Recommended Non Metal Albums

[livingabortion]

Another group with Vince Clarke on in it. Not Depeche Mode standard but there are some good songs and Alison Moyet has a great voice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJttmIRS8oM&list=PLa3HlKFsnLvZ5CiPZW1tEJiNuBEA_HQRa

[astfgyl]

I like a bit of Gary at times. Didn't try Intruder yet as I thought the last few were awful but he has some great stuff. Bought the extended version of Exile last year and it's class, as are the next couple after it. Love the Hybrid set as well and Telekon is my favourite of the old stuff.

I didn't know there was an extended version of Exile. Was that on cd or vinyl? Telekon really is something else alright, so dark for such a mainstream artist at the time

I bought the CD on amazon. Was cheap as well. I think the Extended is better than the regular. Putting it on now after thinking about it again.

[open face surgery]

Jumping the gun a bit as I'm only 3 tunes in but I am absolutely loving this:

https://whisperingsons.bandcamp.com/album/several-others

[open face surgery]

I was right. The whole album is brilliant. Your man has the Alan Vega unnerving voice nailed throughout. Just started it again.

[locustfurnace]

Scorn The Only Place

https://ohmresistance.bandcamp.com/album/the-only-place

Like Weeds Plague Dubs

https://likeweedsnoise.bandcamp.com/album/plague-dubs-mixtape

God Is War Master Of My Realm

https://godiswar.bandcamp.com/album/master-of-my-realm

[CorkonianHunger]

Had a jam with a jazz drummer friend of mine and been on a binge of Return to Forever and the like.

Alan Holdsworth - IOU
Al di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Colossum II - Electric Savage

[open face surgery]

I was right. The whole album is brilliant. Yer wan has the Alan Vega unnerving voice nailed throughout. Just started it again.

Surprising edit.

[open face surgery]

Having never bothered before I listened to Nine Inch Nails - Fragile between last night and this morning and loved it. Just starting it again now.

[astfgyl]

Having never bothered before I listened to Nine Inch Nails - Fragile between last night and this morning and loved it. Just starting it again now.

Lucky fucker. The unbridled joy I had hearing that for the first time. And the great news is that after 20 years, it's still on the top tier for me. I actually cobbled together an extended version using every version of every track and all the B sides and remixes, but faded it all to sound like a single album. Took ages to edit it, but that's the one I go for these days and even after the 3 and a half hours I often just go back and do it all again. It was the little hints of things going on during the gaps between songs that made me do it. Turns out almost all of those little pieces are fully fledged tunes and I found them all.

Here's The Day The World Went Away https://www.dropbox.com/s/onbil3rk3b0nmpq/102%20The%20Day%20The%20World%20Went%20Away.flac?dl=0

and The Wretched https://www.dropbox.com/s/3sewufwn2jgkfhs/104%20The%20Wretched.flac?dl=0

If anyone is interested I have the whole thing in the dropbox but those two give a fair idea of what I did with it all

Edit: I actually sat in a room with the lights off after a hape of mushies one night and listened to the whole thing, the only light in the room being the little blue LEDs on the stereo. Twas transcendental stuff altogether.

[open face surgery]

Was reading last night that the vinyl has full tunes of all the segments or something to that extent.

[astfgyl]

The vinyl, the CD and the cassette are all slightly different, with alternate takes of some tunes, different crossfades on most and extra or omitted tunes on them. Those versions I cobbled together used bits of all versions. There is a full instrumental version of The Fragile released a few years back as well, called Deviations 1, and also some stuff released on nin.com back in the day as well as the versions on the single B-sides and the Things Falling Apart CD has alternate takes of some of the stuff on there, too. There's really a lot to unpack once one gets into it. I'm honestly jealous of you only getting into it now.

[Carnage]

It's my go-to as well for NIN these days, and their last essential release IMO. My first time to hear it was in a mate's cinema (converted shed with a projector, surround sound and actual tiered cinema seats, curtains and all) and it absolutely blew me away.

Funnily enough, I remember thinking that it'd work much better as an instrumental album as some of the lyrics are a bit cringeworthy, but when I heard the instrumental version a few years later I found it lacking.

[astfgyl]

I'm not a lover of the instrumental version either, it's too much and the songs still sound obviously designed for vocals. I also agree it's the last essential release and as much as I do enjoy plenty of what came after, essential wouldn't be the word for any of it. With Teeth, Year Zero, Hesitation Marks and the three EPs all have their good and bad points but it could only go downhill after The Fragile given the scope of the thing. What do we think is the best tune on The Fragile? Actually I can't pick one, which is another great thing about it.

[Carnage]

With Teeth and Year Zero each have some decent tracks alright, and I remember thinking the same about The Slip at the time (haven't listened to it after the initial couple of plays), but nothing else he's released has been any good to my ears. The Ghost releases were self-indulgent - the saving grace being that I-IV were free downloads initially - and the EPs were just awful. The film scores with Atticus Ross have been poor too, which is a shame as Ross' score for The Book Of Eli is one of my favourites. I've given up on NIN TBH.

Best track on The Fragile for me is Just Like You Imagined. Apart from the piddly piano bit in the middle, that's annoying.

[livingabortion]

Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party.