Orkie

He played lots of Animals songs the last tours.

And it wouldn't matter what Floyd album he toured. All the marquee would have to say is "from the former main songwriter of Pink Floyd". When people see that band name, they think "high quality live event", and will come in droves, as they are doing now.

What a show!

Well, Lester Bangs was wrong there, but I do think that the end -- at least, for now -- of the epic megastar rock show is just about here. Maybe some day there will be a whole new batch of rock bands who can fill large arenas (and Wilco deserves to be one of them), but probably not too soon, given the cultural zeitgeist and the economic situation...

You need a pretty high caliber of songs and the talent to pull it off. You need classic after classic album as well like a Zep or Floyd. I'm not sure there are any "modern" bands which can pull that off. The "zaniest" live act is the Lips, and they aren't close to pulling it off.

U2 is the only band that can. They've got some incredible tunes and a fine sense of showmanship - but certianly ntohing on the level of the Wall live.

Holy freaking cow what a show. Night 2 at UC was insane. Perfect sound, performances, visuals, everything.

Greatest show ever.

Seeing anyone else this year is pointless. This is the greatest rock show I've ever seen. There is nothing that even begins to come close, and I mean *nothing*.

Clearly, Waters is considered the greatest live rock mastermind of all time for a very good reason.

Amazing!

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Hollywood Town Hall - The Jayhawks

In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson

Our Mother the Mountain - Townes Van Zandt

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

Good Morning Spider - Sparklehorse

The Sophtware Slump - Grandaddy

Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts - M83

Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt

The Mollusk - Ween

The Madcap Laughs - Syd Barrett

I Feel Alright - Steve Earle

Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones

Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin

You Are There - Mono

Deserter's Songs - Mercury Rev

Rumors - Fleetwood Mac

Ys - Joanna Newsom

American Beauty - The Grateful Dead

Are You Experienced? - Jimi Hendrix

The Doors - The Doors

The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips

Transmissions From the Satellite Heart - The Flaming Lips

The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Ennio Morricone

If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian

Sea Change - Beck

Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd

Wish You were Here - Pink Floyd

Animals - Pink Floyd

Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd

Meddle - Pink Floyd

Revolver - The Beatles

The Beatles - The Beatles

IV - Led Zeppelin

The Late, Great Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt

Days of Future Passed - The Moody Blues

And Their Refinement of the Decline - Stars of the Lid

Many Colored Kite - Mark Olson

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case

Back in Black - AC/DC

Espers II - Espers

Songs: III Bird on the Water - Marissa Nadler

Cosmos Factory - CCR

Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

The new Olson album has leaked. It's really, really good.

He's better solo than with Louris doing acoustic IMHO. But an electronic Olson/Louris is the best(in that context).

That new Olson song is fantastic.

Guns and Roses

That's insane.

Radiohead

REM

I can't think of any album this year that has been a real "nine" or higher.

 

 

There have been some really great albums so far this year

On what planet?

Mediocre piece of work. The lyrics seem especially lazy. Nice first half, than fades into nothingness and banality. I'm not saying the lyrics are incredibly important for this band. What I am saying is the lyrics come off like they didn't give a shit.

I bought Vagabonds when it came out. I gave it a few spins but I didn't like it. To me, it was boring and I feel like Louris fits better in a band than on his own.

Vagabonds is really self indulgent. Gary is one of the most talented guys in music, but he seems to need a whip-cracker to properly edit his stuff. I agree he works best with others. If you took the best songs from all the post-Olson Jayhawks albums you'd have a really nice record. GAry has penned some really fine tunes since Olson left. However, those abums are really inconsistent. I think Mark's work post Jayhawks has been inconsistent as well(Political Manifest Mystic Theater), but he definitely seems more capable of crafting a more consistent record. Look at My Own Jo Ellen, Decembers Child, The Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers and The Salvation Blues for proof of the man's brilliant output.

Ready for the Flood is a mind boggling album. You would think that the reunion of Olson/Louris would produce a masterpiece. Unfortunately, the project was saddled with the dopey Chris Robinson as producer, and you get the feeling all these guys did was sit around and smoke weed, tipping wine glasses. The album needed a real producer. The Jayhawks best work was under slave driver George Drakoulias. You have to be in a really melllow mood to "get" RFTF. I remember coming back from the Lolo National Forest last year, pimped out on all that fresh air, relaxed as anyone could possibly be, and the album hit home a little bit.

I'd like to see the boys drink some red bull next time out and put away the ganja.

That is an obcene amount of money for a gig. I'm sure it is expensive to put this type of show on but that is excessive.

 

"Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash"

Ticket prices for the tour ar $55, $75, $125 and $250. And for those prices you are getting a rock spectacle the likes you have never seen. A ton of things are going into this show including the construction of a 240 foot long Wall during the performance, the subsequent knocking down of tha Wall, the largest PA quad system(which Waters invented)ever taken on tour, lasers, projected 3D images(yes, you read that right), numerous inflatables and other surprises.

The difference between Waters and the Who, Stones, etc is he engineered Pink Floyd to age gracefully like bluesman, rather than old rock stars who can no longer prance on stage. Waters never defined "a face" of the band. It was always high-level album art, the music itself and tension-tweaking pioneering live spectacles. There was no Jagger or Townshend winging around on stage. This allows Waters to still perform the music at a very high level. He still has it in spades. Ask the Coachella people who saw the greatest performance in that festival's history a couple years back.

just got Ready for the Flood. i should really love it. not clicking though. need to work on it a bit more i think. wanna check out salvation blues too.

Ready for the Flood is problematic. I think it's under-produced and a bit too indulgent. The lack of energy hurts it. The Salvation Blues is a better album IMHO. Mark and Gary have always produced superior results under an organized task-master. For RFTF, they had their buddy Chris Robinson.

Geralde Scarfe is on board creating new projection content right now. Waters will be using a real wall, 240 feet wide and 35 feet high. The bricks will be assembled in the first half, then blown apart at the end. Rumor has it the projections will be in 3D.

If you see any performance this year, this is the one. There is no question about that. Waters is the greatest live rock pioneer of all time, and he's going out with a bang. His last tour was incredible, and this one will top it.

Hell yes.

http://www.rogerwaters.com/

Why the hell is Embryonic on that list?

Because it's absolutely awesome and a huge, daring risk which they pull off very well. Also, the vitality on there for a band of their age is fantastic.

1. Embryonic - The Flaming Lips

2. Ready For the Flood - Olson/Louris

3. To Be Still - Alela Diane

4. Yonder Is the Clock - The Felice Brothers

5. Middle Cyclone - Neko Case

6. Merriwether Post Pavillion - Animal Collective

7. Listen to the Thunder - The Maldives

8. Hymn to the Immortal Wind - Mono

9. Yours Truly the Commuter - Jason Lytle

10. Bitte Orca - The Dirty Projectors

Dogs is a masterpiece of guitar work. Comfortable Numb gets all the attention (deservedly so), but Dogs is Dave's best work.

I'd say it's between Echoes and Dogs.

 

Especially David Gilmour.

Yeah Gilmour pretty much has them locked down:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Money

Comfortably Numb

Time

Pigs

Dogs

Wish You Were Here

Another Brick in the Wall Part II

Have a Cigar

Echoes

Fat Old Sun

The greatest solos of all time are by Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour. Prince rox though, obviously.