The ever-popular "Currently Listening" thread

This morning I was listening o the recently issued album containing the extended versions/mixes of top hits by OMD ... I guess that's only a "fan thing" ... ;)

I bought it yesterday - and in the evening I was visiting their concert - I had sooooo much fun although it was almost too loud for m taste and my feet were aching terribly (no seats !!!) ! :)
 
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Also, Dälek - Abandoned Language (2007)

After their industrial hip hop album Absence, this more or less non-industrial one is also a kind of hip hop record which I think has good chances to appeal to people who normally aren´t into the genre:

Stagnant Waters
Paragraphs Relentless
Tarnished
 
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When I drive anywhere I usually listen to talk radio of the conservative type but in my CD player when I don't listen to talk I have ELO's Greatest Hits. Aging myself mebbe but I can't help it. I loves em. I even loved Xanadu. LOL. NO making fun of me for dat!
 
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Continuing with the doom topic - I've been digging some Solitude Aeturnus lately. Traditional doom, with strong vocals.

DeepO - that Dalek band sounds interesting. I don't usually get into recent hip-hop much but enjoyed checking out those tracks. Will have to look into them more.
 
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Hold on Tight, T. ;)

For me, a track that was hard to find a decent stream of. This link goes to a file sharing site--I don't support illegal downloads, so I'll just trust folks to use their judgment.

"Can't Disappear" by Pluramon
(the hook is around 1:35, so stick with it)
 
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When I drive anywhere I usually listen to talk radio of the conservative type but in my CD player when I don't listen to talk I have ELO's Greatest Hits. Aging myself mebbe but I can't help it. I loves em. I even loved Xanadu. LOL. NO making fun of me for dat!

LOL! I ALMOST took that one into my car. Instead my retro cheese for driving this week includes Styx - Grand Illusion and Ultravox - The Collection. ;)
 
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Ooo, I had that Ultravox on vinyl back in the day. Good stuff. Remember them playing "Vienna" for Live Aid?

80s cheese? I can do that in spades. We'll stick with stuff where you could pop in a greatest hits cd and pleasantly pass an hour, in keeping with the driving soundtrack theme.

"One Step Ahead" by Split Enz

"The Ghost in You" by The Psychedelic Furs

"Some Things are Better Left Unsaid" by Hall and Oates (love the ending on that one)

And I'd get an epic fail if I didn't put up the kings of 80s cheese:
"The Eyes of a Woman" by Journey
 
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Journey is DEFINITELY the king of 80's cheese. :)

Split Enz - great stuff.

Funny thing is, even though their songs are still strong today, from the get go, I always felt my liking Ultravox was a VERY guilty pleasure. I think they definitely qualify for the shortlived techopop genre, which was never very well defined for me until I heard them.
 
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Definitely a niche sub-genre there. Kinda a mixture of art rock, blue-eyed soul, and electronica. I did some paging thru the collection for similar stuff and actually came up surprisingly dry. Lots of stuff that covers parts of the formula, but that mixture of art rock seriousness and frantic electronica is tough to find.

Talk Talk, Thomas Dolby, Scritti Politti, Naked Eyes, Alphaville
(all of which had much more depth to offer than what played on radio)

For a modern take on that sound, you should take a look at the "Saturdays=Youth" cd from M83. Would fit perfectly on a John Hughes movie.

My guilty pleasure of the era was Duran Duran. Tough to get past the screaming girls, but damn those boys could play. I couldn't begin to imagine having the ability to play bass like John Taylor.
 
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Yes, here's an article that summarizes the genre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthpop

I thought The Buggles were pretty creative, too. "Video Killed the Radio Star"

But a lot of the examples are missing guitars, and come off pretentious. Ultravox had some nice guitar textures, and tracks with non-synth drums that grounded their sound in rock.
 
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And they rejoined with Yes to make a new album this yeaaar… deja vu.

Speaking of creaking rockers, the reunioned Ultravox still cranks it out live (although with much less hair). They went through about as many lineup changes.. Yes.

Billie Currie hasn't sounded better. :)

The Voice
Hymn
Vienna
 
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And they rejoined with Yes to make a new album this yeaaar… deja vu.
Didn't know that. I more or less stopped following them after "Union" (although I still enjoy their older stuff).

I read in one of their biographies that because of the frequent lineup changes one ought to search the Thames for bodies.
 
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There are several compilations of the so-called "Extendec Versions" of he 80s out now : The series is called "so80s" (use that as search criteria on the amazon web page, for example), here's he one for Ultravox : http://www.amazon.com/So80s-Present...FY/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1316087704&sr=8-15

If you have fond memories of OMD of the 80s, then I can recommend their newest album, plus thir newest live album : "Live In Berlin". I still haven't it, though. I only attended a concert at the beginning of this month.

And this is "their" "Extended Versions" lbum : http://www.amazon.com/So80s-Presents-Omd/dp/B004HF0P9U/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1316087890&sr=8-16

OMD is currently touring the U.S. , by the way !


Edit : Regarding The Buggles : Their CDs are now being reissued as remasters. Plus, there is a kind of spin-off called "Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club" : http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Woolley...=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1316088042&sr=1-1
 
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I may look into those Buggles remasters. Thanks! I bought of the remaster with bonus tracks of Propaganda - "A Secret Wish".

OMD was one of those bands I collected too. One of my favorite tracks of theirs is Pandora's Box.
 
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Ah, Thomas Dolby ... I should go and look for my old records :). Even though my VERY passion went into collecting everything by Japan and Heaven 17.
 
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