My completely non-metal post .......

[LarryD]

So I've been buying up stuff left and right - vinyl, CDs, bluray, etc ........ but what I'm seeing is that nothing about it is metal ......except for the latest Dream Theater disc which I love.......I've been re-stocking, re-mastering, swapping out old vinyl for new versions, but I am not seeing any metal in the pile whatsoever....... I want there to be, but there is nothing that is really grabbing at me lately, so I thought I would just post a list of what I've been grabbing, listening to, etc ........ again, there is no metal to be found here so............

SAGA / I've been going through my discs, and buying up the re-masters of my favorite ones, and I'm not that excited about the newly remastered sounds here .....

EVA CASSIDY / folk, blues, gospel type singer who died in the 90s at the age of 33. I buy anything with her name on it - her voice and emotion melt me.

QUEEN / A Night at the Opera / special remastered edition, dvd with 5.1 surround sound, plus all of the original Queen videos, and archived audio commentary from the band. Strictly a collectors item - the remaster itself sounds like ass, go figure. The rest of it is excellent nostalgic stuff worth owning if you are a fan.

LEE ABRAHAM / Only Human - Lee is like the Neo-Prog version of Alan Parsons if you will.... not digging this one as much as some of his others.

RED SAND / The Sound of the Seventh Bell - produced by Michel St. Pere of Mystery; this is a lighter version of the band Mystery, if you can imagine that.

AVANDRA / Skylighting - we have already talked about this disc. Good stuff. Modern Prog Rock or something like that.

AEROSMITH / Get Your Wings - the only Aerosmith I want or own since my original vinyls were stolen. To me this is their best classic disc. Toys in the Attic is 2nd.

AL STEWART / Time Passages - re-mastered / special edition; bonus tracks, demos, concerts, etc. My favorite Stewart disc, I love anything the guy does but this is top.
AL STEWART / Year of the Cat - same as above. my second fav Al Stewart disc, re-mastered with bonus concert from 1976. priceless.

ALAN PARSONS PROJECT / The Neverending Show - Live Bluray concert; newest show, damn near perfect show, although the sound isn't quite his normal perfection.

CLIVE NOLAN / Song of the Wildlands - his newest solo disc; this is like Ayreon's last disc - narration with orchestrations and no real songs to be found. I'm convinced that Clive needs a band around him to prosper. I really don't like this one, and I hated his last rock opera called Alchemy.

THE PARADOX TWIN / Silence from Signals - we have already talked about this one; Anathema style post rock stuff, well done but I like their previous one better.

DARK FABLES / Clive Nolan & Oliver Wakeman - So Clive released a trilogy this year, called Tales by Gaslight. It was the Jabberwocky and Hound of the Baskervilles re-mastered, plus this disc, which are songs that didn't make it to either of those discs. Until now you couldn't buy it alone, but he just released this alone. I grabbed it as a completist, it sounds exactly what it is - songs that didn't make the other two discs. They are good, but they should have been included on the first two discs, except then they would have been 2-disc sets I imagine. This is not essential unless you want to complete the collection of Jabberwocky and Hound. 37 min. maybe ?


The rest consists of vinyl being replaced from the 70s ....... classic rock, hard rock, jazz, new age, etc ...........


I've got a month and half to get my hands on some good metal ....... here is hoping.

[introclaus]

SAGA / I've been going through my discs, and buying up the re-masters of my favorite ones, and I'm not that excited about the newly remastered sounds here .....

I love SAGA, so thanks for the warning.

Then again, you and I have different “listening methods”. Most of my listening is done either through headphones while working, through headphones while running, or in the car. When I sit down at night I obviously listen out loud over the home system but that’s perhaps only 10-15% of my listening done that way. For me it’s the quality of the music that counts, not the quality of production. Yes, of course a horrible production will drag down overall score, but I guess I’m not audiophile enough to recognize it nearly to the same level as you do.

[Random Axe]

Larry. If that's the direction you're going this year check out Drifting Sun - Foresaken Innocence. It's like a cool mix of It Bites and the lighter side of Arena. Just got released last week. This will likely be high on my list for 2021.

[LarryD]

For me it’s the quality of the music that counts, not the quality of production. Yes, of course a horrible production will drag down overall score, but I guess I’m not audiophile enough to recognize it nearly to the same level as you do.

****I agree and I'll take that as a compliment .........