I guess "Who Loves the Sun" falls in that vein of deceptively sweet, naive Lou Reed songs, stuff like "Sunday Morning". It's not unprecedented within the VU songbook - Lou wrote many gentle, sweet, naive melodic songs. But usually with those other songs, there's a darker more complex world lurking beneath the gentle surface. The problem I have with "Who Loves the Sun" is there is nothing there beneath the surface: It's sunny, but I'm sad because you broke my heart. It goes way past naive and into childish.
― o. nate, Monday, 1 August 2011 20:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think you are over-thinking/over-caring about the lyrics. Why can't the lyrics be nothing more than descriptive language to accompany the mood of the song? Why should the lyrics go deeper than the surface? (especially when the rest of the song's sound doesn't call for deeper meaning and complexity)
Why do simple, fun, carefree, lackadaisical lyrics appall you? Why don't these "childish" kinds of lyrics hold a candle to what you might call "adult" lyrics? (fyi more often than not zen-adults are simple, fun and carefree. zen-adults > non-zen-adults)
And finally, why care too much or think too much about lyrics in the first place? (Don't answer that. This is just a hypothetical question illustrating my opinion)
― could've been a baller (CaptainLorax), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 06:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm listening to Todd Rundgren's "A Wizard, A True Star" for the first time. Everything so far is knocking me out. Why haven't I heard this before?
― Post-Manpat Music (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 12:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
^shit is amazing. also a good album to impress record store clerks with. (if that's a thing you should strife for is questionable)
"that's Todd Rundgren right" "YOU KNOW THIS!?!?!?" *smug grin*
― Ludo, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 13:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
Is it his best album? I only knew that one song that gets played everywhere beforehand.
― Post-Manpat Music (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 13:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
'something/ anything?' by Todd is also a winner so i'm told by the Todd massive.
― piscesx, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 13:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
more interesting Todd chat here btwTodd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star
― piscesx, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 13:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
cheers
― Post-Manpat Music (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 13:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
'Secrets of the Beehive'.Was never interested in Japan that much + only knew Sylvian's contemporary output by the time ('Manafon' and 'Blemish') and one day filed randomly through an otherwise forgettable 'The 100 X albums of all Y' book.
I had literally never heard or read about it anywhere before (which I still find a bit surprising, it just doesn't seem to be a typical part of these lists, at least here in Germany), got hold of it and almost instantly fell deep, deep in love.
― the europan nikon is here (grauschleier), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 16:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, that's probably his real "opus" album. A lot of people complain that it's too long or whatever and has a lot of juvinile stuff like "Slut" or "You Left Me Sore", but at least it is pretty entertaining. How exactly do you hate on a song called "Piss Aaron"
A Wizard, A True Star is his best. I cant imagine him ever making a better album than that.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 17:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
when I used "lackadaisical" in my last post it didn't mean what I thought it meant
― could've been a baller (CaptainLorax), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 20:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think you are over-thinking/over-caring about the lyrics
FWIW, I'm also not too crazy about the music - it sounds like cod-psychedelia that was already dated by 1970.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 21:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
"who loves the sun" isn't the best vu song by any stretch but still it has something about it. a naiveté, a carelessness. like a song for children. it's straight to the heart and i find that charming. i don't care for the lyrics and dated is an epithet which in this context definitely is a red herring. if i think about it dated is an adjective which does not make sense in an objective way. when something sounds dated it sounds dated for you but not in general. the datedness factor arrives only when you have listened too often to the same kind of music in the past. but really good music like the beatles for example never sounds dated. what is the antagonism of dated? fresh? the beatles always sound fresh to my ears. and vu too.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Beach Boys - SunflowerSerge Gainsbourg - Aux Armes Et CaeteraJoe Higgs - Life of ContradictionSouthern Journeys Volume 8: Velvet Voices
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
"Who loves the sun" is the only VU song I would ever put on a mix cd. I like some of the other songs on Loaded but I don't really like VU at all. As for whether the psych-pop sound was literally dated or not doesn't make a difference to me. I wasn't alive in 1970. Either way WLtS never sounds dated in my ears. Though it will get bored of it just like any other pop song
― could've been a baller (CaptainLorax), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
Pop will get bored of itself.
― ledge, Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have a feeling I may know the 'Todd Massive'.
― Rebekah Brooks Hardsonned My Hamster (Doran), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 23:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have only just recently heard Luomo's Present Lover, and my gosh it sounds incredibly fresh for a six-and-a-half year old album.
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 14:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
^^ Yes. I remember how big a deal that album was when it came out, and how it totally lived up to the hype imho. Deserves canonical classic status.
― Vision Kreayshawn Newsun (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 14:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
Led Zeppelin I, II, III and Houses of the Holy
― now I have to imagine your penis (DJP), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 14:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Kind of pissed off the Luomo hype passed me by. I must have heard some stuff around the time and just not been grabbed. I know I had an electro version of Tessio on a DJ mix at the time, but didn't know what it was.
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 14:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
Actually that mix was brilliant - really fast electro like they did in the early-mid '00s that I'd kind of forgotten existed as the style became more mid-tempo throughout the decade. It was an ilxor who called himself dj xii who made it.
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 15:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
Sly & The Family Stone - Fresh
I thought Greatest Hits was the last great Sly Stone record, but I was wrong.
― can't remember why i picked this awful name (forapper), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 20:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
Dog Latin, excited for you to have just gotten into Present Lover! I think Sasu Ripatti is one of the best, period. I recently picked up Anima (which he did as Vladislav Delay) and that's a total jaw-dropper. Vocalcity changed my music life when it came out, and I'll always hold it up as one of my favorite and most formative records.
As far as recent classics I've just gotten/loved:
Piece of Mind - Iron MaidenHoly Mountain - Sleep (classic only amongst stoner metal enthusiasts, I suppose, but this is amazing)
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 31 August 2011 02:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
I dipped my toes into Vocalcity after reading all the crazy hype around here, but I never managed to get into it - and still can't to this day - I guess it was just too house-y for me.'Present Lover' otoh just blew my mind when it came out - so rich, so emotional for a record drenched with a cold glamour sheen (perfect cover art). So human for a record based on allegedly de-humanizing cut-ups and mechanical sounds.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
Like Baaderonixx, I think I must have checked out Vocalcity and just not been taken by it, hence why I didn't bother investigating further. In fact, despite having been heavily into IDM/post-rock in the early 2000s Vladislav Delay passed me by completely. I intend to rectify this. Can anyone suggest a POX cuts, or a couple of essential albums - I know he has a lot of pseudonyms.
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
Cut by The Slits.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
The present lover the album and vocalcity are both essential imo. The present lover song is one if my all time favourites.
― prego, Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
despite a couple of duff tracks (inc. "pride"), "the unforgettable fire" is a great record.
― Michael B, Wednesday, 31 August 2011 11:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
I enjoy most albums posted in the rolling Krautrock thread, but I was knocked out by You's "Electric Day"
― Ópen W. (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 12:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
kind of an uh elastic approach being taken to the definition of "classic album" itt at the mo
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 12:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
the fuck is luomo?
― kkvgz, Wednesday, 31 August 2011 12:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, maybe. I don't like Luomo.
― Ópen W. (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 13:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
more like an elastic approach being taken to the phrase "anything pre 1990"
― beemer douchebag (DJP), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 13:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
vladislav delay's multila is pretty essential. "huone" is a stunner off of that one.
― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 13:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
I didn't notice the pre-1990 stipulation in the original post, whoops (I think that Sleep record is from '92 or '93)... But that's kind of an early cut-off point, isn't it? Especially given that there've been--at least in rock--almost as many post-'90 years as pre-'90 years at this point.
Re: Vocalcity and Luomo in general, yeah, I mean if you've got a general aversion to house, this stuff isn't so radically different that it'll convert you or anything (it's really pretty reverent in its way). At the time, for me, Vocalcity managed to both beat most all other "IDM" I was aware of in terms of sound design, texture, detail, and compositional chops, while also being groovy as hell (I wasn't so aware of house proper at the time).
Vladislav Delay's Anima to me is essential... Very abstract, but with the same pulsing, teeming-with-microscopic-life organic sensuousness of the Luomo stuff, and a vibe of detached, cerebral dread rather than more obvious "dark" dread. The sound design is just astonishing (but listen to it loud in a room, not on headphones, for maximum effect).
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 31 August 2011 14:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
there've been--at least in rock--almost as many post-'90 years as pre-'90 years at this point.
:-O
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 14:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
Of course, I meant album-oriented rock... It's kinda true, no?
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 31 August 2011 14:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
i guess... That's frightening though.
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 14:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
Very true... Continuing the Luomo love, here's Philip Sherburne's really outstanding review of the '05 reissue:
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4929-vocalcity/
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 31 August 2011 14:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
Sam Cooke - Night Beat. Damn.
― thinveneer, Sunday, 25 September 2011 10:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's not a proper album but The Kinks - Ultimate Collection really knocked my socks off.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 25 September 2011 11:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
xp to the stuff about pre and post 1990; i've honestly no idea why i said that in the first post! since then we've taken it to mean any vaguely canonical album from any era.
original Luomo hype here btw:Luomo: The Present Lover
― piscesx, Sunday, 25 September 2011 20:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
My thought was that 1990 is a year likely to catch most ilxors in their teenage years and therefore formative years of musical taste. Obviously there are some older and younger, but most ilxors are early 30s I think. And, I don't know how old you are, piscesx.
― My hetfield very root with me what can I lou? (rustic italian flatbread), Sunday, 25 September 2011 21:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
mm i'm 37 so yeah i was thinking 'classic' as in 'old' meaning i guess 'before i was a teen' so you're right. but yeah this thread eventually became 'what was the last album you got that people generally think of as classic, that you were knocked out by'.
― piscesx, Sunday, 25 September 2011 21:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
Out To Lunch, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Free Jazz, Ascension, Saxophone Colossus
and I'm just getting warm
― gospodin simmel, Sunday, 25 September 2011 22:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
Alan Lomax Southern Journey Volumes 7 (Velvet Voices) and 8 (George Sea Islands) are amazing.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 25 September 2011 22:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
picked up a couple of the Kinks Deluxe thingies recently; the mono version of Face to Face(my fave Kinks, period) especially kicked my arse in a good way.
― Gerald McBoing-Boingxxpost: i like that that one is a double disc set with some underrated singles/b-sides (i.e. "i need you" and "who'll be the next in line")
― epigram addict (outdoor_miner), Sunday, 25 September 2011 23:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, it really seems to hit all their high points with only a handful of key tracks missing (I added "The Village Green Preservation Society", "Picture Book", "Destroyer" and "Picture Book" to my digital version.)
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 26 September 2011 00:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
Bruce Langhorne Hired Hand OST
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 26 September 2011 02:28 (1 year ago) Permalink