My Pick on Top 10 Best Music Albums

www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com

have always been fascinated with music. Recently, I googled "music" and explored various knowledge sites. It seems that the word "music" came from the word "Muses" that means the daughters of Zues who are advocates of knowledge such as Literature, Geography, Mathematics and, of course, Music. Personally, my passion does include Music. Only yesterday I had a jamming session with a famous local composer, Ahmad Izham Omar. We played some Blues and Rock and Roll alongside the band members of D'Kechewas (Azhar, Iesta, Kamal and Eddy). Our favourite genres may differ but once the band members click together, they produce magic... music magic. As an extension to my love for music, yesterday (also), I bought a brand new electric guitar - an Ibanez SA Series - in dark sexy red. I call her Scarlet Ibanez. Scarlet will share jamming studio with my other acquisitions, Sabrina Gibson and Frieda Fender. These 3 females are the only females that my wife will not be jealous of :)

So, given this passion, I thought I might as well end 2014 with a blog post that is less technical, more cultured, no politics and explores the right side of the brain (mine) that sheldom gets attention. Hence, I would like to share with you my pick on the Top 10 Best Music Albums... the kind where you will like all the songs and not skip tracks. Of course these are biased towards my kind of genre, which is rock. The Top 10s, in no particular order, are:

1. ... and Justice for All - Metallica: Metallica has always been my favourite band. There is no wonder why I start the list with Metallica. To be honest, my favourite album from Metallica is Master of Puppets because of a few songs, namely, Master of Puppets, Orion and Welcome Home (Sanitarium). However, I do skip some songs when I play the album. ... and Justice for All on the other hand, gives me a fuller appreciation of an album. I can just let it play from track 1 till the end. I think this is because, by far, this album showcases the best of musical performance of all the individual musicians in the band. The infamous bass drum beats by Ulrich and the mind blowing chords arrangement by Hetfield just set the benchmark for Heavy Metal. This album was also the debut for their bassist, Newstead.

2. Appetite for Destruction - Guns n' Roses: I grew up in the late 80's and early 90's where Rock and Roll was still strong. At that time hip hop was creeping into the mainstream pop culture and rock was diminishing. The only surviving Rock and Roll bands at that time were Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Guns n' Roses. This album showcases magnificent Rock and Roll with Slash shocking the world with his awesome Blues scaled solos on the Gibson Les Paul and a music wizard touch for Rock and Roll by Izzy Stradlin, it just makes it a complete shout when Axl clads those songs with his lyrics. 

 



3. Come Hell of High Water - Deep Purple: What can I say? All 80's and 90's rock bands must have had their references from their predecessors. Deep Purple goes deep into influencing many rockers. Not so much of Rock and Roll but what they represented was the epitome evolution into Heavy Metal. The mastermind, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, is a genius. While other guitarist were still exploring the usual Blues scaled Pentatonic on Minor to suit the Rock genre, he was already on an adventure to go beyond those scales and combining other patterns inclusive of arpeggios at a tremendous speed. I salute Blackmore. True enough, when I had my guitar lessons, Deep Purple's solos are some of the toughest to follow. This album is a live recording of a decent selection of their songs.

 

 

4. Celebration Day - Led Zeppelin: Enjoying Deep Purple was intense. It gets too technical. When you wanna get out of that zone and just wanna be relaxed, Led Zeppelin offers a soothing easy Blues Rock and Roll feel. It feels good when you can play along the guitar solos with Jimmy Page as his was the usual template. What makes them cool is the grove in each song. It is the kind of Rock that does not demand head banging but a hippie dance.. whatever that means. That is the sort of happiness that Robert Plant can offer to his listeners. Celebration Day is a live recording of a reunion concert of the band members (the dead drummer, Bonham, was replaced by his son). At an old age, they can still perform a mind blowing Rock and Roll saga.

 

5. The Pulse - Pink Floyd: At one point, I had enough of Heavy Metals and Rock and Rolls. I wanted an alternative source of music appreciation. At that time, alternative meant the Grunge bands like Nirvana. However, I chose to look back. When everyone was hypnotised by Rock and Roll, Pink Floyd was already branching into alternative realm just like how Salvador Dali went into surrealism when other painters were on their tracks for modernist expressionism. This is also a recording of a live concert that has songs from across all of their albums. Floyd's fresh outlook into music brings you to a fantasy journey. You need not move your body to appreciate it. Your mind does all the work. Truly magnificent. Kudos to their main movers Roger Walters and Dave Gilmore.

 

 

6. Rubber Soul - The Beatles: Having Izham Omar as my mentor in music cannot depart me away from his favourite band, the Beatles. Their genre may not be within my likings but the relevance of what they contributed to the mushrooming of rock bands across the globe is just phenomenon. Some appreciation are acquired taste. Some required a bit of convincing before you can say, "Ahhh,.. I get it!" So I decided to buy all the albums by the Beatles. My first impression was, wow, Pink Floyd was not the only experimental alternative band of their time, the Beatles was the epitome unprecedented trend changer. You cannot imagine how they can be ahead of their time. Given my taste in genre, I have decided to choose a darker, less fun fair type melodic numbers. Hence Rubber Soul.

 

 

7. Ten - Pearl Jam: In the late 90's, many alternative (Grunge) bands emerged. These are the usual 4-chords per song type music with distortions to hide technicalities and sometimes, the bloody guitarists went against the normal convention for guitar string tunning of E-A-D-G-B-E. In that ocean of alternative bands, Pearl Jam made their way up by combining both Grunge and Rock and Roll feel. This way, they captured both youth and matured audiences. It was quite delightful for me to have known about them as they provided a bridge between the old wave (Rock and Roll) and the new (Grunge). So far, Eddie Vedder is my favourite Rock vocalist because his voice offers the depth for songs that comes from a wide spectrum of genre. 

 

 

8. Live in UK - Helloween: Exploring rock uncovers many sub-genres. You have Rock and Roll for a start. Then Heavy Metal, Black Metal, Grunge Alternative, and there was Speed Metal. Having the melody and the groves were not the only attributes that give you the adrenalin rush. Speed is the new substance for youngsters. Helloween is speed like no other. Their songs are so damn fast and with that crunchy "distortion"ed guitar riffs coupled with their shrieking-voiced vocalist, you are set to fuel your momentum especially when running a marathon. Live in UK is a live recording of a selection of songs from their albums. The reaction of the crowd in that concert, as apparent from the recording, is just overwhelming. People sang along to numbers such as Dr Stein and Future World.

9. Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chilli Peppers: In my quest to diversify my music appreciation (instead of remaining in the myopic world of Rock), Funk was a good chapter to push me to the boundaries but not too far. It was a rewarding journey. I used to practise my drumming to Red Hot Chilli Pepper's songs because their colourful Funk breaks the monotonous structure that Rock had traditionally embedded. Thanks to the drummer, Chad Smith, Red Hot Chilli Peppers managed to secure its position as the leading Funk band. Over its life this band produced many good albums but none ever surpassed the popularity of this album. Every song in this album tells a different musical story but yet all portraying that unique selling proposition of a new age Funk advocate.

 

10. Son gs of Innocence - U2: U2 is an Irish band that accumulated fan base big enough to challenge Madonna or even Michael Jackson in the 90's. The albums that made them famous were Joshua Tree and, subsequently, Achtung Baby. For me, notwithstanding that my favourite U2 songs are from these 2 albums, I still find myself skipping one or two songs when playing them. This year, 2014, they released their new album, Son gs of Innocence. The album showcases fresh new sounds but yet, unmistakenably U2 predominantly as a result of Bono's voice, that familiar drum beats by Muller and Adam's heartfelt bass lines. The Edge, the guitarist/keyboardist, on the other hand, has matured in song writing producing the most melodic albums I have ever heard. Kudos.

 

 

There you go! You may agree or not agree with my pick but hey, it's my post and this is who I am..... a rocker!! Have a pleasant year end holidays and see you in 2015!

* kopihangtuah




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Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2014 presents 'Scaling the Efficiency Frontier - Institutions : Innovation : Inclusion'

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Focusng on the Asian frontier under the theme 'Scaling the Efficiency Frontier - Institutions : Innovation : Inclusion', Tan Sri Dato' Seri Utama Nor Mohamed Yaakop expressed a strong point on the severe  depleting status of economic resources. Malaysia cannot rely on its current resources forever. It (Malaysia) needs to adapt to changes necessary to survive the world economy

HAZANAH NASIONAL BERHAD ('Khazanah') has once again held a very informative session with its trade mark event, Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2014. The forum has taken a different approach from previous years when it focuses on the Asian frontier under the theme 'Scaling the Efficiency Frontier - Institutions : Innovation : Inclusion.' The opening speech was swiftly given by the Deputy Chairman of Khazanah, Tan Sri Dato' Seri Utama Nor Mohamed Yaakop, who is also the Chairman of Khazanah Research. Tan Sri Nor expressed a strong point on severe finite and depleting status of economic resources. Malaysia cannot rely on its current resources forever. It (Malaysia) needs to adopt to changes necessary to survive the world economy.

The event was also graced by His Royal Highness ('HRH') Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah Al-Maghfur-Lah, Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzwan. HRH declared that the world should look at Asia. It is now the Asian century. The Gross Domestic Product ('GDP') of emerging Asian economies has grown at 2 times the rate of the World GDP growth. Such rapid expansion requires innovation for the growth to sustain. The average income and the living standards of the Asian countries are still well below that of the developed countries. China and Malaysia, for example, only have GDP per capita of one fifth and one third, respectively, of the GDP per capita of the United States of America ('USA'). The widening inequalities in Asia is also higher than the developed countries. The rich are a few and the poor are widespread. If the disparity is not addressed, it will lead to an unhealthy polarisation.

HRH then presented his idea of an ideal 'World View' to address the so called disparity. These views should be appreciated from the heart and not from the brain alone. The salient points of those views are:

Paradigm of Production: Production alone cannot be the measurement of growth. An anti-myopic view is required to ensure that what has been utilised for production is also preserved to ensure a long term sustainability of the growth itself. One must not explore the best way to exploit but should also explore replenishment of what is exploited.

 

Paradigm of Maximisation: There has been too much focus on short term maximisation. Many corporates in the developed countries strive to ensure highest earnings possible with a view of a fat cheque as the remuneration to its executives. They buy back shares from the market and forces the earnings per share to shoot up. In the end, the Chief Executive Officers get paid handsome bonuses. A true business should reinvest the surplus to expand its investment horizon. In short, Optimisation is the key word, not Maximisation.

 

Paradigm of Resources Ownership: Resources are often deemed to have been owned. We, humans, are mere stewards on this Earth. We do not own the resources. Our right to derive profits from the resources is temporary and we owe the duty to ensure resources sustainability for future generations.

 

The event was also made complete by a heterodox economic expert and an institutional economist specialising in development economics. His name is Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, currently a Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Chang echoed what HRH implied - Asia is in middle income trap and that inequality is still very high. Also, most Asian countries fail to produce national firms that compete at the top end of the world market save for a few like Korea and Japan. Asian countries must strive to achieve high income nation and develop a productive capability human resource. By the World Bank definition, a high income nation has to breach the USD12,746 income per capita. So, how do we develop 'productive capabilities'?

 

Dr. Chang pointed out his views of what could help Asian countries to embrace the culture of productive capabilities. His views are:

Do not develop what comes naturally: Being rich is not necessarily being economically developed. We cannot be blinded by the fact that we are rich with natural resources. Korea for example was rich with tungsten. Had it relied on that fact alone and be content with its strong economy that was solely backed on such resource, it would have probably be under developed now. Instead, they took a turn. Tungsten was there, yes, but a new frontier was warranted. They needed to go beyond what they naturally had. The result is magnificent. Who would have thought (back then) that Korea can be one of the leaders in World technology?

 

Do not develop by following comparative advantage: We must not capitalise on our strength alone. This will turn us blind to other opportunities that are not so apparent when compared to our identified strength. We must not think that we are good merely because we are good at it. We must decide to be good at it. For example, why is Swiss good at making chocolates when they had never produced cocoa agriculturally? The African nations thought that their strength is only producing cocoa agriculturally and they missed the opportunity to further develop other strength - which was obviously hijacked by the Swiss.

 

Encourage Entrepreneurship: An economy should be deregulated to support entrepreneurs so that they (the entrepreneurs) can take a leap of faith to face risks of unlimited liabilities. Entrepreneurs deserve a second chance. A failed entrepreneur should not be deemed a loser. On the contrary, they should be further supported as they have developed themselves further by virtue of learning through failure. The USA's Chapter 11 of the Bankrupcy Law embraces this restructuring and forgiving attitude. Some welfare states in Europe also have conducive environment for entrepreneurs. You can gauge this by looking at their (e.g. Finland and Sweden) income per capita growth of 2.7% that is higher than 2% registered for the USA.

Inclusive Development: Empowerment and affirmative actions for disadvantage groups (e.g. ethnic groups, women, poor families, etc) is also crucial in ensuring a more dynamically inclusive development that is both equitable and sustainable - intertwining economic platform with social platform. A powerful ingredient to achieve this is to institutionalise innovation that is inclusive of the society as a whole.

 

The forum was also blessed to have the Indonesian Finance Minister, Gita Wirjawan, to share some statistics on his country. indonesia has 25 million tax payers out of 250 million population. Its income per capital is at USD4,000 and the GDP grows at 5% per annum. 60% of the GDP is fuelled by consumption and 32% by capital expenditure. This clearly shows that its people are the main driver of the economy. They need the population to achieve higher income and more people to pay taxes. An ideal number is thought to be 120 million tax payers. This can ensure larger pool of funds to develop the country further. A good yardstick of how poor the development status is is the human capital development. Indonesia only allocates USD2.4 trillion out of the USD60 trillion GDP for the coming 20 years on education. This priority must have remedy.

 

Dr. Mohammed Abdul Khalid of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia joins the forum by rocking the boat when he questioned, "Is GDP the right tool to measure performance?" Dr. Khalid believes that GDP is too narrow minded. It does not take into account other important elements of life. What are those important elements that are missing? Well, to name a few, pollution levels, black market contribution, social stress and many more. He also illustrated the point on social stress whereby traffic jam is used as an example. The rows of cars in a traffic jam will burn more petrol. This is good for the economy as far as boosting the consumption of petrol is concern; but what about the health of those who inhale the pollution? What about the social life of those stuck in the traffic? Another really, really good indicator that is left out by GDP is the homeless statistics as well as disparity in income. When the top 40 rich people in Malaysia owns 23% of the economy, a mere total sum (i.e. GDP) is no longer a good representation of the entire population's wealth.

 

Shankkar Aiyar of India, the author of Accidental India: A History of the Nation's Passage through Crisis and Change and a noted journalist-analyst, further reinforces the disparity of income problem. In India, only 33 million out of 450 million population pays tax. The question arises on what is an ideal composition for equitable distribution of wealth. Shankkar believes that the top 4% should be the rich people and the bottom 4% should be the poor people. Everybody else should be the vast majority who earns moderate income. This way, the total of the wealth can be a good indicator of the country's economic status. But of course, the reality (in India) is far, far from this. One must remember that surplus does not necessarily mean success. Surplus (as well as deficits) must be redistributed. Gain and pain should be felt by all walks of life. Having said so, to merely redistribute wealth without making sure fair growth in the economy is not the way to go for it will only mean that we are redistributing poverty. To promote growth, catalysts such as education, technology and business opportunities must be created - and the Government should lead this. 

 

Chandran Nair, a Singaporean poet and retired Director and Mediator of UNESCO in Paris, rocks the boat even further by saying that the 21st Century is going to be bleak! Why? Because of divergences. What divergences? Well, firstly, we think we can have everything. We buy what we don't need with the money we don't have to impress people we don't like. Capitalism is exclusive in this sense, which is the total opposite of what everyone is preaching (i.e. Inclusivity). Secondly, technologies are thought to save the world when in fact, it will not. For example, internet is the most dangerous invention of all time. You have average kids today watching pornography at the age of 10. How is that safe? Thirdly, More is not Better. How much is enough? Maximising agriculture produce by applying chemicals is not necessarily good. Lastly but not least, we believe what we think is worth believing but it may not be consistent with the way of peace and harmony....... what a great quotation (by Chandran) to end this blog post :) - but wisely, we should remember Dr. Ha-Joon's wisdom in addressing our economy's needs (as follows):

  

"Natural resources do not equate to economy. We need to go beyond that and not rely solely on our strength that will blind us from opportunities. We must decide to be good at what we want and affirmative actions will help ensure a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable economy" - Dr. Ha-Joon Chang

* kopihangtuah




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