I betcha there's gonna be a SERIOUSLY eclectic mix of music preferred by the people round here.

I adore good music and am always looking for new bands to try out.

(P.S. Was there already a thread like this that got lost?)

Some of my favourites:

The Arrogant Worms - funny and intelligent (their good songs, anyways :D )
Garbage - energy and raw emotion... Shirley Manson can wail like a banshee when she wants to :D
Great Big Sea - very high adrenaline, sort of folk / celtic approach
Inkubus Sukkubus - goth/pagan (warning: some songs may be offensive to some of those following a mainstream religion)
Moxy Fruvous - funny and intelligent
The Offspring - I find them surprisingly funny and intelligent too...
Sarah McLachlan - raw emotion in her songs.

A lot of pop 80s tunes as well on my playlist... Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Heart, Pretenders... lots of one hit wonders...

I like all kinds of music!

REM
INXS
Midnight Oil
Thomas Dolby
Talking Heads, are on my 80s list

The rest of my partial list is:
Sinead Lohan- her Irish voice is beatiful, I would by a CD by her even if she sang nursery rhymes.
Gray Eye Glancing- Her voice is so cool! Great road songs
Andrea Bocelli - This Tenor gives me chills, love him!
Pearl Jam - I love the song "Wishlist"
Alice Cooper- My most fav song "Might as well be on Mars"
Alanis Morissett- Her songs has helped me through many painful times!
Chumbawamba- Good kick butt music ("I get back up off the floor again...")
Peter Gabriel- Loved his singing for 20 years now
Toby Keith- The only country singer who I would listen to every song he sings.
October Project-She have a really interesting voice, good songs.
Enya- This is the music I play to calm down.
Garbage- I love her voice, the music gives you such energy
Sarah Mclachlan - Who doesn't like "Your love is better than chocolate"?

Mmmm, I like everything I recognize on that list, so that mean's it's time for me to go investigate everything I don't recognize on it. :D :D :D

Here's a long list of songs that ADDers have been listening to:

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=139

I suspected such a thread would exist. Maybe I should check with you in advance before posting things like this. :D :D :D

But what you are listening to vs what are your favorites is different... I like both questions ;)

Originally posted by Keppig
But what you are listening to vs what are your favorites is different... I like both questions ;)

Point well taken, but...if ya didnt like it...would you listen to it? :D

Originally posted by Paul S
I suspected such a thread would exist. Maybe I should check with you in advance before posting things like this. :D :D :D

There are actually one or more threads on this topic. You can find them by using the SEARCH button on the upper right hand corner of the screen in the Forums.

...and given my short term memory issues, I would probably be the LAST person you would want to check with!...lol

LOL!! :D

I don't know about you, but sometimes I am a victim of passing music in my office or in my car.... ;) That's how I got hooked on Ant Farm <chuckling>

Paul: You can check with me if you want regarding if a topic has been brought up as I MAY remember:)....yes, there have been threads about people's favorite music....what you can do is--if you locate an OLD thread on a topic-and Andrew suggested how above -- just bring it up again and we can continue it:) with some newer people....:) ...incidentally I also agree that Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers rock!!!

I also like Pearl Jam, Simon and Garfunkel, Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, Neil Young, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffet, Aerosmith

and a few country western singers as well.....

Originally posted by Paul S
Great Big Sea - very high adrenaline, sort of folk / celtic approachWell, after reading that, I went to Amazon to hear some samples. Loved it, especially the REM "End of the world rendition", maybe even enough to buy some of their stuff. What would you suggest?

Ecclectic is right. Here are some of MY favorites:
Neil Young
Grateful Dead
Billy Bragg
Wilco
Bob Marley
Beethoven
Miles Davis
Dave Brubeck
80's REM
The Gear Daddies (Alternative rock with a slide/steel guitar)
The Jayhawks (ditto)
The Clash
Aztec Camera (listen to a tune called "Good Morning Britain"!!)
most bluegrass
Giuseppe Verdi (Riggoleto)
The Specials
The Skatalites

Tiggwin - I have no idea which albums are the best (I use MP3s -- shhh!!! -- but I have paid to go to their concerts)

But I know which songs I like by them...

Fast/energetic beat songs:
Mari-Mac
The Night That Paddy Murphy Died
It's The End Of The World As We Know It
Ordinary Day
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)
The Old Black Rum

Mellow / Moody:
Boston & St. John's (my personal favourite song of theirs)
Wave Over Wave
I'm A Rover

Other favourites by them:
Consequence Free
The Chemical Workers Song (aka Process Man, or the I.C.I. song)

Also... if you like the adrenaline music from Great Big Sea, you might also try to find a song called "Home For A Rest" by a group called Spirit Of The West. Similar in style and energy.

That and Mari-Mac were played at my wedding reception and the entire room was jumping up and down on the dance floor... covered in sweat... :D

Abba
Air
Blur
Boney M
Chemical Brothers
Dave Brubek
Depeche Mode
Fat Boy Slim
Groove Armada
James Brown
Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
Lemon Jelly
Mozart
Radiohead (up to and including OK Computer, but nothing after)
Simon & Garfunkel
St. Germain
The Who
Thievery Corporation
Tom Jones
Zero 7

....this is the current "A" list ....it changes over time - some will stay for ever (Zep) some will fade away (St. Germain, Lemon Jelly, Fat Boy Slim are flickering already) ....the only music I don't care for is country and celtic, although that Jonny Cash - ROCKS!

Originally posted by why
that Jonny Cash - ROCKS!
Why - looks like we have pretty similarly diverse tastes in music. I agree on johny cash. His "ring of fire" makes it into my top 10 songs of all time. Also, regarding zep, there has never been a better drummer than jon bonham. it's just a fact. (sorry keith.)

sometimes i think i was supposed to be a drummer, but i never had the opportunity to take it and run. oh well. i always listen to and watch drummers first. that's the part that stays in my head after the song ends. that and the voices (just kidding!! :D) ok no more rambling. must go to sleep.

Linkin Park
The Used
The Ataris
AFI
Metallica
Drop kick Murrphys
Evanescence
Korn
Distrubed
Chevelle
Bush
Dave Matthews Band
Mighty Mighty Bostones
B52's
AC/AC


There are many more.... Mostly anything metal, punk or Alternative........

Why/Tiggwin: Johnny Cash ROCKS......THANK YOU!!!!..HE DOES!!!Going back to the days of I WALK THE LINE and SAN QUENTIN and FOLSOM PRISON BLUES....this guy DOES ROCK:)...and too bad his wife June Carter Cash died not too long ago:(

I also adore Mozart. Also Bach (though Mozart is somehow a more appealing personality - where did I read lately that he was a probable ADDer). It's a bit boring boring to say so, but obviously Beethoven too. And lots of late romantic and modernist music (later 20th century "classical" music, "post-modernist" if you like, is pushing it a bit, though it can be fun or interesting) - Beethoven (of course), Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg...

But why start with classical? - I spend more time with non-classical (though I have classical phases). In general, I spend far less time listening to music than I would like too. This is partly because my wife never seems to want to hear what I do (though she seems to think she does, really, just "not now"), but more because I am too disorganised about it.

Non-classical - my interest in jungle and techno music has surprisingly not yet worn thin, though I think it might if I indulged it for while. Grew up with (pop-wise) first Beatles then Bowie. then Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground then gothic/punk then Smiths then got into black music - reggae, funk and hip hop; still love 'em all (Bowie and gothic/punk with a large pinch of salt these days, especially gothic when it takes its usually vacuous self far too seriously, which it usually does).

I could go on, but better not. After I had begun to think that Americans have a different take on it all (even though we all really have the same music available, though much less country etc), read why's list - lots in common. But he's Canadian, anyway. I'm only joking - I don't think it makes any difference, except very mildly, in terms of what we are most exposed to.

So I should be checking out Johnny Cash, after all these years, should I?

Yes Jonathan, please do check out Johnny Cash....:D My, my how could I have forgotten the Beatles and Dylan when listing my favorites???? Thanks for bringing those up.....

Listen, Jonathan, while I have your attention, (assuming I do now) please do not EVER think it is too early to welcome a newcomer.....I noticed on another post that when you said "welcome" to a newcomer you then prefaced it with "I feel silly saying this because I am relatively new myself and I have not contributed properly"....or something like that.......Jonathan....that's all irrelevant....it's very important that newcomers get welcomed by anyone and everyone -- it doesn't matter by whom....I think it's nice you take the time to welcome them....and as far as your not contributing properly so far? Um in terms of what???? In any event, NOT TRUE!! And I'm glad you're here.....:)

You sure DO like classical music.....(Do you play the piano by any chance???) Do you like Pachel Bel? (sp)??? especially the Cannon in D minor, by any chance???

Joan, thanks for setting me straight, gently complimenting me and knocking me (or encouraging me to climb) off my slightly falsely modest perch!

My apology was a sincere expression of a self-consciousness I had felt, but I agree that newcomers should be welcomed (I appreciated it a lot when I first "arrived") and I guess I knew really that others reading it (you for instance) would take that view of it, rather than raising an eyebrow or whatever.

I'm afraid playing the piano is one of those ADD-delayed things for me. Learned it as a kid, but gave up after a teacher suggested that my heart couldn't be in it as I never practiced (she was wrong). Took it up again two years ago briefly, but didn't continue, mainly because I was embarrassed about having lessons on a cheap "toy" keyboard I have to plug into my computer to use. It's still up there as something I want to do "soon", especially as I feel I have a natural talent for it. I do sing in a choir, which I enjoy very much (came back to it a year and a half ago after a break of about fifteen years since school).

Well then in that case I apologize for minimizing your feelings of self-consciousness....(since they were sincere)....I was not aware that was what was going on for you.....I thought you thought you weren't allowed to welcome newcomers....or THOUGHT you weren't (and thought a few would raise eyebrows if you did..exactly as you say).....But yes I did take a VERY kind view of your welcoming a newcomer...and I am SURE others did too...and will continue to do so...but again I did not know you felt self-conscious and so apologize....

No kidding!! I was right! You DO have piano talent......I knew it....It was between the lines as you were writing about Beethover and Mozart and Rachmaninov...and do you like Pachel Bel? Yes, please in the right time, do reuptake your piano.....I think that would be great....and I think it's great you sing too:)

Don't apologize! We'll end up with a "Sorry", "No, I'm sorry", "No, no, it's I should be sorry" conversation - the kind which I thought was a rather British (though also possibly ADD-ish) absurdity.

I really don't feel that you minimized any feelings of mine - not sure you ever could when you are being as good-natured and positive as you always are on these forums (I suppose you have your grumpy moments too, but elsewhere it seems).

What I meant to say - don't think I said it very clearly - was that I wrote my apology whilst knowing (more or less) that it was not called for, which really is rather insincere - but there was a sincere element to it, namely my self-consciousness. So there was a 'genuine" motivation which was not very genuinely expressed. I didn't think much about it, till I read your entirely friendly and positive response, which made me think about it again, and realize where I had not been entirely honest. This is what I tried to express - I don't think you belittled me at all.

Please don't feel obliged to comment further on this - unless you want to - I've already dragged it out a bit!

Self-consciousness (or shyness etc), though, is an interesting theme in itself... (deserves another thread, somewhere else)

Yes I do like Pachelbel (meant to say so above but forgot). He suffers from being overplayed, especially as background music for advertising, but if you listen for (at least) a few minutes instead of the 20 seconds used in the adverts, you can still get "back" to the music itself.

Okay Jonathan.....no further comments about "you know what".....:D

Back to topic at hand....um Pachelbel......YES GREATER THAN 20 SECONDS IS BEST!! I find his music extremely relaxing...and in fact enjoy meditating to him or listening to him in the car.....puts me in a good mood and gets me centered.....

Well thanks for this talk Jonathan......:)

Oh yeah. I can't believe I left Johnny Cash and especially this guy off my list: JOHN PRINE!

Okay I will now admit to my favorite country western singers:

-Johnny Cash (already mentioned)
Burl Ives (yup, loved him)
-Glen Campbell (yup, used to love him....By the Time I Get to Phonex, Gentle on My Mind, etc.)
-Randy Travis (SEXY voice)
-Don Williams (mellow voice and love all his songs)
George Strait (every country western fan loves this guy and I'm no exception)
Alan Jackson (same as George Strait)
Garth Brooks (best song is Unanswered Prayers)
Doug Stone (the Pine Box song....)
Brad Paisley (young new talent)

Kenny Rodgers (don't LOVE him.....but do LOVE "Lucille" and "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town").......You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille....four hungry children and a crop in the field....I've had some bad times. I've lived through the sad times. But this time the hurting won't heal.....You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille.......:)

Who else??

At last that song makes sense to me. Even as a 9 year-old lacking in common sense, I thought "four hundred" children seemed to be overdoing it a bit...

I'm not really into country/western though I could tell an ugly boot-scootin story, alas I digress.

Plenty of techno stuff, from the very early Kraftwork - Autobahn and Alan Parsons Project - eye in the sky, through to Jarre - Oxygene and Equinoxe. Tubular Bells is another classic. Recent stuff includes Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar, DB Boulevard - Point of view (an ADD classic), Chicane etc.

Mainsteam I go through phases. Doors, Pink Floyd are classics, but not listended to much. Plenty of 80's classics, from English Pop such as Tears for Fears, Madness, The Cure, Echo and the Bunneymen; Aussie bands Men at Work, INXS, Kids in the Kitchen.

Hip Hop and Rap just doesn't work for me for some reason. Too much repetition I'm guessing.

I'll say all disco(78-85), as I would include more than I would exclude. This is a hangover from my youth, a glorious but damaging period of my life!

Classical, I'm into Slava Grigorian at the moment, an amazing guitarist!

In chill mode, James Taylor, America, 10CC, Neil Diamond, Doobie Brothers.

Currently playing (last 30 minutes)...4 Strings, Lindsay Buckingham, Lasgo, Meatloaf, RoykSopp, Fleetwood Mac.

Sleepz.

No - I always thought Country & Western was one genre I could do without, though the folky end of it can be great (I love Joan Baez, though find some of it just too sad to listen to. What about Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline! Michelle Shocked and similar is nice too. Don't think any of that is real country though). For my generation (as teenagers or young adults), country and folk were automatically uncool - but you grow out of these prejudices gradually.

Like you (your statement about disco anyway) I'm inclined (these days at least) to be very inclusive about what music I like. I would want to say I like the best music in every genre, but then most people would want to see themselves like that. I would go almost as far as to say that I can enjoy (to varying degrees) anything that I am not overexposed to (and even some things I am).

Because there is so much I could include, I only mentioned a few of my earliest favourites - but I should have included Jarre and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells as I was mad on them aged 12-14 (still like now, though hardly ever listen to 'em).

De La Soul was what got me into hip hop first, with their jazzy, poetic style. Then got swept away by Public Enemy (completely different) whose music has the energy and rawness of punk, but with the discipline & rhythm sense of James Brown's funk, and intelligent, hard-hitting political lyrics. But I lost interest a bit in hip hop (or rap) soon after, probably for the same reasons it doesn't get you going, sleepzalot - though it had got me out of my narrow indie/post-punk thing into the huge world of black music - funk, soul and reggae (and "dance" music).

I like the Chemical Brothers too; think they are better, or less shallow/ephemeral, than Fat Boy Slim, but not the best "beat-based" group (though I'm hesitant to commit myself to saying what is - can't bring enough to mind at the moment).

Jonathan.

Originally posted by Jonathan
At last that song makes sense to me. Even as a 9 year-old lacking in common sense, I thought "four hundred" children seemed to be overdoing it a bit...



:D :D :D Oh Jonathan................:D

And thanks Jonathan and Sleepz for your wonderful overviews of your favs....wow I feel like if I came over to either one of your houses I'd know exactly what I 'd be hearing on your CD player...:)

I feel like I've been away a long time. So I am back to the board now.
I like every genre of music, well just about. Rap I can do without. Yet have had fun imitating it.
As a violinist I play classical, rock , blues, gypsy, folk and fiddle and. Jazz. fusion I would love to do more of.
I find the Classical and Jazz and fusion the most intellectually stimulating by far. I like country as well. I admire that sappy stuff.
Just played Bach tonight. It is an unbelievable journey into the minds of these incredible classical composers! I feel as though one has to truly play it to live it. ( That is likely not true though).
I could never pick a favorite of classical composers. Nor any other songwriter. It is whatevers happenning momentarily.
J9

No, I agree (on the impossibility of picking a favourite composer etc). In a certain (expansive) frame of mind I can give lists (as I did above), but only so I can dwell on each name, thinking that person is 'the best' as I say it ("He's wonderful, but she is of course brilliant. Oh and they're fantastic" etc). In another mood, I'd hardly be able to say anything (I'm usually completely stumped by the question "what kind of music do you like?" etc). I also feel so much at the beginning of my 'musical journey' (as I'm already in my mid-30s I realize I won't be making the full journey). There's an arbitrariness to what I know (and how well I know it), even if I believe that music can be objectively 'great'. For example, I am relatively keener on Bach than I was a year ago (or at least, he has a higher profile in my consciousness), because I recently sang his St. John Passion, so got to know him much better (anyway, actually playing music is really something else).

But you put it better (and much more succinctly) when you said "It is whatever's happening momentarily".

Hmm ... a lot to go over.

Johnny Cash. I own little of his, but my father had a lot of his 45's (long gone, alas), and the sound of his voice has great nostalgia for me. I am not into C/W either, but because of this, neither do I have an allergic reaction to it like some people.

Mozart. Whoever said he might be ADD.... have you seen "Amadeus"? If not, check out a video (not in your typical pedestrian shop) of it and watch. I think you will no longer have any doubts..... It is actually based on a sober biography and lots of hilarious letters he used to exchange with his sister -- they would tell each other dirty jokes, etc.

Bach, etc. I think there are two types of ADD music. (1) "Get to work" type music (like I used to play while (trying) to study in college), the hyper stuff that gets you bouncing around; (2) "chill out" music for the occasional "mini-vacations" we all have to take when things have gotten too exciting (even for us).

I would include Bach in the latter category; also cool jazz (Miles); and yes, "Canon in D"....

BTW.... I thought it was "4 hungry children"?

Ken

Ken: It IS "4 Hungry Children":)....Words to chorus of Lucille by Kenny Roders posted earlier...and here they are again.....:)

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille,
Four hungry children and a crop in the field
I've had some bad times....lived through some sad times.
But this time the hurting won't heal....
You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille....

I truly believe one of Kenny Rodgers' classics....:)

Anything NOT rap. opera or country. Mostsly Oldies/Goodies from the 70's (h.s.)

Susy: What are your favorite oldies but goodies from the 70's???? I too like oldies but goodies from the 70's.....:)

Some favorite "serious" composers and pieces...

Dimitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 4 (final movement)
Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 7 (first movement)
Symphony No. 10 (first movement)
String Quartets Nos. 3,7,8,9, and 10

Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No. 5

Gustav Mahler
Symphony Nos. 1, 2, 5, and 6
Symphony No. 3 (first movement)

Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 3 (first movement)
Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 8

It took me a long time to appreciate Bruckner (I needed to listen to Mahler first). I've tended to get into his music more when I am in a serious funk. Bruckner apparently had some strong OCD going on along with bouts of depression.

Of course Beethoven (EROICA! The 9th!), Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, and all that... but late romantic and modern composer preferences are probably more revealing.

On the "pop" side...

U2
"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" from Achtung Baby
"Lemon" from Zooropa

Pete Townsend
"Give Blood"

Live
"Pain Lies on the Riverside" and "Operation Spirit"

Rolling Stones
"Satisfaction" and "Paint it Black"

Beastie Boys
"Sabotage" and "Intergalactic"

Jimi Hendrix
"All Along the Watchtower"

Great - here are some suggestions for me! I have been meaning to check out Shostakovich for a while. As happened with Bach (though for slightly different reasons), Bruckner grew on me when I sang some of his work. Yes, the intense moods...

In principle, I am more excited by the "newer directions" as you suggest (if you are talking about me!) - at least as far as modernism (really recent - eg "post-modern" - stuff may be ultimately a bit more shallow/frivolous, though the minimalists' stuff can be nice for "chilling"). But as I get older, my "sentimental" side seems to be coming back too (or I've stopped pushing it away) so I can appreciate earlier music more again. I have a soft spot for Schubert and Mendelssohn (the latter probably partly because my mother was keen on him, not that it really works like this) too - Haydn and Schumann I hardly know (probably know them much better than I realise). Handel I associate with a good sing-song (so I like him, but perhaps unjustly, don't imagine being 'moved' by him).

But yes, I identify myself (as it were) more with Stravinsky, Bartok ("In Bluebeard's Castle" is amazing - though I am not especially an opera fan) and Schoenberg (cusp of atonality - the real thing ("full" atonality) is perhaps too much (or too little) too grasp, at least emotionally) etc. But Russian music (for example, or Hungarian folk music, or ...) anyway also has something "else" to it - one begins to realize that there is not simply one progression (modernism) towards "transcendence" or whatever.

Maybe I should check out some of your pop selection too. Haven't (deliberately) listened to U2 since about 1984. Beastie Boys are good fun (and quite clever) I know, but every time I might have bought a Beastie Boys record I've bought some black rap instead (not lately, though). "All along the Watchtower" is great - apparently Hendrix's version of it is what persuaded Bob Dylan (who wrote it) to take the electric guitar seriously. Funny how Hendrix's version sounds quintessentially Hendrix, and Dylan's (which is great too) just as essentially Dylan.

Our tastes are quite different, Jonathan. What little Schoenberg I've listened to was a test of will for me to sit still for. It seemed to have no coherence for me what so ever... and especially lacked "heart beat" (rythmic bass... something Beethoven and Shostakovich are great at). Of Bartok I've listened to virtually nothing. I like some Stravinsky, but I think he's a bit too Francophile and extravagant and arch for my tastes. He lacks the well of pathos Shostakovich could draw on immedately due to the horror he was imbedded into in Soviet Russia, while at the same time that Soviet system demanded he tightly discipline how he expressed it ("Socialist Realism" vs. "Formalism" and his censors). So, like Beethoven, he had the conflict going between raw emotional expression and the need for classical order and beauty in music which is particularly fertile ground IMO.

Oops. Include the second movement on DSCH's 10th, though you need to get von Karajan's digital recording. He takes it at a madcap whirlwind pace. It's supposed to represent a dance of industrialization and terror with Stalin calling the tune. Listening to it at a more measured pace before I read up on it I thought it represented the German invasion.

I don't see a preference for straight classism and maybe some of the early romantics as being "sentimental" really, Johnathan. It's just darn good music. :D I think it reflects how a calm, content, intelligent mind should flow... generally quickly, no need to linger too much over various points, not going over the edge about anything, etc.. The masters developed the rules of secular classical music by trial and error in order to best suit the tastes of nobility and upper class burghers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century in the midst of the "Age of Enlightenment/Reason" when life was at a less hectic pace and people weren't subject to the noise pollution they are now.

Errr.... just one more post. If you want to check out Shostakovich's string quartets I heartily recommend the Emerson Quartet box set released by Deutsche Grammophon. Expensive, but the Emerson really rock out.

Heh heh heh... I lied.

I'm going to give Metallica another listen to after coming across their "Master of Puppets" and "King Nothing" again. I am certain a musicologist could get something interesting out of the (fugal?) guitar work on "Master of Puppets" (what would it sound like on a harpsichord? Like Bach? hehehe). :cool:

If there is any message I could get across to the ex-girlfriend I got closest too, it would be this: listen to Shostakovich's string quartets Nos. 7,8, and 9, *in order* and note his dedications (7: first wife, experimental physicist, deceased. 8: "victims of war and fascism". 9: his reccently wed third wife).

This is real live conversation! I keep beginning a new reply to you, then another post comes. At the same time somebody wanting me to send them a program I have been working on, someone else asking me to demonstrate it and my wife wondering if I could go and pick our son up from Kindergarten! All rather overwhelming. But the increasing chattiness of your replies has made me feel able to write this chatty one back and shelve the 'real' response till later... (if you don't mind!)

Thanks for the thoughts and recommendations, in any case. Quick note regarding Schönberg - it's his earlier music which I have given at least a half serious listen and liked; rather loosely called it "on the cusp of atonality", probably could have rather less pretentiously just said tonal (but perhaps "modernist" - oops, there I go again) music by a composer who later wrote "atonal" music! (Verklärte Nacht) I'll have to write a bit more thoughtfully for you later...

Funny, your last missive (just arrived), suggests you worrying that you should get less serious (or at least a bit lighter), just as I am thinking I should get more (genuinely) serious. Did mean to say, may as well quickly do so, that much of what I said about my tastes is rather provisional... no, I will have to explain this later (if it needs it) - haven't time now.

Have a nice day! (it's probably still morning where you are, unless you really are dimitri shostakovich...)

Originally posted by Jonathan
This is real live conversation! I keep beginning a new reply to you, then another post comes. At the same time somebody wanting me to send them a program I have been working on, someone else asking me to demonstrate it and my wife wondering if I could go and pick our son up from Kindergarten! All rather overwhelming. But the increasing chattiness of your replies has made me feel able to write this chatty one back and shelve the 'real' response till later... (if you don't mind!)

No problem, I feel a little sheepish having been a source of such distraction for you. ;)


Thanks for the thoughts and recommendations, in any case. Quick note regarding Schönberg - it's his earlier music which I have given at least a half serious listen and liked; rather loosely called it "on the cusp of atonality", probably could have rather less pretentiously just said tonal (but perhaps "modernist" - oops, there I go again) music by a composer who later wrote "atonal" music! (Verklärte Nacht) I'll have to write a bit more thoughtfully for you later...

The piece I am remembering was a string quartet, something to do with a story he had read about a cursed ship with its captain nailed to the mast through his forehead.


Funny, your last missive (just arrived), suggests you worrying that you should get less serious (or at least a bit lighter), just as I am thinking I should get more (genuinely) serious. Did mean to say, may as well quickly do so, that much of what I said about my tastes is rather provisional... no, I will have to explain this later (if it needs it) - haven't time now.

No I want the appropriate mix. :)


Have a nice day! (it's probably still morning where you are, unless you really are dimitri shostakovich...)

Yes. It was mid-morning then. And no I am not Dimtri, interestingly he passed away on my second birthday.

So you're a Brit in Rostock, eh? If you are married to a German wife I think you'll get a kick out of this....

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mil.millington/things.html

:D

(No, I was pretty sure Shostakovich had been dead for a good while, just wondered if you were masquerading as his ghost or something...)

Actually I wrote that web page! Not really of course, but it's funny that the guy is even called Jonathan (as well as being a Brit married to a German, as I am... all right, two items does not make a 'string' of coincidences, but still...) That was a good laugh. I am pleased at having finally got this computer (at home) running, but as it's now 3AM I think I had better pack up and go to bed.

What was it I wanted to get back to? Just the fact that expressions by me about what music I like tend to be rather provisional and/or arbitrary, partly for the reasons which I (and others) have already gone into on this forum and partly I think (which is related) because I have always been so disorganised about music - although I am the sort of person who could happily listen to music for hours every day, it's been rare that I have ever got it together practically to do this very much. As a result I have tended to have 'plans' (to listen to something or whatever) which I hold on to for years, and which as a result can become part of my life furniture in spite of being nothing more than a degree of unsatisfied curiosity about something. Not that I want to take back everything I said - obviously there is something in all of it - just want to set it in context (and more selfishly, express myself on this theme in genereal).

Regarding the "sentimentalism" - I think you were right to take objection to my seeming dismissal of pre-modern classical music on that basis, but I would try to stand by it a bit in the very subjective sense in which I meant it. Having got to know Mozart, for example, rather well (at least intuitively, let's say - I'll get my disclaimer in early this time) as a boy, and got used to his devices and the kind of sentiments (or emotions, if you prefer) his music aroused in me, I was "off" him - not that I ever stopped thinking he was 'special' and even special to me (which is both more and less), just that I was not, say in a record shop, going to be looking for unfamiliar (or familiar) compositions by him or recordings of his work - was looking for something else - and for different moods (crude, but this is probably the best way of putting it). Then, without my making any kind of conscious 'return' to some of these starting points, I found I was responding more and more strongly again to Mozart and Bach, being moved to tears etc. Even wondered if I was 'losing it' a bit, but gradually realized that only good things were coming out of this.

I call it "sentimental" only because of the (arguable) personal overreaction. I don't feel I have fully explained this, but I had better stop because progress is slow, it's very late, and there is only so much of this kind of writing one can reasonably expect anyone else to read!

Mozart might repay a fresh re-listening sometime. ;) Try, for example, his Haffner Serenade.

Definitely! As I said, or meant to say, I'm not "off" Mozart (or any other classical composer) any more! I'll look out for the Haffner Serenade.

Oh yeah, if you want to take a dip into Bruckner, Jonathan, I would recommend the 4th and any recording you can find of it with Eugen Jochum as conductor. Too many of the others take reaaaaalllllllyyyyyy slow tempos with Bruckner. Slower is more profound! Yeah right. Celibidache is the worst offender in that regard or so I've heard, but fortunately he had the exact opposite feelings on recording music that Glenn Gould had so his recordings are rare.

The 4th is pretty straightforward and accessible and generally sunny for Bruckner. The finale is pretty awesome.

I think Bruckner is seen as 'earthy'. Even if this is a good description, it doesn't follow that this (characteristic of the composition) should be 'added' to the performance, nor in any case that 'earthy' would translate to slow (though there is some intuitive justification for that...).

But you don't need my a priori musings on that!

Sang a motet by Bruckner a few months ago and liked it a lot - enough to buy a CD, but a cheap (Naxos) one.

I have taken the view - perhaps it's a fallacy - that as I am a relative novice in classical music buying, and my means are limited, I should buy cheaper recordings, so I can shop broader - once I have found composers or pieces I am particularly interested in I can find better recordings - shop deeper. I am fairly sure that the best approach is a compromise - the question is just what kind of mix (of 'broad' and 'deep') to go for. In any case, like with any comparable decision, one should be as well-informed as possible - I tend to be a bit too impulsive (ADD-style hyperfocus can be a problem too - concentrating on the wrong details).

this mornings playlist as follows

Blindside - she shut your eyes (morning star)

Calafornia dreamin' the mama's and papa's

moby - extreme ways

Pink floyd - comfertably numb (best two guitar parts to me sends

my eyes back in my head)

Riddlin kids - Follow through (this on i am sure is add)

Ozzy ozbourne - Iron man

Red hot Chili Peppers - Road trippin, otherside, Californication

)EIB( - (bad company/BC) The nine - perfect to smash out some frustation


Nine inch Nails - closer (explicit but there for a reason)

Disturbed - down with the sickness (clear lyrics, feeling, dark)

System of a down - toxicity, Chop suey, Boom (interesting blend of armenian folk with funk, techno, punk, rock and meaning full lyrics

Mettalica, fade to black, gloomy but beutiful music

Rage against the machi, bullet to the head (in house drive by)
, you cant beat the revolution,

Tricky - Overcome, hell is round the corner

and Beethovens 5th symphony 1st and second movements

Great mix, 2o2e - I'd happily listen to any of that with you, in some cases to find out what it's all about. I've heard people (thirtysomethings like me, but not like me) moan about 'music nowadays', an argument which you have to dismiss as utter rubbish. All the 'good old' stuff is still there, plus there's more to choose from all the time. The last indie (/rock/post-punk/whatever) bands I got into were the Pixies and the B****ole Surfers at the end of the 80s. Real head bands, especially the latter. After that I got into hip-hop, then funk, then drum 'n bass. In the last year I've wanted to go back and fill in the gaps - the heavy rock connection (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppersi and System of a Down among 'em - have got as far as Led Zep and the Chilis) was one...

Hi jonathan, yeah, i do have a varied scope of music, which , i spose, if i think its a tune then, Ill play it no matter,
and have got back into the heavy rock, as i do like words expressions and feelings as well as a good ol' bit of instrumental, but thoughout life has been a mix of
rock, hip hop, rap, classical, techno, electro, drum n Bass, punk, indie, alternative, hardcore, funk, soul, r&B, right it could be, classical,World music, peace songs rock, punk, reggae, dancehall, trip-hop, garage, basement(made that 1 up)
disco, breakbeat, sound scapes, ballads, mostly any type of music .
Have to get some big speakers so we all can
have a good ole' knee's up (lol) ;)

Oh everyone yeah great song by michael Franti - bomb the world "Armageddon" Good awareness peace song.


Steve>

the whole of the 1812 overture by tchaicovski is a banging toon

True. Haven't listened to Tchaikovsky for years.

Maybe we should invent a new "basement" genre, if you haven't already...

I first heard Disturbed last year while I was taking a road trip which we had borrowed my friend's tripped out mustang for. That song Shout 2000 - it's hard to not go over 90mph when you hear it!

Additionally, some of my favorites are

Dave Matthews Band - What can I say? I am in love :D

Also,
John Mellencamp
Fleetwood Mac
The Eagles
Garth Brooks
Pink Floyd
Duke Ellington
Bruce Springsteen
Aerosmith
The Rolling Stones
Miles Davis
Madonna
Def Leppard (I am a child of the 80's :D )
Metallica (don't like their new album though)
The Beatles
Van Halen (Sammmy Hagar era)
Jimi Hendrix
Bob Marley
Bob Seger
Janis Joplin
Santana
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Eric Clapton
Creedence Clearwater Revival
U2
Nine Inch Nails
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Led Zeppelin

To Those of Us Who Said We Liked Johnny Cash: Sadly he passed away today at the age of 71....The Man In Black....

was best known for his songs:

Ring of Fire
I Walk the Line
San Quentin
Folsom Prison Blues

and many many others.....

toooddtooeven

I loved your play list, anytime you want to burn a CD for me...

ah would love to, but i forgot two major playa's in the list also was Prodigy - firestarter, and their law, rockin!!!!!

as interests "now i quit" in yr profile made me roll about in laughter, ;) :)

020 is one of my favourite bands, they seem to be influenced by Depeche Mode and David Bowie and some british New Wave bands yet they combine it with art rock and musicianship . And they blend all this music with bandoneon ..songs like What You See and Waiting For The Summer Of Love are easy to find on the web, or on their site www zero2zero net
check the m out
great work

marlon Keyfour

RUSH, RUSH, RUSH lol

Can you guess my favorite group? To me most of there music is so deep.

Otherwise my lists o music on the computer can jump from

Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magick)
to
Conway Twitty
to
Metallica
to
Faith Hill
to
Billy Joel

lol I guess I am mostly an equal oppurtunity listener.

But RUSH reigns supreme :cool:

Wow, just dawned on me that I never responded to this thread...OMG where to begin....

Alanis Morissette - SHE IS MY ALL TIME FAVE...everything she's written and sung about I can completely understand....I've even read somewhere that she's a possible Borderline (BPD), not to mention that she's just really good at using not-to-predictable lyrics, something I love. Saw her in concert!

Foo Fighters - ALL TIME FAVORITE BAND!!! I love Dave Grohl! Could someone clone him for me please :D I love the chord progressions in their music. I love some of the lyrics. And some of their music is just plain fun. Their videos are hilarious!!! Fave is "Learn to Fly". Dave Grohl is like the Adam Sandler of music LOL Saw them in concert!

Tori Amos - I actually got into her like a few years after she made it big, and I feel like I almost missed out! She is BRILLIANT on piano/harpsichord...total prodigy. Love the whole Atmosphere of her music. Some songs hit really close to heart. Her voice is very versitile, too.

Sarah McLachlan - Another who I just love the atmosphere of her music. Some is very soothing to listen to. Her voice is beautiful and haunting. BEAUTIFUL music and lyrics.

Reel Big Fish - Haven't really gotten into any of their more recent stuff, but their CD "Turn the Radio Off" RULES! They are a rock/skacore type band. Their music JAMS, is so fun and funny! Also, they love singing songs about themselves trying to make it as big rock stars...funny stuff, they know how not to take themselves too seriously, but by listening to them you KNOW they take music seriously. The horns remind me of good ol' days in marching band. heh

John Rutter's "Requiem" - John Rutter is a British composer. My first year in university chorale, we did this piece for our spring concert. Now, I love Mozart's "Requiem"...it's got it's merits, definitely. But Rutter's is like listening to Heaven open up and the choir's of angels swarming overhead.....OMG, the most beautiful piece of musical literature I have ever heard and had the honor to perform. I highly recommend this to just kick back and listen to in it's entirety.

Carmen - Christian artist. He's just an all around cool dude who's "Addicted to Jesus" (A2J - one of his songs). He really knows how to make Chrisian music appealing to all types of folks, and he's a great showman, too. Think Jesus comes to broadway. :D Saw him in concert!

Chrystal Lewis - another Contemporary Christian artist. I LOVE her voice. Her voice is by far my favorite of anyone I have ever heard. Very sweet AND powerful at the same time. Her music makes Jesus very real to me. Saw her in concert!

Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban - putting them together for the same reasons...their voices!!!! I don't even care what they are singing, they could be singing "I love eatting boogers and setting cats on fire" and it would sound SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! LMAO

Petra - especially their stuff from the early 80's. Classic Christian rock band. They really know how to bring the Gospel alive. I love to jam to this. Think Kansas/Boston (the bands) comes to church.

Les Miserables - the musical....Beautiful Music, some fun, some heart-wrenching...favorite soundtrack version is the DreamCast 10th anniversary ed with Lea Salonga, Colm Wilkinson, etc. AWESOME
Phantom of the Opera - the musical....Beautiful haunting music....the song "Music of the Night" is what made me immediately fall in love with musical theater. NO matter how many versions they make, NO one compares to Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman
Jekyll and Hyde - the musical....Awesome songs and beautiful music. Different versions of this too...but my faves will always be any with Colleen Sexton playing Lucy. Her voice freaking rules, I'd give my left big toe for her voice!
*the above musicals are the musicals of choice for me not only for the music but the story lines too.....they all hit close to home one reason or another

Hillsong Praise and Worship - the music our church uses for praise and worship. From Hillsong Church in Australia.... My fave song is "The Potter's Hand" - my own personal testimony of my life at present.

I think I would be very happy to never hear any other music than the stuff listed above....if I never heard any of it again, I might as well cease to exist.

First, and foremost, my favorite artist of all time is Prince...ever since I heard 1999 way back in 1982 when I was but a young pup, I've been an addict. His earlier music is the funknastiest you'll ever hear and the more recent stuff, while not quite as inventive, is still terrific...his most recent release is harkening back to his heyday, so there is hope for mainstream success again!

I love Ella Fitzgerald...jazz standards and scatting...heaven.

Eva Cassidy...the purity of her voice...what more can I say? It's just a tragedy that we'll never get anything more from her.

Sarah Brightman and Josh Groban...I love the way that SB combines her ethereal soprano with dance floor vibes...and Josh's tenor is amazing.

Nelly, N.E.R.D., Missy Elliott, Outkast...for my rap fix.

Ofra Haza...the most haunting voice I've ever heard.

October Project/Mary Fahl...her voice is so unique and the music is brilliant.

And anything 80's...love it all!

I've got so much more in my collection that I love to listen to, but these are the ones that get the most play.

Julie

you guys should listen to aussie rock, you will like it, try, Jet, cold chisel, ACDC, silverchair, powderfinger, pearl jam and thats just to name a few.

Well my favourite music is the Introitus from Mozart's Requiem.

I don't enjoy listening to pop music or heavy metal rock music as they destroy the chance for the appreciation of the subtle beauty of music.