really loving the album. it *is a little more middle of the road than SY, but Ranaldo's a strong enough songwriter to pull it off.
― Harvey Weewax (stevie), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 16:18 (twelve years ago) link
that mp3 sounds better than most of demolished thoughts. sy have devolved into making 3rd rate malkmus-like jams.
amarillo ramp is a great overview of Lee stuff.
― Lowell N. Behold'n, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
heavy "mote" tracers from the "off the wall" verse. nice song, not blown away, but as soon as it was over, i wanted to hear it again. catchier than most of from here to infinity.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 17:13 (twelve years ago) link
i would hope that his first album of song songs is at the very least "catchier" than all the drones'n'poems records of the past.
― Whitechocolatespacecase (some dude), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
ha, yeah -- seems like this is basically going to sound like a latter-day SY record with lee on lead vocals throughout. which is cool with me. looks like he's adding a bunch of tour dates, too. would definitely go see him if he comes my way.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
god if nels is in the band for the tour too...
― lana shel game (some dude), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
opening for m. ward ... wah wah wah[and i even like one of m ward's records...just seems like a lame fit]
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 23:19 (twelve years ago) link
Like The Who opening for Enuff-Z-Nuff
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 01:45 (twelve years ago) link
whole album streaming here: http://www1.rollingstone.com/hearitnow/player/leeranaldo.html
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
this is great so far!
― konybrony (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i'm digging it. nothing that wouldn't sound too out of place on a latter day SY record, but some nice touches -- I think that's Nels Cline on "Xtina As I Knew Her"...
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
Awww, thanks for that link. Good way to end my work day!
― grandavis, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:43 (twelve years ago) link
no prob. medeski bits are sounding pretty rad too!
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:46 (twelve years ago) link
Hah, forgot that there are a bunch of guests on this (besides Licht). Got no problem with Medeski, great player
― grandavis, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:55 (twelve years ago) link
ha, i take it back, the country rock/pedal steel breakdown on "fire island" would sound out of place on a latter day SY record.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:55 (twelve years ago) link
yeah it's gotten less sonic youth in the middle part
― konybrony (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:02 (twelve years ago) link
man this is a nicely produced record, who recorded it?
i bet this will sound soooo sweet on vinyl
― konybrony (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
i think it's the same dude who did the last few SY records? John Agnello?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
Tommorow Never Comes is pure awesomeness cause it steps completely out of the box.the rest is more or less latter day SY, which for me means boring.
― nostormo, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:16 (twelve years ago) link
on the other hand, regarding the personal issues which evolved SY lately, he might need to get used to record a SY album alone:)
― nostormo, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
Man, this really does sound good, liking it much better than the live clips I have seen. The guests and added instrumentation really make it work for me, and so far the songs are all good to really good. Really, "Off The Wall" and "Angles", the two songs that were getting pushed up till now, are my least favorite, though I like them alright. Just digging the moodier stuff (not done yet though!).
― grandavis, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
First listen: this was pretty good. Still, ambient Lee >> songs Lee >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no Lee at all.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
oh hey I am gonna listen to this now
― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:52 (twelve years ago) link
You should, it's great - and better than (and different from) most SY of the past decade
― Raymond Cummings, Thursday, 15 March 2012 11:14 (twelve years ago) link
I couldn't make it past "Hammer Blows" yesterday, giving it another try now but I dunno.
Guess I'm just not used to Lee as a straight ssw.
― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Thursday, 15 March 2012 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
i did expect at least one noisy, out-there track, but i guess he wanted to keep this as straight-ahead as possible. really liked it on first listen though.
― tylerw, Thursday, 15 March 2012 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
OK "Fire Island" is bringing it, this is much more of what I wanted
― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Thursday, 15 March 2012 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
show you pictures of weirdos and lee ranaldo
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1651/johnandlee02qm4.jpg
― lag∞na beach: the real ∞range c∞unty (beachville), Thursday, 15 March 2012 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
Throwing in other SYers for good measure.
http://a1.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/118/7cae0693a8e442599bcc86fac96d8115/l.jpg
― lag∞na beach: the real ∞range c∞unty (beachville), Thursday, 15 March 2012 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
some serious weirdos in this pichttp://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Fender+Jazzmaster+50th+Anniversary+Concert+TsdPZidXA-tl.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 15 March 2012 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
wow that's like the first picture ever where Thurston doesn't look like a dorky teenager - looks pretty old actually
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 16 March 2012 08:57 (twelve years ago) link
Passed Thurston a few times on the Lower East Side the last couple of years and, yeah, he is starting to look only 10 or 15 years younger than he is, not 30.
― grandavis, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:44 (twelve years ago) link
Also, I like the Lee record a lot. In my mind it really picks up after the first 4 songs (not that I dislike all of those songs, I just like the latter 2/3rds of the record a lot more). Licht's playing on the live clips I had seen didn't excite me that much, and neither did the versions of those songs ("Angles" and "Off the Wall" or whatever), but on the record all of the guitars/solos sound fucking great. Some really good textured playing on there, and to my ears way more varied than any of the 00's SY records (not that I didn't really like those SY records either, just in response to the "this sounds like late-period SY to me"). Anyone getting that feel should just skip the first 4 songs and return to them later.
― grandavis, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:48 (twelve years ago) link
Who are the two blokes next to Lee in the picture Tyler posted? They look kind of familiar but I don't know where from.
― Feebs K-Tel (NickB), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:55 (twelve years ago) link
that's jimmy rip and tom verlaine (rip is verlaine's regular guitarist). both weirdos.
― tylerw, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
Aha! Thought that might have been Tom, but he looked a good deal balder than the last time I saw him.
― Feebs K-Tel (NickB), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
nels and thurston also making him look uncharacteristically un-giant.
― Boo-Yaa Too Rough International Boo-Yaa Empire (Merdeyeux), Friday, 16 March 2012 18:02 (twelve years ago) link
apparently married life is bad for nels's health and seperated life is bad for thurston's health
― some dude, Friday, 16 March 2012 18:04 (twelve years ago) link
oh i thought you said 'un-gaunt' like they were getting paunchy, nevermind
all i can really look at in that pic is mascis. so great.
― tylerw, Friday, 16 March 2012 18:04 (twelve years ago) link
lee is live on wfmu right now!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 20:03 (twelve years ago) link
Hey, thanks man. Just saw this and am tuning in now ...
― grandavis, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 20:28 (twelve years ago) link
Ranaldo sounding great on FMU. Always was my fave SY member.
― Lawanda Pageboy (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 20:36 (twelve years ago) link
lol, talking heads cover!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
Hah, awesome
― grandavis, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
Man, missed most of it I guess. Gonna have to dig through the archives to hear the rest.
― grandavis, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 20:50 (twelve years ago) link
listening to the album this morning -- not sure if it's a masterpiece, but it's damn good. pretty much exactly what i wanted to hear out of a "song-based" lee record. would love to see this band live.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
Really harsh Pitchfork review for some reason, not sure what the point of it was. I'll bring a point up with Lee that I do with SY all the time: how many other 50-whatever-year-old musicians still trucking in rock music would deliver a better record than this? Not a REASON to put a record out, mind you, but on the scale of similar efforts to his peers, this Lee record is pretty great.
― grandavis, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I thought that review was overly harsh as well.
― stan this sick bunt (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
It represents a chance for Ranaldo to nab a headline without having to talk about Gordon and Moore's Facebook relationship status.blecch. annnnyway.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:06 (twelve years ago) link