Betty Davis

btw i'll expect complete lists of records KJB and matos like so we can point out massive hypocrisy re: vocals. thanks.

-- GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Friday, June 15, 2007 8:44 AM

M.I.A. Hold Steady Moldy Peaches

Should movie reviewers only write about movies they like, too? And what about restaurant critics?

sure why not

LOCK THREAD AND/OR BRAINS

-- Matos W.K

It's not an entirely unreasonable/illogical position. Nobody has enough time to read EVERY review of EVERYTHING that's out there. If critics only wrote about things they liked and IGNORED what they didn't like, then the people who read them would know everything that was worth listening to (ie. EVERYTHING that was written about). Everything else, who cares? it's very existence wouldn't even be acknowledged, we wouldn't have to waste time reading about or even thinking about it, much less listening.

Of course, all of that is based on the assumption that all critics are right all the time (they are, aren't they?), and that their chief function is consumer advocates (they are, aren't they?)

(Also assumes that we all would rather read positive than negative things in general, which isn't always the case. I'd love to live in a world where only good things happen and the newspapers had nothing but good news - who wouldn't? But, shit, Pauline Kael was always so much funnier and just plain fun to read when she was being excessively nasty. And I felt that way even when I disagreed with her, which was frequently. All of my favourite critics, the ones I enjoy reading, I enjoy despite tastes that may differ wildly from mine - I'd guesstimate that Xgau would have no use for 40% of the stuff on my shelves & vice versa.

(And by "critics" I'm referring not only to the actual pros, but also the folks who write not a single word aside from what they post to ILM both at home and at work (when the boss isn't looking).

The Sound of Young America podcast has her first radio interview since the 70's!

http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/06/podcast-tsoya-betty-davis.html

On Amazon's "The Complete On the Corner Sessions" page, there's a video where Michael Henderson talks about Betty and says, "Her tattoo says it all: 'The Ass That Started Fusion'."

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Corner-Sessions-Miles-Davis/dp/B000TLMWMO/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1194565441&sr=8-1

this thread was fucking wack.

Yeah, and I imagine that tat' ain't what it used to be.

i duno how many ppl read the paper matos writes for (not a dig, just a query) but i hope it didnt dissuade anyone from investigating the reissues. cos theyre all brilliant.

Have got myself teh anthology. Like it rather lots. :)

so there's a new album of unreleased material from 1976 on light in the attic. samples sound pretty cool. anyone heard the whole thing? "is it love or desire" is the title.

Does she sing better?

than what?

than me?

i don't know, sing into the screen and let's find out.

I tried it -- I still sing better than she does.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/3118060375_dea16d9ceb.jpg

does it really matter whether she can sing like Chaka Khan or not? i mean, who cares? you either dig the sound of her records or you don't. i can take 'em or leave 'em myself (primarily depending on what mood/state of mind i'm in really).

You said, Chaka Khan, not me. As Matos and xhuck said upthread, she can barely hold a tune, and that matters (and I'm a Bernard Sumner fan).

I used to beat him with a turquoise chain!

Ok so Abbott is invited to my dance party. Some of these other folks I dunno about.

Was anyone else underwhelmed by the "new" album? :I

Wow so much hate for Betty Davis on this thread. I always hated people putting too much high expectation on black females voices. More than anyone else, a black woman's voice is the most scrutinized in music IMO. Betty's voice goes well with the music IMO. She mostly plays an attitude driven funk warrior and her voice fits that. Technicality of voice usually doesn't apply in those situations. (Funk and rock as shown examples of this with the male musicians).

I loved discovering Betty Davis. I think her albums are cool and in a way she is a lost treasure because her influence wasn't apparent (if she had any). I really love her second album and have it on vinyl. I always thought Grace Jones was the only bat shit crazy black female artist and glad their was a US born counterpart. (I know Betty was crazy only on stage and not offstage apparently).

It's strange how their are so many male artist who admire her than female. I would like to know how female artists thought of her. It seems like the only person who reminds me of her is Joi. (Who doesn't have her own ILM topic btw. Talk about blasphemy!!!) Plus I heard she did an album with Miles but it got scrapped. Since both have an abrasive tone to her instruments I wonder if that would be interesting or headache inducing to listen to.

Wow so much hate for Betty Davis on this thread.

Sometimes ILM should be IHM.

buncha jerks on this thread

maybe some will have changed their mind on it.

TBF I could imagine someone like xgau in 1973 just drowning in funk records and not thinking much of Betty Davis. I mean like every third record that came out had a funky-as-hell beat so it probably took a little more to impress. And they're not really great records.

dude citing Angelfood McSpade in his review is some fairly indefensible racist garbage. sorry "Dean".

wtf

didn't xgau call Hendrix a psychedelic uncle tom or something? or was that someone else. in his defense, I can see how Betty Davis records could be seen as cartoonish. not a bad thing, in my opinion -- i think they're fun records in that way.

you can call something cartoonish without referencing an explicitly sexist/racist caricature of a horny african tribeswoman in a grass skirt with Black Sambo lips

yes, true.

xgau:

Betty Davis [Just Sunshine, 1973]
Between her connections (wife of Miles, girlfriend of Jimi) and her concept (autonomous black woman forges metal funk), Betty's got a head start in the hype department. She makes up for these advantages, however, with a forced, narrow voice and a complete absence of riff sense or melodic gift. On the other hand, she--or producer-drummer Greg Errico of the Family Stone--does know a lot about rhythm. Upshot: most overstated comic-book sex since Angelfood McSpade. B-

What an arsehole

DUD DUD DUDDY DUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

j/k, love her

im just amazed at the xgau worship when he wrote racist shit like that.

lester bangs had some questionable stuff too ...

im just amazed at the xgau worship when he wrote racist shit like that.

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Thursday, May 6, 2010 4:45 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Even without the blatant racism, the guy's a fucking tool who completely sucks at what he does.

Depends on what you think he does.

he annoys bill is what he does!

he's great at that though!

First time I heard Betty Davis was about a year ago when a friend of mine was playing random shit off of her ipod and a Betty track came on, don't know which, and I said "who is this? reminds me of captain beefheart." lol. Have little idea why I said that. Anyway, tracked down those three albums and love all of them, though not for the same reasons I love beefheart obvs.

Anyway, I also know some people I would call friends, who I sometimes suspect of being bigger fans of music critics than they are of any bands that they purport to be fans of. Truth be told, even though these dudes do really exist, they are also strawmen that I invent and attack for having the slightest preference for aesthetics different than my own. Nonetheless, people with more than a summary knowledge of who christgau even is, live on an almost completely different planet than the one in which I inhabit.

Dunno what's racist about that xgau excerpt -- he thinks she's a black cartoon like Angelfood McSpade, big fucking deal. And he's OTM about her sharp rhythmic sense and non-talent for melodies.

OH OK HOW COULD WE MISS THAT

TBF I could imagine someone like xgau in 1973 just drowning in funk records and not thinking much of Betty Davis. I mean like every third record that came out had a funky-as-hell beat so it probably took a little more to impress.

ding ding

he thinks she's a black cartoon like Angelfood McSpade, big fucking deal

He PRAISES her for it. would you be cool with critics praising Li'l Wayne for bein a Li'l Black Sambo?

Bette Davis has more in common with McSpade than Lil Wayne does with Sambo! The comparison doesn't work.

"man Louis Armstrong, he can't really sing but I sure love the way he fits my favorite racist stereotype"

all that shuffling and smiling, just awesome!

seriously Alfred wtf

She's pretty good at being a dumb Robert Crumb cartoon -- that's what he saying. I find Adam Lambert a pretty decent minstrel.

i think betty davis sucks too btw, just throwing that out there. She ruins some decent productions with her weak voice.