What Are You Listening To?

[DogOnPorch]

Dog.

I used to really like the Opus III track, but wow, does not hold up as it once was. Or maybe it was the remixes I had that were much better.

Opus III was great for its time. A bit of a sleeper at first...at least in Canada. The Orb is far more cutting edge in terms of innovations. As is Orbital...I sure like their new one.

Old one...

Edited September 13, 2013 by DogOnPorch

[WIP]

There is no such thing as the perfect music for all times and all occasions! The only time I listen to hard rock or anything close to metal these days, is when I'm down in the basement - in my little home gym trying to get psyched up to get started and then to finish working out with weights. For some reason, when I'm driving (which usually only happens on the weekend) I start getting nostalgic for music I listened to many years ago. When I go out for a run, and I'm not flipping through my podcasts, I'll go for something that has a fast beat, but isn't too distracting.

And for some reason, when there's snow on the ground and it actually starts getting cold outside, that's when the only thing I want to listen to when I go out for a run is a somewhat obscure Christmas album made by Loreena McKennitt in the late 80's called "To Drive The Cold Winter Away." To me, the collection of songs have a stronger connection to winter, than they do to Christmas specifically; especially this morning (on New Years Day) when I went out for a late morning run for about an hour, while there was little traffic...little noise except for crunching snow...the air was still and cold, with a wind chill of 13 degrees on the old Fahrenheit scale....this was the perfect music to accompany the sights and sounds of a bright, sunny and cold winter day:

To Drive The Cold Winter Away (1987)

LYRICS:

White are the far-off plains, and white

The fading forests grow;

The wind dies out along the height,

And denser still the snow,

A gathering weight on roof and tree,

Falls down scarce audibly.

The road before me smooths and fills

Apace, and all about

The fences dwindle, and the hills

Are blotted slowly out;

The naked trees loom spectrally

Into the dim white sky.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams

Lie still without a sound;

Like some soft minister of dreams

The snow-fall hoods me round;

In wood and water, earth and air,

A silence everywhere.

Save when at lonely intervals

Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,

With rustling runners and sharp bells,

Swings by me and is gone;

Or from the empty waste I hear

A sound remote and clear;

The barking of a dog, or call

To cattle, sharply pealed,

Borne echoing from some wayside stall

Or barnyard far afield;

Then all is silent and the snow falls

Settling soft and slow

The evening deepens and the grey

Folds closer earth and sky

The world seems shrouded, far away.

Its noises sleep, and I secret as

Yon buried streams plod dumbly on and dream.

[DogOnPorch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_lnE_L_E8M

[cybercoma]

There is no such thing as the perfect music for all times and all occasions

Which is the premise behind www.songza.com

Their "concierge" gives you different activities to select from (based on the day and time of day that you go there) and it will give you some playlists to select from based on your mood and what you're doing.

I recommend it to everyone. It's the best streaming service I have ever used. And their mobile apps are excellent as well.

[WIP]

Which is the premise behind www.songza.com

Their "concierge" gives you different activities to select from (based on the day and time of day that you go there) and it will give you some playlists to select from based on your mood and what you're doing.

I recommend it to everyone. It's the best streaming service I have ever used. And their mobile apps are excellent as well.

Thanks for that! I'll take a look at it. I know I don't appreciate playlists like the crap Apple does with every new edition of Itunes - which tries to eliminate your ability to manually control what you put on your Ipod or other devices. It's bad enough for those who primarily listen to podcasts, rather than music; but now I find that I have less control over managing music playlists....since they want to do that for me also....and direct me to the Itunes store for things 'I might also like.'

[Mighty AC]

I'm loving Songza, thanks CC.

[Guest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrJxkMwB38k

[Guest]

Which is the premise behind www.songza.com

Their "concierge" gives you different activities to select from (based on the day and time of day that you go there) and it will give you some playlists to select from based on your mood and what you're doing.

I recommend it to everyone. It's the best streaming service I have ever used. And their mobile apps are excellent as well.

Five minutes in and I can see I'm going to be using the site a lot. Thanks for the tip.

8tracks does the same kind of thing. It's changed some since the last time I was on but it looks like a similar site.

http://8tracks.com/

Edited January 4, 2013 by bcsapper

[DogOnPorch]

Gotta love Florence.

Edited January 4, 2013 by DogOnPorch

[Mighty AC]

Florence has such a great voice!

[Mighty AC]

This would be one of the 50 or so songs in my top 10 all time favourites:

[Mighty AC]

Another all time fav:

[Guest]

I know what you mean about your ten/fifty favourites. There are some days when this is my favourite rock song of all time. And then some when it might be second or third.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KxiEjPCXA8

[DogOnPorch]

[cybercoma]

Right now I'm listening to Pink Floyd Animals.

[DogOnPorch]

Yup...great album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RpcT06rcog

My fav still...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZhCo5CyX0M

[kimmy]

I can't stand the Studio disc of Ummagumma, but I love the Live disc. I think the finale is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I know of:

It puts shivers up my spine every time.

-k

[kimmy]

I've known of Toronto's "Metric" for a long time, and they never impressed me much. It always seemed like a somewhat cheesy outfit based mostly around Emily Haines' short shorts, long legs, and overly-cutesy vocals.

But I stumbled onto their most recent record, "Synthetica", and I really like it. It's electronic music with a growl, like Ladytron at their best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvG77SeIpI

-k

[Guest]

[RB]

I've known of Toronto's "Metric" for a long time, and they never impressed me much

I like metric a lot - I was first introduced to their music by my 10 year kid who attended one of their gigs, they were unknown then - we followed their success along with Sarah Slean - I love Night Bugs

[Guest]

[WIP]

I know what you mean about your ten/fifty favourites. There are some days when this is my favourite rock song of all time. And then some when it might be second or third.

EDIT

I think the best version of the song was done in a live album....I believe this tour was the last time Bryan Ferry performed with Roxy Music, and the taped concert from that tour was the best work they ever did, with this version of Like A Hurricane being better than Neil Young's....sorry Neil fans, but his guitar playing is a mess as usual on that song! I don't think Neil ever grasped the difference between what he wanted to play and what his limitations were on guitar. Listen for the Phil Manzanera solo near the end of this piece to hear how it should be done! This live album also included a cover version of another John Lennon song: Jealous Guy.

Edited January 10, 2013 by WIP

[DogOnPorch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhmHaHTV-QM

[WIP]

EDIT double post

Edited January 10, 2013 by WIP

[DogOnPorch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94GAT-5I_9g