Record Store Haul (1/13/17)

Time to take a look in my bag of goodies and see what we got at the record store.

Emerson, Lake, & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

Much like Yes, I haven’t heard every single ELP record, but it’s still fascinating how every time I pick one up, I can’t put it down. Brain Salad Surgery is such a beautiful record filled with the crazy instrumentation I love from ELP, but also more than enough simple catchy melodies that this album becomes one of the most approachable records ELP has ever produced. I still think Tarkus is their masterpiece, though.

King Crimson - Discipline

Oof. This is not In The Court of The Crimson King that’s for sure. King Crimson, known for their highly technical music, turns a bit more simplistic, and repetitive. The result is a King Crimson album that has almost none of what makes King Crimson amazing. The erratic, chaotic instrumentation is replaced with more traditional, predictable soloing and songwriting. This is the first King Crimson record after a hiatus and the result is a band trying their best to nail their previous sound, and failing pretty hard. It’s OK, it’s just no Red.

The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody

I like this album a lot. I know Flaming Lips fans have been hit or miss on it, but I found Oczy Mlody’s sound to be very inviting and very entertaining. It’s a relaxing, dreamy album with brief moments of harrowing space rock. I’ve already done a review on this album, so the best I can really say at this point is, if you’re looking for an album to melo out to, pick this one up.

NOFX - White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean

This is the album where NOFX really started to make sense to me. The band doubles down on the more melodious elements from S&M Airlines and Ribbed and the result is one of the first true 90s pop punk albums. Personally, I still think Punk in Drublic and Heavy Petting Zoo pull this style off  better, but there are still some absolute classics on this record, especially in the first half. “Please Play This Song On The Radio”, “Soul Doubt”, “Stickin In My Eye” and “Lisa and Louise” all showcase the humor and energy of NOFX and their resulting popularity. This record also has “Bob”, which may just be the perfect sampling of everything that makes NOFX great; the driving riff, the jazzy interlude, Fat Mike’s flat whine, it’s one of my favorite tracks of all time.

Revolting - The Terror Threshold

After being a critical nit-picky asshat over the complexity of NOFX, ELP, and King Crimson, I like to unwind with a big dose of “angry”. I picked up Revolting’s Dreadful Pleasures last Record Store Haul, and I enjoyed it very much. This is their second album (with the later half being their original demos) and it’s a pretty solid improvement. The songwriting is a bit more complex with more dynamic patterns, and even some catchy melodies. This album reminds me of a similar horror/grind band, Frightmare, whose second album Bring Back The Bloodshed mirrors this album’s improvements to a T. It’s an incredibly fun album. Give it a try if you like death grind.