If you don’t know who Frank Zappa is, it is definitely worth learning as he has contributed much to music, namely the alternative or psychedelic music scene. The Mothers of Invention was Frank Zappa’s first band and this album is considered very influential. Sonic Collective member Darren Scott thought he would introduce Zappa and his band to the group and we had no idea what we were in for.
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There are a few select artists that push the envelope of music so far that they actually get a massive backlash from the public. Religious zealots and conservative thinkers love to let people know what they feel is immoral or against God. Unfortunately, they almost always miss the point the artist is trying to make. The good news is that music fans and those that might like darker music know that artists like Marilyn Manson are true leaders that push music and society in new and amazing directions. We invite you to hear our four differing opinions of this album and learn about this album.
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Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick Florence + the machine: Lungs before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Review of Florence + the machine: Lungs
Sonic Collective member Scott Gregory landed on Florence + the machine’s Lungs album for us to review for May 2019. This album is adored by many and there is no doubt that Florence has immense talent. What we wanted to know though was if this album stands up to the test of time and can stand alone as a complete album. We all admitted that though none of us had listened to much of Florence + the machine in the past that we were all very excited to listen to this release that is nearing 10 years old.
We had differing opinions of this album and we have to admit it felt out of most of our comfort zones. That being said we can offer our expertise and look at this as objectively as possible to determine if this is the type of album that you might want to add to your collection. A few things to listen for in this podcast are:
Join us and listen to our thoughts and tidbits of information on this recently loved album. Does it stand the test of time? When would you listen to this? Hear what we think and let us know your thoughts.
The Sonic Collective
Scott Coates
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 2
Influenced my tastes: 2
Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 2
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 2
Influenced my tastes: 2
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 3
Please read and listen to Scott Coates pick Massive Attack: Mezzanine before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Review of Massive Attack: Mezzanine
This April 2019 selection by Sonic Collective member Scott Coates was this album made most famous for the amount of movie and TV soundtracks you hear their songs a part of. We all had to admit that the quality of the production for this electronic, ambient masterpiece stirs creative visualizations within all the tracks. It is literally hard to listen to this album and not picture a movie or TV scene. Though our scores below may not look spectacular this definitely deserves the respect it has garnered over these many years. Massive Attack is actually touring again and playing this album in its entirety and adding new mixes and visuals. Listen to this review and learn all these points below and more:
Join us and listen to our thoughts and tidbits of information on this classic electronic album. Does it stand the test of time? When would you listen to this? Hear what we think and let us know your thoughts.
The Sonic Collective
Scott Coates
Overall opinion: 3.5
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 3.5
Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 3.5
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 3
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3.5
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 2
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: N/A
Would I recommend?: N/A
Influenced my tastes: N/A
Review of Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid M.A.A.D. City
For March 2019 Sonic member Darren Scott picked Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City. This was his second album but his first big studio album. It was important to know when listening to GKMC that it is a concept album that tells the story of Kendrick as a youthful K.Dot on the streets of Compton. You will hear more in our review and we’ve added some links below that will expend on the details of our review and rediscovery of this album but a few things you will learn in this review are:
Join us and listen to how we dissect this album and how a recent album is already known as being a major influence.
The Sonic Collective
Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 4.5
Would I recommend?: 5
Influenced my tastes: 5
Scott Gregory
Overall opinion: 4.5
Would I recommend?: 5
Influenced my tastes: 4
If you’d like to understand the story being told on the album and the suggested best order to listen to it check out this great article at Noisey.
Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick for Fleetwood Mac: Rumours before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know: Rolling Stone
The story behind Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’: Timeout.com
Quick Summary:
Review of Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
For February 2019 Sonic member Alain Dupuis picked this popular soft rock album. He had not really heard it before. Will he like it, will the album stand the test of time? Give a listen and let us know. If you haven’t heard the back story of this album, you really must. We’ve added some links below that will expend on the details of our review and rediscovery of this album but a few things you will learn in this review are:
Join us and listen to how we dissect this album and how it stands up like a champ.
The Sonic Collective
Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick for ABBA: Arrival before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Our Individual Review Scores
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3
Influenced my tastes: 3
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 3
Scott Coates:
Overall opinion: 2.5
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 2
Darren Scott:
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 2
We all know that around the holiday season there is nothing better than watching a good movie. It also is a great way to avoid that weird uncle with bad breath, ha ha.
Sonic Collective member Scott Coates suggested we all pick a movie soundtrack that we really felt made the movie better. A great movie soundtrack can create an emotional connection to the characters, the environment and the story. Though there are many to pick from, listed below are the four our experts say you need to watch and listen to. We will all spend December watching and listening and then we will release our podcast that will allow our experts to tell you why the movie and soundtrack blended together so nicely. Happy holidays and enjoy the movies and music.
Listen to our podcast and check out the details below.
Selected by Scott Coates
Released July 9, 1996
Few movies have made as strong an impact and stuck with me as Trainspotting has. While it’s an incredible movie, the soundtrack plays an indelible role in cementing the film. Songs I didn’t know before and some I did, came together to elevate mood and moments in a manner rarely achieved. The songs and movie are the better for it. Truly one of the best curated soundtracks that works in complete symbiosis.
Track Listing
Wikipedia Page
iTunes
Spotify
Amazon
Selected by Scott Gregory
Released 1996
The Romeo + Juliet movie attempted to update the classic story for a 90s audience, and the soundtrack called upon quintessential 90s artists to set help set the stage. It’s a great blend of existing songs and ones written just for this album. It went triple-platinum, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 Album charts.
Track Listing
Selected by Alain DuPuis
Released December 2017
The Greatest Showman original soundtrack accompanies the movie of the same name, recanting a very creatively liberal musical interpretation of the story of P. T. Barnum’s creation of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Stars Hugh Jackman, Zac Effron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya all lend their singing voices as well as acting chops to their roles. While I’m not personally a big fan of musicals or long, elaborately choreographed dance numbers at the best of times, I’ve gotta admit, this movie is really damn good. Particularly when the cast starts singing their songs. Holy shit, these people have serious talent. Most of the songs from this album are really catchy, and have found a home in my permanent playlists on Spotify. That’s how good I think the soundtrack is. And maybe by the end of the month, you’ll find yourself agreeing with me!
My recommendation: watch the movie! The songs will make way more sense in context of the story, and then the emotion will really shine through.
Track Listing
Selected by Darren Scott
Released December 2017
I’ve always liked a wide variety of music and I love the Soul and Funk. Though I had heard some of the music before by Curtis Mayfield from the movie it wasn’t until I saw Super Fly at one point in the early 2000s that I understood what an awesome soundtrack can do for a movie. It was funky, awesome, hilarious and sometimes cheesy to me but I ate it up. Released in 1972, this was Curtis Mayfield’s 4th album and is very recognized for the history it made. It is one of the few soundtrack albums that actually outsold the movie box office earnings. Ranked by Rolling Stone as the 69th album in their Top 500 of All Time List I invite you to listen to this funky gem and watch the movie with us this month. I hope the rest of the group and our listeners love it as much as I do.
Track Listing
This month, the group took a slightly different approach to the format. Darren came up with the idea of asking us to pick a recording artist that other music fans may not have heard of (but really should). As we picked our selected artists independently, it turned out some of the picks were new to our fellow group members as well.
Tune in to find out what we thought of eachother’s selections, so you can too can discover which of these four artists we thought had humerous lyrics, which sounded like a Led Zeppelin cover band, and which one may or may not use a ping-pong ball as an instrument.
Here are the picks from our expert panel:
Artist: Ron Gallo
Chosen by: Darren Scott
Artist: The Kills
Chosen by: Scott Coates
Artist: Greta Van Fleet
Chosen by: Alain Dupuis
Artist: Jenny Lewis
Chosen by: Scott Gregory
Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick for Blink-182: The Mark, Tom and Travis Show before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Our Individual Review Scores
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: 4
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 4
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3
Influenced my tastes: 3
Scott Coates:
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 2
Influenced my tastes: 3
Darren Scott:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: This album 2, others 4
Influenced my tastes: 3.5