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Carter USM in general
by Seven17
Carter USM have toured all over the world and have had many succesful albums. The names of which are questionable... Never the less they have a great history behind them, and over the years i have collected a couple albums that go down a treat at rock parties. Their music is all about the instruments, forget this singing about love ... nonsense, its all about the rock!!!
Their tracks do have vocals and the ones that do are usually quite sarcastic and funny. Carter USM has an unusual way of presenting their albums, for example "You Fat..." starts with a crazy shouting and hilarious conversation fro the lead singer. Then the music kicks in. Perfect start.
I will not sing all praises for these guys though, there are a few negatives i have to pick at. First of all they have songs that sound similar, and they dont mix up the riffs. They have off beat word play lyrics on some tracks during the chorus but when they are quiet the riffs on their own dont sound good, they are just pretty basic and generic.
The Unstopable Sex Machine has attarcted a great number of fans over the years and for me personally, i am a fan but not a huge fan. I like rock music with a dfference and Carter USM is certainly "different" in the way that when they first arrived on the rock scene, they establihed themselves in a controversial way. Never before had i heard a band make jokes and refrences like Carter USM.
Its all about having a laugh and enjoying the rock scene for these guys, nothing is serious. "Jim Bob" and "Fruitbat" nicknames clearly suggest this, and its nice to see a band take a back seat and enjoy the ride rather than take it so seriously like AC/DC or Gun's n Roses. Alright they arent as big and yes, they havent had as many tour sellouts or album sell outs but they have a passion, and they ae living their dream. Thats what make a real band.
Check out their albums - they last had a gig in 2007 and i dont think we will hear from them again so lets rememer the great band, and how they were way back when.
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Marillion in general
by TheWiseMan
Seemingly at odds with life in general, if you believe any of the rare comments made about this band. Well here's a novel proposition: perhaps far from being out of touch with the world around them, Marillion are a crucial reflection of our confusing times. I am listening to a live version of the track 'Neverland' just now; snow ... falling in the park outside. Out there, people are being murdered. People are getting sacked and divorced. But in here, in my mind, with this song; I am safe.
I first heard the band when 'Kayleigh' and 'Lavender' were big UK hits. I remember reading a review of their appearance at the Donnington Monsters of Rock festival, and those hits received a fair few boos. People felt Marillion were their own private property, such was the following the band had. The first album I bought was 'Clutching at Straws'. It was dark and deliberate. None of the tracks pandered to the charts. There were even references to Scottish social issues, as Fish skilfully compared the barbed wire of Flanders to the barbed wire at Bilston Glen, in 'Slainte Mhah'. At school we had been asked to bring in tapes of a pop song with an issue, so I took my Marillion album to play the anti Nazi track, 'White Russian'. The tape wouldn't play. I was mortified.
The first 3 Marillion albums were subsequently bought, each offering a new layer of delights, like a ridiculous trifle. They were all relatively dark , with the exception of the 'Misplaced Childhood' album. An early favourite song was 'Fugazi' - the lyric demanding to know where the poets and prophets were, struck a chord with me. The unreturned love of 'Script for a Jester's Tear' prepared me for heartaches to come. I was the fool; I was the jester. I regarded 'Misplaced Childhood' as a piece of genius. Being released relatively quickly after the first two albums, it was essentially a large musical suite, held together to form one massive piece. It flew against other musical trends and was reminiscent in that respect of Yes albums from the early 1970s. There were recurrent themes and imagery; enforced by each no release, both by the song sand the artwork by Mark Wilkinson - the rainbow, the magpie, the jester.
On the 'Clutching at Straws; album the jester was more ambiguous in the artwork. His hat was stuffed into the pocket of one of the bar patrons - a character named Torch. Was Torch the jester or had he knifed the jester and stole his hat? This album was about the desperation of grabbing hold of something untrustworthy when sinking. The last straw was also the short straw and a device for snorting the 'star spangled clouds of cocaine on the mirror'. The mirror was also important. Fish sings about buying a drink for his companion in the mirror, a man with silvery hair. Is he seeing himself in the future or even a ghost of an ancestor?
The new Marillion with Steve Hogarth didn't inspire me to begin with, neither did it disappoint me. I liked the songs on the 'Season's End' album, although felt they had written a list of issues on a piece of paper and tried to write about them; climate change, the troubles in Northern Ireland, the prison system, the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square massacre in China. The music was stronger than the lyrics - it was an album of atmosphere as opposed to poetry.
The first great moment for the second Marillion was 'Brave' - which asked us to listen to it loud with the lights out. And I did so one lonely Hogmanay and was glad I did. The next album, 'Afraid of Sunlight' was every bit as good. Chart-wise, the band were gone. Any mention of them in the mainstream media was derogatory now. 'This Strange Engine' was the album which threw me and ultimately made a fool of me. I loved the first track so much that I never went beyond it. I didn't think anything else on the album could match it. I then heard the band were wanting money from fans to help pay for the next album. I got into Atari Teenage Riot at that point.
I didn't hear of them again until 'Anoraknophoboia' and noted they had a new, relaxed sense of humour. There were a couple of fine moments on the album, especially 'When I Meet God'. This band were changing again but I didn't realise. I officially bailed out at that moment, the only passenger to escape from the burning Concorde. I did not think I would meet Marillion again. How was I to know the very next album was going to be one of their finest.
Years passed and a rock mag gave away a free CD, including a track by Marillion from the 'Happiness is the Road' album - and I was shocked by how good it was. It was like Pink Floyd, minus the cynicism of Roger Waters. I went out and bought the 3 albums I had missed (or rather I got them from their innovative web site). I loved the 'Marbles' and 'Happiness...' albums especially, although 'Somewhere Else' didn't do much for me. The track 'Neverland' was enthralling, as was 'The Invisible Man'. I went over my old albums and finally listened to 'This Strange Engine'. The title track at the end of the album was one of the very best Marillion songs ever written. An absolute epic. The music they make now is very visual. It opens up inner landscapes. The lyrics are both dream like and provocative. You could say Marillion are making some very progressive music.
So there you go, that's me a Marillion saddo for the second time in my life. I couldn't be more pleased.
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Coldplay - Live
by GMDynamo
Fortunately, I have been to see Coldplay live. I have to be honest and say it was an experience unlike any other. I went to see them at wembley stadium with a friend of mine, and I was staggered. They played every major and wonderful song they have ever written, my personal favourites being Life in Technicolor ii, Viva la Vida and ... Swallowed in the Sea. Playing these live and getting interaction from the band was just incredible.
When I went to see them, they had White Lies, Girls Aloud (ew, i don't know what they were thinking) and Jay-Z (read later) supporting. White Lies I found a bit downbeat, very agressive and generally un-original and unspectacular. That may seem a bit negative and some people may disagree with that, but that's my honest opinion. They only performed one song they themselves wrote, and it was called "Death", and it was not good.
Then we moved onto Girls Aloud. They came, then sung, they disappointed. Moving on.
Jay-Z was surprisingly good. I had a low opinion of him because he just seemed like a mainstream (oh, this looks good, so I'll do it too and swim in money). Yet I felt somewhat entertained by his songs. He dueted the Fairytale of New York with some random person I didn't recognise (sorry =[). It was very enjoyable, and now we move onto the main act.
Coldplay was out of this world. Their interaction with the crowd was extremely well received, the entire crowd was screaming and singing along, and it was such a good feeling. One couple right next to me had travelled from Germany to watch them! We ended up having a good conversation and then they started playing Yellow. This is when all hell broke loose, and the entire crowd went wild. Then, to make things even better, they released a heck of a lot of big yellow balloons. And of course the mosh pit got all of them, and they looked like they were having such a lot of fun, I almost regretted being sat in the seats. =[
By the end of the night, my pocket was as empty as anything, I'd gotten so thirsty from the singing that I wasted all my money on drinks, and not bought a single CD. But, as perfection is always at hand, Coldplay then announced that everyone would be getting free CD's at the end of the concert, just for attending!
So that was a perfect end to a perfect night, and I will definitely return when someone buys me tickets for a present, because I don't have the money myself!
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