From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-digest) To: seven-seas-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-digest V2 #634 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-digest Sunday, August 10 2003 Volume 02 : Number 634 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 08:00:18 -0600 From: "K. F. Smith" Subject: seven-seas Slideling review Not a very nice one, unfortunately. http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2003/musicReviews/musicM/ianMcculloch.html Ian McCulloch Slideling Cooking Vinyl / spinART A couple of years ago I caught one of the Echo and the Bunnymen reunion shows in Washington, DC. It was probably the first time I'd seen them since the late-'80s. As it turned out, the show felt very familiar: the same fog machine, the same Leonard Cohen/Lou Reed/David Bowie/Jim Morrison fixation, the same tunes from classic records like 1984's Ocean Rain, and the same leather jacket on the back of singer Ian McCulloch. Of course, a few things have changed since those days. In 2003, McCulloch (Mac to his pals) writes songs that are a bit sunnier, less Messianic. On his first solo album since 1992's weak Mysterio, Mac still sounds in fine voice and his melodic gifts are intact for the most part. The problem is he just doesn't have much left to say. And without Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant around, there's nothing really sonically interesting to make this one worth more than a couple of spins. The opening "Love In Veins" has some basic crunchy anthemic guitar chords and a catchy melody, but irritatingly silly lyrics. "Got you in my sun sun / Yeah, got you in my rain / And I got you in my blood, blood," McCulloch sings. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland of Coldplay turn up on "Sliding" and "Arthur," which features a spooky, cello-tinged, Ocean Rain-like melody on the verses and a bouncy chorus that ultimately goes nowhere. McCulloch does come up with a couple of sweetly elegiac tunes in "Playgrounds and City Parks" and "Seasons." On the latter he sings, "Running out of time / It's half past yours and mine / Forgetting more than we remember / Still trying to find things we left behind / In Januarys to Decembers." He sings about a woman waiting for her time to come on the pretty "She Sings (All My Life)." The character isn't sketched with much definition but at least McCulloch sounds great using his lower register on the effective chorus. That's about as good as it gets, though. On "Baby Hold On," Mac reassures a loved one with empty, generic Hallmark card rhymes. "High Wires" is the tune that screams hit single here but even it seems to lack surprises. "Another Train" sounds like two songs fused together, neither very good. The set0closing "Stake Your Claim" has some decent axe work from guitarist Pete Byrne, virtually aping Sergeant. Unfortunately it's a fairly uninteresting, repetitive song. Slideling isn't a terrible album by any means. It just doesn't have a whole lot of depth to it. Call it Bunnymen extra-lite. How long can it be until they roll out that fog machine and kick into "The Killing Moon" one more time? Sean Slone ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 14:54:41 -0500 From: Amy Moseley Rupp Subject: seven-seas OT: No lager left? I read elsewhere that there is only a ten day supply of lager left in England. Truth or fiction? Welcome to the 100F club, y'all ;-) - --Amy (110F on Friday) - ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 16:09:02 -0400 From: Red Subject: Re: seven-seas OT: No lager left? At 02:54 PM 8/10/03 -0500, you wrote: >I read elsewhere that there is only a ten day supply >of lager left in England. Truth or fiction? oh please! ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 21:07:39 +0100 From: "Matt H" Subject: Re: seven-seas OT: =?iso-8859-1?B?oE5v?= lager left? >>I read elsewhere that there is only a ten day supply >>of lager left in England. Truth or fiction? >oh please! Actually, this one's supposedly true, if our national news yesterday is to be believed. Serves people right for drinking nancy girlie lager is all I can say! My local cider farm has shitloads of supplies! Echo and the Bunnymen | the official website: http://www.bunnymen.com ___________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 21:07:39 +0100 From: "Matt H" Subject: Re: seven-seas OT: =?iso-8859-1?B?oE5v?= lager left? >>I read elsewhere that there is only a ten day supply >>of lager left in England. Truth or fiction? >oh please! Actually, this one's supposedly true, if our national news yesterday is to be believed. Serves people right for drinking nancy girlie lager is all I can say! My local cider farm has shitloads of supplies! Echo and the Bunnymen | the official website: http://www.bunnymen.com ___________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 21:17:31 +0100 From: "Matt H" Subject: seven-seas Meanwhile..... Back to the music.... What's anyone listening to at the moment? I'm after ideas! The new Snow Patrol, as reported by Stu, is an awesome album, hardly off my stereo since I bought it, but I've just acquired another album, so I shall be listening to that all day tomorrow. It's called Navigating By The Stars, and it's by former (?) New Model Army frontman Justin Sullivan. I query it because I think they're still going - it's just that he's released a solo album this year. And not bad at all it is too. Somewhat different to NMA....no drums, just acoustic guitar and strings, with some very quiet percussion, mainly cymbals......rather mournful lyrics too, instead of the sloganeering stuff NMA were renowned for. Plus I found out this weekend that Haven released a new EP a couple of weeks ago, so I had to acquire that too....if you liked Between The Senses you'll like this. Echo and the Bunnymen | the official website: http://www.bunnymen.com ___________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-digest V2 #634 ********************************