― mts (theoreticalgirl), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 01:39 (seventeen years ago) link
I wonder if maybe they were one of those bands that does very very well in an indie/dive bar/house show context, up to the point of very large bars, but starts to feel sort of disconnected when you get up to arena stages. I mean, they've been doing Pearl Jam tours for a few years now but I wonder if it started to feel weird. They certainly were pretty far apart on that Atlanta stage last summer - while I thought the energy level was higher than ever, I could imagine that it would be weird for them. And meanwhile I'm not really clear on what Sub Pop did for them; I wonder how much shooting those videos cost them, etc. And of course Corin's kid....etc., etc., etc....
I have to admit that I'm sort of disinterested in solo work from them for some reason - I've never checked out Quasi, Cadallaca was okay if you're into that kind of thing, the Spells disappointingly dull. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
But what a whole! Gear says it pretty well with just a straight list of albums. They could have retired at Dig Me Out and it would still be showing up on "best albums of the 90s/indie/post-riot-grrl/whatever" lists forever. The Woods is bloody great all the way through; One Beat and All Hands take more chances and explorations than they get credit for (it's interesting how everyone forgot the production flourishes on One Beat when the line on The Woods became "they've finally ditched that lame, shitty sound they've been using for the last four albums!!!!")... and The Hot Rock is simultaneously the one I call my favorite and the one I put on the least, maybe because I burned out on its intricate hookiness without really realizing it.
With the exception of the debut they never put out an album without at least one stone cold classic on it. They worked hard, they riffed, they kicked up a storm, and they could conjure catchiness out of a few spare notes and some raw guts. There were always some really "ehh" lyrics somewhere on the record but then they would drop a line that totally, totally nails it and leaves you wide-eyed and inspired. They were always pushing themselves, and there are few bands I know of, from any age or scene, more fearless in tackling difficult emotions, or more equipped in talent and technique to convey those emotions and that difficulty. One of two, maybe three bands of their generation by whom I own more than one album, of whom I consider myself an actual fan, who really meant something to me. RIP.
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 02:31 (seventeen years ago) link
I'm pissed I never saw them live, which is the same way I feel about Fugazi. I'm moving the general NW area pretty soon, and I hope that they do some sort of final hometown blowout in Portland or Olympia because I'll definitely go.
― joygoat (joygoat), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 02:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 03:41 (seventeen years ago) link
I missed them when they swung by in May. Surely there must be some way to make enough noise to get an extended farewell tour going??
― sLeeeter Kinney (Leee), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 04:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Quinn (quinn), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 08:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 08:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 10:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 11:29 (seventeen years ago) link
"A Real Man" = classic. Better recognize!
Sterling's OTM. All Hands On The Bad One was the last S-K album I seriously listened to, and I can't remember a single song title from it, let alone hum a few bars... I find late period S-K full of sound and fury yet signifying naught, but the one-two of Dig Me Out / The Hot Rock is enough to put them in the record books.
One of their last shows is at The 9:30 Club, I imagine that show will be intense. They should've booked 3 nights at CBGBs in NYC.
― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 11:36 (seventeen years ago) link
oh yeah and of course they shouldn't have broken up after THR!! sheesh.
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 11:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shooz (shooz), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:03 (seventeen years ago) link
I would pay $70 to see their last show at a festival. I'm paying $130x2 just to see Gnarls Barkley at a festival which is crazier I'm sure.
― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:10 (seventeen years ago) link
Break up at "Dig Me Out" so they can be relegated to a riot-grrl footnote? No thanks.
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:28 (seventeen years ago) link
I sorta agree w/ Alfred. The Hot Rock is sleek but there's some undercurrent of dread throughout - listening to it is like knowing your partner's keeping a secret from you. That tension is what makes the album their most interesting.
Critcally it was well-received, but my perception is that the general audience's reaction was "meh".
Well, that's one way of looking about it.
― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:37 (seventeen years ago) link
To expand on this point... A band which soldiers on past its expiration date increases the chances it will be remembered; growing audience base, more press, bigger catalog. On the other hand, by increasing the suck-to-sweet ratio of their catalog a band can make it more difficult for future generations to find a proper entry point for appreciation. Frankly, I don't think their post-Hot Rock material will age well (tho I'm probably a minority opinion on that one).
― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:45 (seventeen years ago) link
I am puzzled by the love for One Beat here. It's the only record of theirs I find too boring to listen to, although I like "Oxygen" and "Light Rail Coyote" well enough. And to those who say they can't remember a single song on All Hands, I say: You're no rock-and-roll fun.
Most days my favorite is Dig Me Out, but sometimes it's Hot Rock, or even The Woods or Doctor ("I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" still probably being their single best song). And they have always, always brought it live. A band I love.
― Vornado (Vornado), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ben Crazee (Ben Crazee), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― horseshoe (horseshoe), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:05 (seventeen years ago) link
Unless of course Alfred means they should've knocked off after The Hot Rock for themselves, which is an entirely different matter.
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link
The only album I never got into was All Hands On The Bad One. I still own it, just don't think I've ever listened to it more than once or twice. Everything else they did was ace.
― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:53 (seventeen years ago) link
"The Hot Rock" is the S-K album I've listened to/liked the *least*.
― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:04 (seventeen years ago) link
S-K are the first band I've felt a surge of defensiveness over following a breakup; probably because they're the only band I love to have broken up with detractors aplenty. Nobody picked on Mclusky.
IMO "The Woods" is their best - refreshing in its vitality, cohesiveness and sheer heft. It's sad that they didn't seem to find any sort of catharsis in recording it, cause it sure sounds like a 48-minute revelation on record.
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― pleased to mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:26 (seventeen years ago) link
Any drumming deficiencies can be overlooked when there are songs like Good Things and Joey Ramone.
― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:28 (seventeen years ago) link
"Little Mouth""Little Babies""Stay Where You Are""Wilderness""Turn it On""Dig Me Out""The Size of our Love""Get Up""Step Aside""Oh!"
(xpost: thanks, Michaelangelo!)
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:59 (seventeen years ago) link
No way. Laura MacFarlane is a great, expressive drummer; perfect for their early sound and totally underrated in her contribution. I don't think her style would have suited the bigger, more rock approach of Dig Me Out and afterward. Indeed, listening to the ninetynine CDs, you hear Laura going in a more experimental direction at the same time S-K become more of a rock band.
Count me among those who heard diminishing returns in the last few S-K albums and isn't broken up over their hiatus. I do think it's wise for them to leave their options open. If anyone can pull of a Mission of Burma-esque seamless comeback, it's them.
― mike a (mike a), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 15:04 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah, that's CLEARLY what i was saying, good job.
it's a tough one but here's my pox:
get up!modern girlyouth decaylight rail coyoteballad of a ladymanoh! quarter to threecall the doctorstep asideburn, don't freeze
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link
The Hot Rock is loopy, dense, and the record that got me really into the band, I just couldn't get enough of the way the guitars and the vocals played off of each other without just turning into chaos or ever losing the rhythm. "Burn, Don't Freeze" unquestionably goes in my POX, and it's the song I use to try and sell people on the band. And I haven't looked up the POO Sleater Kinney thread, but I know "Get Up" was all over that shit, so homie don't even play.
All Hands on the Bad One was the first one I heard and the first one I bought, on the strength of catching "You're No Rock n' Roll Fun" on MTV2 back in ye olde college dorm. It took me forever to get into it - really till I got it on vinyl, actually. I think this has to do with tracklisting - it feels overlong for some reason that I've never quite placed. So along with One Beat it's definitely a "grower" for the fan....but look at what you get: "Rock n' Roll Fun," their straightest and best shiny pop number, "Youth Decay," "Milkshake n' Honey" for pete's sake! There's some great material here. I'll concede that there's a stretch where it starts to feel just a bit same-y, which is where we come to...
One Beat my least favorite of their LPs, but, as I said above, a grower - I can't put my finger on exactly what doesn't work here, but there's a certain roteness to some of the performances, and certainly there's a high concentration of wince-worthy lyrics (especially the Bush and 9/11 stuff - one of S-K's strengths was subtlety in dealing with personal conflicts, but somehow with political conflicts they turn into teenagers with Michael Moore patches on their bookbags)... But! All that said! You get the magnificent "Oh!", with its singalong "oh-wa-oh" hook and that PERFECT Moog line... the marching climax of "Prisstina," and of course "Hollywood Ending," which picks the Dig Me Out sound back up for one last ass-kicking mosh-starter. Throughout, it's the songs with the fun new production touches that stick in the mind the most - does that mean the songs aren't strong? I dunno. If they'd broken up after this record it would have felt really anticlimactic, and it would never be my suggested jumping-on point, but it's a complete record and by NO means a dud.
And then, of course, The Woods, which manages to balance a mile-high wall of rock-and-roll thunderhead (as exemplified by "The Fox," one of the best openings to any rock album I've ever heard) with reinvigorated, just-slightly-tweaked explorations of their old strengths, e.g. "Jumpers" and "Modern Girl." When people say it's a completely new sound for them, I understood what they mean but I don't agree - it's an expansion of their sound, with some amazing new chops that I frankly never expect to see at a band at their sixth/seventh record. (New tricks, yes; tightened-up technique, yes - actual new powers, no.) As such, I think it's a wonderful note to go out on, in the sense that it showcases them doing everything they could do, in most cases at the peak of their playing.
Simon H. is right on in calling it cohesive, and to that I would add that it's concise - it delivers its punches one after another and doesn't overstay its welcome, which is probably the main thing that keeps All Hands and One Beat as near-great growers: they could both stand to lose about two songs each, and would be substantially tighter for it.
Edward III writes:
On the other hand, by increasing the suck-to-sweet ratio of their catalog a band can make it more difficult for future generations to find a proper entry point for appreciation.
I certainly know what you're getting at here; I think we all know the difficulty of wanting to get into a band but being stymied by a parade of dubious-looking records you've never heard of in the used bin. "I know these can't all be good," we think. However, it seems like a kind of weak argument against making more records, especially given the context of an indie band like Sleater-Kinney, whose new fans are going to come from word-of-mouth, older sisters and brothers, and magazine writeups about how if you like Band X of Today you totally need to go listen to Dig Me Out, The Hot Rock and/or The Woods. Once you're a fan, imperfect records like One Beat can work as growers - you find things to love in them and recognize them as part of the overall story of your new favorite band. Entry-point albums are great, and tend to be the overall best records (although there's plenty of exceptions to that one), but great bands will end up making great records that are not great entry points, I think.
Time for breakfast!
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:15 (seventeen years ago) link
Out of curiosity I just checked and it gets better.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― yer mam! (yer mam!), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Quinn (quinn), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. V. (M.V.), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link
As a neutral observer, I don't read it like that at all. One early poster said something to that effect, but most of their later albums have gotten praise from one quarter or another. The pre-Janet first album seems "not to count." Going by the POX thread, either it or All Hands are the bad ones.
(xpost, and now people are liking it, too)
― pleased to mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link