His voice has that animated 80s style that's hard to describe, or at least a version of it. He has a great voice, but it's the inflections. I don't know. I love those records so much but I know what you mean.
― Evan, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 18:29 (five years ago) link
yeah I've never been crazy about his voice. i like indistinct "what are they saying" vocals sometimes but i sometimes am like "enunciate for the love of god"
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 18:31 (five years ago) link
I've tried 2 or 3 times to listen to Talk Talk and don't think I ever made it through a single song. that's just me though, I do feel sad for everyone who loved his music of course.
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 18:49 (five years ago) link
It's rather surprising to me that some avowed music fans haven't heard Talk Talk. Isn't this like the equivalent of saying in 1980 that you haven't heard the VU ?
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 18:53 (five years ago) link
If indie and pop/rock music is your only framework for "music," this might seem flabbergasting to you, but you know, Anthony Braxton has, like, 400 albums, and I'd be way more interested in wading through more of those than listening to Talk Talk.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:00 (five years ago) link
Talk Talk was one of the first bands I heard of after becoming a serious music fan/searcher. Could never find their CDs, pre-YouTube and streaming, by the time I heard Laughing Stock I wasn't into it and never pursued them further. But yeah, they're always one of the first names to come up if you're seeking anything experimental/progressive/"arty."
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:09 (five years ago) link
I dunno, I’m pretty into arty rock music, and I think my only ever exposure to Talk Talk (before this week) has ever been hearing “It’s My Life” on the radio here and there (and when No Doubt covered the song). I don’t remember them ever really coming up when I was getting schooled as a teen/young adult.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:35 (five years ago) link
Isn't this like the equivalent of saying in 1980 that you haven't heard the VU ?
only 300 people heard talk talk but every one of them started a band that sounds like chvrches
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:36 (five years ago) link
i'm sure there are people here who haven't heard television either
it's ok to not have heard basically anything at this point
― the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:51 (five years ago) link
it's WATCH television, dummy
― Evan, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:51 (five years ago) link
hmm I do stan for Chvrches, maybe I should give Talk Talk another shot if they're a legit influence.
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:54 (five years ago) link
Top of my head are minutemen n chills. Shlda give'em more time but y'know not now. It's also the right time n place. I hated neil y for the longest time till someone made mixtape. It just suddenly clicked.
― nathom, Thursday, 28 February 2019 21:16 (five years ago) link
To hook back onto the above SY convo — I’m at Disneyland, and have so far seen two different guys wearing Goo T-shirts (and the day is still young...).
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 28 February 2019 22:22 (five years ago) link
Colour of Spring hits the sweet spot for me between the pop structure of the early stuff and the instrumentation of the later stuff. I like and admire the last two records, but I'd rather listen to Colour of Spring any day
― Vinnie, Monday, February 25, 2019 5:40 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
totally agree with this
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 28 February 2019 23:30 (five years ago) link
Morris, were they kids or parents?
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Thursday, 28 February 2019 23:36 (five years ago) link
To the people who think Stereolab are too "tight" or too "light": check out ABC Music! Their songs on there are rawer and have a harder edge.
― Gaseous Clay (Leee), Thursday, 28 February 2019 23:46 (five years ago) link
xp Guys in their 30s
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 28 February 2019 23:50 (five years ago) link
xp
Also Refried Ectoplasm and Transient Random-Noise Bursts
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 1 March 2019 00:05 (five years ago) link
And Peng!
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Friday, 1 March 2019 00:18 (five years ago) link
I love ABC Music (the 1st disc) so much. That first Peel Session predates any album proper and they already sound so fully-formed
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 1 March 2019 01:05 (five years ago) link
Their later stuff was definitely tighter and lighter, but the first few years were often loud and very not tight in the best possible ways. I love Peng but the way it was recorded or mixed always seems to undermine how raw they could sound. Here's Orgiastic off that record live in early 1993 the way I would have rather it sounded on lp (though the vocals are a bit buried)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG0poVy8GjA
― city worker, Friday, 1 March 2019 01:48 (five years ago) link
Every time I immerse myself in the early '70s, I give the white dude singer songwriter combos (eg Simon & Garfunkel, CSN) another shot and, man, I just can't seem to hear anything but echoes of the smugly self-satisfied middle class boomers they'll eventually morph into. I mean, not those dudes specifically (or not all of those dudes, anyway) but more the people they're singing to. There's a mild drug haze hovering over it, some bohemian flourishes with a tinge of political awareness, but at the core much of it is just so...conservative. And I don't think it helps to hear it in the context of the overwhelmingly amazing music being released around the same time.
― The First Time Ever I Fly @ U Face (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 26 March 2019 16:54 (five years ago) link
You're projecting. Not that I'm a fan of any of those groups, and I understand your perspective, but even I'll rep for the best of the Simon & Garfunkel stuff. "Mrs. Robinson" is the antithesis of conservative.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 26 March 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link
Oh, I'm for sure projecting. And that lot definitely made some good tunes, but the bulk of it is just so bleh to my ears.
― The First Time Ever I Fly @ U Face (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 26 March 2019 18:09 (five years ago) link
I think their production often made them sound more conservative than they really were, you can hear this with their live recordings which imo always sound better. Famous example which pisses all over studio version: https://youtu.be/HhRwNqybWog
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 26 March 2019 18:15 (five years ago) link
CSN(Y) for me, although I love most of the Laurel Canyon scene and a lot of their solo albums, as a group they've always bored me senseless.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 23 April 2019 08:23 (five years ago) link
I do like the 4 guitars workingf against each other in the electric jams a lot. They did some great extended Down By The Rivershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEXY4SlgJNY
but then i do like the studio lps too.
That clip from Big Sur was the one that Sonic Youth edited into their Snub Tv video
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 23 April 2019 12:30 (five years ago) link
Rush
― brimstead, Tuesday, 23 April 2019 21:43 (five years ago) link
I'm sure this has been covered but I can't get near the Replacements no matter how hard I try. I don't find the ragged shambles thing exciting or endearing. Oh well.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 29 April 2019 19:24 (five years ago) link
elvis costello. i don't get him at all. boring songs without tunes - except that one lovely song which i only know in the awesome robert wyatt version - plus a croaking voice which makes bob dylan sound like an angel. to be honest i haven't really tried. 30 seconds of costello are usually the longest i can bear him.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 29 April 2019 21:04 (five years ago) link
costello has flaws, but writing "songs without tunes" is not one of them.
― mourning joe (voodoo chili), Monday, 29 April 2019 21:12 (five years ago) link
maybe i am too dumb to get his tunes then.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 29 April 2019 21:31 (five years ago) link
his first 6 LPs have plenty of tunes on them
― frogbs, Monday, 29 April 2019 21:36 (five years ago) link
can you hum the melody to the chorus of oliver's army? yes you can
― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Monday, 29 April 2019 21:37 (five years ago) link
elvis costello. i don't get him at all.
Yup, can't stand his voice and his music bores me rigid. I disagree that his work is "without tunes" - there are, I just don't like any of them. Also, I find his melodic sense actually quite limited.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 29 April 2019 22:35 (five years ago) link
Co-sign. I dig the early singles he did but I've tried more than once to connect with his early albums. No dice.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 29 April 2019 23:06 (five years ago) link
Turrican OTM!
― Freddie Starr (Hitler in shorts) (Tom D.), Monday, 29 April 2019 23:11 (five years ago) link
I had the 1985 best-of on cassette in high school and liked about half of it. I also owned Trust, King of America and Blood & Chocolate, but haven't paid attention to anything he's done in the last 30 years.
https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Costello-And-The-Attractions-The-Best-Of-Elvis-Costello-And-The-Attractions/release/3543966
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 29 April 2019 23:14 (five years ago) link
Not a band, but I think this fits: I can't seem to get into Brazilian music. I keep buying Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Tom Ze, Jorge Ben, and Gilberto Gil records; I've read Tropical Truth, and own all the Os Mutantes reissues and a few Rita Lee albums; I like the political aspects of the music, the individual stories and personalities, even some of the sounds, but the music as a whole rarely makes any great impression on me. I think I just find a lot of it too lightweight and happy or something; too twee. Or maybe it's because the so-called "psychedelic" aspects of this music have been greatly exaggerated and oversold. I don't know.
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 00:05 (five years ago) link
what jorge ben are you listening to because i kinda want to fight you in real life
― be the 2 chainz you want 2 see in the world (m bison), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 00:19 (five years ago) link
Paul Ponzi OTM too! WTF? Though, Jorge Ben is pretty good tbf.
― Ned Caligari (Tom D.), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 00:22 (five years ago) link
psychedelic? i like 70s smooth jazz brazil, funky brazil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGWNdkDZUqQ
― brimstead, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 00:27 (five years ago) link
jorge ben has so many great songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YspHjaITtJ4
― brimstead, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 00:29 (five years ago) link
Try Nacão Zumbi. Brazilian music from Recife has balls; it's not that fluffy curtains-in-the-breeze shit you hear from Rio.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 00:30 (five years ago) link
Os Mutantes were amazing!
― Dan S, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 01:13 (five years ago) link
and they seem very distinct from other late 20th Century Brazilian music
― Dan S, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 01:17 (five years ago) link
but haven't paid attention to anything he's done in the last 30 years.
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
Looking away from me, trying not to catch my eyes
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 01:42 (five years ago) link
I get you Paul Ponzi, actually... Caetano in particular is somebody I admire but don't want to listen to, and Os Mutantes never made an emotional impact. That said, and it's totally comfort food music, but I listen to Joao Gilberto Voz E Violao at least once a month
― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 04:16 (five years ago) link
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 05:18 (five years ago) link