The Mighty Musical Observations Thread

[JennyB]

Watched the new Velvet Underground documentary this morning. I'm not that versed on the history of the group, so for me it was mostly grooving on performance and interviews. The best part is an extended interview with Jonathan Richman (who I wouldn't have recognized; he's been boyish looking for so long that to see him as an oldish guy is shocking) who relates being awed by the sounds he heard from the stage and not being able to figure out where the drones were coming from. It was just epiphany for him. Anyway, I imagine most here would dig the movie.

Just finished this morning. It was good. I knew a good amount from Please Kill Me and from Gene here (about the drone stuff particularly for Cale). I was really hoping for more live footage/performances. There's just no video and audio it seems. Tons of great footage and photos but very little accompanying live audio. There was some live audio that was actually a bit underwhelming (a 67 or 68 Heroin performance in particular where Lou's voice sounds...not good).

I really did enjoy getting a feel for New York and the Factory scene at the time. Good god, these people were so much cooler than I would have been at the time.

I know, right? I always catch myself when I think "oh, to have been there for this or that scene." I wouldn't have been nearly cool enough.

[matedog]

My friend is trying to get me to go see Bon Iver. I dont know what they sound like but I sort of suspect I wont like them...

Melancholy meets celestial woe.

Yeah probably not revbob’s thing but I’ve grown to really enjoy Justin Vernon in general. He started off as sad folly dude and then did a total turn by doing all this weird distorted vocal synthy stuff. There is some abrasive stuff that might be revbobs thing but it’s a smaller subset of his recent stuff.

Thanks Matey. Good thing is it's a few months away so maybe it sells out and I cant make it or I might have to wash my hair that night.

Haha, fingers crossed!

I did see them a couple years ago. It was a good show but they were at the new Warriors arena and we were too far away. I’ve seen some really great footage of them but this wasn’t as transcendent as I had hoped.

[matedog]

Watched the new Velvet Underground documentary this morning. I'm not that versed on the history of the group, so for me it was mostly grooving on performance and interviews. The best part is an extended interview with Jonathan Richman (who I wouldn't have recognized; he's been boyish looking for so long that to see him as an oldish guy is shocking) who relates being awed by the sounds he heard from the stage and not being able to figure out where the drones were coming from. It was just epiphany for him. Anyway, I imagine most here would dig the movie.

Just finished this morning. It was good. I knew a good amount from Please Kill Me and from Gene here (about the drone stuff particularly for Cale). I was really hoping for more live footage/performances. There's just no video and audio it seems. Tons of great footage and photos but very little accompanying live audio. There was some live audio that was actually a bit underwhelming (a 67 or 68 Heroin performance in particular where Lou's voice sounds...not good).

I really did enjoy getting a feel for New York and the Factory scene at the time. Good god, these people were so much cooler than I would have been at the time.

I know, right? I always catch myself when I think "oh, to have been there for this or that scene." I wouldn't have been nearly cool enough.

That’s what I was thinking. I’d be in the burbs rocking out to Doors singles that I found “tasty.”

[revbob]

Doc, I'm ready to suffer the SWANS. I'm too lazy to look for any of your past suggestions so give me an album to try and I will fire up the might Soulseek and find it.

It is time.

You could sample the various eras using the challenge list I abused Heston with: http://www.clashcity.com/boards/viewtop ... 47#p459647

Or, if you want to go by albums, I'd say The Great Annihilator is most up your alley, or, more recently, To Be Kind. The former has shorter songs, the latter is better but it's full of really long pieces.

Or, there's a decent flowchart for where to start:

So far so good although I decided it isnt good for during shorter drives and other short intervals. It requires a certain amount of investment.

[Dr. Medulla]

Doc, I'm ready to suffer the SWANS. I'm too lazy to look for any of your past suggestions so give me an album to try and I will fire up the might Soulseek and find it.

It is time.

You could sample the various eras using the challenge list I abused Heston with: http://www.clashcity.com/boards/viewtop ... 47#p459647

Or, if you want to go by albums, I'd say The Great Annihilator is most up your alley, or, more recently, To Be Kind. The former has shorter songs, the latter is better but it's full of really long pieces.

Or, there's a decent flowchart for where to start:

So far so good although I decided it isnt good for during shorter drives and other short intervals. It requires a certain amount of investment.

The records since he started the name up again in 2010 are all in that endurance vein. One live album has a track called "The Knot" that's 45 min long. It's fantastic but, yeah, it's involving.

[revbob]

Doc, I'm ready to suffer the SWANS. I'm too lazy to look for any of your past suggestions so give me an album to try and I will fire up the might Soulseek and find it.

It is time.

You could sample the various eras using the challenge list I abused Heston with: http://www.clashcity.com/boards/viewtop ... 47#p459647

Or, if you want to go by albums, I'd say The Great Annihilator is most up your alley, or, more recently, To Be Kind. The former has shorter songs, the latter is better but it's full of really long pieces.

Or, there's a decent flowchart for where to start:

So far so good although I decided it isnt good for during shorter drives and other short intervals. It requires a certain amount of investment.

The records since he started the name up again in 2010 are all in that endurance vein. One live album has a track called "The Knot" that's 45 min long. It's fantastic but, yeah, it's involving.

I got the new Ministry album the other day and then I downloaded some Swans, more Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Itchy-o and the Iron Reagan so Im in full noise terror mode and loving it.

[Dr. Medulla]

I got the new Ministry album the other day and then I downloaded some Swans, more Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Itchy-o and the Iron Reagan so Im in full noise terror mode and loving it.

God, I wish I liked Iron Reagan, cos I really want to get one of their shirts. But I can't fake fandom like that.

[Kory]

Watched the new Velvet Underground documentary this morning. I'm not that versed on the history of the group, so for me it was mostly grooving on performance and interviews. The best part is an extended interview with Jonathan Richman (who I wouldn't have recognized; he's been boyish looking for so long that to see him as an oldish guy is shocking) who relates being awed by the sounds he heard from the stage and not being able to figure out where the drones were coming from. It was just epiphany for him. Anyway, I imagine most here would dig the movie.

This is on Apple TV right? Did you get an alternate source?

[revbob]

I got the new Ministry album the other day and then I downloaded some Swans, more Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Itchy-o and the Iron Reagan so Im in full noise terror mode and loving it.

God, I wish I liked Iron Reagan, cos I really want to get one of their shirts. But I can't fake fandom like that.

Id sampled them on YouTube and didn't much care for them. While looking for other stuff I saw someone had them so I downloaded it for the hell of it. I listened to it at high volume while driving around and I was ok with some of it.

[Dr. Medulla]

Watched the new Velvet Underground documentary this morning. I'm not that versed on the history of the group, so for me it was mostly grooving on performance and interviews. The best part is an extended interview with Jonathan Richman (who I wouldn't have recognized; he's been boyish looking for so long that to see him as an oldish guy is shocking) who relates being awed by the sounds he heard from the stage and not being able to figure out where the drones were coming from. It was just epiphany for him. Anyway, I imagine most here would dig the movie.

This is on Apple TV right? Did you get an alternate source?

Always the alternate source.

[Dr. Medulla]

I got the new Ministry album the other day and then I downloaded some Swans, more Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Itchy-o and the Iron Reagan so Im in full noise terror mode and loving it.

God, I wish I liked Iron Reagan, cos I really want to get one of their shirts. But I can't fake fandom like that.

Id sampled them on YouTube and didn't much care for them. While looking for other stuff I saw someone had them so I downloaded it for the hell of it. I listened to it at high volume while driving around and I was ok with some of it.

I've tried several times hoping it'd click, but nope.

[Flex]

Itchy-O fucking rules

[revbob]

Itchy-O fucking rules

Indeed they do.

[matedog]

In recent years, I've come to the opinion that The Shirelles "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" is a damn near perfect song. I did a deep dive on it and was pretty annoyed to find out that Carole King was maybe 18 when she co-wrote the song. That's like finding out that Carl Wilson was like 19 when he sang God Only Knows. Fucking kids doing shit of tremendous grandeur.

On further review though, I found that the song was not terribly complex. That's not to discount the incredible talent and skill required to write such great melodies. More that I had not fully appreciated the production and performance aspects of The Shirelles version. I listened to a few covers that were quite good, but never quite great. Even someone of prodigious talent as Amy Winehouse can't come close to The Shirelles version.

So that is my rambling "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" musical observation(s).

[Dr. Medulla]

In recent years, I've come to the opinion that The Shirelles "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" is a damn near perfect song. I did a deep dive on it and was pretty annoyed to find out that Carole King was maybe 18 when she co-wrote the song. That's like finding out that Carl Wilson was like 19 when he sang God Only Knows. Fucking kids doing shit of tremendous grandeur.

On further review though, I found that the song was not terribly complex. That's not to discount the incredible talent and skill required to write such great melodies. More that I had not fully appreciated the production and performance aspects of The Shirelles version. I listened to a few covers that were quite good, but never quite great. Even someone of prodigious talent as Amy Winehouse can't come close to The Shirelles version.

So that is my rambling "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" musical observation(s).

For the longest time, the conventional history of rock shit on the girl group golden era. It was Elvis and Chuck Berry and Little Richard and then they went away and it was an awful dead zone or vacuum until the Beatles revived everything. Which, you know, rock music is guys (and mostly white guys). The idea of women as producers of music not just consumers, and of turning the studio into something more than a place to bang out a recording as quickly and cheaply as possible, that was completely devalued. It mostly took feminist scholars to assert that girl groups were damned important to the history of modern popular music and for inspiring young women. So a song like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" broaches the issue of teen sex and a girl's reputation—that's pretty significant stuff in a pop song, and resonated with female listeners (and more so than with guys). In short, that stuff is as significant as the rock n roll that preceded it.