From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #128 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 Tuesday, May 11 2004 Volume 04 : Number 128 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] more new releases ["Bradley Skaught" ] Re: [loud-fans] more new releases ["Fortissimo" ] Re: [loud-fans] more new releases [Aaron Mandel ] Re: [loud-fans] more new releases ["Bradley Skaught" ] [loud-fans] sproton layer [Jenny Grover ] [loud-fans] Lloyd Cole [Roger Winston ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 09:53:30 -0700 From: "Bradley Skaught" Subject: [loud-fans] more new releases I picked up a couple new releases over the weekend. The new Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose, is really fantastic! I'm not a White Stripes fan, so I wasn't sure how i'd like Jack White working with an old favorite. It's fantastic, though--surprisingly rough and rocking at times. I admire Lynn's bravery. It almost sounds like Crazy Horse. The songs are solid, the lyrics are brilliant, the singing is amazing. It really does _feel_ like classic Loretta and it's nice to finally have a Jack White record with a good drummer and some songs I like! The other great new release is Sam Phillips's _A Boot and a Show_. I liked the idea of _Fan Dance_--a stripped down, simpler Sam Phillips record--but it ended up just sounding half baked. The new one is, I think, the successful version of that idea. The songs are stunning and, while the record is still very stripped down and live sounding (_beautifully_ recorded), it feels realized. It's probably a song or three too long, but it's nearly flawless otherwise and I can't recommend it highly enough--might be my new favorite of hers. love, B - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.669 / Virus Database: 431 - Release Date: 4/26/2004 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 10:42:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Gil Ray Subject: Re: [loud-fans] more new releases - --- Bradley Skaught wrote: > nice to finally have a Jack White record with a good > drummer and some songs I > like! Speaking of good drummers..Stacey finally made me listen to Rockin' The Suburbs by Ben Folds, and aside from it being very fabulous, he is an awesome drummer! I'm liking the new Magnetic Fields' record also, but dearly miss Claudia's singing. As much as I love Mr. Merritt's stuff, it's not a bad thing to get a break from his vocal stylings every now and then. Great songs though, and wonderful arrangements. Gil __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 12:54:31 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] more new releases On Mon, 10 May 2004 09:53:30 -0700, "Bradley Skaught" said: > The other great new release is Sam Phillips's _A Boot and a Show_. I > liked the > idea of _Fan Dance_--a stripped down, simpler Sam Phillips record--but it > ended up just sounding half baked. The new one is, I think, the > successful > version of that idea. The songs are stunning and, while the record is > still > very stripped down and live sounding (_beautifully_ recorded), it feels > realized. It's probably a song or three too long, Which is kind of weird, in that it's only about 35 minutes long as is. I've listened to it only two-three times, and I'm not sure what I think of it yet. Unlike the last one (which I argued wasn't as stripped-down as everyone said - just that the instruments used were more conventional, in that they evoke "stripped-down"ness...), this one is, I think, more sparely arranged. But the songs haven't started sticking yet. I'm quite fond of the new Magnetic Fields, although there are two-three genre-take songs that seem left over from _69 Love Songs_ and which kind of drag the latter half of the CD ("In an Operetta" in particular). But the first half is this effortless-sounding flow of perfect, witty pop songs - and "So you quote love unquote me" is my new favorite first line of a song. I don't have the record with me, but I think the New Order - -sounding disco-y track is pretty funny, too - in that in the past, MF songs often sounded as if they were recorded on acoustic instruments in a room, but weren't - but this track, which is entirely "real" instruments (no synths on the whole record) is arranged and FX'd so that it *sounds* as if there are a raft of synths on it. And "It's Only Time" is just too beautiful for words. - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Solipsism is its own reward :: :: --Crow T. Robot ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 14:17:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] more new releases On Mon, 10 May 2004, Fortissimo wrote: > I'm quite fond of the new Magnetic Fields, although there are two-three > genre-take songs that seem left over from _69 Love Songs_ and which kind > of drag the latter half of the CD ("In an Operetta" in particular). Oddly, that's (I think) the only song which has grown on me. Some I liked right away, some I didn't -- that one magically became less offensive upon relistening. Agreed that the second half flows much differently, and much worse, than the first. > But the first half is this effortless-sounding flow of perfect, witty > pop songs - and "So you quote love unquote me" is my new favorite first > line of a song. Note that this song (in a different version) came out in 1998. I like the new arrangement, but I loved the old one; if you want to hear it, it was rereleased recently on the compilation All's Fair In Love And Chickfactor (an excellent comp, I thought, despite Chickfactor's descent into cloying intolerability in print). a ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 11:31:15 -0700 From: "Bradley Skaught" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] more new releases > I'm quite fond of the new Magnetic Fields, although > there are two-three > genre-take songs that seem left over from _69 Love > Songs_ and which kind > of drag the latter half of the CD ("In an Operetta" in > particular). I agree--this song, in particular, is very annoying. Maybe because the first half of the album manages to be funny and moving and colorful without getting quite _that_ silly. It definitely has the _69 Love Songs_ novelty vibe, which most of the new album doesn't. I loved the _69 Love Songs_ stuff live, but never warmed to the record(s) much--maybe it was the volume of material, but I also think there were too many genre exerises for my taste. >But > the first half is this effortless-sounding flow of perfect, >witty pop > songs - and "So you quote love unquote me" is my new >favorite first line > of a song. That song also features the great line "so you say i'm not not cute" > is arranged and FX'd so that it *sounds* > as if there are a raft of synths on it. It's brilliantly done. I like hearing them go through all their various stylistic personalities without synths--it hasn't eliminated the synth-pop influences from their sound, they've just transferred that vocabulary to live instruments. They've still got drum machines on there, too. > And "It's Only Time" is just too beautiful for words. I agree. As uneven as the album is towards the end, it could end up being my favorite of theirs. I agree with Gil that another vocal or two by someone else might have helped a bit. Or simply lose two or three songs--always my first choice! B - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.681 / Virus Database: 443 - Release Date: 5/10/2004 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 13:51:02 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] more new releases On Mon, 10 May 2004 14:17:00 -0400 (EDT), "Aaron Mandel" said: > > But the first half is this effortless-sounding flow of perfect, witty > > pop songs - and "So you quote love unquote me" is my new favorite first > > line of a song. > > Note that this song (in a different version) came out in 1998. I like the > new arrangement, but I loved the old one; if you want to hear it, it was > rereleased recently on the compilation All's Fair In Love And Chickfactor > (an excellent comp, I thought, despite Chickfactor's descent into cloying > intolerability in print). I'm not sure why I said "new favorite" - I probably should have said "recent favorite," because even though I have the single of the original version, I hadn't listened to it for quite some time. Time to fire up the ol' digitization routine... Or check out the CF comp, I suppose. - --not not Jeff - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree :: what they are made of, where they come from, or how often :: they should appear. :: --Lemony Snicket ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 19:07:37 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: [loud-fans] sproton layer I got my (thankfully) cheap copy of the Sproton Layer CD today. It's interesting and amusing mainly for who it is. Think: Roger Miller meets Syd Barrett in the park, then they go surf to Dvorak's "Symphony for the New World," and end their day waltzing at a smalltime circus. Roger's vocals are emotionally flat, there's lots of uninteresting trumpet, and some really silly lyrics. "I see giant leaves!" But hearing it in retrospect, you can certainly hear the seeds of what would grow into cool things later on. And, hey, they were only in high school, after all. Jen ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 22:18:06 -0600 From: Roger Winston Subject: [loud-fans] Lloyd Cole Hey, Lloyd Cole has like 3 new albums out (ETC., MUSIC IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, and PLASTIC WOOD). Anybody heard any of them and have any opinions? Thx. Latre. --Rog - -- Distance, Redefined: http://www.reignoffrogs.com/flasshe ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #128 *******************************