Category: External Music (Page 16 of 50)

You heard it here first: Guns ‘n Roses, “Chinese Democracy”

October 22, 2008 / David Medsker

Here it is, kids: the long-awaited, oft-delayed title track to Guns ‘n Roses’ Chinese Democracy, which finally has a release date of November 23. Of this year. No, seriously.

So how it it? Um, well, it’s…interesting.

Interesting. That’s the biggest cop-out adjective in a music writer’s arsenal. And yet, that’s as positive a word as I can come up with upon first listen. I feel the same way about this as I did when I first heard “You Could Be Mine,” the first single released from the Use Your Illusion albums. It reminds me of long-buried ’90s bands like Monster Magnet, and the guitar solo…doesn’t Tom Morello have patent pending on that stuff?

There was once a time where I was dying to hear what mad scientist Axl had been cooking up in his lab. Those days came and went roughly ten years ago. Now it’s on the level of cautiously optimistic. You know there’s a “November Rain” sitting in there somewhere. There has to be…right?

Artists, External Music, News, Rock, Songs

Chinese Democracy listen to the new Guns 'n Roses single New Guns 'n Roses

Classic Albums: Duran Duran, Rio

October 20, 2008 / David Medsker

Man, do we love this series. Eagle gets away from their classic rock leanings and brings in four of the Fab Five – Andy Taylor, having left the band once again, does not participate – to dissect Duran Duran’s 1982 worldwide breakthrough album Rio, and while it doesn’t contain any of the bizarro production stories that were revealed in the episode dedicated to Def Leppard’s Hysteria, it is still a very entertaining and informative analysis of one of the biggest albums of the ‘80s. Nick Rhodes describes the origins of the opening sound on the album’s title track, and talks about how he remodeled “The Chauffeur” into an electronic track from its origins as an acoustic number. They even recruited David Kershenbaum to talk about remixing several Rio tracks to make them more “American” (smart move, that). John Taylor pulls out his bass and plays a few riffs, and reveals that he had to switch from his fingers to a pick and back on “Hold Back the Rain.” Russell Mulcahy is on hand to talk about the videos he shot in Sri Lanka (three videos in three days, yikes), and Bob Geldof is on hand to rave about the record, too. It’s a fine addition to an excellent series. May we suggest ABC’s The Lexicon of Love as a future candidate? (Eagle Vision)

Click to buy Classic Albums: Duran Duran, Rio

DVD Quicktakes, External Music, Pop, Rock

Bob Geldof Classic Albums Series Duran Duran Eagle Vision Duran Duran John Taylor Nick Rhodes Rio Roger Taylor Russel Mulcahy Simon LeBon

Random Acts of Listening: The Lotus Eaters, “Sara”

October 15, 2008 / Will Harris

In celebration of the new look for Eat Sleep Drink Music – otherwise known as ESDMusic, of course – let’s roll out a new column, shall we? As you can see, it’s called “Random Acts of Listening,” and the idea is to hit “shuffle” on one’s iPod, listen to the first song that turns up, and write about it. The resulting piece might be personal, critical, or just straight up informational, but the ultimate goal is that it prove interesting, and I’d like to think that anyone who writes for the site can manage to pull off such a task.

First up: “Sara,” by The Lotus Eaters, from their 2001 album, silentspace.

Alternative, Artists, External Music, Pop, Random Acts of Listening

Cloudcuckooland First Picture of You I'd Sacrifice Eight Orgasms With Shirley MacClaine Just To Be There Ian Broudie Jeremy Kelly Lightning Seeds No Sense of Sin Out on Your Own Peter Coyle Random Acts of Listening Sara Selfish Set Me Apart silentspace The Lotus Eaters You Don't Need Someone New

Talk Talk: Live at Montreux 1986

October 13, 2008 / David Medsker

Is it just us, or is Talk Talk one of the most underrated bands of all time? Seriously, is there another band on the planet that had the growth trajectory over its first five albums that Talk Talk exhibited? (Your results may vary over the course of Talk Talk’s last two albums, but you cannot deny that they refused to do the same thing twice, come hell or high water.) This video catches the band both at their commercial peak (their third album, 1986’s The Colour of Spring) and on their last tour, playing Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and bringing a small but packed house to its knees. Singer Mark Hollis was not one for small talk with the audience, or even doing much more than walking between the mic and the drum riser (or taking off his sunglasses, indoors), but when he starts singing, he shakes like a man possessed by the Holy Ghost, and with perfect pitch to boot. Even the band’s earlier, more synthesized fare is fleshed out by the eight-piece band, giving some unlikely songs a little welcome breathing room (“Call in the Night Boy” in particular). The set list is near-bulletproof – all the big hits, from “Talk Talk” to “Living in Another World” and “Life’s What You Make It” are here, along with their It’s My Life album in its entirety, save one song – though we wished that they had made room for “Happiness Is Easy” in the 14-song set. Then again, the band did what every great band does: they left us wanting more. This is a must-have for any fan of a criminally unappreciated band. (Eagle Vision)

Click to buy Talk Talk: Live at Montreux 1986

Concert DVDs, DVD Quicktakes, External Music, Music DVDs

DVD review Eat Sleep Drink Music Talk Talk Live at Montreux

Do You Remember The First Time?

October 6, 2008 / Will Harris

The conversation usually starts late at night, you and your new college friends in someone’s dorm room with a 12-pack, dishing about the lives you lived before they knew you. An old song comes on, and someone says, “This was the first rock concert I ever saw.” This claim is usually met with a “They suck!,” followed by a “Hey, I was 12, I didn’t know any better!” From there, the conversation turns into a can-you-top-this game of who saw the most “embarrassing” band as their first concert. Twenty years later, of course, the shame turns back into pride, as you realize the band was better than you once gave them credit for, but you wouldn’t have convinced the 18-year-old version of yourself of that at the time. Being cool is hard, you know.

And so, over the course of nearly a hundred emails, the Bullz-Eye staff racked their booze-addled brains to recall the first time they heard the roar of the crowd as the lights went down, and the magic that followed. This is our chronological history of the staff’s first shows. Not surprisingly, most of us were baptized by arena rock fire, but as it turned out, one of us was fortunate enough to see the birth of one of the greatest bands of all time.

Curious which one it was…? Just click the graphic below…and when you’re finished with the piece, don’t be afraid to pop back ’round and let us know about your first time!

Alternative, Artists, Concerts, External Music, Metal, Pop, Rock

first concert memories first concerts KISS concert