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Ambient 1: Music For Airports
Brian Eno carefully distinguishes his art music, which is also his pop music, from his gebrauchsmusik, or utilitarian undertakings. Ambient 1 Music for Airports is as utilitarian as they come: it's conceived as background sound for airport lobbies, hopefully to replace the usual piped-in saccharine strings and smooth MOR frosting. As aesthetic white noise, Ambient […]
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Hemispheres
Fans will doubtless find Hemispheres another good, solid Rush album. And it's time to apprise the nonfans as well, because this power trio uniquely bridges the gap between heavy metal and sterile technology (sort of where Blue Oyster Cult used to work before going soft rock). The spine of Rush's sound is Alex Lifeson's broad, […]
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Bursting Out: Jethro Tull Live
Jethro Tull's double live album is almost too perfect. Bursting Out can't be faulted on any of the usual live-record stumbling blocks: the performances exemplify Tull's technical mastery and omnipresent energy, the track selection runs the stylistic gamut and provides a quick academic history of everything the group's ever been about. It's hard to see […]
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Heavy Horses
The secret of Jethro Tull's longevity is that the band always plays its cards sparingly. For example, "No Lullaby," one of Heavy Horses' two epics, deploys an extensive catalog of aurally exciting effects: flanged drums, echo on the vocal, a mightily distorted guitar cadenza. But each item appears only momentarily, to nudge the slow dirge […]
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