Followed by :

Spyro Gyra - Chrysalis

https://youtu.be/rpQJRr2pPjw

I was a teenager when this was a hit... Good times :cool: Anouk is still going strong, still releasing good music. Even represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest with the beautiful ballad "Birds".

listening to Devil Doll - "The girl who was... Death"


This band is something special, to say the least. The band was founded by one "Mr Doctor" of whom, other than his real name (which he revealed only more than 20 years after the first Devil Doll came out), nothing is known, there is a big fog of secrecy about his personal life. The band is heavily inspired by old horror movies, resulting in (sometimes over the top) dramatic and dark lyrics.

The band mixes opera, classical music, Slavonic folk music, cabaret/avant garde, gothic rock, rock and metal influences. Typical for them is the length of their songs, their shortest being about 20 minutes in length, their longest well over an hour long. "The girl who was... Death" is just under 40 minutes long, one song with so many sudden changes of genre and structure that it does feel like listening to an entire EP. There is even some Gregorian-esque chanting somewhere around minute 15:30.

The discography of this band is another bizarre element: of the first record only one copy was pressed, which the vocalist keeps in his house. It was never commercially released. Of the second recording, 500 copies were pressed, but only 150 were distributed at a performance, the remaining copies were destroyed by the singer. Some of the band's records have later been re-released on CD though, but that was years after the initial releases with their very limited number of printed records.

Since their last release in 1998 nothing has been heard of the band. Mr Doctor in a rare interview stated he continues to record music, but has lost interest in releasing it commercially or sharing it with the outside world.

Despite their strange artistic visions, I really like this song a lot. The lyrics are a bit over the top, but the unique mixture of genres alone make it a very fascinating piece of music.

Still amazing...

Clubbed to Death - Matrix soundtrack

https://youtu.be/pFS4zYWxzNA

Sonata Arctica - "Letter to Dana"


Sonata Arctica are a Finnish melodic metal band, in existance since the mid-90's. The lyrics of this song are somewhat odd, especially the lines about passing away and then singing "it was a beautiful day". I read rumours that the song would be inspired by actress Gillian Anderson (from The X Files) but I don't have a clue if that is true. Could be a fan making up the story and believing his own interpretation to the extent of spreading it as if it were a fact.

Karma by Marina

Billy Joel - 52nd Street.
I bought this LP something like 40 years ago.

Long time no see hadaso. Happy to see you again here.

Manic Street Preachers - "Door to the river"

Manics often have rather hard to decipher lyrics, but this one is very tough. What does the door to the river have to do with the rest of the lyrical content? :confused:
Great song though, nice ballad. One of their lesser known songs, as it only appeared on the "best of" compilation album "Forever delayed" and was never released as a single or put on a different "regular" album.

now the KLF featuring Tammy Wynette - "Justified and ancient" (single version)


I miss the nineties. Such good times. I was a teenager, life seemed simple...
The KLF were epic. One of the first bands to truly introduce sampling to the music industry, with an ecclictic mix of acid house, dance, rap, and even metal (in the track "America: what time is love?"). Add the whole concept and hidden references to Illuminati and Discordianism (the book "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" was a heavy influence) and you had a very unique project. I would say burning money for the sake of art is crossing the line of good taste though (they burnt their earnings and taped that, as if it were a sort of artistic statement)

Miserere by Allegri

The text is in Latin.

I wanted to understand what it's about.
The English translation helped a little.
Then I realized I could actually read the Hebrew original.
It's supposedly a song by king David begging for forgiveness after committing adultery.
Anyway, it's beautiful music.


(Another song I wanted to understand but found out some of it is probably just gibberish is Queen's song Mustapha)

I think Door to the river refers to being tempted by suicide to enter the heavenly realms and life eternal, as a way to escape our problems here on earth.

Im listening to my Vanilla fudge record :) (First album)

Current song: Bang bang

Is that translation in modern Hebrew (Ivrit) or in Classical/Biblical Hebrew?

I studied Ivrit (it's a bit rusty due to lack of opportunities to exercise it regularly) but people told me it'd be very tough, if not impossible, to understand ancient Hebrew without additional studies (vice-versa apparently would be easier)

I have studied Latin for 2 years in secondary school, but that's +20 years ago so I remember next to nothing. I switched to modern languages after the first 2 years of secondary school, allowing me to learn German and Spanish. It just seemed a bit more useful at the time. Although I find ancient languages a very interesting subject.


Looking at the page you linked to ... אֶל־בַּת־שָֽׁבַע: I still don't really get when to use the alef or when to use the ain ...

I'm listening to Marilyn Manson. Currently playing: "Great big white world", next "Coma black"


I miss the old Manson records, when his lyrics were (despite being sometimes provocative) having a certain meaning, and when his promo videos were very artsy. And most importantly, his concerts were good. First 5 times I saw him, he was excellent. The 6th time, he was so stoned he hardly remembered the lyrics to his own songs. In addition there were videos such as "Heart-shaped glasses" (semi pornographic), "(s)AINT" (showing drug use) etc, which seemed more like silly provocating than works of art. I sort of lost interest and didn't give his last couple of records a listen yet. No idea if I'm missing out on something good or not.