Taking Sides: Indigo Girls "Closer to Fine" vs Edie Brickells "What I Am"

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Was that a reference to The Evil One? I thought it was more Indoge Girls defence.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Natalie Merchant had her moments. I think there were three in total.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Was that a reference to The Evil One?

It was a Dan Perry kind of post

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, so yes then!

― The Evil One (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

(I know what you meant, I am recontextualizing for fun and profit)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Brand Nubian sampled 'What I Am' on 'Slow Down'

That's the one - thank you!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

aww man - simon and garfunkel kick the shit out of all three of the others. paul simon wrote better songs in his sleep than anything by 10K maniacs, IG, or edie brickell. not a gender thing, either - i put joni mitchell and sandy denny and linda thompson above s&g...

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember having to work the Indigo Girls show at Marquette my sophomore year. That "I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind / got my paper and I was FREE" mentioned above got this HUGE resounding ROAR and I was like, this sucks.

― frankE (frankE), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw Natalie Merchant sing in NYC at St. John the Divine Cathedral at a memorial service for Allen Ginsberg and it was lovely. So there.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

ok, this makes me hate them

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaahhaah! Ooh! You're such a bad ass for graduating from college! Hahah.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, they're so anti-intellectual

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

and so much more dismissive of their privilege than more privileged indie-rockers

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

if i'm totally wrong here, it's because i'm one of the high-schoolers amateurist hates

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

what? where does that come from? why are you being an asshole?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

glory days well they'll pass you by glory days a.k.a. the pathos and humor of high school nostalgia

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously, i'm not sure what caricature you're struggling to apply to other posters on this thread, but i don't think it fits.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

give me [the indigo girls] over Simon and Garfunkel any damn day

there's logic to this. I'd totally listen to an Indigo Girls CD-R comp made by somebody who I knew had taste and access to their rather huge discography).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

and Jeanne you qualify taste-wise, but I don't know if you have that much of their stuff or any interest in making one of these

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

where does that come from?

I was referring to this...

now that i'm about a decade removed from those AWFUL AWFUL GIRLS at my highs chool who loved the indigo girls so much

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

and while I balk at the idea that Merchant/Indigo Girls/Brickell are getting ripped on solely cuz they and their fanbase are women (the word "mook" gets thrown around far too much for me to assume that ILM es muy macho in every sense), but S&G and Ted Leo have similar lyrical pretension as the Indigo Girls and don't get nearly as much crap (in part cuz S&G are probably catchier and you dance to the best Ted Leo).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

ack! are predominantly women. sorry.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Anthony, just get their best of (Retrospective). The only albums of theirs that I have is that one, their self-titled and Rites of Passage. (I'm just not so huge into them that it would warrant any more albums of theirs.)

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Or scratch that and just get Amy Ray's solo album, Stag.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

gabbneb is a woman?!

haha true story: I only know "Closer to Fine" because K@hleen Edwards, who was then in my chemistry and world issues classes, used to play it all the time at high school coffeehouses. An early stepping-stone on her route to fame!

I still hear "What I Am" in pubs sometimes. I really don't like the lyrics, which do strike me as pretty blatantly anti-intellectual and in a gratingly smug and corny way, and I don't find the music at all interesting or appealing enough to overcome this. I can tune out lyrics but the music doesn't do much for me.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

who is k@hleen edwards?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

the only people who call others out on their "privilege" are usually quite privileged themselves. Guilty white rich liberal.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Sort of a folk-rocky singer/songwriter. I believe Failer was the title of her album and it seemed to get some good reviews and radio play. I think it placed on Pazz & Jop but I could be wrong. Chuck rates it IIRC. I haven't listened to it.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

btw gabbneb is it ok to dislike anyone?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Or scratch that and just get Amy Ray's solo album, Stag.

I think we have that one at the radio station! I'll check it out.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

for some reason, I always thought the Indigo Girls lyric was "the closer I am to God". Don't ask me why. Always thought their schtick was grating and ran screaming in the other direction...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 17 September 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

The answer is: Slayer

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Kathleen Edwards is awesome. "Six O'Clock News" is one of my favourite songs of the last year-and-a-half. She supposedly has a new record out soon.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

gabbneb is a woman?!

No, duh. I may have misinterpreted amst - I thought he was saying these people were awful because of how they were fans, rather than awful independent of their fandom.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"What I Am"

I prefer the remix that some Italian DJ did in 1989. Andrew Weatherall must have really liked it too, 'cause he sampled it for "Loaded"!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 17 September 2004 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

gabbneb is a woman?!

No, duh. I may have misinterpreted amst - I thought he was saying these people were awful because of how they were fans, rather than awful independent of their fandom.

-- gabbneb (gabbne...) (webmail), September 17th, 2004 4:37 PM. (gabbneb) (later) (link)

def. the latter

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Friday, 17 September 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

ok. sorry to misinterpret and to be an asshole.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 18 September 2004 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Can't comment on the whole scope of this thread but Green Day's version of "Closer to Fine" pales.

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Saturday, 18 September 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Beavis, watching "What I Am": "Hey, she's married to that tiny South African dude who used to be in the Beatles."

Indigo Girls' "Virginia Wolff" has the Worst Lyric Ever: "You weathered the storm of cruel mortality." If that means what I think it's supposed to mean, no, she didn't. She's dead. (By drowning suicide, which makes the line even worse, as my friend Becca once pointed out.)

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 18 September 2004 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

morrissey should lick natalie merchant.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 18 September 2004 01:18 (twenty-one years ago)

gabbneb, you would be gentleman, if you were a man. since you're not, you'll have to settle for being a gentlewoman.

anyway, thanks to the virginia wolff story, i now take back even the most tentative reassessment of the indigo girls i ventured on this thread.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 18 September 2004 01:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm...I don't think I properly conveyed the fact that I in fact actually OWN that first Indigo Girls CD with "Closer To Fine" on it. But I do; and even tho I haven't played it in like five years, I still fondly recall "Closer To Fine" and a couple of others, esp. that one with the "Calling you, calling you/From 10,000 miles away" refrain. (Hey, that's one mile per Maniac!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, 18 September 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"You weathered the storm of cruel mortality."

maybe they mean she lived through a lot of other people's deaths? like those movies that just keep coming out these days

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 18 September 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not aware of too many things

No shit.

I have to agree that it's the vomitous guitar solo that well and truly kills "What I Am."

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Saturday, 18 September 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

On the surface I think this is quite an inspired idea for a thread - good going Custos. I don't actually find the decision between the two to be so easy. I would have to hear both again back to back just to be sure, but the problem is I don't particularly want to hear either of them. So I guess I'll be trapped in purgatory forever between the two. OH well. Worse things have happened.

― Bimble (bimble), Saturday, 18 September 2004 06:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Or scratch that and just get Amy Ray's solo album, Stag.

Yeah I was surprised how much I liked that record, given my low tolerance for all things Indigo. It's not great or anything, but it's nice and fuck-offish (even though the Joan Jett cameo is kind of a letdown).

Of these two songs, the Edie one has a pretty good groove, which is more than the Indigos ever had.

― spittle (spittle), Saturday, 18 September 2004 06:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Nicole Kidman *is* Virginia Wolff . . . in 'Friday the 13th Part XV'!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 18 September 2004 06:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Jeanne's recommendations are pretty otm. The first five studio albums are all listenable (the sixth has maybe two good songs, and I don't know the 7th and 8th, though I've heard decent tunes from them), but none are great (Rites of Passage stands out as the most consistent). So a comp is probably the way to go or to start. Retrospective seems pretty good, if imperfect. Here's my CD-R:

Strange Fire
Left Me a Fool (Back On The Bus, Y'all version)
Closer to Fine
Kid Fears (Back On The Bus, Y'all version)
Land of Canaan (self-titled version)
Southland in the Springtime
Hammer and a Nail
Hand Me Downs
Watershed
Three Hits
Galileo
Ghost
Chickenman
Cedar Tree
Mystery (1200 Curfews version)
Touch Me Fall
Language or the Kiss

This is 78-79 minutes. The last song I left off was "Secure Yourself"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 18 September 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

We've got all the way down here without mentioning Emma Bunton's cover of "What I Am"?

(I have no opinion on either of the originals)

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 18 September 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

other honorable mentions - Keeper of My Heart (which might actually be a better choice than Hand Me Downs above), Love Will Come to You, Prince of Darkness, Virginia Woolf, Airplane, This Train Revised, Let It Be Me, Power of Two, World Falls, Fugitive, Welcome Me, Jonas and Exekiel, Least Complicated, Romeo and Juliet, Love's Recovery, Fare Thee Well, The Wood Song

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 18 September 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

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