No Casual Gods, No Credibility
― Boring, Maryland, Friday, 9 October 2020 19:05 (three years ago) link
wikipedia is the one truth
― bogo jumbo boba (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 9 October 2020 19:09 (three years ago) link
Sometimes, all I can say is Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
― nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 9 October 2020 19:29 (three years ago) link
Lol at playlist title, Sufjan
― She Thinks I Will Dare (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 9 October 2020 20:06 (three years ago) link
I think Throwing Copper is the answer here. That Big Head Todd record was pretty inescapable on my college campus at the time and I remember liking that one Von Bondies single okay.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 9 October 2020 20:13 (three years ago) link
I agree. It was everywhere, so you've heard it. But it sounds nothing like anything you'd to be associated with a Talking Head. There's a line from talking heads to some of the jam band sounding stuff. Throwing Copper is the most surprising and kind of sets up the later surprises like The Verve Pipe and Stroke 9.
― bogo jumbo boba (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 9 October 2020 20:20 (three years ago) link
*you'd expect to be associated with at Talking Head
I didn’t like that Poi Dog Pondering album but I loved the Thanksgiving EP and their cover of “Love Vigilantes”
― All cars are bad (Euler), Friday, 9 October 2020 22:46 (three years ago) link
My friend wrote "Thanksgiving." Sometimes I contact him around that holiday to check in on his royalty payments. Nowadays he mostly does big Bowie and Queen tributes and such in Austin.
― She Thinks I Will Dare (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 9 October 2020 22:59 (three years ago) link
Nice, good song!
― All cars are bad (Euler), Friday, 9 October 2020 23:05 (three years ago) link
no way did he do Throwing Copper. that's amazing
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Friday, 9 October 2020 23:43 (three years ago) link
https://www.punkglobe.com/robewilliamsinterview1013.php
― She Thinks I Will Dare (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 10 October 2020 12:01 (three years ago) link
Black 47 came through Bloomington a few times and would pack clubs. I saw them a couple of times and they were way better live than the cuts I heard off their CD.
― earlnash, Saturday, 10 October 2020 12:13 (three years ago) link
Outside Looking In BoDeans - listened to this one a bunch on tape as a teenager, but it's pretty much ruined.
― earlnash, Saturday, 10 October 2020 12:15 (three years ago) link
I also saw them play a free show in downtown B-ton and James McMurtry opened the show and he was killer. I'm pretty sure it was fall of '89.
― earlnash, Saturday, 10 October 2020 12:17 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 18 October 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
'Jerry Harrison produced "Lightning Crashes"' should be under a snapple cap
― seven day permanence (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 18 October 2020 01:09 (three years ago) link
lol!
― Here Comes a Slightly Irregular (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 October 2020 01:25 (three years ago) link
Jerry was the latest guest on the Talking Heads podcast Sufjan mentioned upthread. He has a lot of good stories and thoughts about the Talking Heads and he even mentions Throwing Copper and the Heads album (but otherwise doesn't mention his productions). seems like a very chill guy
― Vinnie, Sunday, 18 October 2020 09:44 (three years ago) link
Y’all know Jerry also is big medtech investor? Trying to recall the podcast where I heard him talk about, iirc, hearing assistance technology.
― Julius Caesar Memento Hoodie (bendy), Sunday, 18 October 2020 12:08 (three years ago) link
He's also the co-founder of a medtech corp that's trying to develop a field antidote to snakebites:https://www.ophirex.com/our-team
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 18 October 2020 18:31 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 19 October 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
Harrison was foisted on the Fatima Mansions by their record label, who wanted them to crack the US market. The album is a punchy hard rock effort with the usual vicious lyrics, but apart from three or four great tracks it's fairly forgettable by their standards. It also has a slightly monotonous uniformity of sound which isn't there on their other records, which are all really varied and jump from genre to genre (something which is very difficult to pull off but the Mansions managed it).
I found this quote by Cathal Coughlan about Harrison from the time (1994):
“He’s an amusing kind of a man, but it was always very evident that he comes from a slightly different background to the one that I did, and I never lost sight of that fact. He understood a lot, but there were some music references that were completely lost on him, and some of them were about American music as well.”
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Monday, 19 October 2020 01:20 (three years ago) link
Why would anyone be surprised by No Talking, Just Head (of all these albums)?
― bagel in the streets, donut in the sheets (morrisp), Monday, 19 October 2020 01:50 (three years ago) link
Yay, Mansions!
I'll agree with Jon's point about uniformity of sound - that was the goal, after all. But I disagree that it's "fairly forgettable". All of their albums sort of blend in my head until I play them and their widescreen white hot anger burns bright.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 19 October 2020 01:53 (three years ago) link
You won't encounter a bigger Mansions fan than me, and Lost In The Former West would probably have sounded brilliant if it had been released by almost any other 1990s rock band. I just think that while it certainly has some real moments, it's not a patch on Viva Dead Ponies or especially Valhalla Avenue, that's all.
By all accounts they were on their last legs as a unit while recording it, which if true is an echo of what happened to Microdisney in the late 1980s. Coughlan put out the Bubonique album a year later and his own solo debut a year after that, which suggests that by 1994 he had already mentally checked out of the Mansions for various reasons.
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Monday, 19 October 2020 02:49 (three years ago) link
Huh somehow missed that he produced God Shuffled His Feet. I've only heard a few albums on this list but that one is surprisingly good
― Vinnie, Monday, 19 October 2020 15:02 (three years ago) link
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm has always been earworm comfort food for me, but I have never brought myself to listen to the entire album or anything else by them.
― peace, man, Monday, 19 October 2020 15:31 (three years ago) link
I have never heard of Cathal and/or Microdisney/Fatima Mansions until exactly an hour ago and I'm suddenly extremely obsessed
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 19 October 2020 16:06 (three years ago) link
Microdisney are phenomenal. Do you know Sean O'Hagan? He got his start there as well...
― afriendlypioneer, Monday, 19 October 2020 17:33 (three years ago) link
Oh yes, I know his stuff... never been a fan! always preferred Stereolab without him and never cottoned to the High Llamas. I love all the Cathal-related stuff I listened to this morning, though! Fatima Mansions isn't on Tidal but I just was Youtube playlisting it and was delighted, Cathal has a proto-Falkous vibe or something. Haven't figured out if I agree with his politics yet ha
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 19 October 2020 19:45 (three years ago) link
Hands up, who are the three ilxors that voted for the same String Cheese Incident album? I wouldn't have been surprised to see them get a joke vote or two, but three for the same album?
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 19 October 2020 19:53 (three years ago) link
it's true. kenny wayne arguably as surprising but suffered some vote splitting.
― seven day permanence (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 19 October 2020 20:08 (three years ago) link
failed to keep the herd moving in one direction
― seven day permanence (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 19 October 2020 20:12 (three years ago) link
or failed to herd the flock in one direction, sorry
― seven day permanence (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 19 October 2020 20:14 (three years ago) link
Big interview with Jerry in the new TapeOp. Seems like a nice, thoughtful guy, too bad he seems to think sales are what make an album a success.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 2 February 2023 21:45 (one year ago) link
Intriguing. I will read that. I should note that Frantz's memoir and interviews DO seem to dwell a bit on how:
(a) Byrne habitually stole credit for communally written material.
(b) LOL it's ok because Tom Tom Club sold a lot of records. Also ha ha samples.
I haven't delved into Jerry's side of this. But I will admit that Chris is both morally right (dude, just because you're the frontman/singer doesn't mean you get all the credit) and factually right (Tom Tom Club DID sell an awful lot of records).
At the same time, they're all globally famous and pretty rich. There is a limit to how much I want to hear about them as victims, thxbye
― forbidden fruit salad (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 2 February 2023 22:04 (one year ago) link
I never know how rich musicians are in an era when streaming accounts for income. I guess Frantz + Weymouth saved their Heads dough and/or invested well?
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 February 2023 22:25 (one year ago) link
I found the jus'-folks tone of Frantz's memoir often irritating tbh.
Royalties from "Genius of Love"? Production points on mediocre records that nonetheless sold well enough for the era, getting while the getting was good? Real estate?
Harrison is in a different category, given the list at the top of the thread. He must have made a mint from "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" alone.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 2 February 2023 22:30 (one year ago) link
jus'folks? OK, perhaps true overall but near the end of the memoir...
(SPOILER ALERT)
Chris is on a yachting vacation in the Caribbean with his loving family. and needs to temporarily jet away to attend rehab for cocaine. And everyone knows, and it's totally cool, because hey, stuff happens.
Let it be said that I have been personally enriched by these people. Their art has defined most of my life since May 1986. My eldest sister was graduating from high school. I was a freshman sitting in the bleachers. She'd lent me her cassette copy of "Little Creatures" and my Walkman sent forth the following words: "And she was lying in the grass." I was hooked forever. One of their songs is among my open-mic mandolin standards.
At the same time, I have never interrupted a Jamaican yachting vacation to charter a plane to go back to New York so that I could go to a cocaine rehab session.
YMMV, carry on
― forbidden fruit salad (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 2 February 2023 22:42 (one year ago) link
being a Belew fan I thought about trying to catch Harrison and his REmain in Light show when it comes back to the bay area, but watching some live videos I don't think it's for me. Belew and Harrison are fine, but the backup singers I can do without, and they have a bassist sing a fair number of the songs (and Harrison sings a lot, which I wasn't expecting).
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 2 February 2023 23:00 (one year ago) link
I wonder if Jerry got a decent check for Virtual Reality in Ready Player One
― Cinta Kaz is comin' to town (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 2 February 2023 23:19 (one year ago) link
Bill Bottrell's OST check for Send Me on My Way is probably much larger bit less noticed amongst the Michael Jackson deposits.
― Cinta Kaz is comin' to town (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 2 February 2023 23:26 (one year ago) link
ommaway
Rusted Root Neologisms
― forbidden fruit salad (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 2 February 2023 23:32 (one year ago) link
Frantz seems like kind of a bitter guy
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 2 February 2023 23:35 (one year ago) link
(a) Kinda, albeit in a genial way and (b) Can you blame him for a tinge of bitterness?
We as a borad continually dwell on stories about domineering frontpeople robbing credit from their alleged sidepeople. And we are often on the side of the sidepeople (cf. recent Police and Beatle discussions).
Frantz does dwell overmuch on it, yes. And it will be sad if he's 80 years old and still dissing Byrne in this sideways way.
But the dude has the germ of a point, yes?
― forbidden fruit salad (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 2 February 2023 23:44 (one year ago) link
I only blame him for shouting in an oscar the grouch voice "Who dat? Who dat? Now who dat tryin' to be bad? Your mother!" during an otherwise enjoyable performance.
― Cinta Kaz is comin' to town (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 3 February 2023 00:03 (one year ago) link
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 February 2023 02:03 (one year ago) link
A lot of people fit that description, as YMP says, including one other guy…hey wait!
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 February 2023 02:05 (one year ago) link