Post a controversial music opinion

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.

This thread makes me feel good. I might become the new Geir.

Haha, I appreciate your stanning fir Naked. It isn't really the best, but it's pretty underrated. For at least a couple years after it was released, Naked was my favorite album by anyone, period.

Thriller is nowhere near MJ's best song, but it's a pretty solid album. For me Jackson's legacy was secured by the utter joy contained in his J5 vocals (ABC etc.), and anything he did as an "adult" is gravy. I barely paid attention to his post-Thriller work, and his consequent shenanigans.

THRAK feels like the one KC album that Belew utterly saves - not just in his vocal performances but in his songwriting. "Dinosaur" and "Walking on Air" are both really great. I've always thought of Belew as KC's "best" vocalist from a technical point of view (outside of maybe Lake on the first two albums), but you can see why they didn't have him cover the old material often.

Probably more bitchy than straight up controversial, but there's something satisfying in peeking into the TMBG poll thread, seeing Birdhouse at three - a track that makes me want to pull off my own ears and the ears of my family to save them the torment - and knowing I can safely tick them off the 'if only there was more time!' list.

sounds like you have a bee in your bonnet

Heh. Argh!

I agree the Robyn album is uninteresting 😑

Beyonce's "Don't Yourself" is more thrilling than Solange's work.

comparing them sucks

they don't really seem to be trying to do the same thing and i don't think anyone would compare them if they weren't related

or if they didn't have some kind of bone-deep hatred for beyoncé

DJs understand music better than musicians

circle of fifths vs moving the crowd FITE

DJs understand music better than musicians

― ogmor, Friday, November 2, 2018 8:30 AM (thirty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my problem this is the assumption that there's one way to understand music or better or worse ways to understand it

Only DJ kids will get this!

xp

do you think you understand music now any better than when you were born?

DJs have greater flexibility to understand music in different ways than a musician