TOOL - C/D!?

anyway, here is my aenema review from spin (i had no idea it was on line):

http://toolshed.down.net/articles/index.php?action=view-article&id=December_1996--Spin.html

Belle and Sebastian vs Tool, let's discuss

i had the excuse of being 14, though.

MY LIFE WHERE HAS IT GONE?

I suppose I have nothing to say about tool.

Belle and Sebastian need more songs about fisting.

10,000 days has grown on me a little bit, actually. it's not quite as solid as lateralus, but its got its own thing going.

Personally, lyrics don't matter that much to me when it comes to whether or not I like a song but I believe they should matter more to me and to other people. I recently came across this Eric Hoffer quote the other day and it makes a good point of saying that there might be hidden costs for a society that doesn't really care at all about the meanings behind their art...

"More significant than the fact that poets write abstrusely, painters paint abstractly, and composers compose unintelligible music is that people should admire what they cannot understand; indeed, admire that which has no meaning or principle."

I think a question that needs to be asked more often is "Why do people desire their lyrics to have meaning?" Why do people get disappointed when they find out that a song is only "catchy" and doesn't serve any larger purpose than that? Is it okay that most of us would have no qualms loving music with abhorrent messages, if they have any discernable messages at all?

The point at which I first heard "Editions of You" by Roxy Music coincides with the point at which I discovered that great lyrics and great music need not go hand in hand.

I like those lyrics!

Second of all, and perhaps way more important, while Radiohead's lyrics are generally suspicious of government et al. in a non-specific way, they rarely (never? probably not never, but I'm too tired to think) make overt reference to specific/established conspiracy theories. Whereas Tool, of course, buys into it wholesale, and says so directly.

Which is where I draw the line -- I have no problem with plausible suspicions of government -- what, somebody might lie about a war, or take bribes? Really? -- but to me, the hardcore conspiracy-theory guy, the kind of guy who's always talking about the Kennedy assassination or UFOs or the moon landing being fake, etc., against all the available evidence, is guilty of libel not only against the participants in said events, but against history itself -- against the notion that historical truth can be legitimately recorded and accountable to evidence.

So, to me, that kind of thing is abhorrent. I'm not saying this to debate the merits of conspiracy theory; I'm just saying that, for me, this is an ethical issue even if it weren't a musical one. (And I reiterate that I don't like Tool musically either, but that one wouldn't expect me to, because I don't like anything that sounds like Tool.)

I might compare it to religion -- practically everyone likes at least one band that happens to be religious, and maybe alludes to it glancingly from time to time. But if proselytizing becomes the focus of the music, well... maybe you can endure it if you happen to be of that religion to begin with. I wouldn't know.

http://toolshed.down.net/tour/

Unless there's more to it than that, chaki?

Still album of the year for me. Dear god I do love this band. Ended up relistening to all four full albums over Labor Day weekend.

has anyone else said the la-da-da-dee-da-da part on vicarious is fucking fantastic?

Yes. Or for instance when the whole band winds everything up perfectly on "Jambi" on the "I-might-as-well-be-Goooooooooooooonnnnnneee..." part (and, in complementary fashion, when Maynard returns suddenly with the 'shine on' bits).

No Opiate or Salival? I never did get ahold of a copy of Salival. Am I missing much, anyone?

when Fantomas blows yr ass off stage, ya might wanna think about the meaning of that...

don't cry for me, StanM! i'm doin just fine w/o em!
i FULLY realize that people DO ,not only, like em, but live/breathe/sleep/hypothosize/screw/eat cereal to em!!!

i simply don't see it...and man, i've tried.
lord knows, if one were to go by sheer volume of exposure, i should be a fan-o-matic. but, them, as with radiohead have not yielded fruits upon repeat ventures. they're all you, stanny boi!