Post a controversial music opinion

Hm I have heard Division Bell playing twice in public places over the past couple weeks and was blown away by how much more space there might be in my life for that music today, compared to when I poo-poo'd it as a teenager

100% agree. Pink Floyd weren't shit until they shoved Barrett out the door (and it still took them a couple of years to have more than one or two good songs max per album), and without Waters they were nothing.

I say that as someone who bought Momentary Lapse of Reason as a 16-year-old and enjoyed it quite a bit. I even saw them live on that tour.

unperson: are you agreeing with my post, or with fgti's? My controversial opinion is that Pink Floyd under Barrett were shit.

I agree with anagram, not fgti. I liked Momentary Lapse when I was a child, but don't like it anymore, and I never liked anything pre-Meddle.

ah, I see – you're saying "weren't shit" to mean "weren't any good", whereas I thought you meant it as "weren't terrible"

Controversial opinion: shit may be good

pharoah sanders karma is pretty good but not that good

I've never enjoyed Pharoah as a leader but that's not especially controversial

Agree that Floyd was better post-Syd, not so sure about the rest. I love The Division Bell

Karma is nowhere near Sanders' best album. His stuff from 1971-72 is when he was really in his glory. But really, everything he did for Impulse!, and Izipho Zam (which was on Strata-East) is essential in its own way.

Women (band) blatantly combined idiosyncratic qualities of Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Wire, and Sebadoh's music on Public Strain... and it did so successfully. it's one of the finest albums of the decade.

I gotta listen to this!

good album, way more interesting than the records they've gone on to make in Preoccupations

They sound sort of like a (much) mellower Abe Vigoda

whoa, Preoccupations used to be Women??? I remember that first record, "Black Rice" right?

You are right that it is not really anything new but it definitely isn't lame. One reason being that Only Tomorrow is about the most amazing piece of music they have ever made. Of course you should listen to it on full volume!
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan)

m b v was one of those albums I thought I loved at the time but rarely (if ever) feel like listening to it now. What's the opposite of a grower? (don't say 'show-er.' Actually, maybe that's apt)

is that track two?

I like to listen to m b v on flights. Somehow that makes it even more difficult to hear the melodies as they are not only buried in the guitar distortion but also covered by the flight noise. And I like that challenge.

not sure if it's controversial but unless i'm in a bar most electric blues are boring as shit

I think that's fairly uncontroversial on ILM.

Oh, and m b v is the best thing they've ever done and the only album of theirs I still listen to on occasion.

you made me realise is the best thing they've ever done

not sure if it's controversial but unless i'm in a bar most electric blues are boring as shit

― marcos, Wednesday, October 17, 2018 2:25 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's my least favourite music in or outside of bars

Acoustic blues ftw, by a Delta country mile.

One Bad Son's cover of "Psycho Killer" is good.

I'm struggling to put myself in the shoes of a The 1975 enthusiast except in a 'different strokes for different folks' kind of way (latest single is the worst offender in this regard). But you do you, I suppose.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason is better than any other post Wall album by Gilmour or Waters.

I'm struggling to put myself in the shoes of a The 1975 enthusiast except in a 'different strokes for different folks' kind of way (latest single is the worst offender in this regard). But you do you, I suppose.

I liked their last album on first listen, but every time I hear a single from the new/upcoming one, I move closer to "I can't believe I used to like these guys"/"I can't believe anyone likes these guys" territory.

I don't think complaints about electric blues are controversial - that's a conversation that goes back to the '60s.

I liked their last album on first listen, but every time I hear a single from the new/upcoming one, I move closer to "I can't believe I used to like these guys"/"I can't believe anyone likes these guys" territory.

― grawlix (unperson), Sunday, October 21, 2018 3:43 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Absolutely, thoroughly loathed the band at first (and still can't get away with that first album), but enjoyed the second album. I haven't heard anything from the forthcoming one, but it's perfectly understandable and totally uncontroversial that someone may not like 'em or find their lead singer insufferable. Don't say that to the hardcore fans, though!

not sure if it's controversial but unless i'm in a bar most electric blues are boring as shit

would that include early electrics like John Lee Hooker or Lightnin' Hopkins?
cause I LOVE that shit...

you know how much time i wasted not listening to magic sam because i figured all that electric blues stuff was the same old shit?

zappa is rubbish

I'm not inclined to disagree based on what little I've heard (Freak Out! and The Yellow Shark) but that's a fairly uncontroversial opinion nowadays, isn't it? His influence is harder to dismiss.

I don't think it's uncontroversial, esp outside ILM. I think he was really original and created work that fills a niche no one else quite does for me; a great composer and bandleader at times, an effective satirist at times, and just a good rocker at times, but also put out loads of dross.

an effective satirist at times

I'm gonna need to see a list, here. Some of his instrumental music is quite good, but every time he (or anyone in his employ) opens their mouths, I cringe so hard I feel like I might spontaneously shed my whole skin.

Steely Dan in all its slick, expert session guy precision engineering leaves me completely cold.

Will reply about Zappa but just want to note that we're listening to the Jeff Beck Group's Truth and electric blues ftw.

I like a handful of satirical things from throughout Zappa's career like "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" (and a lot of Freak Out!), "I'm the Slime", and "Flakes" and some just-silly stuff like "Montana" etc. None of it was ever subtle or particularly literary, and the guy's politics weren't really right-on, so I don't expect to persuade anyone here re Zappa's satirical merits, especially if they didn't listen to him as a teenager. I do agree that his instrumental work is usually what I come back to most. Sometimes a dumb dick joke in 7/16 is what the doctor ordered, though?

Madness' version of The "Sweetest Girl" is miles better than the Scritti Politti original.

I could take or leave most Zappa. Prog is best done with excessive sincerity imo. I do have a soft spot for Freak Out though.

Steely Dan in all its slick, expert session guy precision engineering leaves me completely cold.

― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 21 October 2018 19:26 (three hours ago) Permalink

This is the standard reason people who don’t like Steely Dan. Which is fine, but it’s also exactly what they were going for, including the at times cold feeling.

I never get how "cold" is supposed to be pejorative. Cold burns!

I mean saying Dan is slick and overproduced is like saying that rap isn’t singing.

Their records don't sound "overproduced" to me in the way that idk "Invisible Touch" or Hysteria are overproduced (let alone the 117 tracks of Pro-Tooled garbage on most contemporary pop recordings). If anything, they seem like the audiophile height of naturalistic recording and engineering, as far as commercial pop music goes - this might be what turns the haters off.

i.e. the naturalism might just not seem very exciting.

which is probably what you meant; just working out the ideas, I guess

I've never heard Zappa described as 'prog' before

I think of him as a prog artist too fwiw; I didn't think that was particularly controversial tbh.

One Size Fits All is at #18 here, #38 here.

One Size Fits All also notable for having fairly non-snarky lyrics.