Post a controversial music opinion

St. Anger is Metallica's best album

Highly controversial!

That drum sound is amazing, I have no idea what everyone is talking about. I think I like it because it has the same production style as the Pumpkins when they go metal: super dry, very Sabbathy, vocals high & dry in the mix. I find Hetfield's performances really compelling. Fucking great lyrics too. "I'm madly in anger with you." "My lifestyle determines my deathstyle." Come on!! That shit rules. I like some of the songs on Ride the Lightning better but the production on all of the 80s records sucks.

Madness “started ska”.

Well those are certainly some words you guys posted on the internet

When a vocal critic of Phil Collins '80s gated drum sound praises the drum sound on St. Anger it isn't actually controversial, just fucking stupid.

fb isn't alone on this one; when I interviewed Tyshawn Sorey (avant-garde jazz drummer) for The Wire I played him a track from St. Anger and he loved the drum sound - said it was his favorite thing about the record.

lol that's tight

The drum sound isn't the problem with St Anger

Yeah, really.

What is it then?

The songs are just boring

Okay, thanks. Good thing I never listened to it

Yeah, the songs are poorly put together and way too long. That said, it's not as bad as people (including me!) said at the time. In hindsight, it's a decent try, and having watched the documentary, I understand why they (particularly Hetfield) made it. They/he had no other choice. In fact, I wrote about it last month for Stereogum, in the context of a 10th anniversary look at Death Magnetic.

More often than not, Emmylou Harris' harmony vocals are distracting.

Don't get me wrong: I think she's terrific and I've probably listened to Wrecking Ball six thousand times. But I feel like her voice is too distinctive to blend or something.

When a vocal critic of Phil Collins '80s gated drum sound praises the drum sound on St. Anger it isn't actually controversial, just fucking stupid.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, October 28, 2018 12:04 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

welcome back 😈

unperson otm
I kinda wish I liked St Anger more

More often than not, Emmylou Harris' harmony vocals are distracting.

Don't get me wrong: I think she's terrific and I've probably listened to Wrecking Ball six thousand times. But I feel like her voice is too distinctive to blend or something.

― Paul Ponzi, Sunday,

uh the opposite! She's a zero as a lead singer, immaculate as harmonizer.

Have you heard the Parton-Harris-Ronstadt Trio? A wondrous record.

Discipline is better played, better written and far more exciting than Remain in Light.

I definitely like it more. Idk if I even have an opinion on "better played" or "better written".

is there some connection between those albums?

Adrian Belew

i'll go w/the album where he's not allowed to sing

I kinda wish I liked St Anger more

― Greta Van Fleek (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, October 28, 2018 5:06 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

Beyond just Adrian Belew, I'd say Discipline is highly influenced by Talking Heads overall. I like RIL better, but both are classic.

i'll go w/the album where he's not allowed to sing

This x1000. I can tolerate Belew making the occasional squiggly noise in the margins, but anytime he's allowed to take a dominant role on a song (by anybody), things go straight into the ditch.

Fear of Music, Remain in Light, and Speaking in Tongues are each > Discipline, but Discipline, Beat, & Three of a Perfect Pair are each > Talking Heads before 1979 or after 1984.

Belew isn't a terrible singer in the sense that he ruins otherwise great songs, but I think one needs to delve into deeper cuts like "Heartbeat" and "Waiting Man" before he adds to them. Byrne/Belew/Colin Hay were sort of an early 80s trio tthat even constricted, neurotic voices like mine could be expressive.

^ that taught me that even..

i actually find Belew's voice kind of beautiful when he's singing and not squawking on stuff like "Three of a Perfect Pair" and "Matte Kudasai"; the ones Sanpaku lists are definitely good examples. I realize it's my own issue but Byrne just annoys the heck out of me or leaves me cold a lot of the time.

I think Belew is a guitar genius so he can sing however and whatever he wants

Leo Kottke is very much in the same boat here

Kottke's vox are so bad

yeah

Ha, I always skip the "singing" side of The Best.

i actually find Belew's voice kind of beautiful when he's singing and not squawking on stuff like "Three of a Perfect Pair" and "Matte Kudasai"; the ones Sanpaku lists are definitely good examples. I realize it's my own issue but Byrne just annoys the heck out of me or leaves me cold a lot of the time.

― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Tuesday, October 30, 2018 2:31 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup, basically this.

Drama is secretly one of the best records Yes ever made, and would be considered as such if Jon Anderson had been the singer on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMKfIXdxh-U

I watch this often. I really like it.

It occurred to me in a barely-awake state this morning that Belew's two main vocal approaches in KC mirror the two guitarists': the singing with long sustained swelling notes recalls Fripp's lyrical lead playing; the goofy squawk is like his own outlandish bursts of noise.

Most interesting. We should dedicate a thread to our semi-oneiric reflections on music before sleep or waking.

Lol, I'm in.

controversial halloween opinion: "Thriller" isnt that great a song, and really hard to buy into MJs performance on it if you didnt grow up in the 80s

Solange’s Don’t Touch My Hair is better than any of Beyoncé’s solo work.

Every song on that album is better than Beyoncé's entire solo work.

Every single album I have heard this year has been more interesting than the new Robyn.

now that's controversial

the nice > JH experience

I actually like the Nice but that's definitely controversial, yeah. Interesting, though.

David Byrne actually has a very nice melodious voice he’s grown into in the mid-90s, starting from the best Talking Head record, “Naked”. Just listen to the gorgeous ballads on his self-titled and the wonderful “Feelings”. Terrific melody writer. Yet all he’s ever championed for is the frigging early-to-midperiod Talking Heads.

THRAK contains Belew’s most melodious vocal work, and is the best King Crimson album overall.