So, Does Everyone Hate Cass McCombs?

-- Maria D. (maria...), January 7th, 2005. (Maria D.)

I said this! Maria was logged in on the computer. I hate when that happens. I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth. Although Maria is enjoying the album as well.

w!mb!sh@gma!l.com if the answer is yes. No worries if no.

Thanks

ihttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000777J3M/ref=dp_product-image-only_0/104-0006613-9323968?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=5174

ping ping goes the shovel
pang pang goes the pail
the middle of summer
and the furnace will be burning
when she gets some mail!

Tourist Woman is also great
Not crazy about the production and a little disapointed in some of Tim DeWitt's drumming; he's usually great.

so, the single is out there. That's That. sounds pretty good.

nice guy

great name, too...sounds like a hero of the Wild West...

the first song (Lionkiller) on the new album is pretty sweet. kinda dark, with a dinky keyboard riff towards the end. has anyone heard the record?

since the last album really lit up ilm, i am proud to announce that a new album, Catacombs, is coming out in June. First single, dreams come true girl, is out there on the internet. I didn't like a lot of Dropping the Writ, but based on the last time I saw him live, I am anticipating this.

feel a little bad that i didn't hear the last album and now there's a new one. but i'm a busy guy.

the new album,Catacombs, (he probably thought about this title for years..) is very good.
in fact, it's probably one of the better records of 2009.
References:John Lennon,Robyn Hitchcock,Calvin Joohnson,Nick Drake,Robert Wyatt...

great, minimal production too.

I've only heard one song by him: "Full Moon or Infinity". A friend put it on a mix for me. I really liked it! Is that song of typical quality for McCombs?

i don't know that song.
the only record i heard from him is perfection, which is very good, but he changed styles almost totally afterwards.(less 80's more 70's and accesible, in short)

also sounds kinda like a richard davies solo record. or bill fay, which is a great compliment.

i like "full moon or infinity" despite it sounding like elliot smith. i've never heard it mentioned as a highlight, and he has better songs. if you like that song i think you will find plenty to like on his albums.
i'm not totally convinced by the new one yet. it's too long by about three songs. the first track is really excellent, though.

if you are looking for something that sounds like richard davies, i recommend aptos by the moore brothers, which is probably my favorite album of 2009.

"Harmonia" is my JAM right now.

New record might be his best.

it really is - and it's a very fun song to... knock along to

that live video, what a location! looks great
his bands are always great

last album was very good, "a blue, blue band" and "belong to heaven" personal faves

"tip of the sphere" is also a great album, had that on repeat in 2021

never listened to catacombs for some reason... I will

Report back with your findings!

I’m correct in thinking he was the guitar player for some tracks on catacombs right? Remember looking at the liner notes a while ago. If it’s him that plays that solo on harmonia then he’s got all my love.

I don’t think he plays on Catacombs, but o could be wrong. Wikipedia doesn’t list him among the personnel but I don’t have the actual liner notes to refer to.

I think Wit's End is meant to be an experimental album via its uncomprimisingly stubborn compositions. It's a difficult album with a lot of really understated subtle beauty. County Line however is effortlessly beautiful but I do think it fits in just fine with the rest of the album.

uncompromisingly*

Last album seems SUPER slept on by the way?

I’m correct in thinking he was the guitar player for some tracks on catacombs right? Remember looking at the liner notes a while ago. If it’s him that plays that solo on harmonia then he’s got all my love.

I don’t think he plays on Catacombs, but o could be wrong. Wikipedia doesn’t list him among the personnel but I don’t have the actual liner notes to refer to.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, July 28, 2023 10:08 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Blake toured with Cass in 2009/10, so right around Catacombs, but according to discogs, the only album he's on is Mangy Love.

Last album was super slept on. Maybe my favourite of his in the past decade.

I don’t take wits end as anymore understated/subtle/ than catacombs. Though yeah maybe it’s slightly more difficult due to being a more claustrophobic album (the middle two tracks of harmonia and the executioner’s song bring a lot of fresh air to Thats combs which wits end doesn’t really have). Part of why catacombs is my favourite is it’s pacing, it’s such a well layed out journey. I actually think of catacombs as more subtle as it’s doing most of what wits end does (in its creation of a mood), but with more conventional musical forms.

The executioner’s song also one of my personal favourites this year

I voted for Heartmind pretty high but unfortunately no-one else on ILM did. "Karaoke" is such a beautiful song. I really love "Estrella" from Tip of The Spheres too which is another totally slept-on album of his. As is Mangy Love from 2016! There's a lot of soul stylings on that one that really work well. It took me a while to come around to Wit's End. Its pretty dark and one-note. I'm in agreement with most here that Catacombs is his classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2FM4zuAlNI

Cass has always been an incredible vocalist, and I knew the bridge of this song was incredibly difficult vocally, but seeing someone else try it really gives some context to how much he kills it.

Perfect song for a harp cover too!

I do think that his vocal melodies really toned down after around Catacombs by and large. His vocal delivery approach narrowed and lots of songs ended up sounding kinda samey as a result.

Windfall is the polar opposite of that problem, as demonstrated there

On the other side, windfall has always bordered on the offensively saccharine for me. I still love the song because its really the only saccharine song in his discography, so its worst qualities are balanced out by the rest of the work (I think I'd have no time for this song by anyone else). His wide vocal stage were definitely still there for Wit's End. County Line, Memory Stain (a top 5 Cass melody), buried alive/the lonely doll/hermits cave/pleasant shadow song.... so really everything besides a knock upon the door and saturday's song.

Windfall also has to be one of his only songs with a third section! It's normally always either A or A-B. Amazing how much putting a bridge in a discography without them makes the song sound completely out of character. The more time I spend with Cass's music, the more I grow to love his "one section repeating over and over" songs more

A return to a wider vocal range on his new album too. Love the vocal harmonies on Karaoke. The wandering, where the hell is this melody going? vocal lines on Music Is Blue. Every track is interesting vocally, it's the instrumentation and production that I haven't fell in love with on Heartmind (except for Karaoke, a cracker track)

enjoy reading your thoughts

I never considered Cass a strong singer, in the sense that his vocals seem a bit fragile or... well, they're very understated... but they work perfectly, live too

can't put a finger on the instrumentation, my favorite from Heartmind is A Blue, Blue Band

Wit's End kinda his masterpiece, no? got a vinyl copy. haven't listened to him/it in a long time. pressing is sadly a little loud/surfacey at the beginning of each side. and a little loud otherwise. in that way of modern vinyl. still sounds good though. i do think "County Line" is his best song but the whole album is nearly as strong. i don't know if i have the inner fortitude to do a Cass deep dive right now but this album will do for now.

i got this copy from a musician i know named nat baldwin. he's very nice. he makes cool avant garde music. has a tape label. he just got his Masters! he's moving to town from a couple of towns over. anyway, he sold me a crate of records - which was a very hip crate - and he had a bunch of singer/songwriter LPs that i had never heard. Wit's End was one of them. and of them was put out by my friend Teddy on his Feeding Tube label and somehow i missed it - Ted usually brings me in a big box of FT releases to sell every blue moon - and I think anyone here would really like it. Ned Collette - Old Chestnut. it's REALLY good in a late-60s/early 70s folk-psych vein. it reminds me of a lot of not-famous british singers that i like a lot. anyway, check it out. came out in 2018.

i started this thread 19 years ago and i'm still listening to the Casster! the Cassaroonie! MC Cassie Cash!

Thanks for the Ned C. rec, Scott--going to give a full listen, but on first flip-through that synth arpeggio incorporation on Track 2 is tastefully surprisingly/well-integrated into the folkiness IMO!

Nat Baldwin seems like a v cool fellow indeed--first heard of him through his Dirty Projectors membership.

As an intermediate Cass listener/fan I'd rec next getting into Catacombs and then Big Wheel, maybe?

(Oh, I now grok that you've already heard a good am't the Cassster and are re-listening, gotcha)

i like Catacombs a lot. i could see that being someone's fave Cass. that has such great songs on it. i wouldn't mind having that on vinyl. 2XLP.

still listening to Wit's End and "Buried Alive" is up there for me too. sounds so good. the guitar especially.

I remember "Memory's Stain" really blowing me away, too--am in need of a relisten myself!

Have only cherrypicked/skimmed through his Anti- output in recent years, am now thinking I should attempt to give those later albums some (mangy) love

don't sleep on Tip of the Sphere!

gotta agree wit's end is impeccable

Scott, have you ever listened to this? Cass is in this group:

https://theskiffleplayers.bandcamp.com/album/skifflin

that Skiffle Players album never clicked with me. I kinda want to sell it, given the prices it seems to get.

I saw him play a small intimate gig with Steve Gunn last Thursday. They did a gorgeous psychy rendition of "Wild Mountain Thyme".

Skifflin'! oh man no i didn't know about that one.

"County Line" is one of my favorite songs.

that Ned Collette album i praised above is kinda like the new Taylor Swift. the first LP is perfect and all you need out of an album and then some. BUT if you want more there is a 2nd LP.

The “Coo Coo Bird” cover is good! I like the Skifflin’ album

I don't know why exactly but this one really gets me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWX09AivQGk