| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 08/18/2005 : 05:52:44
Here is a place where you can defend a record you feel has been poorly treated by the press, or trashed by people on this board, or was a commercial flop for an unfair reason.
I choose:
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
This record spawned a hit single in the US, "The Middle," and was then written off as a commercial, teeny-bop record. This is flat out wrong. There are some of the strongest pop/rock songs of the decade on this album, whether it be "Sweetness," "Your House," "A Praise Chorus," or "The Authority Song." Plus the album has some darker material, especially "Get It Faster" and "Cautioners."
However, the real gem of the record is "If You Don't, Don't" which is not only sublimely catchy, but also has a great lyric and some fantasic background vocals.
So...what is the record you would like to defend?
-Brian
If you move I shoots!
|
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| hWolsky |
Posted - 10/28/2005 : 05:28:33
Just for the brilliant cover of this brilliant song by those brilliant composers Leiber & Stoller...
Did you know that they were famous for having made music sung by Presley but that only a decade before that they were official composers of a politicaly uncorrect regime somewhere in Europe?
This ain't rock'n roll...
**** |
| Scarla O |
Posted - 10/27/2005 : 03:23:09
Thanks Wolsky :)
----------------------
Scarla O'
Friday 4th November 2005
The Metro Club
19-23 Oxford Street, W1
On stage: 8.30pm |
| hWolsky |
Posted - 10/27/2005 : 02:29:48
quote:
Originally posted by Scarla O
quote:
Originally posted by hWolsky
Compared to many contemporary almums this "fake Velvet Underground album" still remains the best imitation of the VU you can find today. Thanks Doug Yule!
****
Wolsky, I've never heard this album but have heard about Doug Yule's VU - how does it sound?
Well, I'm fond of Yule's voice on song like Candy Says, I found a reason, New Age, it is very close to Reed's voice but smoother and more androgynous. In "Squeeze the Velvet Underground" (a really good cynical title) he is imitating Lou's feeling very well and almost every song is a "original VU song's wannabe"!. For Velvet fans it is a nice and funny exprerience to hear ! For others it is much better to have the original feeling of the "Couch Album" and "Loaded".
You can seek my soul if you want it!
**** |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 16:12:30
www.popmatters.com
the #1 source for slightly pretentious but excellent music journalism
-Brian
|
| IceCream |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 15:14:04
Thanks, Brian. Though the writing of that article is a bit pretentious, it expresses a fascinating interpretation of the album.
That article's really recent, too. Where'd you find it? |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 09:25:21
Ice Cream, you have a friend:
http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/cutoutbin/3-archersofloaf.shtml
Archers of Loaf, White Trash Heroes (1998)
[7 October 2005]
This burst of fin-de-siècle exhaustion, paranoia and malaise anticipated 21st century angst with uncanny accuracy. Unfortunately for these post-grunge indie stalwarts, OK Computer did it first.
by Zeth Lundy
White Trash Heroes is a record buried by denial. Fans make excuses (it was, after all, Archers of Loaf's exhausted swan song), critics wield perspective (Icky Mettle is just so much more focused and immediate), and history opts not to comment on its shoddy short-term memory. Even the nauseating cover photo of a punk-rock bathroom offers preemptive advice to the prospective listener: Turn around and walk away. But really, what is this? A jaded, clinically taut kiss-off to 1990s guitar rock? A messy exhuming of cultural baggage to the tune of neurotically entwined guitar riffs? An album that opens with a martial treatise on the viral dissemination of popular culture and ends with a bleary snapshot of some rural county fair has some explaining to do.
But who will listen? The album is too abrasive, too challenging, too instigative. It wasn't an album that the Archers seemed destined to make, but it became their destiny: Noise-rock band from fertile Chapel Hill, North Carolina, scene dehumanizes itself with icy keyboards and minimalism. It's what happens when you replace a band's blood with binary code, as the Police did with Ghost in the Machine and Talking Heads did with Fear of Music. It's a manifestation of the sublime and impossible: What if Philip Glass had come of age in the geographical shadow of Fugazi? What if he was reared on the steady waft of grunge's slow death? This record answers that type of burning question. It also single-handedly removed the band from the hipster-darling phone book. With White Trash Heroes, the Archers dejectedly abandoned their seven-year career, leaving behind a flaming wreck of twisted metal and blue flame.
What a way to go out.
For those caught slumbering under the watch of post-Cobain false idols, the Archers were the bench-clearers brandishing billy clubs. If its lumbering mass didn't happen to collide with the monotony of your personal life, White Trash Heroes could be ignored. But if it happened to interrupt your path, escape was not an option. In particular, "One Slight Wrong Move", the album's clank-boom-steam centerpiece, sounded like nothing else at the time. This was their theme: the death-rattle rhythm of metal and steel, the coiling Eastern guitar riff, the squalls of feedback, the human voice replaced with the future shock of a low-octave talk-box used not for kitsch or fun but to incite paranoia. "One Slight Wrong Move" is, as a friend put it, "skull-bashing" -- a terror alert for a country not yet familiar with terror alerts, an antidote to the personal Jesuses promised by pop music. "And we work forever each and every day / And we surrender anyway, in so many different ways". Caught in the song's stranglehold, you're powerless under the sway of the cold, menacing rhetoric: "A hundred million people could be wrong / A hundred million people have been wrong before."
It's eerie, because the institutions of control the Archers were rallying against (fascism, totalitarianism, corporate dictation, household complacency) crop up in the album's very presentation. The album is alternately overpowering and hypnotic; longed-for lulls follow brutal punishments. At its heart, White Trash Heroes is a confrontation with emptiness, the emptiness embedded in consumer culture, the emptiness of a cultural landscape that was once again being stripped of its idealism, the overwhelming emptiness that accompanies the close of a century. While it would be ridiculous to suggest the Archers were ragtag Kreskins, their tone in 1998 is arguably prescient; it evokes the impending malaise of a new century ushered in by dot-com busts, Y2K scares, catastrophic acts of terrorism and a pall of never-ending aggression. Visions of innocence would be exposed as nothing but exorbitant fantasies. Perhaps this cold vision of inevitability drove listeners away, this assertion that rock 'n' roll can't always be relied on for escape and absolution.
Or maybe it was the jagged shape of the songs. When it's not busy being confrontational via the raw onslaught of instrumentation, White Trash Heroes is oblique (the garbled paranoia of Eric Bachmann's lyrics); it repeatedly tests listeners' patience with abrasion ("I.N.S.") and repetition (the seven-minute title track) -- hardly the kind of recording most people invest time in. It's easy to reject the entire affair as lacking a confident coherence. The song structures are knotty (the dueling riffs in "Fashion Bleeds" and "Perfect Time" demand concentration) and some of the conceptual elements (namely, the Glass-esque loops of "Dead Red Eyes" and the title track) can frustrate if overanalyzed. Still, navigating the uncertainties of devastated cultural terrain isn't easy: the Archers blow through screamcore ("Banging on a Dead Drum"), a Pixies-esque instrumental ("Smokers in Love Laugh"), neon-hued neo-blues ("Slick Tricks and Bright Lights") and pieces of scrapheap beauty ("Perfect Time") before the ten-song manifesto runs its course. It doesn't all work -- both "I.N.S." and "Banging on a Dead Drum" are inscrutable slices of temper heavy on shock and light on exploratory gestures -- but the Archers don't pretend that they think otherwise. In fact, they seem to readily admit to the blemishes in a less-than-utopian reality in which they themselves are implicated: "There is no perfect time / Too fast or slow," Bachmann croaks in "Perfect Time". "There is no perfect place / No picture-perfect face."
While probably no time would have been perfect to release their crowning achievement, the Archers dropped White Trash Heroes one year too late. Audiences had already embraced Radiohead's OK Computer in 1997, a record that flailed its arms with a similar flag-down-the-plane-from-the-island finality. Both albums are timely documents of fear, skepticism, and defeatism, but White Trash Heroes remains the more visceral of the two. And though not as sonically immaculate and ornate as its British counterpart, White Trash Heroes retains its relevance because it feels so explicitly irrevocable -- it's a heap of racket, piled under the archway into this new era, that we can't help but track into the house under our feet. At the end of a century, unfortunate new beginnings are chartered.
-Brian
|
| Broken Face |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 08:09:54
i like JAR OF FLIES and ALICE IN CHAINS - in that nostalgic for the early 90s kind of way. especially "Don't Follow" and "Over Now"
-Brian
|
| speedy_m |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 08:02:30
quote:
Originally posted by IceCream
[quote Very interesting explanation. I enjoyed reading it (though I felt guilty after having read it 'cos I'm supposed to be really busy), and, though I don't agree with you, I really respect how well-thought out and supported your opinion is.
You don't agree with me? How about well thought out, long-winded counter-point? Bring it on, bitch!
and you are ill prepared to fight
living in a world of soft and white
in air conditioned battle zones
I pity you!
|
| cassandra is |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 03:41:50
we're two, that's a good start!
pas de bras pas de chocolat |
| Newo |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 03:31:15
I like them, especially the album with the dog. The nothing song sticks to your mouth like peanutbutter on the brain ah eeeeeee...
--
Buy your best friend flowers. Buy your lover a beer. Covet thy father. Covet thy neighbour's father. Honour thy lover's beer. Covet thy neighbour's father's wife's sister. Take her to bingo night. |
| cassandra is |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 03:27:16
and
I know that nobody likes them, especially the critics, but this music moves my heart and my guts, they had fucking great songs and a fucking great singer too.
pas de bras pas de chocolat |
| Scarla O |
Posted - 10/26/2005 : 01:21:06
quote:
Originally posted by hWolsky
Compared to many contemporary almums this "fake Velvet Underground album" still remains the best imitation of the VU you can find today. Thanks Doug Yule!
****
Wolsky, I've never heard this album but have heard about Doug Yule's VU - how does it sound?
----------------------
Scarla O'
Friday 4th November 2005
The Metro Club
19-23 Oxford Street, W1
On stage: 8.30pm |
| IceCream |
Posted - 10/25/2005 : 20:14:36
quote:
Originally posted by speedy_m
Guided By Voices - Do The Collapse
This album is maligned by everyone. Critics, fans, I'm sure even old Uncle Bob sometimes has second thoughts about this one. It is the black sheep of his ample catalogue, and it sticks out for a few reasons:
1 - The Sell Out - This album saw the indie kings jump from venerable Matador Records to major label TVT Records, best known for their stable of "crunk" artists (Lil Jon, Ying Yang Twins), hard rock (Sevendust) and soundtracks (a GbV song from this album, Teenage FBI, appears on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sdntk). Bob (and TVT) felt it was time GbV had a 'hit', and that a major label push was the way to do it. Hard core fans cried, Matardor buffs scoffed and critics were slightly amused. The godfathers of lo-fi on a major?
2 - The Production- One of Bob's heroes from the 80s, Ric Ocasek of the Cars, manned the knobs for this one (he also did Weezer's first record). Ric Rule #1 - no drinking in the studio. Now know this: Bob and beer go together. When GbV hit the stage, it's usually with a cooler full of booze, and it's usually gone by the end of the night. Bob always claimed stage fright as his reason for having a few, and he liked to imbibe a bit in the studio as well, to keep things loose and fun. Bob respected Ric's wishes, and some say the recording suffered, and feeling sterile and bland.
Ric Rule #2 - Keyboards. That famous Cars new wave sound makes an appearance on DTC, as Ric added layers of keyboards to many of the tracks, including the aforementioned 'Teenage FBI', which is actually an old b-side, and was a typicaly lofi, simple GbV rocker. It kicks off the album with a strange sort of pulsing beat, and lets all know that this ain't your grandma's Guided By Voices.
3 - The Songs - Many, fans included, felt this was Bob's weakest collection of songs to date. Taking into account the questinable production, critics felt these songs simply weren't up to par. Part of the appeal of a typical GbV song, they argued, was the arena-rock-in-the-basement quality they had, and these glossed up, arena ready versions simply didn't live up to what one imagined all those lofi gems could be.
4 - Hold On Hope - One of the only songs Bob has ever come close to regreting (this man has commited nearly 1000 songs to tape, and released them). The first single, the tear jerking ballad, the song most often maligned by the GbV faithful. TVT actually requested a re-edit or re-write of this song to make it more commercial and palatable, but Bob refused. Some of the lyrics are a bit syrupy ("everyone's gotta hold on hope, it's the last thing that's holding me"). For a man known for his brilliantly oblique and surreal lyrics, this was so plaintive it was odd. Like Frank showing us his tears, it was strange to hear words you didn't have to decode come out of Bob's mouth.
So the those are the major issues, though people even slam the artwork on this record (Bob usually does the covers and layout, but some professional types at TVT did the work here). Personally, I heard this record in my shell, removed from all the criticism and fan dismay, and I loved it. Already a huge GbV fan, I spun this record day in day out. Sure, it was a deperature sound wise. It was cleaner, more produced, and "bigger" sounding than anything before. This isn't necessarily bad, though I can see how it would rub some people the wrong way. As for the keyboards, they're only really obvious on one or two songs, and in my opinion they don't ruin those songs at all. Bob taking a shot at the big time? After nearly 20 years putting out albums, paying his dues, he deserved a shot at some coin for his labours (like our man Frank). It didn't happen; sales increased a bit, but there was no hit single, and after one more record on TVT (the acclaimed 'Isolation Drills', Bob's 'Show Me Your Tears', ie. divorce album), GbV triumphantly returned to Matador in 2002 for their final 3 records.
I like all of the songs on Do the Collapse (some more than others), I like the production, I like Hold On Hope, and I think DtC contains at least a few songs that are classics and should be included in any GbV comp. So I will defend this record to the death. It's not my fave Bob thang (though I really couldn't choose), and it's not where I would suggest someone start with GbV, but this record does not deserve the criticism it receives.
Edited to add:
Here's a little comparison, so my poetic words have more meaning:
Teenage FBI (live at CBC studios, sounding much like the original b-side version)
http://www.gbv.com/sounds/FBI.mp3
Teenage FBI (album version, feat. Ric Ocasek and his wacky keyboards!)
http://www.gbv.com/sounds/Teenage_FBI.mp3
and you are ill prepared to fight
living in a world of soft and white
in air conditioned battle zones
I pity you!
Very interesting explanation. I enjoyed reading it (though I felt guilty after having read it 'cos I'm supposed to be really busy), and, though I don't agree with you, I really respect how well-thought out and supported your opinion is.
My defense goes to WHITE TRASH HEROES by
ARCHERS OF LOAF.
Archers of Loaf are an extremely underrated band. They don't have a cult following like other indie rock bands such as Pavement or Guided By Voices. Their albums don't make top 500 lists on Rolling stone, and they don't get 5-star ratings on All Music.
WTH is an underrated album by an underrated band. Even fans of the Archers seem to reach a general consensus that this is no Icky Mettle or Vee Vee. Eric Bachmann himself doesn't seem to like this album. I've never understood this disdain. Is it because of the bathroom on the front cover? Well, for the record, I love that album cover; the deteriorating walls and the dark blue convey a sense of death and decay; it looks abandoned almost.
And that's definitely the mood of this record, a mood which has been executed UNFATHOMABLY well. The throatiness of Bachmann's vocals, the way the bass just sporadically plays a few notes and then rests, yet sounds the furthest from incomplete, and the amazingly dry, dusk production all make this album sound so bitter, but amazingly well done. It's the incredible opposite of lush, yet beautiful at the same time. The lyrics are breathtaking. They talk of scum and seem to scoff at flashiness - the mention of neon lights, whores, and arcades all seeming useless. "Smokers In Love" is a title. Does that seem like a bright image? Is that happy? Or is it disturbing that people can ingest such harmful substances and damage themselves and then kiss, with tar in their mouths, sharing tar and percieving it as romantic, reproducing and molding themslves into one?
And the melodies...amazing. The title track....amazing melody. The music is so well-written, so densely layered and complex, but layered masterfully without anything becoming cluttered. There is such unsurpassed originality to be found in this album: the drums of "Fashion Bleeds", the oddly-timed bass notes of "Dead Red Eyes", and the chant at the end of "After the Last Laugh" are all sufficient examples of originality. 8 truly amazing songs which I'd consider perfect (and 2 pretty cool ones). |
| hWolsky |
Posted - 10/25/2005 : 08:49:03
Compared to many contemporary almums this "fake Velvet Underground album" still remains the best imitation of the VU you can find today. Thanks Doug Yule!
**** |
| kathryn |
Posted - 10/23/2005 : 09:20:17
E L Fucking O RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Swimming in the heavy water, buried in the sand
Happy hearts fall from my shaking hands
|
| HeywoodJablome |
Posted - 10/23/2005 : 08:46:22
ELO is pretty sweet. Whats his name has some cool shades. "Barrrrrruce!" |
| Crispy Water |
Posted - 10/21/2005 : 15:53:08
I just have to throw in support for Brian's submission of STP's Tiny Music. That one is just great; at the time one of my definite favourites, and still one I'm throwing on every now and again. A very memorable accomplishment shining through a catalogue I consider otherwise ho-hum.
Nothing is ever something. |
| KimStanleyRobinson |
Posted - 10/18/2005 : 22:33:10
I know its probably kid of disturbing that I keep bringing up ELO, but i spent many a hour with headphones totally immersed in the quasi-futuristic, at times rather poorly put together world of the 1981 concept album 'Time'. Now, the songs are kitschy "...as i gaze around at this wreck of a town where people never speak aloud...with its ivory towers and its plastic flowers, i wish i was back in 1981." but i love it because its ELO and ELO will always be ear candy. I just listened to a bit of it last night actually. And so did my son...who said of 'Prologue', "thats...wierd...how do they do that?"
"Its called a vocoder..."
http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/e/electriclightorchestra-time.shtml |
| winnipegwantsfrank |
Posted - 10/15/2005 : 17:49:39
Anyone who has not seen Trailer Park Boys must stop reading now and go find Seasons 1-4 on DVD! And there's a movie coming out next year too |
| Carolynanna |
Posted - 10/15/2005 : 11:38:05
Its a Canadian show that is super funny.
http://www.trailerparkboys.com/
I agree with you VH assessment.
Plus that record came out in 1978!
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
| HeywoodJablome |
Posted - 10/15/2005 : 11:26:13
quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
quote:
Originally posted by HeywoodJablome
Pretty much any Rush album. I know they are considered ass monkey prog rock with their laughably mystical Dungeons & Dragons lyrics by most, but going to their shows as a kid with my older brother has endeared them to me forever.
If it wasn't for Geddy Lee's voice...
The episode of Trailor Park Boys where Ricky kidnaps Alex Lifeson was mucho hilarious.
__________
Don't believe the hype.
Who are the Trailor Park Boys? And yeah Geddys' voice can be a little uh...falsetto shall we say.
And while I'm here I'll defend Van Halens' first album. A friend and myself listened to this a few days ago and it sounded worlds better than any current record I could think of. With songs like Jamies Cryin', Running w/the Devil and Atomic Punk it's a total classic. And the production is amazing, it sounds like they're playing in the middle of a field. Ted Templeton knew exactly how to record these guys, it's when Eddie and crew started producing their own records when the old VH stock took a nose dive. |
| ScottP |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 10:22:57
The first three Devo records. Still way ahead.
Early Soundgarden freaked me out when I first heard it.
|
| Carolynanna |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 10:01:39
quote:
Originally posted by HeywoodJablome
Pretty much any Rush album. I know they are considered ass monkey prog rock with their laughably mystical Dungeons & Dragons lyrics by most, but going to their shows as a kid with my older brother has endeared them to me forever.
If it wasn't for Geddy Lee's voice...
The episode of Trailor Park Boys where Ricky kidnaps Alex Lifeson was mucho hilarious.
__________
Don't believe the hype. |
| soyuber |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 09:54:46
Barenaked Ladies - Rock Spectacle
Yeah, Barenaked Ladies. I know their new stuff is a bit trash, but this live album is worthy of praise. I think it's the accordian.
------------------------------------------------
Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint, it's delicious! it's very refreshing! |
| VoVat |
Posted - 10/08/2005 : 12:53:33
Maybe I should defend Honeycomb. I don't feel like it, though.
I was all out of luck, like a duck that died. I was all out of juice, like a moose denied. |
| HeywoodJablome |
Posted - 10/08/2005 : 10:43:06
Pretty much any Rush album. I know they are considered ass monkey prog rock with their laughably mystical Dungeons & Dragons lyrics by most, but going to their shows as a kid with my older brother has endeared them to me forever. |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 10/08/2005 : 08:09:48
Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Giftshop
People dismiss STP as Pearl Jam soundalikes (and on "Plush" they did). But for two albums, their second album, Purple, and this one, they really pushed the eras modern rock sound to a new place.
This album does have some filler (the opening, "Press Play"), but their sense of adventurism is really interesting for such a successful band. "Big Bang Baby" is a perfect slice of power-pop, "And So I Know" borders on bossanova, and Weiland's "Tumble in the Rough" is really a great piece of simple rock and roll. But the real kickers are the instrumental "Daisy" which is just a simple two guitar piece and the angular "Art School Girlfriend." This is NOT the record you would expect from a multi-platinum band in the mid 90s.
Anyone else think they got a shit deal? Of course they fucked everything up and totally ruined any good things they did on this record, but that is besides the point.
-Brian
|
| edwina |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:42:55
quote:
Originally posted by whoreatthedoor
I think she was a very local phenomenon (phenomenon, an amusing word to refer to that).
El amor es la distancia más larga entre un punto y otro
I don't know about the US, but Sabrina Salerno was massive in Italy too, in the '80s- for obvious reasons. Later on she even went into acting, but with no great success.
"Boys boys boys, I'm looking for a good time"
How classy. |
| whoreatthedoor |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:40:44
http://www.sabrinasalerno.com
She was 20 at the time of "Boys". She's only 37 now.
An indie pioneer :)
El amor es la distancia más larga entre un punto y otro |
| kathryn |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:36:00
I'm talking about Duran Duran, boys.
Sometimes, no matter how shitty things get, you have to just do a little dance. - Frank
|
| whoreatthedoor |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:35:16
I think she was a very local phenomenon (phenomenon, an amusing word to refer to that).
El amor es la distancia más larga entre un punto y otro |
| vilainde |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:31:24
Ha! Yeah, better not find out. Was she famous in the USA?
Denis
"We brush our teeth with tequila." - Guitar Wolf |
| whoreatthedoor |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:18:00
You meant "She was", I guess.
I don't want to imagine how they would look nowadays.
El amor es la distancia más larga entre un punto y otro |
| vilainde |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 05:03:33
and she's quite proud of them, ain't she?
Denis
"We brush our teeth with tequila." - Guitar Wolf |
| whoreatthedoor |
Posted - 08/19/2005 : 04:47:19
quote:
Originally posted by vilainde
Are you trying to defend Sabrina's Boys Boys Boys?
Denis
"We brush our teeth with tequila." - Guitar Wolf
The perfect pop song.
I mean... nice tits.
El amor es la distancia más larga entre un punto y otro |
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