this band is really good but man...the singer really tries my patience
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 21:35 (six years ago) link
Out
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 21:40 (six years ago) link
Haha! Oh man...
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 21:42 (six years ago) link
https://image.ibb.co/gWyfcx/acres_front.jpg https://image.ibb.co/kVTVcx/acres_back.jpg
^ This is how I first heard TWR, bought from a high street chain for £1.99 which in today's money is probably about two pounds. Zippo were a UK label that specialised in rootsy US rock, I think they started from a shop and then got bought out by Demon. Those sorts of bands were getting a bit of a push in the UK at the time, Green On Red would get on the cover of Melody Maker and Sounds but I don't think anyone really bought their records tbh. There's some good tracks on it (e.g. 'Pure Heart' by the Wild Seeds is a bit corny but gorgeous, and 'Thin Line Man' by Giant Sand was an early high-water mark for Mr Gelb and also kind of invented the Pixies imo), but honestly a lot of it is kind of meat'n''tatoes, riffy, strummy fare. 'Moonhead' really leapt out at me, majestic and mysterious and monstrous in equal measure. Was really getting into Television and the Meat Puppets' Up On The Sun at the time, and I felt it had more in common with that sort of thing than with the rest of the bands on the comp.
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 22:26 (six years ago) link
Was really getting into Television and the Meat Puppets' Up On The Sun at the time, and I felt it had more in common with that sort of thing For sure.
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 22:29 (six years ago) link
Xposts I mean I get that if there’s one thing that might have militated against rampant thin white rope love all over the world, it’s Guy’s voice. Same thing with imo the other best band of that decade - there’s plenty of people who just can’t deal with MES vocals and I believe them. But Guy’s voice is just so good, so perfect. I wouldn’t change a single node. Also even with the distancing effect of the vox couldn’t they have at least been as popular as the fall? :(
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 22:36 (six years ago) link
Calling any underachieving band "underrated" is obviously an overused rock crit cliche (as is saying "'underrated' is an overused rock crit cliche") but if it ever applied to any band, it's this one. Really, the fact that they weren't even in the conversation after a certain point is mind boggling (see also: Lift To Experience)
Anyone with any insights as to why? Maybe it was personal? Drugs? Maybe they were dicks to everyone? None of those factors prevented scores of other bands (some even appearing on that comp) from getting recognition, at least for a little while (looking at you, Dan Stuart)
The record biz has always been cruel and unfair, huh?
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 22:52 (six years ago) link
Yeah idkThey put out a record a year which were all great and sometimes masterpieces, the records were readily obtainable, enough critics liked them, they toured like fuck and (I’m surmising from recorded evidence) played hard at every show, seems like they acted like clowns offstage while touring but not unusually so. Am I right that they more or less stopped because of frustration + weariness with their sheer underratedness? It pains me. There could have been more of these songs.
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 22:59 (six years ago) link
It would have been interesting if they'd been able to persist for a couple of years more, with the weird Krautrock edges starting to resurface among newer bands at the time like Stereolab. But people will make their decisions.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:04 (six years ago) link
am only semi serious here but they were never buddies with sonic youth unlike dinosaur jr or nirvana or mudhoney or whoever. mind you, the lunachicks were and it's been a long while since i heard them played in asda
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:06 (six years ago) link
I guess I forgot one factor Bad band name, not catchy sounding and also pretty gross when you unpack it But that never stopped (lists a zillion terribly formed names of successful bands)
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:10 (six years ago) link
Am I right that they more or less stopped because of frustration + weariness with their sheer underratedness? It pains me. There could have been more of these songs.
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, March 14, 2018 10:59 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
It's a cycle, though, innit? Like, you get called "underrated" and "overlooked" in enough reviews, that becomes your story, because every review thereafter just parrots the ones from the previous record that talked about how overlooked and underrated you are.
Still, from the looks of it, all's well that ends well. Guy seems to be doing OK, at least, and I bet he's happier where he is than he would be on the road in hellscape 2018
Wish I was around when these records were new, though. Never got to see these guys, had no idea they existed until it was too late
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:14 (six years ago) link
if anyone is still short of live stuff, this youtube channel has quite as few shows up of varying quality:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8tAnV9M2FKiJF2pDbXU0hw/search?query=thin+white+rope
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:17 (six years ago) link
https://preview.ibb.co/ggJoxx/twr.jpg
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:19 (six years ago) link
aww, maybe this was the final nail in the coffin for TWR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUKzXyB_9ZI&feature=youtu.be&t=2720
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:31 (six years ago) link
fuck, https://youtu.be/cUKzXyB_9ZI?t=2723
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:33 (six years ago) link
...i hate this business of visiting my hometown...
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:35 (six years ago) link
Cmon, fess up...you were in Mature Innocence
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:41 (six years ago) link
Jesus, maybe the name "Thin White Rope" isn't so bad after all. "Pause and Effect" sounds like a band Gob Bluth would be in
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:44 (six years ago) link
Phallucy was a rock/alternative metal band from Sacramento, California. The band's drummer, Abe Cunningham, later became the drummer with the band Deftones, which is now a worldwide success.[citation needed] Phallucy has reunited three times: in 1999, 2001 and finally in 2009 for the Chi Cheng Benefit Show in San Francisco along with Death Angel and other special guests. The band's name is a combination of the words "fallacy" and "phallus".
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:45 (six years ago) link
On Some days Puppet Dog is in the top 5 best songs ever list
― Duke, Friday, 16 March 2018 22:15 (six years ago) link
By the way, the lyrics/credits booklet PDFs weren't included in the remastered Bandcamp downloads so I asked Frontier about them. They had been forgotten but have now been added. Redownload to get them.
― StanM, Sunday, 18 March 2018 07:22 (six years ago) link
Remastered Moonhead LP arrived today - sounding great! I still wish they could 'remaster' a new drummer on these recordings but hey
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 22 March 2018 23:04 (six years ago) link
Think I just got asked to pass this on from the guy who's upping the TWR sets to dime
a note to user nicknamed MaresNest over at a twr forumi am absolutely fine with you "wetransfering" the files for forum membersjust keep track with updates like the 1989-07-12 Vienna Austria U4 FM sound-upgrade from 2 days ago as the pool should stay as clean as possible
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 23:01 (six years ago) link
sorry can I delete that last post and repost an edited version.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 23:03 (six years ago) link
Thanks Steveolende, I will grab that next week and put it up for those that desire it.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 21:07 (six years ago) link
OK I thought I'd posted a name I possibly shouldn't have. So everything's ok then.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 21:55 (six years ago) link
yes please! xpost :-)
― StanM, Friday, 20 April 2018 07:48 (six years ago) link
Ah, thanks for the nudge Stan, here 'tis...
https://we.tl/koO86us0Fv
― MaresNest, Friday, 20 April 2018 09:56 (six years ago) link
Thanks x 1000 again!
― StanM, Friday, 20 April 2018 10:14 (six years ago) link
http://frontierrecords-thinwhiterope.bandcamp.com/album/sack-full-of-silver-2018-remastered-edition
http://frontierrecords-thinwhiterope.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-spanish-cave-2018-remastered-edition
― StanM, Friday, 7 September 2018 23:51 (five years ago) link
Shame they don't have soundfiles on the website.Don't think I've really seen that on bandcamp before. Since i thought that was one of the main purposes of bandcamp.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 8 September 2018 09:13 (five years ago) link
they'll probably enable them on the release date, next Friday
― StanM, Saturday, 8 September 2018 10:12 (five years ago) link
and they're out - Mr. Limpet & Hidden Lands are the sample tracks on bandcamp.
― StanM, Friday, 14 September 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
oh wait, all the tracks are playable
― StanM, Friday, 14 September 2018 16:12 (five years ago) link
Tempted to get the cds. I've all the original vinyl, but I'm playing more and more cds now
― Duke, Saturday, 15 September 2018 19:24 (five years ago) link
yeah played through all the lps on there yesterday and this morning.Am tempted to get the cds again. I think i got most of them before. Don't think I got Ruby Sea though.What's in the booklets?
― Stevolende, Saturday, 15 September 2018 19:29 (five years ago) link
The Ruby Sea hasn't yet been remastered, right?
― Duke, Saturday, 15 September 2018 19:31 (five years ago) link
Oh, thought it might be coming. Wasn't up as such when I listened to it last night. But thought they were doing them all in batches.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 15 September 2018 19:34 (five years ago) link
Yes I imagine you're right.
― Duke, Saturday, 15 September 2018 19:40 (five years ago) link
I may wait until Ruby Sea appears then buy them all....
the pdfs are just the lyrics sheets/booklets as they were before
― StanM, Saturday, 15 September 2018 20:07 (five years ago) link
they were going to do the first 5 albums this year, so I suppose The Ruby Sea is still coming up
― StanM, Saturday, 15 September 2018 20:08 (five years ago) link
The digital version of Moonhead has four extra tracks compared with the original vinyl. As you can see I'm getting tempted here...
― Duke, Sunday, 16 September 2018 13:47 (five years ago) link
Seemed like they shuffled around what was on as extra tracks from previous editions. I think I had a coupl eo fthose tracks on In The Spanish cave but not sure where Roger's Tongue came from.Some of that stuff is off the Bottom feeders e.p. isn't it? Not sure about chronology of tracks recording so where they fit.I saw taht In The Spanish cave had Munich Eunuch again
― Stevolende, Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
Can’t wait to compare the sound quality of the new Triangle Song mastering. I don’t want to go into detail rn but there are things about that recording that have really bugged me
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 16 September 2018 16:03 (five years ago) link
One of my favourite songs
― Duke, Sunday, 16 September 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link
Do tell us what bugs you!
― Duke, Sunday, 16 September 2018 16:50 (five years ago) link
Then again, maybe it'll start bugging us all....
do you mean the way someone is fiddling with various instrument volumes all the time and how some of it sounds like liquid stereo (I always imagined they reconstructed that track from tapes they had thrown away initially)? yeah, it's still like that.
― StanM, Sunday, 16 September 2018 17:35 (five years ago) link