http://wmm.warnermusic.ca/ecard/big&rich/
i just put this up on friday afternoon and it hasn't been sent out yet. there appear to be problems with the windows media stream, so i recommend choosing the realplayer option for now.
― mark p (Mark P), Saturday, 5 June 2004 22:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Momus (Momus), Saturday, 5 June 2004 23:55 (twenty years ago) link
are there other bands in country, or bluegrass, or anywhere doing the same thing?
and they do, as chuck noted way above, have great voices.
(and speaking of two-parts, one other band that big & rich vaguely remind me of is fountains of wayne, and i can see power-pop fans being all over this album if they ever hear it.)
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 7 June 2004 13:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 7 June 2004 13:44 (twenty years ago) link
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 7 June 2004 15:01 (twenty years ago) link
My girlfriend (who says Big & Rich's harmonies in "Rollin'" always remind her of Metallica, of all people): "Drain STH, I think. Abba. I guess they may have more than two parts though."
― chuck, Monday, 7 June 2004 17:14 (twenty years ago) link
Also finally saw the CMT awards on rebroadcast over the weekend. It was really entertaining for the first hour-and-half, then my wife got home and I told her how good it was and then, bam, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban and other snoozes. I insisted we keep it on until the Gretchen Wilson/Big & Rich thing, though. I wonder what Ray Price thought about multiracial cowgirl hoochie dancers?
But, as energized as I am by the country-as-classic-rock/ country-as-dance-music, genre-hopping stuff Chuck is pumping, I think "Remember When" (that's Alan Jackson) is about the loveliest thing I've heard in a long time.
― chris herrington (chris herrington), Monday, 7 June 2004 17:55 (twenty years ago) link
― chris herrington (chris herrington), Monday, 7 June 2004 18:17 (twenty years ago) link
Okay, so now she says the harmony intervals in "Rollin" (and apparently a few other Big & Rich songs) are exacly the same intervals used in "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas and parts of "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. Which would seem to be some kind of medieval interval, used in European folk music and some bluegrass, but rarely in mainstream country..assuming, as an entirely interval-illiterate person, I am repeating/understanding this right. (Most of the harmonies on Big & Rich's album apparently use the more usual country intervals.) Also, the Bee Gees and other people have apparently have used constant harmonies, so maybe it's not as rare as fact-checking cuz suggests above. Or maybe it is. (I find this topic fascinating, partly because it makes me feel completely stupid and incompetent as a critic who never even notices such details!)
― chuck, Tuesday, 8 June 2004 15:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 15:16 (twenty years ago) link
The suggestion upthread that this isn't totally new is OTM, of course. It seems like Nashville has been building to this for years, but the fact that Horse of a Different color still feels so fresh and like a storming of the gates is a real testament to how good it is. Or something like that.
― chris herrington (chris herrington), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:01 (twenty years ago) link
Me too! And it's really beautiful. I hadn't thought medieval, but the Metallica comparison is a good one. The upper part (is that Rich?) is constantly changing his harmonic attack, sometimes in standard thirds, sometimes, um, other stuff, and sometimes going to an octave apart, I guess for extra impact. The album only exists as a tape in my car right now, so I'm not sure, but I think my current favorite is the note on "TON" in "feelin' like TONto."
― dr. phil (josh langhoff), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:33 (twenty years ago) link
My fave is "er" in "take me farther" on Holy Water. It soars.
― frankE (frankE), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:37 (twenty years ago) link
And whoever thought anyone'd mention Metallica as vocal harmony forerunners? Fuckin' sellouts!
― dr. phil (josh langhoff), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 21:31 (twenty years ago) link
the bee gees use a bit of everything. lots of solo singing, lots of two-part and lots of three-part. they mix it up, like almost all normal harmony bands do. even the classic two-singer bands tend to blend a variety of approaches, from solo verses to call-and-response bridges to close two-part harmonies to lead-line-plus-wordless-backup-vocal part.
the thing that intrigues me about the big & rich album is how relentlessly and obsessively it features one of 'em directly harmonizing with the other on nearly every word of the entire album. they don't switch to call-and-response. they don't take solos (save for a minuscule number of lines, like the first line of the verse in "live this life" and a stray line here and there in "drinkin' 'bout you"). the singularity of the approach is maddening and brilliant. it's high concept. (or high lonesome concept, if you will.)
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 04:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 04:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mike Dixon (Mike Dixon), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 05:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 24 June 2004 15:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― danh (danh), Thursday, 24 June 2004 15:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 16:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 24 June 2004 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― danh (danh), Thursday, 24 June 2004 16:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 17:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― scg, Thursday, 24 June 2004 17:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 24 June 2004 17:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 24 June 2004 17:51 (nineteen years ago) link
It's that later they're going to introduce their orange one, then their green one. (I am quite jealous of y'all, in any event.)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 24 June 2004 17:57 (nineteen years ago) link
yeah, them and cowboy troy, and they were all really nice guys, and they kept thanking me for my voice review, and they complimented me on my cowboy shirt and stuff, but we didn't have time to do any kinda in-depth interview about their lifestyle proclivities or anything....
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 18:10 (nineteen years ago) link
Hey, nice!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 24 June 2004 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 19:16 (nineteen years ago) link
so are there any other ny shows, or did they just go right back home, dammit?
and, speaking of dammit, i wish i'd known about that after party. sigh.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 24 June 2004 20:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― common_person (common_person), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― danh (danh), Friday, 25 June 2004 00:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Friday, 16 July 2004 19:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 16 July 2004 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link
Has this actually vibrated your eardrum, Chuck? I'm intrigued...
As to whether anything has surpassed this as my own album of the year, I can respond in one syllable: no. I've moved from song to song and vibe to vibe on it and still love it. Doesn't get as much play as back in June, but it's still tops.
― frankE (frankE), Saturday, 17 July 2004 00:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Saturday, 17 July 2004 06:29 (nineteen years ago) link
Based on the five tracks I've heard, this seems to be among the most OTM notes on this puppy.
I'll be buying this week.
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Saturday, 17 July 2004 19:33 (nineteen years ago) link