Epinions Recent Reviews for adjensen

Gong's Flying Teapot: The onset of the pot-head pixies

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 19:41:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - A long time ago, in a place quite a ways from here (both distances being kind of relative, sorry) music was a passion, rather than a business. Artists tended to do things that they thought were worth doing, not what some suit passed down as "the...

Porcupine Tree's Stars Die: Recalling the early, weirder years

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 01:03:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Of all the bands that I know, the UK's Porcupine Tree has one of the most ridiculous catalogues. Fans who are completists would be hard pressed to find it all...vinyl only albums and EPs, B-Sides, limited editions of 10 copies, cassettes only released...

David Gilmour In Concert: A Gentler, Subtler Floyd

Thu, 26 Dec 2002 16:28:17 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - In the annals of rock and roll, the epic rock guitarist will probably be at the fore, but as the pioneers of the genre either retire, pass on or retreat to the wings, we're left to decide who were the real musicians who contributed to the evolution of...

Pink Floyd's Live In Pompeii: Psychedelic Destruction

Sun, 7 Apr 2002 17:49:33 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - A bizarre concept for a concert video, Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii features no audience, six songs, and only a glimpse of some of the work the band is most noted for. In spite of the fact that Pompeii would be followed by the watershed...

Snow Dogs: It's about the humans, folks!

Sun, 6 Jan 2002 17:52:02 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Deception, thy name is advertising.

One would think that a movie called Snow Dogs would be about...well, snow and/or dogs. That's not really the case here. Sure, there are dogs, and there is a lot of snow, but this movie is really a...

Trip to G9 by Spiral Realms: Space music for the truly trippy

Sat, 5 Jan 2002 15:33:03 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Music is, at its best, a medium of expression. Once you get beyond the "one size fits all" mentality of corporate pop music, you'll find that most artists set out to actually accomplish something with their work.

Whether the intent is to get...

Joe Somebody: Maybe for somebody, not for me

Tue, 1 Jan 2002 22:56:57 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - If ever there was a movie that was meant to appeal to me, at least from the view given in the previews, it should be Joe Somebody. Joe's a "nice guy," like me, Joe's raising his daughter on his own (like me) and the whole thing is set in...

Threshold's Wounded Land: Heavy metal eco-crusading

Fri, 28 Dec 2001 17:24:52 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - A couple of years ago, someone or another worked out a swap with me -- I had a couple of RIO (Rock in Opposition -- basically rock without form) cds that I really didn't like, and he swapped me three Progressive Metal cds I'd never heard of for them...

Greg Lake In Concert: Old, new, one that blew

Thu, 27 Dec 2001 00:39:15 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Some musicians live off their past while others fight to forget theirs. Some of that depends on where an artist is -- if they're striving to remain relevant in a changing world, they quickly step forth to beg listeners to "throw off their preconceived...

Porcupine Tree's Recordings: An excellent recent supplement

Mon, 24 Dec 2001 15:09:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - One of the greatest album titles I can remember is B-Sides Themselves, a collection of rare tracks by Marillion, and which has been reused by a couple of other acts since. In the days of 45-RPM singles, some bands chose to include otherwise...

Tomita's the Planets: Holst re-interpreted on synthesizer

Sat, 22 Dec 2001 11:57:46 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - With few exceptions (and most of them would date back a long time :-) musicians are influenced by other, previous musicians. Rare is the person who, with no understanding or desire to know what else has been done, sets out to perform music that's purely...

Heart's Greatest Hits: Chicks that Rock! [ Write Off ]

Mon, 17 Dec 2001 23:06:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Another entry in the "memory road" series by me, the choice for today's review was constrained by the "Chicks Who Rock" write off theme. Most of the "chicks who rock" in my music play for bands that are woefully underrepresented in the Epinions...

Styxworld Live 2001: Will the last person to leave Styx please turn out the lights?

Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:44:37 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - There's an amusing Simpson's bit that speaks of the problems that haunt all "nostalgia acts". At the state fair, Bachman Turner Overdrive is up on stage, and Homer shouts for "Takin' Care of Business."

Randy Bachman replies "Don't worry...

Raingods With Zippos by Fish: A plague of classic tracks

Thu, 15 Nov 2001 22:10:48 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Doomed (perhaps) to forever be known as "Fish out of Marillion," Derek Dick has long since embraced the "Fish" part as his moniker, but is always fighting to be known as a brilliant artist in his own right, not just "that guy that sang 'Kayleigh,'"...

Yamo's Time Pie: From Krautrock to Dance

Sun, 11 Nov 2001 11:17:52 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - On the heels of Other Places by Cosmic Couriers, I thought I'd follow up with another new generation band founded by a member of one of the seminal Krautrock groups. Krautrock, as one might recall, was a German movement in the 1970s that brought...

Cosmic Couriers' Other Places: Four days of Krautrock improvs

Sun, 4 Nov 2001 13:16:19 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - One of the things that I truly enjoy about music, particularly my wide ranging explorations of it, is delving into "genre trees," or the roots of where something is coming from. For example, you get a whole new perspective on a band like Nine Inch Nails...

Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part Two: How'd they do that?

Sun, 21 Oct 2001 16:41:15 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - I've never been real happy with genre definitions, although I recognize it as a necessary evil. After all, King Crimson, Destiny's Child and the Boston Philharmonic all make "music", but that's pretty much the end of the similarities.

If I...

Heavy ConstruKction by King Crimson: Latest tour is one of the best

Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:33:29 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - King Crimson is a Progressive Rock band which focuses on the beauty of dissonance in music, combining jazz, ambient and heavy metal into a sound that is unlike any other, although fans of at least a couple of those styles will enjoy the style immensely...

The Enchanted Tiki Room: Enchanting your WDW induced stress away [ write off ]

Mon, 15 Oct 2001 22:11:45 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Simplistic innocence takes on many forms across Walt Disney World. For example, who'd have thought that water + log boat + gravity would equal such a great ride as Splash Mountain ? Take a rather mundane roller coaster, enclose it and turn out...

Cartiva: Cartiva in Grand Forks, ND: My place to buy a car [ write-off ]

Sat, 6 Oct 2001 11:16:45 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - (This review is part of the "Local Services" write-off. Join us to help Epinions improve their coverage in this category! More info at the bottom of this review.)

I am not what you would call a "difficult customer" when I go to buy...

Cheap Trick's Heaven Tonight: The rock before the storm

Sun, 23 Sep 2001 10:43:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Few bands can boast of as good a run of early albums as Cheap Trick. Experienced from touring extensively throughout the midwest for years, the Trick had enough of a repertoire to build a very nice series of records and skip the "sophomore slump" that...

Moving Waves by Focus: The last yodeling hit single? [ write off ]

Sat, 15 Sep 2001 09:28:15 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - When I was approached to participate in the "La Na Na Award" write off, I struggled for a bit with a proper song to give my award to. While my knowledge of music is fairly vast, I'm a self acknowledged snob who would prefer staying within my comfy...

Totoro: Kiersten's favourite animated film [ write off ]

Fri, 7 Sep 2001 19:08:26 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - I am, by all accounts, a pretty casual person. I get along with most kids because, in spite of being a grown up with all of the responsibilities therein, I'm always able to act like a kid. I've been known to blow off work to stay home and watch...

Steve Hillage's Green: Connecting space rock to techno

Thu, 6 Sep 2001 17:10:44 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Steve Hillage was known for a long time as one of the premier guitarists of the Canterbury Progressive Rock movement. By the late 1970s he was beginning to lose interest in playing music and through the 1980s only worked as a producer before founding...

THRAK: The sound of King Crimson's many guitars

Sun, 2 Sep 2001 11:57:19 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author adjensen - Although generally unrecognized by most modern rock fans, King Crimson may well be one of the most influential bands of our age that is still making new music and touring. Cited by such vibrant groups as Nine Inch Nails, Tool and Primus as being...