TS: Sleater Kinney's "Call the Doctor" vs Sleater Kinney's "Dig Me Out"

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (134 of them)

1 - One Beat
2 - Call The Doctor
3 - Dig Me Out
4 - All Hands on the Bad One
5- The Hot Rock
6 - Sleater-Kinney

(but they're all pretty great).

I was severely disappointed in One Beat when it came out, I played it a bit this spring, but I found it in a misplaced binder this week, and there are just no bad songs on it.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 21 September 2003 06:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Dig Me Out has more striking songs on it - that stand out and make you go "wow," - but as an entire album from start to finish, Call the Doctor still seems to harbor the power of an avalanche clobbering you continuously, since I don't think there are any sub-par or flow-destroying songs on it, which imo is just not true for DMO. Yes CtD lacks "fun songs" and may seen unbalanced (compared to latter day SK), but it has this uninterrupted intensity that really does it for me, a visceral force that flows really well, and I don't really care who's drumming. It still seems like their most coherent, powerful musical/political statement from start to finish and the sequencing also really works for whatever reason; it seems timeless.
That's my opinion; my own ranking is something like this at the moment even though this list is meaningless since the positions are kinda interchangeable - I like all four a lot, really:
1) Call the Doctor
2) All Hands (really underrated - textured songs like "Pompeii" were really nice)
3) One Beat
4) Dig Me Out

7) Hot Rock...(not that I dislike it, just didn't effect me as the others and I hardly ever isten to it, but should probably reinvestigate - I really liked the first half, but then it lost me, if I remember right)

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 21 September 2003 07:01 (twenty-two years ago)

hey vic, ctd has "wanna be your joey ramone", its fun!

But Corin didn't really get her voice under control fully until All Hands

personally i wish corin had NEVER had singing lessons, she used to sound much more expressive.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Sunday, 21 September 2003 07:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno, I think she's incredible on "Sympathy" and "Far Away," from One Beat.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 21 September 2003 07:21 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah di, but joey ramone still seems to have the same "mood" as the other songs for me, like it doesn't sound out of place at all, you know? like a dark little fun song they put in there that still has a point; it doesn;t break the flow of the record. actually all of their albums sound pretty coherent (well the last two a lot of contrasts, I guess), but say, "little babies" still is very different mood-wise from "jenny" - at least to me. ok i'm babbling, i'll stop. if there are any two songs on call the doctor that i skip when i play it, it's the title track and joey ramone actually - the ones that everyone else really likes!

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 21 September 2003 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I just find the Marcus thing inexplicable. I don't understand how he could be so head-over-heels for them and then when One Beat comes out -- which I think is their best but which is almost certainly in the same ballpark as their best -- he acts like its a grand disappointment. If he'd written the same stuff about All Hands on the Band One, I wouldn't have been perplexed.

Inspired to listen to the first one again for the first time in a few years -- maybe I should bump it up over All Hands on the list above.

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Sunday, 21 September 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Justyn I feel justified in disliking him cos A) if can dislike "One Beat" as strongly as he seems to in relation to the others he's a gimp ("All Hands" is much worse, for a start), and B) he doesn't like the Fall

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 21 September 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

How odd it seems to me that SK are now the Grande Auld Dammes of Rokk Un Rolls...

― ModJ, Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Was anyone else mystified when Greil "Sleater-Kinney's publicist" Marcus dissed One Beat? What was he listening too?

First thing he did in a million years that DIDN'T irritate me. Though he was rather vague about why he didn't like it, probably cuz he would have to admit he had overrated AHOTBO. Though he apologized recently by pitching woo about how great Corin's duet with Eddie Vedder on "Hunger Strike" live was. If he's gonna praise her Chris Cornell covers than he's still an insane hyper-fan.

I still adore the Call/Dig/Hot troika. And there's some great songs on the later albums.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Okay maybe I'm all wrong about everything, since I just re-listened to a few of these albums while cleaning my bathroom and desperately trying to get rid of my mysterious fly-or-is-it-a-beetle problem before my relatives invade ma casa 2morrow, and well, One Beat sounds just so deep and accomplished and full-fleshed compared to the skeletal, sparse, somewhat-incomplete by comparison earlier records...but maybe thats just today

One Beat is an amazing album no matter what, and who cares what some old, possibly-irrelevant intellekshuL thinks

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

hot rock is the cruellest of their albums, it is heartbreak and that is why its the best. you cry every second song. and then when "quarter to three" ends, you cry cos its damn well over. I HATE YOU SLEATER-KINNEy!!!!

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Sunday, 21 September 2003 20:46 (twenty-two years ago)

i mean i'm not even depressed anymore and it still makes me cry like a stupid baby.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Sunday, 21 September 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The dude in me who listened to it all spring break long when it came out wants to agree its their best, but the critic in me whines that songs like "Banned From The End Of The World" point to the smugness of their later albums. But yeah, 3/4+ of the album is KILLER heartbreak material.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 21 September 2003 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

especially that song about visiting your dying loved one in a hospital

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 21 September 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm with the Hot Rock camp. I didn't feel comfortable assessing S-K's career until I heard Dig Me Out (still haven't heard Call the Doctor), but now that I have, I still like Hot Rock the best. I could listen to "Get Up" non-stop.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 September 2003 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

jaymc, I could've said exactly what you just said and still been me so you = otm!

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Monday, 22 September 2003 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 September 2003 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

'hot rock' was my first s>k and still my fave, although i give mad props to 'bad one'

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 22 September 2003 05:36 (twenty-two years ago)

why is everyone talking about "all hands" like it's some kind of embarrassing mid-career slump? there's not one bad song on the whole thing! (admittedly SK have fairly high standards: they've got their blah moments but i can't think of many blatantly, undeniably awful songs on any of their albums, the debut excepted) (mainly because i haven't heard it yet)

saying "i don't get the fall" >>>>>>>>>>> not getting the fall and giving all their records B- reviews.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 22 September 2003 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Justyn, I think because the riffs and melodies on All Hands sound so undercooked and sawed off. Ironclad and Youth Decay would be all time wonders if the riffs sounded better.

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 22 September 2003 07:28 (twenty-two years ago)

And while we're at it:

1. 1beat/DMO
2.5. CtD
3. Hot
4. All Hands

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 22 September 2003 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

does anyone else find "youth decay" weirdly disturbing? i mean what's it supposed to be ABOUT, anyway?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 22 September 2003 07:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Teeth

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 22 September 2003 07:44 (twenty-two years ago)

but the critic in me whines that songs like "Banned From The End Of The World" point to the smugness of their later albums.

But isn't that more valid for Hot Rock and All Hands (or even Dig Me Out) than for One Beat, which seems far less concerned with their band's place in the world than with the world itself (and not just post-911 stuff, but their hometown, having kids, etc.)?

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Monday, 22 September 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Here's me:
1. Hot Rock
2. Dig Me Out
3. All Hands...
4. Call the Doctor
5. s/t
with the first three pretty close together and then a gap before 4 & 5. I haven't really listened to One Beat enough to rate it, but I think it would probably go at #4 and knock Call the Doctor and s/t down.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 22 September 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

"all hands" like it's some kind of embarrassing mid-career slump? there's not one bad song on the whole thing!

Milkshake & Honey, Male Model, Pompeii, and #1 Must Have could easily qualify as bad songs. Sometimes I want to include Ballad Of A Ladyman.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

my (v small) problem with all hands is not that its bad, its that its too slick and perfect and there aren't enough moments on it that don't make sense.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Monday, 22 September 2003 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

isn't giving B- reviews of Fall albums pretty much the same thing as saying you don't get them, though?

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 22 September 2003 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Milkshake & Honey, Male Model, Pompeii, and #1 Must Have could easily qualify as bad songs. Sometimes I want to include Ballad Of A Ladyman.

-- Anthony Miccio (anthonymicci...), September 22nd, 2003.

- those first three are not only the best songs on the album, but amongst the best of their career

― Vic (Vic), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 07:06 (twenty-two years ago)

"leave you behind", "the swimmer", and "#1 must have" are the best tracks on AHOTBO

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 07:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Di u and me are the best SKFANZ on ILX

― Vic (Vic), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 07:21 (twenty-two years ago)

pompeii is just okay. the other four are great - "#1 must have" in particular is one of their ten best.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate the bloody "Swimmer"

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:24 (twenty-two years ago)

It's nothing like as bad as "Jenny", though, so who cares

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

andrew you sooooo don't get it.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Where's that Sarah McLauchlan you taped me

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I get 'Size of Our Love' and 'Leave You Behind' and stuff, I deserve at least a pass in "Getting It"

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:30 (twenty-two years ago)

andrew stop not getting it!!

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm thinking that's a call I should be making

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:35 (twenty-two years ago)

when i met janet weiss i asked her if they'd play "the swimmer." she groaned and went "oh no, we don't play that one."

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:35 (twenty-two years ago)

She gets it

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

then i named like four other songs and they wouldn't play any of them! we finally settled on "ballad of a ladyman."

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate the bloody "Swimmer"

HERESY

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i reckon assdrew is just pretending to hate those songs. either that or hes a robot.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah it's a scam, try and work out what I hope to gain by it!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

a high flying political career?

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 12:20 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I'm trying to get excommunicated from the Order of the Divine Jim

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

HERESY

Doctrine!

― Leee (Leee), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Vic I have t-shirt with all 3 members on it ergo I'm best fan ever.

― Leee (Leee), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

hey what'd i do?

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 34 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Yeah they could've stopped being all tough enough to look happy at the amazing performance of their favourite band, don't you think?

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 25 September 2003 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)

damn straight

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 25 September 2003 05:20 (twenty-two years ago)

corin looked quite happy

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 25 September 2003 05:20 (twenty-two years ago)

thats good. i wish she'd been happier in auckland.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Thursday, 25 September 2003 07:14 (twenty-two years ago)

fifteen years pass...

personally i wish corin had NEVER had singing lessons, she used to sound much more expressive.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Sunday, September 21, 2003 2:17 AM (fifteen years ago)

― j., Tuesday, 6 August 2019 02:24 (six years ago)

Corin was also literally destroying her voice before she got lessons so

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 6 August 2019 02:35 (six years ago)

so much the better for her, so much the worse for us

― j., Tuesday, 6 August 2019 02:49 (six years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.