Hello again, just catching this place up with the reviews. Here are the reviews from October 2009:

- Paramore: Brand New Eyes & A Slightly New Sound
- An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess
- The Midway State’s Met A Man On The Top Of The Hill EP
- The Hands of Caravaggio – John Tilbury and the M.I.M.E.O.
- Triad: Three Bands, Six Songs
- Mark Cetera Reviews “Ice Cream For Crow”
- Discussion: The Resistance by Muse

With this post, we are caught up until the end of this month (I’ll continue with the one post a month thing, I guess). I hope you find some good music among this! Keep it turned up.

- Steve

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Unconditionally Guaranteed (Blue Plate, 1974)

For the most part, critics and fans alike loathe this album. Since I consider myself a little of both when it comes to The Captain (who won’t even claim the album himself), I feel duty-bound to respond to this mass malignment: I think these overly harsh reviews have largely missed the mark and rob its worthy moments of their due.

The reasons seem to be these: everybody loves (or wants to seem cool by claiming to prefer the damn-near inscrutably weird and angular, free-jazz inspired, experimental-blues-rock masterpiece Trout Mask Replica (it really does require a mouthful like that to describe it) and wants more of the same.

Hell, I think it’s a masterpiece myself, but I don’t feel like I completely get the record; I couldn’t exactly justify my opinion, so it’s more of an apprehension–or suspicion–than a true understanding. It’s a brilliant head-scratcher for the most part. In this rare case, and unlike how I look at the seriously out-there music that I can’t wrap my head around, I am comfortable letting the “serious” fans and free-jazz aficionados tell me that the songs I don’t necessarily like or understand are awesome because they are experimental and complicated and unlike anything of their time. Beefheart (born Don Vliet) is on a plane of existence that I can’t board.

I don’t aim to raise Unconditionally Guaranteed aloft at the expense of Trout. But, I have to say that the complexity and disjointedness that make it so compelling to some also make it fairly inaccessible to others. It must be this accessibility–the studied attempt at accessibility clearly undertaken by Beefheart–that bothers the critics and acolytes alike. UG surprises in comparison, given its radio-friendly, pop-blues bent and its open bid for commercial success–and it’s nearly the same line-up as 1969’s Trout. And yet….

There’s something darker behind it: Beefheart’s giving us both what we want and the Middle Finger–not to mention maybe taking the piss out of himself. To those seeking visual proof of the tongue-in-cheekness of this affair, look no further than the inscription under the back-cover photo of Vliet: “Love Over Gold.” What? He places love over gold, but is obviously exploiting love to cash in…?! Just deconstructing the album art tells you plenty about the songs and his attitude towards them. I can’t draw a clear line between insincere sincerity or sincere insincerity in some songs, and given Beefheart’s sometimes lackadaisical delivery, I’m not sure he knew where one ended and the other began.

At any rate, the gambit didn’t pay off, and this grasp at mainstream attention was an anomaly; the new listeners didn’t arrive, and many of the hardcore were turned off by the simple love songs to his wife and the seemingly sappy lyrics and simplistic arrangements of songs like “Magic Be” and intentionally, well, lazy “Lazy Music.” But, I’d put the snaking, trademark slide-guitar-driven “Sugar Bowl”, “Upon the My-O-My,” and “New Electric Ride” alongside anything else in the Captain’s Canon. In short, the good songs are as good as anything he and the band did, if on the shorter, poppier, blues-rock side of their usual muses. The purposely “dumbed-down” tracks, while not up to Beefheart’s snuff, still prove better than, say, the corniest love songs of The Raspberries’ Eric Carmen.

Maybe the critics and diehards would have enjoyed the (new electric) ride more if they’d eased up on the preconceptions and expectations and heeded the word of caution on the front album cover: Check ears and Other Sensory Equipment for Socially Induced Limitations.

Haters of UG would do well to remember that Trout wasn’t popular, either–at least not initially. It was characterized as being too weird and anti-commerical until Radio 1’s John Peel wore the grooves out and it caught fire with those patient enough to dive in and re-listen. Once it became popular, Trout shaped expectations for his future work in a way that almost guaranteed that these fans would shun a more widely palatable album like UG. And, that they did. Beefheart was pretty much damned if he did or didn’t, so I can’t fault him for trying. I am disappointed, though, that he’d divorce himself from it. It does have moments of pure-Beef genius, in an easily digestible, if wryly wrought, package. It deserves some re-listening and kinder reevaluation on its own terms. While not their best work, it certainly isn’t their worst–it’s still Beefheart, if not exactly prime.

No need to kill your china pig–the trivia goodness won’t cost you a cent here at TBTS!

• Captain Beefheart went to high school with fellow awesome weirdo Frank Zappa; he took his name from a B-movie script that he and Zappa wrote, “Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People.”
• He made several appearances on Letterman in the 80’s. Letterman generally treated him as if he were some sort of crazed freak (not entirely untrue) and played him for laughs. I like Letterman, and Vliet is a bona fide eccentric, but these are often disrespectful. Credit is due to Dave, though, for his willingness to show his paintings and music videos.

Remembrance Sunday and the eleventh of November are days that evoke conflicting emotions in me. I’m pretty much an absolute pacifist, so you’d expect me to disapprove of them, but at the same time the *reason* I’m a pacifist is because I don’t like seeing people go and get killed (or kill others), and I have nothing but respect for those who fought (and often died) for causes they thought were right, even when (as has so often been the case) they’re led by psychopaths. Those people DESERVE remembrance, and respect. They went through things that none of us who haven’t been in a war can possibly imagine, and many of them behaved with far more decency than their commanders (I’ve read studies that show that in war, even when afraid for their own lives, 85% of soldiers unconsciously shoot to miss, because even in that position they can’t bring themselves to kill – something borne out by stories of people like Harry Patch, the last British soldier from WWI who died earlier this year, who had made a pact with his friends never to shoot to kill, but to aim for the enemies’ legs.)

I also don’t wear poppies, partly because I don’t wear anything like that – no breast cancer awareness badges or make poverty history wristbands, but also because the poppy as a symbol has become incredibly politicised in Britain recently, and it’s increasingly become a symbol of support for a particular right-wing form of patriotism. That said, I do think it’s hugely important to remember the sacrifices people went through for causes both noble and otherwise, so I’ve put together this spotify playlist. A lot of these songs are angry songs, because people should not have to travel thousands of miles to kill or be killed unless there’s a good reason, and often there isn’t. I find it very hard to remember those who died, or those who were maimed for life, without also remembering those who put them in that position. Never again should mean that…

One song I wanted to include was Armistice Day by Paul Simon, which he titled that for reasons much like those in this Vonnegut quote:

I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice Day has become Veterans’ Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans’ Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don’t want to throw away any sacred things.
What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.
And all music is.

However, Armistice Day appears to be one of the few Paul Simon songs *not* on Spotify. So it goes.

The songs I have included are:
Veterans Day Poppy by Captain Beefheart (mislabelled as Apes-Ma – all the songs on this album are mislabelled). Sometimes Beefheart’s lyrics are difficult to understand, so here’s a transcription:

I cry but I can’t buy
Your Veteran’s Day poppy
It don’t get me high
It can only make me cry
It can never grow another
Son like the one who warmed me my days
After rain and warmed my breath
My life’s blood
Screamin’ empty she cries
It don’t get me high
It can only make me cry
Your Veteran’s Day poppy

Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) by The Zombies is written and sung by Chris White, and his more fragile voice suits this deeply disturbing song much better than Blunstone’s would have.

Any King’s Shilling by Elvis Costello is a reminder of some of the more recent conflicts. “Stay at home tonight, if you know what’s good for you/I can’t say more, it would be telling/But if you don’t, what will become of you/Just isn’t worth any King’s shilling”.

Shipbuilding by Robert Wyatt is another Costello song (co-written), and possibly the saddest song ever written, about the hope a war brings to an economically depressed town – “It’s just a rumour that’s been spread around town/A telegram or a picture postcard/within weeks they’ll be re-opening the shipyard/And notifying the next of kin once again”.

Some Mother’s Son by The Kinks is from Arthur, the last of their incredible run of straight masterpieces in the mid sixties. “Some mother’s son lies in a field/Someone has killed some mother’s son today” I’d have liked to pair this with the other WWI song from the same album, Yes Sir No Sir (“Give the scum a gun and make the buggers fight/just be sure to have deserters die on sight/If he dies we’ll send a medal to his wife”) but that’s not on Spotify.

Song For The Dead by Randy Newman does a pretty good job of this though – a song from the point of view of a soldier in Vietnam burying his dead comrades and saying ‘a few words on behalf of the leadership’. At once utterly vicious and cynical about the motives of the leaders who start wars, but still recognising the real horror their decisions cause to those who have to carry them out.

Rich Man’s War by Steve Earle continues along these lines – “Somebody somewhere had another plan/Now he’s got a rifle in his hand/He’s wandering Baghdad wondering how it got this far/He’s just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war”.

Little Boy Soldiers by The Jam – “These days I find that I can’t be bothered/To argue with them, well what’s the point?/Better to take your shots and drop down dead/then they send you home in a pine overcoat/With a letter to your mum/Saying find enclosed one son/one medal and a note/to say he won.”

Where Have All The Flowers Gone? by Pete Seeger is often thought of as a rather twee song. It really isn’t.

And to finish, we have The Last Post.

Click cover to download

Everybody hates Unconditionally Guaranteed– even Don Van Vliet disowned it– and in truth it’s not very exciting or ambitious or good, but I can’t get tired of this half-assed, sub-Allmans ’70s period piece at all.

SHADOW PLAY: THE MAKING OF ANTON CORBIJN, de Josh Whiteman
El 27 d’agost de 1972, Anton Corbijn va disparar les primeres fotografies. Se’n va anar a Groningen amb la càmera del seu pare a veure un concert de rock. Es va posar a les primeres files del concert, i foto rere foto, un jove Corbijn va decidir que era així, fent fotografies a bandes de rock’n'roll, com volia passar el seu temps. Corbijn, nascut a una població ‘perduda’ d’Holanda, Strijen, havia rebut una educació catòlica, i gràcies, primer a la música rock, i després a la fotografia, va aconseguir oxigenar la seva vida, respirar llibertat, amb la sort de trobar una afició que després es convertiria en la seva professió. Sort, i hores, hores i més hores fotografiant, fent allò que més li agradava.

Corbijn de seguida va enviar fotografies a diferents revistes. I li van publicar. No obstant, també li van tancar portes als nassos; va rebre una carta d’una productora indicant que no volien les seves fotos, perquè eren massa fosques, brutes, i que els artistes sortien desmillorats. Corbijn no va fer cas. Va aprofitar al màxim uns anys, com ell indica, on era factible apropar-se a les estrelles del rock; després calia el talent i el treball per obtenir el sí dels artistes, però ja d’entrada, era molt més senzill. No calia tenir amiguets ni ser el fill de per accedir-hi.

David Bowie, Captain Beefheart, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Joy Division, U2, REM, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, PJ Harvey, Johnny Depp, Kylie Minogue… la llista d’artistes que ha passat per la seva càmera és infinita. Diuen que Corbijn crea artistes amb les seves fotografies; que la seva mirada atorga una força i un nivell que alguns artistes ni mereixen. Hi ha una anècdota amb Duran Duran: un amic de Corbijn li va recomanar que no els hi fés fotos perquè engrandia a una banda mediocre.

En el documental prenen força protagonisme la veu d’artistes i amics com el grandiloqüent Bono, David Gahan i Michael Stipe; coincideixen en comentar la genialitat, la creativitat i la capacitat per improvisar de l’holandès. També es dediquen molts minuts al rodatge i maldecaps que va donar Control; Corbijn va haver d’hipotecar la casa per poder acabar el projecte. Cannes la va rebre amb una ovació de cinc minuts un cop acabada la projecció; la pel·li va ser un merescut èxit. Projectes fallits, com el videoclip Pride d’U2; èxits immediats com el videoclip de Heart Shaped Box de Nirvana; autorretrats divertidíssims disfressat d’estrella del rock; la mort del seu pare durant la post-producció de Control; Shadow Play fa un generós repás d’un dels gran fotògrafs dels darrers 30 anys.

Corbijn posa punt i final al documental comentant que a ell, quan era jove, li preocupava i el cohibia el fet de no tenir cap mena de formació artística. Com ell afegeix: “…I què? Jo faig la meva feina, que és aquesta. Hi haurà gent a qui li agradi i a gent que no. Però és aquesta, i existeix. I per cert, no m’agrada parlar de la meva feina; la faig, i llestos. Bé, prou, me’n vaig a treballar”. Com han canviat els temps i la mentalitat.

A couple weeks ago I turned a friend’s email asking “What is knowledge and how do you know when you’ve acquired it?” into some of the most unwieldy cocktail chatter in history. I found a great cure for this epidemic in Merlin Mann’s description of the how people progress from beginner to expert to master (NSFW), which is where much of my knowledge chatter ended up, inevitably. He also includes a great explanation of why creative people have to “waste time” as part of their “work.” (If you have 40+ minutes, it’s a video anyone can appreciate.)

I’m overwhelmed by his tumblr feed, but lately I’ve worked through it because of how closely his musical interests align with my own. Specifically, I direct you to today’s post about Paul McCartney impersonating Ron Mael from Sparks. Merlin also co-hosts the podcast You Look Nice Today. I’m listening to the back catalog as therapy to overcome my anxiety with constantly interrupting and talking over other people. But Merlin is funny and smart when he interrupts, so it’s a lovely podcast, and you should consider subscribing.

There’s also this Captain Beefheart video, which you know I cannot resist posting.

Captain Beefheart – Bat Chain Puller

An aside: This is called Kung Fu Grippe because that’s the name of Merlin’s blog, but it reminded me of the G.I. Joe movie I finally saw. The movie was so awesomely bad, in part because it forced mentions of the G.I. Joe toys (like the “kung fu grip”) and incorporated impractical technology only because they were iconic vehicles in the toy series. This absurdity made the movie an overall better experience than Transformers, save for Megan Fox.

1. Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
2. Trout Mask Replica
3. Doc At The Radar Station
4. The Spotlight Kid
5. Clear Spot
6. Lick My Decals Off, Baby
7. Safe As Milk
8. Ice Cream For Crow
9. Mirror Man
10. Bluejeans & Moonbeams

Well, it’s time for a wonderful sequence of blogs! You’ll have to stay with me for the next few days. I was going through my music library, and I was noticing all the strange singles or otherwise different music that popped up.

J’avais presque oublié U.S. Maple, petits fils spirituels de Captain Beefheart dans les années 90.

Captain Beefheart by Neal Preston

Volgens mij is er nog een documentaire over Captain Beefheart waarin tekenaar Matt Groening vertelt welke concerten hij allemaal van Don van Vliet heeft gezien. De bedenker van The Simpsons is een groot muziekliefhebber, vandaar dat het ook niet zo vreemd is dat hij All Tomorrow’s Parties al eens mocht vullen en nu mag hij voor de tweede keer.

Zijn liefde voor muziek komt ook terug in The Simpsons waar meerdere bands reeds optraden. Van Michael Jackson tot U2, NME zet er vijftien op een rijtje.

When The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook appeared in early 1969, the liner notes said, by way of explanation, the sampler’s goal was “hopefully to win new friends for some very creative people.”  People like Jethro Tull, the Pentangle, Frank Zappa, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, even Tiny Tim.  Warner Bros. Records, founded in 1958, was just beginning to hoist its freak flag, and in just a few years the label’s roster would be the cream of the crop.

And so the ride began: with L.A. street freak Wild Man Fischer’s “Songs For Sale” introducing “My Sunday Feeling” by Jethro Tull.  Eleven years later, the Warner Bros./Reprise Loss Leaders series ended on the sampler Troublemakers with Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols snarling, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

Well, no.  The 34 Loss Leaders samplers that appeared between 1969 and 1980 formed my musical tastes and exposed me to artists I would never have dreamed of seeking out, to people who may have been just a little too adventurous even for early-Seventies radio.  I remember calling up my local AM pop station and smugly asking the DJ to play some Zappa and the Mothers, or that flip side by the Beach Boys, only to get the response, “What?”  The Loss Leaders made me cooler than the disc jockey!

But I wasn’t alone – thousands, maybe tens or hundreds of thousands, experienced the same revelation each time a new Loss Leaders sampler was placed on the turntable.  So let’s see what you remember about the Loss Leaders:

Diane remembers: “I was too shy to go to dances, but I loved music.  I remember my brother gave me copies of The Big Ball and Appetizers, and behind my bedroom door I danced like the belle of the ball.”

This is what Kevin had to say: “I had several of the Loss Leaders albums when I was in high school… Songbook, The Big Ball, Hard Goods, and the Looney Tunes –Merrie Melodies 3-fer.  Sadly I didn’t save any of them.  But I learned so much about various bands from those, and the liner notes were always excellent.  If I had to choose just two or three songs from those sets that were really special to me (and that have not been posted in this series), they would be:  Everly Brothers, “Lord of the Manor” (Songbook) … a wonderfully creepy Southern-Gothic kind of song …  reminds me of the Louvin Brothers gone just a little psychedelic.  (And) Fleetwood Mac, “Oh Well, pts. 1 & 2″ (The Big Ball) … having known the Mac in 1977 only for Rumours, I thought part 2 was astounding and beautiful.  A soundtrack for my own imaginary desert.”

And our good friend Randy: “From the first one I bought (Big Ball? Looney Tunes? I forget) these were little treasure chests of music largely unavailable in broadcast form where I (and you) lived.  For a cash-strapped teen with a hunger for the amazing world of rock music that was exploding in the early ’70s, these two-dollar treats couldn’t be beat.  Because of these albums, everything I ever heard by Fleetwood Mac was compared to “Tell Me All The Things You Do;” every singer-songwriter had to pass muster through Randy Newman; every guitar solo made me want to hear Ry Cooder.  I probably would have discovered all these things without the WB samplers, but it would have been less fun.”

The Loss Leaders showed us the way – to the best music, to the music and the artists that maybe we would have overlooked or never known about.  The samplers gave us rockers and folkies, crooners and shouters, and artists who were just plain weird.  They reminded us that you can follow a trend or you can go against it, and it was OK.  It was OK to be just plain weird, too.  Thanks for all the support and patience you’ve shown for this series, we’ll keep it online as long as the web gods allow us to.  Here are a few more cuts from the Loss Leaders series, mainly from the early years.  And thanks, Warner Bros. and Reprise Records – for the Loss Leaders series that some of us will never forget.  That’s all, folks!

A great historical perspective on the Loss Leaders at Dustbury.com – we also stole your graphic!

Inside the WB/Reprise Loss Leaders at Dustbury.com

MP3: “Songs For Sale/My Sunday Feeling” by Wild Man Fischer/Jethro Tull (from The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook)

MP3: “Radio Spot – Manhattan Merry-Go-Round/Memphis” by the Faces (from The Whole Burbank Catalog)

MP3: “All That You Dream” (45 single version) by Little Feat (from The People’s Record)

MP3: “Lord Of The Manor” by the Everly Brothers (from The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook)

MP3: “Marijuana Hell” by Ron Nagle (from Hot Platters)

MP3: “Son Of A Louisiana Man” by Doug Kershaw (from The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show)

MP3: “Desert Blues (Big Chief Buffalo Nickel)” by Leon Redbone (from The Works)

MP3: “Piggies” by Theodore Bikel (from The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show)

MP3: “One Too Many Mornings” by the Beau Brummels (from Eclipse)

MP3: “Lick My Decals Off, Baby” by Captain Beefheart (from Looney Tunes-Merrie Melodies)

MP3: “No Mule’s Fool” by Family (from The Big Ball)

MP3: “All Bowed Down” by Geoff & Maria Muldaur  (from The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show)

MP3: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Bert Jansch w/Mary Hopkin (from Appetizers)

MP3: “When I Turn Off The Living Room Light” by the Kinks (from The Big Ball)

MP3: “Electric Aunt Jemima” by the Mothers of Invention (from The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show)

MP3: “Oh Well (Parts 1 & 2)” by Fleetwood Mac (from The Big Ball)

MP3: “Reuben James” by Kenny Rogers & the First Edition (from Schlagers!)

MP3: “We Shall Be Happy” by Ry Cooder (from Collectus Interruptus)

MP3: “Big Road” by Bonnie Raitt (from The Whole Burbank Catalog)

MP3: “Radio Spot – The Inner Sanctum/Bang A Gong” by T. Rex (from The Whole Burbank Catalog)

MP3: “The Loner” by Neil Young (from The Big Ball)

MP3: “No Fun” (live) by the Sex Pistols (from Troublemakers)

30 Days Out’s series on the WB/Reprise Loss Leaders

“Listen to my bluebird laugh,

Abhijeet Ahluwalia

Put simply, this is a collection of lesser known songs by famous bands or cool songs by bands that don’t get much mainstream attention. Check them out.

Opeth – Coil: The acoustic opener to the Watershed album. Just beautiful.

Martyr AD – Broken Mouth: Metalcore before it became big. Sadly, this band split up but not before making two albums, On Earth As It Is In Hell, and the debut The Human Condition In Twelve Fractions, from which this song is taken.

A Life Once Lost – Detest: To be honest, I’m not a big fan of this band, but this song has a groove you can’t help love. There’s not much to this song, and it basically boils down to the first riff repeating over and over. But I keep coming back to it.

Judas Priest – One on One: The first of two Ripper era Priest songs. The two albums Ripper did get a lot of flak from fans, and while they weren’t brilliant they did have their moments. This was one such song. Listen to it in its own right, without the burden of Priest’s discography weighing it down.

Judas Priest – Burn In Hell: The other Ripper era song. Pay attention to how they build up the layers at the start. One by one, sounds are added until the riff kicks in. And what a riff too.

Judas Priest – A Touch Of Evil: This was originally featured on my favourite Priest album Painkiller, but I’ve gone for the live version here. This song has always fascinated me because of it’s obviously dark and menacing tone. Study the lyrics, keeping in mind that Rob Halford hadn’t come out as gay when this song was released. You’ll see the song in a whole new light suddenly.

Bombay Bicycle Club – Evening/Morning: Up-and-coming indie rockers from London. I’d seen their debut album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose flagged up repeatedly on Spotify and thought I’d check it out. This was the first song I heard, and 2 days later I was buying the album at HMV.

Anthrax – King Size: Another song from an album that gets a lot of shit from fans, but actually sounds quite good if you hear it in isolation, rather than in the context of the bands’ past efforts. Stomp 442 had a lot of groovy stuff, like this song, Fueled and Grunt & Click

Vader – Xeper: Vader have a ton of hits, but this one gets very few outings these days. One of the coolest riffs these guys have written, Xeper is a song that rocks because of its simplicity. And this coming from a band renowned for its technicality. Whiplash guaranteed.

Megadeth – Five Magics: Ok, so every track on Rust In Peace is legendary. But this one gets mentioned a whole lot less than Hangar 18, Holy Wars or Tornado Of Souls. A slow starter, it picks up the pace along the way and once the ridiculous guitar part kicks in at 4:46, you’ll be convinced. Awesome.

Megadeth – Psychotron: Lyrically, it’s not the cleverest thing Mustaine has ever written. But with a catchy riff like that, who cares?

Chimaira – Six: A true hidden gem. This 9 minute epic incorporates everything from jackhammer double-bass to eastern influences, in a song about surviving adversity to come out stronger. Inspirational and grandiose in equal measure.

Black Label Society – Bridge To Cross: For a bunch of guys known for their rambunctious brand of metal, this makes for a stark departure. Acoustic, moody and as close to a musical equivalent of melancholy as you’re likely to get.

Youngblood Brass Band – Elegy: I love this song. This is the live version, and the instruments sound so much more vibrant here. Look up the lyrics, the subject matter may be your average heartbreak, but DH Skogen is a clever lyricist.

Rage Against The Machine – Snakecharmer: Buried deep in the Evil Empire album, this song has one of the coolest grooves Tom Morello ever came up with, if you ask me.

Rage Against The Machine – Fistful Of Steel: Track 8 from the self-titled debut. Zack is outraged in most of his songs, but you’ll feel it a lot more on this one.

Tool – The Pot: Simple, yet so effective. The riff is probably the simplest one Tool has ever written. But how can you not scream along with Maynard every time he says, “You must’ve been HIGH!” With great bass lines to boot.

Tool – Swamp Song: I can’t believe this wasn’t released as a single from the Undertow album. Tool at their lyrical, belligerent best.

Slayer – Threshold: Taken from the God Hates Us All album. Pure aggro; I dare you not to scream along with Araya at the end when he’s shouting “I CAN’T STOP THE RAGE, I CAN’T STOP THE HATE YEAH!” Violent music at its punchiest.

Slayer – Catatonic: One of ‘those’ Slayer songs, where they don’t play at 2 billion BPM for a change. And that just makes the riff and the vocals that much more menacing and intense.

Metallica – Carpe Diem Baby: Buried very deep on the much-maligned Reload album, this one is actually a very good mid-tempo rocker. No, it isn’t thrash metal, but it’s still a cool song that is moody, dark and heartfelt.

Metallica – Ronnie: The most un-Metallica song ever written, this song from Load has more in common with blues than metal. Again, just forget for a second that you’re listening to a band that is famous for thrash metal, and you’ll see how this a brilliant song.

Apocalyptica – Farewell: I love songs that have an emotion to them. And if you don’t know what I mean, listen to this song and you’ll understand. It’s as if someone wrote the soundtrack to sorrow.

Audioslave – Shadow On The Sun: I chanced upon this song because it was featured on the movie Collateral. Again, a great example of a moving song that has an emotional side to it. Chris Cornell has a great voice, and he puts it to good use, especially on the last verse.

At The Gates – World Of Lies: Taken from the genre-defining Slaughter Of The Soul album, I’m baffled why this song doesn’t get lauded more. Pure genius.

Florence + The Machine – Between Two Lungs: Everyone’s going gaga over Dog Days Are Over, but for me this song is the highlight of the album. Lyrically, it’s by far the cleverest song on the album – love is the thing between two lungs, and the song is about how the emotion is passed from one person to the other. Musically, the song is typical Florence – a slow start and gradual build-up right till the climax when it explodes into harmony. And the song is as every bit as sexual as that sounds.

The Crown – Death Is The Hunter: With a name like that you know it’s not going to be a love ballad. The Crown is one of the most underrated heavy bands in recent times. They’ve broken up sadly, but not before leaving us with a solid 6 album catalogue.

Dimmu Borgir – Eradication Instincts Defined: I always thought Dimmu’s orchestral arrangements hit a new high on this album, Death Cult Armageddon. No song symbolises that more than this one; it gives epic a whole new meaning.

Dimmu Borgir – Burn In Hell: A cover of the Twisted Sister song, and it’s one of those rare ones that manages to sound better than the original.

Pantera – It Makes Them Disappear: A slow, moody and brooding song, but in the Pantera style so there’s lots of distortion and squealing guitars. The lyrics are some of the darkest Pantera ever wrote, made all the more eerie by the calm riffing.

Pantera – Electric Funeral: An amazing cover of the Sabbath classic.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – War: 8 brothers come together and play instrumental music in this brass band. The songs are good, but the live performance is absolutely electric. I was lucky enough to see them live twice, and if you ever get the chance to do the same, you should definitely go. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

Disturbed – Droppin’ Plates: Delve deep into the debut album The Sickness, and you get this gem. There’s angry songs, and then there’s angry songs that scare you because the tone is so calm it’s absolutely psychotic. Nice.

Your Demise – Black Veins: The next big thing in hardcore, from St. Albans in the UK. Just hear the song, it speaks for itself.

Mudvayne – Prod: I think Mudvayne were brilliant on their debut album L.D. 50, because songs like this took them out of nu-metal and put them closer to progressive territory. An eerie heavy song if there ever was one, punctuated by Ryan Martinie’s brilliant bass playing.

Trivium – The Crusade: I absolutely detest this album, but this 8 minute instrumental almost redeems all the garbage that precedes it. It’s not that the fretwork is brilliant – I hate artists who spend their time showing off their skill and forget to write a song – it’s the melodies and the hooks that make this song so catchy and memorable. That it is a technically difficult song is the icing on the cake.

Korn – Justin: As kooky and bizarre as anything else that had made Korn a big hit at the time. Freak On A Leash may have won the grammy, but the whole Follow The Leader album had nu-metal gems like this one.

Cancer Bats – Smiling Politely: Are they a punk band? Are they a metal band? I don’t think the Cancer Bats know themselves. This song certainly has a metal feel to it, and it’s got Billy Talent’s Ben Kowalewicz guesting on vocals. Gotta love that riff.

Captain Beefheart – Abba Zaba (Live): I couldn’t find the full song anywhere online, so check out the preview that Amazon lets you hear. Beefheart was an absolute genius, and as is normally the case with geniuses, absolutely insane. This song always captured that fine line between genius and insanity that was Beefheart. Look up his bio on wikipedia, you won’t be disappointed.

Euphoria – Maeri: These guys were one of the first ‘bands’ in India to find some mainstream success. I’m not a big fan of their pop-rock style, but kudos to them for taking a band (in the western sense) and making it mainstream in India. In particular, this is a tune I keep coming back to. 3 notes open the song, and vocalist Palash sings about a love lost. Probably the most bitter-sweet song I’ve ever heard. Even if you don’t understand Hindi, you’ll get the drift if you watch the video.

Lamb Of God – Condemn The Hive: This one is a Japan-only bonus track and I don’t see why, because it’s as good as anything on the Wrath album. Just enjoy.

Machine Head – Negative Creep: A metalised version of the Nirvana song. Grunge fans will hate it, which is why I love it.

The Doors – The End (Live): This song isn’t really a hidden gem, but the live version isn’t worshipped as much as it should be. Live at the Hollywood Bowl in ‘68, you get Jim Morrison at his best, joking with the crowd and singing alternate lyrics. It was a beautiful song to begin with, but this version take it a notch higher.

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