The WC Record Collection

What are you listening to most recently? Much like a cross between our new “Juke Box” and the old “Last Album Bought/Downloaded” threads, but there’s a little more to it that. This isn’t just the stuff you’ve only just got hold of, this is what has got itself stuck in your CD player and is being repeated over and over, for whatever reason.

Give us the album title, the artist name and (if you want) the record label and release date for the record. Let us know why you’re listening to the album, how long you’ve had it. Review it and rate it if you wish, but let us know the best tracks in your opinion and let us know of other stuff we might want to check out in a similar vein.

Discussion is encouraged, and don't worry about being as detailed as me in your reviews. Just make sure we know who and what it is, your favourite tracks, a little bit about why you have/like it, and what it can be compared to.

Here's a couple of examples based on what I've recently downloaded and been listening to a lot lately:

“Punk & Poetry” – The King Blues
(Transmission Recordings)

Release Date: 17 April 2011



The King Blues hail from London, England and the sound and vocals make that very obvious. While the band have some clear influences outside of the UK Punk scene of the 70’s the biggest influences on the groups sound are clearly The Clash and The Specials, as they play reggae tinged punk rock that is filled with politic statement and ideals.

“Punk & Poetry” is their third full length and it’s arguably their best release so far. The passion is palpable and it is immediately obvious. Opener “Last Of The Dreamers” is more an intro, but it makes its point completely clear; this album is for the rejects of society and those who desire to change both the worst parts within themselves and the world they live in. It’s a role call for the call to arms of “We Are Fucking Angry” that follows.

It’s not all political though. “I Want You” is a laundry list of things that don’t work without, or are infinitely better with a second component and it’s at the same time emotionally touching and uplifting, while also managing to be hilariously tongue in cheek. “Headbutt” is a love song for the new age. It outlines how love can come at you from all and any angles and what you originally think will be a fun little fling can turn into something far more meaningful.

In the end though, it’s final track “Everything Happens For A Reason” that really connects the dots. Lead singer and poet Jonny “Itch” Fox has recently become a father, and “Everything…” tells the story of how that happened. It’s the tale of a young man who falls in love and finds himself in the process. It’s a beautiful song, lyrically, thematically and musically, and it’s the perfect way to end a stunningly brilliant album.

I started listening to this album about a month ago in preparation for a gig I was going to and I've just not been able to stop listening. The album itself clocks in at around half an hour and it's simply impossible to get bored of because it's not long enough to bore you.

Stand out tracks: “Headbutt”, “Everything Happens For A Reason”, “Set The World On Fire”, “Five Different Bottles Of Shampoo”.

8.5/10

For fans of: The Clash, The Specials, Henry Rollins, Less Than Jake, Gogol Bordello, Frank Turner, Sonic Boom Six, The Skints, punk rock, poetry.


“England Keep My Bones” – Frank Turner
(Xtra Mile Recordings/Epitaph Records)

Release Date: 6 June 2011



Frank Turner is probably my favourite artist on the planet right now. There’s no way to be unbiased in my opinions of his music. His song writing speaks to me in a way that very few others ever have, and to be honest, I cannot think of a single group, artist or song writer whose material has touched me in the way Frank’s stuff does. This being his brand new release, it's rarely left my ears.

I loved Million Dead, a thrash punk band that Frank fronted until 2005. Even then his lyrics astounded me, but with Million Dead it was far more political and visceral, now his songs hold far more personal themes and while he is still highly politically motivated and actively writing songs regarding those subjects, he is free to explore other areas of the human condition.

I’ve been waiting for “England Keep My Bones” since 2009 when “Poetry Of The Deed” was released and even the “Rock And Roll” EP could not sate my appetite for more. I’m very happy to say that it hasn’t disappointed. Filled to the brim with acoustic greatness and rock and roll anthems, Franks song writing remains poetic and poignant.

Any fan of Frank Turner is aware of his fantastic second album, “Love, Ire & Song”. I am yet to find a single Frank Turner fan that doesn’t hold that song up as his masterpiece. It is the closest he has come to perfection so far in his career, but “… Bones” comes very close to matching its timeless brilliance, and at times, with certain songs, may even top it. I would never say this album is better than “Love, Ire & Song”, but it’s easily argued that this album is on that same level of greatness.

“England Keep My Bones” shows how much patience pays off, and threatens to create an icon out of a man who has stated in the past that he wants nothing more than to play music to people that enjoy it. It also threatens to top his greatest achievements so far. It’s a critical time for Frank now, his next album could be his best, but with his meteoric rise beginning to increase speed at a frightening pace, it could also be his worse as more and more people begin to try and steer him in more profitable directions… But then, if that happens we can simply take heed to his message in “If I Ever Stray”; “If ever I stray from the path I follow, take me down to the English Channel, throw me in where the water is shallow, and then drag me on back to shore! Cos love is free and life is cheap, as long as I've got me a place to sleep, clothes on my back and some food to eat, I can't ask for anything more”.

Whatever happens, I just hope that we don’t have to wait so bloody long next time.

Stand out tracks: “I Still Believe”, “I Am Disappeared”, “One Foot Before The Other”, “Wessex Boy”, “Redemption”, “Glory Hallelujah”.

9/10

For fans of: Million Dead, Against Me, Billy Bragg, The Postal Service, Henry Rollins, punk rock, acoustic folk.

Both albums I've listened to recently, P&P is my album of the year so far for pretty much all the reasons you've stated. There's punk, there's ska, there's even a little bit of electro in there too (We Are Fucking Angry), they've really evolved since "Save The World, Get The Girl", they understand how to balance political with heart felt songs, and not come across as sentimental. 5 Bottles of Shampoo is a great example of the passion that just excudes from this band.

England, Keep My Bones suffers from the problem you identified, that after Love, Ire & Song, the standard is so fucking high it's impossible to match, but Frank does an excellent job of attempting it. I Still Believe is anthemic, I Am Disappeared is LI&S standard, and Wessex Boy & Glory Hallelujah are particularly great.

Got a few albums on the go at the moment, I'll do it in quick form, I'm not good at writing music reviews.



Biffy Clyro, Revolutions//Live at Wembley
Live album from the best rock band in Britain today (fuck you Muse), a great advert for their live show which I hear is top notch. A good mix of well known mainstream material and some of their older stuff. Highlights are "57", "Bubbles", "Shock Shock", "Who's Got a Match", "Many of Horror", & "Mountains".



Eddie Vedder, Ukulele Songs
Second album from the Pearl Jam front man, this time weilding a ukulele instead of an acoustic guitar. The songs don't stand out as well individually this time around, but at 35 minutes it's difficult to get bored with it. Try to find "Longing To Belong", "Goodnight", & "Can't Keep".



Black Stone Cherry, Between the Devil and the Great Blue Sea
Another quality album from the southern rockers, almost hard to believe they're on album number 3 already. They refuse to settle into pattern, throwing a few groove tracks in as well as their tradition southern style. Best tracks are "White Trash Billionaire", "In My Blood", "Blame It On The Boom Boom", "Let Me See You Shake", & "All I'm Dreaming Off".

Originally Posted by Postman Dave

Got a few albums on the go at the moment, I'll do it in quick form, I'm not good at writing music reviews.



Biffy Clyro, Revolutions//Live at Wembley
Live album from the best rock band in Britain today (fuck you Muse), a great advert for their live show which I hear is top notch. A good mix of well known mainstream material and some of their older stuff. Highlights are "57", "Bubbles", "Shock Shock", "Who's Got a Match", "Many of Horror", & "Mountains".

Around the time between "Vertigo Of Bliss" and "Puzzle" Biffy toured almost constantly. I'm not sure how many times I saw them in that time, but I'm betting on double figures. They supported everyone and anyone. Utterly amazing live band.

Alkaline Trio - Damnesia

I'm sure some of you are aware I'm a pretty big fan of this band. This is a special acoustic, rearranged album to celebrate 15 years of the band, so is pretty much aimed at current fans more than newbies.
If I'm honest, very few of these have out done the originals, and some of the songs that have been done acoustically before (Mercy Me, Private Eye) haven't really changed at all. There are one or two highlights. This Could Be Love is delightfully dark, and new song Olde English 800 is classic AK3 sing along faire. But the stand out is easily The American Scream, now played on piano to hauntingly beautiful effect. If you must download one track, this is the one. Otherwise, hardcore AK3 fans only.
Recommended: "Clavicle", "The American Scream", "This Could Be Love", "Olde English 800".



Theory of a Deadman - The Truth Is...

There's something very simple about ToaD that I really like. I think it's the fact they never come across as super serious, just a group of guys writing rock music. I like to think of them as a funner version of Nickelback.

The Truth Is... is another simple rock album from the band. There's no groundbreaking music here, just stuff that gets in your head. The lead single Lowlife is a celebration of the scum of the Earth, Gentlemen and Bitch Came Back are classic "women = problems" tracks that are catchy as hell. In fact, complaining about women troubles are a recurring theme here, but you can tell they aren't serious. Hell, half of them were co-written by Tyler Connerly (lead singer) and his wife!
Fun rock, no more, no less. It isn't as great as their last album Scars & Souvenirs, but it's still good in its own right.
Recommended: "Lowlife", "Hurricane", Love Is Hell", "Gentleman", "Head Above Water"

As I've mentioned in the LIVE! thread, I've just got myself four Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) solo albums... Having listened to six tracks in full off "Feast Or Famine", I'm already looking forward to work tomorrow so I can listen to the albums while I work. I'll let you know what I'm thinking of them once I've had a good listen.

At least it's stopped me listening to Frank Turner for the first time in over a month.

I've been listening to a lot of Theory Of A Deadman this week cos I'm going to see them tomorrow night, and I have to admit, as fun as they are live... On record they suck. I went through all four albums last night and found only twenty songs (out of about seventy or eighty) that I thought worthy of keeping on my iPod. A couple of those were pity-picks too, just on there to make up the numbers because they weren't awful.

Still, they're fun live and that's what counts to me really, so I'm alright with it.

Plus it freed up room on my Shuffle for more mc chris and Hollywood Undead, which is kick-ass really. I've always had love for chris, but only recently been giving HU any time and as dumb as they are, they might be the most fun you can have with plastic in your ears.

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A - "Hi-Fi Serious"

British pop-punk band who take a lot of their cues from bands like The Clash, The Offspring, and oddly enough, Rush. People that remember "Nothing" and "Starbucks", will like this one. It's the album they're off and it's a lot more of the same and then some.

I've been going through my iTunes updating song titles and artwork (where necessary) and making sure that all the tracks have transferred correctly, without errors, and this album's stuck out so far and been stuck in my head. I spent this morning at work rocking out to it while I did the **** I needed to get done. Very enjoyable bouncy, sing-a-long punk.

Still prefer "A vs. Monkey Kong" though.

7/10

Okay, I've decided to expand the parameters of this thread; it is no longer simply for discussing albums that your own and are listening to with regularity, it's also going to work along the same lines as the old "New Releases" thread, so anything coming up that's exciting you, let us know.

Here's one to get the ball rolling:-

Originally Posted by BlabberMouth.net

PENNYWISE To Release 'All Or Nothing' In May - Mar. 7, 2012

Notorious Southern California punk rockers PENNYWISE are back in full force and swinging harder than ever. The band, which has inspired many throughout the world with their hard-charging songs of self-reliance and perseverance, proves itself once again with "All Or Nothing", one of its most powerful and heartfelt albums to date. The album will hit the streets on May 1 via longtime PENNYWISE allies Epitaph Records. Fans can preview the album's title track, a blistering high-energy punk anthem, in the YouTube clip below (courtesy of KROQ.com). "We knew we were up against a lot, and we needed to write the best record we've ever written," says PENNYWISE bassist Randy Bradbury. "And I think we may have just done that. That will be for the fans to decide but we are really proud with the way this record came out. I haven't felt this excited about a PENNYWISE album since 'Full Circle'." "It felt like we got to go back to our roots in the songwriting process," adds guitarist Fletcher Dragge. "There was a lot of passionate discussion between everybody. In the old day that's how our best records got made, lot's of yelling and smashing ****. And as a result the music started sounding like an old-school PENNYWISE record. At the end of the day, this is just a loud hard fast aggressive punk rock record and that's what we do best." "All Or Nothing" track listing: 01. All Or Nothing (2:29) 02. Waste Another Day (2:22 03. Revolution (3:25) 04. Stand Strong (3:10) 05. Let Us Hear Your Voice (3:43) 06. Seeing Red (2:54) 07. Songs Of Sorrow (3:35) 08. X Generation (3:15) 09. We Have It All (2:59) 10. Tomorrow (3:17) 11. All Along (3:09) 12. United (2:49) Formed in the South Bay of Los Angeles, a neighborhood with a rich punk rock history, PENNYWISE began in 1988. The band would go on to amass an international following through relentless touring and a melodic high energy sound merging melodic surf punk, blistering hardcore and the classic punk of their youth. The group has solidified their place in punk history with songs like the raging "**** Authority", "Alien" and the band's now-legendary ode to brotherhood and departed friends, "Bro Hymn". "Our music has always been about persevering against all the odds," Dragge says. "We love doing this. There's nothing more important to us than being on stage in front of our fans and having them sing our lyrics back at us and feeling that energy."

I desperately need to listen to more Pennywise, as they play exactly the type of music that I really love. I may make this new album the first buy of their stuff.

New Soulfly coming...

SOULFLY: New Song Available For Streaming - Mar. 7, 2012

"Gladiator", a brand new song from SOULFLY, can be streamed below. The track comes off the band's eighth album, "Enslaved", which is due on March 13 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at TallCat Studios in Phoenix, Arizona and was produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris, the seasoned knob twiddler behind some of the most notable bands in metal today, such as SHADOWS FALL, HATEBREED, THE RED CHORD and more. "Enslaved" standard CD features the following 11 tracks: 01. Resistance 02. World Scum 03. Intervention 04. Gladiator 05. Legions 06. American Steel 07. Redemption of Man By God 08. Treachery 09. Plata O Plomo 10. Chains 11. Revengeance The digital-only edition includes the following three bonus tracks: 12. Slave 13. Bastard 14. Soulfly VIII SOULFLY's video for the song "World Scum" can be seen below. The clip was conceptualized by SOULFLY mianman Max Cavalera and director Thomas Mignone (MUDVAYNE, SLIPKNOT, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, MORBID ANGEL) and produced through Mignone's production company Doom Incorporated. Mignone filmed the video in and around Los Angeles. Various scenes depicting humanity's perspectives of some of the world's significant historical — such as the attack on the Russian Czar by nihilists, the mass production of Zyklon B poisons, the Gulag prisons, the assassination of the president, and a final showdown between Jesus and the Anti-christ — are seen and reflected in the song's lyrics. The cinematography is by Peter Leininger; the special EFX makeup is by Maggie Hunter, the production design is by Hanna Dryland, and digital compositing and post-production is by editor/visual EFX artist Christopher Neil. SOULFLY's current lineup features Max and guitar dynamo Marc Rizzo, with STATIC-X's Tony Campos taking up the bass. The lineup is rounded out by drummer David Kinkade (BORKNAGAR, ARSIS, MALEVOLENT CREATION), a new-school, extreme skinsman whose brutality behind the kit brings a new flavor to the band.

The streaming track mentioned is in General Music Discussion and the video is in the Soulfly video thread.

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: 'Oceania' Cover Artwork, Track Listing Unveiled - Apr. 29, 2012

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS will release their newalbum, "Oceania", on June 19 via EMI Label Services/Caroline distribution. Produced by THE SMASHING PUMPKINS' frontman Billy Corgan, "Oceania" is an intense and dynamic offering that will appeal to new and existing fans of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS alike. "Oceania", the band's seventh studio record, is “an album within an album,” part of their 44-song work-in-progress "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope". Peter Katsis, manager of SMASHING PUMPKINS for Prospect Park, stated: "THE SMASHING PUMPKINS created 'Oceania' as an album experience, and it is intended for the process of the release to follow a path of inclusion, so that best efforts are made for all the fans hear it at the same time as press or radio. We were excited to find partners in EMI Label Services that were equally passionate about the plan for the album release as well as being huge fans of the PUMPKINS." EMI's relationship with THE SMASHING PUMPKINS dates back more than 20 years, to the release of "Gish" in 1991. That album was reissued this past November along with 1993's "Siamese Dream". Said Mike Harris, EVP/GM EMI Label Services/Caroline distribution: "We are thrilled to extend the long-term partnership between THE SMASHING PUMPKINS and EMI with the release of 'Oceania'. Everybody at EMI Label Services is looking forward to working closely with Billy and the band to help them deliver their vision and their music to fans around the world." "Oceania" track listing: 01. Quasar 02. Panopticon 03. The Celestials 04. Violet Rays 05. My Love Is Winter 06. One Diamond, One Heart 07. Pinwheels 08. Oceania 09. Pale Horse 10. The Chimera 11. Glissandra 12. Inkless 13. Wildflower Fan-filmed video footage of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS performing various tracks from "Oceania" during their fall 2011 tour can be seen below.

New Pumpkins material is always worth checking out and this is no different. The plan itself sounds pretty freaking epic, so I'm very interested to see if they can pull it off.