50,607 songs. That’s the current total in my online music library. And that doesn’t count the hundreds of albums I bought off of Bandcamp and haven’t downloaded yet, or the physical albums, CDs, and cassettes I have yet to add. This is what happens when you hit “Shuffle” and take an hour’s worth of music for the playlist. Enjoy.
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 57: My Voyage to Italy, Pt. 1”
Wanted to do something different today. It’s my birthday, and I already built a playlist last week celebrating a bunch of great music that came out during the year of my birth. But the music of 1973 isn’t what made me into who I am now – that’s an ever-growing, ever-evolving store of musical moments and memories. And so I wanted to make another playlist, of the songs that inspired me, moved, me, marked significant moments of my life.
Continue reading “52 Reasons Why”
A simple premise. This is the fifty second playlist for Consuming the Tangible. In four days I turn 52 years old. Why not make a playlist of tracks that came out 52 years ago? That’s it. That’s the theme of the playlist.
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 52: A Very Good Year”
Live Month continues with Bootleg Week, which is admittedly odd considering my penchant for clear, immersive production when it comes to live music, something typically not the case with bootlegs. But for certain artists, getting to hear specific albums or eras, hearing bands really work and stretch out their tunes is an irresistible draw. This goes double for progressive rock, and Genesis specifically. Getting In Tune (terrible title, I know) showcases the band supporting A Trick Of The Tail, their first with Phil Collins taking over vocals from Peter Gabriel and with the legendary Bill Bruford taking the drum seat (ignore the inaccurate cover art – Chester Thompson would join in ’77). The recording, from their second night at London’s Hammersmith and broadcast for radio is solid, showing a band still fearlessly charging forth unabated by the lost of so prominent a front man.
Continue reading “Genesis: Getting In Tune (1976)”
In a year where I doubled-down on my love for Genesis, it was refreshing to see two of the band’s former members (I guess they’re all former members now) put out incredibly strong solo work. I’m still trying to wend my way through Peter Gabriel’s I/O with its dozen different mixes, but there was so such hesitation with The Circus And The Nighwhale, the latest studio effort and first concept album from Steve Hackett. Immediately ear-catching and stuffed to the gills with incredible guitar playing, Hackett sounds like he took all those years keeping the prog-version of Genesis alive and distilled it all into an album that could have sat side by side with their best work while maintaining a modern, rock edge.
Continue reading “Steve Hackett: The Circus And The Nightwhale (2024)”
I’m back on vacation, this time disease-free and making the most of it on the sandy beaches of Jamaica, so album analysis and the final arc of Flower King records will wait until I’m home next week. I thought about another playlist of recent listening but, uh…it’s almost exclusively been the last few Deep Purple records. After initially being lukewarm on their new album =1, the first to feature Simon McBride on guitar, I fell hard for it and subsequently fell even harder for the last few with Steve Morse. You don’t want an hour of that, believe me (maybe you do).
Good thing I’ve been on a rampage lately with new music. Sure, it’s mainly progressive rock, jazz, fusion and – yeah – Deep Purple, but at least it’s not ALL Deep Purple, right? Right?
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 11: Back in the Acquisition Saddle Again”
Consuming the Tangible 