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thermocaster

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Posts posted by thermocaster

    A Magazine Called Sunset intro

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    The might have been addressed already. Hopefully I didn't overlook it. Does anyone know what song is at the start of A Magazine Called Sunset is? It is only the first 6 seconds.

     

    thanks

    I asked this years ago. I believe we determined that it was the demo song from either the Mellotron or the Chamberlain. 

     

    I remember also hearing it in a golf apparel commercial starring Phil Mickelson in like 2008 or 2009.

    The latest Ryan Adams thread V2.0

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Analogman,

     

    Where have you found the best quality recordings of Ryan from the Casal era?  There are so many available on bt and dime and I don't have time to download them all and try them.  Any other good source where they rate the quality of the recordings?

     

    Check out Archive.org. That's where I get most of the recordings from that era.

    The Black Crowes

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    I'm not a Deadhead by any means, I barely have gotten into their stuff. I don't dislike it, I just haven't ever really gotten into it.

     

    I think CRB is a lot of fun and the songs are really enjoyable as long as you take them for what they are - sonic experiences and abstract imagery. If you're expecting something different than that, then I'd say the problem is you, not the writing.

     

    BTF/UTF had a lot of really excellent songs on it, I agree. It was a great middle-aged album, if that makes any sense.

     

    RR's stuff is also good, but very different. Reminds me of Stephen Stills' heavier solo work from the 70s. I'd probably still choose to go to a CRB show over an RR show if I had to make that choice, but I'm hoping to catch both this summer.

    A Central Depository For VCers Music!

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    What filter/auto wah are you using? Some cool tunes.

    Thanks! I used a variety of different ones on each of the tracks. Some of them were tweaked filters in Logic, while some of them were using Ozone and a couple of other VSTs to modify the sounds on individual tracks.

     

    If there are any in particular that you're interested in, let me know and I can tell you.

    Whats your take on Impossible Germany?

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    It always seemed to me that Jeff was using the actions of WWII Germany/Japan as a metaphor for the types of crazy shit people will do in their personal relationships when they feel they aren't being heard or valued enough.

     

    Someone posted a theory that it wasn't Tweedy talking about (or to) any one person, but that it was actually him talking to the mid-2000s United States, as a society. How the idea of society declining into the single-minded imperialism of WW2 Germany or Japan was just as possible now. Jeff addressing his country as a concerned lover, I guess.

    The Rolling Stones

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    I think Dancing With Mr. D is not so great either (except for the fact it mentions my state).

     

    They recorded a lot of songs for that album.

     

    I have that same bootleg! The alternate take of Dancing With Mr D. is actually the one that made me think it was a decent song, after years of not liking it. It's faster and the riff is more...metallic? It works better for that song.

    The Rolling Stones

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    I'ma stick up here a little bit for all three of the mid-70's albums. I used to feel the same way as many people do - that they represented the nadir of the Stones, that they're unlistenable, etc...

     

    But really, after years of listening to them on and off, they're good. Not great, by any means, but they're good. And taken out of the immediacy of critical reviews that occurred at the time, they're mostly fun and enjoyable. I think that's a huge problem with many different records over the years (not just the Stones' records) --- there's an important critical or cultural reason to HATE what the band has just done, and so the album gets stamped by critics a certain way, and that's just how it is, in perpetuity.

     

    Goat's Head Soup to me would be so much better if another song led it off, because DWMD, while interesting, is just so slow and murky. It kind of poisons the atmosphere of the album, even though the actual song itself is good. The only song on the whole album that is hard to listen to is Can You Hear The Music, and even that's more due to sounding really out of place than it being a bad song, per se. But it's not a terribly innovative album, and that was a first for them, so the critics looked at it as an obvious marking-time album.

     

    It's Only Rock & Roll suffers from the same lead song issue as Goat's Head Soup, and compounds it with a needless Temptations cover. After that, what's the problem? The title track, Time Waits, and Fingerprint File are all excellent. The rest of the songs are different, but not really bad.

     

    Black & Blue has a top 5 Rolling Stones guitar solo, three really entertaining guitar workouts, one good ballad, one average ballad, and a stinking reggae cover.

     

    Really, I don't think there was a Stones album that approached unlistenable until Undercover. And even that had a couple of decent highlights. But I'm willing to blame that (and Dirty Work and Steel Wheels) on 80s production values as much as the band.

    Music in a foreign language? You listen to much?

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    I am, right now, listening to Gilberto Gil; a 1998 album of his called O Sol de Oslo. He's Brazilian and sings almost exclusively in Portugese. I don't speak Portugese. Somehow, this does not diminish my enjoyment of the album. It used to when I was younger, but when I hit 20 or so, it just started to not matter.

    I don't listen to opera and I never have.

    And, you know, as a songwriter, the story told in a song (or at least some sort of meaning) DOES mean something to me. Still... great music is great music and I have been loving a lot of Brazilian stuff, and some Rock en Español, and even some old Italian psych and prog.

    I can't explain it. Except to say that it speaks to me in other ways.

     

    How about you? What do you listen to in foreign languages, if anything?

     

    Off the top of my head here are some of the artists that I've been listening to a lot:

    Gilberto Gil (Brazil)

    Tom Zé (Brazil)

    Caetano Veloso (Brazil)

    Os Mutantes (Brazil)

    Leo Lago (Brazil)

    Café Tacuba (Mexico)

    Bloque (Columbia)

    Kinky (Mexico)

    Caesaria Evora (Cabo Verde)

    Les Orme (Italy)

    Cornershop (England, but they frequently sing in Punjabi)

    Sigur Ros ("Hopelandic" -- a made-up language with elements of Icelandic, and many others)

    Trio (Germany)

     

    What do you get from the foreign sounds that you listen to? Do you seek them out? Why? Why not?

     

    Great topic, and I too listen to a great deal of Brazilian music --- have since I was a toddler, when my dad was getting a master's in latin american history and somehow stumbled onto the bossa nova scene.

     

    Some additional artists that I listen to:

     

    Joao Gilberto - If you like Veloso, this is a natural. The "Brasil" album with him and Veloso and Gil is remarkable. Also, the "Live at Montreaux" is almost hypnotic.

     

    Antonio Carlos Jobim - Duh. Rough discography to get through because of some saccharine production, but there are a lot of great songs and albums, particularly from a melodic structure standpoint. "Wave" and "Stone Flower" are both pretty essential, and eMusic just uploaded this fascinating solo live show ("Live at Minas", I think) which is very revealing from an artistic perspective.

     

    Chico Buraque - Another good one to start in on.

     

     

    I wouldn't say I necessarily seek out the foreign stuff, but if I have a chance to listen, I will. I'm a songwriter and spare-time recording artist and I have always enjoyed hearing how different cultures process music --- in terms of song structure, instrumentation, and even production.

     

    Your mention of Italian psych and prog has me wanting to learn more. :) Who would you recommend I check out?

    Best shows of 2010

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Best show I went to by far was the Black Crowes at the Chicago Theater in August.

     

    Second place was probably The National in Columbus.

     

    Third place was a tie between the Avi Buffalo/Blitzen Trapper show in Indy and the Dr. Dog show at The Vid.

     

    Very good year for shows. Not quite as good as the prior year, but still very enjoyable.

    The first songs that come up when you hit "Random"

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Okay, here's one

     

    1. Koalas - Mitch Hedberg (Strategic Grill Locations)

    2. Hoe Yourself Down - Camper Van Beethoven (Camper Van Beethoven)

    3. Poor Places - Wilco (YHF Engineer Demos)

    4. I'm Not Feeling Human - The Olivia Tremor Control (Presents: Singles and Beyond)

    5. Woods - Bon Iver (Blood Bank)

    6. Paranoid Eyes - Pink Floyd (The Final Cut)

    7. January: The One With "Kid" - Local H (12 Angry Months)

    8. I'm A Boy - The Who (Who's Better, Who's Best)

    9. Twice As Hard - The Black Crowes (Shake Your Money Maker)

    10. Change Your Mind - Neil Young (Sleeps With Angels)

     

    Out of curiosity, the next 10 were:

     

    11. On The Road Again - Bob Dylan (Bringing It All Back Home)

    12. So Begins Our Alabee - Of Montreal (Sunlandic Twins)

    13. Friends Of Mine - The Zombies (Odessey & Oracle 30th Anniversary Edition)

    14. Road Ladies - Frank Zappa (Chunga's Revenge)

    15. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit (Fiscal Apocalypse 2009)

    16. The Man Who Loved Life - The Jayhawks (Sound of Lies)

    17. Lovesong of the Buzzard - Iron & Wine (The Shepherd's Dog)

    18. Dumb - Nirvana (In Utero)

    19. Killing Floor - Jimi Hendrix (BBC Sessions)

    20. Peace Anyway - The Black Crowes (By Your Side B-Sides)

    The Black Crowes

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Calvino, you don't like Horsehead? I thought that was one of the better songs on the album --- it's at least got a kickass groove going.

     

    I did find a way to make the album more enjoyable. Take out "Heavy", "Diamond Ring", and "Then She Said My Name", and put in "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky", "Grows A Rose", and the B-side version of "Peace Anyway". It still sounds a bit overproduced and glittery, but at least the worst of Chris's vocal indulgences (i.e. Heavy) are gone.

    The Black Crowes

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Anyone know why they didnt originally release the Band album in 1997, and instead moved on to By Your Side? In my opinion Band is a much better record than BYS, and I would even go so far to say its one of the best records they ever recorded. I dont get why they didnt release it back in 97.

     

    I think it was a combo of:

     

    1) Marc Ford's drug habit

    2) Rich wanting Marc out of the band

    3) The record company not wanting another druggy, mid-tempo album on the heels of TSOC

     

    I like The Band a lot...some of the songs really stand out (Another Roadside Tragedy, Paint an 8, Lifevest), and I can listen to it just fine. But I could see how someone else would be put off by the lack of energy on a lot of the songs.

     

    I seem to recall them trying to re-brand and re-image themselves during that time. It was about 97 or 98 that the Behind The Music came out, and that was coupled with By Your Side --- an attempt by the record company to turn them into 90's-era Aerosmith.

     

    Although honestly, parts of By Your Side aren't bad. I fully enjoy 6 of the 11 songs on there. It's just that the other five are...not...good.

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