reccomendations?

[John McIntyre]

"John H. McCartney" wrote:

> I'd appreciate if someone could give me some reccomendations on what
> to pickup from the following bands. Some I'm heard tracks by on various
> 'tribute' albums, others I've just heard about over the years.
>
> Chrome

They've had a long career, which means they've gone through some changes
over
the years.  The early days; e.g., _Alien Soundtracks_ and _Half Machine Lip
Moves_ are proto-punk.  Along about _Red Exposure_ the band pared down
to its core of Helios Creed and Damon Edge.  Then there was a period where
Helios went solo but Edge kept the franchise alive.  Then Edge died and
Helios
assumed the mantel.  There's a good box set if you want to splurge with
your
first purchase, otherwise I'd suggest _Red Exposure_.

>
> Controlled Bleeding

Listen before you buy.  A record store that knows my tastes recommended two

Controlled Bleeding CDs to me.  One I rather liked.  The other was a total
turn-off.
Really sounded like two different bands, so try before you buy.

>
> Alien Planetscapes

Go for it. (-8  If you're on this list, you should love these guys.

>
> Coil

_Music From Hellraiser_ (or some such title, is it _Unreleased Music From
Hellraiser_?  At any rate the story is the movie studio found this music
*too*
frightening to use in the movie.)

> Swans

Another group that's gone through several periods.  Michael Gira is the
main man,
but it's when Jarboe joined the band as a second vocalist that things got
really
interesting.  _Children Of God_ is schizophrenic, varying wildly depending
on who
is singing.  Actually, the variance is of style, not of quality.  It's all
good, but there's
quite a difference between Michael screaming "The sex in your soul will
damn you
to Hell!" and Jarboe's Nico channellings.  _The Burning World_ was produced
by
Bill Laswell and sounds incredibly commercial (read: well produced (-8)
compared
to their other albums.  Gira hates it, but remember Arthur Lee hated the
horns
on _Forever Changes_ and Howlin' Wolf didn't like his electric guitar
at first either.  (-8

John McIntyre
Physics - Astronomy Domine Dept
Michigan State University
mcintyre at pa.msu.edu