Dayglo Daydreams

  Vienna is the fourth album by the glam rock and synth pop outfit Ultravox. By the this album released, Ultravox had been dropped by their label Island, due to being an unprofitable glam rock outfit. The group did a U.S. tour in a last-ditch attempt to create publicity for their band. This back-fired. Two of their quintet, singer John Foxx and guitarist Robin Simon left. The remaining members of the band were forced to do session work for other artists. This was when Ultravox met new lead singer Midge Ure. They would then record the synth pop genre defining 1980 album Vienna. Ultravox’s Vienna is a cold yet stylish album for the 1980s.It was released in the year 1980. This sound, later called synthpop, would go on to define the 1980s. The lead track and sole instrumental for this album Astradyne makes this album sound like it is made for airports or supermarkets or any place that is impersonal, sterile, and for the purpose of housing a mass of faceless anonymous humanity engage...

  My next album is The Family That Plays Together by Spirit. Spirit are a 1960s Los Angeles psychedelic band. Their first album is self-titled Spirit. The four songwriters on this album are Randy California, Locke, Cassidy, and Jay Ferguson. All of the tracks on this album offer something to suggest. One stand-out track on this album is Jewish. While it involves much singing that is either in Hebrew or Yiddish (I don't know Hebrew or Yiddish), it also has much more to offer. It offers tempo changes, and a jazzy feel. The song shifts at one point from 4/4 time to 3/4, and glides effortlessly along. The guitar work on their first track is energetic and bluesy. It makes that track worth listening to. The fourth track on this album Silky Sam has a dramatic stop-start part near the middle but is otherwise unremarkable. There is a nice slow part on the fifth track, Drunkard, with some nice violin, and overall it is a decent track. The sixth track has a nice gospel feel. It is somewh...

 I've been on vacation. The review for Spirit's The Family That Plays Together will come out soon.

     African Roots by the Skatalites is an album that was released in 1976. According to the writing on the album, the Skatalites new sound then, was reggae. Their usual sound is ska...which is more upbeat. The tracks on this album are mislabeled. African roots is the name of the album, not the name of a track on the album. Each track has the name below it, and I call the last track “the last track”. There is a slower track on this album named Rock Bottom. Rock Bottom is a track with a pleasant dark atmosphere. It also possesses a strong reggae groove. The guitar on this track and its minor chords contribute to this wonderful vibe, as does the minor melody of the horns. The tenor sax solos on all of these tracks are good. They are simple (usually) yet memorable. There is noticeable jazz phrasing in some of the solos on this track. This makes since, because the musicians on this album were jazz musicians, before they were ska or reggae musicians. The guitar and flute so...

 A review of African Roots by The Skatalites is coming pretty soon, be on the look-out.

     This is my first album review. This will be an older album. Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies was released April 1st, 1980. I read out of a chapter of (for what it's worth, self-published) cultural historian Piero Scaruffi's A History of Rock and Dance Music Volume 1 while listening to this album. If I hadn't read this book, I might not have found this album at all. He connects this band to a group of writers and musicians that were part of an artistic movement called the Blank Generation (think of this as being similar in some ways to the lost generation of the 20s). Technology was changing in what was becoming post-industrial society in such a way as to alienate the then emergent post-industrial blue collar worker. They were cut off from the factory jobs that sustained them, by economic circumstances. It was also changing how long the human (usually the wealthier human) could could now live past what Scaruffi calls the "natural limit". Scaruffi is also someone w...

  Welcome to my new blog! Dayglo Daydreams will be a blog about prog rock, indie, metal, post-punk, synthwave, reggae and ska as well as bad and good  movies and local sports such as indie pro wrestling , roller derby, and quadball. Music is my first love, so it might be what I review most, but these other things are love's of mine as well; such as movies and sporting events. I'm still working on how to write as a sports reporter though.    I operate out of the Tulsa Metro Area, and will be reviewing sporting events in that area.  I personally play Quadball. Our team, the Arkansas River Augreys is trying to get USQ affiliation. My ability to review Quadball events might be compromised by my participation in the sport. This will not be the case for review/coverage of indie wrestling or local roller derby events. Unless something changes, I will not play in or officiate those matches. I think this will be a lot of fun! If you are new here, hold on for the ride and...