Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

Released: 2011
Tracks: Intro; Greasy Wheel; Life Story; Get Things Done; Thanks in Advance; Love Terror Adrenaline/Break Through; Seven Percent Grade; View; Cave Dweller
Best track: Get Things Done or Thanks in Advance
Track to skip: none

I’m doing something fun for this review and the next one.  On September 15, 2010, the Bryan Beller and Mike Keneally Bands played a show at the Baked Potato in LA.  Both sets were recorded and subsequently released on audio and video (click here for the review of Mike’s album).  So, I’m going through these as they happened, one after the other.  Super Cool Thing: both bands featured the same band members for both sets: Beller on bass, Keneally on guitar/keys, Griff Peters on guitar, Rick Musallam on guitar and Joe Travers on drums.  I caught the bands on the same tour in Baltimore and it was an amazing show.  Ok, here we go: it’s party time!

That stretch from Get Things Done through Seven Percent Grade is absolutely phenomenal.  That half hour of music completely floors me.  Great songs with inspired musicians make for possibly the best music on any of Beller’s albums here.  From the excellent bass solo and Beller’s incredible tone on Get Things Done to the gorgeous melodies of Thanks in Advance and to the edge-of-your-seat playing on Love Terror Adrenaline, it’s one seriously amazing chunk of music.  That bit in itself is worth the price here and the great thing is that everything else is excellent as well.  The band is tight throughout and playing with serious ferocity.  Seven Percent Grade is the proper end of the set, with View and Cave Dweller tacked on as bonus tracks from other shows.  Both are excellent (especially View…damn, that guitar melody!) and I’m so glad they’re here.

This is definitely Bryan Beller’s best album yet and a perfect summary of his first two albums.  When comparing this with Keneally’s set, I think this one is a bit better.  The band was just on fire for Beller’s songs.

Rating: 95

Released: 2011
Tracks: Kedgeree; Blameless (The Floating Face); Life’s Too Small; Click; My Dilemma; Chee; Them Dolphins is Smart; 1988 Was a Million Years Ago; Yep, Them Dolphins is Smart, Alright; Bullys (sic); Pretty Enough for Girls; Taster; Tomorrow; Scotch; Chatfield Manor; Potato
Best track: Click
Track to skip: Bullys is kind of boring, but I’ll usually let it play through

This is a continuation of the review for Bryan Beller’s Wednesday Night Live.  On September 15, 2010, the Bryan Beller and Mike Keneally Bands played a show at the Baked Potato in LA.  Both sets were recorded and subsequently released on audio and video.  So, I’m going through these as they happened, one after the other.  Super Cool Thing: both bands featured the same band members for both sets: Beller on bass, Keneally on guitar/keys/vocals, Griff Peters on guitar, Rick Musallam on guitar and Joe Travers on drums.  I caught the bands on the same tour in Baltimore and it was an amazing show.  On to Keneally’s set!

While the actual release of Beller’s set split the DVD and CD, with Keneally’s you get both in the same package.  Keneally’s Guitar Therapy Live DVD was also recorded at the Baked Potato and he always seems to play well there.  The DVD of this Bakin’ show features 4 songs not included on the CD: Hallmark, Cold Hands, Natty Trousers & Career Politicians.  This set features a nice cross-selection from most of Mike’s albums with a heavy dose of material from Boil That Dust Speck.  Having three guitarists in the band enabled Mike to play some songs truer to the original versions and also enabled him to stretch out on arrangements of others.  The three-guitar lineup really beefs up such songs like Click, My Dilemma, Chee, Pretty Enough for Girls and Chatfield Manor.  Click is my favorite on the disc – the arrangement is fantastic and closer to the original Nonkertompf version than I’ve ever heard.  Having two guitarists besides himself in the band really opens things up and enables him to either play keys, or go all out and have so much kick ass guitar (as on Chatfield Manor) that my head certainly felt like it was going to explode.  Newcomer Griff Peters is a hell of a guitarist and I hope he stays in Keneally’s band for a long time.

Kedgeree is a fantastic way to open the set; power right through the gate.  Next is Blameless and while the three guitarist-lineup makes this one sound great, it’s such a bad placement of having it second song in the set and right after Kedgeree.  Life’s Too Short doesn’t help things either, as it’s barely an average song and definitely not one of my favorites on the Scambot 1 album.  It’s not too thrilling live either…until the middle section and guitar solo, which are infinitely cool.  After this, the set really settles in and we get the aforementioned Click , an awesome jammed-out version of My Dilemma, Scambot 1 standout Chee and then the real meat of the set: Dolphins > Bullys > Pretty Enough > Taster.  All 4 songs (6 if you count the 3 movements of Dolphins) flow together perfectly and present some eclectic and inspired playing.  This 5-piece band could be heavy as hell with Tomorrow and Scotch back to back showing how much playing in Dethklok has rubbed off on Mike and Bryan.  Potato’s a naturally perfect way to end the show.

I think that the band sounded better playing Bryan Beller’s material, but there are enough “wow” moments in Keneally’s set to make this a worthwhile purchase.  Guitar Therapy Live is definitely a better live album, but I love how this one is so different than that one (no Dog or Hat material, for one thing) and neither album shares even a single song.  Bakin’ and Wednesday Night Live are both tremendous documents of this phenomenal band.

Rating: 91

Released: 2011
Tracks: On the Backs of Angels; Build Me Up, Break Me Down; Lost Not Forgotten; This is the Life; Bridges in the Sky; Outcry; Far From Heaven; Breaking All Illusions; Beneath the Surface
Best track: Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Tracks to skip: Beneath the Surface, Far From Heaven, This is the Life

Most of the attention surrounding this album was due to the change in personnel – co-founder and drummer Mike Portnoy had quit the previous year (creating one of the biggest musical soap operas I’ve ever seen…keep it classy, Mike) and the band brought in former Steve Vai/Extreme drummer Mike Mangini to replace him.  Honestly, I don’t notice Mangini much on this album and I love that.  His drumming is fantastic, but it’s not IN YOUR FACE the way Portnoy’s always was.  Along with his awful background vocals, Portnoy seemed to always think of himself as the leader of the band and would no doubt have his drums mixed louder than they should be.  It’s refreshing to have Mangini in the band now and the drums sound right when combined with the other instruments.  The drums aren’t overpowering and unless you’re a drummer or specifically listening for them, you probably won’t pay too much attention.  Both Mangini and Portnoy are great drummers, but I thoroughly appreciate Mangini’s subtlety.

With the soap opera out of the way, it’s time to focus on the music.  What I love most about this album is that it’s a return to the classic feel of their Images & Words/Awake period.  The songs are so melodic and the melodies are a huge part of this album.  Dramatic Turn of Events tends to feel a bit more focused and in some ways, restrained.  For sure, they play some ridiculous sounding dual leads and dive full force into the proggy stuff, but it’s not unnecessary and always works within the context of the song.  That’s another area where the album reminds me of Awake.  The first three songs are all tremendous and prove that they can experiment and remain grounded to their “classic” sound at the same time.  For me, they’re just very well-written songs, especially Build Me Up Break Me Down and Lost Not Forgotten.  The main riff on Build Me Up is just a monster riff and that crazy unison section at the beginning of Lost Not Forgotten…it’s so insane it just makes me laugh.  While I do think that Build Me Up is the best song on the album, I certainly love the melodic section near the middle and the chord changes behind Jordan Rudess’ solo in Lost Not Forgotten.  Rudess seems a lot more restrained overall and less “wanky” and that contributes to the  positivity of the album.

The other faster songs on the album, Bridges in the Sky, Outcry & Breaking All Illusions are all great songs with another excellent opening riff on Outcry.  Breaking All Illusions is a definite fan-favorite that really shows the band flexing their compositional muscles.  It’s a solid song that features the return of bassist John Myung’s lyrics.  Breaking All Illusions would be a great final song for the album and it SHOULD BE, but the band decided to stick Beneath the Surface at the closing spot and it really damages the feel of the album.  I think it’s a bad song and it left a bad taste in my mouth.  While I like the melodies on This is the Life, it’s pretty boring and ultimately forgettable.  Far From Heaven feels the same way to me – forgettable and unnecessary.  Notice – those are the 3 slow songs on this album.  I appreciate the change of mood for those three, but the sequencing and overall inclusion of them puts a serious black mark on this album.

A Dramatic Turn of Events isn’t Dream Theater’s best album and while it’s not even in the top group, it’s still a nice step up from the past 3-4 albums that leave me pretty uninspired.  It’s a great step in the right direction for the band after losing such an important band member.  For me, this album is DT figuring out how to exist without Portnoy.  They pull it off excellently and he’s not missed.  I think that this album is more of a first step, where the next one will probably be more confident and hopefully one of their best ones.  I can’t wait to see what Mangini can contribute writing-wise.

Rating: 83

Released: 2011
Tracks: Bloom; Morning Mr. Magpie; Little By Little; Feral; Lotus Flower; Codex; Give Up the Ghost; Separator
Best track: Give Up the Ghost
Track to skip: Feral

This is a hard album to review for me.  The truth is, I really don’t care about it.  I think Radiohead’s a great band and I enjoy everything from Pablo Honey through In Rainbows, but this is the first release I’ve heard that completely disinterests me.  The songs simply aren’t engaging.  While I appreciate the creativity and how interesting the songs are, King of Limbs isn’t an album that I actively WANT to listen to.  When I first listened to it my reaction was, “wow…um…yeah…it’s…uh…is the next song any better?  Hm, no, it’s not.”  In the months since its release I’ve kind of forced myself to listen to it simply because I own it (and knowing that one day I’ll review it) and because they’re a band I love.  Very little on the album connects with me, either through some emotion or experience or even purely as a musician.  Most of the songs on this album don’t sound composed as much as pieced together – it feels like they said, “OK, let’s have an annoying electronic drum beat, have Thom sing his usual random lyrics over it and then put sparse bass and some subtle other sounds on.  Excellent, there’s another one done.”  It doesn’t suck, I’ll say that, but it’s certainly not engaging.  The only tracks on the album that I actively like are the last two, Give Up the Ghost and Separator.  Give Up the Ghost is a wonderfully peaceful song with some nice melodies.  It’s one of the few moments of true calm on the album.  I’m glad that the album ends on a good note with these last two, but for the rest of the album it’s just a bunch of meh.  It doesn’t make me want to go and listen to other, better Radiohead stuff, it makes me want to listen to something else entirely.

Rating: 71

Released: 2011
Tracks: Supercollider; The Butcher
Best track: Supercollider
Track to skip: The Butcher

This was a 12” single and later download released for Record Store Day in 2011.  I got it for free because I purchased The King of Limbs from the band so it’s a nice bonus.  Well, Supercollider is, at least.  It’s a good song and if it would’ve been included on The King of Limbs, it would’ve definitely been a standout.  From what I’ve read it wasn’t a leftover track from those sessions but something from a couple of years before.  It sounds like it was more “composed” rather than just haphazardly put together.  Which, is what The Butcher sounds like.  It’s an outtake from King of Limbs and sounds like it.  The Butcher’s an extremely tedious track and after about a minute I wanted it to be over.  While I like Supercollider, it’s absolutely not worth it to try and seek out this release.  I figure, if you’re THAT dedicated of a Radiohead fan, you already own this.

Rating: 72

Released: 2011
Tracks: Worship; Earth on Hell; The Devil You Know; Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t; I’m Alive; Hymn 1; In the End; The Giant; Hymn 2; Judas Priest; Crawl; The Constant; Revolution Screams; New Noise (hidden track)
Best tracks: The Giant, Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t, The Devil You Know, In the End
Tracks to skip: Worship, Hymn 1, Hymn 2

I think it’s easy to be skeptical of “reunion” albums and I’m sure Anthrax wouldn’t blame their fans for at least being a bit cautious with a reunion album, especially given the number of lineup changes during the past decade for the band.  For me, that caution went out the window with the first note I heard Joey Belladonna sing on this album.  Immediately I noticed how much FIRE the band has on this album.  They sound ALIVE and I haven’t heard them like this in a long time.  It’s refreshing, absolutely.  I caught Anthrax’s 2010 tour with Belladonna and was blown away by how great he and the whole band sounded.  It made me very curious to see how the new album would be – it’s one thing to sound fantastic playing your hits, but it’s something totally different to put out a quality album filled with passion of guys half your age.  Well holy crap, they did it.

I’ll say up front that there aren’t many weak areas to this album.  The choruses are uniformly excellent on these songs – The Devil You Know, The Giant, Fight ‘Em & I’m Alive especially – the band sounds fantastic throughout and the production is perfectly clear.  That just goes to show that you don’t need to have sludgy production to sound heavy as hell.  Whether it’s Joey’s vocals or Frank Bello’s thunderous bass, everyone really stepped up their game on here.  The guitars and drums also sound deliciously heavy on the album.  Honestly, the only things I don’t like on the album are the three short incidental tracks: the intro tune Worship, and the two Hymns.  While they do create some atmosphere, ultimately they’re an unnecessary break between these great songs.  Hymn 2 is the worst, because The Giant is such a fantastic song that I don’t want a military snare drum break before going into Judas Priest (a nice tribute to the band and the characters from their songs).  Oh, and hidden tracks are stupid and completely useless.  I like having the Refused track New Noise to end the album, but forwarding through the silence after Revolution Screams is lame.

Still, those are minor complaints about an otherwise great album.  I enjoy Worship Music the more I listen to it and I find myself always getting excited to hear this album.  Lyrically, there’s a good balance between the serious/political songs (In the End, Earth on Hell, Revolution Screams) and the more “comic book” ones (Fight ‘Em, Judas Priest).  Earth on Hell is a great opening track, but once The Devil You Know kicks in I’ve just got the biggest smile on my face…and it pretty much stays there for the whole album.  I love this lineup of Anthrax and I hope they keep it going for a long time.  Is this the best album of 2011?  You tell me – it just might be.

Rating: 92

Released: 2011
Tracks: Ready or Not; Sick and Tired; Captain Zero
Best track: Sick and Tired
Track to skip: none

Once I found out about this release, I was very excited to hear it.  Jason Weisenburg (vocals, guitar & bass) was previously in one of my favorite bands, Flat Mass, and it’s great to hear new music from the voice of that (for me) highly influential band.  It was great to hear his voice after not having any new music from him in so long.  Well, the wait was definitely worth it.  As much as I love the progressive and improvisational aspects of Flat Mass, it’s great to hear Weisenburg working in a more modern rock/pop direction.  Once I got over my initial excitement of this single, I was really blown away by the quality of the songwriting.  No surprise, that’s for sure, but still a nice jolt of WOW.  Sick and Tired, especially, is an absolutely tremendous song.  It’s so well-crafted with a fantastic bridge and a chorus that sticks in your head for days.  Captain Zero is another great chorus with a nice groove throughout the song.

When someone’s been away from music for so long (over a decade for Weisenburg, I believe) it’s easy to be a bit skeptical.  I mean, would he still have it?  I’m so pleased to say that these songs have such a fire in them and there’s so much passion in the music that it’s infectious.  Everything sounds great here and the contributions from the backing musicians (Pete Young on drums, and Polyphonic Spree’s Nick Groesch on keys and Luna Matto on backing vocals) boost the songs even further.  These are all really great songs and I can’t wait to hear more new music from Jason.  A three-song CD is way too short and I find myself listening to this several times in a row…and like any good music, I continuously discover new aspects to these songs with each listen.  Great stuff & highly recommended, esp. for Sick and Tired; what a great song.

Rating: 85

Recorded: 1967-1968; Released: 2001
Tracks: Hypocrite (recorded at the Beacon Royal Hotel); Digging My Lawn (a); Tremelo Study in A Major (Spanish Suite); Newlyweds; Suite No. 1; Scrivens; Make it Today  (A); Digging My Lawn (b); Why Don’t You Just Drop In (i); I Talk to the Wind (1); Under the Sky (*); Plastic Pennies; Passages of Time; Under the Sky (**); Murder; I Talk to the Wind (2); Erudite Eyes; Make it Today (B); Wonderland; Why Don’t You Just Drop In (ii); She is Loaded
Best track: Make it Today (A)
Track to skip: none

It was a happy day when I heard about the release of this album.  There aren’t a ton of King Crimson fans anyway and those that actually enjoy the pre-Crimson album, The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp, is a *very* small number.  So I realize that I’m in a very tiny minority who might care about this – an album of home-recorded demos by Michael Giles, Peter Giles, Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald & Judy Dyble.  Besides enjoying the music contained here, I completely love the historical aspect of this album: home demos from the core of King Crimson a year before that band existed.  And yes, there’s a significant amount of Judy Dyble vocals on here.  Yay!  I love the GGF album, but the addition of McDonald and Dyble really make the music good, McDonald especially.  Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield appears here as well, contributing lyrics to a handful of songs.

These songs were recorded concurrently as the sessions for Cheerful Insanity in 1968, the difference being that the band recorded this in their living room.  It’s striking how damn good the quality of these recordings are.  I mean, this is 1968 we’re talking about…and there are a lot of overdubs on these songs.  For the most part, the sound quality here is excellent.  The only songs that are of a “lesser quality” are Hypocrite (recorded in 1967 and included here as some of the earliest recordings the band ever made), the first version of Under the Sky & Passages of Time.  Well, on Passages of Time most of the song sounds good, but there are some moments, especially in the overdubs, where the leakage and distortion really affect the sound quality.  However, I’m so glad this track was included because it’s a good song and more importantly, there’s a section in here that would later appear in Peace (A Beginning, A Theme, An End) on Crimson’s In the Wake of Poseidon (the “searching for me” section).  Other than those few everything here sounds surprisingly good.

By looking at the tracklist you can tell that there are multiple versions of a good number of these songs, but I like hearing the differences between them.  Only a few of these songs were recorded for the Cheerful Insanity album, so it’s wonderful to hear 10 songs that were “unheard” in regards to GG&F.  An extra addition for collectors, included here are 2 versions of Crimson’s I Talk to the Wind, including the same version that later appeared on the 1976 Crimson compilation “The Young Person’s Guide to King Crimson”.  My favorite song on this album is Make it Today, esp. the first version with a huge dose of Judy Dyble’s vocals.  It’s a great song and was a wonderful surprise when I got this album.   Truthfully, all of the new songs here are good.

The liner notes go into awesome detail about the process they used to record these songs as well as the most detailed history of the band I’ve ever read.   All around, this is a great package and a much unexpected release for me.  The album makes a perfect companion to the Cheerful Insanity and gives us a clearer picture of how Crimson came to be.  Ian McDonald’s contributions here are my favorite part of the album.  It’s a flute melody here or a vocal there, but his presence here really boosts these tracks and shows how vital his contributions were to Crimson’s debut album.

Rating: 83

Cruising With Ruben & the Jets
Released: 1968
Tracks: Cheap Thrills; Love of My Life; How Could I Be Such a Fool; Deseri; I’m Not Satisfied; Jelly Roll Gum Drop; Anything; Later That Night; You Didn’t Try to Call Me; Fountain of Love; “No. No. No.”; Anyway the Wind Blows; Stuff Up the Cracks

Greasy Love Songs
Recorded: 1962-1969; Released: 2010
Tracks: Cheap Thrills; Love of My Life; How Could I Be Such a Fool; Deseri; I’m Not Satisfied; Jelly Roll Gum Drop; Anything; Later That Night; You Didn’t Try to Call Me; Fountain of Love; “No. No. No.”; Anyway the Wind Blows; Stuff Up the Cracks; Jelly Roll Gum Drop (mono mix); “No. No. No.” (long version); Stuff Up the Cracks (alternative mix); “Serious Fan Mail”; Valerie (mono mix); Jelly Roll Gum Drop (single version); “Secret Greasing”; Love of My Life

Best track: Jelly Roll Gum Drop
Tracks to skip: How Could I Be Such a Fool, I’m Not Satisfied

I decided to do something different for this review and combine 2 albums that are essentially the same material.  There were good and bad points to this, but overall it was fun.  History lesson!  Cruising With Ruben & the Jets, Zappa’s tribute to doo-wop and 50’s R&B, was originally released in 1968.  In 1984 Zappa decided to mess with the original versions of We’re Only In It for the Money and Ruben by recording new bass and drums and removing the old tracks.  Repeating for emphasis: Zappa thought it was a good idea sonically to replace drum and bass tracks recorded in 1967-1968 with those recorded in 1984.  He was wrong.  The awful 1984 mix of Money was thankfully fixed when the original mix came out on CD in 1995.  Yay!  Unfortunately, the original mix of Cruising With Ruben & the Jets stayed in the vaults and wasn’t included with the massive 1995 reissue campaign.  Finally in 2010, Greasy Love Songs comes out and not only gives us the original Ruben stereo mix, but we get a lot of great extras too.

My first listen-through of these albums consisted of me going track by track between both versions.  It was kind of painful.  I’d hear the bad 1984 remix, followed by the corresponding song from the ’68 mix, and then back to the ’84 mix, etc, etc, etc.  It got old.  After that, I just went straight through the albums.  That made me happier, but only when I got to the original mix.

There was a ton of remixing for the 1984 version and possibly some other additions, but the glaringly obvious problem is the introduction of 1980’s sounding bass and drums.  It’s awful and once you hear the original version, you wonder how in the world he ever thought it sounded good.  I’m not going to rag on the musicians here, because both Arthur Barrow and Chad Wackerman are great musicians and they were only doing what their boss told them to do.  It’s all Frank Zappa’s fault for this mess.  I mean, it’s just WRONG to have slap bass on Jelly Roll Gum Drop!

In listening to the 84 version, which is the only way you’ll find “Cruising With Ruben & the Jets” in stores (get Greasy Love songs through zappa.com), I have a hard time getting through it.  The bass and drums ruin it for me.  I know a lot of people felt this way about the ’84 remix of Money as well.  The worst offenders on this version are on How Could I Be Such a Fool and I’m Not Satisfied.  The bass and drums sound so out of place.  Both of these songs previously appeared on Freak Out and I find both versions here kind of plodding.  They really bored me.  One good thing about picking up the Ruben CD is the great artwork.  I love the packaging of Greasy Love Songs, but the cover itself is kinda cruddy.  (I appreciate that it’s a ’53 Nash, though)

So, moving on to Greasy Love Songs and the original mix of Ruben.  Man, it’s a fun album.  Zappa clearly loved this kind of music and you can tell the band had a blast recording these songs.  The original stereo mix sounds so great, esp. when compared to the remix.  There’s so much life in the original recordings!  My favorite songs of the album are Anything, Deseri and Jelly Roll Gum Drop.  Anything is probably the straightest song on the album – classic-sounding doo-wop and not the least bit silly.  Love it.  Deseri is a ton of fun and I especially love Ray Collins’ slight vocal mess up right before the spoken middle section.  Staying true to the time, the mistake was left in.  Jelly Roll Gum Drop definitely gets my award for best on the album.  The not-so-subtle double entendre in the lyrics is awesome and always makes me smile.  Plus, it’s just a great song with very cool chord changes.  This song especially shows how replacing the bass was a travesty because Roy Estrada plays a great bass line here.  I love the background vocals and horns on this song as well.

Other highlights for me include Love of My Life which is one of my favorite Zappa doo-wop songs and Frank’s snarling guitar solo at the end of Stuff Up the Cracks.  It’s a tone straight out of the studio version of Stinkfoot some 5 years later.  As for the extra songs, it’s great to hear all of the alternate and early versions of these songs – not to mention the Studio Z version of Love of My Life from ’62 or so.  Both Serious Fan Mail and Secret Greasing are interview segments that shed some more light on the songs.  And of course, in Greasy Love Songs we get excellent liner notes and pictures – especially the fake “school photos” of the band.

Overall, I like the album… as it was originally released.  I have no need to listen to the remixed version.  The original Ruben isn’t Zappa’s best album (not even close), but it’s definitely a fun listen.  Ratings go as follows: Cruising With Ruben & the Jets refers to the CD issue of this album and not the original mix.

Ratings:

Cruising With Ruben & the Jets – 65
Greasy Love Songs – 80

Released: 1990
Tracks: Eye of the Witch; The Trial (Chambre Ardente); Burn; Two Little Girls; Into the Convent; Father Picard; Behind These Walls; The Meetings; Insanity; 1642 Imprisonment; The Curse
Best track: Insanity
Tracks to skip: The Trial, Two Little Girls

I’d be curious to see how hardcore King Diamond fans rate this album.  I know most people tend to rank Abigail, Them and Conspiracy as his best, but this album isn’t usually mentioned as much as the others.  I don’t enjoy it as much as Conspiracy, the only other KD album I own.  Just like with that album, my main problem with this album is in the vocals.  I think King Diamond is a great songwriter – the music he writes is uniformly excellent, his band are great writers as well.  And yeah, I dig his lyrics too.  He’s great at delving into truly dark subject matter and this album is no exception.  Some very dark stuff happens here!  But it’s his vocals that always stop me from listening to his stuff.  Some of the time I can take it, but most of the time his falsetto is so utterly ridiculous that it snaps me out of the story and makes me just laugh.  His vocals in The Trial and the chorus of Father Picard are a good example of this.

Musically, wow, this stuff is so good.  There weren’t many metal bands that could come up with stuff this cool.  There’s just a ton of fantastic guitar playing on here.  The intro riff to Burn is excellent.  Musically this song is so great, it’s just the vocals that ruin it.  To be honest, the only really bad songs on this album are The Trail and Two Little Girls.  The rest have enough redeeming features that I’ll enjoy them when I do pull this out.  Of the songs with vocals, my favorites are Behind These Walls and 1642 Imprisonment.  Tremendous songs, all the way through.

Honestly, I only own this album because of the instrumental track Insanity.  Written by guitarist Andy La Rocque it’s a wonderfully mellow piece with face-melting chord changes, solos and all around beauty.  This is one of my favorite pieces of music by ANYONE.  It’s a truly gorgeous song and every time I listen to it….I feel as if my soul is somehow improved.  I don’t know if I can put it any other way.  It’s a beautiful song and one that I’ll happily listen to for the rest of my life.

As an album, I don’t like “The Eye” as much as Conspiracy.  The songs are great, but I can’t handle King Diamond’s vocals.  I’ve long accepted that, though.  I just try to tune him out and concentrate on the music.  Taken as a whole, though, man this album is hard to listen to.  I get so torn on rating this, because it’s only one aspect, the main one, that makes it so difficult to listen to.  If you already like King Diamond and can handle his vocals, give this one a try.

Rating: 79

« Previous entries