ArchieLeach
AV Clubber
I talk too much, I worry me to death
Posts: 289
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Post by ArchieLeach on Jan 26, 2018 17:55:23 GMT -5
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Trust (1981)I do not like Elvis Costello. I never did. ... I hate Elvis Costello's voice... ...I hate this fucker's voice.... ... Fuck this bullshit. This is awful. I HATE Elvis Costello so goddamn much... Fuck you Elvis Costello. "From a Whisper to a Scream" Some other fucker sings on this song. He is a bajillion times better than Elvis Costello.... Bravo. Bravo, Mr. Viking. As a young music freak reading Rolling Stone magazine in the 70s I was told that Mr. Costello was the cat's pajamas. I never could get past his voice. And he seems to be a perfect jerk. I will admit that I now hear his first two albums, My Aim Is True and This Year's Model, are taut punk-ish nervous neurotic rock. "Alison" is nothing but solid, beautiful, and he sings it well. But they are from the 70s. So be comfortable going off the reservation and blowing off the other two Costello records. Maybe you ought to really go rogue and review something by that other fucker instead. His name's Glenn Tilbrook, and he was, along with Chris Difford, the driving force behind Squeeze. They wrote tricky somewhat Beatlesque rock during that era. They were critics' darlings for a while. Their most renowned albums are Argybargy with the classic "Another Nail In My Heart" and "Pulling Mussels From a Shell", and East Side Story, which has their biggest hit, the Paul Carrack-sung "Tempted." The latter album was produced by Mr. Costello, and he sings a phrase or two, but he doesn't get in the way. Difford not only has a boyish voice to go with his looks, he's a monster guitar player. Well done, NK.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 23:04:00 GMT -5
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Trust (1981)I do not like Elvis Costello. I never did. ... I hate Elvis Costello's voice... ...I hate this fucker's voice.... ... Fuck this bullshit. This is awful. I HATE Elvis Costello so goddamn much... Fuck you Elvis Costello. "From a Whisper to a Scream" Some other fucker sings on this song. He is a bajillion times better than Elvis Costello.... Bravo. Bravo, Mr. Viking. As a young music freak reading Rolling Stone magazine in the 70s I was told that Mr. Costello was the cat's pajamas. I never could get past his voice. And he seems to be a perfect jerk. I will admit that I now hear his first two albums, My Aim Is True and This Year's Model, are taut punk-ish nervous neurotic rock. "Alison" is nothing but solid, beautiful, and he sings it well. But they are from the 70s. So be comfortable going off the reservation and blowing off the other two Costello records. Maybe you ought to really go rogue and review something by that other fucker instead. His name's Glenn Tilbrook, and he was, along with Chris Difford, the driving force behind Squeeze. They wrote tricky somewhat Beatlesque rock during that era. They were critics' darlings for a while. Their most renowned albums are Argybargy with the classic "Another Nail In My Heart" and "Pulling Mussels From a Shell", and East Side Story, which has their biggest hit, the Paul Carrack-sung "Tempted." The latter album was produced by Mr. Costello, and he sings a phrase or two, but he doesn't get in the way. Difford not only has a boyish voice to go with his looks, he's a monster guitar player. Well done, NK. A good suggestion, though I must point out that Nudeviking will have the chance to review a Costello-produced record and re-up his bile when he gets to The Pogues' Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash.
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 26, 2018 23:44:26 GMT -5
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Trust (1981)I do not like Elvis Costello. I never did. ... I hate Elvis Costello's voice... ...I hate this fucker's voice.... ... Fuck this bullshit. This is awful. I HATE Elvis Costello so goddamn much... Fuck you Elvis Costello. "From a Whisper to a Scream" Some other fucker sings on this song. He is a bajillion times better than Elvis Costello.... Bravo. Bravo, Mr. Viking. As a young music freak reading Rolling Stone magazine in the 70s I was told that Mr. Costello was the cat's pajamas. I never could get past his voice. And he seems to be a perfect jerk. I will admit that I now hear his first two albums, My Aim Is True and This Year's Model, are taut punk-ish nervous neurotic rock. "Alison" is nothing but solid, beautiful, and he sings it well. But they are from the 70s. So be comfortable going off the reservation and blowing off the other two Costello records. Maybe you ought to really go rogue and review something by that other fucker instead. His name's Glenn Tilbrook, and he was, along with Chris Difford, the driving force behind Squeeze. They wrote tricky somewhat Beatlesque rock during that era. They were critics' darlings for a while. Their most renowned albums are Argybargy with the classic "Another Nail In My Heart" and "Pulling Mussels From a Shell", and East Side Story, which has their biggest hit, the Paul Carrack-sung "Tempted." The latter album was produced by Mr. Costello, and he sings a phrase or two, but he doesn't get in the way. Difford not only has a boyish voice to go with his looks, he's a monster guitar player. Well done, NK. Ah Squeeze! They are pretty great though I’m not sure they were considered great enough in the 1980s to be included on this list by Pitchfork. I’d have given them they nod over something like this.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 5, 2018 1:26:59 GMT -5
The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms (1980)Time for another band I've never heard of before and therefore have no introduction thing of any substance to write about them. The cover kind of reminds me of the first Weezer album and these cats kind of look like nerds, so if I have to take a wild guess as to what this is going to be I'd say it's probably nerdy power pop, but honestly who knows. Maybe it's synth heavy prog rock songs about dragons and shit. Pre-Existing Prejudices
It seems as though there are two covers here or they've just chosen to name two non-covers after famous 1960s British Invasion songs. "Paint In Black," if it is a cover of the Rolling Stones song is probably my favorite Stones song of all. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)" on the other hand is not my favorite Beatles' song by a long shot. Songs
“The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness” This kind of reminds me of The Wipers. The drums are out of control at parts which is decent. “Fa Cè-La” Wailing guitars. Weird percussion. Vocals seem like an afterthought. “Loveless Love” Solid depression guitar riffs. Good guitar heroics. 80s post-punk talk-singing. Circus guitar solos close it out. “Forces at Work” This takes awhile to get going but once it does it’s a rad track with a propulsive drum beat and guitar riffs that make me wish I still played guitar. “Original Love” I got faked out here and thought this was going to be some boring acoustic guitar strumfuckery but it ended up being another rager, albeit one played on an acoustic guitar. The guitar sound during the solo is great. Maracas all up in this mug. “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)” This is indeed a cover of a Beatles song. It’s got crazy drums all over the place and is far more lively than the original because of this. “Moscow Nights” This is another one that takes awhile to get going, but when it finally does, oh man! There's a sinister as F bass lick that finally kicks things off before it’s off to the early 80s post-punk guitar riffs and “Woah Woah Woah,” vocals. This song's great. “Raised Eyebrows” Good drum clubbering here. Nice fuzztone guitar riffs. Double tracked vocals come in from out of nowhere at the end. I'm about how few shits The Feelies seem to give about having songs with structure. This isn't noise rock or weird avant garde shit it's just like, "I guess we could sing for the twenty seconds of this song or something," which isn't generally a thing that pop songs do. “Crazy Rhythms” Cowbell shows up briefly, apparently to give the song its title because other than that the rhythms included here on not any crazier than any of the other rhythms appearing on this album. It’s a fine song but a little long for my liking. “Paint It Black” The internet tells me that this was a bonus track recorded and added later for a 1990 reissue. It’s a cover of The Rolling Stones song. It’s a pretty by the numbers cover. It’s decent cover by a decent band of a good song by but truth be told it doesn’t really cover any different ground from the original and the album is neither improved nor diminished by its presence. Final Thoughts
The Feelies were very similar to a lot of other bands and music I've listened to in my life, but at the same time this is kind of weird and unnatural. With a few exceptions there's very little standard issue song structure on this album. Vocals are used sparsely and when they do appear are often buried so low in the mix that it's impossible to determine what the vocalists are saying (since to call what they do singing would be far too generous). Percussion is often in your face here though. The drums are most often the most important part of the songs and even the guitars are often more percussive than melodic. There are cowbells and maracas and woodblocks and all sorts of cans and garbage being banged upon on this album which adds to the overall weirdness. Add this one to the list of albums I'm happy I ended up listening to because of this project. Best Song - "Moscow Nights" Worst Song - “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)” Next time we continue the nerd-rock streak with the Talking Head's album Stop Making Sense and David Byrne's giant suit.
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repulsionist
TI Forumite
actively disinterested
Posts: 3,556
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Post by repulsionist on Feb 7, 2018 20:49:12 GMT -5
So yeah. A lot of stuff happened. And things. Things also occurred.
re. The Feelies:
I didn't own Crazy Rhythms until some 8 years ago, or something like that. I did, however, have a copy of Only Life on a dub cassette, and, for some reason, I owned The Good Earth on cassette and, later, LP. As a teeny bopper with ample, but restrained - mind you, cash to spend on things music, I didn't see these guys live. But, my pal who lent me Only Life did. In that month of shows I posted some 2-3 months back. He talked that shit up as only impassioned young people in Sophomore Year 10:30 English class at a private school can. I became a temporary fan via proselytization. I like Crazy Rhythms a whole bunch, because when I got it I was washing my brain with the zest of nostalgia. It was an eye-opener to have coasted past this one nearer its release. I have now dialed this one into the Ivory tower - and I'm all out of American soap allusions. I wash my hands of it. Done.
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ayatollahcm
TI Pariah
The Bringer of Peacatollah
Posts: 1,689
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Post by ayatollahcm on Feb 8, 2018 3:04:09 GMT -5
The Feelies are one of my all-time favorites, so it's nice to see them pop up here, especially right before Talking Heads, since they're really the CBGB pop bridge between the Heads and REM.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 11, 2018 23:03:37 GMT -5
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984)Time for some Talking Head, more specifically the soundtrack to their concert film, Stop Making Sense. So it's time to get ready for live versions of songs you've heard a million times before and David Byrne in a big ass suit! Wait, this is audio only? No big ass suit? Fuck that. BIG ASS SUIT!!! AW YE YE! That's the ticket! Pre-Existing Prejudices
I'm pretty sure I've heard nearly all these these songs before in some form since I've got the vast majority of the Talking Heads' discography in my record collection. That being said, I've never, to my knowledge, heard this actual album since I'm not all about officially sanctioned live albums. They always seemed weird to me since they cull stuff from multiple shows and cut stuff and do overdubs and all that shit. If I'm listening to a live album give it to me raw and uncut; warts and all. Anyway the fact that the albums most of these songs originate from were left of this list while this album made the cut strikes me as odd, but maybe there's good reason for it. Songs
"Psycho Killer" This version is not as good as the studio version on Talking Heads: 77. There's too much Casio keyboard drum noise there's just some halfhearted acoustic guitar strumfuckery. It sounds like the kind of cover someone would put on YouTube only it's by the original artist. "Swamp" Fart synths all up in this. This is sleazy as fuck. "Slippery People" 80s musical artifice in full effect. With the exception of the backing vocalists everything in this songs sounds processed and synthesized and inorganic. "Burning Down the House" This is a pretty great song, probably my favorite Talking Heads song. The fart synth breakdown in the middle is outstanding as are the sci-fi noises towards the end. "Girlfriend is Better" More great synth riffs. I actual prefer this version to the studio version, but part of that could be because I'm pretty sure this live version was the version that got played on the radio and MTV so I heard it a bajillion times before I finally heard the version on Speaking in Tongues. "Once in a Lifetime" "You may ask yourself, "What is this terrible live version of this song?" This is not particularly good. It just feels so leaden and dreary and just dead. At least Remain in Light is on this list so I'll get to listen to that under the auspices of this ridiculous project. "What a Day That Was" This song is too long. I wasn't that bad for the first three or so minutes but then it just kept going and I kind of checked out. This says more of my years of listening to short, fast songs than anything about the overall quality of the song, but the song is also not that great. "Life During Wartime" Solid version of this jam. Good synth solo. "Take Me To The River" I didn't know this was a cover for years and years and years since it sounds very much like a Talking Heads song which I suppose is the mark of a good cover song. Anyway this version has the requisite live album version "vocalist randomly yelling junk," going on during it in case you forgot this was not a studio album. It's fine I guess. Final Thoughts
While this is a fine album of fine songs it is ultimately just a live album whose presence here on this list seems like it exists solely to get "Psycho Killer" on this list. If I were the one drafting this list I probably would have given the nod to Speaking in Tongues (the album whose tour begot these recordings), but that's just me, what do I know about stuff? Best Song: "Burning Down the House" Worst Song: "What a Day That Was" Next time on Nudeviking vs. Pitchfork vs. The 1980s I probably should have timed this better so I could review it for St. Patrick's Day but I didn't so here we are. Rum Sodomy & The Lash by the Pogues. Join me as I get annoyed at fiddles and bad singing and possibly yell about the Titanic and/or the punk band Dropkick Murphys. It's fun for the whole family!
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Post by Prole Hole on Feb 12, 2018 7:38:09 GMT -5
I think there's a fair case to say that the Stop Making Sense version of both "Girlfriend Is Better" and "Life During Wartime" might be better than the album versions (though the album version of LdW is the perfect fit for that album). I mentioned this over on the Quickie Discography Review thread, but this version of SMS seems so truncated and it robs a lot of the material of its power. You need the big buildups from the absolute Spartan-ness of Psycho Killer (just David Byrne, a guitar and a tape deck) all the way through to the lush, full-pelt of Girlfriend Is Better, as the band build and build, and add more and more members and instruments. That's the point of Stop Making Sense, the build and momentum. Though there's some great material here, this album just can't compete with the real thing for that reason.
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Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,499
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Post by Dellarigg on Feb 12, 2018 7:53:02 GMT -5
My version of this album has 16 songs on it, so has some of the build that Prole Hole mentions above.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 12, 2018 19:13:15 GMT -5
I think there's a fair case to say that the Stop Making Sense version of both "Girlfriend Is Better" and "Life During Wartime" might be better than the album versions (though the album version of LdW is the perfect fit for that album). I mentioned this over on the Quickie Discography Review thread, but this version of SMS seems so truncated and it robs a lot of the material of its power. You need the big buildups from the absolute Spartan-ness of Psycho Killer (just David Byrne, a guitar and a tape deck) all the way through to the lush, full-pelt of Girlfriend Is Better, as the band build and build, and add more and more members and instruments. That's the point of Stop Making Sense, the build and momentum. Though there's some great material here, this album just can't compete with the real thing for that reason. I listened to the 1999 15th Anniversary Edition last night while doing ONE DISH and agree with your assessment that it's an overall better listening experience not only for the build but also for the fact that a Tom Tom Club song randomly shows up in the back half of the set. That being said this list was the best albums of the 1980s, not the best Reissued 1980s Albums of the 1990s so the truncated version is the version that I should have reviewed since unlike other reissues I've done where they just tack on a former b-side or demo version of songs, this one had completely different mixes and an entirely reworked track order and stuff. If I ever finish reviewing these 1980s albums I'm thinking of doing reviews of Talking Heads' discography. If that does, in fact, come to pass I will revisit this album using the 1999 reissue for comparing and contrasting purposes. AW YE YE!
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Feb 12, 2018 23:01:35 GMT -5
I think there's a fair case to say that the Stop Making Sense version of both "Girlfriend Is Better" and "Life During Wartime" might be better than the album versions (though the album version of LdW is the perfect fit for that album). I mentioned this over on the Quickie Discography Review thread, but this version of SMS seems so truncated and it robs a lot of the material of its power. You need the big buildups from the absolute Spartan-ness of Psycho Killer (just David Byrne, a guitar and a tape deck) all the way through to the lush, full-pelt of Girlfriend Is Better, as the band build and build, and add more and more members and instruments. That's the point of Stop Making Sense, the build and momentum. Though there's some great material here, this album just can't compete with the real thing for that reason. I listened to the 1999 15th Anniversary Edition last night while doing ONE DISH and agree with your assessment that it's an overall better listening experience not only for the build but also for the fact that a Tom Tom Club song randomly shows up in the back half of the set. That being said this list was the best albums of the 1980s, not the best Reissued 1980s Albums of the 1990s so the truncated version is the version that I should have reviewed since unlike other reissues I've done where they just tack on a former b-side or demo version of songs, this one had completely different mixes and an entirely reworked track order and stuff. If I ever finish reviewing these 1980s albums I'm thinking of doing reviews of Talking Heads' discography. If that does, in fact, come to pass I will revisit this album using the 1999 reissue for comparing and contrasting purposes. AW YE YE! Comparing the setlists, the 15th Anniversary Edition is the superior version of the album, but on the whole, you're right; while it's a pretty good live album, there's a lot of renditions of songs that aren't that great. And the one thing that the original has going for it is that it closes with "Take Me To the River", which I thought was on par with, if not better than, the studio cover they recorded on More Songs About Buildings and Food, whereas the Anniversary Edition ends with "Crosseyed and Painless" which is pretty good but not quite as good as the studio version.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 12, 2018 23:09:09 GMT -5
The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)Here's another album I know nothing about by a band I've never listened to. The only thing I really know about The Pogues is that their main singing dude has a mouth full of goddamn rotten snaggleteeth, or did at one point since I think he got them repaired a few years back. This is more than I've known about some other bands on this list I suppose. Anyway let's listen to some Celtic folk punk or whatever the fuck this is. Pre-Existing Prejudices
As mentioned above I have never listened to The Pogues. I've heard of them, sure, but every description of them I've ever read has caused me to file them under "Not For Me," and so I've never made any effort to listen to them. I don't think Stateside they were ever popular enough to have any sort of mainstream popularity so it's probably unlikely that I've ever even heard any of these songs inadvertently on the radio or on MTV in my youth. Songs
"The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn" Yup this is happening. Accordions and pennywhistles and shit. I guess it's about being drunk and barfing in church, certainly a song everyone can relate to. "The Old Main Drag" We get a banjo intro deal and then lyrics that are probably "problematic" in 2018. It's slow and boring. "The Wild Cats of Kilkenny" The intro is decent autoharp action but then we get some penny whistle jig bullshit that I'm not about. At least it's free of garbage vocals beyond some random screaming. "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" Some lady is singing about being a man now. She's a better singer than the drunk motherfucker that sings the bulk of these songs. I guess this is a "traditional" song so I'll cut it some slack for sounding like a turn of the century jam since it probably was. "A Pair of Brown Eyes" Guess what! It's another accordion slow jam! This is so boring. Do these guys have any songs that aren't slow banjo/penny whistle/accordion ditties about being drunk and/or fighting? "Sally MacLennane" Another goddamn pennywhistle jig. I'm so over this nonsense. Oh wait! There's screaming...and lyrics about whiskey and drinking beers because what else would these fuckers sing about. Some guy named Jimmy went away to make money or something. I don't give a shit. "A Pistol for Paddy Garcia" I don't know what version of this album I found that has this song randomly in the middle of this album since it doesn't appear to be on the original release and shows up as one of several bonus tracks on some reissues. Those tracks don't appear on the album I got though. Anyway this is a weird ass song. It's like another generic Celtic folk song only this time it's got random Ennio Morricone spaghetti western elements overlaid on top of it which is kind of a weird amalgam of music. Some how it kind of works and I don't hate it. "Dirty Old Town" Fuckin' harmonica all up in my mug. I hate this shit so much. I bet this fucker starts singing about alcohol in the next 30 seconds. Here come the fiddles! He makes out with a lady up against a factory wall and hears a siren. Was 1980s Ireland going through a Dickensian Industrial Revolution? "Jesse James" Oh Christ an even worse singer. He's singing about Jesse James being Robin Hood and robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, which I don't really think was true. This is a cover of a song from the 19th century though so I don't fault these guys for being ignorant of American outlaws of the Old West since they didn't write these lyrics. I do, however, fault them for being horrible singers and for putting stupid samples of 1950s cowboy movie gun sound effects in the bridge of the song. "Navigator" Time for another banjo slow jam about workers in the industrial revolution drinking whiskey and fighting. Were the Pogues time travelers or was Ireland just that fucked up in the 80s? They're singing about dudes digging canals with picks and dying in landslides as if it was a recent event. I don't get this at all. "Billy's Bones" Time for a pennywhistle jig! This guy is singing too fast for how drunk he is. Of course the lyrics are about being drunk and fighting a cop or something. The titular Billy ends up fighting Arabs and Israelis with a machine gun and dying in the Middle East for some reason. I don't know. "The Gentleman Soldier" Some other fuck has total barfbag vocals for some reason. One of these fuckers does a "lady" voice for some reason even though this band has a lady who can sing. Some lady gets knocked up by a solider and has a kid or something. Whatever. "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" Another cover. As far as anti-war songs about Australians getting maimed in World War I by Turks go this one is probably one of the best and as a cover it's not too shabby either. I'm not really about this album overall, but I give The Pogues credit for having the good sense to close the album out with what's probably the most competently performed song on this album. Final Thoughts
I do not care for this album one bit. Maybe I need to be more Celtic than I am for this sort of shit to be enjoyable to me. I never really liked the Dropkick Murphys either or House of Pain or any other "Let's mix (INSERT RANDOM GENRE OF MUSIC HERE) with Irish jigs and see what happens!" groups either so this isn't solely a problem with The Pogues, though unlike those groups that at least were okay at singing The Pogues married music I don't give a fuck about with awful vocals to create a melange of garbage. To give them some credit the people playing musical instruments seemed competent enough though they were perform music that did absolutely nothing for me. That being said, this is not a band I have any desire to investigate any further. Best Song: "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" Worst Song: "The Gentleman Soldier" Next time in this very thread we examine XTC pretending to be a 1960s psychrock outfit when we listen to The Dukes of Stratosphear's album Psonic Psunspot. AW YE YE!
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Feb 12, 2018 23:18:54 GMT -5
I always assumed Shane McGowan was affecting an accent and doing a weird voice respectively on "Jesse James" and "The Gentleman Soldier". Despite owning this album and liking The Pogues well enough, there's a lot of filler on this album. The cover of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is indeed very good. I also like "The Sick Bed of Cuchulain", "Sally MacLennane", and "Jesse James". Other than that, I usually skip these songs if they come up on Shuffle.
Also, The Dukes of Stratosphear >>>>> XTC.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 23:25:38 GMT -5
Can't directly quote for some reason.
"I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" Some lady is singing about being a man now. She's a better singer than the drunk motherfucker that sings the bulk of these songs. I guess this is a "traditional" song so I'll cut it some slack for sounding like a turn of the century jam since it probably was.
That would be bassist/singer Cait O'Riordan, who would go on to marry your nemesis Elvis Costello.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 12, 2018 23:36:42 GMT -5
I always assumed Shane McGowan was affecting an accent and doing a weird voice respectively on "Jesse James" and "The Gentleman Soldier". Despite owning this album and liking The Pogues well enough, there's a lot of filler on this album. The cover of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is indeed very good. I also like "The Sick Bed of Cuchulain", "Sally MacLennane", and "Jesse James". Other than that, I usually skip these songs if they come up on Shuffle. Also, The Dukes of Stratosphear >>>>> XTC. Wikipedia claims that it's the pennywhistle player doing vocals on "Jesse James" at least, as for "The Gentleman Soldier," it sounds to me as though it's multiple people singing but it could very well be a multi-tracked Shane McGowan (Wikipedia does not say either way).
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 20, 2018 2:17:52 GMT -5
The Dukes of Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot (1987)So The Dukes of Stratosphear are actual the band XTC doing 60s style psychedelic rock in disguise. Not being an XTC superfan or anything I was unaware of the existence of this band or this album, but I love the concept of this. Like if I was in a successful band of some sort I'd want to do something similar to this. Not necessarily 60s psychedelic stuff, but just a one off album of weird music under a different band name, though today it probably wouldn't work as well because of the internet and stuff everyone would figure it out in two seconds. Pre-Existing Prejudices
None to speak of. Like I said, I'm not an XTC superfan or anything but the albums of theirs that I've heard I've liked well enough. I'm less a fan of 60s psychedelia, but some of the bands of that time that apparently served as influences on this album are good enough so I don't think it should be overly problematic. Songs
"Vanishing Girl" Jangle pop. Pretty solid song. Parts of it remind me of that “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” song. Weird talky part at the end about butterflies and exotic fruit. "Have You Seen Jackie?" Lyrics about gender identity that, for a song written in the 80s purported to have been written in the 60s, are surprisingly not problematic. On the music side of things there are rock organs and mellotrons all over this track. I love me some rock organs and mellotrons and therefore this song is great. "Little Lighthouse" Some awesome meedly meedly guitar shit starts things off before we get shimmery guitars and walking bass stuff and swinets and random Tex-Mex brass comes in towards the end from outta nowhere. "You’re a Good Man Albert Brown (Curse You Red Barrel)" Weird spoken word shit that sounds like it came from a children’s album before it’s off to a panache of a shitty Paul McCartney piano ditty. It’s all saloon piano shit and lyrics about “the war.” This is not a particularly good song. “Collideascope” This song does a better job of being a John Lennon song than any song John Lennon ever penned. It's just fantastic. The chorus to this has been in my head for several days now. Thirteen thumbs up! "You're My Drug" Guiro all up in this mug!!! We get phaser guitars and tasty bass riffs. Kind of feels like The Byrds. Decent song. "Shiny Cage" The chord progression here reminds me of "I'm Only Sleeping." There are tabalas all over it and random calliope interludes. Backmasked sitars at the end. "Braniac's Daughter" More spoken word nonsense kicks off this one which is totally a Paul McCartney song. Whatever XTC guy is singing here does a decent McCartney impression. "The Affiliated" Acoustic guitar strumfuckery randomly gives way to ridiculous Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass style nonsense for some reason. "Pale and Precious" This is a Beach Boys song down to the multi-part harmonies and theremin. It wouldn't have been out of place on Pet Sounds. As far as album closing tracks go this one is pretty solid. Final Thoughts
This might be my favorite XTC album now. Sure, other albums of theirs had better individual songs, but as a whole this album is nearly perfect. The one misstep I guess would be "You're a Good Man Albert Brown," which musically doesn't do it for me, but works in the context of what The Dukes of Stratosphear were supposed to be. Why wouldn't they have a random whimsical saloon piano song about "the war?" Bowie and countless others in the late 60s did. That being said, while there were very clear 1960s influences on this album it was very much an XTC record with their sensibilities clearly present. As someone who cares little and less about Pink Floyd or others of their ilk I'm not particularly bothered by this fact, but I suppose some people might be since every review talks up how The Dukes were thoroughly indebted to the sounds of the sixty. Whatever the case may be this music album is a solid collection of songs and well worth adding to any record collection. Best Song: "Collideascope" Worst Song: "You’re a Good Man Albert Brown (Curse You Red Barrel)"
BONUS ALBUM REVIEW!!!!!!!The Dukes of Stratosphear - 25 O'Clock (1985)I had a heck of a time finding the album Psonic Psunspot to review as part of my death march through Pitchfork's 100 Most Important Albums of the 1980s or whatever that list is titled, but the internet eventually told me not to worry since that album as well as The Dukes' debut EP, 25 O'Clock, had been released as a single collection titled Chips From the Chocolate Fireball. It was that version that I listened to and not know which songs belonged to which album, I jotted down my thoughts on all songs present which means you're getting a bonus review. Whether or not that is a blessing or a curse I can't actually say. Pre-Existing PrejudicesThe same prejudices I had towards Psonic Psunspot exist here. XTC are a fine band. 60s psychedelia is hit or miss for me. Let's get on with the show. Songs
“25 O’Clock” We start things off with ticking clocks and chimes before we get some bass heavy psychpop. The rock organ solo and random organ flourishes that show up are pretty great. This is a solid track. “Bike Ride to the Moon” Lyrically this reminds me a lot of "See Emily Play," and other tunes of that ilk. It's like a children's song in a way, but there's an over abundance of weird studio fuckery on the vocals though that kind of makes me feel uncomfortable. I guess that's the point. “My Love Explodes” Good guitar riffs. Random dwarves of the deep vocals. I haven’t heard those guys since I was reviewing 70s Bowie albums. I like the shitty guitar solo and the screaming/bombs exploding out to is good. The random fake studio banter afterwards is not. “What in the World??...” This is the first song on this album that in my mind kind of ruins the backstory of this album being some long lost relic of the 1960s. The arrangement of the song makes it seem far more modern than that. Sure the backmasked guitars and stuff are very much of the 60s but overall this feels like a song of the 80s which it was. “Your Gold Dress” I like the guitar tone here. The piano part works too. “The Mole from the Ministry” The beginning of this is weird as fuck. Then it turns into a late era Beatles jam during the chorus. It’s about an actual mole digging up lawns I think. The song ends with more studio fuckery vocals. It’s an alright song but kind of goes on too long. Final Thoughts
Of the two albums I actually thought that this one did a better job of being a tribute to/parody of the music of the 1960s than Psonic Psunspot did which at times seemed more or less like an XTC album. That's not to say I thought this one was better. Psonic Psunspot overall had better songs and is probably the Dukes album I'll go back to in the future. Part of me thinks that if I had a better working knowledge of British psychedelic rock bands I might have enjoyed this more since on this album, more so than the follow-up, there are very clear style parodies that I'd probably have not more enjoyment out of if I knew what they were aping. Best Song: "My Love Explodes" Worst Song: "Bike Ride to the Moon" Next time we take a listen to The Soft Boys' album Underwater Moonlight.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Feb 20, 2018 3:36:20 GMT -5
This is my favourite XTC stuff too. Though I have them as the one compendium album, and listening to it all the way through can be a bit wearing (which is true of just about all XTC albums, to my ears), so I might use some iTunes wizardry to split them up into their individual releases. But yeah, the Lennon impression on Collideascope is almost eerie.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Feb 20, 2018 11:32:20 GMT -5
I, too, like this more than any actual XTC album that I've heard, although as I don't actually care that much for XTC proper, that wouldn't necessarily be saying all that much. This is a genuinely great album though, and one of main the reasons I'm glad I went about listening to all the albums on this list a couple of years back. Weirdly, my favorite song from the album is "You're a Good Man Albert Brown", which is fun and catchy, but I can see why one wouldn't like it (and you're right, it is the sort of song that you sort of need to have on an album like this, even if it's not everyone's cup of tea, as weirdly cheery tunes about "the war" are indeed a quintessential part of the genre).
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Feb 20, 2018 19:31:52 GMT -5
Chips from the Chocolate Fireball (1987) is where I met up with these records. One of those, only 9 1990-US dollars in a cut-out or used bin in Atlanta, GA. Whoopee! I usually get to song four or five of 25 O'Clock before it starts to wear on my constitution. That said, I am far more likely to put something from English Settlement or Skylarking (two records you'll be visiting a bit later in the list) in a mix, because those records have more deeply penetrating pop hooks and more engaging arrangements that feel more sincere without the winking conceit of emulation. Also, I came to the XTC records far later and have a different perspective due to that gap in time between owning this and then the others.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 20, 2018 20:15:31 GMT -5
I, too, like this more than any actual XTC album that I've heard, although as I don't actually care that much for XTC proper, that wouldn't necessarily be saying all that much. This is a genuinely great album though, and one of main the reasons I'm glad I went about listening to all the albums on this list a couple of years back. Weirdly, my favorite song from the album is "You're a Good Man Albert Brown", which is fun and catchy, but I can see why one wouldn't like it (and you're right, it is the sort of song that you sort of need to have on an album like this, even if it's not everyone's cup of tea, as weirdly cheery tunes about "the war" are indeed a quintessential part of the genre). Of the albums previously unknown to me that I've encountered during this project this is one of the ones that made me glad I suffered through a pair of Mekons albums and carried on. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorite records of all times or anything or even one of my top 10 albums of the 80s but were I to compile my own version of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s I'd definitely think about adding this one to it.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 22, 2018 7:39:05 GMT -5
The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (1980)Time for another band I know very little about. As far as I know my sole experience with The Soft Boys is the cover of “I Wanna Destroy You,” that The Circle Jerks and Debbie Gibson did in the mid-90s that got a lot of play on the radio and MTV because it was the mid-90s and getting major label releases from aging punk bands dueting with pop songstress of the 80s covering obscure post-punk bands was just what happened. It was a very weird time the mid-90s. Speaking of weird we're going to listen to this weird looking album today. Just look at that goddamn album cover. Pre-Existing PrejudicesI liked the cover The Circle Jerks and Debbie Gibson did of “I Wanna Destroy You,” well enough, but other than that I’ve got no opinion of this band or their songs since I don't think I've heard anything outside of that one cover. Songs
"I Wanna Destroy You" This is janglier than the cover I’m familiar with but still a great song. It kind of reminds me a bit of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender,” which is a fine thing for a song to remind me of. "Kingdom of Love" This is a love song about some sort of Lovecraftian horror laying eggs in a dude's face and then said eggs hatching into little insects that look like whoever the dude is singing about. All this is sung over sleazy blooze riffs, because what else would you accompany such lyrics as "or you've grown out of me like a plant," with? "Positive Vibrations" Random sitar solo. Vocal harmonies. After listening to a The Dukes of Stratosphear I'm kind of over the whole 80s bands aping the sounds of the sixties thing, but this is honestly a decent song. "I Got the Hots" Blues sleaze and bored sounding talk singing. These lyrics are kind of ridiculous. "Said the vicar to the waitress, 'The best thing about you is your waist.' She laughed a laugh that echoed round a fortress, said 'Wait till you see the statues in my bathroom.'" There's also mention of a "lump of steak." That's very nearly a meat heap and any song that mentions meat heaps is a-okay in my book. "Insanely Jealous" Tasty bass lick and high-hat intro. There something that sounds like a violin but is probably a keyboard or guitar in reality. Good rev up in the back half with meedly meedly guitar wailing low in the mix. Maybe that really is a violin. Shrug. "Tonight" Weird reverberated background chatter to begin things. This song is pretty awesome. Good riffs. Good vocals, plus I'm kind of a sucker for songs that fade out at the end. "You'll Have to Go Sideways" Holy fuck is this a good ass song! It's all cascading guitar riffs and tasty bass licks and keyboard noise and a driving rock beat. I would be okay if most music sounded like this. "Old Pervert" This is surprisingly enough about an old pervert hanging around under a bridge trying to pick up girls named "Hester and Midge." These lyrics are tremendous. Were there girls named Midge in 1980? Either way, musically this is all bass rumble and cowbell and guitar noise. It's one of the lesser songs on this album. "Queen of Eyes" A The Byrds jangle pop homage only about some horrible creature with "a carapace shell and black lace thighs," because The Soft Boys are some weird motherfuckers. "Underwater Moonlight" An old couple commit suicide together in the sea or something. I don't really know. This song didn't really do anything for me and if I'm being completely honest with ya bud, I thought it was kind of dull. Final Thoughts
All in all this is a pretty good record but truth be told like The db's and The Feelies it's probably on this list more for the influence it had on the bands that appear towards the top of this list than its own perceived greatest. Also one of the dudes in this band went on to be in Katrina and the Waves which probably had something to do with this album getting put on Pitchfork's list since they were still very serious and not about pop music when this list was complied. I'm pretty sure if they were to redo The 100 Most Ultimate Albums of the 1980s list today they'd probably replace this album Katrina and the Waves 1985 major label debut. I know I would. I kid. I kid. Best Song: "You'll Have to Go Sideways" or "I Wanna Destroy You" Worst Song: "Underwater Moonlight" Next Time on Nudeviking vs. The 1980s: Television Personalities - ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Feb 22, 2018 19:09:01 GMT -5
Nudeviking, I do like your relating of experience re. Underwater Moonlight, but neglecting to mention Robyn Hitchcock...was that by choice? He's, like, patron saint of the alt-rock weirdo church at which Pitchfork worships; services occurring midnightly on a septuple bill of a weeknight show at the rathskeller. Near matins is the time - if'n yer innerested.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 22, 2018 19:28:45 GMT -5
Nudeviking , I do like your relating of experience re. Underwater Moonlight, but neglecting to mention Robyn Hitchcock...was that by choice? He's, like, patron saint of the alt-rock weirdo church at which Pitchfork worships; services occurring midnightly on a septuple bill of a weeknight show at the rathskeller. Near matins is the time - if'n yer innerested. He wasn't the dude that ended up in Katrina and the Waves and thus seemed less important to me. Also I'd always just assumed that Robyn Hitchcock and Robyn (of Body Talk fame) were the same person.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Feb 22, 2018 19:55:33 GMT -5
Oh you saucy antagonist! Don't make me go further off my rocker near the edge of my lawn to shout!
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 25, 2018 22:02:02 GMT -5
Television Personalities - ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It (1981)Another album by a band I know nothing about, but I've been doing this for awhile now, so if I'd have to guess I'd say they're probably British, probably released one or two albums that were out of print for most of the 80s, played jangly guitar pop music that "influenced R.E.M. and/or the Pixies." I wonder how many of these are true. Pre-Existing Prejudices
None. I know nothing about this band or this album. Songs
“This Angry Silence” Fuck this guy’s voice. I’ve listened to a lot of punk and metal and 90s hardcore with barfbag vocals so I have a pretty high tolerance for awful singing but this is beyond bad. The music isn’t awful but sounds like every other lo-fi post-punk/90s indie band that ever released a 7” single. “The Glittering Prizes” This is such an awful recording. Maybe if someone with skill or high fidelity did a cover of this it’d be alright but this sucks all kinds of ass. “World of Pauline Lewis” More jangly post-punk nonsense. These fuckers neither invented this kind of music nor do it particularly well. I don’t get what makes this greater than all but sixty-whatever albums of this decade. “A Family Affair” The bass is often the only thing you can hear on these songs and it’s always playing some My First Bass Riff. I’m already bored with this. “Silly Girl” Requisite song played on an out of tune acoustic guitar. This isn’t even good acoustic guitar strum fuckery. The acoustic guitar adds nothing but murk to an already murky recording. “Diary of a Young Man” UG! Fucking spoken word bullshit and it’s poorly recorded to boot. I have no idea what this fucker is mumbling about. The choruses are a bunch of “la la las.” “Geoffrey Ingram” Fuck these vocals. I hate this so much. Geoffrey gets away with singing off key and out of time. “I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives” This song is about famous mental case Syd Barrett and having tea with him. It’s done in the style of a Syd Barrett song only without any of the whimsy or charm of one of his songs. There are bird effects throughout it and in one of the few things on this album I liked the song ends with the bird sounds going on and the singer angrily shouting, “Oh shut up!” in the Britishest voice ever. “Jackanory Stories” More poorly sung, bass heavy, jangle pop. I think another dude is singing lead on this. His voice is somehow worse than the other dude and he’s heard something “a fousand times befoe.” “Parties in Chelsea” This continues the trend of poorly played and poorly sung songs. The toms sound untuned. “La Grande Illusion” The riffs and vocal melody here aren’t awful. I think a better band covering this would make me enjoy it more though. “A Picture of Dorian Gray” More of the same. I’ve got nothing left to say about this album. It all more or less sounds the same. “The Crying Room” Acoustic guitars and a goddamn melodica. This is probably the best recording on this entire album and it’s a goddamn acoustic guitar and melodica instrumental. Everything else is a grey audio sludge and it’s this that’s crystal clear. “Look Back in Anger” Is that Oasis song a take off this? The Oasis song is way better than this. This is more audio mush and not worth listening to. Final Thoughts
While there were some decent song ideas and riffs and stuff of that sort on this album the vocals were so bad and the recording so awful that it was hard to enjoy anything here. As I said above I’m sure if I heard a better band cover some of these songs I’d like them a lot more but that’s not the case so we’re left with the Television Personalities stinking up the joint. Fuck this band and Pitchfork for acting like this is an important album. Tons of bands did this exact same shit a million times better and are well known and regarded today by the masses. Best Song: “La Grande Illusion” Worst Song: “Jackanory Stories” And so friends and neighbors it is here that I announce my hiatus from this foolhardy project. So many of these albums were just bargain basement versions of 1970s bands who did this shit better or substandard versions of stuff that R.E.M. had already mastered at the same time these mediocre albums were being released. Sure there were some good albums, some I’d never heard before but for every Coil there were two Mekons so not even the promise of cool new tunes is enough anymore. Maybe I’ll come back to it in a bit. Maybe I won’t. In the meantime I’m going to do a Best Albums of the 1980s List adjacent discography review as I go head to head with Guns n’ Roses. Why G n’ R? Well, for starters Appetite for Destruction appears on that best of the 80s list so if I ever do go back to it there will be one less album to review. Secondly it’s a short discography. I think there are only like 6 actual albums. And thirdly, I listened to a fair bit of Guns n’ Roses in my youth but never actually heard Chinese Democracy and figured this would be a good excuse to give that one a whirl.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2018 9:34:07 GMT -5
Thanks for soldiering through this ridiculous list, Nudeviking. I've enjoyed it greatly (though I'm disappointed I won't get to hear your take on Homotopy to Marie, at least in the near future).
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 26, 2018 19:04:42 GMT -5
Thanks for soldiering through this ridiculous list, Nudeviking. I've enjoyed it greatly (though I'm disappointed I won't get to hear your take on Homotopy to Marie, at least in the near future). G n' R only have six albums after which I'll probably return to this list in some capacity. Even if I end up cherry picking stuff Nurse With Wound will be one that I will do since it looks to be the last artist on this list that I've not listened to at all.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Feb 26, 2018 19:08:46 GMT -5
Nudeviking, I echo the sentiments of pantsgoblin. You should look into Young Marble Giants, though - or at least I think so.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 26, 2018 19:22:37 GMT -5
Nudeviking , I echo the sentiments of pantsgoblin . You should look into Young Marble Giants, though - or at least I think so. I own that album because like Shonen Knife and The Vaselines Kurt Cobain talked them up in an interview at some point in the early 90s, and I, being flush with part-time job money, purchased it from Borders Books & Music. Hole also covered a song off it on Live Through This. It's a good album.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Feb 26, 2018 21:10:54 GMT -5
Television Personalities - ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It (1981)Another album by a band I know nothing about, but I've been doing this for awhile now, so if I'd have to guess I'd say they're probably British, probably released one or two albums that were out of print for most of the 80s, played jangly guitar pop music that "influenced R.E.M. and/or the Pixies." I wonder how many of these are true. “Diary of a Young Man” UG! Fucking spoken word bullshit and it’s poorly recorded to boot. I have no idea what this fucker is mumbling about. The choruses are a bunch of “la la las.” Yeah, it's a shame that the list is so focused on obscure British bands who influenced R.E.M. and/or the Pixies, and didn't include entries from other genres by bands whose choruses were a bunch of 'la la las'.
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