Thursday, 17 September 2015

2015-09-17 Righteous Babel

Future State depiction of K's backyard

6 Players: W, J, M, S, G, K
Game: 7 Wonders: Babel + Great Works
Choice: J
Location: W

Game One (7 Wonders + Babel):
 M (67 pts), K (63 pts), W (55 pts), G (53 pts), S (52 pts) & J (46 pts)

Game Two (7 Wonders + Great Works):
 K (57 pts), S (55 pts), G (51 pts), W (47 pts), M (43 pts) & J (30 pts)

Final Tally:
K120, M110, S107, G104, W102, J76
K was declared this week's victor

this Babel shit be serious!
Game Notes:
  • Suggested renaming as follows: Angry, Chatty, County, Country, Thinky and Waffley
  • No I didn't mean "now" now
  • We were instructed to Hide Your Sack
Music Notes:
 
First, a couple well received bands from Blue Skies 2015
 
 
GRWF Album Art Thumbnail
more than just nice to look at
[Notes from UKFolkRadio] Not to be confused with Bombadil, the psychedelic pop American trio, this lot are a Canadian quartet who line up as Sarah Frank (fiddle, banjo), Luke Fraser (guitar, mandolin), Anh Fung (flute) and Alan Mackie and Evan Stewart who both handle upright bass, and whose influences embrace Celtic folk music and bluegrass...
Organic in feel, it’s an unassuming album that never makes a big fuss about the members’ skills, simply allows them to do what they do with consummate and fluid grace and ease, and, as such, offers a very enjoyable travelling companion.
 
 
 
“Jaffa Road blends Jewish, jazz, Indian and Arabic music with electronica and dub. The result is fantastic.”  -CBC Radio One
 
Marshall Tucker Band: The Marshall Tucker Band (1973)
 
little known fact: the Marshall Tucker Band
were the "boys in the bright white sports car"
referred to as such in the classic Trooper hit
[Notes from AllMusic] Taking a page from their Capricorn Records labelmates and Southern rock contemporaries the Allman Brothers, the Marshall Tucker Band issued a self-titled debut blending the long and winding psychedelic and jam band scene with an equally languid and otherwise laid-back country-rock flavor. Into the mix they also added a comparatively sophisticated jazz element -- which is particularly prominent throughout their earliest efforts. The incipient septet featured the respective talents of Doug Gray (vocals), Toy Caldwell (guitar/vocals), his brother Tommy Caldwell (bass/vocals), George McCorkle (guitar), Paul Riddle (drums), and Jerry Eubanks (flute/sax/vocals). Their free-spirited brand of Southern rock was a direct contrast to the badass rebel image projected by the Outlaws or Lynyrd Skynyrd. This difference is reflected throughout the 1973 long-player The Marshall Tucker Band. The disc commences with one of the MTB's most revered works, the loose and limber traveling proto-jam "Take the Highway." The improvised instrumental section features some inspired interaction between Toy Caldwell and Eubanks. This also creates a unique synergy of musical styles that is most profoundly exhibited on the subsequent cut, "Can't You See." Caldwell's easygoing acoustic fretwork babbles like a brook against Eubanks lonesome airy flute lines. The remainder of the disc expounds on those themes, including the uptempo freewheelin' "Hillbilly Band." Unlike what the title suggests, the track is actually more akin to the Grateful Dead's "Eyes of the World" than anything from the traditional country or bluegrass genres. "Ramblin'" is an R&B rave-up that leans toward a Memphis style with some classy brass augmentations. The effort concludes on the opposite side of the spectrum with the tranquil gospel rocker "My Jesus Told Me So," offering up Caldwell's fluid guitar work with a sound comparable to that of Dickey Betts. "AB's Song" is an acoustic folk number that would not sound out of place being delivered by John Prine or Steve Goodman. This eponymous effort established the MTB's sound and initiated a five-year (1973-1978) and seven-title run with the definitive Southern rock label, Capricorn Records.
 
trippy
Pink Floyd: Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
 
[Notes from AllMusic] The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences -- "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock. But even though Barrett's lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments -- in addition to Rick Wright's eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation -- the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.

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