Vapymid

But the real origins of electronic were analogue - and the most sweet-sounding, at that! Actually, I can't stand what is called electronic now - just don't get it. The steroidal, monotonously programmed beat makes me want to find the programmer and knock his head about the wall in rhythm with his creation... Maybe I have missed the good ones somehow, but I doubt it - every time I try a sample it sounds the same to me. Rap I do not consider music at all - it is more like limericks or Russian chastushki v poetry. I can see it can be fun, I guess, but I won't spend any of my time on that... Metal is not my thing either. Very cliched, too loud to follow what's going on and why are they all screaming, anyway? Blues I do like, as also some spirituals. There would have been no rock music without blues. I like some blues-rock too, very much, actually. I'm ambivalent about jazz - too much meandering improvisation while still managing to use many musical cliches, however, the musicianship can be very good... When I first started consciously forming opinion about music and genres I preferred what we called "hard-rock" - Deep Purple, Rainbow, Queen, Uriah Heep, you know. Also Beatles, a little bit Stones. But there was something missing all the time. It was when I first heard "art rock" (mostly known as "progressive") something clicked in my head - that's was the thing I was looking for. That is what I still listen to the most. Not all of it good but a lot of it is. From there I also explored some psychedelic, folk-, blues- etc rock and stuff that is difficult to fit into one category. So, in general my listening repertoir is pretty diverse. Also like classicals - up until the middle of XXth century. I think that British prog rock took over the baton from there in many ways. As far as lyrics are concerned - I am trying to ignore the meaning of songs as much as possible. When I listen to music I prefer to think of something I want at that particular moment and not necessarily follow some mundane broken heart story or something. Vocals are like another instrument for me then. There are exceptions though. Also, in works where the story is important (like JC Superstar or, now, Curly's Airships) I follow the lyrics as well. So, I see, in some ways we are similar but in others... Can you tell me about that electronics stuff - what is it that attracts you in it? I have a feeling I am missing something as so many people seem to like it a lot. I'd like to understand more, if possible... Regards

D'you mean you can read? Blimey, that's a shock of my life... Regards

War of the Worlds would be the closest analog, except that WotW is made of series of conventional songs connected to the underlying story in some way or another, whereas Curly's Airships is one continuous "songstory" split into chapters. Curly's Airships uses "leitmotifs" - characteristic melodies that are associated with particular characters or airships or airplanes etc - and they follow each other and repeat with some variations as the narrative progresses. I really recommend listening to the 3 Youtube clips above - trying to describe this in words will never do justice to that work, though it can talk in its own words, of course: Regards

@BTGBullseye: On account of 'Sabbath being a UK group, they are technically correct... I'm sure, though, you are a bloody royalist for them now @Username: yes, wouldn't it be nice if people actually *discussed* music? As in why they like something or not instead of just stating what they like and stopping there? This kind of thing normally doesn't seem to happen... Regards

It didn't occur to me to think about it as a soundtrack as it is a fully self-contained work but if a mod will it appropriate and move this to Soundtracks - that's perfectly fine with me... Regards

Apologies for this slightly incoherent flood of words but I am not very good with romantic descriptions. I have discovered this thing just now and by pure accident, even though it was originally released in 2000. I have been deeply touched by this work on many levels, so much so that I felt compelled to make this post. "Curly's Airships" is a rock-story about airships. Specifically, the British rigid airships program, from 1919 to 1930. A combination of chasing an impossible dream, political infighting, government meddling, ambitions and desire to fly. Ending, inevitably, in a fireball in the hills of France. The whole story is told by the spirit of Curly McLeod (sung by Judge Smith), a fictional 3rd officer on the R.101 (the largest dirigible in the world at the time), summoned by a medium, but pretty much all other characters in the story are real historic personages. It may seem remote and hardly relevant but, like a Greek tragedy, it tells us about the part of human nature that is timeless and is going to stay with us while we remain human. Indeed, if you look at what happened to Apollo 1, Soyuz 1, Space Shuttle Challenger - so much of it is history repeating itself... Judge Smith spent 6 years researching the material, writing the lyrics and music, organising finance, putting together the team etc. and the result is very special. Production values are excellent - sound engineering and CD transfer are of the highest quality, which you rarely find even on large budget releases. This is what happens when creators put their souls into their creation, I guess... Judge is supported by a cast of stellar musicians and performers with some of the recordings made on locations - in an airship shed at Cardington, in churches and cathedrals in places of historical importance to the story. The singing is so clear that you can understand every word without ever needing to read the lyrics but the double CD album comes with two lush booklets including production notes, historical and technical reference with pictures of all airships mentioned in the story, a glossary and a full libretto (lyrics). Listening to this is like watching a movie with your eyes closed - the lyrics are so vivid. And hearing Judge's narration, you would really think he was there and he really is Curly. And Curly is an opinionated and passionate chap, whose opinions can be quite scathing and forthright but he loves to fly... The whole thing will not quite work if you never saw a picture of a large dirigible or the sheds they were built in, so here we are - meet His Majesty's airship R.33: Enough of that, there is plenty of information on Curly's website, here is the music. The first 3 tracks from the piece to give you the idea of what it is: OlwwF2ymCgw vidZxOlksAI IVO6QGxnFbo There's not much else available on the internets, so if you want to hear the whole story you'll need to get the CD. You won't regret doing it, though - in this I feel pretty confident. Regards

@BTGBullseye re Sync A really good one indeed. Thanks for the heads up. Regards

It's not the hate, it's what you like that gets you in trouble with governments these days... Regards

It's all in the head. The majority of population in the "developed" world daily walks about, minding their business, without needing or wanting to have any guns on them and they seem to be doing fine, your 'umble servant included. Regards

You must hand yourself in to the authorities, as I'm sure you are in clear breach of some anti-terror law or the other... Regards

Which wouldn't have been a bad thing, actually This I would seriously doubt. The British anti-slavery movement was in full swing and become a government policy long before the US Civil War and the 13th Amendment. Regards

Wouldn't it be infinitely better if your mother could just walk the dog without feeling the need to carry a piece with her at all times? Regards

Some questions just should not be answered literally or in terms of yes or no - for example: did you stop beating your wife? Regards

5Xo4VXQ5ufk "The rain auditions at my window..." Well, not anymore but it did this morning, so it put me in the mood. Regards

Not a very good example. I could say, if her ex- suspects she might be armed *he* would definitely arm himself before going to her place, increasing the risk for everyone concerned. On the other hand, if he already breached the order and is trying to see her, it must be a very lazy or dumb plod to not be able to figure out how to find the guy - just wait at the woman's place, FFS! And if he has murder in mind she won't be able to stop him even with a gun, most likely. We had a case a couple of years back in England - the loonie just sneaked up to her house and shot through the window without warning... The thing is, if a USPS employee or someone aspiring to be seen as one, would decide to go on a shooting spree he will kill a lot of people before he is stopped. Period. Other people bearing guns would not react quickly enough and the postal guy always has a huge element of surprise on his side. With an automatic pistol he can kill 10 people easily before anyone even realises what's going on. And the fact that others are likely to carry guns will not act as a deterrent because these people just don't think of the consequences anyway. The only way to minimise the chances of this happening is to prevent guns from getting into the loonies' hands in the first place. I am not against responsible people owning arms but I want to see a high barrier to gun ownership and I definitely don't want to see people routinely carrying guns with them. There should be no reason to unless you live in a fourth-world country or in a wild outback somewhere... Regards

Training is fine. In my time at school everyone was taught the basics of shooting and handling weapons (Makarov pistol, AK-47 and hand grenades) during civil defence lessons. But to present own gun? Firstly, what if you can't afford gun, is it going to be issued to you by the State? As I understand, the most common interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is that it is for protection of people from abusive government. But if you rely on the government to give you the gun isn't there a moral contradiction? Secondly and most importantly, you cannot give guns just to everyone. That is very simple. You need to get a licence to drive a car or to fly a plane or to operate heavy machinery, none of which is supposed to be lethal when used skillfully. To give guns, which are *meant* to be lethal in normal use, to everyone would be terminally stupid. In fact, I would prohibit giving guns to anyone who displays signs of really, really wanting one (just like I would ban anyone who wants to make a career in politics from becoming a politician, but that's another story ). Regards

XVIII Century prog... VzCt7tQx2-U Regards

Hmmm, ahem, not sure I get the creative angle of that... But I, kind of, see the point - the shock it would bring to the faces of the Eurovision apparatchiks. That will be worthwhile to watch, I guess... For myself, though, I will stick to some more straight-forward Nordic tunes for now IJ-KYaBQGRY Regards

While it was funny, I could not stop thinking it was about the Master Chief finding himself in a wrong game... Regards

"Sleepless Incidental" live XOf1gAz58c0 There is a group of IQ fans who are making a movie based on "Subterranea" (did a Kickstarter launch last year and just announced that they've finished the principal photography)... Regards

One cat I know doesn't care Oh, wait, he does! The old sounds FTW. Regards

Brilliant... t8scSSfXY7M Not suitable for RSPCA or PETA members though... Regards

Aha, I see now. You are a Scott! Regards

This? Jq-Zbs-5WWA Regards

You should put only the alphanum code that goes after "=" sign in the youtube url inside a "youtube" tag... Regards