Favorite Albums of 1966

Yeah, it's been 8 days, not a week. But the NFL Draft started yesterday, so deal with it! Anyway, yeah, 1966. Not nearly as good as '65, a bunch of bands ascending or declining and pretty much nothing on here is the respective group's best work. Anyway, here's the list. Enjoy.

                                                                                 

10. Otis Redding - Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul: I'm a big fan of Otis, but this is honestly a fairly middle-of-the-road If I was doing a top 9 for him, it'd probably be number five. A lot of years after this it might not make the list. But it's a solid album. No real standouts, but every song is quality Redding. Also worth note that this is the last album he recorded during his life.

9. The Shadows of Knight - Back Door Men: Yep, another "you've never heard of them" band. This album is basically half dirty blues-rock, and half Byrds-esque. Not amazing, but very enjoyable, definitely worth a listen.

8. Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: I'm not the biggest Simon & Garfunkel fan. I greatly appreciate them as musicians, but I've never loved their music. They're very hit and miss with me. Some songs don't do much for me. But other songs like "Sounds of Silence", "April She Will Come", and "Scarborough Fair" I absolutely adore. And this has the most great songs of any of their albums in my opinion. Most of these songs are musical excellence, but some of them are extremely dull. So it loses a few spots.

7. The Kinks - Face to Face: The first really good Kinks album. Everyone's heard a song or two from The Kinks, but their career as a whole is fairly underappreciated. A lot of these songs kind of blend together, but in a good way. They all flow and almost feel like segments of one huge, great track. They have better, but this is when they started being great.

6. John Mayall - Blues Breakers: A Blues album with Clapton on it. Need I say more? Next!

5. The Beatles - Revolver: Honestly, this surprises even me. A Beatles album at number five?! I should love this album more. Literally 100's and 5/5's across the board, VH1's #1 and Rolling Stone's #3 albums respectively. Apparently it's the Beatles album of Beatles albums. And it is a great album, but it's one of my least favorite. Songs like "Eleanor Rigby", "Taxman", "Good Day Sunshine", and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are all really good Beatles songs, but the rest don't do for me what other Beatles albums do. Maybe it's because it's a Beatles album I'm not in love with, but it just doesn't hit me like their other albums. Still well worth your time though.

4. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath: Another band that finally came into their own. Though this time the opposite of underappreciated. The Stones had good blues rock albums before, but this is the first one that sounded different, it sounded Rolling Stones. Every track is solid and energetic, they'd have better after this, but this is a great start to the Rolling Stones as we know them.

3. Cream - Fresh Cream: Cream is one of the greatest Blues-Rock acts ever. Pure genius songwriting and intrumental accompaniment. Their first album isn't their greatest, but it is great. Every track is solid along with standouts like "Toad", "I'm So Glad", "Spoonful", and "Sweet Wine".

2. The Beatles - Yesterday and Today: No Beatles at number one, who would have thunk it. I definitely like this a lot more than Revolver, but it's still far from their best. "Drive My Car" "We Can Work it Our" "Day Tripper", and of course, "Yesterday" are all classic Beatles tunes. But "If I Needed Someone", "And Your Bird Can Sing", and "Doctor Robert" are also great. Continues this year's theme of "not their best", but still amazing.

1. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds: This is pretty much the only album that could have been number one. Well-regarded as the best album by one of the best bands of their era, and one of the more renowned ever. It takes the excellent experimentation started on "Today!" and perfects it in every way. Every song is excellent, classic rock and roll. Widely considered one of the greatest albums ever, and for good reason.











As always, thanks for reading. @SycoMantis1991, comment, follow, whatever you like.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review

So, I know it's late but I'm poor. Anyway, I finally saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and as a highly-qualified nerd, I figured I'd give my thoughts on the flick. I guess we'll see if this ends up review-ey or rant-ey as it goes on. Firstly, I should say I'm a big Tolkien fan. Not just Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but also works like Farmer Giles of Ham, and The Silmarillion. But I'm definitely not a "books shouldn't be movies derpdederp!" type. I actually got into Tolkien's work through Peter Jackson's original Lord of the Rings trilogy.I actually love the idea of epic movies based on these books if they're well done and appropriate.

Appropriateness brings me to the first thing about this movies, the first thing I thought even the first time I heard about it. It's taking a book that, upon my last read-through. took me about three hours, and stretching it into three films of approximately that same length. The story is bound to either be the slowest, most drawn out creation imaginable (perhaps omitting the original Dune movie), or shoehorn in so much unrelated plot in order to extend it, that there are times that it feels nothing like the original product. To be honest, The Hobbit has a little of both. Things like the beginning where the dwarves keep showing up and hang out at Bilbo's house is a tad too long (though I'll admit it's well done and accurate for the most part), as is the also forced arguent between Gandalf and Saruman. Not to mention the totally pointless addition of The Brown Wizard, Radagast and his... I can't even say it without grimacing... Rabbit Sled. All part of a desperate ploy to hammer the familiar Sauron from the Rings trilogy into The Hobbit, both to pad time and to pander to those only following the movies. Also, what's with the ballsack-chin goblin? Men in Black did that over a decade ago, but they admitted it.

It's not all bad though. There are some things Peter Jackson pulls off tremendously. The entire Gollum portion is done perfectly, from the dialogue, to the vocal inflections, the set pieces, and how it slowly builds to an exciting and magnificently done crescendo. I also rather enjoyed the troll scene, aside from one of Peter's nephews apparently getting a hold of the script and adding a scene where one of the trolls sneezes on Bilbo. I know The Hobbit is a kid's book, but you're clearly trying to make it more serious, which isn't possible when you add scenes like that, it's contradiction incarnate. The dwarves are better done than a lot of reviews I've seen give them credit for. Some are kind of bland, but others such as Fili and Kili, Dwalin, and Thorin are all very entertaining, though I think they tried to make Thorin a bit too Aragorn-esque for my taste, as opposed to making him his own character. The action scenes are obviously well done, but no one really expected much else, even when  they're not necessary.

Honestly, there were times when I loved this movie, and there were times where I was bored out of my mind. I honestly think it trudges too much and adds too much unnecesary and sometimes petty dull things to the story. Like reviving the Orc King just out of clear desperation for a main antagonist until they reach the mountain is pretty lame if you ask me, though I don't hate how they did the character himself, he's a bit typical, but menacing, reminds me of the villian no one remembers from Mulan. My favorite as well as most hated scene was the end where they start top reveal Smaug and leave you with just his gigantic eye. I really, REALLY hope they do Smaug justice. He's far from just a fire-breathing badass and if that's how he turns out, nerdrage shall soon follow. Overall, this movie's above average. Some great parts, some poor parts. I honestly believe this should have been two movies, or even one. you can tell even with the first movie that there's so much effort put into extending it, that it takes away some from what they do with the scenes that actually relate top the narrative they're using. I'll see the next two, and I'm hopeful, but my expectations are a bit on the low side.



Thanks for reading, blah blah blah, @SycoMantis1991 on Twitter, comment and follow and stuff if you'd like, have a good one.

Bioshock: Infinite Review

I attack most modern First-Person Shooters much like Nicki Minaj attacks any validity rap music ever had in mainstream media. And I don't regret it. Call of Duty and Battlefield are pretty much The Hangover of video games. A new, pretty, hyped name that people blindly praise because they've never played Metroid Prime or they've never seen Billy Madison. hangover isn't horrible and neither is Call of Duty. The problem with them is they're both a totally watered down version of what they're supposed to be. Hangover isn't bad, but it's not funny to any extent. Call of Duty is well-crafted, but there's no fun factor whatsoever. Yet they both somehow have become the pedestal on which to measure all other First-Person Shooters or comedies. Their only competition being the carbon copy sequels they release. With that cleared up, on to Bioshock: Infinite.

With my previous banter in mind, I love what this game is. It's solid FPS gameplay with many elements that keep it from becoming monotonous, it's a game that's graphically magnificent and beautiful while being unique and not typically "realistic". It makes you a silent, mostly faceless protagonist while still making you feel immersed as a big part of what's going on in its world. it gives you a companion that you become genuinely distressed over when she's not with you, as well as actually developing the characters around you and making you care what happens to them, positively or negatively. But most of all, it actually has an interesting, deep, and completely unpredictable story. Didn't think that could happen anymore, did you?

Bioshock: Infinite thrusts you into an aesthetically mind-blowingly beautiful and detailed world. Every citizen shows some personality, and walking around, you slowly get a feel for what an idealistic utopia has been established in this floating city. It's a great counter-balance to not just the obvious violence that occurs, but also the corrupt, exclusionary dictatorship that the city's self-proclaimed "Prophet" has molded in his own twisted image. You'll see a magnificent, almost Disney-esque environment, down to having your main companion look and act very akin to a Disney princess, quickly turn dark and gruesome. From segregated restrooms and public stoning, to the elderly being used as experiments that pretty much turn them into weapons of close-combat warfare and the worship of the Founding Fathers as religious figures. I know I'm going on about the world, but it's really the most perfectly executed thing I've seen in a video game in years.

The gameplay in Infinite is also surprisingly fun. It borrows a lot from the original Bioshock, but it's so polished and perfected that it still feels fresh. You can obtain powers called Vigors, which are basically Bioshock's Plasmids. What's done better here is, while the vigors are very helpful, and you'll want to use them, they're not a necessity like in Bioshock. They definitely feel more fun to use when they're not forced down your throat. The shooting is polished and flows perfectly, the weapons, while not great in number, are all highly unique and all fun to use. This is all backed nicely by Elizabeth consistently tossing you extra ammunition, vigor, and health. This keeps you stocked up without breaking any bit of flow to hunt around for health packs and ammo. The rail-gliding or whatever it's being referred to is also a very fun fast-travel-esque element, making for quick getaways as well as swift mid-air strikes aside from the quick movement across Columbia (oh by the way, the city is called Columbia, I know you were on the edge of your seat waiting for me to bring that up.)

Finally, we get to the story. Now I'm going to spoil as little as possible, simply stating my general thoughts about the story and its elements. Bioshock boasts a very complex story, almost too complex. It does an amazing job establishing itself, grabbing your attention and engrossing you right away, never letting go. You want to help Elizabeth, you want to do just about everything you end up needing to do in the story, never feeling forced into the action. It's absolutely brilliantly done in every way. At least for the first half of the game. Once traveling between time and dimensions is thrown in there, everything just goes insane. It throws so much at you, some making sense, some making none whatsoever. And honestly, it becomes much more about the action than the story, and with the story becoming a hundred times more insane, it should have been the opposite. I believe Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw described it best as "Maximum up-its-own-buttness" by the time the story concludes. And I'll admit, it's quite an ending. Albeit over-complicated, pretentious, and nonsensical while providing no real closure, though it seems to think it does, but it'll definitely make you think, a lot.

Overall, I wanted to love this game like everyone else does, but I only really like it. It does some things amazingly, and other things rather poorly. Its story is fascinating, but pretentious. The gameplay is fun, but gets over-indulgent toward the end. The characters are great, but almost all become insignificant as the game progresses. The artwork is absolutely stunning, but becomes bland and lifeless toward the conclusion. And the ending, while interesting, is supposed to be a solution to everything that makes you wonder if it actually solved anything at all. I really do like this game. I love Columbia, I love Elizabeth, I love a lot of the gameplay, but it does too much poorly and is too unfocused to really love the entire thing. But if you get the chance, rent it and try it. I can't suggest buying such a short game, but it's well worth experiencing.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment and share. I'm sure a lot of people hate me because my review wasn't "BIOSHOCK IS TEH BEST BECAUSE I'VE ONLY PLAYED COD UNTIL NOW AND HAVE NO HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE!!" so feel free to say that. Also, follow me @SycoMantis1991 on twitter if you want to see me say random stuff every now and then.

Favorite Albums of 1965

Starting today, I plan to, once a week, release a list of top ten albums by year, starting with 1965 and going through this year by the end. Hopefully you can discover and rediscover some forgotten classics through these lists. I realize


10. Them - Them

This is an amazingly underrated album to start the list. Easily one of the heaviest and grungiest ever released at that point. Imagine Black Sabbath playing Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys, and you have a good idea of the unique sound generated by Them. Every track is a solid, dirty rock tune and you won't hear another band that sounds just like these guys. This is really a stunning piece of work considering the time, and is woefully underappreciated for everything it contributed to the genre. From keyboard solos, deep lyrics mixed with rock flavor made popular by Zeppelin years later, and possibly the earliest tinges of Grunge. The only reason this album isn't much higher is that I've only recently discovered it. It's obviously better than maybe half of the albums on this list, but I have a good bit of personal attachment to all the others.


9. Four Tops - Four Tops' Second Album

The Four Tops are one of my favorite Motown groups. Unfortunately though, they're typically one of those groups that makes a few good songs per album. But their second album, creatively titled "Four Tops' Second Album" has the best and most consistent listing of their career. Just about every song is classic 60's Soul. "I Can't Help Myself", "Something About You", "Love Feels Like Fire" are all great, energetic love songs. In short, the defining moment of one of the great Motown acts in history.







8. The Beach Boys - Today!

The Beach Boys are one of those seminal classic rock bands that everyone knows. Surf rock incarnate. But this album is a bit different, but in a good way. The first half is basically typical Beach Boys and the second half emanating lyrical and musically soulful experimentation by Brian Wilson and the rest of the band. Amazingly enough, this is pulled off at least as well, perhaps better than the Surf Rock the band all but created. The album doesn't contain as many  It's the perfect blend of party rock and soulful ballads and the highlight of their career in my opinion.





7. Roy Orbison - Orbisongs

Another career highlight in my eyes, this time that of Roy Orbison. This one includes most of his best tracks, including "Oh, Pretty Woman", "Let the Good Times Roll". "Nitelife", and "(I'd be) A Legend in My Time". I honestly don't have a whole lot to say, he's one of the most well-known rock acts of the 60's and this is his best work in my opinion.










6. The Zombies - The Zombies

The Zombies are one of the best groups 60's and no one ever talks about them. They're critically acclaimed, but socially, no one recognizes them. They're one of those bands I think many people have heard once or twice, but never known who sings that song. There are varying opinions on their best album, but this is definitely their most well known. It features many of their best known tracks and for good reason. I love the ambient, but energetic tempo and Colin Burnstone's amazing vocal range. The man could read the instructions from the back of a condom wrapper over the sounds of a flock of geese and make it sound awesome.I command you to check these guys out if you haven't.

5. The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
THE Classic Byrds album. Every song is high quality, and some of their most beloved songs are on this album. This is one of classic rocks shining moments, one of those albums that defined rock in the mid to late sixties. laid back but energetic, fun but soothing, it's well-crafted throughout. One of the definitive albums by one of the most renowned bands of their generation.











4. Otis Redding - Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

This is widely considered the best album by maybe the greatest voice in soul. I honestly love Otis Redding, but his songs tend to either fall flat or absolutely destroy to me, but that's not really the case here. There are a couple songs that don't quite hit the peak that others do, but they're all good. The greats are some of his best as well, such as his absolutely stunning versions of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" and "Wonderful World", as well as "Ole Man Trouble", "I've Been Loving You too Long", and his defining version of "Mr. Pitiful". If you get the chance, snatch this one up. I don't love it as much as I should because some of these songs are still new to me and some aren't as good as others, but the best songs are some of the greatest you'll ever hear.



3. The Yardbirds - Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds

Every track here is stunning Blues Rock. Two of the greatest guitarists working together on the same album. Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton absolutely shred and Keith Relf, Jim McCarthy and the rest all add underappreciated support to every song, and keep you entertained throughout. This is one of the great albums of its decade. The only reason it's so low, is one Empire dominating the music world at the time, and I can't help but give them the top spots.








2. The Beatles - Help!

The Beatles. The Beatles. The name of this album encompasses the feeling every other band got when they learned The Beatles would be releasing an album in the same year as them. "You're Going to Lose that Girl", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", "Ticket to Ride", "I've Just Seen a Face", as is tradition with The Beatles, every song is great. Every song is fun, every song has a message, and every song is well-constructed. It's simply an amazing album. But I think it's easily their second best album of the year.






1. The Beatles - Rubber Soul

Yep, the only group that could top The Beatles in 1965, was The Beatles. Rubber Soul is one of my favorite albums of all time and maybe my favorite Beatles album, if not my second. Every song is a magnificent piece of music. From the fun and high-paced "Drive My Car", to the mellow love song "My Michelle", The introspective and beautiful "In My Life", and the angsty, jealous, kind of messed up "Run for Your Life". I love every single track on this album, and if you haven't heard it, you simply haven't experienced the best that music has to offer.








Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment on how much you agree or disagree with me. If you agree that Them and The Zombies are underrated, or that I'm an idiot for leaving "The Who Sings My Generation" or any of the three Rolling Stones albums. Also, follow me @SycoMantis1991 on Twitter, and yeah. Thanks again.

Why the Nintendo DS is the Best Console of the Soon-to-be-Previous Generation

Yep, I said it. Nintendo's portable offering into this (practically the last at this point) console generation is the best amongst all of them. Better than the 360, the Playstation 3, and their own Wii. I know what you'll say, "But all-knowing master of all things gaming and otherwise, those graphics suck and Pokemon is old, that's all they made for the DS, right?!" To that I say "who cares?" and "you're a moron" respectively. Unless of course, you didn't say that, then I guess I'm the presumptive prick in this case. No matter, point is, I believe the Nintendo DS to clearly be the most superior console of the soon-to-be-dead longest-running console generation.

How can I say this when something like the Xbox 360 is so graphically superior, as well as having the capability to produce almost Michael Bay-level explosions and movie-quality sound design? Well first of all, any comparison to Michael Bay knocks points off in my opinion, but that's besides the point. On a more related note,  none of these are things that make a game good. Albeit, if it's done well, something like high-quality voice acting can improve a game to some extent, but a game isn't shit if it doesn't have it. Same with graphics, if done right, a better looking game can make it more enjoyable. But when people talk about the greatest games ever made (or at least people who know what they're talking about), what are the first games that get mentioned? Super Mario Bros., Castlevania, Mega Man, Tetris, Legend of Zelda, and the like. Now there are two key components that make these very convenient to my point. They're all NES games, 8-bit, two-dimensional games, as well as all being under the Nintendo banner. Maybe Nintendo themselves didn't create Castlevania and Mega Man, but they recognized the quality of what Konami and Capcom respectively were creating, and made sure to secure the right to those two titles at the time. If there's a company that excels not only in recognizing greatness in gaming, as well as working with what they have, it's Nintendo. And I think they proved that here more than ever before.

Not only did Nintendo make something great despite limitations, they did it while charging less not only for their console, but for the actual games themselves. The average brand new Nintendo DS game ran for $39.99, twenty bucks less than the average Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 game. Their online services were also better. Of course, you couldn't watch Netflix or update your facebook on your DS, but if you're reading this, you can probably do those things on your computer anyway. Besides, it was free, and no one's credit card information was ever stolen.Connecting was quick, easy, and low on lag, which no other system could say.

All of this is nice, but there's only one thing that really pushes the DS above the competition in my opinion. The games. The DS is pretty much the only thing with exclusive licenses anymore, and they have so many great ones. The Pokemon series, every Shin Megami Tensei game released on this generation's consoles (the PS2 isn't this gen), Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, Ghost Trick, Dragon Quest, Mega Man: Star Force, Mario & Luigi: Partners in TIme/Bowser's Inside Story, the 2D Castlevanias, Golden Sun, Radiant Historia, Rune Factory, Advance Wars, The World Ends With You being just a few. Not to mention new iterations to classic series' like Mario Party DS, the aforementioned Castlevania games, Kirby Mass Attack, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Contra 4, Digimon World: Dusk/Dawn, Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns, and Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks/Phantom Hourglass. AND ports of classic games like Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario 64, Tetris and Disgaea. I love games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Mass Effect series, but there's so much more to do with a Nintendo DS and at a fraction of the cost. That's why it's by far the best investment of any console of its generation.