Low: Classic or classic?

Only recently discovered The Great Destroyer which I love. Too bad they're Mormons, though.

Silver Rider, from The Great Destroyer, is a near-perfect slowcore song. Low is another band that should get mentioned in many Best-Of-The-Decade lists, but I think they'll be criminally overlooked.

Alex, is that the only Low album you know? A lot of people like that album, but it's my least favorite.

Among Low's hard-core fans, I imagine The Great Destroyer is the least favorite album.

It's among my favorites of theirs, tho.

Too bad they're Mormons, though.

too bad? why?

I prefer the version of Silver Rider on the Murderer ep to be honest.

Listening to it all again. "Over The Ocean" just spurred me to revive. Wonderful.

I was remembering how it was Mogwai that got me into Low, as they used to talk about them in interviews and how amazing they were, so I went and hunted it out. Mogwai were also responsible for getting me into Bardo Pond in exactly the same way.

"Venus" is their best song, imo.

http://www.jmichaelward.com/stnnng/images/sparhawk.jpg

Anyone know what they're up to? It's been a few years since D&G, tho Sparhawk has been into the various side projects & things.

not sure but the retribution gospel choir is pretty hot...like low meets crazy horse

The RGC disc comes out in January 2010, I think.

Dunno, I thought the self-titled album was a drag and I'll represent for most anything else Sparhawk has released.

xpost

hmmm i guess i'm reacting to seeing them live, i don't have the albums...live it's amazing if you have a chance

the RGC album is pretty good but doesn't nearly do justice to their live show. maybe the next one will.

Been listening to Lifetime Of Temporary Relief boxset all week and falling in love all over again again. So much wonderful stuff on there.

On a walk in surprisingly-chilly South Florida, I just listened to a Low playlist: Whore; July; In Metal; Silver Rider; Death Of A Salesman; and Breaker.

The most intense -- and one of the most fascinating -- act of the decade.

Picked up the two live albums today - "Paris '99" & "One More Reason To Forget". Life does come up OK sometimes.

Thread makes me (almost) happy.

saw a partially (intentionally?) obscured road sign yesterday that said

LOW
OWN

and i had to agree

this was the first time i saw them live:

http://www.archive.org/details/low2004-02-27.aud.flac

pissing was so good around then

First time I saw them was when they were a last minute replacement for a band at a KUCI benefit show in late 1993, I think -- I Could Live in Hope hadn't even come out yet. I was completely entranced from the get-go.

First saw them in 1996 when they opened up for Spectrum. Unbelievably most of the audience were there to see first opening band Edsel, but no accounting for taste (it was Jabberjaw after all)

I first saw them in Edinburgh circa 1996: my mate's band supported them. I'd never heard of them and they played so quietly that I missed most of their set because I was standing at the bar. Then they started doing Transmission and I thought, woah, hang on ...

First "holy shit, what?" moment came two days later when AlexT played me The Plan and I was blown away.

playing the great destroyer front to back, at primavera & then i guess elsewhere

First time I saw them was when they opened for Soul Coughing back in 95 or 96. There was the tiniest pocket of Low fans in the front row surrounded by a sea of people talking or booing. It was tragic.

ewwwww why did they open for soul coughing :(

isn't there a soul coughing cover on the boxset? i might be thinking of the supreme dicks but i seem to recall there was some crossover.

Yeah, there's a cover on there. Something about a split single planned or the like.

Soul Coughing loved them and asked them to do a tour, so they went for it. I think it was the first "big" tour they ever did. I've Alan say before that they started Low as a kind of "punk" thing - trying to alienate all the spazzy/yelpy/angry bands they were surrounded by. So I think, at least in the early days, they were prepared for audiences to not get them at all.

And yeah, they did a cover of "Blue-Eyed Devil," recorded around that time. I think it wound up on some comp back then because I had it way before the box set. I was an OBSESSIVE Low fan for a long, long time.

This is ten years old but I still hadn't seen it: Alan Sparhawk briefly commenting on every song they did up until 2000

http://groups.google.com/group/chairkickers/web/song-backgrounds

Wow, thank you. Never seen that before, but it's very interesting.

There's quite a few fantastic sounding soundboard recordings on archive.org and people are adding new ones every now and then but the new 1998 Bluebird Theatre one that was added this week sounds AMAZING. Go check it out, fellow low addicts.

Yes, I've listened to that one 3 times in the last day - really wonderful. Great to hear Words/Violence.

The new Retribution Gospel Choir (2) is now out, too, and maybe even better than the first, the Crazy Horse comparisons even more apt...

not sure how old this is but it sounds pretty amazing:

Hello friends.

Low is embarking an another unique, collobrative event with nationally renowned modern dance choreographer Morgan Thorson. Providing the musical backdrop to Thorson's piece, Heaven, Alan and Mimi are providing original music and vocal orchestration. Heaven examines the trinity of dance, music and light while exploring the various manifestations of ecstasy in religious practices and the ritualistic nature of dance. Thorson's work has garnered the praise of critics far and wide, earning her accolades in the New York Times as well as being voted City Pages' best choreographer in 2008. Heaven will be presented at various venues across the country, and more information on the shows is available here.

apparently there have already been two performances

did anyone catch this?

^^ this sounds really great. did anyone catch this?

In other news: Robert Plant has recorded versions of "Monkey" & "Silver Rider" for his next album - http://www.robertplant.com/press/first-look-robert-plants-band-of-joy/#more-1965

what the

I don't even

cool!

wow!

hmmm...trying to think of how this could have happened...i guess the most direct connect between plant and low is steve albini

A whole lotta Low.

Interesting, though.

Plant is a really big Low fan -- and I remember him talking about how much he loved "The Great Destroyer" around 2005.

(StanM, I only just saw that Sparhawk list you posted upthread, and wanted to thank you for it.)

I know RP used to rep hard for The Cocteau Twins & This Mortal Coil in the 80s (& didn't he do his own version of "Song to the Siren" at some point?), so I guess this isn't a giant leap in logic from there.

Still tho, Whole Lotta Low

RP's early 80s albums are such a weird classic rock/new wave mix

(my pleasure! xxpost)

When you think about it, there's not a massive leap between "Battle of Evermore" and early Dead Can Dance.