New Website Addition – A Work In Progress

Recent visitors to my website may have already noticed a new link just below the top banner photo called “My Collection.”

As I state on the main “My Collection” page…

I currently own more than 6,000 albums in a wide variety of genres. I will slowly be listing each album I own on the accompanying pages, divided by genre (and alphabetically by band within each genre).

PLEASE NOTE: The albums in my collection are not necessarily recommendations. Unfortunately, there are some real “clinkers” in the bunch, although I do have a tendency to purchase only those albums I feel I will enjoy, therefore the “clinkers” are thankfully not in great abundance. Regardless, this is merely a list of what I currently own. I will, however, try to add random notes (including my general album ratings for each item) or link to my formal album reviews or my band “overviews” as time, inclination, energy, and mood allows.

That last line is the most important. Where will I find all that time, inclination, energy, and mood to complete such a major undertaking? We shall see, I suppose, but I hope to make steady progress in the weeks ahead.

I hope visitors to this website (presumably music lovers like myself) will find my lists, notes, and ratings helpful when seeking additional albums to add to their own growing music collections.

Meanwhile, please don’t email me asking for specific pages of a certain genre or a particular letter of the alphabet that I have yet to complete. I’m doing this in a particular order (yes, yes, I’m anal when it comes to list-making, how well I know). I have a plan that will not change, at least not anytime soon, in order to avoid confusion on my part. I’m starting with my favorite music genre, Progressive Rock, and I’ll see how it goes from there. Thus far I’ve added everything from A-M (and #’s also). Should this prove a major headache, I may decide not to complete the full list of everything I own as intended. But again, we shall see what happens. I’m determined to complete at least this one genre for now, and hey, that’s what matters, right?

Meanwhile, have fun perusing the lists as I add them.

And thanks for visiting!

—Zap Niles

 

Welcome

Welcome to my Musical Musings & Album Reviews website, where I plan to post my various thoughts on favorite bands and the albums I own.

I own a lot of music. Quite a lot. At last count, I have more than 6,000 albums in my collection (either on LP, CD, Cassette, and/or Digital formats). And I enjoy quite a number of musical styles, mostly in the “Rock” genre. Perhaps my all-time favorite style of music is Progressive Rock (bands such as Genesis, Gentle Giant, Magenta, IQ, Galahad, Pallas, Yes, Spock’s Beard, etc.) and the various sub-genres associated with it (Neo-Prog, Symphonic Prog, Eclectic-Prog, etc.). Yet I also crave various styles of Metal (Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, Neoclassical Metal, Heavy Metal), Hard Rock, Glam Rock, AOR/Melodic Rock, even some Country Rock, Punk Rock, Jazz, Jazz-Fusion, and (on occasion) even some pure Pop and Power Pop.

What you will not find on this website, however, are many (if any) reviews of the music I don’t normally enjoy, be it Grunge, Alternative Rock, Rap, Classical, Adult Contemporary, Big Band, to name but a few genres. Sorry ’bout that. You will also not find all rave reviews here. Just because I own something doesn’t mean I automatically love it. If I don’t like a particular album (and, unfortunately, there are some real clinkers in my collection!) I’ll say so. But please know that I will strive to be as fair as possible when offering any criticism. In other words, I will not write negative remarks just for the sake of being mean. Regardless, some folks may not agree with my ratings or comments, either positive or negative, but these are just my opinions based on my musical tastes.

Therefore, I started this website not only for my own enjoyment, but mainly as a place to store all the various album reviews and opinions I’ve posted on other music-related websites through the years, and I’ll attempt to add new material to this site as time, inclination, energy, and mood allows.

Enjoy your visit!

~ Zap Niles