#mercury's 80s casualty thoughts

[medicallymercury]

okay, Mercury’s 80s Casualty Thoughts: Closure (01x15) Edition

(I know I said I’d get back to series 4… I will... soon? also, this is a pretty long 'thoughts' post because I don't have energy to organise them into anything more concise)

this feels like a really weird episode to watch in July because it’s the original Christmas episode

Ewart seeing the end of the night shift as a vote of no confidence and threatening to resign??? Ewart very much belongs in the 80s but he's still one of the original characters I'd like to drag and drop into the current show

S1 Kuba is the best version of Kuba

this meeting scene at Megan’s is so <3 everyone being squeezed into the room and Duffy holding Megan's ashtray is just so... ~natural feeling~

Charlie is right about needing to strike but he's being a dick about it and I like that the show knows that, I also like that interaction between him and the paramedics where Andy suggests a petition and Charlie and Sandra immediately shut the idea down because the patients don't care? very character of them to both feel that way

Megan is another character I'd drag and drop into the current show, she could fix everything with her presence I think

DUFFY AND SUSIE "tell her to pass it on" "she knows that" my sillies, they were fr besties in S1 (lovetrianglelovetriangelo-) I somehow forgot about Susie continuing to defend Duffy not wanting to go to the police in this episode but <3

THE PROTECTIVE SUITS!!!! they all look so ridiculous I love my little guys (the paramedics in the pink ones as well aaa, S1 you will always be famous)

staffroom scene where Duffy is stressing out that she has Lassa Fever and the others are laughing at her is another (like the meeting scene) moment that feels very natural to me just with how everyone is sat and what they're up to? like, Susie eating chocolate and stuff instead of them all just sitting around doing nothing other than existing to have the conversation they're having, I guess?

see, this is just becoming what I knew it would: me listing things that make me smile about this episode

but I love the scene where Charlie is being annoying and trying to get Andy to play piano and Sandra is laughing along with him and also "I'm tone deaf, Andrew, should've thought you'd know that by now" a call back to the second episode!!!

THE WE'LL MEET AGAIN SCENE!!!!!!!!! augh, I am tearing up I need to sleep...... Sandra, Duffy and Susie matching costumes!! Clive and Baz dancing!! Charlie getting the words wrong and Megan laughing at him!!

also, thank you Mickey the old man patient who got stuck in the ED with them for causing this reaction image I love:

sorry Baz's brother, she's not visiting you now cause she's in France with Charlie (actually this is an annoyingly pretty good scene for them... ‘annoying’ because I don’t really like it when I find myself liking Charlie at all)

the protest at the end of this episode feels like such an underrated part of S1, this whole episode does actually, it's so much about the whole team coming together and I just think it's a perfect ending for the first series to have everyone together like that

(DVD commentary implication that they had been drinking when they filmed the final scene)

and Ewart's reaction :( the start of the episode being him saying that he sees the end of the night shift as a vote of no confidence in him vs the end of the episode being everyone coming together to fight for his night shift

Overall: Closure needs to be remembered more when the BBC or official Casualty socials do stuff for the Casualty anniversaries or I will riot.

[stevecanmakeanythingnerdy]

Battle #31

The Coconuts : Don’t Take My Coconuts (Set 1 )

Vs.

Balance : S/T ( Side 1 )

The Coconuts : Don’t Take My Coconuts (Set 1 )

This group is one of the bizarre circumstances where the backups get as much attention as the main act and get a record. For other examples see Barry Manilow and Ladyflash, or practically any of Prince’s protégés. They were part of Kid Creole’s act. Kid Creole and the Coconuts is an American musical group created and led by August Darnell. The groups music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular a mix of disco and Latin American, South American, Caribbean, Trinidadian, and Calloway styles and is conceptually inspired by the big band era. The Coconuts are a trio of female backing vocalists/dancers whose lineup has changed throughout the years. The actual members of The Coconuts were Cheryl Poirier, Adriana Kaegi and Taryn Hagey when they recorded this debut album "Don't Take My Coconuts" in 1983. Hagey was later replaced by Janique Svedberg when the group subsequently recorded around 1990. Lori Eastside, while once a member of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, was never a member of The Coconuts trio. They both still tour together. So this album is a “fake live” set. The first cut is the self titled “Don’t Take My Coconuts”. It features Kid Creole and is considered the hit off the album. It is the story of Kid begging his ...wife(?) ... who is in the coconuts(?)...not to take his coconuts. It makes sense in song form, but adds confusion knowing the backstory. The tune itself is very synthesized and reggae smooth beats. It’s a somewhat odd pairing, but it works. “Naughty Boy” is next and it’s a bizarre mix of jangle/dance and pop/funk. Was this a phenomenon I missed in the early 80s? I was not hip to the clubs in ‘83. More into Saturday morning cartoons than Saturday night fever (#seewhatididthere). Also it’s quite apparent that there will be an overtly sexual theme throughout this album. Some of it tongue in cheek mind you, but still. The fake live Schtick really takes flight with the banter leading to “Maladies D’ Amour”. Again with the meringue style. Is it a joke record? Did Kid and the Coconuts have a fight? He’s long gone by this point and it’s all the ladies. Oddly, I do feel like getting a Cuba Libre after listening to “Ticket to the Tropics”. It’s very radio friendly and danceable. The final track, called “Indiscreet”! Seems to be the ‘83 version of MmmBop. So confused...it seems to be a pretty constant 65 BPMs throughout though. It’s a conga-less Miami Sound Machine (#seewhatididthere). A VERY dancy record. I feel like Prince is behind this somehow. Honestly I only picked it up because the cover was visually interesting. There were three semi-good looking girls on the cover dressed almost like stewardesses. I thought there was probable cause it could be new wave in nature, or at least an all girl group. Maybe a Go Gos or Bananarama knock off? Lastly, it was the magical $1 price point. Sometimes the gamble pays off, sometimes... meh.

Balance : S/T ( Side 1 )

So Balance is another $1 gamble. Not this particular album though, their sophomore effort. I picked it up about a year ago and it was a decent Queen-like band, so when I came across this, I grabbed it by extension. For only a 3 piece they really hold things together well. Balance was an early 1980s hard rock band based out of New York City and fronted by Peppy Castro, formerly of Blues Magoos. I hadn’t even made that connection until I started doing research on the band. Check out Blues Magoos if you like psych/garage stuff...pretty decent listen. They are perhaps best known for their minor 1981 hit, "Breaking Away", which is on this very record. The band has ties in one way or another to much larger acts such as KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Meatloaf, and Rainbow, but it seems they had a very lackluster existence. This album barely charted (just the aforementioned single really) and their sophomore release was a casualty off their label letting go of their AR team, and thus no support at the label. Possibly their biggest success was the use of one of their tunes in a Japanese commercial which led to a tour of Japan before calling it quits. They lasted 3 years. So what does this thing sound like anyway? “(Looking for the) Magic “ is the first song. A little heavy on the cheese sauce but the vocal range and power is pretty intense. Wouldn’t YOU pick this up if you saw a bald dude with a Mercury/Village People/Magnum P. I. Level ‘stache? It takes a while but the wank shines bright by the end. “I’m Through Loving You” is a decent rocker with a hook. I have tray though, it’s not as powerful as I remember that sophomore effort. That changes with the next number, which as you may recognize from earlier sentences is their hit, “Breaking Away”. Very radio friendly and warm, smooth bass lines. For a big hit though, it’s not incredibly memorable. “No Getting Around My Love” has bad ass drums (thinking specifically of the crown work) and guitar harmonics. Don’t even try, because there’s no getting around his love. If you want my honest opinion, the last cut, “Fly Through The Night” is the real champion of this album. WTF label?! Why did you bury the best track at the end??!?! Piano and key heavy, there is a multitude of things going right on this one. It starts ou5 like a typical ballad, but goes all kinds of Metal in a hurry. THIS is the sound I remember on the sophomore LP. THIS is the Queen in them coming out. They have a good BALANCE (#seewhatididthere) between equal part Journey and REO, glued together by a lead vocalist named Peppy! No, for real!! Even though I’m not selling it for you, this album really isn’t half bad.

So today, the Coconuts pleaded not to take them but they took us on a calorie burning journey. The Coconuts burned 123 calories over 5 songs and 17 minutes. That averages out to 24.60 calories burned per song and 7.24 calories burned per minute. The Coconuts earned 9 out of 15 possible stars. Meanwhile, Balance tried to strike a balance and they burned 143 calories over 19 minutes and 5 songs. They burned 28.60 calories per song and 7.53 calories per minute. Balance earned 12 out of 15 possible stars. Balance may not have won any support from their label, but they won RRW today!

Balance: “Fly Through The Night”

https://youtu.be/SnbSHiq5W_A

#Randomrecordworkoutseasonsix

#Randomrecordworkout

[nickfanemusic]

Ranking the Rush Albums Pt. 3 (#10-#6)

10. Snakes and Arrows (2007)

This was the first album (of 2) that Rush put out that I purchased when it actually came out instead of years, usually decades, after the fact. My first reactions to it were fairly lukewarm, and that I felt it had some good songs while others were real sleepers. Upon revisiting it recently, though, my attitude has warmed up to it significantly. The band is balancing their heavier, more modern sound with more dynamic arrangements, featuring a lot of acoustic guitar and spacey synth sounds to create some interesting textures. Lyrically, Peart is exploring current events in a direct way, as there are many references throughout the album to the chaotic state of the world that the Bush years had helped instigate. In fact, one of the compelling elements of this album to me upon re-listening is how the lyrics help the listener track Peart’s ideology over time. A self described “bleeding heart Libertarian”, may of Rush’s early songs are inspired by his reading of Ayn Rand, such as Fly By Night’s “Anthem” and one of Rush’s most well-regarded works, “2112″, which is actually dedicated to “The Genius of Ayn Rand” as I was boldly reminded of upon receiving the album on vinyl as a gift recently.  I have my problems with this because I think Ayn Rand was misguided at best and a malicious agent of chaos at worst, but that’s beside the point. Snakes and Arrows shows Peart reflecting on some of these notions in his lyrics, such as the prechorus of “Far Cry”: “It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit; it’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it” seems to be an acknowledgement of the unfairness of our current situation. “A Larger Bowl” is another example. Written as a Pantoum, a style of verse that originates in Malaysia, the lyric begins with the potent question, “If we’re so much the same like I always hear, why such different fortunes and fate?” This isn’t me saying that this is evidence that Peart has changed his ideology or anything, but much like how Kurt Vonnegut poses ideological questions in his works but also has viable counter-arguments represented by other characters, Peart has never been one to propagandize in his lyrics. Overall, this one is a fun listen from start to finish mainly due to the variety of sonic avenues they travel down throughout its runtime; from the hard edge of “Far Cry” and “Armor and Sword” to the softer tracks like “Hope”, it’s a roller coaster and a damn good one.

9. Grace Under Pressure (1984)

Grace Under Pressure is sort of a curious exhibit  in the band’s catalogue, and contains what I would describe as “growing pains” in their expansion to a more synth-based and textured sound. Alex Lifeson often sounds like he doesn’t know what to do, and the synth textures aren’t as mature as on later albums. When it comes to their 80’s releases, though, I regard Grace Under Pressure very highly. There are some real burners on this album, from the opening cut “Distant Early Warning” to the driving “Afterimage” and the dark and industrial sounding “Red Sector A”. “The Enemy Within” actually has one of my favorite verse riffs in the Rush catalogue, and the album does a compelling job meshing darker themes with a new found funkiness. The B side isn’t as strong (the aforementioned songs make up the entire A side) but I would say there’s no sore thumbs across the album’s runtime. This is Rush’s first album in years without Terry Brown as producer, and as such I would say this is the album that marks the end of their classic period. Nonetheless, this one still makes for a great listen now.

8. Signals (1982)

The last album with Terry Brown as producer and the last in Rush’s classic era of releases, Signals is a fan favorite. Most known for the opening song (always with the opening songs being top tier!) “Subdivisions”, which is a bonafide classic and stands among Rush’s best songs, the album has plenty of synth to go around without drowning out the guitar or bass too much, as happens on some later albums. The song “New World Man” is also Rush’s highest-charting song in their career, peaking at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. That song never really did it for me, but other songs on the album certainly do! “The Analog Kid” is an excellent song throughout, and the guitar solo is particularly excellent. “Digital Man” is among my favorites by the band as well. A slightly weaker B-side is at play here, but this one is definitely worth your time.

7. Vapor Trails (2003)

Vapor Trails has a bumpy history. The original release of the album was a notable casualty in the “loudness wars”, which saw mixing and mastering practices sacrificing overall sound quality in favor of pure volume. This meant that the album actually had digital distortion in its final mix, which is an inexcusable situation for an album of this caliber. The poster child for this practice is Metallica’s Death Magnetic (produced by Rick Rubin, who one might call the Charlemagne of the Loudness War), which was especially notable for one reviewer who recommended illegally downloading the Rock Band versions of the tracks since they were more deftly mixed. Fortunately, Vapor Trails got a much deserved remaster in recent years which helps to showcase to the world what I’ve felt for years: Vapor Trails is a top-tier Rush album. The first album since Caress of Steel to not feature any synthesizer, the power trio rages through the 67-minute run time with a ferocity that the band hadn’t displayed quite so well in years. Recorded after a long hiatus due to personal tragedies in Neil Peart’s life, the renewed band comes out swinging with maybe their heaviest track ever, “One Little Victory”, and doesn’t let up from there. Plenty of head bangers are present, with songs like “Nocturne” and "Vapor Trail” providing a more dynamic arrangement. Both of those are highly recommended, as are “Earthshine, “Sweet Miracle”, “Secret Touch” and “Ceiling Unlimited”. I honestly recommend the whole album, best listened in the car on a road trip, which I have a hunch is how Peart, and avid motorcyclist and author (as detailed in another great cut from the album, “Ghost Rider”) likely came up with many of the lyrics for the album, or at least the seeds for them. Peart spent years in a perpetual road trip after the death of his daughter and wife. I’m very thankful for him being able to recover from those tragedies to go on to make more music, as it has been among the most impactful for me. Vapor Trails is a big part of that. Not the biggest though.

6. 2112 (1976)

I know, I know. This one is probably unexpectedly low on the list. This is the album that began Rush’s classic period of releases, and it’s quite excellent. The A-side is the now-iconic title track, a 22-minute opus about an individual in a future dystopia where the arts are banned or at least heavily centrally regulated by some sort of political/religious organization. Person finds a guitar, shows it to the people at the top, they lose their shit and destroy it, guy dies from crippling depression, nebulous voice declares to all planets of the Solar Federation that they’ve assumed control. As previously mentioned, the lyric is basically a Libertarian fever dream, but that’s not the reason why I rank this album lower than one might expect. Politics of the title cut aside, it is without question the highlight of the album. Listening to Caress of Steel’s misguided “Fountain of Lamneth”, which was on the album that they just recorded, followed immediately by the more coherent, more refined and ultimately outstanding “2112″ suite shows just what sort of creative leap they made in that short time. In fact, the album never should have existed: Rush’s international label at the time, Mercury, had stated that if Rush didn’t produce a more radio-friendly album, they would be dropped. In the face of that, they decided to stick with their guns and made something truly brilliant, solidifying their entire decades-long career in the process. That artistic confidence is on full display on the title track. The album ranks a bit lower because of its B-side. While the songs are pretty good overall, they simply don’t match the brilliance of the A-side, and while they’re not necessarily forgettable, their other albums have better songs to match their headier, longer works. “A Passage to Bangkok” and “Something For Nothing” are my favorites of the short songs.

Next up, we dig into the Top 5!