David Ackles

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have we done this before? what do y'all think of david ackles (another footnote it seems). i adore Inmates of the Institution, although the rest of the album doesn't reach that peak. he seemed to come out of nowhere, release 4(?) albums, and then disappear into nowhere.

anyway, do you like his stuff? do you see his influence in anything today? talk about ackles in any way you see fit really...

― gareth, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I have American Gothic. Only played it once or maybe twice. Enough said, no?

― helenfordsdale, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I played it exactly once. I liked the painting better.

― Curt, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

one month passes...

His first three albums, David Ackles (self-titled), Subway to the County, & American Gothic are quite excellent. The fourth album, Five & Dime (not released on CD as of yet) is not quite up to that standard. Ackles is quite worthwhile if you like singer songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. You can hear a little Lou Reed, Neil Diamond and Broadway show tunes in the mix as well. Quite eclectic.

― , Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yeah, I hear the Neil Diamond and show tunes in there alright. Scott Walker, too. Only Scott sounds downright chipper in comparison. I really couldn't stomach Ackles' overripe bathos, but I had a similar first reaction to Walker once upon a time.

― Curt, Saturday, 16 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

my dad bought me up on music like leonard cohen and david ackles, and when i was a kid i dismissed it all as miserable nonsense. but now that i'm (supposedly) grown-up, I realise that david ackles was a genius. if you doubt that, listen to down river, to blue ribbons, to american gothic, to mainline saloon. his words are maudlin and gorgeous without being self-indulgant, the music is beautiful. the man was fantasic. If you don't like his stuff at first, stick with it. it's worth waiting for.

― johanna spiers, Saturday, 23 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yeah, he's great.

― harvey w, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Oh, joy. Yet another one to stick it out with and wait for the worthiness to appear. I knew somebody was going to say that. (Kidding, of course. Thanks!)

― Curt, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i never heard him but all the beard rock scene creeps who have been trying to rehabilitate the post psych singer songwriter scene like him. so i bet he sucks.

― , Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

review in a 1972 CREEM by Nick Tosches says American Gothic is very bad.

― , Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

just by the way

― , Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

boy i just posted 2 put downs of someone i never even heard, oops sorry

― , Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two years pass...

five & dime is released on cd, next monday!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002YCUWA/brianmathieso-21/026-7839491-5576408

― the great doxology of heckmondwike town (gareth), Monday, 4 October 2004 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

well, fuck. how had i not heard this before?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 20:32 (eighteen years ago) link

:-(

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 5 May 2005 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

This is the kind of stuff I'd normally hate, lots of faux-Weill-esque cabaret and grandiloquent singing, but it somehow really works (well I've only heard 'American Gothic').

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Monday, 5 February 2007 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link

i heard American Gothic for the first time a couple days ago. I thought it sounded exactly like Neil Diamond. The reason I checked it out was because I was reading in "Our Band Could Be Your Life" that it was the reason that Greg Ginn (Black Flag) got into guitar! Bizarre.

― richard wood johnson (rwj), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 03:50 (seventeen years ago) link

I wouldn't believe everything you read in there. (nothing against Michael, just a lotta bullshit flying around in there).

Ackles is chill, nuff said? I mean I wouldn't restructure my world around him, but cool just the same.

Any word other than JERRY strikes me as bullshit as to why Ginn got into guitar.

But now it's all about the cats anyway, isn't it?

― Saxby D. Elder (Saxby D. Elder), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 04:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Jerry?

― richard wood johnson (rwj), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Garcia?

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 19:42 (seventeen years ago) link

five months pass...

'One Night Stand' tears me apart.

― baaderonixx, Friday, 27 July 2007 09:28 (sixteen years ago) link

David Ackles raises my hackles...

I think he's great, and I think he grates...

― henry s, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link

five months pass...

The title track off American Gothic is a fucking TREAT. I bought this album for £1 yesterday and am very glad I did.

Who out there now is like this? This is kinda what I always wanted Plush albums to be like, for example

― DJ Mencap, Thursday, 10 January 2008 23:23 (sixteen years ago) link

four years pass...

<3 <3 <3

― Impetuous hybrid (Matt P), Thursday, 31 May 2012 20:17 (eleven years ago) link

one year passes...

In 2007 Rhino prepared the 3 Elektra lps by David Ackles for reissue as a compilation called There Is A River. I remember seeing ads for its forthcoming release in the monthlies like Mojo/Uncut etc and looking forward to it being released since it would be a fresher reamster tahn the couple of his cds I already owned plus i don't think I'd as yet got the 1st s/t lp.
Then I waited for it to be released until I forgot about it. I just checked back to see if it had ever been released only to find that it only got as far as a promo release which appears to have only been on cdr. Apparently a copy sold on ebay at the start of this year for £199.

I haven't heard what the problem on getting it reissued was, only some reference to legal issues and the estate. So wonder if that puts a kibosh on any further reissues of his material. Would be really nice to have a set like this.

There's a blog entry here on the tracks that would have been included on the set that are otherwise unavailable on cd.
http://blog.thegraniteshore.co.uk/2008/05/written-in-granite-there-is-river.html

Plus there was a 4th lp Five & Dime recorded for a different record label and reissued on Raven, which I don't recall hearing. I think the Elektra cds may be drifting out of print os it would be doubly nice to get a set like this There Is A River made available.

― Stevolende, Sunday, 29 September 2013 14:10 (ten years ago) link

six years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43fss35VvE

― Future England Captain (Tom D.), Wednesday, 1 July 2020 14:49 (three years ago) link

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