BTW Meaghan Garvey did end up writing about 1989 for Pitchfork - in the end of year list that year: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9558-the-50-best-albums-of-2014/?page=2
― monotony, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 23:54 (five years ago) link
i'm not really a fan of the Martin tracks on Red (they feel awkwardly between worlds, the choruses are underwritten & they feel out of place on the album) but the tracks she did with Dan Wilson and Jeff Bhasker are some of her very best, "Treacherous" is probably my all-time favourite TS track and "Holy Ground" is wonderful too
― ufo, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 00:25 (five years ago) link
Yeah both those songs are great. The bridge on “Treacherous” is tremendous; and “Holy Ground” may be my favorite cut on the LP.
― Stub yr toe on the yacht rock (morrisp), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 01:20 (five years ago) link
Oh yeah Holy Ground is so great
And that Garvey write-up of 1989 is totally good, too!
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 02:12 (five years ago) link
Brad is right to single out “Treacherous” as (and i’m paraphrasing here) maybe the pinnacle of her songwriting craft while simultaneously singling out “All Too Well” as the pinnacle of her songbook.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 03:56 (five years ago) link
and the pinnacle of “All Too Well” is the 3rd chorus, when she sings — It was rare, I was there...(subscribe to my blog, Plaid Shirt Days, for more insights on “All Too Well”)
― Stub yr toe on the yacht rock (morrisp), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 04:41 (five years ago) link
ugh ugh ugh @ the first paragraph of this
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elvis-presley-live-1969/
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 26 August 2019 02:18 (five years ago) link
Lana Del ReyNorman Fucking Rockwell!
POLYDOR / INTERSCOPE • 2019
9.4BEST NEW MUSIC
― ilxor, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 05:50 (five years ago) link
I don't know if I've ever heard more than a song or two by her, but in the first two paragraphs of that review she's compared to Springsteen, Lou Reed, the Beach Boys, Elvis, and Dylan and Hemingway, Whitman, and Fitzgerald. Later, Portishead, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. And Elton John. And it's also produced by Jack Antonoff. So ... sure, BNM.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 12:18 (five years ago) link
I almost broke my brain wondering which one would rang most true to me. Springsteen, maybe circa Darkness on the Edge of Town.
― Ludo, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 12:45 (five years ago) link
legit great album
― omar little, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 13:44 (five years ago) link
that linda ronstadt retrospective really primed the pump for today's LDR rave
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 3 September 2019 14:12 (five years ago) link
Heart Like a Fucking Wheel
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 3 September 2019 14:36 (five years ago) link
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIEY7S5RTWOJ093a6VWHvwEaqI1X-RvpQG3vS8U94Re5P6eo-eMQ
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 14:45 (five years ago) link
Normal Fucking Rockcrit
― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, 3 September 2019 14:50 (five years ago) link
I was kinda glad to see P4K reviewing those Swift albums? And they were pretty great reads, all of them. Though I remember the pre-1989 days when you'd go into PK4, search for Taylor Swift, and no results came out. Kind of a crown achievement.
― cpl593H, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 15:50 (five years ago) link
P4K sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
― cpl593H, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 15:54 (five years ago) link
Tropical Fuck Storm are the latest sufferers of the "your lyrics aren't good enough essays" school of music criticism
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 05:43 (five years ago) link
Oh? I thought it was a good review, myself. I had a joke about how I wished all bad lyricists were consumed in a tropical fuck storm but I guess it’s a nice image rather than a funny joke
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 5 September 2019 06:02 (five years ago) link
i think the criticism of the lyrics of "the happiest guy around" and "the planet of straw men" is fair if a bit harsh, but the real issue i have is it only spends a paragraph actually discussing the music - ideally a review should engage substantially with both words and music rather than one or the other.
― ufo, Thursday, 5 September 2019 06:19 (five years ago) link
yeah we've kind of been over this already but "punk quartet" and a Beefheart reference fall significantly short of even basically describing their sound, and not even mentioning the male/female vocal interplay is a crime
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 06:21 (five years ago) link
Between granting nearly full marks to Lana Del Rey, underselling the HTRK album, refusing to engage with Tropical Fuck Storm the band rather than just Gareth Liddiard the poet and panning the new Tool simply because lol Tool, I suppose the Fork is just e-zining as it has always done.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 5 September 2019 07:56 (five years ago) link
The Tool review contains my favorite jerk move of theirs, where they pan a band they've always hated while praising albums they previously slated even harder
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 08:01 (five years ago) link
That Tool review falls into one of the most common Tool traps, namely "Keenan is stupid, therefore Tool is stupid." Keenan *is* stupid, but that is as irrelevant to the band imo as any of the stupid vocalists King Crimson has had over the years.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 12:57 (five years ago) link
At least it talks about the music.
― #YABASIC (morrisp), Thursday, 5 September 2019 14:44 (five years ago) link
Won’t somebody please think of the music
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 5 September 2019 14:51 (five years ago) link
I think about it all the time
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 5 September 2019 14:53 (five years ago) link
i love it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:07 (five years ago) link
the first sentence is pretty great
― frogbs, Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:28 (five years ago) link
i don't really think tool sound or operate much like king crimson ever did but it's the only band anyone brings up for comparison
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:36 (five years ago) link
But they shared a producer brad, that makes them the same band
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:38 (five years ago) link
looking over david bottrill's production credits: hey this guy made a lot of records i like! and one king crimson record i don't like very much
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:45 (five years ago) link
who do tool actually sound like? they've always seemed fairly in their own lane but i'm admittedly not the biggest expert on prog
― ufo, Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:47 (five years ago) link
king crimson
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:48 (five years ago) link
I don't think they sound at all like King Crimson, not even a little bit, but yeah, a good exercise trying to think of a good comparison.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:54 (five years ago) link
the simplest complex alt-rock-approaching-prog-metal you can think of. a kind of helmet-y spartan and grooving quality to the riffs, just extended way more indefinitely and swerving around different time signature shifts provided by a p incredible rhythm section. their earlier stuff is hookier, shorter, and more immediate, self-serious but with bad jokes as a tonic, they were kinda the ultimate ozzfest band imo. then on their third record they broke through into the proggier dimension they've inhabited since. not a lot happens and yet there's enough movement that it never gets boring or feels as long as it is. it's kind of a remarkable, meditative thing they've touched on that only they do
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:56 (five years ago) link
There is something to be said about the interplay (or lack there of) of perma-solo drums and relatively static Helmet-y (good enough comparison) riffs.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 15:59 (five years ago) link
Opeth is more metal, but they do some similar stuff. Thinking of this (especially how it ends):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rggQNCS8UjM
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:02 (five years ago) link
LOL I don't know exactly who Tool sounds like, but this band sure sounds like Tool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y6NvbtLiRU
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:05 (five years ago) link
I know “Sober” and that’s it, I’ve never listened to Tool. Such a good band name! It sounds like a band Fred Frith would be in. Except for the dick-wrench merch they were peddling, kind of ruined it for me, works better as an austere mechanical band name than a dick joke
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:10 (five years ago) link
Hmm, I wouldn't put dick-wrench art past John Zorn (inc. cohort Frith and/or Mike Patton).
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:13 (five years ago) link
lol i remember the first tool song i ever heard was "hooker with a penis," you could not pay me to listen to a song with that title in 2019
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:15 (five years ago) link
The first two tool albums are lyrically the worst but musically my faves. Very frustrating.
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:16 (five years ago) link
i kinda think maynard in dick joke mode and maynard in new age bullshit mode are both very bad lyricists. i also think "prison sex" is a p incredible lyric about child abuse that is for some reason called "prison sex"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:18 (five years ago) link
His lyrics relative to the songs are often very "Lick My Love Pump."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:24 (five years ago) link
I will say I hadn't noticed the lyrics cited in the Pfork review and in context they do creep me out
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:26 (five years ago) link
it's pretty much only that "caligula would grin" lyric though, right? everything else keenan sings is nonsensical mush like "free fall through our own midnight"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:28 (five years ago) link
Yeah just that, but it's enough
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:30 (five years ago) link
The lyrics to "Culling Voices" could hypothetically be about being #metoo'd but they also could have been written 10 years ago
Judge, condemn, and banish any and everyoneWithout evidenceOnly the whispers from within
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:32 (five years ago) link
oh yeah lol that one is definitely... yep
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 16:36 (five years ago) link