Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start

Oh boy, what a week this was, filled with great and complicated new beginnings, and a whole lot of saying goodbye to a whole bunch of things. Houses, acquaintances, friends - I sang them all a song to say gooodbye. Unwavering in my resolve, I kept on listening to an album a day. And right of the bat I can say that this was a week filled mostly with duds… for me at least.

Let’s get right into it, then.

Day Five - Gentle Giant - ‘Gentle Giant’.

This one begins a theme for this week. Albums with covers I have always hated. And this one has always been so high up there, that for decades I swore I’d never ever listen to it. I mean, the cover is so monumentally ugly and stupid that it’s always drained me of my desire to listen to a single song by this band. This exercise being in motion, I somehow knew that I’d listen to it sooner or later. And you know what? It’s actually pretty great. I loved it and might listen to something else by them in the near future. I’d give this one a good 8/10.

Day Six - King Crimson - ‘In The Court Of The Crimson King’

Speaking of records with terrible covers, this is one such record. I’ve always detested the cover illustration. But I quite like King Crimson, something that up until a few years ago I thought I’d never say. This all came about when I was listening to whatever on YouTube, and after that video had finished, it started playing something I didn’t recognize. After a few minutes of actually enjoying what I was listening to, I switch tabs and lo and behold1, it’s King Crimson that I’m listening to. It was a live gig in Montreux, and I’d come to learn that this was in fact the 80’a incarnation of the band - which is by leaps and bounds my favourite of them all. All three records from that era are really, really good. I loved those records so much that I went back and listened to another one of their older records - ‘Red’ - which I found just mostly not bad. And it’s exactly what I think about this album - mostly not bad, though there’s a truly awful improv bit that becomes an unbearable piece of Muzak. 5/10.

Day Seven - Rush - ‘2112’

The only song I think I ever knew from Rush was ‘Tom Sawyer’, a song I downloaded by mistake twenty-something years ago. Found it ok, but at that time I was listening to completely different things and never felt the urge to go find out. A few years ago I did, when I started getting into Yes, I was of a mind to go down the Rush rabbit hole, though I never did. I decided to begin with ‘2112’, I guess their most famous record. And again- it was ok, just ok. A bit underwhelming, if I’m honest. 5/10.

Day Eight - Van Der Graaf Generator - ‘Still Life’

I’d heard things about this band. Some people love them, some people loathe them. Apparently, Peter Hammill had one of those voices that you either were a huge fan of or you’d find it maybe too over the top. So I wasn’t really keen on listening to them. I dug around a bit and took a look at their discography. None of the album names rang any bell. On their name alone, I chose this one right here. And you know what? Perfectly fine with the voice. Quite liked it. Instrumentally, too, it was pretty damn good. Maybe the strongest listen of the week. 8/10.

Day Nine - Jethro Tull - ‘Aqualung’

There’s something about most of these records that, to me, just screams 80’s record store. I vividly recall seeing this album for sale in a few of the record stores we went to as a kid. I never liked the cover. And all I ever knew about this band was that they had a it who played the flute. Never sparked my interest. This one wasn’t bad. More along the lines of rock and roll than prog. Five is too low, and I’m not sure it fully deserves a six. I’ll give it anyway - 6/10.

Day Ten - Uriah Heep - ‘Demons and Wizards’

I can’t remember a single song out of this one. Nothing. But I know I didn’t dislike it. Let’s be diplomatic and give it a 5/10.

Day Eleven - Emerson, Lake & Palmer - ‘Brain Salad Surgery’

Oh man, am I going to piss people off with this one. I mean, it starts really well - ‘Jerusalem’ is a rocking tune, setting to music a poem by William Blake. And then… then it just gets so meh. I hated ‘Benny the Bouncer’ with a passion, and found the ‘epic’ called ‘Karn Evil 9’ to be a boring, meandering indulgence in almost everything I hate about music. Now, the shocker is that I really enjoyed ‘Love Beach’ when I listened to it for the first time, and I know it’s their most universally panned record. But I expected more from this. And because it just isn’t there for me… jeez, 3/10.