Whatcha Readin’ and Listenin’ To Wednesday: December 10, 2008

Two of the CDs in my car’s six-CD changer got multiple plays this week: Metallica’s Death Magnetic, which I hadn’t yet given a sustained listen to, and Saga’s Worlds Apart.


I’ll state it simply: I’m impressed with the new Metallica album. Containing just enough complexity and diversity to keep me interested all the way through, Death Magnetic stands among my best of the year.

Only one question: Did the world really need “The Unforgiven III?”


I always saw Saga as the sad little brother to fellow Canadian bands Rush and Triumph. Maybe that’s harsh, but like these groups Saga is a hard rock outfit from Ontario that incorporated progressive rock and even pop elements in the 1980s. So a comparison is fair.

But Saga always seemed to fall just short of its compatriots—its technical skills never equaled Rush; its hardest edge rarely matched the almost-metal riffs of Triumph (and Rush). That said, Saga had two tracks that grip me to this day, and both of them are on Worlds Apart: “Wind Him Up” and “On the Loose.”

Reading:

Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers, by James C. Humes. This fun book pours over with practical tips for improving speeches and speaking, written by a long-time speechwriter. It reminds me just how witty and crafty Churchill was.

Listening To:

Metallica, Death Magentic
Saga, Worlds Apart
cKy, Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild
Pink Floyd, Meddle
Def Leppard, Hysteria
Andy Summers and Robert Fripp, I Advance Masked