Album of the Day

Ah, the blessed ease of routine. Every year, I take a spin through my entire CD collection (over 700 counting) to see what I've been missing. Every day while I do that, I pick one album to shower with affection (or derision) as the Album of the Day. This year, it's back to the traditional A-Z format, based on artist name. So, without further ado:

Megalazottak es Megszomoritottak, by After Crying (1992): As usual, we start with the beginning. After Crying is a Hungarian band that could best be classified as chamber rock, I think. There's enough drums, synth, and vocals to sound like the most esoteric of prog rock, but it's all bound up with lots of live strings and horn. It's certainly not "And You and I," at least. It's also an excellent disc, one that's grown on me since I got it. The two lengthy tracks are the centerpieces (I particularly love the thick and rich basses on the 22-minute epic "A gadarai megszállott." But the shorter pieces aren't just throwaways. They're more like rough sketches, as opposed to fully fleshed out paintings. The vocals (with lyrics in Hungarian) are sparse by very effective. Good stuff.