Review by TVC15
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Best Gedo [Regular edition]GedoVOLCANIC JAPANESE PROTO-PUNK!!!!!!!
I discovered these guys while reading the thoroughly absorbing "Japrocksampler" by the great Julian Cope. He described them as a ragged rock trio for bikers, a kind of Japanese Steppenwolf without all the keyboard histrionics and blooze rock pretension. While it's not hard to make that comparison, I would say they're much more minimalistic and stripped-down than most early-to-mid 70's rock bands. This is essentially proto-punk of the highest order. I have no idea if The Ramones were aware of Japanese rock but the relentless, high-end guitar riffage and slap happy drumming damn sure sounds like something the lank, leather-clad New Yorkers would have enjoyed. If you love the punked-up glam of the New York Dolls or the MC5 at their poppiest, then add this to your cart NOW!!! Also, MAJOR bonus points to the guitarist for his blatant rip on Jimmy Page's "Poppy & Dragon" jumpsuit. Check gedo vids on youtube to see for yourself. TOO damn cool!
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best of KRUTROCK Vol.1V.A.MOTHERLODE OF KRAUTROCK!!!!!!!
A Krautrock fan's dream come true! The scarcity of vintage German prog/psych on DVD makes this a much sought after release. Not only do you get footage of some of the true Krautrock pioneers like Can, Guru Guru, Amon Duul II and others, but you also get the privilege of seeing lesser known acts like Passport, Epitaph, and the great Frumpy. Seeing Kraftwerk with the legendary lineup of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger (both of NEU!) was worth the price of the DVD for me. It was also great to see great bands I had never heard of laying down scorching live performances; Lucifer's Friend in particular had me scouring ebay for their debut! If you like any of the above mentioned bands then this one's a no-brainer. Prepare to be blown away!
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AnywhereFlower Travellin' BandSUPER HEAVY PSYCH BLOWOUT!!!!!
Here is Flower Travellin' Band's awesome debut! Dismiss this as a mere covers album and you miss out on what is quite possibly the heaviest album the band ever dropped. Their roughed up treatment of "21st Century Schizoid Man" is a thing of distorted beauty and the version of "Black Sabbath" here makes the orginial sound tame! You should, of course, start with the brain melting psychedelia of the famed second LP "Satori" but pick this up if you need another fix.
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SATORIFlower Travellin' BandTHE GODHEAD OF JAPANESE PSYCHEDLIA!!!!
SATORI is more than just an album, it is, for me, akin to a religious awakening. You will NOT be the same after hearing this mind-blowing amalgam of proto-metal, heavy psych, and late-60's Detroit dirty garage blues. Imagine the Stooges or early Blue Cheer attempting Led Zeppelin with a singer who can only be described as a Japanese John Lawton! This is quite possibly the GREATEST Japanese rock album ever created. Pick this up and pretty much anything by Rallizes and discover a whole other world of rock n roll!
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Live [Cardboard Sleeve] [Limited Release]MAGMATake A Dark Journey To Kobaia!
After becoming a huge Magma fan earlier this year (thank you progarchives.com) I bought their entire catalog of studio albums. The last album I purchased was this one, a 2-CD live set on the Seventh label with terribly muddy sound. This CD however sounds AMAZING! The detail in both instruments and voices is truly incredible. Now, you are losing a few songs by getting this instead of the French set but the tradeoff is sound quality so sharp and clear that it puts most modern live albums to shame. And believe me, Magma live is an experience you will not soon forget. The 30 minute version of Kohntark here is pretty much definitive and appropriately dark and ominous. Kobah live is much more electric and the violin really adds to the sound. The highlight for me though is the MDK excerpt Mekanik Zain, which just oozes darkness and carries the same kind of pagan-ritual vibe as the studio album. Magma is definitely an acquired taste as no other prog band fused jazz, classical, rock and Christian Vander's harsh, Zeuhl style with such uncompromising vision. Like Ascension-era Coltrane, this is highly spiritual music in which no easy entry is possible. As far as a good introduction to the Magma style, you could not do better than this spectacular album. HIGHLY recommeded!
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer [Cardboard Sleeve]Emerson Lake & PalmerINCREDIBLE DEBUT, AMAZING SOUND!!!!
Once again, I am blown away by how amazing these K2HD reissues are! Being a fan of the first four or five ELP albums, I decided to go with a best of on the Shout Factory label (avoid at all costs) and was VERY disappointed with the subpar sound. The sound on this CD, however, is much improved and the mini-lp jacket is too cool! Hearing the gentle strumming of Keith Emerson's piano strings at the beginning of Take A Pebble is a great start to a great song and the sound on this tune is just heavenly. Knife Edge, with its ominous vocals, slowly building momentum and glorious organ is a real highlight and the Three Fates suite, while a bit pretentious, is still a great mood setter. And then, of course, we have Lucky Man with its legendary Moog lines and Lake's gorgeous singing. A better debut you'd be hard pressed to find!
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Shojo Kakumei Utena Complete CD Box [Limited Release]AnimationJA SEAZER IS GOD!!
Okay, I don't actually own this set but I have most all of the music associated with this wonderous, mind-bending anime. Everything about the Utena series is amazing and the soundtrack, while strange at times, is truly mesmerizing. I soon began purchasing the OSTs and amassed quite a collection. The mysterious JA Seazer, the man who composed all of the duel songs, stuck in my mind but I never bothered to investigate him further; until, that is, Julian Cope's excellent Japrocksampler book filled in all the missing pieces for me and shed light on a career that stretched back to the early 70's. If you have the means, check out his early albums as the "duel style" is already evident with grandiose choruses, scorching guitar, droning organ and awesome drumming; Kokkyo Junreika is particularly impressive.
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Brain Salad Surgery [Cardboard Sleeve]Emerson Lake & PalmerAMAZING SOUND!!!!
These K2HD reissues are truly amazing! After purchasing the 2CD best of domestically, I was shocked to discover how terrible the sound was... the Karn Evil 9 suite sounded particularly wretched. This CD, however, is a VAST improvement over the Shout Factory release. Emerson's organ during the 1st Impression of KE9 sounds fantastic and Greg Lake's Voice-of-God vocals are astounding. If you're even a minor fan of ELP, this is the best bang for your buck. I plan to get all of 'em eventually!
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TOUR 2002 WARP DAYS 20020616 BAY NKHALLBUCK-TICKTheir best live!
kyokutou I LOVE YOU is one of B-T's greatest albums and this live, recorded on that tour, is IMO their best concert DVD. Highlights include Long Distance Call, misshitsu, ICONOCLASM and the chilling oukoku Kingdom come -moon rise-. All band members are in excellent form at this concert, playing with a great deal of passion and intensity. The lighting for this show is just awesome as well. If you can own only one B-T live, make it this one.
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Romance [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]BUCK-TICKHighly recommended!
This is a must-have if you want the original version of Romance. The DVD is great... the Romance video is suitably bizzare. Yet another great B-T release!
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SILENT HILL 3 - Original SoundtracksGame MusicMusic for nightmares
SH3 is one of the scariest games in the series, with lots of claustrophobic, hellish scenarios and the typical SH creepiness ratcheted up for maximum fright factor. This OST follows suit with gurgling, spooky instrumentals and fantastic vocal numbers performed by the very talented Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. As the previous reviewer said, many pieces here showed up in the SH movie including Maternal Heart, the ethereal Never Forgive Me Never Forget Me and of course, the great vocal tracks, my personal favorite being You're Not Here... that song shoulda been a top ten hit! It's just a shame that all of the other SH OSTs are currently unavailable. With the release of the movie, it looks like Konami would consider re-releasing them... maybe in a deluxe boxset or something. I know I'd buy one in a heartbeat! For now though, this is all we have.
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Kairo (Pulse) (English Subtitles) Deluxe EditionJapanese MovieNot with a bang but a whimper
I was lucky enough to snag this before it went OOP, and it has quickly become one of my favorite films! Kurosawa is a master of horror, tapping into the essence of what is truly scary and unsettling. The story unfolds in a colorless Japan that seems on the verge of collapse. It's amazing how controlled Kurosawa's vision is here... everything looks almost monochrome, including the sky and the buildings. Only the characters themselves provide any color to the film but they too are soon winked out by the slow, sad apocalypse that eventually engulfs everything in its wake. I am always reminded of the T.S. Eliot poem The Hollow Men whenever I view this great film and I have to wonder if he was somehow familiar with it. Everyone who loves this film should definitely read it and think about the connection... it's just too perfect to be a coincidence. I refuse to watch the American remake because you simply can't perfect perfection. I also believe that Kurosawa should have directed the lackluster Silent hill film. Now THAT would have been amazing!
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Kurutta Taiyou [Regular Edition]BUCK-TICKHaunting CD from the princes of darkness
ANY album with JUPITER deserves 5 stars but there's so many good songs here! For the opening song, we're treated to the aptly named SPEED with it's charging guitars and Atsushi's sexy vocals. It just gets better from there with such standouts as MAD, chikashitsu no MELODY, sakura, the stark, scary henshin [REBORN], and of course, JUPITER... the song which made me a fan! Any self-respecting B-T fan MUST own this. It's a true classic.
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darker than darkness [Regular Edition]BUCK-TICKDarkly beautiful
B-T had released plenty of great albums before Darker Than Darkness, but this is the release which showed them moving much closer to the dark and creepy signature sound which they still have today. The songs DRESS and die are the obvious standouts but there are lots of other buried gems here including ai no sekai, yuuwaku, LION, and KIRAMEKI no naka de... It's truly unfortunate that this fantastic CD is listed as being OOP. Fans of dir en grey should most definitely check this album out. Just for fun, listen to KIRAMEKI no naka de... and then dir en grey's Mazohyst of decandence. Sound AWFULLY similar huh?
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COSMOS [Regular Edition]BUCK-TICKAn album of COSMIC greatness!
Of all of B-T's albums, I would have to recommend this one for new fans who are curious about the band. It's just so balanced and full of atmosphere and dark beauty. From the avant-pop guitar riffing of CANDY to the ethereal SANE, to Tight Rope with its Silent Hill-like creepiness, to the dark, driving idol, and finishing up with the hypnotic, awe-inspiring COSMOS, there's truly something here for everybody! Don't even think about it, just add it to your cart. You won't regret it!