Random Music Thoughts Thread

[Lark]

The music, the politics, the food, some of the entertainment, definitely the more recent Dr Who episodes.

Its ALL been shit.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I did a quick ranking of every Bowie studio album:

David Bowie (1967) - 2.5/5
Space Oddity (1969) - 3/5
The Man Who Sold The World (1970) - 3.5/5
Hunky Dory (1971) - 4.5/5
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972) - 4.5/5
Aladdin Sane (1973) - 4/5
Pin-ups (1973) - 1.5/5
Diamond Dogs (1974) - 4/5
Young Americans (1975) - 3.5/5
Station to Station (1976) - 5/5
Low (1977) - 5/5
"Heroes" (1977) - 5/5
Lodger (1979) - 4.5/5
Scary Monsters (1980) - 4.5/5
Let's Dance (1983) - 3/5
Tonight (1984) - 1/5
Labyrinth Soundtrack (1986) - 3/5
Never Let Me Down (1987) - 1.5/5
Tin Machine (1989) - 3/5
Tin Machine II (1991) - 2.5/5
Black Tie, White Noise (1993) - 2.5/5
The Buddha of Suburbia Soundtrack (1993) - 3/5
Outside (1995) - 4/5
Earthling (1997) - 4/5
'Hours...' (1999) - 1.5/5
Heathan (2002) - 4/5
Reality (2003) - 3.5/5
The Next Day (2013) - 3.5/5
Blackstar (2016) - 4.5/5

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Bowie sounding the most Neil Young-like in his career:

He turned a glam rock song into a folk ballad. I think this just became my favorite Bowie song. Better quality version with full set list:

 

[Stigmata]

Yeah, I tuned out after mellon collie. Even that one I thought could have been condensed into one really solid album and maybe a bonus EP's worth of songs. It felt bloated and pompous, I remember Corgan saying he wanted to make another The Wall for the kids of the 90s. I liked Siamese Dream a lot more. I did like that see thru shirt the bassist wore in the artwork on Adore though. I saw her tiddies.

my favorite two grunge bands are Pearl Jam and Pavement, if you count Pavement's first album as a grunge album, which I do and will fight anyone who says otherwise

If you condense Mellon Collie to about one album's worth, it's easily one of the best rock albums of the 90s. It tends to suffer the fate of most double albums of oversaturating the listener with content and losing momentum throughout parts of the album. I think Corgan was deeply hurt by Adore being a flop (to be fair, I think that's an amazing album, yet was too radically different from everyone's expectations and their own prior work to really be given a fair shake) and thus he kinda checked out a bit afterwards. All his post Adore songwriting just seems very bland and vanilla, mostly unforgettable tracks that aren't necessarily bad but just kinda get lost in the shuffle of more engaging alternatives.

Musical thought for the day: Kid A is pretentious garbage. I silently judge people who tell me it's equal to or better than OK Computer. That album is /r/im14andthisisdeep in musical form. I'm a music snob -- deal with it.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

If you condense Mellon Collie to about one album's worth, it's easily one of the best rock albums of the 90s. It tends to suffer the fate of most double albums of oversaturating the listener with content and losing momentum throughout parts of the album.

Yeah, there’s very few double albums I can listen to in one sitting. Even the White Album and The Wall feel bloated to me. I’ve tried to edit The White Album down to about a 46 minute playlist. Most Beatles single albums and albums in general didn’t exceed 50 minutes in the days of vinyl because of the loss of fidelity due to decreased groove size in longer albums.

But I had trouble getting a selection and sequence I was happy with. I guess I’m just too used to hearing it a certain way, that it felt wrong removing certain tracks.

I’ve noticed with albums released after the dawn of CD, they started getting longer, since you can fit 80 minutes on one CD. But I feel like a lot of bands just started padding their albums with filler songs. A lot of vinyl reissues of 90s albums have to be on two LPs because so many were well over 50 minutes.

I think Corgan was deeply hurt by Adore being a flop (to be fair, I think that's an amazing album, yet was too radically different from everyone's expectations and their own prior work to really be given a fair shake) and thus he kinda checked out a bit afterwards. All his post Adore songwriting just seems very bland and vanilla, mostly unforgettable tracks that aren't necessarily bad but just kinda get lost in the shuffle of more engaging alternatives.

I remember rushing out to buy the Adore CD. I like the incorporation of electronic elements because I was pretty heavy into Depeche Mode and Prodigy at the time.

It’s kind of a lose lose for bands that get as huge as that. If they try to do something new, they get shit for either selling out or breaking from a loved formula. If they release an album in the same style as the last, critics and fans are likely to accuse them of repeating themselves.

I think people thought they wanted Mellon Collie II, but had that been what they made, people would’ve complained they’d become too one note.

Smashing Pumpkins seemed to take a trajectory similar to U2 after Adore.

My favorite U2 period was from Achtung Baby to Pop, because it was pretty experimental and there was a sense of adventure in those 3 albums. But Pop didn’t do as well, so I think they just went to a very generic, uninspired formula with most everything after that. I can’t stand anything they’ve made since 2000.

Musical thought for the day: Kid A is pretentious garbage. I silently judge people who tell me it's equal to or better than OK Computer. That album is /r/im14andthisisdeep in musical form. I'm a music snob -- deal with it.

For a long time I considered Kid A the greatest and most original album ever made. But then I discovered some old art rock bands like Can and Kraftwerk and realized Kid A really wasn’t all that groundbreaking. I also hear a lot of influence from Bowie’s Low. They just blended that classic art rock aesthetic with EDM and more modern production techniques.

But I also think Kid A helped them get out of a rut. They needed to do that one and Amnesiac before they could (sort of) go back to basics with Hail. I wonder if they’d gone straight from OK to Hail, what the fan and critics reactions would’ve been..

In Rainbows is my favorite. I listened to OK computer so much I think I got permanently tired of it. But then I also rarely listen to Kid A anymore. But I’ll still listen to Hail to the Thief or In Rainbows fairly often. Sometimes The Bends. Maybe I’ll listen to OK Computer tomorrow and see how it’s aged.

 

[Stigmata]

I remember rushing out to buy the Adore CD. I like the incorporation of electronic elements because I was pretty heavy into Depeche Mode and Prodigy at the time.

It’s kind of a lose lose for bands that get as huge as that. If they try to do something new, they get shit for either selling out or breaking from a loved formula. If they release an album in the same style as the last, critics and fans are likely to accuse them of repeating themselves.

I think people thought they wanted Mellon Collie II, but had that been what they made, people would’ve complained they’d become too one note.

That part I understand. It's just such an absolute departure from any of their previous work that i can see how people in 1998 who were looking for, as you say, Mellon Collie pt2, would be disappointed. It's such a fantastic album, though. You have to be in a certain headspace to really appreciate it, and I, admittedly, didn't like or understand it much upon first listen. The worse thing they ever did was label it a Smashing Pumpkins album -- if they'd just made it some sort of Corgan side project then I imagine it would've gotten the acclaim it deserves. I imagine it being one of those albums that comes back in 10 years and is appreciated long after the fact.

For a long time I considered Kid A the greatest and most original album ever made. But then I discovered some old art rock bands like Can and Kraftwerk and realized Kid A really wasn’t all that groundbreaking. I also hear a lot of influence from Bowie’s Low. They just blended that classic art rock aesthetic with EDM and more modern production techniques.

But I also think Kid A helped them get out of a rut. They needed to do that one and Amnesiac before they could (sort of) go back to basics with Hail. I wonder if they’d gone straight from OK to Hail, what the fan and critics reactions would’ve been..

In Rainbows is my favorite. I listened to OK computer so much I think I got permanently tired of it. But then I also rarely listen to Kid A anymore. But I’ll still listen to Hail to the Thief or In Rainbows fairly often. Sometimes The Bends.

Ughhhhh, lol. Too me, Kid A just tries way too hard to be this Year 2000 progressive crossover album that seemingly has deep layers, but ultimately falls flat and presents itself very simplistically. I even like Amnesiac better than Kid A and I'm not super fond of that album either (it's really just a Kid A b-side), but yeah. It seems to me as if the shadow cast by OK Computer was so large that they just went way over the top to deliver something creative and different that it just feels contrived. Hail took me awhile to appreciate but I can enjoy it now.

To each their own, though.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

That part I understand. It's just such an absolute departure from any of their previous work that i can see how people in 1998 who were looking for, as you say, Mellon Collie pt2, would be disappointed. It's such a fantastic album, though. You have to be in a certain headspace to really appreciate it, and I, admittedly, didn't like or understand it much upon first listen. The worse thing they ever did was label it a Smashing Pumpkins album -- if they'd just made it some sort of Corgan side project then I imagine it would've gotten the acclaim it deserves. I imagine it being one of those albums that comes back in 10 years and is appreciated long after the fact.





Ughhhhh, lol. Too me, Kid A just tries way too hard to be this Year 2000 progressive crossover album that seemingly has deep layers, but ultimately falls flat and presents itself very simplistically. I even like Amnesiac better than Kid A and I'm not super fond of that album either (it's really just a Kid A b-side), but yeah. It seems to me as if the shadow cast by OK Computer was so large that they just went way over the top to deliver something creative and different that it just feels contrived. Hail took me awhile to appreciate but I can enjoy it now.

To each their own, though.

Yes, I prefer Amnesiac too. By leagues. I’ve never seen it rank above Kid A in any of those articles where they rank every album from worst to best.

Have you see this: Radiohead Meeting People is Easy (magyar felirattal) - YouTube

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I’ve been teased for expressing admiration for Miley Cyrus. But I think she is full of untapped potential.

Her voice was “made for rock”, to quote some YouTube comment. It’s just been mismatched with some record label’s idea of pop. Nothing wrong with pop, but I think Miley has a great rock album in her somewhere. With the right focus and the right band and producer, she could surprise everyone.

Seen videos of her covering old Blondie and Zeppelin songs in concert. She’s good. Similar range to Joan Jett in her prime

Fight me

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I heard echoes of Marianne Faithful and Patti Smith in the opening “helllooo” lyric. Shivers.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

 

[Lexicon]

Random music thought:

I wonder just how many songs over the course of human history have included the words, ‘in the pouring rain.’

 

[Jaguar]

Okay, SNL is getting turned off. This isn't music. Justin Bieber can't sing.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I understand Ziggy Stardust is an important album, but I actually find Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane to be better representations of Bowie's glam rock phase. HD is superior in songwriting, and AS is superior in production quality. But I get why Ziggy is rated so highly, it was still a first in many respects and arguably a more cohesive album than HD or AS.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I’m convinced people like Zappa and just about every jazz musician exist only to make me feel horribly inadequate at my craft

Pretty much every musician makes me feel this, really. But especially the virtuosos who can play anything in any time signature with their pinky fingers.

Something to be said for knowing one’s limitations. I am thinking about selling or donating my remaining instruments and gear to some child prodigy or someone who can do something with them

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I am listening to any Bowie live bootlegs I can find. Often they exceed the official live alums, if not in production quality, at least in energy and musicianship.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I used to love playing this bass part back in the day, and I got it sounding pretty faithful to the version on the song. The LA Woman album has some really great bass playing

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Marty McFly travelled back and taught him how to shred

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]