# Rock That Blows Me Away



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I'd never heard of this band until today, even though they are from the late 1970s. Having listened to their two albums, this song is the one that totally blows me away 






I can't make out the lyrics, but this pretty much epitomizes and encapsulates what I expect of rock. I'm not sure what I mean by that  but I really like the mechanical clanking beat and that amazing guitar that soars off into space (like the helicopters taking off from Saigon) from the halfway point to the end.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I can't say that I was blown away by that song. But for some reason I kept thinking of this Talking Heads song.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

^ That is my favourite song from that album (I can hear why you thought of this song after hearing the other). The other one on this album that has blown me away for all of these years is more lively:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The guitar in that song was kinda bugging me. It sounds like it's in the wrong key, or out of tune. I like Adrian Belew and David Byrne much better.

Here's one I like by Belew. There's actually a better performance on his Side 4 Live CD. The whole album really smokes!


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I think I know Belew from Frank Zappa and the Mothers. I like dissonance, so the guitar "in the wrong key, or out of tune" wouldn't bother me and I don't know if I would recognize it, or would I, since I don't know anything about music? This doesn't blow me away at all  Sorry. It sounds pretty mundane and not at all out there on the edge of the uncharted.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Well, Belew is all over the Talking Heads album. He was with them between Zappa and King Crimson.

If you like dissonant guitar, try this KC concert.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

This tune here has an insanely complicated and dissonant guitar intro.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I can only listen to the short one today. I don't think I've listened to this much rock all year: that _covers_ thread got me started. I have just had too much for a while [wipes forehead].

Back in the '70s, I was into No Pussyfooting and Evening Star, both Fripp and Eno albums, but I have never, in all of this time, listened to a King Crimson album  I probably should have done so back then, when I might have been more open to it. I started listening and I heard dissonance in places, but it is just too long for me today. Honestly, I don't think this is my kind of music (the instrumental parts were acceptable, nothing hair-raising, alas, but the songs were difficult not to skip over), but I will give one of their early albums a try one of these days.

I just listened to Mike Keneally twice. I clearly heard the dissonance in the guitar intro  The track sure sounds like the Mothers of Invention  I was very much into them in the '70s. It is not at all the type of music I gravitate to these days, but it could grow on me with repeated listening, I suppose. After having listened to some of Zappa's classical albums in the past year (and reservedly liking them, despite the comedy effects), I have begun to reassess his instrumental jazz albums, too, that had not interested me so much in my youth.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)




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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> I just listened to Mike Keneally twice. I clearly heard the dissonance in the guitar intro  The track sure sounds like the Mothers of Invention  I was very much into them in the '70s. It is not at all the type of music I gravitate to these days, but it could grow on me with repeated listening, I suppose.


Keneally is very versatile, and he is also a great songwriter, in addition to the complex instrumental stuff.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

brotagonist said:


> I just listened to Mike Keneally twice. I clearly heard the dissonance in the guitar intro  The track sure sounds like the Mothers of Invention  I was very much into them in the '70s. It is not at all the type of music I gravitate to these days, but it could grow on me with repeated listening, I suppose. After having listened to some of Zappa's classical albums in the past year (and reservedly liking them, despite the comedy effects), I have begun to reassess his instrumental jazz albums, too, that had not interested me so much in my youth.


There's a good reason for that.

Mike Keneally was Zappa's guitarist in his last touring band.

Keneally is a phenomenal guitarist. He lives in LA and plays quite often at the local jazz club, and to watch and listen to him and his band navigate through his extremely complex music is a great joy.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Here is a rock track that blows me away.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Space Rock..... Hawkwind 1975 Magnu from Warrior on the Edge Of Time Waaahhhh! still does it after all these years.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I had been trying to get back into rock, to no avail. Once one listens to Ligeti, Nono, Stockhausen, etc., what can rock music possibly have to offer? Endless repetition -- that's all hear.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Lope de Aguirre said:


> I had been trying to get back into rock, to no avail. Once one listens to Ligeti, Nono, Stockhausen, etc., what can rock music possibly have to offer? Endless repetition -- that's all hear in it nowadays.


Strange complaint, coming from a fan of Stockhausen's Licht Cycle!


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Blancrocher said:


> Strange complaint, coming from a fan of Stockhausen's Licht Cycle!


In certain parts of his Licht cycle, Stockhausen uses repetition with a purpose, not out of creative / artistic limitation.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

So did Stock Aitken and Waterman...


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

With the wide variety of rock available, to state that it offers only 'endless repetition' is a bit closed minded, to say the least.

Unless of course, the only way rock is being defined as 3 to 4 minute songs, written in 4/4, 3 chords, with verse, chorus, bridge form.

Rock that blows me away -


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## echo (Aug 15, 2014)




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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Simon Moon said:


>


Not impressed. These guys can play their instruments but their composition skills are rudimentary at best. However, I can certainly stomach FUSION, as in: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Zevious, etc.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Case closed.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Itullian said:


> Case closed.


Well that goes way beyond the 3-minute repetitive rock song. And here is a one that goes way beyond on the basis of a 3-minute repetitive rock song:





These two jammed together at The Scene in NYC. Story as I heard it was each was in awe of the other.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I prefer this...


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

to each his own


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

The real deal.
Rock 'em in heaven Johhny.:angel::tiphat:


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Lope de Aguirre said:


> I had been trying to get back into rock, to no avail. Once one listens to Ligeti, Nono, Stockhausen, etc., what can rock music possibly have to offer? Endless repetition -- that's all hear.


Nono blows me away.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Super soul, Super Joe.

(Jim Gordon 6:45)


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Manic Pete n Moony.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

And the two greats together:


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Itullian said:


> to each his own


BAHAHAHAHA...HA! Did the mods make you change your response? I've been hit with so many infractions that I've lost count.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

If you're gonna bomb a thread just to have a whinge, you should at least do it with a bit of panache like ol Klaus might!


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

And of course my all time favorite band with Mr Genius out front.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Itullian said:


> And of course my all time favorite band with Mr Genius out front.


Jethro Tull is freaking great. Also one of my all-time favorites. Generally, very under-rated imho.

Facial expressions - priceless!


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## echo (Aug 15, 2014)

fuguen genres


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Lope de Aguirre said:


> Not impressed. These guys can play their instruments but their composition skills are rudimentary at best. However, I can certainly stomach FUSION, as in: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Zevious, etc.


I didn't post the UZ clip to impress anyone. It was a response to the OP.

I love fusion. The old and the new.

The old: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Brand X, Return to Forever, Jean Luc Ponty, Weather Report, etc.

And the new: Zevious, Alex Machacek, Uncle Moe's Space Ranch, Counter-World Experience, Panzerballett, etc.


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## Guest (Aug 20, 2014)

Lope de Aguirre said:


> I had been trying to get back into rock, to no avail. Once one listens to Ligeti, Nono, Stockhausen, etc., what can rock music possibly have to offer? Endless repetition -- that's all hear.


Nothing intellectual, but the whole nostalgia thing is still there for sure.


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## echo (Aug 15, 2014)

Wagner - blows


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I listened to so much of what I now regard as of little worth during my early years and not much survives with my admiration, having been a classical and opera buff for the last couple of decades. This album was released on the crest of the punk wave in 1977, and nestled into that scene, but the musicianship and attention to their craft sets this band apart. The good folk at rateyourmusic have it topping the pile for 1977 (a very good year for music!) and quite rightly so.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

This is an amazing song from an amazing album - Pere Ubu's Modern Dance (1978)


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

my favorite band


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## StephenTC (Apr 24, 2014)

Well if you are talking about being blown away...

Jeff Beck, Led Boots


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

You can't get blown away in Led Boots!


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