Flashback!!!!

Ever since I can remember, I used to go through my dad's records collection. He also had a small 8-Track collection too. His Collection of LP's was diverse, but it lacked the 1960's classic rock that most parents had. I had an uncle on the other hand who had some of the classic rock that I wanted to listen to. One day over his house I asked if I can go through them. He said sure, grab what you want and just let me know what you took.

His Collection compared to my fathers was small, but it was it was one genre of music, Rock and Roll. My dad's on the other hand had Jazz, Oldies (Sam Cooke) some classic rock ie: Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears and Traffic, Ten Years After and the Beach Boys. Lots of Beach Boys. Not the stuff I listen to now, but the Surf period. I listened to it but not as much as Pet Sounds or Smiley Smile or Sunflower. Then next was his Jazz LP's. In that collection he had Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, one John Coltrane (Giant Steps) and a Louis Armstrong and a Miles Davis greatest hits. Beside the oldies his selections from the 1970's was bad. I mean real bad. I saw Barbara Streisand, Melissa Manchester, and the rest what I call crap. Stuff that would make you look and go hm mm.

In the early 80's it became clear that I had to keep up with this collection. I had to weed out the bad and put new stuff in. We bought Thriller by MJ and not just one copy. We have three copies. One to over play and the other two to keep. We bought Huey Lewis and I bought some Aerosmith and Run DMC and Bon Jovi and INXS and from that I revert to my uncle's collection. I was not select what I listened to on his LP's. He had a better collection then my father. So I listen to his collection a lot.

His collection was diverse and full of exciting new finds every time I played them. I asked him great musical questions and he answered with some very good knowledge of what to listen to next. I won't bore you with how I got turned on to things I like now, but I had a start. I also had my best friend who was older then I was. He was a Zappa fan and a 70's Punk lover. He also liked Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson and good 80's music. There was no Journey in his collection, but there was a Tom Waits or a Squeeze.

Now this comes to today's selection. I was asked by a young friend, His father and I bowl together. "What album would you give me that I would like." I just want to bare in mind he likes the local station that plays Hard Rock. He told me he likes punk and hard stuff. He said he thought Metallica and Tool was cool. He even said he likes Floyd and some of the oldies as he calls it.



His father told me that I want him to hear something new. He said all that Hard Rock he hears is so repetitive and he needs something much better. I asked him about what makes a good Hard Rock band. He said to me, "I like drums and guitar." Now mind this is not how I found Porcupine Tree, but I think he would like it. I explained to him that Porcupine Tree is heavy and soft, but like Tool have a great complexity to them. Porcupine maybe a Progressive Rock act, but as I told him they can be loud and soft. I asked him if he was a fan of Dream Theater. He told me yes, and he liked that they can play great riffs. So without question I will most likely make a copy of this Porcupine Tree CD. It's only got six songs but it's great. He knew how much I liked them so I am sure this was an obvious choice. He knows I seen them about a dozen times.



I will tell you about the album of the day. I suggest that this is one of the best new Progressive Rock albums. It has Alex Lifeson from Rush on a song and Robert Fripp from King Crimson on one as well. To me it's in my top albums of the 2000's. This album is addictive. It is only 51 minutes, but it is a complete 51 minutes. Not a bad song on the whole album. Enjoy a truly new Progressive Rock album.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JQ5D064M