What's on my MP3 player?

I meant to do this one a while back and got off on a tangent instead. I have multiple MP3 players. most suffer a malfunction of some sort, but I'll give you a taste of the one I use the most: an RCA player that will still play while plugged into the car charger, which is a big deal for me, because most of the ones I have won't charge and play at the same time.


The Tea Party:
A band I love from my teen years, I once was lucky enough to see The Tea Party perform with Second Coming as the opener at the Moore Theater in Seattle. I think it was in 1995. What an amazing show!


I had to recently re-discover this group and it took a bit of cash, but I picked up their entire back catalog and loaded it straight onto the MP3 player.

This is my latest favorite song, "Oceans."
You can hear some sound samples here.

I would recommend getting Tangents: The Tea Party Collection if you are interested in hearing more of them. It's a great representation of their diverse sound!

Second Coming:
If you know me, you already know I've loved Second Coming since I was a teenager. If you know me, you've probably been forced to listen to Second Coming. They are probably my favorite band from about 1994-2000-ish. There are actually three incarnations of Second Coming: the original group which had Maxi on lead vocals, Mark Davis on guitar, Yanni Bacolas on bass and James Bergstrom on drums; The second version featured Travis Bracht on vocals and Dudley Taft on guitar, which resulted in a huge change to their sound, but was still awesome; The final version featured Eric Snyder replacing Dudley Taft on guitar.

I actually have no specific preference for one version of Second Coming over another. The original group really caught my ear because they were different. The following versions seemed a little more industry friendly, though they always had a bit of a different edge.

I was just about to write how rare L.O.V. Evil is, but apparently you can download it from amazon here. Back before legal pay downloads, you would find this CD for sale on eBay for ridiculous prices. I know, I sold a few extra copies when I was broke. Give the sound samples a listen. It's different. Oh, and Layne Staley guests on the last track. It's worth it, trust me.

I would also recommend this compilation, which features Second Coming, Diamond Star Halo and a lot of other obscure Seattle bands whom I love.

You can buy this one here.
The second Second Coming album has two versions. The Timestyle Music Records version is rarer and worth picking up if you can find it, but the Capitol Records version has extra tracks, including "Unknown Rider" which is featured on The Sixth Sense soundtrack. I got lucky enough to hear demos of this album way back in the day and wish those were available somewhere as well. The version of "Vintage Eyes" was slightly different and I prefer it slightly over the CD version.

Above is my favorite song from the album. This song was written about vocalist Travis Bracht's teen years in foster care. It still brings tears to my eyes from time to time. This entire album is worth a listen and you can catch sound samples here.

The third Second Coming album has an even heavier edge. There are two versions of 13 as well, I'm not certain what the difference is, but I think one of the tracks is slightly different on the newer version. "Drop Dead Fred" is a testosterone-laced ode to kicking Fred Durst's ass. "Faces of Me" and "The Evil in Man" are probably my favorite tracks. Sound samples can be found here.

There was also an acoustic EP released on the coattails of 13. Sound samples can be found here.

There is another Second Coming album which was available for free download for a short time, but after searching for over an hour, I found that it's no longer in cyberworld. Bummer. I'm glad I found it when I did.

Some awesome Second Coming photos:

Other bands on my MP3 player:
Anthrax, Antigone Rising, Best Kissers in the World, Black Flag, Black Happy, Blue Spark, Bruce Dickinson, Carmine, Carrie Akre, Diamond Fist Werny, Dokken, Dream Theater, Duran Duran, Everclear, Fates Warning, Galactic Cowboys, Gary Numan, Genesis, Geoff Tate, God Lives Underwater, Goo Goo Dolls, Goodness, Goody Blick and the Country Kind, Green Apple Quick Step, Heart, Inflatable Soule, Jodie Watts, John Butler Trio, Josh White, Katies Dimples, Killing Joke, Kim Virant, Kings X, Lazy Susan, Luscious Jackson, Lush, Mad Season, Man Ray, Marble, Marilyn Manson, Maxi, Michael Penn, My Sister's Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Novatone, Old Lady Litterbug, Pantera, Peace and Silence, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, Pigeonhed, Primus, Queensryche, Sage, Savatage, Sebadoh, Seven Mary Three, Shudder to Think, Sir Mix-a-lot, Sister Psychic, Sky Cries Mary, Stone Temple Pilots, Sunny Day Real Estate, Super Deluxe, Sweet Water, The PARC Boys, The Rockfords, Tommy Henriksen, Toto, Underground Moon, ZuZu Ltd.

I'll probably explore some of those bands in future posts, but this one's getting long, so I shall set you, my readers, free for the night!