From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #19 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Thursday, January 22 2004 Volume 04 : Number 019 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Hey... I didn't rate it #1 or anything! ["Rex.Broome" Subject: [loud-fans] Hey... I didn't rate it #1 or anything! Miles: >>I'm doubly pleased with all these developments because reissue campaigns >>aren't usually announced until immediately after I've bought the last couple >>of CDs by an artist that I didn't own before. May I introduce you to my Kinks and Go-Betweens collections? A more sadly mismatched set of spines is not to be found outside of, I dunno, I wanna say a scholeosis ward but that doesn't really track and they prolly don't have wards for that per se. But you sorta get the idea... Roger: >>This is the second time this has appeared. I expected it from Rex, because >>he's... y'know... Rex, Hey, you make that sound like a bad thing! Worse, you make it sound easy to make that sound like a bad thing... >>So, someone please tell me: What made this album worthwhile listening? >>Go ahead, just try and convince me to give it a third listen. Or don't. Well, it's partly on my list due to pure mathematics... I didn't outright hate it and I was damn near out of 2003 records of "worth" (to me), and while (or maybe partially *because*) I found it highly problematic, I wrestled with it a lot. It occupied a strange little space of my mental hard drive that was neither "love" nor "hate" but... something else, but something compelling enough to spend time on. Which is a noteworthy achievement for someone with Neil's career... seems like he should have done everything, even all the wrong and weird things by now, and I had to work on this one. Plus, individually, there were three songs that aced his whole last album. Pity about the ending tune. I started pretending it ended one track early. Dunno what Miles's excuse is gonna be... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:07:16 -0600 From: "Michael Wells" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] resolved: 2004 sucks! Miles lists from 2003: > 1) Wire, Send > 6) Richard Thompson, The Old Kit Bag > 13) Outkast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below Good Lord, three matches to my list. The apocolypse is nigh. Aaron: > Just to get the jump on whoever's planning to post, a year from now, that > nothing good came out in 2004, here are some of the records I'm looking > forward to... Here's a few more... The Flatlanders new disc "Wheels of Fortune" comes out next week, and what little I've heard sounds great. Joe Ely rides again. Grant-Lee Phillips' new solo release "Virginia Creeper" is due in February. He's been streaming new tracks each Friday and the results look mondo promising. Young folk ace Jeffrey Foucault will have taken three years since the astonishing "Miles from Lightning" to release his second effort, but it will be worth the wait. Between gigs and tapes from the last couple years, I figure to have heard most of the material in its rough form, and wow...it's gonna be a stunner. The whole thing is done and in the can, he's trying to settle on who will release it. No firm date yet. And it's not strictly new, but Midge Ure has a two-disc (one is a VCD) live recording from the 1989 "Answers to Nothing" tour coming out shortly. Presumbly in the latter we won't catch any glimpses of Howard Jones, which would utterly spoil my evening. Speaking of which, I see that Rick Springfield has something called "Shock Denial Anger Acceptance" which is top-25 in presale. I think that title will fairly accurately sum up my stages in dealing with this news. Michael "and don't get me started on Josh Groban" Wells ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 23:52:07 -0500 (EST) From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: [loud-fans] resolved: 2004 sucks! Michael Wells: >Miles lists from 2003: >> 1) Wire, Send >> 6) Richard Thompson, The Old Kit Bag >> 13) Outkast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below > > >Good Lord, three matches to my list. The apocolypse is nigh. I had no idea I was waging a dual-list assault on your sensibilities, Michael! :-) Seriously. f I'd extended my list past 20, you'd encounter LUXOR... well, all the way down at #33 right this minute, soon to go to #35 (I'm sure I'll put both Radiohead and the Pernice Brothers ahead of it), so maybe you've got a point. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 00:38:50 -0500 (EST) From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Hey... I didn't rate it #1 or anything! Rex: >Miles: >>>I'm doubly pleased with all these developments because reissue campaigns >>>aren't usually announced until immediately after I've bought the last couple >>>of CDs by an artist that I didn't own before. > >May I introduce you to my Kinks and Go-Betweens collections? A more sadly >mismatched set of spines is not to be found outside of, I dunno, I wanna say >a scholeosis ward but that doesn't really track and they prolly don't have wards >for that per se. But you sorta get the idea... My Kinks rows (yes, I have so many Kinks CDs that they take up more than one row of a drawer, even in my capacious Can-Am cabinet) are more uniform than they used to be, thanks to the '98-'99 Castle and Velvel reissue campaigns. I think I replaced everything except the PRESERVATION set, which is still represented by the Rhino version. [on to Neil's GREENDALE] >Rog: >>>So, someone please tell me: What made this album worthwhile listening? >>>Go ahead, just try and convince me to give it a third listen. Or don't. > >Well, it's partly on my list due to pure mathematics... I didn't outright hate it >and I was damn near out of 2003 records of "worth" (to me), You may not want to hear my explanation, because in order to play GREENDALE and refresh my memory just a bit, the CD I popped out of the computer to make way for GREENDALE was, coincidentally, the much-loathed re*ac*tor, which is one of my very favorite Neil products. Anyway, unlike Rex and despite my tendencies that I previously labelled "fogeyish," I enjoyed quite a few albums in 2003, and up through my #16 (Starlight Mints' BUILT ON SQUARES), I don't find any of the entries problematic at all. But, perhaps significantly, the #17 record is GREENDALE, which represents a transition to the albums that I (like Rex) find problematic. GREENDALE's narrative is by turns problematic (it's incomplete even if you've seen it "performed"; the chronology is way off -- *Grandma* is still in the summer of love but her son's a Vietnam vet?) and simplistic (easy pro-environment and anti-media stances). And the studio performances seem a bit undercooked. Not making a "pro" argument, am I? Well, like almost everything Neil does, GREENDALE has some good stuff! Whenever Neil solos or even just lets the distortion ring a little on his rhythm work, it's right on. Several tunes work up a righteous head of steam (the guitar/harmonica riff of "Leave the Driving" comes to mind). I love it when Neil sings "Carmichael, you asshole!" The loose acoustic guitar string vibrating low on "Bandit." Neil's sweet, hushed vocal on that same song, and the backing vocals. Plus I'm an outright sucker for the basic Neil electric sound. GREENDALE has lots of good moments, even if they don't add up to RUST NEVER SLEEPS, or even SLEEPS WITH ANGELS. Rex and I also both had the Live Neil GREENDALE experience last year, which, for both of us (and for most of the tour stops), actually preceded the album's release. I don't presume to speak for him -- or for that matter, anyone else who saw the tour -- but live, all those songs kicked major butt. I'm not even taking into account the actors and dancers and Indian Chiefs and other stage hoopla, which I'm not sure added much; I'm saying that the live musical performances by their lonesome were *much* more muscular and lively than their studio counterparts. So I might overestimate the album's intrisic merits because I'm still connected to the concert versions, which sounded *wonderful* one starry summer night outside St. Louis. Don't know if that amounts to a coherent explanation, but that's what I got right now. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 01:10:10 EST From: JRT456@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] resolved: 2004 sucks! In a message dated 1/21/04 9:13:02 PM, braneout@earthlink.net writes: > Speaking of which, I see that Rick Springfield has something called "Shock > Denial Anger Acceptance" which is top-25 in presale. I think that title will > fairly accurately sum up my stages in dealing with this news. > Hey, don't mock the Rick! He was my favorite interview of last year, primarily because he was willing to dwell on how he would've been R. Kelly if people had been paying attention to his relationship with Linda Blair. I only like two of the Green Pajamas albums, and none of Jeff Kelly's earlier solo work, but his upcoming solo album is really impressive. ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #19 ******************************