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Re: Re: Btw (Reply to this comment)
by snik1
Ah, thank you for the advice Brian - I'll make sure to get it soon.
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Jan 09 '09
4:27 pm PST
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Re: ------> (Reply to this comment)
by Stairway2Drew
It'll happen! Hopefully sooner rather than later. Thanks for commenting - hopefully i'll be spending more time writing in the coming year.
Drew
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Jan 08 '09
7:40 am PST
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Re: Btw (Reply to this comment)
by voxpoptart
While we await Drew's answer, I'll venture my opinion that you've purchased exactly the right two Ben Folds albums to judge whether you want Way to Normal. Musically, it ranks with Whatever as his flashiest, most varied album, and lyrically it's his return to, honestly, a lot of that album's meanness. The quality of the writing ranks with Suburbs: the precision of the images, the steady development, the refusal to write half an idea and call it done.
For me, Suburbs is his masterpiece, Normal his second-best, Whatever probably fourth (i liked the ballad-heavy Songs for Silverman way better than most people did).
best,
- Brian
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Jan 07 '09
6:47 pm PST
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Btw (Reply to this comment)
by snik1
Do you think I should get "Way To Normal"? I love "Rockin the Suburbs" and just got "Whatever and Ever Amen" so I'm thinking about it, but I don't know yet...give me some input if you can please.
Peace
Kyle aka snik1
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Jan 07 '09
3:22 pm PST
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------> (Reply to this comment)
by snik1
Drew, I will say I was glad to see this. Are you going to do an Albums list as well, I don't wanna assume but I hope...
Peace
Kyle aka snik1
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Jan 07 '09
8:18 am PST
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Re: Not quite up on the kiddies music these days... (Reply to this comment)
by Stairway2Drew
Loathing? Wow! The Hold Steady weren't exactly my thing when i first heard them--back in the Seperation Sunday days--but i've never known them to inspire loathing.
I suppose that, while i note and appreciate the Hold Steady's more overt E Street nods, the Springsteen influence isn't what sells me on them. I point it out a bunch, of course, since i'm hopelessly in love with both artists' music, but i don't think the Hold Steady are really Springsteen CLONES, at least not to the point where they'd prove a worthy Boss substitute. He is certainly a touchstone, yeah, but hey... i like it when the kids emulate Broooce. Makes me fuzzy.
Best,
Drew
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Jan 06 '09
9:33 pm PST
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Re: overlap (Reply to this comment)
by Stairway2Drew
Brian,
A little while out of the game, and you're still the only guy around who can dwarf the content of the review with the quality of your commenting. A good skill to have, naturally, and it shows you're not in it for the cash (i hear we get $5 for 5 these days!).
You're right on all accounts, of course--although i still think "5 Years Time" sounds like a Magnetic Fields tune, albeit perhaps without the baggage--and while i agree that "Hiroshima" isn't B-b-benny's b-b-best, it's a singles list, and i like it more than "You Don't Know Me". But until "Biitch Went Nuts" becomes a single.....
A pleasure as always. Let's chat sometime!
Best,
Drew
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Jan 06 '09
9:30 pm PST
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Re: ... (Reply to this comment)
by Stairway2Drew
Hey man! Well, I appreciate the comment--i feel as though my writing quality dwindles as i let it lie dormant, and a little validation goes a long way in that respect, so seriously: MUCH appreciated. :)
As for that TVOTR record, i'll tell ya--i enjoyed the last one, but only sporadically. It had a few great moments and a lot of stuff that made me feel instantly dumber for not "getting it". This new one, though... it's every bit as intelligent, and as accessible as a record by, i dunno, Parliament or Bowie or even Prince. REALLY good--everybody who didn't really get into them last time 'round (myself included) can finally join the party. And it's a fun-aass party.
Looking forward to writing for you soon! PROMISE!
Best,
Drew
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Jan 06 '09
9:26 pm PST
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Not quite up on the kiddies music these days... (Reply to this comment)
by MiDoyle
Drew:
I confess that I don't get the whole Hold Steady bandwagon. Maybe its my age and exit sign memories (117) but when I want to play some Bruce, I play some Bruce. The HS are just copying his tricks without adding much of anything to it. That "Sequestered in Memphis" song sounded OK the first time I heard it but the loathing started soon after. I can't get into them.
Interesting list.
Cheers
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Jan 06 '09
2:38 pm PST
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certificate of Merritt (Reply to this comment)
by voxpoptart
Mix-making in progress (see below). I'm mostly enjoying these songs on first impression, especially "Highly Suspicious", but one quick correction is necessary: "Five Years' Time" is not in the running for "best Magnetic Fields" song. It's bouncy and pessimistic, but any self-respecting Magnetic Fields song is far more drenched with dense rhymes and distanced sex.
"They ain't broke, so they put on airs,
the faux folk sans derrieres.
They breathe coke and they have affairs
with each passing rock star.
They come on like squares, then get off like squirrels.
I hate California girls"
might be the best Magnetic Fields song of the year, or perhaps the one rhyming "topless waitress" with "old sedate dress", "au natural" with "something left to sell", "cobra dancer" with "cure for cancer", and "dominatrix" with "all those gay tricks". But Merritt wrote'em. You sing about love, love, love, you may be in a very fine league, but it ain't the one Distortion won the '08 championship of.
pedantically,
- Brian
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Jan 06 '09
7:08 am PST
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overlap (Reply to this comment)
by voxpoptart
I've heard three of these songs. Since listening to music is still one skill that relatively survives the presence of two small children, i may make a playlist of the rest and come back with comments on the rest, more for my own connection to pop culture than for any likely benefits to your life. Of the three I know:
"Golden Age" is certainly part of Dear Science's political agenda, one which is vague but a good start (they hate profit maximization and war, and seem to want to replace it with nonprofit sex, music, love, and dancing). "Crying" is the most explicitly revolutionary song I've heard on a major release in decades: verses of cogent attacks on power, followed by "Time to take the wheel and the road
From the masters
Take this car, drive it straight into the wall
Build it back up from the floor".
"DLZ" is a verbose taunt of the power structure: you're insensitive and evil, but about to fall, and this is beginning to feel like the dawn of the light of forever (which we assume is a good thing). "Golden Age" is the pure victory song, readied in advance. (Dear Science is an amazing album and a clear leap forward for TV on the Radio, Mike: this _is_ the time to join the fanbase.)
I admire the heck out of Weezer's "Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" for the gall. This is not to be confused with admiring them for remembering how to write a song well (that would be the same album's "Troublemaker", which except for having good lyrics sounds like any ol' Weezer song, and it's excellent).... but it makes me happy regardless.
Ben Folds, solo artist, is closer to my heart than the Five ever were. Not only has he learned to write with far more grace and empathy: the flash is still there when he needs it, now with new toys. "Benny" isn't one of the best songs on Way to Normal, but that's a high standard to meet.
cheers,
- Brian
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Jan 06 '09
6:46 am PST
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... (Reply to this comment)
by speeddemon531
"Illegally!"
Boo.
Nice start to your list. Your sporadic appearances on this site had the effect of making me forget how good a writer you are :-)
I'm really starting to think I should get this TVOTR record, even considering the last one did nothing for me.
--Mike
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Jan 06 '09
5:48 am PST
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