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realmeanmotorscutor
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1764 Posts |
 Posted - 10/09/2003 : 19:51:14
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Yeah, that's all. well I mean I alwats liked some songs but I'm listening to it now and I'm really digging it for the first time. I've had it for years. How long did it take everyone else? How many people still really hate it? It def has some of FB's worst songs but it has so many great ones too.
Semper ubi sub ubi. |
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ProverbialCereal
- FB TabMaster -
USA
2953 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2003 : 20:40:44
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It was the first Frank Black album I'd ever heard (hadn't heard Pixies either). I walked into me and my brothers' room and he and his friend John were listening to it.
"What's this?" I said.
"Frank Black" (this was also their first FB album)
As I glanced toward the floor I spotted the case with the funny one-eyed floaty man.
"This looks weird." I said.
I'm really not sure how long it took me to get into. I had to get into Frank Black and his most "obscure" album at the same time but I did it. I'm sure glad I did. I think "Teenager of the Year" really brought home the bacon for me though.
 "I joined the Incredible Cult of Frank / Then I got pissed and turned green" |
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Dave Noisy
Minister of Chaos
Canada
4496 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2003 : 22:03:03
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| Aye, this is the album that grabbed me. Love it. =) |
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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Netherlands
6213 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2003 : 23:30:35
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I'm sorry, Cult of Ray was one of the last albums I bought
but that's a while ago now
And I still don't really like it
although some songs are brilliant
''it's not a box, it's a submarine'' |
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Blackolyte
- FB Fan -
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 00:06:26
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CoR took me a couple a listens. I just love the album.
 The Cult of Frank / "Say hallo to my liddle friend"
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steveplymouthuk
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
639 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 00:15:23
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Yeah I like the album and I suppose I have done since I got it. I think you have to be in a different frame of mind for CoR. I lent it to a friend who hadn't heard any FB before, and he thought it was great.
Maybe its cool not to like it. |
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leokearse
- FB Fan -
United Kingdom
203 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 02:16:08
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It was a total let down when I bought it. I got the single Men In Black and it was amazing, got me all excited for the album, then hte album (except for a couple of good tunes) was this flat, limp, passionless bag of shite.
It had such a profound affect on me that I didn't buy the next couple of albums. Maybe I'll go back and listen to it, but it's in a trailer out at my dad's place.
- Leo |
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Frog in the Sand
-+ Le premiere frog +-
France
2715 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 03:11:00
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COR is a strange, contrasting album. It contains some very good songs (Men In Black, You Ain't Me, The Creature Crawling) but also some of the worst songs FB has ever wrote in my opinion. I Don't Want To Hurt You is dull, Dance War is awful, The Cult of Ray is... bad, to say the least.
I remember I was very disappointed when I bought COR, probably because I expected a kind of "TOTY 2". Seven years later, I still don't know what to think of this album. The only thing I'm sure - I don't dislike it but I don't really like it either. In fact my favorite tracks are on the bonus cd that came with the first copies...
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here she comes now
- FB Fan -
Spain
12 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 04:25:24
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I think the best songs in COR are:
- Creature Crawling
- The last stand...
- Punk Rock City
- The Face
I was very surprised to discover that FB had left incredible songs in a B-Side. How about:
- The Announcement
- You never heard about me
THESE ONES SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE ALBUM !!!
baby, that's art |
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blarg007
= Cult of Ray =
USA
493 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 07:03:40
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for me it was automatic: new frank black, must buy.
i've tried to get averything available as soon as possible,
it's been that way since the pixies disbanded -very simple.
cult of ray was a disconcerting but definitive album -it's
different than teenager of the year for sure but for me it defines
the man at that time.
my girlfriend and i both dug it and whatever things on it that seemed
to turn some people off just sucked us into it.
at that time it only seemed a let down in that it wasn't as jam packed
with material as teenager and it had been longer than two years since teenager
-so at the time it was the only frank black oasis in town and as far as i'm
concerned it rocks as well as the rest of his stuff given a chance.
strange hair 'n pair o' dice |
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Wowee_Zowee
- FB Fan -
Belgium
81 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 07:56:41
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It's all about the SONG "Cult Of Ray"! And not about that last song :). But most of the others are really good too (the first three songs for example).
Even if you're Michael or Janet: it's a sad, sad planet. |
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PsychicTwin
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1772 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 08:02:17
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I think the ONLY weak song on Cult of Ray is "Punk Rock City." And even that song is kind of cool in its own way.
Frog- How you could find Dance War & I Don't Want to Hurt You awful is beyond me. The former is an awesome, energetic song...and the latter is a very poignant love-song kind of thing. Both are excellent. Cult of Ray, bad to say the least? BAD? that song is AMAZINGLY badass.
I don't mean to sound like an opinionated asshole, but i am honestly BAFFLED by people who diss this album and call it shitty. Are we listening to the same album here???
--> http://psychictwin.tripod.com <-- |
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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 09:08:52
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I just always saw it as the awkward ugly duckling teenage year before they turned into the beautiful swan with sharp falcon claws that is FB and the Cs.
It's really the production though that pisses me off.
I recently relistened and liked the songs but hated ALL THE EFFECTS slathered over everything like too much mustard and ketchup.
In fact, thinking back on it, I think that is PRECISELY why I hate it. It sounds like someone got a new ZOOM efx processor and stuck everything into it.
The "songs" are good in the canon of FB material (not great, real good) but the production on this is SHITE. |
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Kirk
= Cult of Ray =
USA
633 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 09:36:52
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Almost all the songs on Cult of Ray uses distorted guitar, which means noisey at times (Now contrast that to Show Me Your Tears). Crunchy sounds is attractive only when I'm in certain moods, which is limiting in itself.
Some highlights for me:
"I Don't Want to Hurt You" - you can hear Frank with a southern Texas accent in the chorus. I liked the added "yeahs" between some lines. Nice 5/4 bridge.
"The Last Stand of Shazeb Andleeb" - I don't know what the song is about, possibly someone fictional? Includes some sour notes, but i like the part when he stresses "He came from Pakistan." Good solo and a great album-closing song.
-Kirk |
Edited by - Kirk on 10/10/2003 09:38:22 |
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blarg007
= Cult of Ray =
USA
493 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 10:32:35
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for what it's worth you gotta love this disc because it marks the juncture point where
frank basically had to pack his shit and leave the premises (sounds more dramatic that way)
what was it? -electra didn't want to touch cult of ray with a ten foot pole (that doesn't mean
a damn thing considering some of the crap they drag out to the public).
i read about all this in detail somewhere but basically getting cultofray out was a big pain
in the tookas and considering the great songs on it (why get into specifics? response is so varied about the different songs that it seems obvious it is a gem)i'd say it was a story with a happy ending-he stuck to his guns and did the cultofray boogie -and look what's gone since.
i went into a record store that looked actually pretty damn good that i had not been to before
-right when SMYT came out and started a conversation with the owner about FB&C and he railed that
with 'dog in the sand' being so short that it was hurting sales and credibility etc. and that
he did not expect to sell any more new FB&C but that he would stock one or two.
the place where i bought it had only stocked one copy.
everything is a knee jerk reaction these days -i have to put records thru their paces and listen to them for significant periods of time before i can seriously say it is a good or bad link
in an artists thread and i think people pick on cult of ray because it just seems to be the
so-called weak one of the bunch.
DITS is praised highly mostly and it's probably do to the quality/quantity factor.
yet one who feels ripped 'cause it's only 34 min. or whatever just thinks it reeks.
COR is not easy to do repeat listenings in short periods of time because it is a little
overly visceral and noisy -but hey some people like it that way.
strange hair 'n pair o' dice |
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PsychicTwin
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1772 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 11:00:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Kirk
"The Last Stand of Shazeb Andleeb" - I don't know what the song is about, possibly someone fictional? Includes some sour notes, but i like the part when he stresses "He came from Pakistan." Good solo and a great album-closing song.
The song is not about a fictional character, but about a real life event. It's about a student at Narbonne High School (somewhere in Cali) who was 17 when he died, if i'm not mistaken. He was basically beaten and stomped to death by two other students. I'm not sure if it was a racist-related incident or whatever, but it is a pretty sad event to say the least. I think the dude's name was actually Shazeeb, not Shazeb. But there you go
It took a while for the song to grow on me...but I think that after I found out it had a factual basis, I kind of looked at it in a new way.
--> http://psychictwin.tripod.com <-- |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 11:06:20
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Yeah, what PsychicTwin said ;) Also, the Frank Black Song Index has a little on the song, too:
at http://members.cox.net/fbsi/index.html
"The Last Stand of Shazeb Andleeb"
SUBJECT: "and last and perhaps most important of all, Shazeb Andleeb." - Frank in the press kit for the album.
Sndleeb [sic] was a student murdered at Narbonne High School, which Frank used to attend. All reports of this online name the guy "Shazeeb Andleeb" (two E's in the first name).
"The high school football team, which I was believe it or not, too small to play for.. I was real little then. They were called the Gauchos after the Argentinian Gauchos because, of course, the high school was called Narbonne High School after Narbonne, France. And I got a song here about a young Pakistani student who also went there, much later in time than I did. His name was Shazeb Andleeb, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, but it's too late now."
- Frank introducing the song on stage, 9/96
LYRICS:
And on this smoggy day / He tried to make his way / But odds were six to one / He had no chance to fight / He ascended into light / Light brighter than the sun / Did you almost feel the pain? / It will never be the same / The desecration of this glebe / He came from Pakistan / To the halls of Narbonne / This is the last stand of Shazeb Andleeb
First we sow the seed, nature grows the seed and then we eat the seed.
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FrequencyOfGlow
- FB Fan -
USA
157 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 11:09:21
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I had heard, I think in some interview with Frank, that Shazeb Andleeb was an exchange student from Pakistan with whom Frank had attended high school. He died suddenly of a heart condition or something shocking like that. I don't think it's all as violent as you make it out to be, Twin.
I like that lemur, I lick it. That's velvety! |
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FrequencyOfGlow
- FB Fan -
USA
157 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 11:11:40
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OK I guess I'm completely wrong. But I'm OK with that.
I like that lemur, I lick it. That's velvety! |
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blarg007
= Cult of Ray =
USA
493 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 12:22:50
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to be compeletely wrong and o.k. with it -ahhh freedom.
-i wonder if frank the songsmith storyteller will ever write a song
about FBnet-ites like how we work so hard to follow the path of true freedom rock
-er, what? -my initial impression of the above song (the last stand of shazeb andleeb)
was of a persian warrior killed in battle or something like that.
(i'm terrible about forming opinions on the meaning of songs as i hear them and not
sitting down and reading the lyrics etc). and the swimmer is an excellent song that trumpets
a noble story it seems -is there something within this flotsam of text even jokingly worthy
of a song by 'the man"?
MAYBE...
right, got it, thanks.
strangehairyfishknuckles |
Edited by - blarg007 on 10/10/2003 12:23:45 |
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Brackish Girl
~ Soul Eater ~
Ireland
1750 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 12:46:55
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quote:
Originally posted by PsychicTwin
I think the ONLY weak song on Cult of Ray is "Punk Rock City." And even that song is kind of cool in its own way.
Frog- How you could find Dance War & I Don't Want to Hurt You awful is beyond me. The former is an awesome, energetic song...and the latter is a very poignant love-song kind of thing. Both are excellent. Cult of Ray, bad to say the least? BAD? that song is AMAZINGLY badass.
I don't mean to sound like an opinionated asshole, but i am honestly BAFFLED by people who diss this album and call it shitty. Are we listening to the same album here???
--> http://psychictwin.tripod.com <--
i agree with all of this. cor was the first album i heard of frank that i loved. then i got to love the other ones!
 doo doo doo... |
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VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
USA
9168 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 13:43:45
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quote:
It took a while for the song to grow on me...but I think that after I found out it had a factual basis, I kind of looked at it in a new way.
Yeah, it works that way for me sometimes, too. I actually think I knew about Shazeb Andleeb before hearing the song, but I'm looking forward to listening to "Everything Is New" again, now that I know who Chesney, Hiram, and John actually are.
-Nathan
And how does lemur's skin reflect the sea?
http://vovat.blogspot.com/ |
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cigarinthesky
- FB Fan -
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2003 : 18:12:48
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| I don't listen to CoR as much as the other FB recordings, but it's still better than 90% of the crap being played on radio today (which isn't saying much, that's sad). I love the "fat" sound it has, a few steps away from the live to 2-track FBC's stuff. "You Ain't Me" still sounds great. I think in some ways, this record was very much ahead of it's time. You play it today, and it still sounds really modern, even though the production is a little off .. |
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cvanepps
= Cult of Ray =
USA
442 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 00:00:24
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quote:
Originally posted by FrequencyOfGlow
OK I guess I'm completely wrong. But I'm OK with that.
Gee whiz, if you'd only realized that two minutes earlier! Heh!
And by the way, to the rest of you COR-is-crap crowd: you're nuts. COR is a great record. Way better than SMYT. Yeah, I said it. I'll say it again. Cult of Ray is more fulfilling than Show Me Your Tears. Sue me.
-= It's not easy to kidnap a fat man =-
http://christophervanepps.iuma.com |
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Frog in the Sand
-+ Le premiere frog +-
France
2715 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 01:10:03
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quote:
Originally posted by PsychicTwin
Frog-
I don't mean to sound like an opinionated asshole, but i am honestly BAFFLED by people who diss this album and call it shitty. Are we listening to the same album here???
Where did I say COR is shitty ??? Please read my post again.
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blarg007
= Cult of Ray =
USA
493 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 06:30:52
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has any one heard about the new musical in the works based on the cult of ray?
it's supposed to star jim carrey....does a great number with 'punk rock city'....
hairy 'n' nice |
Edited by - blarg007 on 10/11/2003 06:31:57 |
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jimmy
= Cult of Ray =
USA
876 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 16:20:55
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I think this would've been a better CULT OF RAY:
Side One
1. I don't want to hurt you
2. Cult of ray
3. You never heard about me
4. Punk rock city
5. Remake/remodel
6. Village of the sun
Side Two
1. The marsist
2. Men in black
3. Can I get a witness
4. The creature crawling
5. You ain't me
6. Baby that's art |
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