| Robbie, Selena & Samantha |
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| Band of the Month |
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Rush
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| Album of the Month |
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Snakes & Arrows
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| Movie of the Month |
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Cheech n' Chong's:
Up in Smoke
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| What I'm Currently
Doing |
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World of Warcraft
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| Tuesday, September 9, 2008 |
| New CDs to my collection (09/06/2008) |
Each payday, if I'm able to talk my wife into letting me buy a few new discs, I'll be listing them and giving them a short review here. Some of the CD's I may have owned at one point, but through circumstances beyond my control (theft) I need to buy again. This week I got 4 new ones, 3 I have owned at some point, and 1 I have never heard before. Let's get down to it shall we?  Iron Maiden: Number of the Beast
 Iron Maiden have many incredible albums to choose from, but time and time again the one that gets mentioned as the absolute classic is the masterpiece that is 'Number of the Beast'. For the bands third album, due to the departure of Di'Anno, the band was joined by new vocalist Bruce Dickinson, bringing a whole new level of uniqueness to the band. Dickinson could belt out the vocals like nobodies business. Some of my favorite Maiden songs come from this album, like "22 Acacia Avenue", "Invaders", and "Run To the Hills". Though not my favorite album from Iron Maiden, 'Beast' definitely ranks high up there.  Metallica: Master of Puppets One of the greatest albums of all time, and probably the greatest metal album ever recorded, 'Master of Puppets' shows Metallica in fine form. The material on this album is top notch from start to finish. There are eight classics to choose from here, including the title track, "Battery", the incredible "Damage, Inc.", the instrumental "Orion", and the iconic "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" just to name a few. I'm personally a huge fan of Metallica past and present, but this album will likely remain my favorite output from them forever.  Rush: Permamanent Waves This is the first Rush album I ever really owned. I remember wearing my casette out playing this thing over and over again. The shortest album in the bands catalogue, there are only 6 songs to choose here, ranging from the classic ("The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", and "Natural Science"... my favorite Rush tune) to the fan favorites ("Entre Nous", and "Jacob's Ladder"). The band are in fine form as the begin shifting gears from the side long conceptual pieces of yesteryear and move towards the shorter more concise pieces that they churn out to this day. It's great to have this one back in my CD rack and amongst the few other Rush discs I still own. Richard Morse: Rychard I haven't had a chance to listen to this one yet, and I can't find the album cover image to put up here, but I'm looking forward to digging into this one. Richard is of course the brother of Neal Morse and Spock's Beard guitarist Alan Morse. Neal plays on and produced this album and from the one review I was able to find, I believe that my money has been very well spent. I'll post an actual review when I get the time to give it the ear that it deserves. Well, that is all I was able to get this pay day, althought next payday I will definitely be adding the new Metallica disc ('Death Magnetic') and hopefully a few other things I saw at CD Tradepost this past payday. |
posted by Rob Mallory @ 2:20 AM  |
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| Friday, September 5, 2008 |
| A Few Discs I'm Playing A Lot |
Anybody who knows me knows that I love music, and I have been digging some great tunes lately, so I thought I would share...
Neal Morse: Sola Scriptura
I've had this CD for a very long time but have only just recently realized what a masterpiece it is. For a change of pace Neal had decided to craft a progressive concept album (his joke, not mine, hehe). The concept is centered around the life of Martin Luther, a man that walked through hell to make this world a better place for Christians (and humanity). There are utterly beautiful moments on this disc, but also some all out rocking moments. With only 4 songs, three of them are very long epic pieces, while the lone ballad "Heaven In My Heart" is a more radio friendly length. This one is a must for Prog Fans.
Metallica: St. Anger
I didn't listen to this album for the longest time on the opinion of the majority... I should know better! There may be some production flaws but the music of this disc is top notch. The songs are excellent rockers, tunes like "Frantic", the title track, "Invisible Kid" and "Some Kind of Monster" (just to name a few) are just as good as anything these kings of metal have written. There is a bit of a lack of guitar solos, but like 'Vapor Trails' (Rush) it works for the tunes. Definitely one worth checking out and not just taking the word of others.
Neal Morse: ?
Here is another disc that I didn't spend a lot of time with initially, but finally came back to. This one is sixty minutes of pure progressive bliss. Neal proves once again that he can craft a concept album that is both excellent musically and conceptually. Personal favorites of mine are "The Outsider", "Outside Looking In", and the incredibly uplifting "Entrance". There are some people that left Neal behind when he parted ways with Spock's Beard and turned to Christian themed album, and these people are the ones that need to check out this incredible music for themselves. |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 2:00 AM |
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| The Punching Goat Knows Not What He Does, Only That He Means To Do It |
Hello all, been a while since I posed here and a lot has happened since. Most importantly, Robbie and Selena have moved up a grade in school. Robbie is in 1st grade, and my little Bucket is in Kindergarten! I can't believe how old they are getting. Sometimes this saddens me, they are both growing up so fast, but I am so proud of them and who they are turning into.
Also growing quickly is the Squishy Baby, Samantha. She babbles a lot these days, and some of the things she says actually turn out to be words, she is so cute. Of course there are two sides to every coin, and there are times when she can try our patience. She gets in to everything, mostly photo albums, remotes and phones. She loves to play with my cell phone. I would have to say that her favorite thing to do is dance. If she likes the song she will do her cute little Squishy dance.
Janae started back at PCSI again, and this time she seems to be getting along well here. She tries so hard to get her hours in and I'm proud to call her my wife. I know she wants to help her family, and is doing a great job. Even is she weren't working though I would be proud of her. She is a great mother and you can tell that the kids adore her. I really don't think that I could live without her.
Anyway, that's my update post. After this I will immediately move on to a second post updating my world of music.
NW: Earth 2 - Episode 2 |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 1:49 AM |
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| Thursday, July 17, 2008 |
| Interesting Read on success of new Journey CD |
I didn't see this posted and found it interesting... and true! I'll also note that I bought the album for the reason stated below, and love the music, but would not have bought it at regular price.
From melodicrock.com:
LEFSETZ ON JOURNEY/WALMART:
Interesting comments from industry commentator Bob Lefsetz on the Journey/WalMart package earlier today. On the topic of disecting this week's Billboard chart positions, Lefsetz stated:
18. Journey "Revelation" Sales this week: 23,778 / Percentage change: -4% / Cume: 308,777
"And that's what it is! Not the incredible pipes of their Filipino lead singer, but the PRICE! Irving's the leader on this... He told me if Dave signed off on it, he was going to put out a Van Halen DVD for $7.99!
Maybe I'm talking out of school here, not that Irving said this was off the record, but this is a very important point. PRICE MATTERS! Stop weeping over the death of the CD, the declining margins, and just lower the damn price so music becomes an impulse item. Lower the price enough and it doesn't PAY to steal!
And you wonder why the established acts would rather go with Irving and Wal-Mart than Doug and Universal. Wal-Mart pays, the act gets the lion's share of the money and the customer is HAPPY!" |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 9:46 PM |
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| Wednesday, July 16, 2008 |
| Neal Morse: ? Live |
There is such an incredible vibe during the "? Live" album from Neal Morse. I don't know how anyone can listen to something like this and not be touched or moved in some way. Especially "Entrance" and "Inside His Presence". I hate that I ignored Neal's Christian lyric albums for so long, even though I have owned them. Once again I am reminded what an amazing person and musician Neal is. Anytime I listen to Neal's albums I can actually feel myself closer to God, and say what you want about me for this, I love the feeling. It's great to believe in something and I won't apologize for it.
Anyhow I just wanted to share.
NP: Neal Morse - Inside His Presence |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 3:08 AM |
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| Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |
| Doctor Who: The Planet of Ood (series 4, episode 3) |
And with "The Planet of Ood" I do believe I am a fan of this incredible show. The writing on this episode was so surprising that I can't believe I didn't latch on to this show sooner. The story was sci-fi at it's very best, and gone was the immense cheese factor of episode two of the 4th series.
The storyline tells of the great injustice of slavery and deals out its own kind of justice on the main slavedriver. The bit charachters were so well written and played, and the doctor and Donna were magnificent throughout.
Oh, and lets not forget the puking of the new brain... that was great. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out "The Planet of Ood" and you will know, and will likely be just as impressed as I was.
NP: Rush - Far Cry |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 3:08 AM |
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| Friday, May 9, 2008 |
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Okay, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing today, but I just feel frustrated and the hell of it is that I don't have any idea why. I feel like I'm on the verge of creating a better hampster wheel and yet nowhere near even working on the project. I guess that probably doesn't make sense, but then again nothing I ever say really makes sense anyhow.
There is something wrong with my head I think. Like, for example, I don't want to die and yet I do nothing to help prevent it. I feel depressed and yet I have no reason to be would be a good second example. A third would be the extremely creative person living in me that doesn't want to let any part of him come out.
ARRRRGGHHH!
Anyhow, I really didn't have much to say, but mostly because that jerk inside of me only shines out for very brief moments before I get bored and move...
(editors note: Rob seems to have stopped writing sudden...)
NP: Dream Theater - Repentance |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 4:48 AM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Rob Mallory
Home: Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States
About Me: I'm nothing special to most of the world, but to my wife & kids I am everything... and that is good enough for me.
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