JulioBiason.Net

I decided to write reviews of (almost) all the albums I bought on iTunes those days. I wrote all them on Last.fm, since it is a music related site, so you can read them there.

And the list is:

• Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
• On the Virg - Serious Young Insects
• Across the Universe (Soundtrack)
• Daft Punk - Alive (2007)
• Cyndi Lauper - The Body Acoustic
• Information Society - Synthesizer

I still have three more albums on my todo list:

• Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
• Powderfinger - Dream Days at the Hotel Existence
• Valve - The Orange Box (Original Soundtrack)

I’ll let you guys know when those reviews are done.

One of things I really like to do, sometimes, is hear different covers of songs. Once, I had about six different versions, from different artists, of “Helter Skelter”.

Today, listening to “In The Air Tonight” (by Phil Collins), I decided to check the other versions. You can hear 30 seconds of the music before buying in on iTunes, so… why not?

And, honestly, I think they all fail to deliver the meaning of the song. They are too happy, or so indifferent to the meaning of the lyrics that they sound almost boring. Now, there are some covers that are better than the original. Like “Mad World”, covered by Gary Jules, sounds way better than the happy beat by Tears for Fears that is amazing (it also makes the song seem way longer than it should.) But “In the Air Tonight” can be called perfect in the first version. It is dark, the music behind it keeps the pace with the darkness of the lyrics that is amazing. You can feel the real meaning behind the words by just listening to the music.

By the way, if you know any good covers of mainstream songs, let me know.

After almost four years, Arjen Anthony Lucassen released the new Ayreon album, 01011001. My guess is that Arjen decided this would be the album that would connect all Ayreon stories, from the blind minstrel to the last migrator. And it does. Unfortunately, from a musical stand point, the album fails to deliver anything impressive.

The songs are completely unimaginative. Sometimes, when not paying attention to the lyrics, I thought I was hearing some other Ayreon album. The same rhythm, the same sounds… nothing new. And when Hansi Kürsch sings, it really feels like you are listening to Blind Guardian, not Ayreon (in contrast, when Mike Baker sung in “The Human Equation”, you didn’t feel like listening to Shadow Gallery. And I would dare to say that when James LaBrie sung in the same album, it also didn’t feel like Dream Theater.)

So far, I would say that’s the weakest of all the albums. But who knows, maybe that was the idea, to give people some context for the next album…

Latest Avantasia album, “Scarecrow” finally hit the market. And I finally got a copy. So, what we can say about it?

First, this is not Avatansia. Sorry about that, but it isn’t. It is not about Gabriel and his quest to save his sister, while trying to save the universe from clashing with another universe, due the actions of an evil bishop. No, not at all.

This is “Tobias Sammet’s friends - Scarecrow.”

My guess is that Tobias really liked to play with another people and decided to use the name Avantasia for this project. So, fans of Avantasia, sorry but this isn’t part III. On the other hand, for those who like melodic metal, this is an awesome album! And not just melodic metal fans, people who like power ballads will really enjoy “Cry Just a Little” and “What Kind of Love”. I would even dare to say that “What Kind of Love” beats “Farewell” in any competition, hands down.

I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

A long time about (a year?) Nightwish split. I can recall people saying that Tarja complained that Tuomas never tell her how was the “feeling” of the song, that she had to put her own emotions on the lyrics and figure out what they really meant. I guess it was written in her open letter, after the other band mates put an open letter explaining why they decided to keep going without her.

All that time, I followed that idea: Tarja was right, Tuomas was not a good leader and she was unrightfully thrown out of the band.

And then came the new singer and the new album Dark Passion Play.

And guess what? It is really awesome. They are back in the classical/metal mix, not the somewhat-classical/kinda-pop songs. Which makes me rethink the reasons behind Tarja being thrown out. One of the reasons said in the open letter form the band said that she became “too comercial.” Now, looking back at their latest album, the pop one, it really looks like they were trying to reach a different group. You know, one not in the metal/classical area. I can’t say for sure, but maybe someone pushed the strings to that direction.

I’m changing my opinion now: Nightwish is better without Tarja.

Today I had my first experience using a digital music provider system. I was there, with my MacBook in front of me, listening to the same old songs and there was that “Store” option right in the screen. “What the hell,” I thought. “It may not be all that bad.” So, after browsing some bands, all which had things I already had or not so interesting albums, I decided to buy the latest “Shadow Gallery” album, “Prime Cuts.”

There is one thing weird about online shopping for things you don’t see. There is no waiting for boxes, no cashing you must take out of your wallet… And iTunes also makes the process of paying completely invisible: you provide your credit card information on account creation and it is never displayed again. So you don’t see your money going out and you don’t see things coming in; ok, maybe your playlist will get larger, but you don’t get that plastic box that you throw out a few months later because you ripped the album anyway and bout a larger storage for your CDs. But, in essence, it is a completely empty process (in what you feel when paying and receiving.)

It is so completely invisible that I manage to buy three more albums before getting worried about how much I was wasting. “Carved in Stone” and “Tyranny“, also by Shadow Gallery. “Crystalline Dreams” and “Alaska” are the awesome songs in the first album (and if Alaska doesn’t use that namesake song as their anthem, they should have their heads examinated, as the lyrics makes you want to move to Alaska.) And “Synthesize” by “Information Society“, a band I thought was dead in the beginnings of the 90s. Still doesn’t sound as “popper” as InSoc was in the end of the 80s, sounding more like techno but hey, it is still InSoc and they sound almost like before, being not so depressive as “Don’t Be Afraid.”

Yup, my first Australian concert happened last night. And, honestly, I can’t say I regret it. I mean, I chose a band which I only knew one song and bought CDs a few weeks before the concert. But, in the end, I had a lot of fun.

The show started with an Irish band called “The Walls”. They are not bad, but I don’t think they are good either. They played about 5 songs and left the stage for “Augie March”. It seems they are somewhat famous around, even if I never heard about them, as some people really cheered when they entered the stage. I can’t really say if they are good or bad, as the sound was too loud to get most of it. And the lightning sucked. The guys may be good, but their crew is really sloppy and ruined the show.

Then, Crowded House. Yes, they are actually good. I mean, REALLY GOOD! Either that or they were on playback all the time (but I guess every band gets good after playing a long time.) Sometimes, they would stop between songs and do jokes and play around, do jokes between them and so on. It was the kind of show that the band was having fun in the stage and decided to bring the audience to it. It was fun for people in the audience and for the band.

And here is the setlist (thanks to Cameron, as I couldn’t identify most of songs):

1. Private Universe
2. World Where You Live
3. Don’t Stop Now
4. Fall At Your Feet
5. Whispers & Moans
6. English Trees
7. Heaven That I’m Making
8. Love You Till The Day I Die
9. Silent House
10. Don’t Dream It’s Over
11. Pour Le Monde
12. Walked Her Way Down
13. When You Come
    
14. Distant Sun

15. Locked Out
16. Something So Strong
17. Weather With You
18. Four Seasons In One Day
19. Italian Plastic
20. Better Be Home Soon

I took some pictures, but my camera sucks on dark environments. The ones that didn’t suck too much I uploaded to Flickr. You can check them here. All those and the ones that sucked will be uploaded to my picture site later.

To be honest, I didn’t know too much about Crowded House when I bought my ticket. All I could remember was “Don’t Dream (It’s Over)”.

Last week I bought two CDs by them. “The Very Best Of” with their, well, best songs and “Time on Earth”, their latest album.

I’m not sure if it is my current mood or anything like that, but I’m really enjoying the songs. I’m not a great listener, as I usually just let the music play while my brain focus on something completely different. But, when I “realize” that there is something playing, I really like what I’m hearing.

I think I’m going to like the concert.

"The Police" ticket, originally uploaded by Julio Biason.

The last one in the set

"Cyndi Lauper" Ticket, originally uploaded by Julio Biason.

Cyndi Lauper, State Theatre, 29 of February 2008. Still waiting for “The Police” tickets.