Post a controversial music opinion

Note that clemenza already corrected my error and pointed out that the "Roadrunner" book is NOT part of the 33 1/3 series but rather the Singles series.

i'm probably gonna go back for that alan licht common tones book. i am just so in love with interviews. mostly the only music writing i read now. oral histories. interviews. art taylor's notes and tones might be my favorite music book. it is so inspiring to me.

i did not buy the tricia romano village voice book. maybe if it goes to paperback. i love her and everything. and it also does the oral history thing. but only so many new books i can buy at once. they ain't cheap!

right, singles not 33 1/3.

x-post

okay the 2nd side of this cale album is starting to drag. but the first side was cool. i've been listening to tons of post-punk for months and some of it fits in there with that kinda thing.

i'm probably gonna go back for that alan licht common tones book. i am just so in love with interviews. mostly the only music writing i read now. oral histories. interviews. art taylor's notes and tones might be my favorite music book. it is so inspiring to me.

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has a series of books of interviews with other jazz musicians, some older and some younger; he's just put out the fourth volume, and you can get them all from his webstore.

sweet. cheers. there is a library of congress archive of Q&As that i spent half the pandemic reading.

Wow, that looks pretty good, thanks.
(xp)

what should i call my new band that just does 20 minute drone/motorik versions of creedence songs like "bootleg" and "effigy"?

i was thinking maybe CeeCeeArrrrr!!

but maybe that sucks. also i don't start bands. but i wish i could start that band. we would end with a 20 minute "foggy notion" done as creedence and "pagan baby" done as VU.

Was just thinking of your brother and his band for some reason.

In keeping with my latest bevy of posts about Rush (Geddy’s book has me diving headfirst into their entire catalog again for the first time in ages), here’s one that I may be the only person on Earth to hold: Caress of Steel is probably my favorite album of theirs.

caress of steel is underrated. so is hemispheres probably.

my three favorite rush records in no particular order: a farewell to kings, permanent waves, all the world's a stage.

i know, a live album. but along with unleashed in the east and one for the road kinda my fave rock live album.

my favorite genesis album is a trick of the tail so i feel the caress of steel thing. not a lot of people's favorite choice.

You know more than I know.

Trick of the Tail rules

Caress of Steel is probably the closest Rush got to being a psych band, for good or ill

For a second I read that as Caves of Steel and thought it was some kind of Asimov-inspired project.

I’m more partial to Rush in the ’80s; seeing them play Moving Pictures on the Time Machine tour made me a fan, and a few months ago I picked up Signals and Grace Under Pressure for cheap a record fair. But Hemispheres is phenomenal. Such a staggering leap forward from A Farewell to Kings.

listening to Caress of Steel right now, sounding great, never understood its reputation as a dud. I think the label really hated the cover art iirc (which, fair) I'm assuming that was a much bigger factor back then in success

its nice that he saw god in VU. a lot of people probably saw death. i wonder how he felt about ccr the west coast death choogle band. the yin to the yang. or maybe they were the yang to VU's yin. i forget.

― scott seward

the black angel's god song

I think we had the CCR/Velvets discussion when the Live at Woodstock album surfaced a few years ago. There’s even one song that sounds a lot like “The Gift.”

― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, February 25, 2024 8:45 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

But for all the similarities mentioned, they're still more different than similar, at least from a facile listen

― H.P, Sunday, February 25, 2024 8:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

By which song I mean “Born on the Bayou.”

― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, February 25, 2024 8:48 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

And it sounds like “Lady Godiva’s Operation,” not “The Gift.”

― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs)

"born on the bayou" if it was was a surgery horror song about a femme getting a black market lobotomy to treat her gender dysphoria

wouldn't the ccr/vu nexus center on the andy warhol museum recording of the vu singing "suzie q" over the "european son" music?

…But, y’know, it’s fleeting… after that, they sound like a very good rootsy rock band. I just don’t really hear CCR as experimental rock music.

― Sony's Sports Walkman Universe (morrisp)

what do folks think of trad, gras, och stenar's "satisfaction"? any of y'all hear any choogle there, or is it more straight motorik?

i like caress of steel. people dunk on them for doing a song about worrying about going bald but that's some real fuckin' feels for me. when my friends talk about MPB they generally don't mean brazilian popular music.

it is kind of wild to think about, like is there only one song ever addressing an extremely common fear experienced by billions of people over history?

LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Hair"

what do folks think of trad, gras, och stenar's "satisfaction"? any of y'all hear any choogle there, or is it more straight motorik?

It's not even motorik. It's what I tend to think of as powwow rhythm, and it doesn't really work. None of the elements of their version of the song really work together. The riff doesn't synch up with the beat, the vocals are so aimless they're like proto-Sonic Youth, and the beat is just...there, except for a couple of big fills where it feels like he's trying to imitate Doug Clifford on "Suzie Q" but he's such a lazy Scando hippie he can't really get it together. I mean, I like Träd, Gräs a lot, but they were much better on their originals than their covers.

heh, I remember always having reservations about them, even during the height of my taking whatever Other Music was giving.

is this controversial? i want to say Murmur - and i could - but my heart says Lifes Rich Pageant. that's probably not very controversial unless you hate john cougar drums but we have already established on another thread that i am a brix-era fall fan so big fucking dumb booming drums are no problem for me.

that tour ruled by the way. LRP tour. omg. feelies opened. omg.

I tried getting into Träd, Gräs but something about the music just bummed me out.

it is kind of wild to think about, like is there only one song ever addressing an extremely common fear experienced by billions of people over history?

Beach Boys, "She's Goin' Bald".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_RFUQW5no

it is kind of wild to think about, like is there only one song ever addressing an extremely common fear experienced by billions of people over history?

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

and yet, there's no shortage of songs shaming AMAB femmes for wearing dresses

oh lol i misinterpreted that post. but it _is_ noteworthy that both of the songs posted specifically address fears of _women_ going bald! which by the way is a problem even for cis women. it happens with PCOS. when i was wearing wigs i got them from a place that specialized in selling wigs for women with PCOS.

oh lol i misinterpreted that post.

― Kate (rushomancy)

specifically i thought you were talking about "lady godiva's operation". which obviously you weren't, you were talking about "i think i'm going bald". apologies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaSVvTYDP1k

Let me guess. Does that go "Rogaine, running all round my brain"?

me to a female relation with alopecia totalis: "don't you ever feel like, just idngaf, and showing up with a scarf or wrap that allows people to figure it out?"

her: "NEVER. EVER."

i mean, it's a good thing she is tough as nails as well as cis and femme as you can imagine, she pulls it off with incredible style and elegance.

as a balding male, all i can think is "fuck, i wish my dome was THAT perfectly symetrical and beautiful." mine looks like a damn dented coconut.

CCR could have totally done sweet jane or foggy notion and other tunes.

scott many of your opinions here have been v otmfm imo, but this one feels like i have said it before! but of course i have not. but i think i've felt it.

i have never tried to figure out why vu and ccr are two of my very favoritest, but just have felt like, "yeah, i think deep down they woulda got each other and been v good with it." fact- i have no idea. and i have disappointed my expectations through investigation enough.

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/111198114/photo/grand-opening-of-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-museum-in-cleveland-1995.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=rJzJeia__OorrpSmpekWkK5l-vBTaaJBzxUPiskNee4=

"let's make a record together!"

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/111198112/photo/grand-opening-of-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-museum-in-cleveland-1995.jpg?s=594x594&w=125&k=20&c=nM9DlGdGK78N-Wdr439h1uTVHkZElbB21UoWvYdolac=

*The Advocate -vs- The Engineer* will be the title of my book on this subject.

https://personalityatwork.co/celebrity/profile/john-fogerty/vs/lou-reed

me to a female relation with alopecia totalis: "don't you ever feel like, just idngaf, and showing up with a scarf or wrap that allows people to figure it out?"

her: "NEVER. EVER."

There's a postal clerk in my town who's completely bald and she just stands at the counter, pink skull gleaming, and is the nicest, most helpful person you can imagine. She's great.

I don’t know why I said Caress of Steel is ‘probably’ my favorite Rush album…after posting I ended up giving it a listen out on a walk in the freakishly warm midwestern sun today and it’s definitely my favorite album of theirs. Every track is good (even …Bald, although turns out he had nothing to worry about) but Necromancer and Fountain of Lamneth just totally make that album for me…two of their best tracks as far as I’m concerned, even if they feel more ‘disjointed’ than something like 2112 where the themes are more seamlessly integrated.

Hemispheres is also severely underrated and probably my next favorite of theirs (although Signals could make a convincing argument when I’m feeling up for the 80s)…I actually am not a particularly huge fan of either The Trees or La Villa Strangiato which seems to be fan favorites, although both are fine, but Cygnus Book II is a top 3 Rush track as far as I’m concerned.

*Seem

necromancer is so good

i think on an album level tho rush really leveled up on hemispheres and permanent waves, those records + moving pictures and signals... helluva run

i did a rush runthrough just last month and now i feel like doing it all over again lol

Continuing down the path of Rush opinions no one wants to hear about, I’d say Moving Pictures is probably my least favorite of their first ten years…I’ve just never been a big fan of tracks like YYZ or The Camera Eye which for some reason (probably unfairly) feel devoid of humanity in the same way that something like technical death metal does…I’m just always left cold by that album…even Red Barchetta doesn’t do a ton for me.

On the other hand, their first album with John Rutsey also feels massively underrated to me…sounds like Led Zeppelin with better bass lines and if nothing were overwrought/bombastic.

Permanent Waves tour was my first rock concert. I made my dad take me. i thought i was gonna die. i was so excited. this is that show in lo-fi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L7rp0ljc_c

i bought a program and a t-shirt. wore that thing to shreds. it was kinda the peak of my concert-going life. haha! i mean it was just beyond anything i had ever been to or seen or heard.

(that clip is missing a lot though...)

Permanent Waves is probably my fave these days, though I love love love Power Windows, too. The former is perhaps the best blend of first and second wave Rush.

Despite them being my favorite band in high school, I never had or listened to Caress of Steel back in the day. I finally got around to cleaning a copy I had that had been moldering in someones basement for years and ended up loving it. It's an album whose title is also its mission statement.

Singer now shaves his head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2U-3J5FCbQ