Waiting on mine from Norman but I have a couple of ordered in items before they ship.
― Mud... Jam... Failure... (aldo), Friday, 2 June 2017 10:47 (seven years ago) link
Definitely going to buy this as well but I couldn't wait to hear it
― imago, Friday, 2 June 2017 10:50 (seven years ago) link
everyone kindly stop talking about the sodding arcade fire and start talking about this pls
― imago, Saturday, 3 June 2017 11:27 (seven years ago) link
Regarding Dawson's guitar playing. Most of the time it's *reasonably* conventional. Relying often on the classic alternating bass thumb etc. I've barely heard Bailey or Orcutt but I'd imagine they are less structured
― Duke, Saturday, 3 June 2017 17:55 (seven years ago) link
now for a rewatch of Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.
Was about to say the guitar playing reminds me a bit of some Incredible String Band tracks, something like "White Bird" perhaps.
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Saturday, 3 June 2017 18:05 (seven years ago) link
He also plays a travel guitar with a short scale and strings downtuned, which gives him loads of string buzz
― Duke, Sunday, 4 June 2017 15:16 (seven years ago) link
So even when he's playing deft little melodies, it can sound slightly "wrong"
― Duke, Sunday, 4 June 2017 15:18 (seven years ago) link
this is quite a record. slicker & tighter with the band backing, frequently too camp and overripe for my taste, but it concentrates the power and he is undeniably at the top of his game. the way he rips through shapeshifter is amazing
― ogmor, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 09:26 (seven years ago) link
digging 'ogre'
― nxd, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 10:43 (seven years ago) link
while Ogre is astounding I hope you have since moved onto digging all of it, even the overripe bits (i.e. Masseuse, which was the only one I was unsure about but which has since settled nicely into my head for ever more)
― imago, Wednesday, 7 June 2017 11:38 (seven years ago) link
let's pick up some floating Talk Talk enthusiasts (the ambient background sussurations and blurts here are as good as any on TT's last two records)
― imago, Wednesday, 7 June 2017 11:39 (seven years ago) link
saw him in leeds on friday, slower & more dramatic than on the record & got so much heavier and fierce which sold me on tracks I hadn't been as keen on - scientist - and the likes of ogre & the vile stuff were overwhelming & awesome. just as charming & funny as I'd expected (& ofc everyone slightly giddy post election), he sang a mike waterson track a cappella & opened with the parents address to his firstborn song (the first RD track I loved), so he couldn't really have won me over any more (well I could have really gone for poor old horse but I need something to look fwd to next time). I've been discovering the magic bridge over the past few weeks too, which is a gorgeous album & right up my street
― ogmor, Sunday, 11 June 2017 11:22 (seven years ago) link
a good friend of mine turned me onto Richard Dawson's music a couple weeks ago. he played me "Ogre" and then some 20 minute solo guitar & voice piece. didn't listen to him again for a week and then the end "Ogre" got stuck in my head one night ("when the sun is dying") so i got Peasant and it's amazing. makes XTC look like the MC5.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 05:12 (six years ago) link
seeing him in 2 days, couldn't be more excited
if this isn't album of the year then...someone else will have made a seriously great album
― imago, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 10:53 (six years ago) link
There's no such thing as 'album of the year'.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 11:14 (six years ago) link
being alone is
― ogmor, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 11:34 (six years ago) link
this is definitely one of the best things i've heard this year, Beggar especially is fantastic
― ufo, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 12:36 (six years ago) link
*my* album of the year ffs
― imago, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 13:00 (six years ago) link
Saw him on Saturday and I'm not convinced the full band works if I'm honest. Still tremendous though.
Can't remember the order but Scientist/Prostitute/Soldier/Weaver plus a version of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter in there somewhere, then closing with Ogre and The Vile Stuff.
Chat involved a fake electrocution, how John broke his guitar (but Richard wasn't going to make a big deal out it even though John broke his guitar), texts from Richard's dad and something about cats I don't remember.
― Mud... Jam... Failure... (aldo), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 13:09 (six years ago) link
has he toured the USA? would love to see him live this year
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 17:04 (six years ago) link
Yeah Im loving this. Some wyrd "A Field in England" vibes on some tracks. "Soldier" is one the best songs I've heard this year
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 19:26 (six years ago) link
soldier has such a comfortably-worn plodding weariness to it. played it v differently live, snarled and shouted his way through it. in general I thought he pulled the more progge elements off better live when the intensity of his performance could bear them better
― ogmor, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 19:52 (six years ago) link
good lord
― imago, Thursday, 22 June 2017 22:21 (six years ago) link
that was a tonic
i am tiredand i am afraid
― flappy bird, Friday, 23 June 2017 01:42 (six years ago) link
A cross between..
Super furry animals, Comus and Ed Barton.
That's good, BTW.
― Mark G, Friday, 23 June 2017 06:10 (six years ago) link
Love it so far
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Friday, 23 June 2017 11:07 (six years ago) link
This guy makes me want to revisit Bob Drake, who I haven't listened to in years.
― Evan, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 16:01 (six years ago) link
I'm so in love with this album. Really feeling 'Weaver' and 'Beggar' today.
― cajunsunday, Thursday, 29 June 2017 20:07 (six years ago) link
can't stop wondering about how the potato in shapeshifter got to bryneich/bernicia. it's such an odd line, is it deliberately anachronistic/anatopic?
― ogmor, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:28 (six years ago) link
there are a few deliberate anachronisms! like what's a collie doing in the dark ages
― imago, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:35 (six years ago) link
it's a better world he's made
the blurring of those times and these is like what paul kingsnorth was doing with his 'shadow tongue' in 'the wake', which i read concurrently to discovering this album, both complementing each other brilliantly
― imago, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:37 (six years ago) link
see also: the closing poem of m* n***l
― imago, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:39 (six years ago) link
but what is the significance of this potato?!
― ogmor, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link
perhaps the shapeshifter is also able to shift the shape of objects, and it had been a humble apple beforehand. magic does what magic does iirc
― imago, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
the more i think about it the more deliciously puzzling the song is, but the potato is somehow what sends it over the top for me. the potato as a casual yet unsettling gesture to seal the deal after the shapeshifter has freed them. and the way he sings it of course.
― ogmor, Thursday, 6 July 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
everyone i've played "ogre" for says it sounds like polyphonic spree :(
― flappy bird, Thursday, 6 July 2017 16:07 (six years ago) link
Mmmm hmmmmm
― Mark G, Thursday, 6 July 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link
Yeeeah, this is good
― ultros ultros-ghali, Friday, 14 July 2017 19:37 (six years ago) link
how good :p
― imago, Friday, 14 July 2017 19:45 (six years ago) link
I really wasn't sure to start with but then Ogre took over my inner jukebox and now I'm getting mildly obsessed
― ultros ultros-ghali, Friday, 14 July 2017 20:10 (six years ago) link
In other words it's growing on me like a bastard. How does it compare with his older stuff?
― ultros ultros-ghali, Friday, 14 July 2017 20:13 (six years ago) link
As good as the last album, i.e. as good as it fucken gets
― imago, Friday, 14 July 2017 20:25 (six years ago) link
late to the party but aoty
― devvvine, Sunday, 30 July 2017 14:52 (six years ago) link
obv
― imago, Sunday, 30 July 2017 15:37 (six years ago) link
imo a lot of people are going to be figuring where this fits into their decade list come december 2019
― imago, Sunday, 30 July 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link
Blame it on the 'shock of the new', or changing musical tastes, but I'm just not as impressed by this one as I was Nothing Important. Guess that last album hit me during my peak Wire-reading / free jazz listening / Derek Bailey celebrating phase, but this record, to me, feels safer and more flat-plan. I loved the lyrical sprawl of those longer songs, as well as the abstruse guitar playing. This feels more reined-in by comparison, but maybe I need to do some background reading here to get a better feel for what the songs are about and the concepts behind them.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 31 July 2017 07:49 (six years ago) link
maybe I need to do some background reading here to get a better feel for what the songs are about and the concepts behind them.
Progge warning.
― weird echo of the falsies (Tom D.), Monday, 31 July 2017 08:09 (six years ago) link
Some of the weirdness and atonality has been delegated to other instrumentalists, but it's still there! It does have a more straight-folk vibe but that's a conscious aesthetic decision and I think it works beautifully - this record really brings out RD's amazing sense of melody and progression. Plus the arrangements are flat-out wonderful.
If forced at gunpoint to choose I'd probably still go with Nothing Important but they're both phenomenal IMO, he is the best songwriter going
― imago, Monday, 31 July 2017 08:32 (six years ago) link