Ann Margaret in baked beans. ijs
Bears repeating.
I'm currently listening to Phil Kline's Zippo Songs: Airs of War and Lunacy. I don't know if it's rock, but it's certainly a song cycle ("Donald Rumsfeld is the new Dylan!" - well, maybe not; click the link to see what I'm talking about) and Kline plays a lot o' guitar. It's closer to the art song tradition (in concept, not sound) than to opera. The singer, Theo Bleckmann, is great! Gorgeous voice. The reviews aren't kidding about his range either, but the great thing is that he shows off that range without showing off at all. I don't know how much of that is him and how much is Kline's writing, but whoever deserves credit deserves a lot of it. No Whitney/Celine/Mariah dog-whistle showing off. Every high, low and mid-range note is organic to what he's doing, not jammed in there for cheap effect. I heard about it when Phil Kline was on Soundcheck.
Joe, you ignorant slut! I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here. I've heard the album and thought, while a good concept, it was rather dull. And the singing? Pretentious with a capital P. Still, when I saw that they would be performing the songs at Mass MOCA, I figured I'd give them another chance (I was planning to go to MassMOCA that weekend anyway). While there were some interesting things going on musically with the arrangements, the singer was still boring and pretentious. He reminded me of a vocal version of the stereotypical Berklee Guitarist. Technically brilliant, but without any soul.
I've never much cared for the Beach Boys; their music sounds too sweet and, frankly, bland/naive to an ear that came of age during grunge, plus they have the taint of being what my parents listen to. Would Smile have any hope of changing my mind?
(I know, I know, My ongoing dismissal of almost all '60's rock that is not by the Rolling Stones probably makes the Baby Jesus cry.)
I doubt it. If you don't like celestial vocal harmonies filled with all the aching beauty and pain of life, SMiLe can't help you.
The Elephant 6 bands would not sound as they do, were it not for the Beach Boys. Especially, say, Olivia Tremor Control. There's a lot of
weirdness
on Smile that would surprise folks who only know them from the surfing songs.
Yeah, I just got the album. It's astounding. I'm coming from a different place, I suspect, than Hay'n'Hec; I'm not a Beach Boys fanboy, and I've never heard the boots, so this is a completely new listen as far as I'm concerned. And it's just exquisite.
I doubt it. If you don't like celestial vocal harmonies filled with all the aching beauty and pain of life, SMiLe can't help you.
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YES! I like celestial vocal harmonies filled with all the aching beauty and pain of life. Please send me SMiLe, and while you're at it another hit of ecstasy would really help.
NO! I am a soulless abomination and an affront to both God and man, who will surely end their days being chased over a cliff by angry pitchfork-wielding villagers. Please do not send me SMiLe, and if you could kick a sad-eyed puppy in the street for me I would be much obliged.
Limit of one per customer. Offer not valid in states beginning with a vowel. Martha Stewart was not harmed in the making of this album, but we hope to do better next time.
If you don't like celestial vocal harmonies filled with all the aching beauty and pain of life, SMiLe can't help you.
Hey now. It was a real question.
There's a lot of weirdness on Smile that would surprise folks who only know them from the surfing songs.
Okay, *that* almost interests me, though I admit I don't know much about Elephant 6.
NO! I am a soulless abomination and an affront to both God and man, who will surely end their days being chased over a cliff by angry pitchfork-wielding villagers. Please do not send me SMiLe, and if you could kick a sad-eyed puppy in the street for me I would be much obliged
Puppy-kickers of the world, unite and take over.
Puppy-kickers of the world, unite and take over.
I'm with Lyra on this one...
I can appreciate the influence of the Beach Boys. I like of what could be considered Pure pop stuff. It still doesn't make the urge to kill whenever I hear "Sloop Jon B" subside. At all.
Joe, you ignorant slut! I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here.
As a patriot and lover of freedom I salute my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts for his willingness to make use of his hard won freedom of speech. Moreover, I salute his courage in taking advantage of another great freedom: the freedom to be wrong. Really wrong. And to exercise that freedom loudly and publicly. Well done, sir! :-)
Seriously, though, I don't get the charge of pretentiousness. Because he has good diction? Because his tone is pure? Because he hits notes directly and eschews melisma? I'm somewhat of a cultural primitive and generally dislike highly trained voices. I don't know enough about music to appreciate the technique; I'm unfamiliar with the opera and art song traditions and find it hard to distinguish between "good" and "bad" singers in those types of music; and I usually find the use of those techniques in popular or folk music (each term broadly taken) makes for a really stiff performance. But I don't hear that with Bleckmann. To my ears he isn't stiff, he doesn't show off (on the CD, can't speak for the live show), and he's very expressive.
Technique per se is neither good nor bad, just a set of tools. The problem with the Berklee guys isn't that they're chops monsters, it's that the vast majority of them have nothing to say, and they try to hide that by blowing chops (or in the worst cases think that blowing chops IS something to say.) On the other hand, lack of chops isn't a sign of authenticity or some such rot. There are plenty of greats who have an extremely limited set of vocal or instrumental chops, but it's their other strengths that make them great, not because they know two chords, can't keep time, and have a half octave range, only half of which they can hit with any consistency. None of that is a badge of honor -- although none of it is something to be ashamed of. What does matter is figuring out what you want to do and developing the skills to reach that goal. For many years Thelonious Monk was criticized for his herky jerky style and lack of fluidity, often being dismissed with a snide, "He can't play." But as one of his early, perceptive critics remarked on the subject, (I paraphrase) Monk doesn't have the technique of a Horowitz, but I'm not certain that Horowitz's technique is up to the music of Thelonious Monk.
Sorry you didn't like it, Jon. But we both liked Blueberry Boat, right?
