Coda. Recap and top ten live albums

So I really enjoyed writing about my favorite albums and the comments on here and twitter. Even found out a few things I didn't know. When Dr Yobbo and I were setting this up on twitter and arguing out the ground rules, he correctly excluded live albums, because we figured if a band couldn't get their shit together to write a good studio album then they didn't deserve the spot. He's right, I've never understood why a band like Hunters and Collectors would produce such overproduced anemic studio recordings but sound so amazing live. They should have just miked up a big room and played all their albums like a live set. So here is my top ten live albums. Some of these bands are just better live than with a producer playing with their shit.

No 10. New York City - Peter Malik Quartet and Norah Jones
Great laid backed sound, which suits her voice to a tee. I think she is a bit underrated because of her profile. Great singer.

No 9. Live at Brighton Beach - Fatboy Slim
The Wife was on a train to see this set, or the second one I can't remember and missed a connection and missed out. A shame cause Fatboy Dlim live would be a great party!

No 8. Live on Earth - The Cat Empire
A good album, not a great album, but there a great live songs here that capture the essence of what makes them a kick arse live band. The little live show they played at The Rev for radio executives was probably the second best gig we had.

No 7. Ben Folds Live - Ben Folds
Amazing to think that a guy behind a piano could be so captivating. He has a fantastic voice and writes killer melodic pop songs with thoughtful lyrics. The version of Fred Jones Part II on this is haunting.

No 6. Live at the Matterhorn - Fat Freddys Drop
4 songs. 70 minutes. That pretty much sums up the Fat Freddys live experience. They don't just hit you between the eyes. They sneak up on you slowly, adding layer upon layer of music. When I first saw them live, they had just the bass player and the singer on stage for the first three or four minutes, and the singer was just grooving to the bass line! One by one the band came on stage, joined in and eventually the whole crowd was dancing to this amazing tightly played song, but the buildup was so relaxed and subtle.

No 5. Live Like Dogs
Again, Resin Dogs never truly captured their live style that made the beloved in the Brisbane Live scene. This album captures them pretty well, with the tracks with DNO rapping, The Mics Sound Nice and Freak the Funk the standout.

No 4. Feel The Seasons Change - Salmonella Dub and the NZSO
A band marrying with and orchestra doesn't always work, re listening to the Metallica one has left me a bit cold, but this is a great example of what it can be. It has that cinematic or stage show feel, with ebbs and flows and I would have loved to seen this live.

No 3. A-Z - Paul Kelly
I'm not sure that this has even been released yet, I have all these songs from the slow release Paul did on his website. These are from the A-Z shows Kelly does every year, shows which are amazing in itself, how many artists could even do an A -Z show without boring everyone to tears with obscure tracks. The tracks are being released with a huge book of liner notes which I can't wait to get.

No 2. Roseland NYC Live - Portishead
An electronic band playing with an orchestra? Sounds a bit contrived but this totally works, with her voice soaring above the music and the electronic parts blending into the background.

No 1. Living in Small Rooms and Lounges - Hunters and Collectors
Terrible, terrible studio band. They had this huge big kick arse sound and somehow manage to make it sound like a three piece on a record. Here though, they capture all the sound, the driving energy, the fantastic brass, that made them one of the best bands to see live. I only saw them once, on their last ever tour and it was amazing.

That's the record that would have easily slipped into my top ten. All those live records are on pretty high rotation at my place though, well worth a listen.

No 50. Dire Straits - Dire Straits.
No 49. Good Gracious - M-phazes
No 48. Achtung Baby - U2
No 47. Manipulating Agent -
No 46. Stone Broke - Brothers Stoney
No 45. Based on a True Story - Fat Freddys Drop
No 44. Unit - Regurgitator
No 43. Apocalypso - The Presets
No 42. Signs of a Struggle - Mattafix
No 41. GRand Theft Audio - Resin Dogs
No 40. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins
No 39. Elephant - The White Stripes
No. 38 Chutes too Narrow - The Shins
No 37. Stoned and Dethroned - The Jesus and Mary Chain
No 36. Alright Still - Lily Allen
No 35. Sea change - Beck
If you were a fan of Odelay than you'd be mighty surprised to find Beck writing sad assed country songs. Bloody good at them though.
No 34. In the Nude - Pornland
No 33. An Elefant Never Forgets - The Herd
No 32. Felt Mountain - Goldfrapp
No 31. Orchid for the Afterworld - Sonic Animation
No 30. La Roux - La Roux
No 29. Renegades - Rage Against The Machine
No 28. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
No 27. Play - Moby
No 26. Mezzanine - Massive Attack
No 25. The K&D Sessions - Kruder and Dorfmeister
No 24. You've come a Long Way Baby - Fatboy Slim
No 23. Rocking the Suburbs - Ben Folds
No 22. Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
No 21. Prozac Beats - 2 Dogs
No 20. Dummy -Portishead
No 19. Kick - INXS
No 18. Fashion Nugget - Cake
No 17. Think Tank - Blur
No 16. Ok Computer - Radiohead
No 15. Power in Numbers - Jurassic 5
No 14. Nevermind - Nirvana
No 13. Wild Colonial - Ozi Batla
No 12. War Stories - Unkle
No 11. Two Shoes - The Cat Empire
No 10. Decoder Ring - Decoder Ring
No 9. Taste the Secret - Ugly Duckling
No 8. Surrender - Chemical Brothers
No 7. Angel Dust - Faith No More
No 6. Deep Down and Dirty - Stereo MCs
No 5. Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
No 4. Shin Ki Row - Shin Ki Row
No 3. Killervision - Salmonella Dub
No 2. Foggy Highway - Paul Kelly
No 1. The Calling - Hilltop Hoods


- Lantanaland from my iPhone

Location:Late.

Coda. Recap and top ten live albums

So I really enjoyed writing about my favorite albums and the comments on here and twitter. Even found out a few things I didn't know. When Dr Yobbo and I were setting this up on twitter and arguing out the ground rules, he correctly excluded live albums, because we figured if a band couldn't get their shit together to write a good studio album then they didn't deserve the spot. He's right, I've never understood why a band like Hunters and Collectors would produce such overproduced anemic studio recordings but sound so amazing live. They should have just miked up a big room and played all their albums like a live set. So here is my top ten live albums. Some of these bands are just better live than with a producer playing with their shit.

No 10. New York City - Peter Malik Quartet and Norah Jones
Great laid backed sound, which suits her voice to a tee. I think she is a bit underrated because of her profile. Great singer.

No 9. Live at Brighton Beach - Fatboy Slim
The Wife was on a train to see this set, or the second one I can't remember and missed a connection and missed out. A shame cause Fatboy Dlim live would be a great party!

No 8. Live on Earth - The Cat Empire
A good album, not a great album, but there a great live songs here that capture the essence of what makes them a kick arse live band. The little live show they played at The Rev for radio executives was probably the second best gig we had.

No 7. Ben Folds Live - Ben Folds
Amazing to think that a guy behind a piano could be so captivating. He has a fantastic voice and writes killer melodic pop songs with thoughtful lyrics. The version of Fred Jones Part II on this is haunting.

No 6. Live at the Matterhorn - Fat Freddys Drop
4 songs. 70 minutes. That pretty much sums up the Fat Freddys live experience. They don't just hit you between the eyes. They sneak up on you slowly, adding layer upon layer of music. When I first saw them live, they had just the bass player and the singer on stage for the first three or four minutes, and the singer was just grooving to the bass line! One by one the band came on stage, joined in and eventually the whole crowd was dancing to this amazing tightly played song, but the buildup was so relaxed and subtle.

No 5. Live Like Dogs
Again, Resin Dogs never truly captured their live style that made the beloved in the Brisbane Live scene. This album captures them pretty well, with the tracks with DNO rapping, The Mics Sound Nice and Freak the Funk the standout.

No 4. Feel The Seasons Change - Salmonella Dub and the NZSO
A band marrying with and orchestra doesn't always work, re listening to the Metallica one has left me a bit cold, but this is a great example of what it can be. It has that cinematic or stage show feel, with ebbs and flows and I would have loved to seen this live.

No 3. A-Z - Paul Kelly
I'm not sure that this has even been released yet, I have all these songs from the slow release Paul did on his website. These are from the A-Z shows Kelly does every year, shows which are amazing in itself, how many artists could even do an A -Z show without boring everyone to tears with obscure tracks. The tracks are being released with a huge book of liner notes which I can't wait to get.

No 2. Roseland NYC Live - Portishead
An electronic band playing with an orchestra? Sounds a bit contrived but this totally works, with her voice soaring above the music and the electronic parts blending into the background.

No 1. Living in Small Rooms and Lounges - Hunters and Collectors
Terrible, terrible studio band. They had this huge big kick arse sound and somehow manage to make it sound like a three piece on a record. Here though, they capture all the sound, the driving energy, the fantastic brass, that made them one of the best bands to see live. I only saw them once, on their last ever tour and it was amazing.

That's the record that would have easily slipped into my top ten. All those live records are on pretty high rotation at my place though, well worth a listen.

No 50. Dire Straits - Dire Straits.
No 49. Good Gracious - M-phazes
No 48. Achtung Baby - U2
No 47. Manipulating Agent -
No 46. Stone Broke - Brothers Stoney
No 45. Based on a True Story - Fat Freddys Drop
No 44. Unit - Regurgitator
No 43. Apocalypso - The Presets
No 42. Signs of a Struggle - Mattafix
No 41. GRand Theft Audio - Resin Dogs
No 40. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins
No 39. Elephant - The White Stripes
No. 38 Chutes too Narrow - The Shins
No 37. Stoned and Dethroned - The Jesus and Mary Chain
No 36. Alright Still - Lily Allen
No 35. Sea change - Beck
If you were a fan of Odelay than you'd be mighty surprised to find Beck writing sad assed country songs. Bloody good at them though.
No 34. In the Nude - Pornland
No 33. An Elefant Never Forgets - The Herd
No 32. Felt Mountain - Goldfrapp
No 31. Orchid for the Afterworld - Sonic Animation
No 30. La Roux - La Roux
No 29. Renegades - Rage Against The Machine
No 28. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
No 27. Play - Moby
No 26. Mezzanine - Massive Attack
No 25. The K&D Sessions - Kruder and Dorfmeister
No 24. You've come a Long Way Baby - Fatboy Slim
No 23. Rocking the Suburbs - Ben Folds
No 22. Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
No 21. Prozac Beats - 2 Dogs
No 20. Dummy -Portishead
No 19. Kick - INXS
No 18. Fashion Nugget - Cake
No 17. Think Tank - Blur
No 16. Ok Computer - Radiohead
No 15. Power in Numbers - Jurassic 5
No 14. Nevermind - Nirvana
No 13. Wild Colonial - Ozi Batla
No 12. War Stories - Unkle
No 11. Two Shoes - The Cat Empire
No 10. Decoder Ring - Decoder Ring
No 9. Taste the Secret - Ugly Duckling
No 8. Surrender - Chemical Brothers
No 7. Angel Dust - Faith No More
No 6. Deep Down and Dirty - Stereo MCs
No 5. Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
No 4. Shin Ki Row - Shin Ki Row
No 3. Killervision - Salmonella Dub
No 2. Foggy Highway - Paul Kelly
No 1. The Calling - Hilltop Hoods


- Lantanaland from my iPad

Location:Late.

The Final Countdown. 10-1 Beeso's 50 top albums.

I wrote this post yesterday in a sparkling and witty price of writing that surely was one of my best. And then lost it. So you get this instead. On to the last ten.

No 10. Decoder Ring - Decoder Ring
You'd have to be happy with this if it was your debut album. Dark, moody, cinematic, it is so seamless it is more one price than several tracks. Big chunky guitar riffs, throbbing organ lines, or was that the porno I watched last night? Not on iTunes unfortunately but well worth tracking down.

No 9. Taste the Secret - Ugly Duckling
Only one US hip hop band could write a hip hop lullaby, or in this case a concept album set in a fictional fast food chain called Meatshake. Great songs with tight beats and witty and mocking lyrics, the skit between the manager of Meatshake and his nemesis, the manager of rival VegeHut is hilarious. Good enough that a mate of mine who has rock music through his veins and shoots greenies on sight might actually enjoy some hip hop.

No 8. Surrender - Chemical Brothers
If only all electronic music was this good. Driving beats and fantastic guest vocals from start to finish this is one of my favorite albums to play really, really loud.

No 7. Angel Dust - Faith No More
Speaking of playing loud, this is how I like my rock music. Big riffs and chunky, funky bass lines and then Mike Patton's voice. It can do more tricks than a cirque de solie troop, going from an evil low croon to a howl that would rival most metal bands in a nano second. Then throw a chart topping cover in for a bit of a laugh.

No 6. Deep Down and Dirty - Stereo MCs
I got this album in a bunch of promo CDs that I regularly got for The Alley and it sat on my desk until the week before the Livid festival. I popped it in when my house mate mentioned they had written Connected, which by law must be used by every telecommunications company in the world at least once. I'm so glad I had a listen or I would have missed one of the top live experiences of my life. The albums has really tight song writing, with the contrast of that gravelly, serious British MC and the bright, happy vocals of the backing singers. I'm not a fan of the albums before and after, in complete contrast to the UK, which wanted the pop style of the other albums and trashed this one.

No 5. Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Easily their best album, with that funk style still rough enough to not be commercial poppy crap. A mate of mine, upon hearing Califonication, wanted to put together a fighting fund to send them some more drugs, in the hope that it might get them to write more albums like this.

No 4. Shin Ki Row - Shin Ki Row
A band with the wrong timing. Today, when hip hop is played regularly outside community radio and JJJ these guys would have had a great career. They had a live band with a MC and they were a good band too. The lyrics were like a hip hop version of Paul Kelly, examining the suburban life. "wrap tape round a tennis ball, over the fence it's out, on the bounce it's four." Unfortunately they had come and gone by the late 90s and not many people would have this album.

No 3. Killervision - Salmonella Dub
It was a really long and hard think to decide which album to put in for Salmonella Dub. They have so many styles they draw on, the main one being dub and it's easy to think that most of the percussive sounds you hear on this record and that give it that special sound come out of a sampler. Until you see them live and look at the huge box of instruments they dive into during a set. Never get sick of this album.

No 2. Foggy Highway - Paul Kelly
It seems strange now but I was never a fan of Paul Kelly until this album. It was another that came across my desk from EMI and sat there for a while, despite Darryl talking it up when he gave it too me. I mean a Paul Kelly bluegrass album? However from the very first listen I was hooked and it made me appreciate the quality of his writing and I have since become a huge fan and devoured his back catalogue. Easily Australia's best song writer and I would say he puts guys like Bob Dylan in the shade as well.

No 1. The Calling - Hilltop Hoods
Easily the most influential Australian hip hop album in the last twenty years, because it was the album that broke out of the community radio, JJJ cycle and onto the Nova's and Sea FM's of the world. I even gave my copy to Gold Coast FM through a record company mate because the distributor hadn't sent them a copy. Why would they? It wasn't that far removed from MMM's no rap crap ads. It is a great record. Party tracks like The Nosebleed Section right through to the hip hop version of Hotel California, (The Sentinel) it holds up well even now and they have gone on and sold bucket loads of records and are pretty much as mainstream as you can get. When this album came out, that was unthinkable.

That's it. It was an interesting exercise thinking about my music collection and what I actually thought were the strong records and about ones I loved when they came out and no longer really listen to. Sorry to the Phil Collins and Coldplay fans, no joy for you.




- Lantanaland from my iPad

Location:Should save my work.