|
See the following journal entries! Album Review Added: The Moody Blues: A Question of Balance (1970) ----February 19, 2004 Well, I sat down at the computer about a half and hour ago expecting that I would post more updates than *this*, but ... my brain shut down about 15 minutes too soon. I'm sure you are all anxiously awaiting the results of my physics examination. I got a 72. (Needless to say, I was utterly shocked by this result. I thought I was absolutely doomed...) It was an 82 with the curve. Anyway, I'm taking a vow never to rant on about how awful I thought I did on tests anymore. I'm sure you don't care. I tend to worry about stupid things. The craziest thing happened this morning. I was doing my physics homework (Sorry, I'm diverting the topic back on physics ... please don't hate me ...) and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was up all last night sitting at my desk, trying to figure out what all of these awful little symbols and mathematical equations were, and what I was supposed to do with them to get a number that matched the one that's printed at the back of the book. Well, as you have probably guessed by now, I got absolutely nowhere that evening (in fact, I panicked in frustration at about 1 a.m.) When I woke up at around 7:00 this morning, I vowed to figure out what I was supposed to do ... so help me ... even if it meant missing calculus at 9:30. It turned into 8:55, and I got absolutely nowhere. I said to myself: "Man! I've got to leave in, like, five minutes! I guess I'm missing calculus! ... not that it would be such an awful thing ..." I said about my 192839th prayer and then I attempted this problem again. And, lo and behold, I got the answer that was in the back of the book! I tried the next question ... quickly scribbling my numbers ... and I got the right answer again! I tried the next two, and *boom* they were absolutely right, too. It wasn't even 9:10 and I was off for calculus! Furthermore, I still know exactly what I was doing! (Even though I made sure that I photocopied these, since we're not going to get them back for the next physics test ... which is *gasp* this Tuesday.) Ohhh... I'm going to have to figure out what God was telling me with that... About the site! I've had a half-finished review of Genesis' Genesis sitting on my desktop for a couple of days. As long as I don't conk out extremely early, I might progress a little bit farther on that one before the night's up. I'm still trying to figure out when I'm going to get to these Led Zeppelin and Procol Harum albums that I keep on telling you (my faithful readers, which still consists of two guys and a hamster from Detroit) that I am going to review. These might come. Someday. (Man... This digital music service is so convienient that I don't want to physically go to the trouble of getting out the compact disc and putting them in the computer... Of course, the Procol Harum and Led Zeppelin albums are not provided on Music Rhapsody! If they were, they would have been uploaded by now!) Other than that, I sort of recently (last Sunday, I think) reviewed another Moody Blues album. I'm listening, right now, to The Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup. Until I die, I shall remain, --Michael Lawrence Five minutes later: Holy crap! I clicked on the unfinished Genesis revew Word document and discovered that it was already written! ... I must really be out of it ... Artist Page Added: Album Reviews Added: Supertramp: Supertramp (1970)
Extra Bonus!: --February 15, 2004 The reason that I added so much stuff to the website today is because I was stuck at the computer re-listening to that SGA meeting that I recorded. And, when nothing interesting was being said, I transferred a bunch of the old reviews I've written to web pages! That said, I haven't really been writing a lot of reviews in recent days. Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I was pretty pre-occupied; I spent the entire evening sobbing into a bottle of whisky. I did recently finish a review of The Who's The Who Sell Out, and I started a review of Nirvana's Nevermind. I didn't get my physics test back yet. I know that I did awful on it! The only question that I thought I got right (question #3), I found out last Thursday also was done incorrectly! Apparently, he wanted something other than the thing that I put down. ... Excuse me for not being psychic! (I am, however, *psycho*, but that doesn't really help me in physics class.) Anyway, I'm officially predicting that I'll get a 63 percent on it (after doing careful calculations) ... but I'll probably find out that I did a lot worse! Remember that the class average was a bloody 55! Arrrrr! And so I await my score with fear. M.L. --February 11, 2004 Album Reviews Added: Elton John: Caribou (1974)
--February 11, 2004 See? I haven't entirely disappeared off of the map! I haven't given up on the two people and the hamster from Detroit, Michigan, who visit this site frequently. I just haven't been updating too much. And part of that reason is because I actually have responsibilities regarding my edukation. Blaaah! If I knew that, when I signed up for college, that they would actually make me work, then I never would have gone into it! It wasn't in the brochure! I thought college was about playing hijinx pranks at basketball games and dating cheerleaders! I had the college students' secondmost fear this Monday and Tuesday. Difficult tests on days back-to-back. (The firstmost fear would be having difficult tests on the same day!) And they were both absolute crap! We got the calculus test back already, and I got a 73 percent on it. This actually isn't so bad considering the first time I took it (a semester ago) I got a 46! ... and then I retook Calculus I. Half of the class actually flunked this test, so I was surprisingly among the elite on this one! Nevertheless, I do expect that he would curve the test ... so I might actually get a B at the end. (The highest grade was a 91. Ideally, he would increase our percentage by increments of 10.) Alright, so this test wasn't really absolute crap, although it could have been better. The physics test that I took Tuesday, however, was the uttermost crap of all crap! I studied (almost like a smart-person) for it. I knew exactly what was going to be on the test and how to get the answers ... or so I thought! For some reason, sitting in a crowded room, elbow-to-elbow with other nervous students isn't exactly ideal for test-taking! Even then, the teacher chose the absolute-most-difficult-question-that-one-could-choose-for-the-test, and I didn't even have time to complete it. Even more, I recently discovered that I solved one problem incorrectly (I solved it using mathematics ... we were allegedly supposed to solve it by using those graph paper marks that he placed on the test paper. I filled in the graphs after doing the math.) And, even if I did solve it the correct way, I would have gotten the wrong answer ... because on question number one, I also discovered that I was completing an aspect of these graphs incorrectly. (I do claim that I actually knew how to do it then ... but it's difficult to do this when you don't have a clear mind, and you haven't been doing this sort of thing ever since you were two.) Oh yes! Even though I might think I know the textbook inside-and-out, that doesn't mean that I can muster up enough brainpower to actually replicate this knowledge on a piece of paper during a 50-minute time period! Anyway, with all of these factors, I figure that my grade on that physics test would range anywhere from an 80 percent (if he is a more merciful grader than Ghandi) to a 20 percent (if he's evillllllll). I already know that at least 20 points are down-the-tube. Probably more. This fate relies entirely on what he does with the problem that I apparently solved incorrectly (or whether I really did solve it incorrectly). I noticed that the professor's last name rhymes with a particularly bad word, so I'm not keeping my hopes up. It's during these periods of time when I become particularly cynical of smug, smarty classmates of mine. When Dr. Professorola (that's not his real name ... his real name rhymes with a bad word, remember?) was lecturing over the next chapter, a smug classmate interrupted, spouting off a bunch of intellectual nonsense that I absolutely could not understand it. Although, the professor apparently understood it perfectly. He responded, even, in the same intellectual nonsense language! Smug Classmate: When you utilianiazes intellia brah, when is a previdial time to masketsion-pah? Professor: Indebtibousidiously. I would not aftregraphiprag until I gettychimpur the crabicania. Smug Classmate: That may be. But that does not atrincaliate when the killiastinates trigyabbalicates. Professor: Ah, but the tigyabbalicates only killiastinates when the minnivantiums trifidunianyates in the smithentriniums. Me: [raises hand] I trifidunianyated last Thursday. Smug Classmate:Shut that julifinicator up! He is nothing but a bridioapiod in a yittiopy suit! Me:At least I don't sleep with 80-year-old men. Ohhhh... Reality... Who needs it? Speaking of Reality, I'm seeing David Bowie again! Wooooo! He is actually coming to tour in Kansas City! This is particularly amazing since I wrote a "Please-come-closer-to-me" plea for David Bowie in my review of the concert I went to in Chicago, and he actually listened to me! ...Well, he might not actually have read that review, but it is uncanny how I got my wish so quickly. It's at a perfect time, too! The concert is happening on the last day of my classes ... and I have the day after off! (It's a study day!) Does it get any sweeter than this? Well, I'm off to do a news report on the next SGA meeting ... Although, I'd imgaine that I'll just be doing my structures homework (that I've been entirely neglecting) ... or dead asleep. (Don't worry ... I record them!) This one's going to be a doozie, or so I hear. It might go so late as 10 or 11 o'clock! It's a DANGED good thing that I don't have a test tomorrow! I can sit through the meeting, whistfully compelting my structures homework, without worry. --M.L. Album Reviews Added: The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (1971)
--January 31, 2004 HAAAAPPY NEW YEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! ... Oh wait. That was a month ago wasn't it? HAAAAPPY NEW MONNNNNNNNNNNTH! Okay ... school's really awful. Even when I allotted a bunch of time to do my physics studying last Friday, I was too caught up on trying to finish up that geology lab, that I sorta ran out of time to do it! And this new geology lab we've got to do is difficult ... Oh man! But I still have time for this site! It's a good thing that I know where my priorities are. Tomorrow, I have my day cut out for me! Firstly, right after church service, I need to write that article about NASA and Wichita State's co-op program. Next, I am *definitely* going to study some physico. Possibly next, I will go to a Superbowl party. (Not for certain if I am going to go, though. The weather's supposed to be bad ... but even if it wasn't, I don't like football! So there's two factors working against this. But a major factor working *for* it is my love to parrrrtay! (Okay, that's an exaggeration. I'm not a partayer, either. (Look at all these parentheses within parentheses ... Am I going too far? (Am I?)))) Today was productive, though! I think! I updated this website *plus* I wrote a review of Mott the Poodle's The Hoople. Yesterday, I also wrote a review of Bob Dylan's Pat Garret & Billy the Kid. The day before that, I updated this site! You can read all about *that* below. --M.L. Artist Page Added: Album Reviews Added: The Who: The Who Sings My Generation (1965)
Site Comments Added: A Perfect Circle: Mer De Noms (2000)
--January 29, 2004 Hey look! I'm getting bunches of site comments, now! I have seven now! (Oooh! My website is getting traffffffffic, finally ... People are reading all of my idiotic messages about idiotic things that usually have nothing to do with the band that I am idiotically reviewing!) After careful consideration, I decided not to participate in this "fast." So, there will hopefully be updates all through February and March. The second week of the new semester has been a VERY ROUGH one. I spent the past three days almost CONSTANTLY at school. The only reason I came home today so early (at 4 p.m.) because it is my mother's birthday, and we were allegedly going to go out to dinner or something ... Well, we didn't! I still have *tons* of homework to do, but seeing as I am not at school anymore, and I'm just *worn out*, I haven't done a lick of it yet. My calculus professor seems to be in the habit of assigning a motherlode of math problems that are due the next day. Tuesday, the first day he did this, is my busy day ... I only had three hours that I could *possibly* have spent on this assignment ... (I have a six hour block that is spent in classes, and probably about three hours where I write the obligatory article for the student newspaper.) And two of these free three hours were done doing assignments from the wrong section! It was a conspiracy! ... Anyway, he didn't actually collect the assignment on Tuesday. He let us finish it later. He's doing the same thing today ... and I've got to get to it. He doesn't even give us credit for this homework! I don't know why I bother! As far as physics goes ... OH MAN! I haven't even had much time to study a SECOND of it! Hmm... looks like I have my weekend cut out for me. And ... oh yeah ... I have a geology class, too ... And I have homework to do that's due tomorrow in there ... But it's not due until 3 o'clock, and I have five hours after calculus to finish it ... possibly, I'll study for physics in there, too. Anyway, this is *unquestionably* going to be the busiest semester that I ever had during my illustrious college career, but I will attempt to update this site as often as I humanly can. (After all, listening to great music and making fun of bad music is my form of relaxation!) Tomorrow will probably hold some more updates as well, seeing as I'll probably be done with everything by 7 p.m. ... if I'm lucky. (This is the principal reason that I'm not going to participate in the fast ... I'm basically fasting the Internet, anyway! Until now, I've hardly touched it since Monday!) I'm going to bring my headphones to the library tomorrow after I have geology, and lightly study my physics book until it closes (at 7!) Then, I would hopefully soon *actually* write those Led Zeppelin and Procol Harum reviews that I keep on promising. Anyway, I've got to start my homework ... rotten professors ... those meanies are actually making me work ... grumble ... --M.L. Artist Page Added: Album Reviews Added: Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes (1972)
--January 25, 2004 Hey look! I'm updating this website every day, now! That's kind of cool! I wrote that All the Young Dudes review a LONG TIME AGO. For some reason, I originally gave that one high artistic ratings, but I lowered it today. (I have no idea what I was thinking when giving All the Young Dudes high artistic ratings.) Mott I reviewed just recently. I still have yet to touch Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin III and Procol Harum's Broken Barricades, but I did finish Genesis' Abacab, Bob Dylan's Desire (and excellent album), and I even snuck in a review of Kiss' Love Gun. I'm afraid that I have some 'interesting' news for you. There is probably a good chance, actually, that I won't touch this website from the beginning of February until the middle of March. Chi Alpha (that Christian group I keep hanging around with) is trying to get us to 'fast' something that occupies much of our time so that we would have time to go through this book about finding purpose with our life with God. Well, the only thing that I could rightly fast is the Internet as a whole! Of course, there would have to be a few exceptions ... for example, I use the Internet *a lot* for working with The Sunflower. And, I will still have to check my e-mail every once in a while, because I do actually get "important" messages in there. However, the bad part about 'fasting the Internet' is that I cannot work on this website ... which is something that I really wish that I could conjure up more time and motivation to work on more! So, during this time, I'll probably still be writing reviews ... I just can't get them off of Music Rhapsody (because it's hooked up to the Internet) nor would I be able to post updates. (That is, unless I build in a loophole for myself, saying that I could still use the Internet if it's in the newsroom ... I'm still going to use the Internet there ... I'm not sure if that'll be cheating or not ... Nah! It's a self-installed loophole! It's not like taxes! I built it for ME!) Nevertheless, I don't think I will update this site at all during this 40 days. However, I will certainly still be able to write reviews as well as build webpages. I have a bunch of music saved on compact discs and even a few things on my hard drive to work on. As long as I still have a drive to make "Don Ignacio's Music Reviews" more complete, then I really ought to go with it. I hardly ever have drives like this where I'm doing something slightly constructive for long periods of times! So, I don't want to discourage it! And where are the site commenters? I know there are people who access this site, but there aren't many who e-mail me comments! I say a lot of stupid things in these reviews ... there has got to be more flames out there ... --M.L. Artist Page Added: Album Reviews Added: Paul McCartney: McCartney (1970)
--January 24, 2004 Whoaaaaaaah, boy! Is the first week of school over with already? Can you believe it that I only had four days of Calculus II, and I have no freaking clue what that guy is talking about? ... I wish he would teach us how to do the problems in the book. He's just telling us the fundamentals behind the problems in the book! ... And, so I have no idea how to do them! ... Oh boy ... school's already ticking me off ... this is not a good sign! Nevertheless, nor rain, nor shine, nor jerks will keep me from working on this site. As an example of this, on Thursday, I think it was, my Internet was completely off-line. And I continued to write reviews for the site! I wrote that Beatles review up there as well as a Saxon review. Those Paul McCartney reviews that you see up there were written a long time ago, back when I used to write reviews at epinions. I had to change the McCartney review a little bit from when I originally wrote it. I had the thing scored at a 6.0! But I knew that was way too low, so I relistened to the tracks, adjusted the score, and now it's at a much more fitting 7.9. When I first started writing these reviews, I was a real bastard. Just take a look at that Bowie debut album ... that's not really a 3.0! (...That reminds me ... One of these days, I need to rewrite that. Perhaps I'll just increase the scores ...) Anyway, these past five days, I also completed that Who album, Mott the Hoople's Mott (All the Young Dudes was written for epinions, too, a long time ago...) and I also did Elton John's Caribou. Tonight or tomorrow, I hope to get to Genesis' Abacab and Bob Dylan's Desire. I haven't figured out what I'm going to review after that, but I think it's about time that I reviewed Procol Harum's Broken Barricades and Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin III ... but I have no idea how soon I'll ever get to these. --M.L. Album Reviews Added: David Bowie: Absolute Beginners (1985)
--January 19, 2004 Oh guacamole! My classes start tomorrow morning! Grrr... And they aren't even offering me a blindfold and a cigarette for my execution ... oh man ... I suppose that means, however, that I'll be working on this site much more often. ...Because I tend to write music reviews more frequently when I'm not supposed to be. ...Oh what a strange person I am! I was looking around at this site's traffic reports today and I found out, to my absolute delight, that if you type in "Michael Bolton Sucks" on Google, one of my Michael Bolton pages is the first one that comes up! How cool is that? I was so proud of myself that I'm going to review another Michael Bolton album ... possibly tomorrow. (I can't disappoint the fans.) I also reviewed the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers today ... but that's all that I got around to doing. Pretty soon I will start reviewing The Who. I watched a documentary about them recently, and so now I have a good reason to start reviewing them! So The Who Sings My Generation will probably show up within a few weeks or so. (The queue of reviews that I have sitting idly on my desktop are still extensive ... oh! I should just add them all on one day!) --M.L. Concert Review Added: David Bowie: Reality Concert in Rosemont, Illinois (Jan. 14, 2004) Site Comment Added: Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell (1976) -----January 17, 2004 In case if you haven't figured it out, I've been in Chicago for 3 of the past 10 days and I was dilly-dallying for the other seven! However, I rather timely wrote this concert review and posted it on my site! Yay! You'll read all about it on the link above, but going to this concert ended up being a good investment and I'm really glad that nobody bought this ticket when I attempted to put it up for sale on ebay. (Phew!) I certainly would have been kicking myself had I not gone. (Most of the money I had to go I got from my parents as a Christmas present.) I haven't really done a whole lot as far as music reviews go. I wrote the track reviews for the Moody Blues album To Our Children's Children, but I've been quite lazy overall! This will undoubtedly change on Tuesday when classes start and I have absolutely no time to update this site. ...Eh... My ambitiousness aura (whenever those moments roll around) and my brain are on completely different playing fields. I've decided not to worry about classes starting. I'm taking Physics, Calculus II, and Structural Geology ... EXTREMELY difficult classes. I am in such anticipation of the great pain I am about to undergo that I can't feel a thing. Bring it on, I say! Well, if I can get my "act" together, tomorrow and Monday will be music-review days! (I have short breaks in between classes this semester ... I cannot go home during these breaks, so I am going to have to spend them at school. If I don't have homework, I'll bring a CD player and some CD's to review. I still have all that crap I brought on my trip to listen to! And I still have that Palm Pilot and keyboard ... I think ...) --M.L. Album Reviews Added: Barry White: Let the Music Play (1976)
--January 7, 2004 I'm back from that TRIP! It was pretty fun ... I didn't really need to get so worried about it. Although about four people were vomiting on the car-ride back -- THAT was interesting. I wrote a few reviews yesterday and today, but I forgot what they were! (...Okay, one of them was Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and I finished Fifth Dimension by the Byrds. Other than that, I was completely lazy! Pretty soon, I'm going to get to reviewing Duran Duran's Notorious and the Moody Blues's To Our Children's Children. For some unknown reason, I managed to strike-up an A in calculus. This completely knocked out that C I got in that class two years ago, and it bumped up my GPA from a 3.2 to a 3.3! How awesome is that?! ... Not that I ever really cared about my GPA anyway ... --M.L. Album Reviews Added: Marc Anthony: Marc Anthony (1999) --January 1, 2004 Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy New Year!!! ... even though it was technically New Years when I wrote "yesterday's" entry. Nevermind! To "officially" start off the New Year, here's a little bit of Marc Anthony to start us off on the right direction. ...Oh wait... Marc Anthony sucks. I might have chosen a review of a better album to put on here had I known I was going to romanticize it. Oh well ... too late now. Today, I completely wrote that Roxy Music Flesh & Blood and I probably wrote about a third of my next review: The Byrds' Fifth Dimension. However, I am going to have to forget about all of that until the 5th or the 6th, because I am off tomorrow morning for Dallas, TX to go to the SALT conference ... and to tell you the honest truth, I'm not too terribly looking forward to going. ...OoooOoooOoooOooo... When I originally signed up for Chi Alpha (my Christian group), I hadn't known that the Pentecostals were so bizarre! I'm Non-Denomenational, which means I couldn't give a rat's flip about the stupid little technicalities and quibbles among the denomenations, and I'll hang around Methodists, Catholics, Baptists ... any sort of Christian. I guess the strange thing about the Pentecostals is that, unlike Christian groups I was always used to hanging around with, they talk out loud during prayer, the speakers might scream their heads off to the point in which it might explode, and apparently people get up in the middle of service and spout something off in 'tongues,' which is sort of an unintelligible to the human-ears, but 'jibberish' which is directly from God. When this happens, there would be one or two people around who have been given, from God, a translation of it. (The 'tounges' part is particularly important to the Pentecostals ... I'm not going to explain it here, but you'll find it mentioned in the beginning of Acts.) Anyway, it all sounds very spooky to me ... I'm just used to sitting down and listening to some dude on a stage, and most of the time God would speak to me through that. I think I've simply scared myself. We're apparently staying in a very nice hotel, but I am never able to sleep in those. Maybe if I'm alone I might, but never with a bunch of other people. I'm going to bring some IB Preufen (which relaxes me) and abuse my allergy medication (which makes me drowsy) and hope that it gets me somewhere. I'm also a bit worried, because ever since two years ago, I've taken to snoring (...and knowing that I am a decendent from my mother, the Snoring Queen of the Prarie). I can hear myself from time to time ... I just gotta not sleep on my back. ...Oh... I'm so worried ... On the bright side, I might get to finish "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein. I started reading that in Michigan. I must finish it! --M.L. Artist Page Added: Album Reviews Added: The Stooges: The Stooges (1969)
---December 31, 2003 Oops! It's New Years already! (Heck, I'm going to date it Dec. 31st just to fool everybody.) Let's see ... I already blew last year's resolutions (I didn't grow enormous pecs), but this year I think I hit on something I might actually do: Go on a date with Cyndi Lauper. ...Oh... I've already got my opening line MADE. I'll say: "Hey Cyndi, baby! May I be your material girl?" And she'll say: "Don't you mean, would you be my girl who just wants to have fun?" And I'll say: "Not if you're going to keep singing stupid songs." And she'll say: "Fairy" And I'll say: "...Um... If I'm a fairy, then what are you? ...hanging around Michael Jackson's Never Never Land Ranch ... Tinkerbell." And she'll huff: "I TOLD YOU NEVER TO BRING THAT UP!" And that'll be all. I know I've already planned the demise of our relationship but I've got to face the fact that even though she looks about 10 years older than me, she's really older than my parents. Ummm... Oh... I guess I could actually discuss something relevant. Oh! My web site! That's what I'm supposed to be writing about... Yes, I'd definitely say that it's going well. I am leaving for Dallas, TX on the 2nd, which means that I have one day left to catch up on all of my sleep. Oh man ... I don't appear to be doing a great job of it, though! If I'm lucky, I'll get to reviewing Roxy Music's Flesh & Blood tomorrow. And maybe I'll add a bunch of stuff on. It's just sitting there ... on my hard drive ... rotting away ... into Never Never Land ... --M.L. Album Reviews Added: Bob Dylan: Planet Waves (1974)
--December 29, 2003 Oh brother! I just got finished reviewing the next Barry White album (two albums after the one I just posted) and it SUCKED! Also today, I got to that Genesis Duke album. I don't really feel very talkative at the moment, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Good night! --M.L. Album Reviews Added: Genesis: And Then There Were Three (1978)
Site Comments Added!: Genesis: Nursery Cryme (1971)
---December 28, 2003 I'm baaaaaaaaack from vacationing in Michigan! And, to my almost manical delight, I found that somebody sent me four comments while I was away! (Yay!) Now only does it prove that the comment form actually works (...I was a little worried about that...) but we're getting some traffic! In fact, I was so excited about it that I didn't even give a rat's flip that it included words about my reviews including "pathetic" and "you make me sick!" I relistened to most of the tracks this commentor called into question, and I ended up changing the score of a track on Wind and Wuthering. It lowered the "Average Song Score" to a 7.1, but it didn't change the "Overall Album Score." Coincidentally, And Then There Were Three was next on the queue to be added, so I'm half-expecting to get another flame-letter. ...It's nice to get responses ... It proves that I'm not just writing to myself. Anyway, over my trip, I managed about 10 reviews of those 71-some albums I brought with me. ...Eh... it's not too impressive, but I did find out that my writing skills are not tops while I'm traveling in a car. I wrote most of the reviews at my grandparents house ... on The Stooges one in particular, I got on an insane tangent during the track reviews about Bob Dole. ...I don't remember if I was actually being funny or not. I'll re-read that with curiosity tomorrow, probably. The surprise delight-of-the-vacation was Landscape's From the Tea-Rooms of Mars to the Hell-Holes of Uranus. A very peculiar and satisfying album, that! It's not what I would call a "professional" album, but it just had STRANGENESS written all over it. And there are a few danged good songs on it. So, you'll be seeing that review posted shortly. Another surprise delight was the band Magna Carta ... which I am temporarily calling an unjustly forgotten progressive rock band. I didn't review the album yet, but the one I listened to was a very solid hippie album. (I guess the "hippie" part is why it's forgotten ... it's dated.) I also listened to Supertramp's Breakfast in America and finally found out what that song was I kept on hearing on the radio but the stupid deejays would never identify. It's "The Logical Song!" Speaking of Supertramp, I reviewed their first two albums on the trip. Others that I reviewed were Saxon by Saxon, Too Fast For Love by Motley Crue, Gryphon by Gryphon, Erotica by Madonna, Absolute Beginners and Labyrinth that are soundtracks that will be added to the David Bowie page. At the moment, I am listening to Genesis' Duke. Oh! And I decided that I'll go to the David Bowie concert after all. I am never going to be able to get rid of the ticket, so I had might as well just go and have fun! ... I'm also leaving for Houston on January the 2nd, not to return until January the 6th. I'll probably leave for Bowie on January the 13th in the morning and return on January 15th in the afternoon. I'm thinking that I can get there and back in one day (I'd be driving for 12-hours straight, probably). There is a Motel 6 that is one mile away from the theater. It's more expensive than most Motel 6's, but it's only $45 a night, so ... I thought about spending the night of the 13th at a $30 Motel 6, but then again ... I'd only save $15, and I understand that there is quite a lot for me to do around there when I'm just going to hang around there that day before the concert starts. Really, the only thing that'll stop me from going is winter weather. I'm crossing my fingers that this unusually warm weather we've been having (as well as Chicago) this year would continue! --M.L. ---December 19, 2003 Oops! I never got around to updating! On the bright side, I attacked the newsgroups like nobody's business these past few days and I got count 'em 71 albums to review during my trip. (Not all of these are downloads, though ... I bought some of them.) Anyway, when I get back, I really am going to upload those 12,000 reviews that are idly sitting on my desktop (actually, it's more like 12, but ... same thing). Also, in the near future, you can look forward to some more David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Procol Harum, and Madonna reviews as well as a good chunk (or all) of the discographies of Motley Crue, Saxon, Supertramp, Jethro Tull, Gryphon, and Iggy Pop and/or The Stooges. Add in a few albums from Peter Gabriel's solo career, Mike Oldfield, Evanescence, and Three Dog Night ... as well as a few obscuro albums that I picked up from Landscape, Magna Carta, The Individuals (VERY obscuro), and The Human Switchboard. ...Okay, I've now officially named EVERYTHING that I got for my trip. Um... yeah. There's no way I am EVER going to get through all of these (... I had to force myself to stop collecting these things tonight ...) but I'll try to make a decent effort at slicing into them! I was thinking that I probably ought to review "Yes" before I continue doing some of these almost off-the-cuff 70s progressive rock bands, but ... um ... Yes! I wouldn't bring Yes albums on my trip, though, because Rhapsody has done such a good job of providing all of them. Well, Yes ought to come to this site before too long. Also, me neglecting so far to review anything by The Who should be considered partially illegal. Yes ... the Who will come soon. I think. (Rhapsody has got Who albums, too!) Eric Clapton, too. Eric's important. Anyway, I got my little keyboard working on my little Palm Pilot and I'm ready to rip! I will see you in a week or so! Oh! The final went well ... I think. I put my best guesses forward, at any rate. --M.L. Album Reviews Added: The Moody Blues: In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)
----December 14, 2003 Alright, I have another final coming up and I've got to work on studying for it! But I'm also going to work on this site! Today, I just reviewed that second Moody Blues album that I posted today. Hopefully, I'll review Marc Anthony's dreadful eponymous Marc Anthony tomorrow. That one should be a no-brainer to review! I'm also going to prepare for my upcoming trip to Michigan. I am *aquiring* music that I will review, and I will gather some music that I have already *acquired* to review on the trip. (I have a palm pilot and a typewriter for it.) The albums I will review on the trip right now will definitely be David Bowie's Never Let Me Down, the Labyrinth soundtrack, the Absolute Beginners soundtrack, the Tin Machine albums, and Black Tie, White Noise; the rest of Madonna's studio albums, barring her latest one; the first three Iggy Pop studio albums; the first two Peter Gabriel solo albums (maybe the third, if I am willing to purchase it from Rhapsody); Motley Crue's albums; the Beatles Let it Be, Past Masters Vol. 1, Past Masters Vol. 2; and the Kinks' Lola, Percy, and The Muswell Hillbillies. ... Of course, I'll probably never review all of those ... but those are among the albums I have ready to review. There are also a few more obscure albums that I could review as well ... if I feel like it. About Roly Poly's ... I didn't really quit, but I told her that I could only work on Saturdays. ...heh... --M.L. Artist Page Added: Album Reviews Added: Duran Duran: Duran Duran (1981)
-----December 12, 2003 *PHEW!* I'm back! Okay ... um ... yeah ... I haven't done much for the site in the past few days. About the only thing I've done was write that review for Seven and the Ragged Tiger. Before I go to bed tonight, I might review the next Barry White retard--I mean album. Yeah ... I had fun listening to those Duran Duran albums, I must admit. They were quite good. Yep. Oh! And I am about to quit my job at Roly Poly's. Last Thursday, my boss screamed at me for doing something that I didn't do, which was kind of scary ... and this made me realize that this is no environment for me if I'm going to be taking Calculus II and Physics I (not to mention Structural Geology) next semester, and I still want to do a good job for The Sunflower. So, maybe it's a good thing that the ice witch yelled at me ... it acted as a sort of catalyst to get me to decide this. If she didn't I mightn't have ever quit and I would then have suffered a nervous breakdown! Heck! That'll probably happen anyway! ----- |