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Lunchbox from Hell
My Lunchbox from Hell This weekend, I picked up the electric guitar, and fired up the Gallien Krueger to do some jamming. I almost forgot how epic the tone of this kick ass little amp was. I bought it way back in 1985 or so. I remember doing the Guitar Center/Guitar Showcase puch-pull to get…
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Spinning Vinyl – How my outlook has changed
I remember my early years of listening to music. When I was gifted a modest hifi system, and began buying records (no tapes in that era), I listened to my LP’s sparingly, as I didn’t want to wear them out. As I learnt with my Sargent Pepper soundtrack (the movie, featuring Peter Frampton) you can…
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Music Services: Google Play (and All Access)
Part two in the online music services reviews. Today, it is Google Play and its All Access “Subscription” service. In 2011 when Google announced Play and their music service, my hopes were high. I was an early adopter (from when you needed an invite to join Gmail), and I assumed Google would rock this. You…
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Music Services – Amazon Prime
Part one of a series on music services, I will start with Amazon Prime. Back when iTunes music store was top of the list, and sold DRM encumbered tracks, Amazon opened their music store, selling un-protected MP3 files. Turns out that this was more than a sharp stick in Apple’s eye, but the lever by…
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Music Appreciation – Beggar’s Banquet
Recently, I blogged about a seminal Rolling Stones Album, "Let it Bleed". I was of the opinion that if you needed only one Rolling Stones album to accompany you to a deserted island, it was the album. One of my FB friends, Joe Palmer offered up the predecessor of the 1969’s Let it Bleed, the…
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Let it Bleed – The Rolling Stones
When a band has been around as long as the Rolling Stones has, looking at their catalog can be daunting. Do you buy something really early? Or how about a best-of collection? It can be a crapshoot either way. However, with The Rolling Stones, there is one album that you can buy with confidence, and…
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Led Zeppelin
While I inherited a pretty awesome amount of vinyl LP’s of Jazz and Classical from my father inlaw, my rock and roll collection has been almost nil. I am missing the collection I jettisoned in the 1990’s in my frenzy of moving. Fortunately, with the revival, there are ample opportunities to expand and augment. One…
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The joy of Vinyl
Last year my father in-law passed away, a sad occurrence. However, we inherited his stereo and music collection. A couple hundred LP’s with a lot of jazz and big band recordings from the 50’s through the 70’s, and even some more modern items. This weekend, I have the stereo setup, an okay Marantz unit, with…
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Music Embarrassment – King Crimson
I have been on a nostalgic twist in music lately, reliving my early days of prog rock fandom, and reminiscing about all the vinyl I used to have and got rid of in my flurry of moves in the 1990's. Ah good times indeed. There is one classic prog rock staple that I am embarrassed…
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Music Appreciation – Keith Emerson
When two progressive rock (prog rock) fans get together, there is really only one question that matters. Wakeman or Emerson. If neither of these names rings a bell with you, then you might as well navigate away now. The question is who do you prefer, Rick Wakemen (keyboard player from Yes, and who has had…