What's everyone listening to...?

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Just downloading Fall Out Boy's new album from Amazon...

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Okay so my CD based Queen reapprisal is pretty much done and the official results are in. The last good Queen record was 'Live Killers'  okay that's a cheat and so studio album wise it goes like this:

Queen = GREAT
Queen II = GREATEST
Sheer Heart Attack = My GREATEST above might be misplaced as this is possiblity GREATERER
Night at the Opera = GREAT
Day at the Races = GOOD toying with GREAT
News of the World = GOOD
Jazz = oh, wasn't expecting that, used to love that record its actually pretty ropey a few tracks aside
The Game = Christ I'd forgotten some of those tracks existed and I must have listened to that record 613418418 times in my early teens, a bit poor a couple of tracks aside
Flash Gordon = well thats better, very interesting if a little too sparce tunes wise
Hot Space = Oh God ram sticks into my ears please... oh actually that was okay... oh no no its horrible again... arh Under Pressure I love you
The Works = Hmmm okay might need to listen to that one again
A Kind of Magic = Well that's not stood the test of time has it
The Miracle = Even my nostaglic Queen love won't make me go there again!

And you can take that to bank and pay Brian and Roger while quietly respecting John for keeping away from the whole sordided mess its all becoming.

One for the ignore list, there.

A Kind of Magic is great, even now.
The Miracle has some stand out tracks, albeit quality dips. Was It All Worth It is clearly the song The Show Must Go On wanted to be.
Innuendo. Hmm.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Just downloading Fall Out Boy's new album from Amazon...

S'not bad. Quite like the Suzanne Vega sample on Centuries. Not as rocky as their last one though.

[I, Cosh]

Sizable chunks of this new Viet Cong album sound like they could've been recorded in 1979. Which isn't a bad thing at all.

Can't say I've ever been a Queen fan, although obviously FLASH! is amazing, but I have a question for those of you who are.

A few years ago I was having a pint with a couple of friends. In the context of a conversation about 70s rock and prog and all that kind of thing, one of them - let's call him Fat Man - turned out to be a pretty big Queen fan. The other, Little Boy for convenience, professed to having been quite into them when he was younger but not that fussed now.

At some point I make a remark about the campness of the whole outfit. In my view, this seemed as controversial as noting that Brian May's hair was a bit curly. Fat Man flies completely off the handle at this slur. Little Boy (a lapsed fan) and I are bemused. The central argument against the "camp" label hinged on the assertion that Freddie Mercury had definitely had sex with ladies. Any suggestion that sexuality was best viewed as a continuum rather than a binary or, indeed, that masculine preening and posing, cross-dressing in videos or OTT rock'n'roll showmanship could all be considered camp were angrily rebuffed.

So. How camp were Queen?

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

So. How camp were Queen?

What was the question?

[I, Cosh]

Quality. This was why I was confused.

[Colin YNWA]

I'm  in not way sure why any fan of Queen would thing they were anything but camp?

[Greg M.]

So. How camp were Queen?

I reckon your friend is seeing camp as having negative connotations – he's thinking camp as in silly, ridiculous, artificial, not-taking-their-rock-seriously, to-be-enjoyed-ironically (ugh!), that sort of thing. As opposed to extremely theatrical, playful, and over-the-top, which Queen undoubtedly were.

[Spikes]

XTC

Finally got round to upgrading my battered, and scratched to buggery old vinyl, and have treated mysen to the Fossil Fuels - singles collection CD.

Lovely stuff, from this most English of bands.

[Jacqusie]

Going through a Camera Obscura phase at the moment. Such a wonderful group & collecting the albums is a Joy.

Also slowly catching the  Nick Cave albums in my net. The Latest Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus is absolutely stunning.

Nice one Spikes, on the XTC tunes - the most English of bands indeed!

Si

[Spaceghost]

I'm currently listening to Salyu x Salyu a lot. It's a project masterminded by Japanese musical genius Cornelius, in collaboration with pop singer Salyu, with the basic idea behind it being 'voice as instrument'.

The studio album features heavy overdubbing of Salyu's voice, but in these live performances multiple vocalists have been employed to stunning effect. It's definitely not for everyone, but hopefully some of you will be able to appreciate it - 

This one's called 'Ordinary Friend' -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brec06BA6JU

And this is 'Slave' -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btr4oFR2W6c

[Magnetica]

Currently rotating Iron Maiden's "Dance of Death: and "The Final Frontier" in the car CD player. Indeed I have been for months.

Not really interested in much else at the moment it seems.

[8-Ball]

I've been digging through my shoe boxes of old home taped compilations from the Nineties and I came across some of these ditties:

Madder Rose - Panic On http://youtu.be/5jkBsLeNduo
Fuzzy - Flashlight http://youtu.be/ZTmIiYcd3Ow
The Charlatans - Bullet Comes http://youtu.be/ogFE4t2eyqw
The Walkabouts - Murdering Stone http://youtu.be/_INNBCsVD4E

Good times.

[Frank]

I've been digging through my shoe boxes of old home taped compilations from the Nineties and I came across some of these ditties:

Madder Rose - Panic On http://youtu.be/5jkBsLeNduo
The Walkabouts - Murdering Stone http://youtu.be/_INNBCsVD4E

Snap:

The Walkabouts - Loom of the Land: http://youtu.be/W2FE2eJmy8k

Madder Rose - Swim (rubbish quality): http://youtu.be/IvVG1qxjJ9U

[Colin YNWA]

Madder Rose, christ there's a blast from the past. Not heard them for years. An example of the type of band I wonder whether rediscovering would live up to the memories?