From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V6 #259 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Tuesday, September 2 2003 Volume 06 : Number 259 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [idealcopy] Half Baked [Fergus Kelly ] [idealcopy] Apropos of nothing in particular ["Stephen Graziano" Subject: [idealcopy] Half Baked Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 06:40:12 -0400 From: HowardJSpencer@aol.com Subject: [idealcopy] Re: idealcopy-digest V6 #255 > >The pacing is pretty good for the > >most part, except for the inclusion of Half Eaten, >> which, quite frankly, is appalling. Should be called >> Half Arsed. Honest to God, what were they thinking ? >Does anyone like Half Eaten? Definitely one of the worst Wire tracks IMO. >I'd have shoved it on a b-side at best Oh no no no no no no, way off the mark! Half Eaten, like Nice Streets Above, is a very desirable counterpoint to the fairly straight song/lyrical structures elsewhere on Send IMO. I can happily listen to Half Eaten as a standalone too - I like the Gilbertian growling and playful guitar solo. Perhaps, as its title hints. it's not a 'finished' idea, but I'm glad they stuck it on anyway. ))) Nice Streets is, quite literally, streets ahead of Half Eaten. With the Half Eaten vocals so buried and distorted it's just texture, which is fine, but there is a full lyric to it, unlike Nice Streets, so you would think some measure of intelligibility would be a priority. The guitar 'solo' is excruciating. Really tuneless. Embarrassing actually. I've tried hard to listen to this a few times, but can't bring myself to listen to it anymore. In terms of pacing, You Can't... would have segued very well into 99.9, but jamming Half Eaten in between them kinda spoils it. Though maybe that was the intention. You Can't Leave Now is an absolutely TOWERING track, with it's cod doom mood, it's like an update on Indirect Inquiries. The bass is like a fucking DEPTH CHARGE. And so good to hear Wire slow things down for a bit. This track shows the architectural approach to song construction at it's best, built, as it is, from what Bruce calls 'junkyard scrap' (old tapes, live material, outtakes etc). The textures, construction and editing give it great depth and clarity, the guitars and bass having reached a much better balance, as they do on Marx, another killer track. It's amazing the difference it makes when the bass is really PRESENT. The dropping in and out of different strands of the track, and the sweet vocal quality in nice contrast to the buzzing massed guitars (as in Trash/Treasure) work very well, really moving things on. And, in response to John's mail, I don't, by any means, dislike Send, it's just the familiarity makes it damn near impossible to listen to the tracks afresh, as an album. It'd need to be a completely new album to do that, and constructed as such. What the hell anyway, I've done my own mix and I'm as happy as a pig in shite with that... Fergus np - Z'ev : Ghost Stories __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 13:27:46 -0500 From: "Stephen Graziano" Subject: [idealcopy] Apropos of nothing in particular Just was playing the Cramps first album and was struck by how after all these years, that segue from "Teenage Werewolf" into "Sunglasses After Dark" w/ the extended fuzz/feedback intro and the primal thumping drums is still such a pure, powerful, primal, uber-rock moment. sg ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V6 #259 *******************************