2020-some releases with what he's got out.

00:11:23Yeah, so that's my first one.

00:11:25I don't know what more to say.

00:11:26I would say if you're interested in this, if that catches or piques your interest, I would say you don't know what Devin Townsend's like until you listen to him.

00:11:35And if you like it, great.

00:11:36If you don't, I understand that because it is a big wall of sound.

00:11:39And this is one of those ones that's got that wall of sound to it.

00:11:42But man, once you get hooked, if we haven't been able to hook TR, TR appreciates Devin Townsend Live.

00:11:49and enjoys him live, but he's never been hooked enough to grab albums or listen to him. I know George is a heavy-devy devotee. I am. Yeah. But once you cross over that Devontown's at Rubicon, there's no going back. You're in. You're in. I can see it. And I appreciate his personality and just like what he, you know, the funny, quirky, you know, self-effacing. Self-deprecating.

00:12:19Self-deprecating, yeah. I mean, he has a t-shirt that says mid-tier level prog. Just basically saying, look, I know I'm in this mid-tier, but you know, hey, this is where I am and this is what it is. Which is funny now at this point in his career, he is like at the top of the prog metal world. He's one of the big names. Oh, yeah. And he's changed so much personality-wise over the years. He's actually a really interesting guy to listen to now. Yes, and he matured quite a bit. And I think that that was really,

00:12:49cleaned up what he needed to do yeah exactly and and it's really terrific that he did because i think you know when you look at interviews with him now you can you can just see the wisdom the the self-understanding the knowledge i probably ought to be dead by now or i did some stupid really crazy stuff like crapping in steve vi's guitar case and because i remember actually

00:13:19I remember reading about him when he was with Vi because I got all those guitar

00:13:23magazines all the time and and I remember reading about this wacko guy from Canada that was with Steve Vi that was like this insane not only singer but guitar player and he's a really good guitar player he really is and so and I just remember thinking to myself what's this all about I never went you know to my detriment I never did go listen to it later on when

00:13:50You know, when we started going to shows where he was usually like an opening act for a lot of the stuff that we would see, you know, or sometimes he was the show. And that's when I started connecting the dots. Oh, I remember this guy. Like, he was, like, with Vi, and, you know, he crapped in Steve Vi's guitar. He was crazy back then. Right. No, it's just, you know, that's a practical joke. Hmm. You know? Okay. He's a little edgy. Yeah, right. Okay.

00:14:20So, yeah, I remember one time we saw him at the trial. No, at the TLA. We got seats at that show, you and I, because we got there early. Oh, okay. Yeah. It was him, Paradise Lost. Who else played? It was like four bands. We went and I was actually going to see all four. I remember that. And we sat there before his set went on. He had this video playing of all this.

00:14:48Just random. Yeah. Yeah. Random ziltoid stuff. But there are these like badgers. All the little puppets dancing around. Remember the badgers? Oh, yeah. And they were flapping their paws. And it was like mesmerizing. We just sat there. Yeah. Mesmerized. I was like, wow. And then it would switch to something else. Go back to the badgers. And then they would. It'd come back like two minutes later. Yeah. So that's my number one. Devon Townsend, Terria. I think it's a great entry point.

00:15:18if you want to get into his career because it's early on but it's he's getting away from his strapping on lads like industrial insanity metal this is a little more cerebral a little more late not laid back but a little pulled back and more song structure focused i think yeah plus it has the song earth day which is just great just like great it's just great i mean

00:15:48His harsh vocals and that are just... Nobody could do those vocals. Sweet. All right, TR, what do you got? So I'm going to grab this one before anybody else does. Because I know it's probably on... Could be on both of your lists. I don't know. So I'm picking Tool, Lateralis. And this is Tool's third full-length studio album. It's epic, proggy, deep, and intense.

00:16:18from the tick from the tick I can't even say it from the planet of the younger tech what from the planet of the younger from the tricky time signatures of schism to the quiet introspective parable to the Fibonacci sequence puzzles the band baked into the title track I remember listening to this album a lot when it came out and I was just blown away and I've already talked on this podcast

00:16:48about how amazing the live show supporting this album was. It was truly transcendent. For me, this took Tool to a whole other level. This album, I felt, was Tool going just next level. This is probably one of my favorite albums. This probably really is my favorite album by then because it's just so good all the way through. It's diverse.

00:17:18It's heavy. It's just got everything you would want. And so I really love this album. And this, you know, came out in 2001, which is hard to believe. How many times did you see him on that tour? Just one time. Just one time. And that's all it took. I was just like, I felt like I, you know, got elevated to a different state of consciousness. It was weird. That tour was just, I just remember going and watching the stage. And you remember they had those, I don't know what you'd call them, performers that were like,

00:17:48that they were walking on these stilts like giraffes and stuff. It was just really... I had never seen anything like that before. And the visuals on the screens were really incredible. The music that they were playing was... It just all interlocked. There were lasers. The whole thing. It was just like such an amazing experience.

00:18:16And you guys, I know we've all been to probably hundreds of shows. And there are shows that you will remember. And shows that are good and you thought, wow, that was pretty cool and I'm glad I saw these guys and all that. But there are certain shows that are really transcendent. And shows that will stick with you for the rest of your life. And that, for me, was one of those shows. Because I just remember feeling like,

00:18:46I was part of something else. It sounds corny, but it really was

00:18:55transcendent experience. Everything today, nowadays, seems very calculated.

00:19:04These bands go and they do their shows.

00:19:09I just remember walking away from that going,

00:19:13I'm trying to process what I just saw.

00:19:17But I knew, like I was in awe of it the whole time. Aronsi Pazuzu. Yeah, that was us for that. Yeah. Nice. I struggled getting in the tool, circled back to them, even though I listened to them from the very beginning. And now I have a different appreciation for them now than I did earlier when I didn't care for them that much. Maynard always still rubs me. Yeah, he does.

00:19:47Oh, I didn't finish my sentence. How can I get some of that? Yeah, right. I didn't finish that. Whoa. No, but I am a huge fan of Danny Carey's playing. Yeah. In Tool or not, I've always been a fan of his playing and his ability to do what he does and seeing him up close like Tiara and I did a few weeks ago. Oh, yeah, Beat. Yeah. When he played as the drummer for Beat, which was the King Crimson, revisited with two King Crimson members from the 80s.

00:20:15and just how he embraced it. And I was like, I can't think of a better drummer

00:20:19to come in and do that because he's also a King Crimson fan. That was obvious.

00:20:24Yeah.

00:20:25So he wasn't even the biggest name there.

00:20:28So speaking of that, and I don't know if you guys have looked at this, but on YouTube, have you guys been to Drumeo?

00:20:35No.

00:20:36D-R-U-M-E-O. It's a drum channel and they get different drummers.

00:20:43And then they,

00:20:44they,

00:20:45what they do is from different genres,

00:20:47like Dennis chambers has been on there.

00:20:50Yeah.

00:20:51Um,

00:20:52they got,

00:20:53what's his name from the chili peppers.

00:20:55Um,

00:20:55yeah,

00:20:56Chad Smith.

00:20:57They got,

00:20:58they got Portnoy.

00:20:59They got like a bunch of these other artists that I never heard of.

00:21:02Cause they're in different genres.

00:21:04And what they do there,

00:21:05there are a couple of things they do.

00:21:06One of them is they play a song without a drum track that the,

00:21:11that that particular drummer has never heard before. And they say, okay, do you know this song? And if they're like, no, I don't know this song. Then they say, okay, you're free to come up with whatever drum track you want to this song. And then after you do, we're going to play you the original and you can hear what the original drummer did on the song. And it is really entertaining. And one of the things they also do is learn this song as fast as possible. And they put Mike Portnoy in the hot

00:21:41and they made him learn

00:21:44Oh, I saw this.

00:21:45Pneuma.

00:21:46Yeah, I read about this.

00:21:47Yeah, it's just like this is insane.

00:21:49It's like this.

00:21:50Yeah.

00:21:51And it took him like, I don't know, like 20 some hours to like actually work it all out because it was I mean, and he's he's at the top of the range, right?

00:22:00Like when it comes to drummers and technical drumming, like he's pretty much at the top.

00:22:07And he was befuddled by all the different beats and extra stuff going on and all this weird stuff. What was his comment? This is not a song. This is a mathematical equation. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. But it was enormously entertaining. But the thing is, he watched Danny Carey's playthroughs. And it's cool because you get to see him looking at Danny Carey on the screen of his, you know,

00:22:36I don't know if he had an iPad or whatever and he's looking at it and and and you want to make you like this was the way it was in beat when we watched him everything looks effortless to that guy like when he's playing it's like nothing and and you have to be insanely talented like that to be able to make it look effortless and and he does and that's yeah he's an incredible drummer and that and

00:23:06You know, that band, I think, has benefited significantly from having him in it. I'm sure. Agreed. All right. That's two interesting picks to start, George. Yeah, let's move on to a not interesting pick. It's going to go by so fast you're going to blink and go, what? It's me again already? This is a band in an album that has been off my radar for a long time until I went back and looked at stuff from 2001.

00:23:36I loved this album when it came out. And they're a quintet from Richmond, Virginia. And, uh. This is not the podcast to respond to that. Yes. And they're like an alt-country Celtic and folk-infused indie rock band by the name of Carbon Leaf. Oh, I've heard of them. But I don't know what they sound like. They're local. They're technically local for us. All right. And this is their, let's see, one, two, three, four.

00:24:06fourth album in 2001, of course, it's called echo echo.

00:24:11This was the album that introduced me to them.

00:24:15And it's just, it is like what I said, it's alt country, Celt folk, indie rock, all of that mashed into one cool jangly guitars and, you know, nice vocal hooks.

00:24:30And this is really the only album I ever listened to by them.

00:24:34They've got one, two, three, four, five. Let's just say they have a lot of albums. They start, the first was in 95 and their most recent was last year. So I think I need to catch up with these guys and see what they've been up to for the last 20 odd years. Because I really liked these guys. And I listened to this again when, when we were putting this stuff together and I was like, man, why haven't I been listening to this? It's, it's good stuff. I know you guys don't know it, so we're not going to sit here and spend 20 minutes on it.

00:25:03But if you're into that kind of music, it's an easy listen.

00:25:07And it's good.

00:25:09So you should check it out.

00:25:11I do not know it.

00:25:12So, but considering there's like a mix of eight different subgenres, that sounds interesting.

00:25:18Yeah, exactly.

00:25:20I mean that seriously.

00:25:21I'm not just saying that.

00:25:21No, I, when this came out, I loved these guys.

00:25:24This was like my favorite album for the longest time.

00:25:28I mean, in a non-metal sense, you know, at this point I was still pretty, you know.

00:25:32I'm metal. But I've always had, you know, stuff that wasn't metal. So. Of course. So. All right, cool. No, that's good. I like hearing things that are not what I'm expecting on this show. This episode. So. And I just want to give a shout out to my bro, Jeff. He told me yesterday that he has caught up with all our episodes now. So this will.

00:26:02He'll be waiting for this one. So, what up? Was he on vacation and had nothing to do? Yeah, I don't know. He must really be bored. Yeah, wow. I got nothing to do for eight days. A lot of trips to the grocery store, I'll tell you that. I gotta listen to some podcasts with those jackasses. Exactly. Thanks for listening, bro. Yeah, we appreciate everyone who listens. Yeah, definitely. All right. Back to you, John. Yeah. All right. My turn. So,

00:26:32I'm going to go slightly into the weeds here. Probably most people don't know this artist, but I was already a big fan of this artist from another band they were in, and now they were solo. And I jumped in headfirst with their debut album that came out in 99. But this is the second album, which is actually, in an odd way, really their first true album, because their first album released ended up being really

00:27:02the first album for another band. Sounds confusing. I'll explain it in a second. Yes, exactly. Huh? Do you know that? I know what he's talking about. The John Reilly. Yeah. Stuff's blowing up behind his head. So my pick is an artist who is, if we do a Desert Island artist instead of Desert Island albums, this artist is definitely on it because this artist,

00:27:32Solidified my love for progressive metal and fusion mixed together, which this artist coined as metal fusion. And in my head, when I heard that, I was like, I already like Jeff Beck, but now I was going to dive into this. And I have probably an obscene amount of unknown, obscure albums that 95% of people don't know.

00:28:02about or care about, but this sub, sub, sub genre of progressive metal, hard rock mixed with fusion is something I absolutely love. So you're killing me, John, because you took one. Oh, well, I didn't realize that. I apologize. If it's what I think. I'm sure it is. So my second pick is Derek Sherinian's Inertia. Yeah. Jump on in with me on this one. Yeah. So familiar, Derek Sherinian is a keyboardist who's actually played with a bazillion

00:28:36He's in Black Country Communion. He's in a number of bands. Those are the big bands I would say that he's played with. But he's also known for being the second keyboardist for the band Dream Theater. Second keyboardist? Yes. Yeah. He was the second keyboardist. Kevin Moore is the first. Not like at the same time. You mean he's replacement. Yes. Actually, technically, he would have been the third when he finally joined the band.

00:29:02even though he was a second official member. Because the second guy eventually would become the third keyboardist in the band, but he actually played with them before that in 1994. But he was part of Dream Theater for one album, one EP, and one album, one live album. Unfortunately, received the brunt of fans' ire because of the direction the band went at the time, and it really wasn't his fault at all. Not even remotely close. Are you sure about that? I'm positive about that because he didn't write those songs. He only wrote one song on the album.

00:29:32And he has received so much crap to the point where people have dismissed his playing. Derek Shrinian is hands down one of the best keyboardists in the world. I don't care. Anybody says he went to Berkeley, so he's obviously talented. Do you know anything about not Berkeley, not those hippies in East Bay area? It's the hippies in Boston. Somewhere Rick Wakeman's pissed. Dream Theater has just been blessed with three different types of keyboardists that are all just incredibly talented.

00:30:02He was the middle keyboardist and I was really disappointed when he was ousted from the band. Yeah. But then he went solo and he released an album called Planet X, which by the way, is really technically the first album for the band Planet X, which came out a year later. This album is more what his solo career would become to be known as, which was a real nice blend of instrumental rock, progressive metal, progressive rock and fusion. He has had some of the

00:30:32biggest names in rock and in fusion on his albums. It's just obscene who he's had play with him. He never grabbed two players, though, sadly, and they've both passed on. And the two he wanted the most, he never got on album. But he's got a few big names on this album. This album features Steve Lukather. He's a guitarist for Toto. You might have heard of them. Well, he's been on every album ever. And he's also been on every album ever. And by the way, he also is on the Michael

00:31:02Jackson's song. Which one is he on again? All of Thriller? No. Is it Beat It? Yeah. He's on Beat It. I mean, Eddie is too, but he does all the rhythm and Eddie does a solo. And there's some great pictures. I couldn't remember which one. There's some great pictures of two of them in the studio together. I'm like, oh my God, look at that. He's an incredible player. Little guy named called Zach Wilde. You might've heard of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society, and those other bands. Little drummer. Some metalheads may have heard of. Some rock people.

00:31:32may have heard of Simon Phillips. Why is he? You know, I'm being stature in terms of, you know, you might have heard this guy, maybe not. Yeah. Simon Phillips is absolutely drum God. Then he's got these amazing players like Jerry Goodman, electric violin from Mahavishnu Orchestra, which is considered one of the great fusion bands of all time. Tom Kennedy, who's a famous name in the jazz scene as a bass player. Little name called Tony Franklin on bass. Yeah. Maybe you heard of him.

00:32:01Maybe you heard him? Played with the firm. He's also been in a bazillion bands. He's one of the great bass session players who also is on Derek Shrinian's first solo album, Planet X, which to this day is still one of the greatest bands ever assembled, in my opinion. And then the bassist, Jimmy Johnson, who played with a couple of big names, James Taylor, Alan Holdsworth. So he put this group of musicians together to comprise

00:32:31a solo album of just great fusion prog metal. And it's spectacular. This isn't for everybody. So people who don't like this kind of music will really not like it. If you're a fan of this stuff, it's just incredible. And I will say, Steve Luka is playing on this album. It is just insane how good he is, especially on the songs like Mata Hari and La Periloka. You're just like, oh, okay, so the rains in Africa aren't preventing him from playing.

00:33:01I'm glad they blessed those rains in Africa. It's unreal. There's covers of Frankenstein from the Edgar Winter Group, which, by the way, Zach Wild sounds awesome on this album. I'm never a fan of his... You know, he does that squeal of his feet. His crunch is squeaks. George, you just did the main riff to Frankenstein. His crunch on that is... He sounds great. I think he does, personally. Then there's even a Charles Mingus song, Goodbye Pork, High Hat, which is also covered by Jeff Beck.

00:33:31Jeff Beck is one of Derek Sherinian's heroes along with Eddie Van Halen. And if you know anything about his keyboard playing, he plays like a guitar player on keyboards. Yeah. He's aggressive. He's almost violently aggressive with his playing. He almost said at times when you're listening to his albums, you're like, man, who's that guitar player? And it's him. Yeah. It's him on the keys. That's the thing. Yeah. He, he, he thinks and plays like a guitarist. Yes, he is. He's, he's a guitarist at heart. He really is.

00:34:00And he comes up with these incredible sounds. And I always, and T.R. I'm interested in your taking this, I think the Falling Into Affinity album is pretty good. I missed that sound they created on that album that they only had for really an album and an EP. His keyboard sound was so different. And he created these just, they weren't these lush, classically sounding or traditional keyboard sounding from the 70s sound. He had just this aggressive,

00:34:31harsh, but yeah.

00:34:32He was trying to be the second guitarist in the band, pretty much.

00:34:36He was.

00:34:37Yeah.

00:34:37He was player.

00:34:38Fabulous player.

00:34:39He is.

00:34:39And I'm with you on this, John.

00:34:42And you pretty much covered everything that I would have said about it.

00:34:44This is a great album.

00:34:47And he's got nice little albums.

00:34:49They're all awesome.

00:34:50Oh, yeah.

00:34:50For all different reasons.

00:34:51And, you know, he's played with Simon Phillips almost on every one of them, I think.

00:34:57And Simon Phillips is an incredible drummer.

00:34:59and he's played with pretty much everybody that anybody likes. And the guy is just, he's so tasteful. Like all the guys that he gets are totally tasteful. And while there would be a propensity to maybe overplay, they don't. Like it's just, it's so well done. And it's just really just so satisfying to listen to these albums. Every one of them is just totally,

00:35:29and just killer yeah and so yeah this this was you're right this kind of was like the one that

00:35:37set it all in motion i mean planet x was cool and everything but it's but it's a planet x album

00:35:42exactly right now which is the band he formed like what he yeah this is what he really ended up doing

00:35:48with his solo career and this you know is the style of all of his solo albums that would come after this

00:35:56Not the best, but it's definitely a great album. Yeah. I think his last three albums have been his best work altogether. But which, like you said, Simon Phillips is there the whole way. Yeah. By the way, he might be a drummer. Two things, two drummers that he's worked with, Simon Phillips and Virgil Donati. Both are two of my favorite drummers of all time, are also great composers. Yes. And they're drummers. Yeah. They write great music, those two guys. Yeah. Right.

00:36:25And his drummer on his first solo album, which was titled Planet X, which then became the band Planet X. Virgil Donati is his drummer on that album and on the Planet X album. So anyway, if anyone's interested in this combination of music, I would suggest jumping in right here. This is a great place to start. Yeah. I have been waiting this whole time to ask the question, who are the two people he didn't get to play with? Jeff Beck.

00:36:55who he really wanted on his albums because he's covered a number of Jeff Beck songs. As a matter of fact, Jerry, you'll appreciate this. Ken Golden from Laser's Edge. I remember when his third solo album came out. And I, if I remember correctly, because Ken, I think writes all the, if he's not quoting a review on an album that he puts on his website, he would write up a small little bit about the album. And he says, only Derek Shrinian would have the balls.

00:37:25to cover Jeff Beck. And he covered Star Cycle on the next album. And I, when I heard it, cause I absolutely love that song from Jeff Beck. And it was just, so Jeff Beck was one huge fan and he's played with Eddie Van Halen before at a party at Eddie Van Halen's house. There's video of them playing together. I'm sure he would have loved to have had Eddie on an album with him, but that would have never happened in a million years.

00:37:51And he's done a number of different, like on his Instagram page or whatever, like where he played like Van Halen songs where he got like the exact tone on his keyboard. It's crazy. It's unbelievable. Like he would get the guitar tone on his keyboard and he's playing stuff like push comes to shove and like other like fair warning tracks that you would never imagine like being played on a keyboard. And he nails it.

00:38:20Like just nails it.

00:38:22So all his keyboard and it's the side of the keyboard.

00:38:26So the keys are not facing you or facing away from there.

00:38:30Perpendicular.

00:38:30So horizontal to the screen.

00:38:33And so his hands then would be on one side and you see just like a little Eddie Van Halen guitar on the keyboard.

00:38:39And that's when he's covering Eddie.

00:38:41Yeah, that's right.

00:38:42When he did the beginning to Mean Street, I was just like, what?

00:38:46Yeah.

00:38:47This is insane.

00:38:48Right.

00:38:49First of all, to recreate that on a guitar is hard enough. But to make it on a keyboard is unbelievable. And he must have liked that Eddie was a keyboard player as well. Yeah. That's true. And oh, I should say, there's a third guitarist. He's also a big Alan Holdsworth fan, but his third guitarist was Randy Rhodes. Yeah. Oh, okay. So Randy Rhodes, Eddie Van Handel, Jeff Beck, those three guys are just, he absolutely, huge influences on him. And then Holdsworth, but most people don't.

00:39:19I don't know the name Holdsworth, but maybe better guitarist than all those guys put together. Insanely sick. Yeah. Technical guitar player. I've slowly become a big fan of his too. Mm. George, you're saying. Oh, I was in the car yesterday with Barb and, uh, Van Halen's right now came on and, uh, you know, there's some pretty cool. He lays down some nice stuff. Some cool piano on there and, and, uh,

00:39:49She was like, you know, bopping along and she's like, who plays this? Michael Anthony? And I was like, nah, babe. Nah, that's Eddie. Eddie's first, his first instrument was piano. And he was very good at it. Yeah. Then I think he did drums and then Alex was the guitar player. And they're like, eh, right. They swapped. Yeah. So yeah. There's actually some nice guitar work on that song too, actually. You don't hear it as much, but you put the, go under the cans. You can hear some nice stuff on that.

00:40:19I talked a lot about Derek Sherinian. Yeah. And deservedly so. But that's okay. You stole one of my picks. I didn't realize that. No, I know. That's fine. You know, I'm looking at my list and we're not going to talk about any of my stuff at all. Yeah. Just letting you know. I'm going to be a blip on the. I'm going to just ask so many questions on the next one. It's unreal. All right. All right. Yeah. All right. I'm going to steal. I'm going to steal one now. Because this

00:40:49This is Porcupine Tree recordings. Oh, you went there. I went there. You went there. I'm glad I didn't. I chose not to at the last second. Ah, okay. I'm glad you grabbed it. Awesome. Yes. This compilation of songs from the Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun sessions capture Porcupine Tree at a time that is a particular favorite of mine. Highlights for me are the sonic explorations in the middle and the end of Buying New Soul, creepy wistfulness of cure for optimism, and the melancholy

00:41:21The slide guitar accents in formaldehyde and the epic full version of Even Less are some of my favorites in this album. That's it. I'm sorry that you don't approve. Oh, I didn't know that was all you had to say. That was, you know, that was, I just wanted to, you know, touch on a few of the things. I'd hardly approve. I love this album. Oh, all right. You were shaking your head like, no, you were naming all the songs I would have mentioned. Oh, okay.

00:41:49Oh, good. Okay. Cause I thought you were like, no, that's crap. I don't like that song. I thought you did. Yeah. I absolutely love it. Okay, good. Yeah. And you know, the funny thing is when you, when you think about like the songs on this album, you know, they, they, they basically took pieces of songs that just didn't fit in with other albums and put them all together on this album. And you can see, you know, yes, it would have been, you can understand why some of these songs might not have been

00:42:19have fit in on the albums during the sessions which they came from. I still think, I think even less could have gone on either of those albums and still been really good. But, but I can see how, you know, even less seems like an anchor song. Like you, you either start the album with it, you end the album with it, but it's like a big song that's going to be, you know, a remarkable song for that album. And if you already have a couple of songs like that for the

00:42:49I can see why you might not want to put that on the album because this is too good to get lost in the sauce. And what you're referring to here is the fact that on the Stupid Dream album, even less is like seven minutes and 11 seconds long. But the full version, which is on the recordings album, which is the, not the outtake, but the full version of it, I think it's what, 14 and a half minutes long, roughly? At least 11, yeah, right. Oh, no, it's more than that because the second part alone, I think, is seven minutes. Yeah, that's probably true.

00:43:19Yeah. So I think it's close to 14 minutes or just shy. Let's go to the... If we only had the internet to tell us. It is 14 minutes and eight seconds long. Yeah. Okay. Right. Yeah. So I could see why that... And it's not exactly a super smooth transition between the two parts. Yeah. I think it was better that they didn't do it for the album because I like the way it ends on the album better, personally. Yeah. Right. But it's awesome. The full version. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

00:43:49We got to see that at Radio City Music Hall. Yes. Wow, I'm glad you did it. Yeah. You mentioned Cure for Optimism. Yeah. Two things. That intro, that kind of swirly, kind of ambient electronic intro. Yeah. I was watching History Channel one night. That intro was being used. Really? Yes. I was like, what? But when you get to the acoustic part, I don't care what any Porcupine Tree fan says. That's from,

00:44:19and absentia on because a lot of those fans don't like to solve that much

00:44:22that's a bunch of outtakes nobody cares whatever that's probably one of his 10 best songs he's ever written

00:44:29cure for optimism i don't care what anybody says yes yeah it's solo or porcupine tree yeah and it yeah

00:44:39all pretty much this whole album is is you know just really i have to admit though i've never been a big

00:44:47I'm a fan of Access Denied. Other than that, I pretty much like everything on this album. My New Soul would have been on Lightbulb Sun had it been recorded in time. We all but admitted that that song probably should have been on an album somewhere. Thankfully it was on this one. At least we got it. It's awesome. It's so good. Disappear, the only disappointing thing about Disappear is that it's the short radio edit and the long version, the six and a half minute version is way better.

00:45:17And that song was pre

00:45:22That's between Signify and Stupid Dream

00:45:25from like 97, so it's actually a lot older

00:45:27Okay

00:45:28Yeah, so

00:45:31I remember picking this up

00:45:33and it was still one of the numbered ones

00:45:35Like when the first

00:45:36Originals?

00:45:37Yeah, the original ones

00:45:38that were like they did

00:45:40I can't remember how many there were

00:45:41With the Slupcase

00:45:43Yeah, right

00:45:44Yeah, I picked it up and I just was like

00:45:46This is amazing

00:45:47really good.

00:45:48Yeah.

00:45:49It's a lot of those songs,

00:45:51not all of them,

00:45:51but a lot of them were released as secondaries on singles.

00:45:54They're bonus tracks.

00:45:55And so they put everything together and to finance a tour,

00:45:57I think.

00:45:59Oh,

00:45:59really?

00:45:59I think so.

00:46:00I didn't know that.

00:46:01Yeah.

00:46:02Some people don't like it because they think that the songs don't go

00:46:04anywhere.

00:46:04I'm like,

00:46:05that's just your opinion.

00:46:06And I don't really care.

00:46:07You know,

00:46:08I think there's some great songs on here.

00:46:10I agree.

00:46:11I mean,

00:46:11the people that say,

00:46:13Hey,

00:46:13this,

00:46:13there's no,

00:46:14you know,

00:46:15there's no flow to this.

00:46:16because there's all these different songs and they don't go together.

00:46:19It's yeah, of course.

00:46:20They're just a collection of songs that didn't go on another on these other albums.

00:46:24And that's why, you know, they put them out.

00:46:29And yeah, it's not like an album.

00:46:31It's it's a collection of songs that didn't go on other albums.

00:46:34So this is what you get.

00:46:36It's not going to be a, you know, a cohesive thing.

00:46:39One man's garbage is another man's joy.

00:46:42Yeah.

00:46:43Oh, yeah.

00:46:44So, yeah, I have read one one review.

00:46:47There's not one redeeming quality in any of the songs. Yeah, they just played Buy New Soul Live for years. Right, yeah. Whatever. Even less. How many times did they play that song? Fans should just be quiet. What is wrong with people? I don't know. George, are you familiar with this album? No. You might actually like it. I might. I might, Rabbit, I might.

00:47:16kind of Brit pop period.

00:47:18I don't dislike any porcupine tree.

00:47:21So I,

00:47:22yeah.

00:47:22You know,

00:47:22if you songs,

00:47:23you might do like informal,

00:47:24the hug,

00:47:24you might dig a lot and disappears really cool.

00:47:27Yeah.

00:47:30Just not familiar.

00:47:33It's quite all right.

00:47:34Are we done now and moving on?

00:47:35Yeah,

00:47:36George hit it.

00:47:36All right.

00:47:37I,

00:47:38after all this,

00:47:38I really,

00:47:39I'm,

00:47:39I'm like sitting here scratching like David Chappelle.

00:47:42I need some metal now.

00:47:44And ironically,

00:47:44it's going to be something that neither of you guys

00:47:46like.

00:47:47But.

00:47:48That's par for.

00:47:49That's the theme of my list.

00:47:51Is stuff that John and TR don't really like.

00:47:55Bullshit.

00:47:57Perfect.

00:47:58Yeah.

00:47:59And this.

00:48:00Oh, it totally sucks.

00:48:02I know you don't hate this band, but I also know you're not a big fan of this band.

00:48:07Get to it.

00:48:07Get to it.

00:48:07This is their ninth album.

00:48:09What?

00:48:11It came out on September 11th, 2001. A day you may have heard of. Maybe. And this is Slayer's God Hates Us All. Oh, see, I like Slayer, but I'm a fan of the first five albums? Six albums. Yeah. This is their ninth, so you know. But yeah, this came out on 9-11, which was a little ironic and messed up, but. Total dumb luck. Dumb luck. And I know Dreamcast.

00:48:41Theater had the same problem. Same thing. Yeah. John Block for those bands. We'll get into that. Yeah. And in fact, one of my other albums, I think also came out on that day. So I'll double check that when we get to it. But I know not everybody likes this album in terms of Slayer fans, but I think it's got some good tracks on there. Disciples, cool. Yeah. Here comes the pain. I believe that has a, I haven't listened to it in a while, but I believe that has a Pacino at the beginning. Here comes the pain. You know?

00:49:12But yeah, I mean, it's Slayer. And, you know, Hanneman was still around. Hanneman wrote one, two, he only wrote three of the songs. So. Are those the ones you like the most? That's fair. Actually, four. And are those the ones you like the most? Oh, wait, one. So there's music and lyrics. Hanneman did music for one, two, three, four, five, six songs. Six out of the 13 songs. And yes, those are the ones I like. With the Metal Hedge podcast, our sister vodcast, are then.

00:49:41The Godfather Podcast is uncanny. Everyone always says, it's a Hanneman song, so I like it. Yeah. Not to diss on Carrie King. Not at all. No, no. Everyone's a Hanneman fan. Hanneman's got the grooves, you know? Yeah. Carrie brings the vicious fury. The beef. The beef. Yeah. He brings the beef. Yeah. And the big plastic chains. Yeah. And the head tattoos.

00:50:11Yeah, it's weird. I don't know. Him and Rob, I don't know why they did that. I know. No, it's cool. At some point, you had to imagine they were going to get mentioned. Yeah, you know, I just felt we needed something along those lines here. Oh, definitely. No, that's cool. I am not as familiar with this part of Slayer's career. I know Will right now is, if Will were listening, he would be cursing at his earbuds or whatever. Yeah.

00:50:40This album reminds me of driving down 270. I remember I was, I don't know, I was like going to a dentist appointment or something. So I was leaving work at lunchtime and I was driving down 270, cranking this album. And which of course meant I was driving too fast. And I, I blew past a cop and I was just like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I lucked out. I did not get pulled over, but man, I was doing like 20 over.

00:51:11But this album always reminds me. But Officer, I was listening to Slayer. Oh, you're good. Yeah. Just keep it. It happens. You know, it happens to the best of us. Keep it in range. Be safe. Move along. This album reminds me to slow down. Yeah. So. All right. Back to John. Okay. All right. So. My next pick. I don't know really where to go at this point because a lot of these.

00:51:40Albums, maybe even you guys don't even know. But I'll go with this one because you both have heard of this band. And interestingly enough, this is part of this weird theme that I came across while putting my list together. I'm not going to talk about all the albums that fit in this theme, but I will for this particular case. I'll be able to mention it. This is a band I was not into when this album came out. I got into them a couple more years later after this. I knew about them, but I never listened because I didn't care.

00:52:09Which is funny, because now I really don't care much about them, the new stuff. But there's a period of this band that I absolutely love, and this is right in the sweet spot for me for their catalog. So my third pick is Catatonia's Last Fair Deal. That's on my list, but it wasn't going to be on my list. I knew it would come up. I didn't put it on my list because I knew it would be on your list. Yeah, this is one of my favorite Catatonia albums. Okay, would you want me to pick something else?

00:52:39No, no, no, do it. Yeah, go for it. I'm glad you picked this because like I said, I did not pick it because I knew you would. I was, I, it's on my list, but I didn't know if I was going to go with it because I wanted to see where everyone else was going to go. So I had it in case, and now I'm at three and I'm like, I'll grab it now at this point. Yeah, no, I'm good. You can do it. Okay. So the last fair deal gone down from a band called Catatonia. They're from Sweden. We are Catatonia and we are from Sweden. You know what that means. That's another band that might come up later does that as their byline.

00:53:09That shows.

00:53:11This band started out as a Death Doom band.

00:53:14Death Doom metal band in the early 90s.

00:53:16And they're one of the early versions of it.

00:53:19They're not one of the Peaceful Three bands,

00:53:21but they might as well be Peaceful Three adjacent.

00:53:24Along with The Gathering at that time.

00:53:26Because they were not many bands that the subgenre existed,

00:53:30but this is when it started to blow up, I think.

00:53:33George, you can correct me if I'm wrong,

00:53:35but I think when 93, 94 shows up,

00:53:38That's when some of these bands are really pushing this style of music. But at this point, Catatonia was no longer a Death Doom band, but more kind of an alt-rock metal band at that point. Not even really progressive at that point at all. They've slowly morphed into that. But this is at a point where all the harsh vocals are gone in their career. And they are clean vocal singing. And their lead singer, Jonas Rensky. Jonas Rensky.

00:54:08who happens to also be Michael Ackerfeld's best friend from the band Opeth. We've mentioned a few times on both the podcasts. And maybe later. Yeah, maybe. Potentially. Might come up again. His vocal style, which now I think he's a very good singer, at the time he was still finding his way. But I think he starts to really find it here on this album. And I think it's a really good album from their catalog. It's my favorite album outside of

00:54:37the album Brave Murder Day and I think The Great Cold Distance. Those are my three that I go to all the time. The interesting thing, and this fits in my theme, is that this is also their fifth album release, like Devin Townsend's Terria fifth album release. I found this odd that I kept grabbing band's fifth album releases in 2001 for my list. Wow. To describe this album would be very difficult, but I'll give you some key words.

00:55:07Somber, depressing, dark, desperate, personal experiences that are just the dark depths of your mind. It's just the best way to describe it or basically slit your wrist rock. So, right. Which I think is pretty close, but it's actually a really cool album. It's, it's an album from a band that went from harsh vocals and doom sound to an alt rock metal sound.

00:55:37with some interesting grooves, some interesting

00:55:42choruses. And you really just have to dive in

00:55:45to really figure out what's going on here.

00:55:47I think they hit their stride at this point.

00:55:49I think it peaks with The Last Fair Deal,

00:55:52or The Great Cold Distance in 2006.

00:55:55I think they peaked at that point.

00:55:58Not as much of a fan of their output since then.

00:56:01But it's a cool album.

00:56:02It's hard to describe until you really get in.

00:56:04It is a hard listen after a while.

00:56:06You're like, man, this really sucks. I mean, this guy's really depressed. Yeah. And then you hear songs like We Must Bury Them or whatever. This is really kind of morbid. It is, but it's so good. It's so good, yeah. But songs like Chrome, which I think is just awesome. Tear Gas is a great, I'm sorry, Tear Gas is just a great radio song. It just is. The Future of Speech. There's some just great tunes off of this. And what I find interesting about this band is that anyone who's a fan of this band has different favorites.

00:56:37There's really no favorites that stand out. I mean, we all have a few that we all like from this band, but everyone has personal favorites that's different than the people they're friends with, which is cool. I think they, they encompass a lot. So that's my number three pick Catatonia last fair deal gone down. You really have to listen. It's like Devin Towns. You just have to listen to get what they're doing. So. Good. I guess I'm up next. See. Okay.

00:57:06So my pick is The Cult, Beyond Good and Evil. I saw that. I didn't think anybody would go with it, but that was a good one. It was a return for them. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say, George. This album marked a return of The Cult for me. Not to say that there wasn't some decent stuff on 1991's Ceremony or 1994's The Cult, but this album seemed heavier, more inspired, and more consistently good.

00:57:36throughout. I really like the guitar tones on this album and the riff-based nature of the songs.

00:57:43And the album was produced by Bob Rock and sounds huge.

00:57:48There weren't really any... Exit light!

00:57:50Yeah, yeah.

00:57:51There weren't really any chart hits, but there should have been.

00:57:56Take the Power is catchy and rocks, and Nico, their tribute to the Velvet Underground singer, is beautiful and uplifting.

00:58:04I remember when this came out and just thinking to myself, wow, the cult is back. This is really cool. And unfortunately, the record company did not get behind this record. And it just died on the vine, I think. It's really a shame because I think if they had promoted it a little more, it could have done a lot better. I think it's a really good album. And unfortunately, it just, I don't know, it just,

00:58:34It went nowhere. And to me, it's a strong album. To me, it's a much stronger album than the ones that preceded it. And I felt, yeah, like it just had great tone, great riffs, and just a really good sound. So anyway, I've always been a fan of the cult, like even through albums that weren't so hot. I stuck with them. There's certain bands that you just love them.

00:59:04Even when they don't do so great, you're just like, eh, okay. I still find you guys. Yeah. It's a band I'm following. I'm just going to live with everything. Yeah. And, you know, you love them because they, you know, there's some albums that they put out that it's like, you, you put this album out and it's going to erase the next two that are so shitty that I can't stand to listen to it. And, and, you know, it's okay. I can allow you to have these crappy albums.

00:59:34because you put out something called

00:59:37Electric and you put out something called

00:59:40Sonic Temple and I love those albums and so

00:59:44when you put out this other album that's so great

00:59:47okay I give you a pass because you're still

00:59:50pretty cool and you know Billy Duffy is a

00:59:53great guitar player and Ian Asbury is an amazing

00:59:55singer and they're just so cool right like they just

00:59:58have a cool look and regardless of you know

01:00:02what they're doing. I'm going to be paying attention. And maybe it's not the greatest album. And maybe it's not like what, you know, you read the articles and they're like, this is our best album ever. And then you listen to it. You're like, no, it isn't. Beg to differ. Yeah, right. They may think so. And they may be really high on it. But, you know, as a fan, you know, maybe I'm not. So but that's OK, because I still love them and I don't care. It's the cult. And, you know, so anyway.

01:00:32All that being said, I still do feel like this is one of their better albums, and it's the cult beyond good or evil. Good and evil. So what you're saying is, it's like saying, I'm looking at you, hold your fire. Oh, don't start. Don't start. But no, that's the same thing. Yeah, it is the same. And honestly, yeah. Dude, I love Rush so much. I've tried to find some redeeming quality in this album. Yeah, right. It's kind of like,

01:01:02No, it doesn't. Not that one. So weak. Yeah. What the hell is this? What are you doing? Damn it. Awesome. Okay, cool. No, it's nice to hear when a band has a period that's not so favorable and you still stick by that band. Yeah. And then you get an album after that. You're like, oh, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have gone, but now I'm back up front. Yeah. I was just sitting back at the venue for a little while.

01:01:32Now I want to get a little closer. Back. I got to move back a little bit. Closer. Nice. Cool. All right, George. Where are you taking us? All right. I can't wait to go where you're going to take us. I can't wait to tell you how much your album sucks. Oh, I'm sure you will because I bet both of you guys don't like this band. Did Tom Waits have an album that came out in 2001? I don't think so. All right. Okay. Hold on. He's looking. Quick. Quick check. Yes, he goes. So this album,

01:02:02is one, two, three, fourth album from this band. They're a 90s, 2000s kind of alt rock with trumpet. Does that ring any bells? That's like a lot of bands. It's not ska. Okay. This is Comfort Eagle by Cake. I was just going to ask him it was Cake. Yes, I knew it. Wow. This isn't my favorite album by them, though.

01:02:35I like everything by Cake.

01:02:38They're just so unique.

01:02:43It's rock. It's minimalist.

01:02:47It's a lot of drums and bass and singing.

01:02:51They're just a very unique band to me.

01:02:53I love everything they do.

01:02:56Are they the going-to-distance band?

01:02:57They are the going-to-distance band.

01:02:59We just talked about this on Metalheads.

01:03:02You're going the distance. We're going for speed. As soon as you said trumpet, I was like, this has got to be cake. I know it. Yeah. And that's part of what makes them so unique. It's not like ska or something with like trombones or whatever, but. You got to hop around with their little like 1950s hat and everything. Yeah. Like that. You summed it up in two words. That's incredible, dude. Like that Nick Offerman gif where he's like, have you seen that one? Yeah. You have to do that. Yeah. You have to do that arm swing.

01:03:32dance. Yeah, right. But yeah, I love cake. That's cool. As soon as I saw this, I was like, there's no way this is going to be on my list because I love cake. Yeah, I mean, I like cake too. Now I need to listen to the band. That's so funny because so my friend David Reynolds, who is a staunch listener of this podcast, loves cake. So he went and saw cake live. I've not done that.

01:04:00And when he did, he was surprised to find that the, this is what he told me, when he went to the show, there were a lot of women there. And they were really into this band. I don't even know what that's like for a show. Exactly. I know. Because he's not going to a rush show. That's why. Even those rush shows, like at the end. All wives and girlfriends, but nonetheless. You're right. Yes. Let's be honest. And so, yeah.

01:04:30Yeah, so he went to this cake show and was like, what's going on with all these women here? So you're saying they're like a girly band. No, I'm just saying actually like attractive women went to that show according to him. So well done. Yeah, that's it. I'm going to have to go back, George. And I will say I'm looking at all their album covers and they have a unique style to their album covers. They do. Which sets them apart, I think, because you get the same. And I like how the name cake is centered.

01:05:01on every single album in the same spot. I love when bands do that. Yeah. The album, like Maiden for years, it would always be in one of the same spots and it was always the same font. He always knew it was going to be there and everything else worked around the logo. And I like that they do that. Yeah. Every album's got some good stuff on there. You know, we mentioned Going the Distance. Prolonging the Magic has Never There. You've probably heard that one. It's like that starts with a telephone call.

01:05:29You're Never There

01:05:31Oh yeah, yeah, that was a big tune

01:05:33And there's one on this one also called

01:05:35Hemi Your Garment, which I don't think

01:05:37was a single, but it is so good

01:05:40Yeah, I remember You're Never There

01:05:42That was a big tune, man

01:05:45Yeah, it was, it was probably their second

01:05:47or third big single

01:05:50Oh, they're from Sacramento

01:05:52Yes, they are

01:05:53I'll tell you why, because they have a song called Arco Arena

01:05:56Yeah, I saw that

01:05:57And it's the place where my brother from another, Rich, and I went and saw Rush at the Arco Arena on the Presto Tour. Oh, nice. Oh, wow. Big Rabbits, right? I'm looking for another song. Big Rabbits. Yeah. That's the night we got home from Sacramento one hour. It's 100 miles from Sacramento to San Francisco. Oh, my God. How did you do that? In his little Lamonds. And I said to him, dude, you better slow down. You're going to get pulled.

01:06:27over. He said, dude, we just passed that cop. He's not going to come after us. I said, you know, they have radios, right? And he looks at me as shit. So he sped it up. I was, I couldn't believe it. I'm not even exaggerating about that. We were home that fast. Wow. It was unreal. That's crazy, dude. Oh, there's, there it is. I was looking for the song. It's also on prolonging the magic. Satan is my motor. Ooh. It's like, I'm going to have to go back and listen to this. Satan is my motor. It's, and it's not like evil.

01:06:57But it's quirky in that way.

01:06:59Because it's like, what's Satan?

01:07:00You know, in this pop song?

01:07:03And it's his car and what?

01:07:05I like that you picked this, George.

01:07:07I do too.

01:07:08Yeah.

01:07:08In fact, I want to go back and listen to their whole catalog again now.

01:07:11Because I love them so much.

01:07:14I bet you I know a lot more than I am letting on.

01:07:17And I just don't know the song titles.

01:07:19Last album was 2011.

01:07:21I'm assuming they broke up.

01:07:23But it is an American rock band.

01:07:26So maybe they just haven't done anything, but it says years active 91 to present. So we need another cake album, man. Yeah. Maybe they're gluten free now. Right. Right. Yeah. That's what happens when you take out the gluten. Just sorry. They'd mean a joke. It was just. Oh yeah. That's cool. I'm glad you picked that. I, I knew it. So you just said Trump, I said, he says, cake. I mean, how many, how many rock

01:07:56Bands have trumpet in them. Very few. Yeah. Especially like 90s on. Yeah. What's the band that sings Our House? Madness. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. More Sky. Yeah. I may have seen that video a zillion times on MTV in the 80s. Yeah. One step beyond. Yeah.

01:08:26This is what happens when you day drink. Word. Yeah, I can't disagree. Oh, wait. I day drink all the time. What? I'm glad I got a little traction out of that one. Oh, come on. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. You had to warm us up on Slayer first. I like Slayer. I just like early Slayer. I understand that. I just didn't expect you guys to be familiar with that one. So. All right, back to John.

01:08:56All right. So I've got a bunch of albums that you guys may know, but our listeners may not. But I'm going to go with one that maybe you guys aren't as familiar with, but I absolutely love this album. And it's not a metal album at all. As a matter of fact, there's Trip Hop. You know, Trip Hop, it's some ambient, Georgia like this, some dark wave. Oh, I like it. Art Rocky, alternative rock, acoustic rock, all that in one album. What?

01:09:26Yes.

01:09:28And my next pick has a tie to the band Anathema.

01:09:32But this is not Anathema.

01:09:35Although one of the members is formerly of Anathema.

01:09:39And my pick is Antimatter.

01:09:42Oh, man.

01:09:45This is the debut album from them.

01:09:47Are you an Antimatter fan?

01:09:49I am.

01:09:50You shared some of that music with me and I loved it.

01:09:54Yes, George, I would agree.

01:09:55I would agree. Yes. Crickets. However,

01:10:01Duncan Patterson,

01:10:03one of the original members of anathema left anathema and formed this band with

01:10:08Mick Moss.

01:10:10I am familiar with the band. I'm just being a silly boy.

01:10:13No, it's fine. No, I think for our listeners. Yes. Crickets. Definitely.

01:10:16If you don't know, if you, and if you don't know anathema, you would,

01:10:20you might not know any matter,

01:10:21But this is the first release of a kind of ever-evolving band that has started out. And like I said, this kind of alt-rock kind of trip-hop, acoustic rock, ambient, like I said, dark wave, art-rock-ish world. And it's slowly moved into kind of moody, progressive rock with kind of a, I don't want to say the Pink Floyd vibe, but it operates in that universe a little bit.

01:10:50Mick Moss is an amazing singer. He's a great player. But they don't really sing much on this album because they have two women who sing on the album who I don't know. Michelle Richfield and Hayley Windsor are on the album, but their vocals are great. And it's unique for this band because while he has a contrast male-female vocals on albums, it only lasts for a few albums. And he predominantly does all the singing going forward, which again, he's a great singer.

01:11:20But what's unique about this album is all these songs are written to be played solo acoustic guitar only. Which is really unique when you think about trip hop. You're like, how's that possible? That can't happen. But you listen to the album, you're like, I can hear it. And by the way, he's done it. He's released live versions of all these songs and live shows where it's just him on acoustic guitar. And it's wild. And it's some great stuff. It's very moody, very emotional. It's gorgeous.

01:11:50but it's somber and it's haunting music at times. Very dark atmosphere. You know, melancholy. Seems to be a theme, you know. Catatonia. Yeah, that's a little melancholy, that sound. You know. I have Anathema. It's one of my albums on here if we don't get to it, but it's one I'll mention later. At Bear Minimum is another type thing. It's just a beautiful album of songs, like I said, with a trip-hop vibe to it. And I like trip-hop. I'm a fan. I'm not going to lie to you. There's some bands

01:12:20I like a lot. I mean, I love The Gathering. They got into trip hop for a while there, which was cool. Trip hop with rock mixed in and metal. So I really don't know how best to describe this album other than just to give it a listen if those kind of mixture of subgenres work for you. I think it's a really cool intro on the album is just this kind of cool drum beat and guitars come in, which is the heaviest song on the whole album at that point. And then it just all goes very mellow and cerebral after that.

01:12:50But yeah, this is definitely a cricket for the whole episode, I think. But I think it's a really good album to listen to, especially if you're looking for something from that period like that. Where I was listening to a lot of metal, a lot of progressive metal and prog rock, here's something that's completely different than that. It's 180 degrees difference. And I've been a huge fan of Animatter and McMoth since then. I get everything. I just got another set of demos that he just released of stuff.

01:13:20That's from earlier, so. Nice. What was the name of this album again? Savior. Savior, okay. With a U. Ah, yes. The British spelling. Yeah. But it's the debut of theirs. So, okay. Yeah. Yeah, you shared Leaving Eden with me. Oh, sucker. Yeah. Yeah. That's more of the Pink Floyd universe. Right. Yeah. Which doesn't. Pink Floyd, though. Yeah. But it's. That makes sense. I'm curious to hear this because.

01:13:50You know, based on your description of this, the album you just described, it's nothing like what you shared with me. No. Yeah. I will tell you this, JR. Since you're not half in the bag yet, but you know what? You could get there if you want to. I'm getting there. I think he's climbing out of the bag. I'm putting him back in the bag. Put me in the bag. Do you remember? Put the Dwyna back in the bowl. Do you guys remember that? Does anyone remember that movie at all? Say it again. It's funny. Put the Dwyna back in the bowl.

01:14:20Yeah.

01:14:20Okay.

01:14:21Look it up.

01:14:22Yeah.

01:14:24It's a long running joke with my friends too.

01:14:26Tiara, you know what?

01:14:27Get yourself a beer or two.

01:14:29Put this on and just kick back.

01:14:30Don't even look at anything.

01:14:31Just hit the couch.

01:14:32Okay.

01:14:33Put it on.

01:14:33If you like it, great.

01:14:34If you don't, whatever.

01:14:35But yeah, you'll see what I mean.

01:14:36Yeah.

01:14:37Have a beer.

01:14:37And then put yourself back in the bag.

01:14:39Okay.

01:14:40Thank you.

01:14:40I would like to go back into the bag.

01:14:42And then send a message.

01:14:43I broke bank him.

01:14:46It could happen.

01:14:47I haven't done that on a lot.

01:14:48I have a lot on my wish list. George, you broke Bandcamp once before and I was impressed. Yeah. It's been a while though. Yeah. You were battling with, oh, what's his name from Canada? Yeah. And you're like, that's it. I'm buying like nine more. Three more albums. Yeah. All right. Is it me now? Tis. Go for it. All right. So this is not really an album so much as an EP. Denied. Oh, but it's like a 31 minute EP though, isn't it?

01:15:18Yeah.

01:15:19It's really hard and crunchy.

01:15:22No.

01:15:22Oh.

01:15:23That's that EP sucks.

01:15:24Yeah.

01:15:25No.

01:15:25You like this EP.

01:15:27It is Osric Tentacles Pyramidian.

01:15:31No.

01:15:33That's not the EP I was thinking of.

01:15:35No, it was not.

01:15:35Not the droids you were looking for.

01:15:37But it's an awesome EP because this EP consists of one new studio track and four live

01:15:44tracks recorded in England in 2000.

01:15:48The Studio Track, Pyramidian, is one of my favorite Osric Tentacles songs. It's a catchy, groovy, jamming song with cool synths, searing guitar solos, and driving beats. Two of the live tracks were from their then-current album, The Hidden Step, and the other two were from the album before that, Waterfall Cities. Off that album. Yes, the performances are a great snapshot of Osric's at that time. So, I love...

01:16:18You guys have heard me talk about Osric Tentacles. Love Osric. Probably a number of times. This is another band. I don't care what they put out. I love it. And I'm going to, you know. But you admit, you only need about four or five albums total. You do, but I still keep buying them. I stopped at some point. After 12 or 13, I stopped. So I've pretty much bought everything they've ever put out. It's about 15 or 16 now, I think. And I've bought compilations that they've put out. Oh, my Jesus. Yeah. George, you were going to say? I guess I know.

01:16:48I need to check this out again. I mean, I've, this is one of those bands and there's been a number of these bands. Marillion was one of these bands where I heard about them many, many decades ago. And I was like, oh, that sounds freaking metal. Let me listen to that. And I was like, that is not metal. Yeah. And therefore I'm like, not metal. And I was like, nevermind. Screw you guys going home and didn't listen to it again. And cause it's just,

01:17:18Yeah, it sounds like a metal name. George, do you like Hawkwind? No. Oh, really? Okay. If you were a Hawkwind fan, I could see you being a fan. This is space rock, dude. This is total space rock. Space rock. Maybe I'll give them both a revisit. Hawkwind and Osric. How about this? That's, TR's describing their overall arcing journey. But in the 90s,

01:17:48They incorporated something in their overall arc, which is this kind of space rock slash prog rock mixture. They incorporated the porno bass in the 90s. They did. Like Neurochasm, TR, you know what song I'm talking about? Neurochasm? Oh, it's just like, it's got this like cool groove. So you've got like the porno bass going with, and drums with Zia and Seaweed. I love that rhythm combination the best. But then you got the whole

01:18:18Psychedelic, space rock stuff coming from Ed and the keyboards and everything just all over the map. They were doing all their shit. Do you guys like legendary Pink Dots? I know them, but I don't know them, if that makes sense. I've never heard of that. I thought it might be something you would know. I know them, I just haven't listened to them that much. You might dig when the band goes in this state. It's a joke to say porno bass, but it really is.

01:18:49It's awesome. Like the band Particle, TR, do you like them? Particle? Yeah, because I think you shared that one album, didn't I? Yeah, right. Yeah. Same thing. They've got that whole Yeah. Or no bass thing going, that bubble bass, which is cool. All right. I will make an effort to revisit Osric Tentacles and Hawkwind because, you know, any band that Lemmy was in for some period of time is probably worth checking out again. Yeah. And I don't even know where to tell you to start with Osric's because TR and I could probably

01:19:18give you each three albums and we probably give you three separate albums i'll tell you what waterfall

01:19:23cities is not bad i think you and i are in agreement that's my favorite that is a really good

01:19:28really really good album and it has a little what's their name this has two dudes from mtv

01:19:34beavers and butthead no that's not mtv i'm sorry from saturday night live the two dudes from saturday

01:19:40live uh wayne and garth oh yeah it's got a little bit you know yeah that's true yeah that's on that album

01:19:49Yeah. There's a song that sounds exactly like that, actually. Madonna, Madonna, Madonna. Waterfall Cities is great. Oh, God. Where else could you go? I mean, you could go all the way back to Herp Land. Herp Land's amazing. I think that Jurassic Shift, Strangitude. Right. Yeah. There's a lot you could do. Good pick. Wow. Didn't see that one coming. Ah. All right. All right, George.

01:20:17All right, my next pick is another. It's adjacent to cake in style. And this is a dude that I absolutely love. Everything he does is gold to me. I got to see him back at the 930 Club way back in the day with Barb. And this is Ben Folds. Oh, wow. And his solo debut, Rockin' the Suburbs. Huh. He was a mainstay at the 930 Club.

01:20:46I love Ben Folds. I mean, the guy is a genius. Okay. You know, he's a piano player. He's a singer. He's a songwriter. He does all kinds of stuff. There was Ben Folds five. And then he went solo with just Ben Folds. And I'm noticing, I'm looking at the Wikipedia now, and he hadn't done anything for a long time. Way to Normal came out in 2008. And that was the, like it for longest time. I'm like, what's up with him? And I think, actually, I just read that he was at the, working at the Kennedy Center where he just quit.

01:21:16because of things going on there. But apparently he has an album that came out in 2023 called What Matters Most. I should check that out. And last year, and this is where, you know, he's got a sense of humor and some metal cred, he put out a Christmas album called Slayer, but it's, you know, Slay, S-L-E-I-G-H-E-R. So I was like, what? That's my new favorite Christmas album, Slayer. But Rock in the Suburbs,

01:21:46The Album is amazing.

01:21:49Zack and Sarah is one of the songs on there.

01:21:51And that comes up because I just, what were we watching?

01:21:56We were watching some show and there was a character named, oh, it was The Neighborhood.

01:22:01The Neighborhood with Cedric the Entertainer and what's his name?

01:22:04Cedric's awesome.

01:22:05Yeah.

01:22:05I love that show.

01:22:07And in one episode, these new neighbors move in and they're Zack with a K, Sarah, no H.

01:22:14And that is, I swear, whoever wrote that episode is a fan of Ben Folds, because that is, it's Z-A-K and Sarah No H is the name of the title of the song. And it's a great song. But the song Rock in the Suburbs is so incredible. I mean, it's 2000s suburban white boy music, and it's not ashamed, you know? It's hilarious. It mentions quiet riot.

01:22:44and just, I don't know. He's just got a knack for writing songs that are catchy as hell. And I love this. I love this man. Good. Do you guys like him at all? Again, another one I know and I've listened to, I just have never spent enough time with any of his stuff, whether it be the five or him solo. I highly recommend it. He's a good lyricist as well as a musician and songwriter.

01:23:13So he worked with William Shatner. Yeah. As I recall. Yeah. And Shatner did a song called It Hasn't Happened Yet with him. And I just remember thinking like, so I'm a William Shatner fan, right? Who isn't? Yeah. And like all the way back to Transformed Man, which we talked about on this podcast once before. Yep. But yeah, I thought it was cool that he was working with Ben Folds.

01:23:43And he did this album with him. And so that's pretty much my only understanding or knowledge of, you know, like I've certainly heard of Ben Folds 5 and I knew he was doing solo stuff. I never really listened to anything, but my only real knowledge of him is what he did with Shatner.

01:24:03I would absolutely recommend checking out Rock in the Suburbs and the follow-up Songs for Silverman. Both absolutely stunningly amazing records. Okay. And with that, I will pass the baton back to John. We've come to number five. And apparently nobody else has it on their list of albums. No one dares. No one dared to take it. You need to do this, please. You guys could have picked this and I wouldn't have cared.

01:24:33Come on. Either way, we're going to talk about it for half an hour. We are going to talk about it. Not for half an hour. No way. Maybe for 50 minutes. Maybe 20 minutes. Yeah, right. All right. So my final pick, which would have been my first pick, but I chose to save it for last, for drama, is an album that when I heard it, I wasn't necessarily on board right away. I liked the music. I didn't like the vocals that much.

01:25:03I listened to a second time. Okay. The vocals aren't that bad. Love the music even more. Third time, I'm all in. And I haven't been, I haven't looked back since. It just took a few lessons to get used to it. And then I just went all in. And it's interesting because it is also what got me caught up on a lot of stuff I missed in the nineties. So I listened to some, not a lot of extreme metal in the nineties, but some. So I was, it was all mainly more

01:25:34So I was already listening to My Dying Bride, Candlemas, all that stuff. Not that Candlemas is extreme. No. But I was listening to other stuff than just rock metal. At that time, I was. But I wasn't into death metal at all, really. I didn't care for it that much. So I had to circle back. This is the one that did it. And the only reason I listened to this album is because it was produced by Steve Wilson from, or wait, Stephen Wilson.

01:26:03Yes.

01:26:03From Porcupine Tree.

01:26:05I still call him Steve Wilson.

01:26:07And I was like, he likes it.

01:26:08I should like it.

01:26:10It was one of those deals.

01:26:12And I was behind the time on this band.

01:26:13And this is the one band I'm more mad about than any that I'm behind the times.

01:26:19I wish I'd gotten into them before this album.

01:26:21Because then I could say I was into them before this album.

01:26:23Because this is the album that blew them up big.

01:26:27And that is Opeth.

01:26:30Black.

01:26:31Water.

01:26:32Park.

01:26:33As Mike likes to say. Yes. Are you listening? Do you hear that? Do you hear that note? Yes. Black. Water. And then it starts. And then everybody head bangs in and your neck hurts for a week after that song. I got into Opeth with Orchid. Thank you. What? Yeah, George, you are one of the older fans. Tiara, I think you may have met her. Angie, who is like the ultimate Opeth fan. Oh, yes. I know Angie very well. She lives in Northern Virginia. And I remember her saying, I had a Morning Rise t-shirt when it was released when Morning Rise.

01:27:02came out. All you new fans. She used to joke with us. You newbies. So I've been to many a show with her all around the country as I dove in really fast with this one. And while it's not my favorite, it is a very close second. And for good reason, because this is probably their, which is really funny. They have an album called Watershed, but this is their watershed moment. I really do. So, and this is the album that probably broke them for a lot of frog heads.

01:27:32I think at this point the prog nerds different there's prog nerds wait for it yeah yeah the prog nerds didn't come in until ghost reveries yeah yeah this is the album where I screamed sellout oh yeah it's like these guys these are so passe this is such sellout this is such bullshit he's lying that's just dude the prog nerds didn't come in until damnation dude no no no the full-on prog nerds on board with everything came in with ghost ghost reverie that's true when they were on board with damnation

01:28:02Yeah, it was already under the help. Prog Nerds, you came in. Yeah. And you fought it for one album. Right. Then we were like, okay, yeah, we love it. But the Prog Nerds became full on board members of Ghost Reveries, though. Yeah, that's true. There's some cool teens here, man. Yeah, exactly. So it is hard to describe how important this album is for me because I did. I circled back to a lot of stuff I missed, which I now listen to a lot of. But this is the one that broke me.

01:28:32GROKE MEAN, you

01:29:02over the last 20-some years. May have spent some time with them at some point. Maybe a little. Just a little. I'm off flexing. Just saying I've been very fortunate. How to describe the album, real quick. George has been in this world longer than I have. I'm older. He's been involved in this world longer. Their version of progressive death is not the original version of progressive death metal.

01:29:32Progressive Death Metal would be somebody like Death, the band, or Atheist, stuff like that, Cynic. Their version is different. It's progressive metal with death metal elements. It's not death metal with progressive elements. But there are two camps of this progressive death metal now. And so they're the second camp of it. But it's also got a lot of just straight-up progressive metal, a lot of progressive rock. And it's hard to describe how important this album is to me, even though it's not my favorite.

01:30:02It's my second favorite. I keep saying that because Still Life, we mentioned that last episode. Yeah, I knew Still Life was the top. Yeah, but songs like Leper Affinity, who I amazed Will with my grunt growling vocals, my Tom G. Warrior at the show, I did for him. And I think he grinded me later on that night, so. He would have done that anyway. He would have done that anyway. He got me at Priest big time, man. I didn't see that one coming. Yeah. What are we dating now?

01:30:32But other songs like Bleak, Harvest, which is a great acoustic track, semi-acoustic track, Drapery Falls, and then of course the freaking the megalithic epic of the album, the title track Blackwater Park, which is in 4-4, which is so funny because Mike's this is stupid silly, this song. I'm like, this is like stupid awesome. Yeah. So I don't know much more to say about it other than it's just one of the most influential albums in my whole catalog of 5,000 albums I have.

01:31:02It changed everything. 2001 was a pivotal point musically for me. And also, oddly enough, their fifth album release. So remember, the Catatumia fifth album release, David Townsend fifth album release. And I got one, maybe two more fifth album releases on here. Very odd that I was picking for fifth album release in 2001. So I guess my next pick is actually a compilation of picks.

01:31:33So in 2001, we alluded to this earlier for one of the bands, and you actually, John, talked about this in another podcast, but 2001, there were four live albums that came out in 2001. Just to say, I have a section of live albums to bring up at the end. No, go for it. I'm glad you're doing it. I'm going.

01:31:58So there were a number like four I wrote down four but I'm sure there could have been more but these were the ones that really talked to me live albums that came out in 2001 and George you mentioned you know September 11th 2001 Dream Theater released their album called Live Scenes from New York and some of you who are Dream Theater fans probably remember

01:32:32The Big Apple as a heart, kind of like live at the marquee with flames going up around the Twin Towers of New York. That was the original cover for that album that they released on the day. And of course, once the tragedy occurred, they had to pull that album or, you know, it was, that was what would happen.

01:32:58And so they pulled the album. They put a different cover on it. Did you know it's not the first time they've used that cover though? You didn't know that, did you? What do you mean? I have a copy of my Dream Theater International Fan Club fanzine. Wow. The winter or the fall winter edition 2000. Wow. Okay. That's the cover. I'm showing these guys. Yes. I forgot about this.

01:33:28And I just cleaned out our storage unit, went to a smaller unit, and I found these. And I went, that's incredible, dude. I can't wait to come to your house and see this in real life. And take it home with him, too. No, that bullshit's not happening. I'll slash his tires. Yes. Wow. This was on the fanzine in 2000. Look at that. That's incredible. For all of you that can't see the scene that we're a part of, John's got Theater of Dreams, Scenes from New York,

01:34:00FanZine Winter Edition 2000. Isn't that crazy? Wow, I did not know that. But this is the cover. So it's got the Big Apple with barbed wire around the middle of it, flames going up with the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers, basically just like the cover that you would see on the live scenes from New York album. And also it's the similar heart version,

01:34:28on Live at the Marquee and also on the album Images and Words up in the corner, you see the heart on fire. Yes. Isn't that crazy? It is crazy. I had forgotten that they actually released it before that album. Yeah, I had no idea. And that's really, that's interesting because I did not know that that came out a full year in advance of that. Yeah, or whenever. I mean, whenever this finally made it to the States. But yeah, it says Fall Winter Edition 2000.

01:34:58Yeah. Right. And of course, as a fan, you know, I was at the record store the day it was released. Got mine the day it was released, too. Got the, you know, the promotional posters that, you know, had the artwork, got the album on the original, you know, got the original artwork from the album. So that's, that's one. So that's one of the live albums that came out.

01:35:25John talked in a different podcast about another album that came out by Joe Satriani live in San Francisco. Oh, yeah, which I think that was the Crystal Planet tour. No, no. What was engine engines of creation? Oh engines. Yes, correct. Okay. And that was I you know, did you go back and finally listen to the whole thing? I did. And it's it's ridiculous because it's I told you. Yeah, it's an amazing album. And it's wow. Why?

01:35:55Why didn't I get this? Because I really, you know, that's one of my favorite periods of that band. Let's rewind. I'm sorry. I'm being very rude today cutting you off. I've been rude the whole episode by cutting you off. Let's rewind. Jerk. Right. Yes. I'm going to be a jerk. Do it. Be it. Yeah. I said, hands down, easily, his best live album. Your expression was, what? And I'm like, have you listened to it yet? You're like, no. I said, you need to go listen to this right now.

01:36:25I guarantee you, you're going to be like, you're right. Yeah. Am I right? The set list. Am I right? You were right. Thank you. I would never, I would never say you're not right, John. No, I want to know. Cause I'm adamant about this. This is hands down. Oh yeah. This is a great album. And, and not only that, but like the, I remember this tour cause I went and saw them. I've, I've seen him on almost every tour he's done, but this is hands down the best. Best. It is. Not even close. The song selection, everything they did on this tour,

01:36:55was really, really cool.

01:36:57Like, they just, they, they, the, the, the, the, the songs that they selected on this tour was excellent.

01:37:04So we've talked about this.

01:37:05I don't want to belabor it, but I just did want to, so amongst these live albums from 2001, those are the first two.

01:37:14The third one is by a band called Queensryche called Live Evolution.

01:37:21And they played a number of shows where they played a bunch of stuff from their whole history. And for me, obviously, so for me, Queensryche, you know, all the way up to maybe Empire was like the golden age of this band. And a third of Promised Land. No, there's zero of Promised Land. No, somebody else is a decent song, I think. Damage is pretty good. That I agree. I'll get you.

01:37:51And part of AMI is not bad. Yeah. And then from there, I agree. It's just, yeah. It was just, yeah. Now I will say, I did. It's okay to this. No, I never liked promise. It's a Q2K kerflush. Oh, yeah. And, but here's another band that I loved them so much. I would listen to these albums and just, ah, it was grueling. And now I will say this way George looks at us right now. Like this is grueling.

01:38:21these two jackasses.

01:38:23Good grief.

01:38:25I can't stand this band to begin with.

01:38:29Why are you doing like 12 albums in a pick?

01:38:32Come on.

01:38:34All right.

01:38:34I'll get on with it.

01:38:35But anyway,

01:38:36Live Evolution had some pretty cool stuff.

01:38:38And they did some of the,

01:38:39they played live stuff from the early days,

01:38:43from the EP,

01:38:45The Warning,

01:38:46Rage for Order,

01:38:47and then,

01:38:48of course,

01:38:49you know,

01:38:49Operation Mind Crime.

01:38:51And so all that stuff is on this live evolution. So if you like Queensryche and you like live stuff, this is a pretty cool live set. And the fourth album that I will tell you about that was live in 2001 that got released, Symphony X, Live on the Edge of Forever. This was their, I believe, first album with... No, he's on five.

01:39:21Michael LaPond? No, no. I was talking about Russell Allen. Isn't this their first live album with Russ? Oh, first live. It's their only live album. It's their only live album. Yeah, right. So, you know. So, yes, I guess it would be the first live. Yeah, it's the first live album with Russell Allen. It's the only live album. And, you know, they haven't put out a live album since 2001, which is really. The Vice President would put out a album. Well, they put out a couple of albums, but none that are live.

01:39:51And it's really a shame because

01:39:54this is actually a really good album.

01:39:56And it's really cool to hear him sing on some of the older songs.

01:40:00And, of course, John, you and I have been seeing them for a number of years live.

01:40:06And they're just tremendous every time live.

01:40:09It's ridiculous.

01:40:09Like, Michael Romeo, the guitarist from Symphony X,

01:40:13when he plays live, it's stupefying.

01:40:19I don't know how this guy can make it look so simple and so effortless, but he just places his fingers on the neck and it's so easy. And yet there's a trillion notes coming out and they're all perfectly formed and the tone is fantastic and it's just... And he's not just a shredder. He's melodic as hell. Oh yeah, it's very melodic. And that's the thing. It's... You get this

01:40:51That is fantastic.

01:40:53And so,

01:40:55so anyway,

01:40:572001 was pretty good for live albums.

01:40:59Joe Satriani,

01:41:00Dream Theater,

01:41:01Symphony X,

01:41:02and Queensryche all released very good live albums.

01:41:06And that's all I have to say about that.

01:41:08Nice.

01:41:08You stole my post five section.

01:41:11I had three of those five,

01:41:13four.

01:41:13I forgot about the Queensryche.

01:41:14Oh,

01:41:14okay.

01:41:15Very good.

01:41:16I'm glad you put them on.

01:41:16That's all right. You know,

01:41:17you know,

01:41:17I'm awesome.

01:41:18It's awesome.

01:41:19I love it.

01:41:19Great.

01:41:19You grabbed the,

01:41:20you grabbed the Derek Sherinian.

01:41:22So,

01:41:22okay.

01:41:23Damn right.

01:41:23I did.

01:41:24Yeah.

01:41:26One,

01:41:26one quick note about that dream theater live.

01:41:28I'm sorry,

01:41:29George.

01:41:30It's three hours and seven minutes long.

01:41:32Whoa.

01:41:33Yeah.

01:41:34Three hours and seven minutes.

01:41:36They play a full album on the first disc and a couple more songs.

01:41:42Come back for a whole second set.

01:41:45Two hours in two hours.

01:41:46plus hours in, they come back on the third disc and give you 45 more minutes on that show. It's insane. So much so that Mike Portnoy, the drummer, passed out after the show, had to be taken to the hospital. The band had no idea he was at the hospital afterwards because it was so chaotic after the show. You know, because that was their big kind of hallmark moment in their career. Yeah. Maybe don't do that again. No. And, you know, sadly, when I went to Atlanta to see them on this tour,

01:42:16They got canceled. Yeah. So unfortunately, James Labrie was not feeling up to it. And I went to Atlanta with my buddy, David Reynolds, and we were there to see the 40th anniversary of Dream Theater. And James Labrie was sick. And they did the sound check. I mean, we didn't know literally till we walked up. Like, it was time for doors. And they put it on.

01:42:46on the marquee, Dream Theater postponed, new date, TBA. He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. But he did the next night down in Biloxi. Jerk. Yeah. So it's really a bummer. That was the only date I could get to on this tour. And that was the only date that they postponed and couldn't do. So I'm hopeful that I'll get to see them when they make up the date. Because I know they'll do another. They're going to do another.

01:43:16another leg on this tour when they it's not so this is the 40th anniversary tour they're going to do the parasomnia their new album they'll probably do a tour for that for north america so i'm thinking what will happen is we'll get we'll probably they'll probably add the extra show to atlanta we'll get a 40th anniversary show and maybe hopefully a parasomnia torso show hopefully you get something different that nobody else has gotten

01:43:46Exactly. Like, I want to make sure, you know, I wanted to hear Octavarium. I wanted to hear the songs that they're playing on this tour. And there's no guarantee that they're going to play that when they do the Parasomnia album. You're going to get a special rendition of The Awakening. The Astonishing, you mean? Or does it matter at this point? There's Awake and there's Astonishing. Oh. Very different. I'm Awaken to help out The Astonishing. Oh, boy. All right. The joke is not as bad as

01:44:16the album.

01:44:17Okay.

01:44:18All right, George.

01:44:19Sorry, George.

01:44:21Sorry.

01:44:22Sorry.

01:44:22I was taking a little nap.

01:44:24Stupid prog.

01:44:26Yeah.

01:44:26Nerds.

01:44:27It's all right.

01:44:28I'll have my revenge with my last pick.

01:44:30Oh, good.

01:44:32Metallica.

01:44:33No.

01:44:35I don't think they had anything then.

01:44:37This is one of my favorite all time singers in a non-metal capacity.

01:44:42This is his 11th album.

01:44:45And this is No More Shall We Part by Nick Cave and the Bad Sea. Oh, wow. Love this dude. He's got such a voice. He's so dark and brooding. And this is one of my favorite albums. In fact, this was probably my last favorite album from him. He's done stuff since, but nothing's quite compared to this and the previous material. Some classics on here. I don't know if they're classics, but they're songs that I love. As I said, sadly.

01:45:14By Her Side opens the album. The title track in No More Shall We Part, dark brooding stuff, 15 feet of pure white snow. I don't know what it's about, but it sure sounds like a heck of a lot of cocaine. Or a really big snowstorm. Yeah, it could be that too. Or that. And one of my all-time favorite songs from Nick Cave, Darker With The Day. It's an interesting story, and I don't know, it just, it means a lot to me.

01:45:44The emotion that he puts into this song, it's really cool. Yeah, I don't really know what to say after that, other than Nick Cave is a badass. This album is a badass. If you don't know Nick Cave, shame on you. You need to listen to this. I have gathered from Nick Cave fans, they're like Devin Townsend fans. That makes sense. They're like super dedicated, all in. Absolutely. Yeah. And he obviously is,

01:46:14a known name.

01:46:15I just never ventured enough.

01:46:18There's just so much to listen to.

01:46:19And some you think you should listen to.

01:46:22You just never get to.

01:46:23Yeah.

01:46:23If you want to hear something super crazy from this guy, because I mean, he's all over the place.

01:46:30His murder ballads album is insane.

01:46:34That came out in 96.

01:46:37And aside from his duet with Kylie Minogue called where the wild roses grow.

01:46:43Which is just mind-blowingly, ridiculously awesome, beautiful, and evil. And, but wait, there's more. Check out the 14 and a half minute O'Malley's Bar. Which is, all it is is a song about how he goes into this O'Malley's Bar and just starts killing people. Hence the album title Murder Ballads. But he goes into exquisite, not like graphic violent. I mean, he goes into

01:47:13to some of that as well, but it's, it's a murder poem. It is so vicious. And yet I don't even, I don't even, I don't know. It's just, wow. I've never heard anything like this. O'Malley's bar. It's crazy. If you haven't heard that, you need to go listen to that and just jaw drop. I've drank in O'Malley's bar, but I've never heard the song. Yeah. Check it out. I feel like I need to, to dip into Nick.

01:47:43at least just once get in there and dig around and see what I find. He's got a best of album. Is it a safe album or is it like worth it? You know what I mean by safe? Oh, just the hits. Or is it an album where it actually really gets his core songs? I mean, it doesn't have stuff like O'Malley's Bar, but it does give a very good, accurate representation of his career from the beginning up through the mid-90s. It does have Where the Wild Roses Grow on there.

01:48:14I just feel like I should know one. Red Right Hand, you probably know that one. I'm sure I do. It's been in movies and Into My Arms is a very beautiful song, Poignant. Are You the One That I've Been Waiting For? Another beautiful, not like weird or anything. Do You Love Me? And I don't mean George Thorogood. The Weeping Song. Just, yeah, check out the best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds if you need a jumping off point. Okay. That will start you with everything you need to know.

01:48:43I feel like I need to so there's just so much to listen to it's I know that's what we do though what we do yeah nice so I I feel like we we cover it up so you can tell 2001 is not a top 40 year no there's a lot of it's it's things are starting to spread out considerably at this point I think and that's a good thing I think I think we it today I think it's better

01:49:13because there's more genres and subgenres that are explored.

01:49:18Yeah.

01:49:19But there's no big names out of pop names and hip-hop names.

01:49:23And even hip-hop, I think, has taken a hit the last few years.

01:49:26It's not as popular as it used to be.

01:49:29Maybe I'm wrong about that.

01:49:30It's still like the only thing you get on the Grammys.

01:49:33It is, but it's the same names every time now, isn't it, for the most part?

01:49:37Yeah.

01:49:38Am I wrong about that?

01:49:38No, you're not.

01:49:39I watched the Grammys and I forgot after having watched last year that the Grammys is not about awards. There's only five awards given out in three hours. It's all about just like playing people getting on stage and playing music that came out that year that are being pushed by the labels. That's it. Who won the medal this year? I don't even know. They don't put that on the show. They don't even show it. No, I know they don't show it, but they don't even mention it. I think it was Gojira.

01:50:09I think it was Gojira. Oh yes, Gojira. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Good for them. I don't care what anyone says. Yeah. Good for them. They're no Jethro Tull, but good for them. But in a way, I think they are because I think they beat out Metallica. Oh, I'm sorry. They strapped in on the side of a freaking castle. Yeah. During the Olympics. Yeah. That's a W. Yeah. Absolutely. Pretty badass. Yeah. I don't care what anyone says.

01:50:38That's pretty badass. Yeah. Good for them. So I got five more honorable mentions. I don't know if you want me to just go through them. I have five also. Yeah, me too. All right. Do you want to... You guys go ahead. Just go in order again? Yeah, go in order. So go ahead, Joe. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I'll do them real quick. I'm not going to spend much time. The theme, remember, fifth album, 2001. Right, yes. Here's a band that I absolutely love. I think TRU liked them. George, I don't know if you know them. Threshold. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

01:51:10Yeah. So, and I could have talked about it, whatever. Awesome album. My next one, band called Zero Hour, The Towers of Avarice. Technical, progressive metal all the way. These guys are awesome. They're from my old hood. They're East Bay, which is a whole different world from where I grew, but it's still the Bay Area. Just incredible players. I've seen them so many times, believe it or not, and they hardly ever tour. And I've seen them all because of prog power or they played

01:51:38Orion Studios.

01:51:41You ever been to Orion Studios?

01:51:42Yes.

01:51:43No, I haven't.

01:51:44I think my living room is bigger.

01:51:46Yeah.

01:51:46I'm not even joking.

01:51:47Cool.

01:51:47If it holds, if it holds 50 people, I'd be shocked.

01:51:51Yeah.

01:51:51And it's one bathroom that you'll have to stand in line for.

01:51:54But it's a great album.

01:51:56And I got their original album in 99.

01:51:58I bought from, I think the guitarist I bought online, he sent it to me.

01:52:02But then they signed with Laser's Edge.

01:52:04And I sent it to Century Records or whatever at that time.

01:52:06Ken Golden.

01:52:07Awesome.

01:52:08Yeah, you might know this band. Never kind of in the rock, rock, rock, fusion area. Cosmo Squad. Squadrophenia. No, that's new to me. Yeah, Jeff Coleman is the guitarist. Does anyone remember the band Edwin Dare? Anyone? That's a cricket band, probably. They're all, all these musicians have played with a bunch of people. Barry Sparks is a bass player, or used to be the bass player with Dawkins. McAlpine? Oh, yeah, I know Tony McAlpine. Might have played with Michael Schenker Group. I don't know, maybe.

01:52:37What? Yeah. Shane Gallus on drums. Yeah. He might've played Michael Shanker also. Yeah. Michael Shanker, Yngwie, Uli, if anymore. You think he has a set of musicians he likes to play with? Great, great. Frog Rock. A little bit of metal and fusion. Here's a band. Oh, wait. I mentioned Anathema earlier. This was their Find Data Exit album that came out. Not their fifth album. I think it's their sixth. The Anathema, Death Doom is long gone at this point. It's more Radiohead at this point, but it's still a great album. It's actually one of the best

01:53:07I got into the band. I'm way behind on anathema. And I got blown away by this kind of Radiohead meets Pink Floyd meets new anathema. It got me. And in my last one, since TR mentioned all those live albums, which was my, you know, extra time, my OT, as I like to say, Evergrade, Search of Truth. Oh. This is a really good album. If you're a fan of prog metal, but some power not, you know,

01:53:37on a ceiling on a sea of cheese and keyboards type power metal and some gothic kind of in gothic metal injected in it it's actually it's it's a super album it really is so again ever great search of truth yeah you know before we get further i've been the whole episode i've been sitting here staring at tr and you know i know nobody can see him and all that but i finally figured out who he brings to mind in this get up michael schenker

01:54:06Oh yeah. With the cap. It's like Michael Schenker meets Doug from, uh, Doug or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When Doug was wearing his, uh, little cap all those times. That's right. Schenker with the cap, you know? Yeah, that's true. So John, here's a band that you didn't mention. I skipped a lot. Trust me. Okay, good. Yeah. I'm going to mention it for you because the band Ice Age released their album Liberation. That's right. In 2001.

01:54:36And that was their second album, I believe. And they are a progressive rock band with a great singer, tremendous band, Ice Age. Look for them. They just got together a couple of years ago and put out their latest album, which the album title is failing me now, but it has to do with loss and something or other. So. Great album. They bailed on Prog Power. I was disappointed.

01:55:05Oh, is that right? I didn't realize that. It delved. That's a shame. Because it would be really cool to see them live, but I don't hold out much hope to ever see them live. But yeah, Waves of Loss and Power was their album that was released in 2023 after something like 23 years. Original members got back together and put... It's actually a really, really good album. But in 2001, their album, Liberation,

01:55:35came out. Other honorable mentions, we talked about this on Post Rock Island, Explosions in the Sky, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever, Those Who Lie Shall Also Live Forever, whatever it is. I can't remember the name of the album. But anyway, Explosions in the Sky put out an album in 2001. That was very good. Karma to Burn, their album Almost Heathen. And Karma to Burn was a three-person

01:56:05One Piece, West Virginia Band that was instrumental, heavy. I guess you could almost say they're like doom elements to it, but it's mostly, it's post-rock, but rockin'. It's hard to describe it, but it was all just instrumental rock music. And Carmen DeBurn, Almost Heathen, came out in 2001. A couple other tracks, a couple other albums that came out. Tenacious D, their self-titled album.

01:56:34Nice.

01:56:34And there's some really great tracks on that. And it was a lot of fun. You know, Jack Black is obviously very entertaining. And Kyle Gass, obviously a really, really, really good guitar player. And together they made Tenacious D with their self-titled album in 2001. And then the last album that I'll mention for 2001 in my honorable mentions is Yes, Magnification.

01:57:04A Lot of People kind of like, you know, felt, yes, lost the plot many years ago. But this was not that bad of an album. And it was, it sounded inspired. It was 2001. It was in the time when they were doing their Masterworks tours and they were like, you know, they got back together with Rick Wakeman. They had done some things with the, when they were doing like new studio tracks and like songs like In the Presence Of.

01:57:34They were putting out epic songs that had a Yes sound to them. Magnification itself was a pretty good album. And so to me, and I think to a number of Yes fans, this was, I don't know if it was as much like a return to form, but it was certainly like something that people had been waiting for from Yes in terms of something that they could get behind and be excited about. So those are my honorable mentions. Ice Age, Explosion.

01:58:04Illusions in the Sky, Karma to Burn, Tenacious D, and Yes. All right. I've got a few. First up, Colin Hayes going somewhere. Colin Hayes from Men at Work. Yeah, Men at Work. Yeah. Yeah. I love, I love Colin Hayes. I mean, his solo stuff might even be better than Men at Work just because there's more of it. And this is probably my favorite of his solo albums. It's got Beautiful World, Looking for Jack, the title track going somewhere.

01:58:34And Waiting for My Real Life to Begin, another cool track. I love anything Colin Hay does. I got to see him as part of Ringo Starr's All-Star Band a couple years ago, which was awesome because he did a couple of Men at Work songs. That was good. Yeah. What else do I have? Falconer's first album, Falconer. Really? Nice. I noted that one and I put that on there. The first two or three of Falconer.

01:59:04their albums. I was really a big fan of these guys. Swedish power metal. John was not enough of a fan to actually watch their whole set at Prog Power, apparently. But I did see 15 minutes of their last set ever. Yes. Yes, I did. I put three songs. I gave them a few. Yeah. But yeah, I really liked them back in the day. Weezer and their green album came out this year also, which was produced by Ric O'Case.

01:59:35It's got a couple other hits on the Ashpipe and Island in the Sun.

01:59:41I have the 45 for Ashpipe.

01:59:44Weezer is another one of those bands that I think they're tragically underrated.

01:59:48Pretty much anything they do is amazing.

01:59:51Yeah, my band used to do My Name is Jonas.

01:59:57Yeah, with a goofy name like Weezer and some of the songs they've put out, people probably write them off.

02:00:03But they're really good.

02:00:05And they're still putting out stuff.

02:00:08So, and you know, check out Weezer if you don't know that.

02:00:11Then Blink-182.

02:00:13I am tragically a Blink-182 fan.

02:00:16And their album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, came out in 2001.

02:00:22And that's got Anthem Part 2, First Date, The Rock Show, Stay Together for the Kids.

02:00:28All I know is, you know, it's Blink.

02:00:30It's pop punk.

02:00:32It's comfort food.

02:00:34Yeah.

02:00:37Yeah.

02:00:38And last, but also least.

02:00:41That's squarely at the end.

02:00:43Yeah.

02:00:44This was one that I completely forgot about.

02:00:47These guys put out like an album or three in the early 2000s.

02:00:52They had a hitter, maybe even two.

02:00:54And then just dropping the band disappeared.

02:00:57But when this album came out, I actually was a big fan of it.

02:01:00Another pop punk band called Sugar Cult.

02:01:02And their album Start Static.

02:01:05They had a song called Bouncing Off the Walls Again.

02:01:09Okay.

02:01:09I remember the name of that band, but I never knew much about them.

02:01:14Yeah.

02:01:14And I was just like, oh, yeah, and I wanted to listen to it again.

02:01:17So I did because, you know, it's fun for the time.

02:01:21It's nothing special, but it's fun.

02:01:24Yeah.

02:01:25And that's what I got.

02:01:27Good.

02:01:28Nice.

02:01:29Covered a lot of ground.

02:01:30Yeah, we did.

02:01:31Indeed.

02:01:33It's only been two hours and 20 minutes, but it feels like it's been days.

02:01:39Not in a bad way.

02:01:40Yeah.

02:01:41Just like you said, we covered a lot of ground.

02:01:43We did.

02:01:45And on those frog rabbit holes and you're just like, I'm never getting out of here.

02:01:50Yeah.

02:01:51Poor George.

02:01:52Poor George.

02:01:53I'm fine.

02:01:54This was fun.

02:01:55Good.

02:01:56Yes, I agree.

02:01:59All right.

02:01:59I don't have anything else.

02:02:00Do you have anything else before we go? No, it was good. It was fun. It was nice to revisit 2001. Yeah. How much of an important year it was, at least from my perspective. Yeah. Same here. I, I, I think I told you off air these, like when we picked this year, I, I thought there's no way I don't, I can't imagine what I'm going to talk about. And then I looked at it and it was like, oh wow. Yeah. That album came out. Ooh, that guy, that came out too. Oh. And then it was like, next thing you know, I've had a whole bunch of stuff.

02:02:30talk about.

02:02:31So, yeah.

02:02:32I'll be cautious anytime I feel like maybe it's not supposed to be a good year because there's a lot of good stuff out there.

02:02:40Just for the record, every time we come up with a topic, TR's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

02:02:46Hold on, hold on.

02:02:46Come on now.

02:02:47I don't know about this.

02:02:48And then the more you talk, you're like, oh, yeah, okay.

02:02:51Okay.

02:02:51I can do this.

02:02:52I can do this.

02:02:55Every time.

02:02:56That may or may not be true.

02:02:58I don't know.

02:02:59It's true.

02:02:59100% true.

02:03:03All right. Thanks for listening. We are going to conclude now and hash out what to do next time. But until then. Back on. We'll see you. Bye. Yeah.

02:03:40Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok