Backcatalog - Darkel, Overkill, Rough Guide To Celtic Lullabies

The first Backcatalog Edition, I expect two to three albums to be the norm going forward, two if one's a double disc set. I'll make it up as I go really...

Darkel

Darkel

Label: Astralwerks
Released: 2006
Genre: Downtempo, Trip-Hop

I picked this up at a tent sale. I'm not going to say this is a bad album, because it's not. But it's decidedly middle of the road in that kind of major way that makes one want to condemn it. A mid 2000s release that would have been buried and killed were it released only six or seven years earlier. But then, and now six years later, it comes across as interestingly 'old school'.

Darkel is one half of AIR, a future-jazz/downtempo/ambient duo active since the late 90s. AIR is good, they've got a kind of experimental quality that never lets it get either out of hand or stale. Darkel is Dunkel's solo effort (and his only one to date). Like I said, it's not a bad album, but I'm glad his primary work is with other musicians, because this lacks a certain quality - namely the quality that lets you remember what it is you're listening to. Middle of the road...

Overkill

Taking Over

Label: Atlantic
Released: 1987
Genre: Thrash Metal

 The second album from one of the original East Coast thrash metal bands back in the 80s. Very hard to find in any format, and I'm not sure I didn't end up with a bootleg here anyway... This is one of those albums that even way back when I knew of it, and had a taped version of it from a friend, but never managed to get my own copy. Most of their albums weren't that hard to find, so. We've got Taking Over. After their first ming boggling awesome release (Feel The Fire) and the stride they hit after this album came out (Under The Influence; The Years Of Decay; Horrorscope) I have to wonder, what the hell happened here?

It's great 80s thrash. It just doesn't really carry as well as the albums that surround it. Part of me doesn't wonder if this wasn't just hashed out as a way to keep touring. I love it in the way I love all thrash-metal albums - which is to say unconditionally. But I were forced to leave a few by the side of the road, I'd toss this one and defend the rest of my Overkill collection with fervor. It's a stop gap between their first and third albums - a definite case of Sophomore Slump that afflicts so many bands it's a cliche.

 The Rough Guide To Celtic Lullabies

Bonus CD: Gráinne Hambly (Irish Harp Lullabies)

Label: World Music Network
Released: 2012
Genre: Celtic, Folk, Children's Songs

 I don't actually have a need for lullabies, at least not in the capacity of needing to play them for a small child. However, I do like harp music (the harp is a fantastic instrument that produces some amazing sounds), and I like Celtic music, and I like light ambient sounds to work to sometimes. And this is all three. While the words are unmistakably (even when can't understand them) lullabies designed in a way to put small children to sleep (or at least calm them down), the melodies are light, and airy, and the good kind of music to have quietly fill the backspaces in a room. The Rough Guides are more coherent themes (instead of wide open regions) tend to gel better, everything here fits together because it's all from the same genre and from the same approach to the genre.

The second CD is, being a fan of the harp, the better of the two in my opinion. It's all gorgeous, soft, sounds. Between both discs you get 26 really good songs. So, this week ends on an up, if quiet, note.