Bad bits of songs that sully what are otherwise perfect tracks.

that ridiculous saxophone/recorder solo

Ridiculous but great!

Not perfect, but a strong and decent track, were it not for a guest appearance by KRS-ONE:

Too Much Joy's "Good Kill"

I know people will disagree with me on this..
But another Bowie one. That fucking "pssht!" sound every beat in Sound and Vision. I didn't notice it for a while, but once I did..Sound and Vision was never the same.

that "sleeping children better run like the wind" section in Counting Crows' "Round Here" always bugged me. Counting Black Crowes? ugh. pass.

Has anyone mentioned that JayZ's appearance on Umbrella is totaly unnecessary?

That fucking "pssht!" sound every beat in Sound and Vision. I didn't notice it for a while, but once I did

aaaauuuuuaarrggaauuh you have ruined my life!

OK, in "Nothing lasts forever" Echo and the bunnymen..

Liam Gallagher, in the background, during the "but I want more" bits, singing, loudly, "LA LA LA LA WHURRRRR WHURRRRR"

the only problem with Sound And Vision is that there's no 7 minute dub

yeah, it fades too early, true...

needs longer intro/build-up too

That'd be like trying to put arms back on the Venus de Milo

i think it's kinda perfect, lengthwise. The intro is certainly, and yeah I always feel it's over too soon, but by that point it's said all that needs to be said.

You want an extended dub? Make one!

xp

i would but the song is so short there's no isolated drum break :(

the famously cheesy sax bit in 4 Hero's "Universal Love"...

Could somebody do re-edits and dubs of the entire Low album please? Thanks

Has anyone mentioned that JayZ's appearance on Umbrella is totaly unnecessary?

Hahaha, agreed. Which is why I D/L-ed the MP3 and used RipEditBurn software to mostly edit him out! Then added some reverb and flanging and other effects (also probably unnecessary in their own way, I admit) and called it "Umbrella RihMix". Just for my own personal listening enjoyment. (Next step: Determining the best method to add some thunderstorm sfx.)

I love the Jay-Z bit now, but it took 30 listens or so to get to that point.

(Next step: Determining the best method to add some thunderstorm sfx.)

You should be here in Newport now, with an audio recorder. Brilliant thunderstorm all around us. Probably going to cause havoc with people's ADSL, so more calls to me. Ha ha ha. (Adds increasing amounts of reverb...)

The archetypal example of this phenomenon for me is the low male vocals in "Me and Parvati" by Slapp Happy. Blech.

Spoken word bits do this to me. I imagine people will disagree, but I Found A Reason by VU, I remember when I bought Loaded years ago, me and my sister cracked up laughing at the spoken word bit in that.

Another one - Hellnation by the Dead Kennedys - great thrashy song then Jello says "It's the only world we've got, Let's protect it while we can, it's all there is and there ain't no more" and it sounds so fucking lame, regardless of sentiment.

"Miss Broadway" by Belle Epoque would be the best dance track of the 70s if it weren't for the breakdwon with the blokes going "Uh-huh, I like it" over and over again. Ruins what is an almost perfect track.

I know people will disagree with me on this..
But another Bowie one. That fucking "pssht!" sound every beat in Sound and Vision. I didn't notice it for a while, but once I did..Sound and Vision was never the same.

-- our work is never over, Friday, May 23, 2008 8:56 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

i love that part! :D it's a cymbal

Yeah I like the cymbals in Sound And Vision!

xxxxxxx-post

Newport, RI? We had friggin FROST last week up here around Lake Ontario way! Unusually chilly spring.

Anyways, I've already got like 300 all-purpose sfx on my hard drive, but thanks anyways...

Depeche Mode's "Love In Itself" is spoiled by that awful synth-brass solo.

xpost - sorry, Newport in South Wales. The sun's shining now, it's like the thunderstorm never happened. And I've got 4 pieces of cake to give away in our call centre and nobody bloody wants it. What's wrong with these people?

A Night LIke This by the Cure is also ruined by the saxophone. i think "Ruined by a Sax" is already a thread though right?

well i'll get hatemail for this but...the spoken word section of hayes' 'phoenix'.

Awh I don't think the sax ruins A Night Like This at all - in fact isn't there a version with less/no sax in it, that isn't as good? Or did I invent that?

Dunno about that, but the sax in The Psychedelic Furs' Pretty in Pink is ruinous, and the (pre John Hughes film) version is infinitely preferable.

the saxless version, i meant to say

Yeah well that's true, but there was about 5 years in between those versions, no?

the drum break in "Englishman in New York"
the "God rest HIS GUTS!!" line in "Here Comes a Regular"

A Night LIke This by the Cure is also ruined by the saxophone. i think "Ruined by a Sax" is already a thread though right?

Probably the only sax solo I really like.

the drum break in "Englishman in New York"

OTM!

backing vox on the bridge in "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"

speaking of which, the jordannaires do their darndest to ruin most of elvis's recorded output in the 50s and 60s. really wish i could hear those tracks without their contributions.

the "boh-bee"'s in Prefab Sprout's "I Couldn't Bear To Be Special"

The psssht part in Sound and Vision makes me think of it as a happy mermaids and anthromorphic sea creatures jam

I could do without the weird tape edit part of Once In A Lifetime, "remove remove remove the water from the bottom of the ocean.."

But the song is perfect nonetheless.

Timberland on "Come Around." That he can't be assed to keep his Indians straight is tragi-comedy, but they shoulda just axed that whole guest rap.

I could do without the weird tape edit part of Once In A Lifetime, "remove remove remove the water from the bottom of the ocean.."

That little mini-bridge may actually have been cut from the single version - at least, it's nowhere to be found in the classic (and how!) video. Dunno about the actual single itself, though - if a shortened version exists, I've never heard it.

^^^(unable to provide helpful YouTube-link from here at work - which is just as well, considering how much time I've already wasted today...)

(...my OWN time, as well as everyone else's)

agreed with jay-z's appearance on umbrella being totally out of place. i actually always turn the volume down for the first part of that song when i play it

"I know people will disagree with me on this.. "

I figured everyone would be against me.

I fucking love Rush to death but the reggae part in Spirit of Radio always makes me cringe a bit.

And even worse are the studio children's voices in the background of Slayer's Dead Skin Mask whining "Please Mr. Gein, no!".

They make an otherwise scary song sound so cartoonish and underwhelming.

The bridge in most Neptunes productions I've heard. It's like finding chalk in my cheese.

boomp-boomp-tiddly-dish "I'm picking up good vibrations, she's giving me excitations" (weee-ooh-woooo-ooh-oo)

Ruins the flow for me. I may be in a minority of one here.

Not perfect, but a strong and decent track, were it not for a guest appearance by KRS-ONE:

Too Much Joy's "Good Kill"

-- kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 23 May 2008 12:01 (2 days ago) Link

First track I thought of, even though I've not heard it for probably 15 years: Radio Song, REM, featuring KRS-ONE.

the only problem with Sound And Vision is that there's no 7 minute dub

There's a 1991 remix of "Sound and Vision" on the CD remaster. It's fucking shit.

Also depends on whether you hear it on vinyl or CD - on my LP version of "Low" the "psssst!" is nowhere near as intrusive. The "Singles Collection" version isn't too bad either, but on the "24 bit remaster" CD it's "PPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSTTTT!!! ph34r the 24bitness!!!"

I love the psssssssssshhhht, for what it's worth. Complaining about sonic dicking about on Low feels like missing the point, somewhat.

I agree with Timbo jus pissing all over Come Around. He does that on several other tracks on his own album too...

That stupidly loud and unnecessarily squelchy Moog bit at the end of the instrumental mid section of Feel Flows by The Beach Boys.

I HATE IT

(xxpost) I'm not complaining, I really like the album. It's just that of all the bits to emphasise in a remaster, the "ppsssst!" seems an odd choice.

that ridiculous faux-reggae bridge in Hot Hot Heat's "Bandages"

The faux reggae bit complete with duck call in "Live & Let Die"

"Bring tha Noize" is my fave Public Enemy song but I have trouble with the Farrakhan parts. Same with "so-called chosen/frozen" etc. in "Welcome to the Terrordome." Hard to sing along while attempting to rationalize.

annoying "jazzy" piano solo in madonna's "get into the groove".

Vampire Weekend - Boston: when I first heard this track I liked it a lot and thought I would be listening quite often, until I got to the awkward acappella part that totally ruins the song.

That spoken word section in M83's 'Graveyard Girl', as discussed here.

Am happily downloading Johnny Fevers' edit right now.

Hmm, some weirdness with that link. Maybe this will work.

Original LP version of "Nature Without Man" on Double Nickels on the Dime: perfect. Version on initial CD release, on which Mike Watt decided to use a different take for the guitar solo: sullied.

The faux reggae bit complete with duck call in "Live & Let Die"

Oh good lord that's the best part!!!

The drums and bass on several tracks from the last Lionel Richie album.

The beginning of the Girls Aloud song 'Sexy, No! No! No!' (I really don't understand what their songwriter has been taking) is SWEET but then the rest of the song is a mess of automated purring and growling thats meant to sound sexy but...well you know, its not.
Also...I can't reconcile the fact that Flava Flav or Eazy E somehow managed to be in two of the most seminal hip hop groups ever, they tend to ruin the songs.
boomp-boomp-tiddly-dish "I'm picking up good vibrations, she's giving me excitations" (weee-ooh-woooo-ooh-oo) I just don't like the chorus of this song. At all.

YOU WANNA BATTLE ME BOY YOU BETTER BE STRAPPED

The archetypal example of this phenomenon for me is the low male vocals in "Me and Parvati" by Slapp Happy. Blech.

never noticed this before! you damn well better not have just ruined this song for me! which version? I'm hoping you mean the slicker one from the Virgin LP.

Guitar solo on the Beach Boys' Free Flows

annoying "jazzy" piano solo in madonna's "get into the groove".

Here's where I do my obligatory rant about how much the songs on The Immaculate Collection are remixed all to hell and suck fucking shit and how much better the Japanese CD Singles Collection is because it uses the original 7" and 12" versions.

Madonna needs a proper "Best Of". 3 or 4 CDs or whatever: It's seriously needed!

Spoken word bits

OTM

See Pop, Iggy: "Wild America" with Henry Rollins cameo. Ugh.

there was a time when i hated the 'ive been told that youve been bold with harry, mark and john' bit in satellite of love but not anymore

That one-note guitarish chug part right before the chorus of "Toxic"

every time tony williams attempts to "sing" on a lifetime song. that band could have been motherfucking monstrous were it not for his weak-ass vocals; instead, they were just regularly monstrous.

Zap Mama does a cover of Phoebe Snow's "Poetry Man" that I really like until Michael Franti shows up with an embarrassing Jamaican loverman bit.

Michael B, did you ever hear the "winken, blinken and nod" version of Sattelite?

That one-note guitarish chug part right before the chorus of "Toxic"

You are kidding, right? If anything, that's the best part of the song.

I am rockist. Hear me roar.

See Pop, Iggy: "Wild America" with Henry Rollins cameo. Ugh.

Perfect example: AMAZING song otherwise, but I always wince during that part.

Shoegaze twofer:

01. The guest rap(s) on Curve's "Ten Little Girls" - Of course there were countless "rap is the hot new trend" MC interludes in pop songs circa 88-92 far more cringe-worthy than this one, but "JC-001?" C'mon Dean, you could of at least gotten the label to pony up for the guy from The Stereo MCs. Watching the video, it's as if one of their sketchy drug buddies (or their dealer, perhaps?) stopped by the studio and they didn't want to hurt his feelings by making him feel left out. It serves to underline what hot shit Curve were at the time that a song with such a bad, ill-fitting pock mark can still manage to rank among their all-time best.

02. "Homeboy" by Adorable - Thank Christ they're not rapping here, but this peach of song is by Adorable. And it's called "Homeboy." And the chorus goes "You're my homeboy. You're my homeboy." Fuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5pMqT-VVzY

Brilliant brilliant track, let down by the "Uh-huh I like it" bit which really ruins it.

I really like the "Uh-huh I like it" part in the Glass Candy cover though.

One that's always bugged me even though the rest of the song isn't exactly perfect: the bit in Genesis' "Dodo/Lurker" where it breaks down into a squawky keyboard sound imitating whatever creature is being described. For me that always took the song from slightly menacing to completely cartoonish.

Possibly that's the point, but it still bugs me either way.

Wait wait wait... Glass Candy covered this? And no one told me? You guys suck...

the stupid fucking reference to some shithouse horrible movie that sits like a squishy, steamy turd in the middle of the amazing breakdown in the otherwise immaculate Baby One More Time

The other VdGG heads on ILM don't agree but I hate the stupid "cha-cha-cha" bit in the otherwise unfuckwithable "The Sleepwalkers". Also the "how can I be freeee" section in "Man-Erg"

xpost ?? what movie?

Wen Sir Paul takes the reins on "A Day In The Life"

Any Pete Rock verse

Ice Cube's verse on "Burn Hollywood Burn"

The 'galoshes stomping puddles and worms' percussion sound on "The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side"

xpost ?? what movie?

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