Something old, something new, something different

I’ve managed to almost get everything in the library listened to 🙂

There’s a full 1.6 days of new stuff in the library, or so iTunes tells me. Maybe I kinda went a little overboard in acquiring all those soundtracks …

It’s not all soundtracks though – here’s some of what came in :

Tori Amos – Abnormally Attracted To Sin. Not bad, kinda more of the same. Tori Amos is a very talented singer songwriter and also extremely prolific. Being prolific isn’t always a good thing, as it can mean that too much of the not so good stuff gets unleashed. Abnormally Attracted to Sin is better than American Doll Posse but isn’t as good as some of her best material. Still worth a look though.

Smash Mouth – All Star Greatest Hits. Lol 🙂 This is fun. Again, nothing classic here although the I’m A Believer cover excels.

Alone In The Dark soundtracks – I grabbed all three of these games in a cutprice ultra bargain deal at Good Old Games.Com. IIRC it was about $3 for all three. We weren’t convinced about AITD 2 but the first game kept us busy at uni for months before we had it cracked. This was in the dim and distant days before Wiki captured all the walkthroughs and before the Internet and Google really took off so it was tougher to find hints and tips. It’s from when Hint Telephone Lines could make money.

I’m listening to the AITD3 soundtrack at the moment and it’s … got character 🙂 Liking it.

Morcheeba’s Charango – Morcheeba are pretty different to what I usually listen to. They’ll be different to what most people listen to. But that’s mainly because they put a lot of variation into their albums. Charango is no different and there’s a good selection of good tracks here. Check them out, there’s a good chance they’ll have something you like.

Fallout soundtrack – another from GoG.com, this time I saw a “sign up and get this game free!” So I did. The Fallout games have always had their own unique character charm to them. They’re set in a Post Apocalyptic alternate reality Earth where those kitsch 70s ads hung around way past their time. It lets them put a certain degree of very dark humour into their games to offset the post apocalyptic thing.

Faster Than Light soundtrack – this one is available on Bandcamp from Ben Prunty music. Game soundtracks have a specific job to do – they set and reinforce the mood and then submerge under the game to become subliminal. The Mass Effect and Deus Ex HR soundtracks are very good at doing that and this one is the same. Will be looking out for more from Ben Prunty in the future.

The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan. Another very different pop group. I first listened to their Elephant album. Different is definitely good when it comes to music, it sets groups apart from mainstream tat and gets them noticed. I’ve definitely noticed The White Stripes and will be looking for more, they’re worth it. This album appeared courtesy of Head doing offers 🙂

Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man. It’s good. There’s some decent tracks here but not as many stand out tracks as on her previous albums. I’ve yet to listen to it as a pure album though, maybe in the next few days when I get round to it.

Independence War soundtracks. These are another couple of game soundtracks picked up for peanuts from GOG.com. One thing about GoG is that you get lots of freebies with the game. Things like pdf copies of the manuals (when game manuals were worth having), pictures of material like spellbooks and best of all – soundtracks. Oh ! I-War 1 + 2 – two games that unfortunately for them came around at the same time as when the X-Wing games were going strong and which therefore didn’t get the chance they deserved.

Last Night Of The Proms. I’m a Prom fan, I try and watch every year’s Last Night if I can. I like music and this is as uplifting as it comes. Perhaps this recording isn’t as good as most though, I suspect it was the one where the organisers went “We’re recording this, keep it quiet” and therefore missed the whole Audience Participation thing where the off-time audience additions make the whole show.

Lisa Hannigan – Passenger and Sea Sew. Oh. Character. This girl has it. Lisa Hannigan had the misfortune to emerge at the same time as Little Boots, who at the time was on a mission and was blowing away all the competition. Yet here was delicate and very precious Lisa Hannigan coming along with that unique and deliberately fragile voice. Little Boots doesn’t hold my attention as much now but Lisa Hannigan singing I Don’t Know ? You may have heard that one so here’s a different link : What’ll I do ?

Very glad I gave Lisa Hannigan a second look courtesy of some cheap Amazon deals 🙂

Oh dear. I seem to have been distracted into listening to as many Lisa Hannigan videos off Youtube as I can find. Time to close and maybe leave room for a Part 2 of new stuff 🙂

But before I go :

Something old – Red Dwarf’s back. Not quite sure what I think, the concept is extremely tired now and overdone canned audience laughter detracts from the comedy value.

Something new – watched the first couple of episodes of Arrow tonight. Not convinced I’ll stick with this one, it has great TV actors in it but the concept is weak …

Something different – watched the first episode of Elementary. This one has more of a future than Arrow I think, if the networks stick with it. But … concept has been overdone, there’s about 4 different Sherlock Holmes going on at the moment – the BBC one, Elementary, the films and the really bad ones we see on the movie channels occasionally.

PS I think they gave me Strong pills this time. They’ve certainly had a very fast and decisive effect. Need to figure out something to have with the ones I’ll have tomorrow morning … (6 little pills with food that masks a nasty aftertaste)