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The Maharal
= Cult of Ray =
996 Posts |
 Posted - 12/05/2018 : 11:43:11
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What is this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bcdk0t_HCo
I quite like FMRM - the two title tracks are crackers and In The Time of My Ruin a possible TOP TEN BEST EVER FRANK SONGS contender. Then there's the likes of Fitzgerald, My Terrible Ways, Golden Shore, Pittsburgh (my funeral song - well done Mr Paley for crafting some insanely fun and poignant lyrics), Poison and Wanderlust - all top work. I like or love the majority of the songs - only When the Paint Grows Darker Still and End of the Summer leave me empty. It's Charles doing his deep voice thing like he did on Silver Snail or The Water, it doesn't do anything for me. But they're minor complaints. The first section of It's Just Not Your Moment goes on slightly too long but it's catchy as feck and there's the 'Gun to my head - got to keep moving' coda which is all kinds of fantastic and totally quintessential Frank. Whoever is playing guitar on that totally deserved whatever money they got. Bloody hell. Elijah is another one I often roar along to, a nice stomper.
"Living hammered is always hit or miss" - some powerful stuff on this album and that Fitzgerald is possibly the most powerful of them. Up there with Here Comes A Regular by the Replacement for best song about alcoholism or pub-goers.
I would almost give up my right nut to have Black do another album similar to this. Heaven's boys protect those who neglect this album. It is the most rewarding in his back catalogue.
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The Maharal
= Cult of Ray =
996 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2018 : 11:45:27
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| If he ever re-releases all his music at once I really hope he refers to it collectively as his Black Catalogue. I'd chortle. |
Edited by - The Maharal on 12/05/2018 11:45:46 |
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johnnyribcage
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1301 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2018 : 04:32:10
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quote:
Originally posted by The Maharal
What is this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bcdk0t_HCo
Looks like someone named Cyril Chmiel records instrumental keyboard versions of songs (mostly Sinatra) and posts them on youtube.
Take me to the vineyards of Lavaux
Want to see the mountains where the waters flow |
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danjersey
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
2792 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2018 : 06:04:00
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quote:
Originally posted by johnnyribcage
quote:
Originally posted by The Maharal
What is this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bcdk0t_HCo
Looks like someone named Cyril Chmiel records instrumental keyboard versions of songs (mostly Sinatra) and posts them on youtube.
Take me to the vineyards of Lavaux
Want to see the mountains where the waters flow
yeah, that seems to be what's happening there |
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <
3156 Posts |
Posted - 12/10/2018 : 06:04:37
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quote:
Originally posted by The Maharal
What is this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bcdk0t_HCo
I quite like FMRM - the two title tracks are crackers and In The Time of My Ruin a possible TOP TEN BEST EVER FRANK SONGS contender. Then there's the likes of Fitzgerald, My Terrible Ways, Golden Shore, Pittsburgh (my funeral song - well done Mr Paley for crafting some insanely fun and poignant lyrics), Poison and Wanderlust - all top work. I like or love the majority of the songs - only When the Paint Grows Darker Still and End of the Summer leave me empty. It's Charles doing his deep voice thing like he did on Silver Snail or The Water, it doesn't do anything for me. But they're minor complaints. The first section of It's Just Not Your Moment goes on slightly too long but it's catchy as feck and there's the 'Gun to my head - got to keep moving' coda which is all kinds of fantastic and totally quintessential Frank. Whoever is playing guitar on that totally deserved whatever money they got. Bloody hell. Elijah is another one I often roar along to, a nice stomper.
"Living hammered is always hit or miss" - some powerful stuff on this album and that Fitzgerald is possibly the most powerful of them. Up there with Here Comes A Regular by the Replacement for best song about alcoholism or pub-goers.
I would almost give up my right nut to have Black do another album similar to this. Heaven's boys protect those who neglect this album. It is the most rewarding in his back catalogue.
Great post. I agree, Fitzgerald is savage, in a Dylan sort of way? And In the Time of My Ruin indeed has proven to be an astonishingly good song that continues to sparkle. |
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johnnyribcage
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1301 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2018 : 15:28:46
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My Terrible Ways > Fitzgerald > Elijah > It's Just Not Your Moment > The Real El Ray is just a killer run of excellence.
I'm on the record somewhere as saying I love the warts and all, White Albumish approach of FMRM and wouldn't have it any other way, but some selective editing would make it even better. There are a couple runs on the album though that are perfect as is, imo. The above is one.
...I might dust off the old cassette deck tonight and make a mix the old-fashioned way.
Say - I think this has probably been done around here before, but if you could make a super mix of Honeycomb and FMRM, how would it flow? You don't have to use all tracks. I'll have to think about how I would arrange it and get back to you. Fun game? Maybe?
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings. |
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The Maharal
= Cult of Ray =
996 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2018 : 09:32:33
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| That would be a fun game indeed. Can we throw in b-sides? Atlantis could be a contender. |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
959 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2019 : 21:28:29
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I had a long car ride the other day and listened to both discs and really got into this album all over again. Me and my girlfriend had been kind of cranky at the start of the trip and this album seemed to solve all our problems and this weird air of calm entered the car. My advice for anyone who hasn't gotten into it, PUT IT ON IN THE CAR.
Here is my obligatory whittled down tracklist, while I do appreciate the long and winding scope of this album. I HIGHLY favor disc 2, it's nearly flawless. I tried to be a bit harsh and keep it tight, mostly failing because I am too fond of even songs I'm not crazy about, because you grow attached to them over time. Anyway:
If Your Poison Gets You
Johnny Barleycorn
Fast Man
You Can't Crucify Yourself
Wanderlust
Raider Man
In The Time Of My Ruin
Down To You
Highway To Lowdown
Kiss My Ring
My Terrible Ways
Fitzgerald
Elijah
It's Just Not Your Moment
Where The Wind Is Going
Holland Town
Sad Old World
Don't Cry That Way
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What I cut out and I wouldn't mind as b-sides:
Dirty Old Town
Seven Days
The End Of The Summer
Dog Sleep
When The Paint Grows Darker Still
I'm Not Dead (I'm In Pittsburgh)
Golden Shore
The Real El Rey
Fare Thee Well
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Another option in a parallel universe is for the Honeycomb rejects to simply remain Honeycomb rejects or b-sides and not be on this album at all, which would make it an even tighter album (though I do generally really like those songs, I'm only thinking for some kind of time/place consistency.) I almost didn't put Fare Thee Well in the reject pile, because it's a solid album closer, but I feel the melody is too generic to really excite me, and I think Don't Cry That Way makes a fine little end credits song after the big movie climax of Sad Old World (something Frank does on a few of his albums.)
And now, songs from FMRM that I consider Frank's all time best and would easily go on a best-of playlist I would make:
If Your Poison Gets You
Wanderlust
In The Time Of My Ruin
It's Just Not Your Moment
Don't Cry That Way
and I think my #1 would be Wanderlust. It is just such a damn sweet, perfect little song. It's both melodic and classic sounding but still has those Frank quirks in the timing and melody. Also for some reason I am often taken with songs about being on the road and missing your significant other. For other examples see If You Only Knew by Moxy Fruvous (a band I barely enjoy anymore but that's a sweet song) and Here To There To You by Rheostatics. All very similar in sentiment and feel.
I have a weird emotional connection with some of this album. When it came out originally I was in a really bad relationship with a girl who lived about a 3 hour drive away. I would drive to visit her every few weeks and listen to this album. I remember a few key things, like one time the drive was through pouring rain and Frank sang "it was raining like the end of the world." Another time the coda of "gun to my head, got to get moving" really captured the feeling I had racing to this girl that I did not even want to be with, especially on a musical level. It is absolutely impossible for me to hear that song without thinking of this time.
On reading through the three pages here, I agree that Time of my Ruin is an all time great Frank song, would have been a rocking amazing Catholics song, I think.
I'm pretty confused why some think Honeycomb and this are opposites, to me it's like a three-disc album pretty much. I love about half of Honeycomb and I love about 2/3rds of this.
I also thought this album got kind of spit on in the Pixies documentary Loud Quiet Loud. All we get regarding Frank's solo career (as I recall) is a quick cut to a low key moment of a mixing session for one of the more sleepy songs on this album. Frank gives a kind of indifferent "yeah, sounds good" and the producer seems tired and this is a big contrast with the EXCITEMENT!!! of the Pixies music. What you've got is an out of context moment (being in a studio is a loooong and sometimes boring process even when you're making your art that you are 10000% passionate about) that feels depressing and aimless, and to a fan who knows nothing of his solo work, they probably come away from the doc thinking they might as well not bother. That always annoyed me. What's remarkable is that Frank in one moment could be screaming songs during a Pixies reunion to thousands of fans, and then recording a double album of relaxing road music that sounds absolutely nothing like the Pixies on basically every level, it doesn't even sound like the same voice singing (still don't know how he does that.) This should be applauded and be a reason for intrigue about his solo work, if anything. If they had used a track like Time of My Ruin in the doc, showed Frank recording it and the band rocking out and etc, being happy, having fun, how big of a different mood would that be than what's in the movie?
Anyway, I think those are a big handful of my thoughts on FMRM.
Oh, one more thing, me and my friend used to laugh a lot about the line "I'm sorry to hear about your sister / She went too far down in the drain / She was trying to dull her pain." It seemed weirdly invasive and oft-putting. "Stay out of my life, Frank!" That's another memory associated with this album.
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Global Fast Man Raider Man Appreciation Society
